Every Christmas, Brian Aldiss sends out a privately printed little book or pamphlet of poetry or other writing. As I became his publisher this year I was lucky enough to receive one in the post at the beginning of the festive season.
This year's volume was A Garland of First Lines, a collection of opening lines from books in Brian's library which impressed him enough to share. They date from the 17th century to early 2012. Seeing as we are almost at the beginning of a new year I thought I might share some of my favourites with you, opening lines for the impending opening of 2013.
Of all the prizes that come from surviving more than fifty years the best is the freedom to be eccentric. What a joy to be able to explore the physical and mental bounds of existence in safety and comfort, without bothering whether I look or sound foolish. - James Lovelock: The Ages of Gaia
Coal and diamonds, sand and computer chips, cancer and healthy tissue: throughout history, variations in the arrangements of atoms have distinguished the cheap from the cherished, the diseased from the healthy. Arranged one way, atoms make up soil, air and water; arranged another, they make up ripe strawberries. - K. Eric Drexler: Engines of Creation
In the hush of early light the girl stirs. A man watches her. Ready to swoop, poised and focused, he inspects every languorous detail. In silence. - Rodney Hall: The Day We Had Hitler Home
Once the ice had covered continents. The silence of the world had been profound. - Stephen Baxter: Bronze Summer
The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there. - L.P. Hartley: The Go-Between
Salvatore Cavalli, the eldest son of a Piedmontese clockmaker, was celebrating his twenty-seventh birthday in the year 1815 when he learned that the King of Piedmont had decided to remove a large slice of time from the calendar. Rose Tremain - Evangelista's Fan
In all history, nothing is so surprising or so difficult to account for as the sudden rise of civilisation in Greece. Bertrand Russell: History of Western Philosophy
In the Berlin Zoo, beside the pool containing the live walrus, there is an unusual display. In a glass case are all the things found in the stomach of Roland the walrus, who died on 21 August 1961. Dubravka Ugresic: The Museum of Unconditional Surrender
It was the afternoon of my eighty-first birthday, and I was in bed with my catamite when Ali announced that the Archbishop had come to see me. Anthony Burgess: Earthly Powers
The small booklet is full of such gems and I have scribbled down the names of many of the books to ensure I explore them at some point in the year ahead. If you have any favourite first lines then feel free to share them here. And may I take this opportunity to wish you all a most splendid 2013.
Wow, they are all good but I like L.P. Hartley's opening line the best.
Posted by: D.J.Kirkby | December 31, 2012 at 10:01 AM