Thirty Days of First Lines

Per usual, I’ve found a gimmick for April blogging. This time, a memorable opening line or opening passage, one for each day. To start with the inevitable:

“Call Me Ishmael.”

from

This opens Herman Melville’s epic Moby Dick, a universe (or many) in a single novel.

Noble, and also such good material for jokes. Here is one of my favorites, from the now somewhat forgotten New Yorker humorist, Peter De Vries. He opens his “Vale of Laughter” novel, about one Joe Sandwich, thus:

“Call me, Ishmael. Feel absolutely free to call me any hour of the day or night at the office or at home . . .”