>>Mike's message about the opening paragraph of "The Third Man" got me to wondering what people's favourite book openings are. Here's one of mine. It's from Thomas Pynchon's "Vineland":
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>>Later than usual one summer morning in 1984, Zoyd Wheeler drifted awake through a creeping fig that hung in the window, with a squadron of blue jays stomping around on the roof. In his dream these had been carrier pigeons from someplace far across the ocean, landing and taking off again one by one, each bearing a message for him, but none of whom, light pulsing in their wings, he could ever
>>quite get to in time. He understood it to be another deep nudge from forces unseen, almost surely connected with the letter that had come along with his latest mental-disability check, reminding him that unless he did something publicly crazy before a date now less than a week away, he would no longer qualify for benefits. He groaned out of bed. Somewhere down the hill hammers and saws were busy and country music was playing out of somebody's truck radio. Zoyd was out of smokes.
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>How about, "It was a dark and stormy night"?

Only if you can convince me it's one of your favourites. Besides that's not the whole thing.

It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents--except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.

Horrible, just horrible. ;)