"Sometime during your life – in fact, very soon – you may find yourself reading a book, and you may notice that a book’s first sentence can often tell you what sort of story your book contains." - A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Miserable Mill by Lemony Snicket

Over time we have found that the first sentence, the first paragraph or the first chapter of the book can be as surefire an indicator as any as to the rest of the content of the book itself. This is not to say that first sentences always make the book as a whole. We have read (and loved) many works of literature where the first sentence was mundane and wholly forgettable, but the content overall proved memorable and inspired many re-reads. But having that perfect mini introduction to rope us into the story remains the easiest way a reader can be "bought", or rather "sold" on the story. The art of crafting a witty, intriguing introduction to a book hasn't been entirely lost on us, so this week's Top 10 Monday is dedicated to the ten first sentences in literature that have appealed most to us, be it their significance for the overall book, or their witty, humorous nature which promised good things to come.

 Lemony Snicket said it best.




1. "Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much" - Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone by J.K Rowling 

2. "I just punched a girl in the face. Not just any girl, My best friend. My roomate" - Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover

3. "Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood" - Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

4. It's hard being left behind. I wait for Henry, not knowing where he is, wondering if he's okay. It's hard to be the one who stays" - The Time Travelers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger 

5.  "The end of the world started when a pegasus landed on the hood of my car" - Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian by Rick Riordan

6. 'I suppose the important thing is to make some sort of difference', she said. 'You know, actually change something' - One Day by David Nicholls

7.  'Everyone deserves one grand adventure, that one time in life that we always get to point back to and say, 'Then...then I was really living' - Finding It by Cora Carmack

8. 'Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: one or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, 'and what is the use of a book' thought Alice, 'without pictures or conversation' - Alice's Adventures In Wonderland by Lewis Carrol

9. 'There is nothing more humiliating than being topless in the backseat of your boyfriends car when someone decides to throw an egg at the windshield' - Shut Out  by Kody Keplinger

10. "My name is Harriet Manners and I'm a geek" - Geek Girl by Holly Smale


1. "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair." - A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

2. "You stop fearing the Devil when you're holding his hand" - Between The Devil and The Deep Blue Sea by April Genevieve Tucholke

3. "The way I figure it, everyone gets a miracle." - Paper Towns by John Green

4. "Once upon a time, an Angel and a Devil fell in love. It did not end well." - Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

5. "Somebody stabbed you in the neck, young lady" - Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover

6. "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen." - 1984 by George Orwell

7. "I am an hourglass." - Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi

8. "I was born out of sorrow, so my mother named me Rain." - The Foretelling by Allice Hoffman

9. "Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself." - Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

10. "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." - Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen



What are your favourite first lines? Let us know via the comments, or find us on Twitter , Facebook or Instagram and share your thoughts.