First Line's The Charm Revisited

Last year I posted some of my favourite first lines. Now American Book Review has their own top 100. Like any list of this sort, it's widely open to debate, especially since the list mostly sticks with classics and modern classics. It's still a fun browse. A few of their lines were the same ones I picked. Here are some of my other favourites from their list: You are about to begin reading Italo Calvino's new novel, If on a winter's night a traveler. —Italo Calvino, If on a winter's night a traveler (1979; trans. William Weaver) The moment one learns English, complications set in. —Felipe Alfau, Chromos (1990) It was the day my grandmother exploded. —Iain M. Banks, The Crow Road (1992) The human race, to which so many of my readers belong, has been playing at children's games from the beginning, and will probably do it till the end, which is a nuisance for the few people who grow up. —G. K. Chesterton, The Napoleon of Notting Hill (1904) I write this sitting in the kitchen sink. —Dodie Smith, I Capture the Castle (1948) Also stop by Dan's for some more favourite lines. Not first ones, mind you. But faves nonetheless. (h/t: I can't remember! Sorry!)