Modest Beginnings

I have spent some time today (Mothers Day, so I can write all day without interuptions from the ironing board) looking at the openers of books. This thought trail started as I was preparing myself for parting with the manuscript. After much last minute pampering I suddenly decided that I wasn't sure about the start, probably because I couldn't think of anything else to worry about!
What makes us dive into a book, what gets us past the first page and what makes us want to read on? Had a look at some of my favourites......

Classic
- It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife - P&P, Jane Austen.

Naughty
-'Do you think you're a nymphomaniac? Bill wants to know - A round heeled woman, Jane Juska

Take a deep breath and don't lose the will to live in the middle
- At the court of the Emperor (he lived it matters not when) there was among the many gentlewomen of the wardobe and Chamber one, who though she was not of very high rank was favoured far beyond the rest; so that the great ladies of the palace, each of whom had secretly hoped that she herself would be chosen, looked with scorn upon the upstart who had dispelled their dreams' - The Tale of Genji, The Lady Murasaki (11th century masterpiece of Japanese prose and one of the world's earliest novels).

Just good
-In the beginning there was river. The river became a road and the road branched out to the whole world and because the road was once a river it was always hungry -The Famished Road, Ben Okri

Classy Dickens prize for the use of 'it was'
-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.......(goes on a bit) - A Tale of Two Cities.

Intriguing
- Dr Iannis had enjoyed a satifactory day in which none of his patients had died or got any worse- Captain Corelli, Louis de Bernieres.

Minx humour prize
- The rumour had spread through the city like wildfire (which had quite often spread through Ankh-Morpork since its citizens had learned the word 'Fire insurance') - The Truth, Terry Pratchett.

Now have to stop because this list could go on and on and on and on.............