“The night Max wore his wolf suit and made mischief of one kind and another his mother called him 'WILD THING!' and Max said 'I'LL EAT YOU UP!' so he was sent to bed without eating anything."
from Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
vs.
“There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.”
The boys in my classes (high school English) are obsessed with March Madness, but I bet if I provided a multiplayer version of THIS game, they’d see why books beat basketball every time.
I could be totally wrong, but I think for its time it was more unusual to start a novel in media res like that with an ordinary-sounding line of dialogue. As opposed to the more Dickensian “let me introduce my story and characters” style of narration. But I’m not a 19th century Am. Lit expert. Also, I voted against it. My reasons for leaning toward it had more to do with sentimentality about memories of reading Little Women, so I was ruthless and picked the other one!
I'm always going to vote against those opening lines from the Odyssey. But it's the Lattimore translation I don't like, and that doesn't seem fair to Homer. Still it looks like he crushed The Heart is a Lonely Hunter in spite of me, but a better matchup would have been Homer against himself.
Here's the Fagles translation which I think beats Lattimore easily: "Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns driven time and again off course, once he had plundered the hallowed heights of Troy."
This is so fun! Longtime Close Reads listener, first time interacting on the site. I think what I’m learning about myself as a reader is that I prefer first lines with lots of concrete detail rather than grand philosophical statements (Because of Winn Dixie is a great example) but I also prefer brevity when possible. Sometimes those conflict and then it’s extra hard…
I find myself preferring concrete details to grand philosophical statements as well. But I'm also very fond of long sentences as well as short ones. The first line of Macy Dick and the first line of Anne of Green Gables are equally appealing to me because they each do something interesting with sentence craft.
SO, SO unfair!
Matchup #16
“The night Max wore his wolf suit and made mischief of one kind and another his mother called him 'WILD THING!' and Max said 'I'LL EAT YOU UP!' so he was sent to bed without eating anything."
from Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
vs.
“There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.”
from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis
Not happy, Close Reads.
How did F451 beat out HENRY V?!?! I am speechless!
ditto. f451 is not even good book, just a great concept. If it makes thru this time?????
Not possible. It's up against Anne. ;)
I wish there was a way to see who has voted most similarly to you!
Coming back to say I don't understand how Rebecca lost. That is an iconic first sentence.
#16 was a delight!
The hardest for me was definitely Tolkien vs Tolkien. 🤪
The boys in my classes (high school English) are obsessed with March Madness, but I bet if I provided a multiplayer version of THIS game, they’d see why books beat basketball every time.
It was cruel to match up Jane Austen and Shakespeare, not to mention P.G. Wodehouse and Flannery O'Connor!
Wodehouse and OConnor was the hardest. They are completely different lines and stories.
hey you just never know what's going to happen in round one!
I'm so proud of everyone voting for Chesterton!
Will someone explain to me why the Little Women first line is so good? I don’t get it. 🤔
I agree! I love the book but voted against that opening line because it doesn't feel super artistic or clever.
Agreed. 😊
I could be totally wrong, but I think for its time it was more unusual to start a novel in media res like that with an ordinary-sounding line of dialogue. As opposed to the more Dickensian “let me introduce my story and characters” style of narration. But I’m not a 19th century Am. Lit expert. Also, I voted against it. My reasons for leaning toward it had more to do with sentimentality about memories of reading Little Women, so I was ruthless and picked the other one!
I'm always going to vote against those opening lines from the Odyssey. But it's the Lattimore translation I don't like, and that doesn't seem fair to Homer. Still it looks like he crushed The Heart is a Lonely Hunter in spite of me, but a better matchup would have been Homer against himself.
Here's the Fagles translation which I think beats Lattimore easily: "Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns driven time and again off course, once he had plundered the hallowed heights of Troy."
I agree with this.
This is so fun! Longtime Close Reads listener, first time interacting on the site. I think what I’m learning about myself as a reader is that I prefer first lines with lots of concrete detail rather than grand philosophical statements (Because of Winn Dixie is a great example) but I also prefer brevity when possible. Sometimes those conflict and then it’s extra hard…
I find myself preferring concrete details to grand philosophical statements as well. But I'm also very fond of long sentences as well as short ones. The first line of Macy Dick and the first line of Anne of Green Gables are equally appealing to me because they each do something interesting with sentence craft.
Number #11 had me stumped for a bit.
I echo Julius Caesar in saying “et tu Brute?” on this fine March day
Love how Tolkien, Dickens, and the Russians got pitted against each other! Match #7 was brutal though.
Because of Winn-Dixie against The Divine Comedy 😂 now there’s an entertaining matchup.