First Lines: Cornelia Funke

All was still in the valley of the dragons.

Dragon Rider

Cornelia Funke

First Lines: John Fowles

An easterly is the most disagreeable wind in Lyme Bay – Lyme Bay being that largest bite from the underside of England’s outstretched southwestern leg – and a person of curiosity could at once have deduced several strong probabilities about the pair who began to walk down the quay at Lyme Regis, the small but ancient eponym of the inbite, one incisively sharp and blustering morning in the late March of 1867.

The French Lieutenant’s Woman

John Fowles

First Lines: F. Scott Fitzgerald

On the pleasant shore of the French Riviera, about half way between Marseilles and the Italian border, stands a large, proud, rose-colored hotel.

Tender is the Night

F. Scott Fitzgerald

First Lines: Daniel Friedman

In retrospect, it would have been better if my wife had let me stay home to see Meet the Press instead of making me schlep across town to watch Jim Wallace die.

Don’t Ever Get Old 

Daniel Friedman

First Lines: Ford Madox Ford

This is the saddest story I have ever heard.

The Good Soldier

Ford Madox Ford

First Lines: David Fisher

Jasper Maskelyne was drinking a glass of razor blades when the war began.

The War Magician

David Fisher

First Lines: 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.

The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald

First Lines: Joseph Furphy

Unemployed at last!

Such Is Life 

Joseph Furphy

First Lines: Jack Finney

I warn you that what you're about to read is full of loose ends and unanswered questions.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Jack Finney

First Lines: E.M. Forster

"The cow is there," said Ansell, lighting a match and holding it out over the carpet.

The Longest Journey

E.M. Forster

First Lines: William Faulkner

Through the fence, between the curling flower spaces, I could see them hitting.

The Sound and the Fury

William Faulkner

First Lines: F. Scott Fitzgerald

Amory Blaine inherited from his mother every trait, except the stray inexpressible few, that made him worth while.

This Side of Paradise

F. Scott Fitzgerald

First Lines: Ken Follett

The small boys came early to the hanging.

The Pillars of the Earth

Ken Follett

First Lines: Gillian Flynn

When I think of my wife, I always think of her head.

Gone Girl

Gillian Flynn

First Lines: Ian Fleming

James Bond, with two double bourbons inside him, sat in the final departure lounge of Miami Airport and thought about life and death.

Goldfinger

Ian Fleming

First Lines: Ian Fleming

Most motorcars are conglomerations (this is a long word for bundles) of steel and wire and rubber and plastic, and electricity and oil and gasoline and water, and the toffee papers you pushed down the crack in the back seat last Sunday.

Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang

Ian Fleming

First Lines: Ian Fleming

There are moments of great luxury in the life of a secret agent.

Live and Let Die

Ian Fleming

First Lines: Ian Fleming

The scent and smoke and sweat of a casino are nauseating at three in the morning.

Casino Royale

Ian Fleming

First Lines: William Faulkner

It was just noon that Sunday morning when the sheriff reached the jail with Lucas Beauchamp though the whole town (the whole county too for that matter) had known since the night before that Lucas had killed a white man.

Intruder in the Dust

William Faulkner

First Lines: Dick Francis

I could think of three good reasons for not going to Moscow, one of which was twenty-six, blond, and upstairs unpacking her suitcase.

Trial Run

Dick Francis