In the beginning...

Interesting question in a paper the other day - What do you consider the best opening line in a book?  Several candidates immediately spring to mind - "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife" (Pride and Prejudice); "Call me Ishmael" (Moby Dick); "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" (A Tale of Two Cities), but my first choice goes to a book where I misread the title.  When I picked up "1984" - I supposed I was about 15 - I mistakenly thought it was an historical novel (reading it as 1884) so the opening line hit me like a thunderbolt - "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen".  Never forgotten it.