First Lines
Nicked from camillo1978, tudorpot, veradee and others...
Ten books I love, and ten first lines--or first couple of lines, where appropriate. Chosen because I like them and they were easily accessible from the Book Pile O Doom. *g*
Leave a comment with the title and author, if you recognize any of them. Names are excised where they would be too incriminating.
1. 'XXXXX,' I said, 'may I speak frankly?'
'Certainly, sir.'
'What I have to say may wound you.'
'Not at all, sir.'
'Well, then-'
No - wait. Hold the line a minute. I've gone off the rails.
Right Ho, Jeeves, by PG Wodehouse, guessed by corianderpie
2. In later years, holding forth to an interviewer or to an audience of aging fans at a comic book convention, XXX XXXX liked to declare, apropos of his and XXX XXXXXXXX's greatest creation, that back when he was a boy, sealed and hog-tied inside the airtight vessel known as Brooklyn, New York, he had been haunted by dreams of Harry Houdini.
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, by Michael Chabon, guessed by corianderpie
3. "It was a nice day. All the days had been nice. There had been rather more than seven of them so far, and rain hadn't been invented yet. But clouds massing east of Eden suggested that the first thunderstorm was on its way, and it was going to be a big one."
Good Omens, by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, guessed by ariadne1
4. "XXXXXXX XXXXX took his bottle from the corner of the mantelpiece, and his hypodermic syringe from its neat morocco case. With his long, white, nervous fingers he adjusted the delicate needle and rolled back his left shirtcuff."
The Sign of the Four, by Arthur Conan Doyle, guessed by cosmiccoz
5. I sat back in my chair, jabbed the cap onto my pen, threw it into the drawer, and abandoned myself to the flood of relief, satisfaction, and anticipation that was let loose by that simple action.
A Monstrous Regiment of Women, by Laurie R. King
6. Three hundred and forty-eight years, six months, and nineteen days ago today the Parisians were awakened by the sound of loud peals from all the bells within the triple precincts of the City, the University, and the Town.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame, by Victor Hugo, guessed by ariadne1
7. There was once a young man who wished to gain his Heart's Desire.
Stardust, by Neil Gaiman, guessed by valady
8. Who that cares much to know the history of man, and how the mysterious mixture behaves under the varying experiments of Time, has not dwelt, at least briefly, on the life of Saint Theresa, has not smiled with some gentleness at the thought of the little girl walking forth one morning hand-in-hand with her still smaller brother, to go and seek martyrdom in the country of the Moors?
Middlemarch, by George Eliot, guessed by corianderpie
9. The Minotaur had been causing trouble far in excess of his literary importance--first by escaping from the fantasy-genre prison book Sword of the Zenobians, then by leading us on a merry chase across most of fiction and thwarting all attempts to recapture him.
Something Rotten, by Jasper Fforde. Kudos totudorpot and mundungus42 for identifying the author!
10. XXXXXXXX said she would buy the flowers herself.
Mrs. Dalloway, by Virginia Woolf, guessed by dreamy_dragon73 and ariadne1 at the same time.
Ten books I love, and ten first lines--or first couple of lines, where appropriate. Chosen because I like them and they were easily accessible from the Book Pile O Doom. *g*
Leave a comment with the title and author, if you recognize any of them. Names are excised where they would be too incriminating.
1. 'XXXXX,' I said, 'may I speak frankly?'
'Certainly, sir.'
'What I have to say may wound you.'
'Not at all, sir.'
'Well, then-'
No - wait. Hold the line a minute. I've gone off the rails.
Right Ho, Jeeves, by PG Wodehouse, guessed by corianderpie
2. In later years, holding forth to an interviewer or to an audience of aging fans at a comic book convention, XXX XXXX liked to declare, apropos of his and XXX XXXXXXXX's greatest creation, that back when he was a boy, sealed and hog-tied inside the airtight vessel known as Brooklyn, New York, he had been haunted by dreams of Harry Houdini.
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, by Michael Chabon, guessed by corianderpie
3. "It was a nice day. All the days had been nice. There had been rather more than seven of them so far, and rain hadn't been invented yet. But clouds massing east of Eden suggested that the first thunderstorm was on its way, and it was going to be a big one."
Good Omens, by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, guessed by ariadne1
4. "XXXXXXX XXXXX took his bottle from the corner of the mantelpiece, and his hypodermic syringe from its neat morocco case. With his long, white, nervous fingers he adjusted the delicate needle and rolled back his left shirtcuff."
The Sign of the Four, by Arthur Conan Doyle, guessed by cosmiccoz
5. I sat back in my chair, jabbed the cap onto my pen, threw it into the drawer, and abandoned myself to the flood of relief, satisfaction, and anticipation that was let loose by that simple action.
A Monstrous Regiment of Women, by Laurie R. King
6. Three hundred and forty-eight years, six months, and nineteen days ago today the Parisians were awakened by the sound of loud peals from all the bells within the triple precincts of the City, the University, and the Town.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame, by Victor Hugo, guessed by ariadne1
7. There was once a young man who wished to gain his Heart's Desire.
Stardust, by Neil Gaiman, guessed by valady
8. Who that cares much to know the history of man, and how the mysterious mixture behaves under the varying experiments of Time, has not dwelt, at least briefly, on the life of Saint Theresa, has not smiled with some gentleness at the thought of the little girl walking forth one morning hand-in-hand with her still smaller brother, to go and seek martyrdom in the country of the Moors?
Middlemarch, by George Eliot, guessed by corianderpie
9. The Minotaur had been causing trouble far in excess of his literary importance--first by escaping from the fantasy-genre prison book Sword of the Zenobians, then by leading us on a merry chase across most of fiction and thwarting all attempts to recapture him.
Something Rotten, by Jasper Fforde. Kudos totudorpot and mundungus42 for identifying the author!
10. XXXXXXXX said she would buy the flowers herself.
Mrs. Dalloway, by Virginia Woolf, guessed by dreamy_dragon73 and ariadne1 at the same time.