TTT: Beginnings & Ends

There are a lot of reasons this week's Top Ten Thursday topic by The Broke and The Bookish is appropriate to my life these days, but we'll leave that out of this post. It's trivial, really. And, even more so, it has nothing to do with all the wonderful books I'm about to list. I want to let the books speak for themselves

This week's topic is The Top Ten Favorite Beginnings and/or Ends of Books. Isn't that quite the topic? Beginnings are what draw you into a story and ends are what leave you wanting more (or leave you with that delighted sigh of a book well written and loved). I'm gonna navigate this in a simple manner, my 5 favorite beginnings and my 5 favorite ends. Simple, right? Let's hope so!

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." Thanks for this book, Jane. What a marvelous start to a fantastic book. 

2. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald - "In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since." I didn't read this book in High School. And in all honesty, if the beginning of this book hadn't been as good as it is? I probably would have never finished it - and that would have been a tragedy. I love this book, and I love the way it grabs you from word one. 

3. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare - "'You've got to be kidding me,' the bouncer said, folding his arms across his massive chest. He stared down at the boy in the red zip-up jacked and shaved head. 'You can't bring that thing in here.'" I love the scene at the Pandimonium Club and I love that Clare wastes no time getting into her story. 

4. Divergent by Veronica Roth -  "There is one mirror in my house. It is behind a sliding panel in the hallway upstairs. Our faction allows me to stand in front of it on the second day of every third month, the day my mother cuts my hair." I knew I was in for it the second I read this passage. Despite all the 'you wont be able to put it down' comments I heard and read, it wasn't until these sentences that I knew just how true that advice would turn out to be. 

5. The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater - "It is the first day of November and so today someone will die." Talk about an opening line, right? Sheesh. There was no putting this down after that line. 

Ends

6. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald - "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." What a perfect summary of a perfect novel. And the sentiment is one that echoes through our lives. 

7. The Green Mile by Stephen King - "We each owe a death - there are no exceptions. But, oh God, sometimes the Green Mile seems so long." I had almost forgotten about this line, but then it popped into my head with a reminded. I've not been a huge King fan, but this book was magnificent and has stuck with me always. 

8. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling - "The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. All ways well." These two sentences summed up my childhood and put a nice, neat bow on top. Thank you JKR for everything you've done for our lives. 

9. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger - "Don't ever tell anybody anything, If you do, you start missing everybody." Some of the truest words in literature, and ones that tend to haunt you for a while after you've read them.

10. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak - "A LAST NOTE FROM YOUR NARRATOR. I am haunted by humans." There is nothing that I didn't like about this book. And that last bit? That haunts me with its perfection. 

What about you guys? Did I miss any? What do you think are the best beginnings and ends of your favorite novels?