Opening Lines from Famous Novels...which is better
Posted: 2002-10-30 04:13pm
Lord of the Rings
When Mr. Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton.
Bilbo was very rich and very peculiar, and had been the wonder of the Shire for sixty years, ever since his remarkable disappearance and unexpected return. The riches he had brought back from his travels had now become a local legend, and it was popularly believed, whatever the old folk might say, that the Hill at Bag End was full of tunnels stuffed with treasure. And if that was not enough for fame, there was also his prolonged vigour to marvel at. Time wore on, but it seemed to have little effect on Mr. Baggins. At ninety he was much the same as at fifty. At ninety-nine they began to call him _well_-preserved, but _unchanged_ would have been nearer the mark. There were some that shook their heads and thought this was too much of a good thing; it seemed unfair that anyone should possess (apparently) perpetual youth as well as (reputedly) inexhaustible wealth.
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Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
THE year 1866 was signalised by a remarkable incident, a mysterious
and puzzling phenomenon, which doubtless no one has yet forgotten. Not to
mention rumours which agitated the maritime population and excited the
public mind, even in the interior of continents, seafaring men were
particularly excited. Merchants, common sailors, captains of vessels,
skippers, both of Europe and America, naval officers of all countries, and
the Governments of several States on the two continents, were deeply
interested in the matter.
For some time past vessels had been met by "an enormous thing,"
a long object, spindle-shaped, occasionally phosphorescent, and
infinitely larger and more rapid in its movements than a whale.
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The Time Machine
The Time Traveller (for so it will be convenient to speak of him) was
expounding a recondite matter to us. His grey eyes shone and twinkled, and his
usually pale face was flushed and animated. The fire burned brightly, and the
soft radiance of the incandescent lights in the lilies of silver caught the
bubbles that flashed and passed in our glasses. Our chairs, being his patents,
embraced and caressed us rather than submitted to be sat upon, and there was
that luxurious after-dinner atmosphere when thought roams gracefully free of the
trammels of precision. And he put it to us in this way--marking the points with
a lean forefinger--as we sat and lazily admired his earnestness over this new
paradox (as we thought it:) and his fecundity.
`You must follow me carefully. I shall have to controvert one or two ideas
that are almost universally accepted. The geometry, for instance, they taught
you at school is founded on a misconception.'
When Mr. Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton.
Bilbo was very rich and very peculiar, and had been the wonder of the Shire for sixty years, ever since his remarkable disappearance and unexpected return. The riches he had brought back from his travels had now become a local legend, and it was popularly believed, whatever the old folk might say, that the Hill at Bag End was full of tunnels stuffed with treasure. And if that was not enough for fame, there was also his prolonged vigour to marvel at. Time wore on, but it seemed to have little effect on Mr. Baggins. At ninety he was much the same as at fifty. At ninety-nine they began to call him _well_-preserved, but _unchanged_ would have been nearer the mark. There were some that shook their heads and thought this was too much of a good thing; it seemed unfair that anyone should possess (apparently) perpetual youth as well as (reputedly) inexhaustible wealth.
******************************
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
THE year 1866 was signalised by a remarkable incident, a mysterious
and puzzling phenomenon, which doubtless no one has yet forgotten. Not to
mention rumours which agitated the maritime population and excited the
public mind, even in the interior of continents, seafaring men were
particularly excited. Merchants, common sailors, captains of vessels,
skippers, both of Europe and America, naval officers of all countries, and
the Governments of several States on the two continents, were deeply
interested in the matter.
For some time past vessels had been met by "an enormous thing,"
a long object, spindle-shaped, occasionally phosphorescent, and
infinitely larger and more rapid in its movements than a whale.
*********************************************
The Time Machine
The Time Traveller (for so it will be convenient to speak of him) was
expounding a recondite matter to us. His grey eyes shone and twinkled, and his
usually pale face was flushed and animated. The fire burned brightly, and the
soft radiance of the incandescent lights in the lilies of silver caught the
bubbles that flashed and passed in our glasses. Our chairs, being his patents,
embraced and caressed us rather than submitted to be sat upon, and there was
that luxurious after-dinner atmosphere when thought roams gracefully free of the
trammels of precision. And he put it to us in this way--marking the points with
a lean forefinger--as we sat and lazily admired his earnestness over this new
paradox (as we thought it:) and his fecundity.
`You must follow me carefully. I shall have to controvert one or two ideas
that are almost universally accepted. The geometry, for instance, they taught
you at school is founded on a misconception.'