First lines meme

[altariel]

From chazzbanner:

1. Choose 10 of your all time favourite books.
2. Take the first sentence of the first chapter and make a list in your journal.
3. Don't reveal the author or the title of the book.
4. Now everyone try and guess.

With #10, I skipped the first line of the book (from the prologue, and completely unguessable) and went for a considerably easier first line of the actual chapter 1.

Edited to add: Wow, you were all fast. katlinel is getting closer and closer on #1 and #3; no offers for #5?

Edited again to add: Just #5 to get, and communicator has the author...

Edited again again: All done!

***

1. The wind is howling through the trees outside, a cold, hateful wind. (The Far Side of Evil by Sylvia Engdahl, guessed by katlinel.)

2. The truth is, if old Major Dover hadn't dropped dead at Taunton races Jim would never have come to Thursgood's at all. (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John Le Carre, guessed by gehayi.)

3. Randy was certain that this was going to be the worst winter of her life. (Spiderweb for Two by Elizabeth Enright, katlinel got the author, chazzbanner got author and book.)

4. Sir Walter Elliot, of Kellynch Hall, in Somersetshire, was a man who, for his own amusement, never took up any book but the Baronetage; there he found occupation for an idle hour, and consolation in a distressed one; there his faculties were roused into admiration and respect, by contemplating the limited remnant of the earliest patents; there any unwelcome sensations, arising from domestic affairs changed naturally into pity and contempt as he turned over the almost endless creations of the last century; and there, if every other leaf were powerless, he could read his own history with an interest which never failed - this was the page at which the favourite volume always opened: ELLIOT OF KELLYNCH HALL. (Persuasion by Jane Austen, guessed by communicator.)

5. There was a wall. (The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin; forodwaith nailed this right away; up-thread communicator got the author, katlinel got the book.)

6. My Dear Honoria - so Peter is really married: I have ordered willow-wreaths for half my acquaintance. (Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy L. Sayers, guessed by slemslempike.)

7. Hence! home, you idle creatures, get you home: Is this a holiday? (Julius Caesar, guessed by kalypso_v.)

8. The big groundcar jerked to a stop centimeters from the vehicle ahead of it, and Armsman Pym, driving, swore under his breath. (A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold, guessed by katlinel; trixieleitz got Bujold.)

9. Once on a dark winter's day, when the yellow fog hung so thick and heavy in the streets of London that the lamps were lighted and the shop windows blazed with gas as they do at night, an odd-looking little girl sat in a cab with her father and was driven rather slowly through the big thoroughfares. (A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett, guessed by gehayi.)

10. Hapscomb's Texaco sat on Number 93 just north of Arnette, a pissant four-street burg about 100 miles from Houston. (The Stand by Stephen King, guessed by gehayi.)

Comments

[communicator.livejournal.com]

Ah, being at lunch I can nab the easy one: 4 is Persuasion, I ought to know a couple of the others I think

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Yup!

[gehayi.livejournal.com]

#2 is Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John Le Carré.

#9 is A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

#10 is The Stand by Stephen King.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Yup, yup and yup!

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

6. Busman's Honeymoon - Dorothy L. Sayers.

The only other one I knew was A Little Princess, I am really bad at this meme.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's DLS. I find this kind of thing really hard too.

[trixieleitz]

8 is a Bujold, but I'd have to look it up to know which one. I got A Little Princess as well :)

re: 5 - is it waiting? ;)

[altariel.livejournal.com]

#8 is indeed Bujold; katlinel has guessed the right one below.

re: 5 - is it waiting? ;)

:-D

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

I think I know Persuasion, Busman's Holiday and Julius Caesar. I guessed A Little Princess and see I'm right; I don't remember the line but it sounded very likely.

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

Sorry, Busman's Honeymoon, of course.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Yes - you're spot on with those.

[(Anonymous)]

(Katlinel at work)

Is number 8 "A Civil Campaign" by Bujold?

I also knew 4 and 6, but that was all because I am rubbish at this kind of thing. I'm only marginally better than I am at music ones.

Would one of them be "Riddley Walker"?

[(Anonymous)]

(Katlinel at work)

I did know 9 too. ;-)

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Is number 8 "A Civil Campaign" by Bujold?

It is indeed!


Would one of them be "Riddley Walker"?

D'oh, no, and I meant to include that one!

[kathyh]

I knew #4 & #6 and should have known #10. I've got a feeling I know #2 but I can't place it. I'm so bad at these...

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I think it's a really hard game. Perhaps I should try a last lines meme as well.

[(Anonymous)]

(Katlinel at work)

Is the first one "Enchantress from the Stars" by Engdahl?

And number 3 is one of the Melendy books, by Enright, although I don't know which one.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

#1: Close, but no cigar!

#3: Right author - care to give the title a guess (if you can remember the plots of the books, I think that sentence does have a big hint in it).

[lame-pegasus.livejournal.com]

I knew Busman's Honeymoon and The Stand. That was all, I fear. *blushes*

[altariel.livejournal.com]

First lines can be really difficult to spot, I think.

[communicator.livejournal.com]

Back from lunch, A knoeledgeable crew your commentators. I am guessing #5 'there was a wall' is one of the Earthsea books. The third one, name of which I currently forget.

[communicator.livejournal.com]

'The Farthest Shore'?

[chazzbanner.livejournal.com]

From across the ocean, I'm a little late. :-) I did get Busman's Honeymoon and Julius Caesar right (though you'll have to trust me on that!).

For #3, since Randy is a girl... how about one of the Melendy famliy series by Elizabeth Enright? If Randy is in a bad mood it may be because she and Oliver are the only kids at home that school year, so it would be Spiderweb for Two.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I trust you :-D

You're spot on with #3 (katlinel had the author up-thread, but not the book).

[forodwaith.livejournal.com]

I knew 4 and 6, authors only for 7 and 8. 5 is definitely The Dispossessed.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Bingo!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Oops!

[temeres.livejournal.com]

Too late to bag it, but I recognised #5. The only one out of the ten I have actually read. Half of the others I've never even heard of.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

A lot of children's books on the list. (Well, three of them are children's books.)

[crossbow1.livejournal.com]

The only one I would have got was The Stand. No one got ANY of mine. I thought at least SOMEONE on my f-list would have read at least ONE of them. (*sob!* I feel so alone!) If you're interested... My book meme (http://www.livejournal.com/users/crossbow1/244245.html) and the answers (http://www.livejournal.com/users/crossbow1/248352.html).

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I only recognized the first one because I was looking at the opening page yesterday! But I did recognize #4 right away (and without peeking at the answers!).

[kerravonsen]

Well, too late to guess any of them, but it's interesting how many of these are also amongst my favourite books or favourite authors.
- Far Side of Evil
- Elizabeth Enright (I think I prefer the first one in that series, The Saturdays)
- Persuasion (probably my second-favourite Austen)
- Ursula Le Guin (though again not my favourite of hers)
- Busman's Honeymoon (IIRC, it was someone on the Lyst, possibly you, who persuaded me to read this series in the first place)
- A Civil Campaign (though it's a bit hard to decide my favourite Bujold)
- A Little Princess

And that's 7/10!

I don't think I should do this meme, you'd guess everything instantly!
Maybe I should do the "last lines" variation...

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Well done! I would love to think your read Sayers on my recommendation :-)

It is very hard to pick a favourite Bujold. I'm rereading Shards of Honour and Barrayar right now. Memory is the one I turn to for comfort reading, though, with ACC a very close second.

I wonder what you would think of The Stand; in the introduction, Stephen King calls it a "long tale of dark Christianity".