New this month from the University of Nebraska Press:Narrative Beginnings: Theories and Practices, edited by Brian Richardson.

This is a book about beginnings, an appropriate topic as we begin a new year. But specifically, Narrative Beginnings is about the beginnings of stories – sometimes descriptions of people or places, sometimes interruptions of actions, sometimes bold, unforgettable statements that stick with a reader long after he or she has finished the book. Yet for as powerful as beginnings can often be, they’re a little-studied topic. In Narrative Beginnings, sixteen essays shed some light on this important element of any story. This week's Linking in Lincoln explores beginnings, too.

1. Even those who haven’t read Anna Karenina have surely heard its famous first sentence: “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” For more famous first lines, check out this list at Amazon.com.

2. Author Edward George Bulwer-Lytton opens his 1830 novel Paul Clifford with the famous line “It was a dark and stormy night.” However, what follows isn’t so memorable: “…the rain fell in torrents — except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.” Many decades later, a contest devoted to bad beginnings was named in Bulwer-Lytton’s honor (if being the namesake of a contest honoring bad writing can be called an honor). Read all about it (as well as some winning entries) at the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction contest web site.

3. Memorable opening lines aren’t unique to books. Check out a list of film’s greatest opening lines at AMC filmsite.

4. And while we’re on the topic of film, the whole industry began in 1878 with a horse named Sallie Gardner, according to Wikipedia. Intrigued? Click on the link to read more.

5. And now the beginning that's on many Americans' minds: With the 56th presidential inauguration less than two weeks away, Barack Obama is just about to begin his tenure as U.S. president. Read about inauguration day events, news, and in the event that you're attending the inauguation, street closings, accomodations and services, at the official Washington D.C. web site.

This brings us to the end of this blog about beginnings. Are you ready to read about endings now? You can find out about how endings often relate to beginnings in Narrative Beginnings: Theories and Practices. And you can find the beginnings and endings (and everything in between) of many, many more books at the University of Nebraska Press web site.