I like to make up my own games.
Aug. 24th, 2011 10:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sarea
Today's LJ question of the day is "What is the first line of your favorite book?" Well, this is too difficult a question for me to answer, since I don't think I have *a* favorite book. Instead, I'm going to share the first lines of 15 of my favorite books, and you guys should guess what books they're from! (Needless to say, don't use a search engine. <g>)
These are surprisingly not easy. It's amazing how many great books begin so innocuously. (I left out ones that were just way too obvious.) The only hint I'll give is that these all come from works of fiction. If they're just too obscure, I'll start posting individual clues next to each quote, but hopefully it won't come to that. :D
1) I am what they call in our village "one who has not yet died" -- a widow, eighty years old. (Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See; point tojade_okelani)
2) The day was grey and bitter cold, and the dogs would not take the scent. (A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin; point tofearthainn)
3) "I've watched through his eyes, I've listened through his ears, and I tell you he's the one." Hint: Genre: Sci-Fi, Young Adult (Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card; point toadrith)
4) It was a nice day. Hint #1: Genre: Fantasy. Hint #2: This book has 2 authors. (Good Omens by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett; point tofilia_umbrae)
5) Mrs. Rachel Lynde lived just where the Avonlea main road dipped down into a little hollow, fringed with alders and ladies’ eardrops and traversed by a brook that had its source away back in the woods of the old Cuthbert place; it was reputed to be an intricate, headlong brook in its earlier course through those woods, with dark secrets of pool and cascade; but by the time it reached Lynde’s Hollow it was a quiet, well-conducted little stream, for not even a brook could run past Mrs. Rachel Lynde’s door without due regard for decency and decorum; it probably was conscious that Mrs. Rachel was sitting at her window, keeping a sharp eye on everything that passed, from brooks and children up, and that if she noticed anything odd or out of place she would never rest until she had ferreted out the whys and wherefores thereof. (Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery; point tojade_okelani)
6) It wasn't a very likely place for disappearances, at least at first glance. Hint: Genre: Historical Fantasy (Outlander by Diana Gabaldon; point toslitherhither)
7) The day I turned sixteen years old I had no idea that in four months nearly everyone I cared about would be dead. (Ready, Okay! by Adam Cadre; point tojade_okelani)
8) This is a story about a man named Eddie and it begins at the end, with Eddie dying in the sun. (The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom; point tojade_okelani)
9) I have just returned from a visit to my landlord -- the solitary neighbour that I shall be troubled with. Hint: Genre: Gothic (Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte; point toidreamofdraco)
10) It was nearing midnight and the Prime Minister was sitting alone in his office, reading a long memo that was slipping through his brain without leaving the slightest trace of meaning behind. (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling; point tojade_okelani)
11) 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; point toakscully)
12) The deck of the French ship was slippery with blood, heaving in the choppy sea; a stroke might as easily bring down the man making it as the intended target. (His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik; point tofearthainn)
13) Left Munich at 8.35 p.m. on 1st May, arriving at Vienna early next morning; should have arrived at 6.46, but train was an hour late. Hint: Genre: Horror (Dracula by Bram Stoker; point toslitherhither)
14) The string slices into the skin of his fingers and no matter how tough the calluses, it tears. Hint: Genre: Young Adult (The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta; point tojade_okelani)
15) On the morning the last Lisbon daughter took her turn at suicide -- it was Mary this time, and sleeping pills, like Therese, the two paramedics arrived at the house knowing exactly where the knife drawer was, and the gas oven, and the beam in the basement from which it was possible to tie a rope. (The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides; point tojade_okelani)
These are surprisingly not easy. It's amazing how many great books begin so innocuously. (I left out ones that were just way too obvious.) The only hint I'll give is that these all come from works of fiction. If they're just too obscure, I'll start posting individual clues next to each quote, but hopefully it won't come to that. :D
1) I am what they call in our village "one who has not yet died" -- a widow, eighty years old. (Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See; point to
jade_okelani)2) The day was grey and bitter cold, and the dogs would not take the scent. (A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin; point to
fearthainn)3) "I've watched through his eyes, I've listened through his ears, and I tell you he's the one." Hint: Genre: Sci-Fi, Young Adult (Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card; point to
adrith)4) It was a nice day. Hint #1: Genre: Fantasy. Hint #2: This book has 2 authors. (Good Omens by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett; point to
filia_umbrae) 5) Mrs. Rachel Lynde lived just where the Avonlea main road dipped down into a little hollow, fringed with alders and ladies’ eardrops and traversed by a brook that had its source away back in the woods of the old Cuthbert place; it was reputed to be an intricate, headlong brook in its earlier course through those woods, with dark secrets of pool and cascade; but by the time it reached Lynde’s Hollow it was a quiet, well-conducted little stream, for not even a brook could run past Mrs. Rachel Lynde’s door without due regard for decency and decorum; it probably was conscious that Mrs. Rachel was sitting at her window, keeping a sharp eye on everything that passed, from brooks and children up, and that if she noticed anything odd or out of place she would never rest until she had ferreted out the whys and wherefores thereof. (Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery; point to
jade_okelani)6) It wasn't a very likely place for disappearances, at least at first glance. Hint: Genre: Historical Fantasy (Outlander by Diana Gabaldon; point to
slitherhither)7) The day I turned sixteen years old I had no idea that in four months nearly everyone I cared about would be dead. (Ready, Okay! by Adam Cadre; point to
jade_okelani)8) This is a story about a man named Eddie and it begins at the end, with Eddie dying in the sun. (The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom; point to
jade_okelani)9) I have just returned from a visit to my landlord -- the solitary neighbour that I shall be troubled with. Hint: Genre: Gothic (Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte; point to
idreamofdraco)10) It was nearing midnight and the Prime Minister was sitting alone in his office, reading a long memo that was slipping through his brain without leaving the slightest trace of meaning behind. (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling; point to
jade_okelani)11) 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; point to
akscully)12) The deck of the French ship was slippery with blood, heaving in the choppy sea; a stroke might as easily bring down the man making it as the intended target. (His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik; point to
fearthainn)13) Left Munich at 8.35 p.m. on 1st May, arriving at Vienna early next morning; should have arrived at 6.46, but train was an hour late. Hint: Genre: Horror (Dracula by Bram Stoker; point to
slitherhither)14) The string slices into the skin of his fingers and no matter how tough the calluses, it tears. Hint: Genre: Young Adult (The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta; point to
jade_okelani)15) On the morning the last Lisbon daughter took her turn at suicide -- it was Mary this time, and sleeping pills, like Therese, the two paramedics arrived at the house knowing exactly where the knife drawer was, and the gas oven, and the beam in the basement from which it was possible to tie a rope. (The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides; point to
jade_okelani)
