Opening lines

[alpharaposa]

Since other are doing this, I thought I'd contribute as well. Below are the first lines of 10 books. I had to hunt around a bit to find ones with distinctive lines but not ones that gave it away entirely. It was hard to find books that were common enough to be pretty broadly recognized, but hadn't been quoted already by other folks on my friends list.

See if you can guess the title and author.

1. "The Mole had been working very hard all morning, spring cleaning his little home."

2. "Once upon a time there was a Martian named Valentine Michael Smith."

3. "In that pleasant district of merry England which is watered by the river Don, there extended in ancient times a large forest, covering the greater part of the beautiful hills and valleys which lie between Sheffield and the pleasant town of Doncaster."

4. "The Nellie, a cruising yawl, swung to her anchor without a flutter of the sails and was at rest."

5. "The unicorn lived in a lilac wood, and she lived all alone."

6. "The last drops of the thundershower had hardly ceased falling when the Pedestrian stuffed his map into his pocket, settled his pack more comfortably on his tired shoulders, and stepped out from the shelter of a large chestnut-tree into the middle of the road."

7. "Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun."

8. "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen."

9. "In the year 1872, the house at number 7 Savile Row, Burlington Gardens - the house in which Sheridan died in 1814 - was lived in by Phileas Fogg, Esq., one of the oddest and most striking members of the Reform Club, even though he seemed determined to avoid doing anything that might draw attention to himself."

10. "This is my favorite book in all the world, though I have never read it."

1. The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame
2. Stranger in a Strange Land, by Robert A. Heinlein
3. Ivanhoe, by Sir Walter Scott
4. Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad
5. The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle
6. Out of the Silent Planet, by C.S. Lewis
7. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
8. 1984, by George Orwell
9. Around the World in 80 Days, by Jules Verne.
10. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman

Comments

[gatcat.livejournal.com]

Five guesses, five correct. Fun meme!

[stryck.livejournal.com]

Ooh! Which ones did you guess?

[gatcat.livejournal.com]

1, 2, 5, 7, 9. I'm surprised I didn't get 10. I'm just about to reread 8--you should have waited a couple of days!

[seraphimsigrist.livejournal.com]

It is a good quiz. I have not read
the books recently enough and only
was sure of one and nine. But I
have read in all of them and
completely perhaps six. I did not
like 2m5 or 7 and I doubt I read
3 cover to cover but in any case
they are all familiar enough to
be fun/

[stryck.livejournal.com]

Heinlein's one of those authors that I read, but rarely re-read. I read his works, and they make me think about things, but they don't ever really find a place in my heart. They're books for the head. However, just reading the first few lines of The Princess Bride is enough for me to want to sit down and read the whole thing again.

[seraphimsigrist.livejournal.com]

If I may say so I have read, and read
and reread over the years many Heinlein books
that strangers in a strange land is one I do not
like as also in general the other very long
late books which I also did not like.
I loved the juveniles and the earlier adult
novels and stories but they do have a hard
edge as you say...starship troopers I have
read more than once but it is full of civics
lessons which are very hard edged. some
I agree with more some less.

[yechezkiel.livejournal.com]

1, 2, 6 & 10.

[aefenglommung.livejournal.com]

1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 = seven in all!