I did read Lolita once, but didn't remember that that was where her "light of my life, fire of my loins" line comes from.

Anyhow, Lolita's opening paragraph is definitely great, while Sanderson's is not, so much. I'm not sure if comparing these two makes much sense, though - there's plenty of great writers who do use plenty of detail in their description, I dare say, perhaps even in the opening paragraph.

Like, say, this:

"In the town there were two mutes, and they were always together. Early every morning they would come out from the house where they lived and walk arm in arm down the street to work. The two friends were very different. The one who always steered the way was an obese and dreamy Greek. In the summer he would come out wearing a yellow or green polo shirt stuffed sloppily into his trousers in front and hanging loose behind. When it was colder he wore over this a shapeless sweater. His face was round and oily, with half-closed eyelids and lips that curved in a gentle, stupid smile. The other mute was tall. His eyes had a quick, intelligent expression. He was always immaculate and very soberly dressed."

Nothing so spectacular as the Nabokov opening lines, and a few parts that go into quite a lot of detail, but it works all the same, and opens one of the best 20th century American novels (Carson McCullers' "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter", if you're wondering).