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Discussion » Statements » Rosie's Corner » "It was the best of times. It was the worst of times" . The beginning of a "Tale of Two Cities" Your favorite beginning lnes?
RosieG

"It was the best of times. It was the worst of times" . The beginning of a "Tale of Two Cities" Your favorite beginning lnes?

The lines at the end of "A Tale of Two Cities" are equally magnificent and possibly even more memorable.

"It is a far, far better thing that I do than I have ever done. It is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known". To understand the meaning of those words you would have had to have read th book or seen the movie. Did you?

The middle of "A Tale of Two Cities" is quite equal to the beginning and end. Then of course there is "Call me Ismael". Words that are so memorable are priceless in a story about a man with a wooden leg and a whale.

Posted - November 23, 2018
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Responses


  • 23830
    I've not read "A Tale of Two Cities," though those lines definitely are iconic!
    :)

    But here are my favorite opening lines. I find them magnificent, too, but probably not in the same way you find Dickens' lines.
    :)

    ~ the opening to Shirley Jackson's "The Sundial"


    After the funeral they came back to the house, now indisputably Mrs. Halloran's. They stood uneasily, without any certainty, in the large lovely entrance hall, and watched Mrs. Halloran go into the right wing of the house to let Mr. Halloran know that Lionel's last rites had gone off without melodrama. Young Mrs. Halloran, looking after her mother-in-law, said without hope, "Maybe she will drop dead on the doorstep. Fancy dear, would you like to see Granny drop dead on the doorstep?"
        "Yes, mother." This post was edited by WelbyQuentin at November 25, 2018 2:50 AM MST
      November 23, 2018 11:07 AM MST
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  • 113301
    A Shirley Jackson fan? Ever read "THE LOTTERY"? Probably you did. It is a surprising shivery shuddery classic Yes she is a very good writer!  I am not familiar with the work you cite but it certainly sounds like Shirley!  I wonder how many other Shirley Jackson fans there are on Answermug? I wonder how many have ever even heard of her much less read her? But we know there are at least two of us here. Thank you for your reply m'dear and Happy Sunday to you WQ! :) This post was edited by RosieG at November 25, 2018 4:41 AM MST
      November 25, 2018 2:54 AM MST
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  • 23830
    Yes, I've read "The Lottery." I believe I read it in high school for the first time. Love it.

    Jackson is my favorite author. I'm not sure but I think I've read everything by her that's been published,
    :)
      November 25, 2018 4:35 AM MST
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  • 113301
    John Steinbeck is my favorite author. I wrote him a  28-page fan letter once years ago and he replied on a postcard, both sides, in his own handwriting. It began "Dear Rosemarie" and he ended it with "Yours, John Steinbeck". In fact I have it in hand right now. If you are interested in what he wrote to me I'll be very happy to share it with you. It was dated 9 May 1964! The only thing I've ever received that I treasure from a stranger. I have everything he ever wrote that was published and of course read all of it. I walked the streets in Monterey of which he wrote. Once upon a time long ago with friend. We spent a few days on Cannery Row and I could FEEL what it must have been like to live there then. I do like Shirley Jackson a lot. I also very much enjoy William Saroyan, an Armenian American like me. He writes of things I've lived/experienced and can relate to warmly in my memories. I'm also a scifi fan and a fan of quantum physics which is the source of scifi actually. Or so it seems to me. The worlds that talented writers create that we can escape too I think are miraculous! How they do it I don't know but that they do it is what I'm very grateful for and appreciate. Thank you for your reply WQ! :) This post was edited by RosieG at November 25, 2018 11:40 AM MST
      November 25, 2018 4:47 AM MST
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  • 23830
    I like Steinbeck, too. That's cool he wrote you! I write/wrote quite a few fan letters, too.
    :)

    Though they're probably warhorses as far as the wealth of Steinbeck's works, I really liked "Of Mice and Men" and "The Grapes of Wrath." The very last scene of "The Grapes of Wrath" is literally mind-blowing to me.
    That ending is partly why I was disappointed in that starring-James-Fonda movie "The Grapes of Wrath." It seemed to me - I may be wrong --  that the movie revolved only around a small part of the book. Not that I would expect the book's ending to be in the movie. It would be mind-blowing scene even to today's audiences, I believe.
    :)
      November 25, 2018 11:47 AM MST
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  • 113301
    Those are the classics m'dear. The ones that I related to and where I wish I had been were the early works. Cannery Row. Tortilla Flat. Sweet Thursday.  Even Pastures of Heaven. The Long Valley. His one non-fiction work ws The Log from the Sea of Cortez which tells of his trip with Doc (who was a real person named Ed Ricketts as were some of the other characters in his early works) to Baja, California. A very close and dear former Answerbag pal who sadly passed away a few years ago lived in Baja for awhile. Anyway thank you for your reply m'dear! How many years have we chatted? Never on this topic before. Wonder why? This post was edited by RosieG at November 25, 2018 12:08 PM MST
      November 25, 2018 12:07 PM MST
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  • 6098
    "We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold."

    Hunter Thompson, Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas 
      November 25, 2018 5:59 AM MST
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  • 113301
    I saw a movie long ago about a compulsive gambler who couldn't leave Las Vegas and died there. I think the actor either won an Academy Award for his performance or was nominated for one. It was a very sad movie but worth seeing because the acting was very good. I have heard of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas but am not familiar with it. I think the movie to which I allude was clled "Leaving Las Vegas". Is your favorite remotely akin to the one I'm talking about? Thank you for your reply og and Happy Monday to thee.
      November 26, 2018 5:15 AM MST
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  • 6098
    Thank you for your comment. No I don't think so. That was a book from I think the early 1970s about a journalist who on assignment drives to Las Vegas to cover some sporting event and about all the adventures and misfortunes he and his friend have in the course of a weekend.  There is a lot of drug use in it but it is very funny or was to me back in the drug-crazed days of my youth in the 1970s and early 80s.  But I know of people who did not do drugs who loved it as well.  Looking it up I find it was commissioned for Rolling Stone magazine which catered to youth musical and lifestyle tastes back then and it first appeared there before it was published as a book. 
      November 26, 2018 5:32 AM MST
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  • 113301
    Thank you for all that info og. I was never into the drug culture nor a fan of Rolling Stone.  I preferred then as I do now classical music and jazz though there are some groups whose music I did love that were outside those genres and some songs I love that were neither. "Dust in the Wind". "Windmills of your mind". "Send in the Clowns". "Sunrise  Sunset". To mention just a few. :)
      November 26, 2018 5:40 AM MST
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  • 6098
    When I grew up and learned how to be a responsible adult I learned to enjoy classical music.  I guess when you are young you listen to the music that most speaks to you.  My parents had Broadway shows they liked to listen to and they took me to  quite a few of them so I grew up with that but then becoming a teenager you want to have your own music.  Music of your generation which you relate to. Some of which I still enjoy but later I came to want more from the music I listened to which was why I turned to concert music and jazz. 
      November 26, 2018 5:57 AM MST
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