Tonight I have been thinking about the post First Lines that I wrote almost exactly two months ago.

The last book that I shared in the post was Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte. I had mentioned that I planned on reading Agnes Grey and also The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Since that time I have read both of them and am now reading another Bronte book.

Shirley by Charlotte Bronte is the only one of the books by the Bronte sisters that I have not read. However, that will soon be remedied.

I really like the first lines of this book and that is what got me thinking about another First Lines post.

Of late years, an abundant shower of curates has fallen upon the north of England: they lie very thick on the hills; every parish has one or more of them; they are young enough to be very active, and ought to be doing a great deal of good.

The Bronte sisters now have two first lines that are near the top of my favorites list.

I am only about 20 percent through this book, but so far I really like it.

For my next book I go back to my Penguin Popular Classics collection.

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens has an interesting first line. The first line is simply:

I am born

Since the first line is so short I will also share the next sentence.

Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.

I read this book long ago, but well remember that he does turn out to be that hero.

Dickens once said of David Copperfield: ‘Of my books, I like this the best’

I was browsing through a book shelf looking for some good lines to share and happened to pick up this copy of National Velvet by Enid Bagnold. The book brought back some good memories. However, it was not from reading the book but rather from watching the 1944 film that starred Elizabeth Taylor and Mickey Rooney. I remember watching it with the McKee’s when I was in grade school. We had checked out the film from the Ottumwa Library. Probably what stuck this in my memory was stopping the film while half way through to go watch a neighbors garage burn to the ground.

Oh, the first lines:

Unearthly Humps of land curved into the darkening sky like the backs of browsing pigs, like the rumps of elephants. At night when the stars rose over them they looked like a starlit herd of divine pigs. The villagers called them Hullocks.

This paragraph has such great imagery. I may just have to read the book again.

Also I now need to see if National Velvet is available on Netflix.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum is another of my favorite childhood books. I knew that Baum had written a series of Oz books, but it wasn’t until about four years ago that I read all fourteen of them back to back.

This copy was the one that we had when I was young. We got it free for buying a 2-lb. can of Folgers coffee.

The first lines of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz are very recognizable.

Dorothy lived in the midst of the great Kansas prairies with Uncle Henry, who was a farmer, and Aunt Em, who was the farmer’s wife.

This book also has meaning to me since at one time we also lived in the midst of the great Kansas prairies.

What are your favorite first lines?

Steven