Wednesday 18 August 2010

FIRST LINES QUIZ!

As you'd expect, from such an erudite and educated person of taste and breeding as myself, I have bookcases (with books) and some of them are fairly well known. So here's a quiz, of first lines of books culled from my bookshelves...

See how you get on without Googling.
  1. It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.
  2. 1984, George Orwell, Jim Bliss
  3. What's it going to be then, eh?
  4. A clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess, Jim Bliss
  5. Sophie Amundsen was on her way home from school. Sophie's World, Jostein Gaarder, Larry T
  6. When Mr Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton.The Fellowship of the Ring, JRR Tolkien, Jim Bliss
  7. .Gormenghast, that is, the main massing of the original stone, taken by itself would have displayed a certain ponderous architectural quality were it possible to have ignored the circumfusion of those mean dwellings that swarmed like an epidemic around it's outer walls. Titus Groan, Mervyn Peake, Larry T.
  8. We slept in what had once been the gymnasium.
  9. We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold.
  10. Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas, Hunter S Thompson, Jim Bliss
  11. There was no possibility of taking a walk that day. Jane Ayre, Charlotte Bronte, Larry T.
  12. All this happened, more or less. Slaughterhouse 5, Kurt vonnegut, Jim Bliss
  13. When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee, Jim Bliss
  14. Behind every man now alive stand thirty ghosts, for that is the ratio by which the dead outnumber the living.
  15. It was a pleasure to burn.Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury, Jim Bliss
  16. Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small, unregarded yellow sun. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams, Jim Bliss
  17. My suffering left me sad and gloomy.
  18. It was 7 minutes after midnight.
  19. The house was named "The Cave"
  20. I was set down from the carrier's cart at the age of three; and there with a sense of bewilderment and terror my life in the village began. Cider With Rosia, Laurie Lee, Brenda
  21. The Mole had been working very hard all the morning, spring-cleaning his little home.The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Graham, Jim Bliss
  22. "They made a silly mistake, though" the Professor of History said, and his smile, as Dixon watched, gradually sank beneath the surface of his features at the memory.
  23. The Primroses were over.
  24. It was love at first sight. The first time Yossarian saw the chaplain he fell madly in love with him. Catch 22, Joseph Heller, Jim Bliss
  25. I am a large man, with big butcher's hands, great oak thighs, rock-jawed head, and massive, thick-lens glasses. The Dice Man, Luke Rhinehart, Jim Bliss
  26. The boy with fair hair lowered himself down the last few feet of rock and began to pick his way towards the lagoon. Lord of the Flies, William Golding, Jim BLiss
  27. Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a moocow coming down the road and this moocow that was coming down the road met a nicens little boy called baby tuckoo
  28. For a week Mr R Childan had been anxiously watching the mail. The Man in the High Castle, Philip K Dick, Jim Bliss

10 comments:

Jim Bliss said...

I got more than half of them which surprised me (one with a little help from google, but I would have got it if I'd spent a while thinking). Obviously the ones that include character names are pretty easy, and there's clearly enough of a crossover between our libraries to make a lot of them recognisable to me. I may well continue this meme over at my place.

Anyhoo, the ones I got...

1. 1984 (George Orwell)
2. A Clockwork Orange (Anthony Burgess)
4. Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship of The Ring (JRR Tolkien)
7. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Hunter S. Thompson)
9. Slaughterhouse 5 (Kurt Vonnegut)
10. To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
11. I knew this line, but I had to google it to discover the book, so I won't post the answer.
12. Farenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury)
13. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
18. Not read it, but guessing it's Wind in The Willows?
21. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
22. See 11.
23. Lord of The Flies (William Golding)
25. The Man in The High Castle (PKD)

Paul said...

My apologies for the duplicate. I have changed 22.

The ones you've answered are each and all correct, by the way. And you get bonus points for knowing the author in each case.

Paul said...

Ah. Sorry but I'm removing your bonus points, because you failed to correctly identify Kenneth Graham as the author of Wind in the Willows.

tut.

Jim Bliss said...

Well, I've followed your lead over at my place.

Oh, and 22 is The Dice Man by Luke Rheinhart. Strange that I remember that as it's at least 15 years since I read it. That said, for a pot-head, I have a very good memory.

Anonymous said...

I got pointed over here from Jim's quiz...

3. Sophie's World, Jostein Gaarder

5. Titus Groan (or possible Titus Alone or Gormenghast), Mervyn Peake

and one from my Mum...

8. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte

Larry T

Paul said...

Spot on Larry.

17 from 25 now solved, but I'm still waiting to hear from a couple fo my regulars, so I will be giving it a few more days before I fill in any blanks.

Wifey said...

Is 17 Cider with Rosie


































Is 17 Cider with Rosie?
I didn't know we had some of these books! Mind you if they are in the heap on your side of the bed or in your 'study' - enough said

Wifey said...

Oh and the author would then be Laurie Lee. I didn't know we had half these books. But then if they are in the pile by your bed or in your 'study'..........

Paul said...

You're correct, me dear. Cider with Rosie, by Laurie Lee it is.

Paul said...

I know for a fact that you've read a couple more of these though Bren :)