Today is Joyce Carol Oates' birthday! As a way of paying tribute to my greatest inspiration here are a selection of first sentences from her writing. You can find past reviews I've written about her latest fiction here.
The opening lines from novels and stories by Joyce Carol Oates are sometimes startling, sometimes mordantly funny, sometimes ironic, sometimes gruesome, sometimes elegantly simple and sometimes questioningly philosophical. But they all have the ability to grip you and make you want to read more.
