Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."
Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."
Willa Cather, My Antonia
"I first heard of Antonia on what seemed to me an interminable journey across the great midland plain of North America."
John Steinbeck, Once There Was a War
"Somewhere in England, June 20, 1943--The troops in their thousands sit on their equipment on the dock. It is evening, and the first of the dimout lights come on. The men wear their helmets, which make them all look alike, make them look like long rows of mushrooms. Their rifles are leaning against their knees. They have no identity, no personality. The men are units in an army."
E.M. Forster, A Room with a View
" 'The signora had no business to do it,' said Miss Bartlett, 'no business at all. She promised us south rooms with a view, close together, instead of which here are north rooms, here are north rooms, looking into a courtyard, and a long way apart..."
Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar
"It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted
the Rosenbergs, and I didn't know what I was doing in New
York. I'm stupid about executions. The idea of being electrocuted makes me sick, and that's all there was to read about in
the papers - goggle-eyed headlines staring up at me on every
street corner and at the fusty, peanut-smelling mouth of every
subway. It had nothing to do with me, but I couldn't help
wondering what it would be like, being burned alive all along
your nerves.
I thought it must be the worst thing in the world."
Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis
"When Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from unsettling dreams, he found himself changed in his bed into a monstrous vermin."
Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
"When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow. When it healed, and Jem's fear of never being able to play football were assuaged, he was seldom self-conscious about his injury."
Charlotte Bronte, Villette
"My godmother lived in a handsome house in the clean and ancient town of Bretton. Her husband's family had been residents there for generations, and bore, indeed, the name of their birthplace--Bretton of Bretton: whether by coincidence, or because some remote ancestor had been a personage of sufficient importance to leave his name to his neighborhood, I know not."
Albert Camus, The Plague
"The unusual events described in this chronicle occurred in 194- at Oran. Everyone agreed that, considering their somewhat extraordinary character, they were out of place there.”
