What is the best story hook you have ever read?

I'm not sure why, but I've always really liked the opening lins of The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien. I don't have the book on me right now, but it starts off something like "in a hole in a ground there lived a hobbit". Then he goes on to describe more about this hobbit-hole in a very interesting way. Dang. I wish I had the book so I could read it again. But it was very good, I thought.