When I was young I used to read the first line and the last line of a book. It didn’t matter if I thought it was a good or bad book, and by reading the last line of the book I didn’t really learn anything about what was going to happen. But for me, it calmed the impatience, that burning desire to know what happens and in the case of assigned books from school, the comfort of knowing that indeed the book would end.

I still do this when I go into a bookstore. I read the first and the last lines and if there’s something there I’ll read a bit and go from there. I’m not sure if it’s fair – probably isn’t – but just like everyone judges a book by its cover, I judge lines.

So I thought it was cool to read these opening lines posted up on the Poets & Writers blog.

I only wished that they had final lines as well.