Sunday, August 20, 2006

Professor Lim's First Lines

Meanwhile, in Starmag today, Prof. Lim Chee Seng, looks at novels with opening lines that grab the reader's attention, including Kafka's Metamorphosis, Tolstoy's Anna Karenina and Rani Manicka's The Rice Mother. There's 25% off his selected books at Kinokuniya - an interesting collaboration between an academic, a newspaper and a bookstore, and if it encourages folks to read, I'm all for it.

Related Post

Great First Lines (4/2/06)

5 comments:

Eric Forbes said...

Kinokuniya is rather proactive when it comes to encouraging reading in Malaysia and should be applauded for their initiatives. Such win-win collaborations between an academic, a national daily and a bookstore should be a regular feature. I'm all for it, too.

Poppadumdum said...

My vote for the best first line(s) in a novel - Anthony Burgess' Earthly Powers.

Kinokuniya leads the pack in Malaysia for the best bookstore. The others are all treading water.

lainieyeoh said...

for some reason, 'call me ishmael' has always been the first line i recall most readily. there's just something about it.

Anonymous said...

Nabokov's "Lolita". I still shudder when I remember it. The way he plays with the name, like..

Anonymous said...

Yes, Lolita has to be the best first line ever. Sheer poetry.