TTT: Favorite Beginnings/Endings

Favorite Beginnings/Endings



This is my first time doing a Top Ten Tuesday, but I definitely want to do more in the future. This is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Basically there is a challenge every week that you can answer and post on your blog and it's all just good fun.

This week is about your favorite beginnings and endings of books. Yes, I know this is a list of twelve, but I just couldn't narrow it down (which is probably how most of these are going to go...) Some of mine are quotes and some are just about the overall feel of the beginning or ending.

Beginnings:

1.) Pride and Prejudice

by: Jane Austen

 

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."

 

2.) The Serpent's Shadow

by: Rick Riordan

"Sadie Kane here. If you're listening to this, congratulations! You survived Doomsday."

 

3.) The Lightning Thief

by: Rick Riordan

"Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood. If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is: close this book right now. Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life."

4.) Finnikin of the Rock

by: Melina Marchetta



No specific line for this one, just the whole prologue. It sucks you into the world of Lumatere from the very beginning with the beautiful prose.

5.) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

by: J.K. Rowling



"Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much."

The beginning of an era, that one. I mean, every time I read it I basically want to re-read the whole series for the bazillionth time.

6.) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

by: J.K. Rowling

Okay, so I've never heard anyone talk about this first scene, but it's always been one of my favorites. That's a bit weird, but let me explain. I always thought it was cool seeing how the wizarding world fit into the normal world. So seeing the Minister of Magic interact with the British Prime Minister always felt really cool to me.

Endings:

 

7.) Clockwork Princess

by: Cassandra Clare

So it isn't the very end, but the part in the epilogue describing Will and Tessa's life together was just wonderful and it made me cry and just yes.

8.) Anna and the French Kiss

by: Stephanie Perkins

"Because I was right. For the two of us, home isn't a place. It's a person. And we're finally home."

9.) Delirium

by: Lauren Oliver

"You have to understand. I am no one special. I am just a single girl. I am five feet two inches tall and I am in-between in every way. But I have a secret. You can build walls all the way to the sky and I will find a way to fly above them. You can try to pin me down with a hundred thousand arms, but I will find a way to resist. And there are many of us out there, more than you think. People who refuse to stop believing. People who refuse to come to earth. People who love in a world without walls, people who love into hate, into refusal, against hope and without fear. I love you. Remember. They cannot take it."
 

10.) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

by: J.K. Rowling

"The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. All was well."

11) The Fault in our Stars

by: John Green

I mean, the whole last chapter is brilliant and heart-breaking. But the last lines are amazing, too.

"I am so lucky to love her, Van Houten. You don't get to choose if you get hurt in this world, old man, but you do have some say in who hurts you. I like my choices. I hope she likes hers.

I do, Augustus.

I do."

12.) Mark of Athena

by: Rick Riordan

 

"Yeah." He took one last look at the cityscape of Rome, turning bloodred in the sunset. "Festus, raise the sails. We've got some friends to save."