54 great opening lines: 35

When Mr Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton.

The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien

*****

There couldn’t be a better start to a sequel to The Hobbit.

6 Replies to “54 great opening lines: 35”

  1. J.R.R TOLKEIN…I Still haven’t been able to fathom the idea of someone being that creative. Giving life to all those races of men. Elves,dwarves,horbits etc.

  2. Wow, it’s good to read that Tolkien’s books changed your life. They didn’t have that effect on me, but many other novels did, and they were also by English authors. My favourites.

Comments are closed.