I think they're mostly tongue-in-cheek - and they all make me want to read on!

F

It was a wild and stormy night on the West Coast of Scotland. This, however, is immaterial to the present story, as the scene is not laid in the West of Scotland. For the matter of that the weather was just as bad on the East Coast of Ireland.

- first para of Gertrude the Governess by Stephen Leacock

Fantastic!

JB

Emma

I quite like obscure off-kilter first lines, that you don't quite get at first.

On example I still remember, though it was from a chapter 1, not a prologue.

Vonnegaut (sp?) Slaughter House 5

'Billy Pilgrim was a spastic in time.'

You immediately have to stop for a second or two to try and make sense of it. Makes perfect sense ultimately though.

Darryl