The Virtual Pub
Come Inside... => The Snug => Topic started by: Snoopy on October 07, 2011, 05:25:59 PM
-
Well we've had word games and three word stories but what would be your choice of the best opening lines?
Book or film .... and tell us who wrote them or what film they are from. This is not meant to be a guessing game.
(https://www.virtual-pub.com/SMF/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F4.bp.blogspot.com%2F_pv3VcPJynWM%2FTQ0DtSZniwI%2FAAAAAAAABAw%2Fbkaz9iBfHSg%2Fs1600%2Fsnoopy-stormy-night.jpg&hash=dc1fcc5cd45247350609a906b81bcea726b49761)
-
The NELLIE, a cruising yawl, swung to her anchor without a flutter of the sails, and was at rest. The flood had made, the wind was nearly calm, and being bound down the river, the only thing for it was to come to and wait for the turn of the tide.
The sea-reach of the Thames stretched before us like the beginning of an interminable waterway. In the offing the sea and the sky were welded together without a joint, and in the luminous space the tanned sails of the barges drifting up with the tide seemed to stand still in red clusters of canvas sharply peaked, with gleams of varnished sprits. A haze rested on the low shores that ran out to sea in vanishing flatness. The air was dark above Gravesend, and farther back still seemed condensed into a mournful gloom, brooding motionless over the biggest, and the greatest, town on earth.
My favourite novel cloud9:
-
"It was a bright, cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen."
Orwell at his peak. :thumbsup:
-
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, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.
eveilgrin:
"A Tale of Two Cities" (1859) by Charles Dickens
-
But he was an Etonian eeek:
-
"It was a bright, cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen."
Orwell at his peak. :thumbsup:
I luved 'Animal farm'. cloud9:
All pigs are equal, only some are more equal than others. :thumbsup:
-
But he was an Etonian eeek:
Good literature can come from the most surprising places.
-
The NELLIE, a cruising yawl, swung to her anchor without a flutter of the sails, and was at rest. The flood had made, the wind was nearly calm, and being bound down the river, the only thing for it was to come to and wait for the turn of the tide.
The sea-reach of the Thames stretched before us like the beginning of an interminable waterway. In the offing the sea and the sky were welded together without a joint, and in the luminous space the tanned sails of the barges drifting up with the tide seemed to stand still in red clusters of canvas sharply peaked, with gleams of varnished sprits. A haze rested on the low shores that ran out to sea in vanishing flatness. The air was dark above Gravesend, and farther back still seemed condensed into a mournful gloom, brooding motionless over the biggest, and the greatest, town on earth.
My favourite novel cloud9:
I know Conrad when I see him .... Mainly because my Mother's middle name was Nellie
-
:thumbsup:
That and Nostromo :thumbsup:
-
:thumbsup:
That and Nostromo :thumbsup:
Or Nosferatu?
-
Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
Tolstoy
-
Which of the gerls is going to come up with this?
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.
rubschin:
-
I know but I'm not a gerl
-
The Brangwens had lived for generations on the Marsh Farm, in the meadows where the Erewash twisted sluggishly through alder trees, separating Derbyshire from Nottinghamshire. Two miles away, a church-tower stood on a hill, the houses of the little country town climbing assiduously up to it. Whenever one of the Brangwens in the fields lifted his head from his work, he saw the church-tower at Ilkeston in the empty sky. So that as he turned again to the horizontal land, he was aware of something standing above him and beyond him in the distance.
:thumbsup:
-
She was only an Admiral's daughter
cloud9:
-
Robert Southey. cloud9:
"Once upon a time, there were three Bears". cloud9:
Absolute and pure bliss of the highest order. cloud9:
-
The Brangwens had lived for generations on the Marsh Farm, in the meadows where the Erewash twisted sluggishly through alder trees, separating Derbyshire from Nottinghamshire. Two miles away, a church-tower stood on a hill, the houses of the little country town climbing assiduously up to it. Whenever one of the Brangwens in the fields lifted his head from his work, he saw the church-tower at Ilkeston in the empty sky. So that as he turned again to the horizontal land, he was aware of something standing above him and beyond him in the distance.
:thumbsup:
(https://www.virtual-pub.com/SMF/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic.guim.co.uk%2Fsys-images%2FBooks%2FPix%2Fpictures%2F2011%2F3%2F17%2F1300359082881%2FRachael-Stirling-and-Rosa-007.jpg&hash=8f55bd66da3eb945b049315592b6f55707e5af07)
eyes:
-
Just as an interesting aside in "A Journey" Tony Blair's account of his years as Labour leader he uses the word "I" 14 times on the first page alone.
-
1801. - I have just returned from a visit to my landlord -the solitary neighbour that I shall be troubled with.
cloud9:
-
Oh, Cathy... happy100
-
If she ever gets up here ::) I can take her to Stanage Edge and Hathersage ::)
She seems to hanker after dark hunky men noooo:
-
rubschin: I wonder what BM's will be............
Prolly: First try to join up the dots in order whistle:
-
Says something that even my favourite book doesn't have a happy ending sad24:
-
The cat sat on the mat?
-
The 'best breed' for you depends on your reasons for having chickens- for meat or eggs or both, for a touch of beauty in your yard, for show, or strictly for fun. Chickens come in all combinations of laying ability, growth rate, size, shape and colour. You should have no trouble finding the 'perfect' chicken- one that is picture-pretty and ideally suited for your purpose.
Gail Damerow; A guide to raising chickens.
-
Says something that even my favourite book doesn't have a happy ending sad24:
I must give you a big cuddle (since Growler is drowning crashing away) It is waht he would have wanted noooo:
-
The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.
"The Go-Between" ~ L. P. Hartley :thumbsup:
-
Is this a quiz?
Had enough of this week. Off to bed with Jonathan Dimbleby and some pills evil:
-
Is this a quiz?
Had enough of this week. Off to bed with Jonathan Dimbleby and some pills evil:
Can I come with you please not literally you understand, I has been a bloody grim one and I for one am all for getting it over with as soon as possible.
Is there a book which starts?
There was a small quiet and unpopulated part of South Hampshire which called to me not once but time and time again, it was only when I realised it was a grave yard that I stopped my incessant yearning.
-
.Get Your Trousers On, You're Nicked! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZT5Fq7KuPk#)
-
Is this a quiz?
Had enough of this week. Off to bed with Jonathan Dimbleby and some pills evil:
Can I come with you please not literally you understand, I has been a bloody grim one and I for one am all for getting it over with as soon as possible.
Is there a book which starts?
There was a small quiet and unpopulated part of South Hampshire which called to me not once but time and time again, it was only when I realised it was a grave yard that I stopped my incessant yearning.
Ooh Miss C happy100
-
Thanks JOM miss dann Sarff in so many ways.
-
Just occasionally you find yourself in an odd situation. You get into it by degrees and in the most natural way but when you are right in the midst of it you are suddenly astonished and ask yourself how in the world it all came about. Thor Heyerdahl The Kon Tiki Expedition.
-
Sounds like my life noooo:
-
.The Most Famous Quotes from Casablanca (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvE-KVCbvow#)
-
"It was a bright, sunny morning and Uncle Bulgaria had just picked up a fine piece of string. . "
-
"It was a bright, sunny morning and Uncle Bulgaria had just picked up a fine piece of string. . "
rubschin: