American Opening Lines

Call me Ishmael.

· Herman Melville, Moby-Dick (1851)

"Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents," grumbled Jo, lying on the rug.

· Louisa May Alcott, Little Women (1868)

You don't know about me without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that ain't no matter.

· Mark Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884)

In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since.

· F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby (1925)