Books The 11 Best First Lines of This Fall's New Books From the painfully funny to the gorgeously melancholy By David Canfield David Canfield David Canfield is a former staff editor at Entertainment Weekly. He left EW in 2022. EW's editorial guidelines and Tina Jordan Tina Jordan Tina is an Editor at Large for EW EW's editorial guidelines Published on October 9, 2017 11:35AM EDT Close 01 of 12 The Best in Fall Book Openings Little, Brown; Simon and Schuster; Penguin There's something distinct about a great first line: Even in a book that doesn't necessarily measure up, it grabs your attention, demands an instant and sharp reaction, and compels you to read on with a closer eye. It's been a strong season for books, and the same could be said for those all-important first lines. Here, we celebrate the funniest, darkest, and most mysterious openings of the fall. 02 of 12 Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke “Geneva Sweet ran an orange extension cord past Mayva Greenwood, Beloved Wife and Mother, May She Rest with Her Heavenly Father.” Order the book here. 03 of 12 Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward Simon and Schuster “I like to think I know what death is.” Order the book here. 04 of 12 Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng Penguin “Everyone in Shaker Heights was talking about it that summer: how Isabelle, the last of the Richardson children, had finally gone around the bend and burned the house down.” Order the book here. 05 of 12 Provenance by Ann Leckie Orbit "'There were unexpected difficulties,’ said the dark grey blur.” Order the book here. 06 of 12 The World of Tomorrow by Brendan Mathews Little Brown and Company “Francis never expected the silverware would be his undoing.” Order the book here. 07 of 12 My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent Penguin “The old house hunkers on its hill, all peeling white paint, bay windows, and spindled wooden railings overgrown with climbing roses and poison oak.” Order the book here. 08 of 12 Vacationland by John Hodgman Penguin “I apologize for my beard.” Pre-order the book here. 09 of 12 A Column of Fire by Ken Follett Penguin “We hanged him in front of Knightsbridge Cathedral.” Order the book here. 10 of 12 Red Clocks by Leni Zumas Lee Boudreaux Books “In a room for women whose bodies are broken, Eivor Minorvudottír’s biographer waits her turn.” Pre-order the book here. 11 of 12 The Golden House by Salman Rushdie Random House “On the day of the new president’s inauguration, when we worried that he might be murdered as he walked hand in hand with his exceptional wife among the cheering crowds, and when so many of us were close to economic ruin in the aftermath of the bursting of the mortgage bubble, and when Isis was still an Egyptian mother-goddess, an uncrowned seventy-something king from a faraway country arrived in New York City with his three motherless sons to take possession of the palace of his exile, behaving as if nothing was wrong with the country or the world or his own story.” Order the book here. 12 of 12 The Autobiography of Gucci Mane by Gucci Mane Simon and Schuster “The police had taken my pistol the day before but I wasn’t without my heavy arms.” Order the book here.