Favorite. mine. My favorite.

My favorite book opening, without a doubt, comes from "A Tale of Two Cities."

"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."

I have several other favorites, but that is most favorite.

Les Miserables, though it is my favorite book, hardly qualifies for the "great openings" contest. If I hadn't wanted to read the book, I would have put it down with the (my opinion, you can differ if you please) with that extremely dull opening. Let me share it with you:

"In 1815, M. Charles-Francois-Bienvenu Myriel was Bishop of D——He was an old man of about seventy-five years of age; he had occupied the see of D——since 1806.

"Although this detail has no connection whatever with the real substance of what we are about to relate, it will not be superfluous, if merely for the sake of exactness in all points, to mention here the various rumors and remarks which had been in circulation about him from the very moment when he arrived in the diocese. True or false, that which is said of men often occupies as important a place in their lives, and above all in their destinies, as that which they do."

Actually, that's not as bad as I remember it being, but it seems to have very little to do with anything, that whole book about M. Charles-Francois-Bienvenu Myriel. Sigh. I love Les Miserables. I want to go read it again.

Pride and Prejudice opens well, but it's just not as striking as my real favorite. There are better quotes in the book (id est: "In vain I have struggled...") In fact, I begin to doubt whether I really like this opening at all:

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a large fortune must be in want of a wife."

I can't think of any right now that I love, but if I was home I could find one thousand on my shelves. I'll give one last one, just because I found it online, and it's by George Macdonald. Now I have covered my four favorite authors.

"Once upon a time, so long ago that I have quite forgotten the date,there lived a king and queen who had no children.
"And the king said to himself, "All the queens of my acquaintancehave children, some three, some seven, and some as many as twelve;and my queen has not one. I feel ill-used." So he made up his mindto be cross with his wife about it. But she bore it all like a goodpatient queen as she was. Then the king grew very cross indeed. Butthe queen pretended to take it all as a joke, and a very good one too." -The Light Princess