S11: Beginnings and Ends

My favorite pair of openings and closings out of this list is from “Why We Broke Up” by Daniel Handler. The whole story is written as a letter and I love how unique the writing style is.

 

“When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow”

 

“He would be there all night, and he would be there when Jem waked up in the morning”

 

To Kill a Mockingbird,  Harper Lee

 

“Only three people were left under the red and white awning of the grease joint: Grady, me, and the fry cook.”

 

“For this old man, this is home”

 

Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen

 

“Dear Ed, In a sec you’ll hear a thunk. At your front door, the one nobody uses. It’ll rattle the hinges a bit when it lands, because it’s so weighty and important, a little jangle along with the thunk, and Joan will look up from whatever she’s cooking”

 

“I’m telling you, Ed, I’m telling Al now, I have a feeling. Love, Min”

 

Why We Broke Up, Daniel Handler

 

“In the week before their departure to Arrakis, when all the final scurrying about had reached a nearly unbearable frenzy, an old crone came to visit the mother of the boy, Paul.”

 

“While we, Chani, we who carry the name of concubine–history will call us wives.”

 

Dune, Frank Herbert

 

“The primroses were over.”

 

“Hazel followed; and together they slipped away, running easily down through the wood, where the first primroses were beginning to bloom.”

 

Watership Down,  Richard Adams

 

“It was a tiny shop, tucked discreetly in among the other shops along London’s Oxford Street.”

 

“‘You will live, Papa,’ Elsa whispered. ‘And when I tell you why I must go back, you will understand.’ “A million little reasons,” you will say. And you will understand.’”

 

Vienna Prelude, Bodie & Brock Thoene

 

“As the first crack of thunder broke over Cresent Moon Bay, Grace Tempest opened her eyes.”

 

“‘So it ends. So it begins.’”

 

Vampirates, Justin Somper

 

“I have just returned from a visit to my landlord–the solitary neighbor that I shall be troubled with”

 

“I lingered round them, under that benign sky; watched the moths fluttering among the heath, and hare-bells; listened to the soft wind breathing through the grass; and wondered how any one could ever imagine the unquiet slumbers, for the sleepers in that quiet earth.”

 

Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë

 

“I am what they call in our village ‘one who has not yet died’ –a widow, eighty years old.”

 

“I’m reaching out to Snow Flower and the others who witnessed it all. Please hear my words. Please forgive me.”

 

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Lisa See

 

“When he woke in the woods in the dark and the cold of the night he’d reach out to touch the child sleeping beside him.”

 

“In the deep glens where they lived all things were older than man and they hummed of mystery.”

 

The Road, Cormac McCarthy