On: Gabriel García Márquez, Literary Pioneer, Dies at ...

[igravious]

I see your, “Many years later [...]" and raise you, “It was the day my grandmother exploded." Iain Banks, The Crow Road.

[coldtea → igravious]

Not as good.

Merely goes for the surprise element.

The other quote also:

1) gives more plot information (the hero is an older man, sentenced to death),

2) beautifully evokes his nostalgia before death (remembering an event from his childhood)

3) AND builds suspense: He is at the moment in front of the firing squad. Will he die? Get a pardon? Somehow be resqued?

[lemma → coldtea]

To expand on #3: the "present" in the sentence isn't even taking place before the firing squad, that's "many years later". It places the reader in a timeless moment.

[pizza → coldtea]

I think another opener that's at least as good is "Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don't know" (even though this is misleading w/o the whole context..)

[205guy → pizza]

As much as I like Camus's The Stranger, and am not familiar with Marquez, I still agree with coldtea. In a single opening line (when you know nothing of the rest of the book), Marquez places a beginning (seeing ice) an ending (the firing squad), and makes you want to read more to see what happens in between.

[igravious → pizza]

Camus? The Outsider?

[igravious → coldtea]

I was being provocative. I agree with you :) I wonder is there an anthology of first-lines?

[coldtea → igravious]

There's a nice (not very literature heavy) first line I remember from the great late science fiction writer Frederic Brown.

"The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door...".

[arethuza → igravious]

Although that line is memorable I don't think it is beautiful - indeed I rather prefer the opening paragraphs of Espedair Street, which you can read on the wiki page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espedair_Street

Edit - having said that, I think the start of The Crow Road is rather good as that immature desire to shock is rather appropriate for Prentice McHoan - but you can't really tell how appropriate that is until you've read more of the book.