A Saturday morning meme from ellipticcurve, whilst I wait for it to be late enough to go to the Games Gather.
- Choose five to ten of your all time favorite books. [I may also include some with favorite first lines]
- Take the first sentence of the first chapter and make a list in your journal (I may include prologues).
- Don’t reveal the author or the title of the book.
So, without further adieu, a little list:
- “Standing there in the cold office, at this ungodly hour, no longer night, not yet day, she felt apprehensive and nervous.” [Not Guessed: The Man by Irving Wallace]
- “Bill never realized that sex was the cause of it all.” [Not Guessed: Bill, the Galactic Hero” by Harry Harrison]
- “There was once a boy named Milo who didn’t know what to do with himself–not just sometimes, but always.” [ellipticcurve: The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norman Juster]
- “Come on, Jerry,” Chuck called out cheerfully from inside the rude shed that the two chums had fixed up as a simple laboratory. “The old particle accelerator is fired up and rarin’ to go!” [Not Guessed: Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers by Harry Harrison. One of the best parodies of E.E. “Doc” Smith around.]
- “Beneath the floor of a very old forest, nestled in among some nice, rich topsoil, lived a family of worms. Earthworms, to be exact.” [ellipticcurve: There’s A Hair In My Dirt, by Gary Larson]
- “Chimal ran in panic. The moon was still hidden by the cliffs on the eastern side of the valley, but its light was already tipping their edges with silver.” [Not guessed: Captive Universe by Harry Harrison. My first real “SF” book.]
- “I found the bungalow and rang the bell. My client answered the door. He was almost my height, close to six feet, but only if you counted his eighteen inch ears.” [ellipticcurve: Who Censored Roger Rabbit, by Gary K. Wolfe]
- “Call me Jonah. My parents did, or nearly did. They called me John.” [kerinda: Cats Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut]
- “Once upon a time there was a sensible straight line who was hopelessly in love with a dot.” (for this one, you have to give the moral as well). [ellipticcurve: The Dot and the Line, by Norman Juster. The moral, which she missed, is: “To The Vector Belongs The Spoils”]
- “See Jane. Jane is married to Bob. Jane loves Bob very much. Bob is a real mensch.” [ellipticcurve: Yiddish with Dick and Jane by Ellis Weiner and Barbara Davilman]
Alas, I can’t find all the books I want, as some of them are already packed
