Always make a great exit

Over at the Entertainment Weekly web site (www.ew.com), there's now a featured piece about the best closing lines of novels. 20 Classic Last Words in Books brought back great memories of books I discovered in college and on my own, as well as reminding me of a few titles that I really ought to finally give my attention.

Here's a sampling of the titles and lines highlighted, with additional information added by me concerning each book's Kindle status:

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald (available on Kindle for various prices, depending on the edition you select)

* * *

The knife came down, missing him by inches, and he took off.

Catch-22, by Joseph Heller (not yet on Kindle)

* * *

"Yes," I said. "Isn't it pretty to think so."

The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway ($11.99 on Kindle)

* * *

I never saw any of them again- except the cops. No way has yet been invented to say goodbye to them.

The Long Goodbye, by Raymond Chandler ($7.70 on Kindle)

* * *

The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.

Animal Farm, by George Orwell ($7.99 on Kindle)

* * *

It was a fine cry- long and loud- but it had no bottom and it had no top, just circles and circles of sorrow.

Sula, by Toni Morrison ($9.29 on Kindle)

* * *

While a few of the above lines probably require a little context in order to appreciate their resonance, all of these examples (including the additional fourteen listed at the EW site), make one want to go to the complete works to discover or re-discover some memorable stories and some memorable conclusions.