A few notable ledes

"Tim Chapman has almost finished building the most macho house in the Florida Keys. With his bare hands, of course. With his larger-than-life personality contained inside and outside the walls. His house is a fortress. His house is ready for a fight." -Jeff Klinkenberg/St. Petersburg Times

The narrative lede that Klinkenberg uses in introducing Chapman, a veteran Miami Herald photographer, expresses much about the character of Chapman and uses descriptive language to help do that.

"When I was very young and the urge to be someplace else was on me, I was assured by mature people that maturity would cure this itch. When years described me as mature, the remedy prescribed was middle age. In middle age I was assured that greater age would calm my fever and now that I am fifty-eight perhaps senility will do the job. " -John Steinbeck, Travels With Charley

Steinbeck lists a succession of life-phases in the start of his book to show that part of his character remains undisturbed. This sets the tone for rest of the book, which shows the effectiveness of the beginning of Steinbeck's book.