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Novel First Lines
Posted: Mon Nov 16, 2009 7:34 pm
by G-man
Novel First Lines: a forum word game.
It's quite simple, really. A poster posts a first line from a famous novel and the next poster identifies the novel containing that first line.
I'll start with an easy one:
He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf stream and he had gone 84 days now without taking a fish.
Novel First Lines
Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2009 8:12 am
by Mustang
The Old Man and the Sea-Earnest Hemingway
Next:
In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since.
Novel First Lines
Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2009 11:25 am
by G-man
Mustang;1263324 wrote: The Old Man and the Sea-Earnest Hemingway
Next:
In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since.
F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby! One of my favorite works of literature.
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.
Novel First Lines
Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2009 11:42 am
by Mustang
Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities!
If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap., but I don't feel like going into it.
Novel First Lines
Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2009 12:25 pm
by AussiePam
Catcher in the Rye..
Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun.
Novel First Lines
Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2009 1:15 pm
by Mustang
Douglas Adams-The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.
Novel First Lines
Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2009 2:29 pm
by AussiePam
Love that book, Mustang!!! :sneaky: But I've already answered one, and shall leave it to someone else!!
Novel First Lines
Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2009 3:02 pm
by Kathy Ellen
quoted Mustang...
When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.
"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee.
What novel is this from....
You better not never tell nobody but God.
Novel First Lines
Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2009 6:25 pm
by AussiePam
Haven't a clue, Kathy
:sneaky:
Novel First Lines
Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2009 6:44 pm
by G-man
Kathy Ellen;1263469 wrote: quoted Mustang...
When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.
"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee.
What novel is this from....
You better not never tell nobody but God.
Another favorite... To Kill a Mockingbird.
...It'd kill your mammy! :p Alice Walker, The Color Purple
Next!
"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen."
Novel First Lines
Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2009 9:29 pm
by AussiePam
Ah yes, Mr Orwell !!!
* "The sun oozed over the horizon, shoved aside darkness, crept along the greensward, and, with sickly fingers, pushed through the castle window, revealing the pillaged princess, hand at throat, crown asunder, gaping in frenzied horror at the sated, sodden amphibian lying beside her, disbelieving the magnitude of the toad's deception, screaming madly, "You lied!"
This opening line won an award for being very very bad.
The Worst Opening Lines in Books
Novel First Lines
Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2009 10:12 am
by G-man
AussiePam;1263599 wrote: Ah yes, Mr Orwell !!!
* "The sun oozed over the horizon, shoved aside darkness, crept along the greensward, and, with sickly fingers, pushed through the castle window, revealing the pillaged princess, hand at throat, crown asunder, gaping in frenzied horror at the sated, sodden amphibian lying beside her, disbelieving the magnitude of the toad's deception, screaming madly, "You lied!"
This opening line won an award for being very very bad.
The Worst Opening Lines in Books
That's pretty bad! :yh_rotfl I'm pretty certain there have been worse, though.
Is that from an actual novel or was that just written for the contest?
Novel First Lines
Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2009 11:40 am
by AussiePam
This is from a google search
Bret Burquest: A Dark and Stormy Night
-------------------
Edward George Bulwer-Lytton was a popular novelist in his day. His 1830 novel titled PAUL CLIFFORD begins with the following immortal sentence.
"It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents -- except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness."
Since 1982, San Jose State University has perpetuated literary whimsy with the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest whereby contestants construct a single opening sentence to a bad novel.
---------------------
My quote was from the 2008 General Fiction winner.
Novel First Lines
Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2009 12:26 pm
by G-man
AussiePam;1264075 wrote: This is from a google search
Bret Burquest: A Dark and Stormy Night
-------------------
Edward George Bulwer-Lytton was a popular novelist in his day. His 1830 novel titled PAUL CLIFFORD begins with the following immortal sentence.
"It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents -- except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness."
Since 1982, San Jose State University has perpetuated literary whimsy with the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest whereby contestants construct a single opening sentence to a bad novel.
---------------------
My quote was from the 2008 General Fiction winner.
I'm aware of the "dark and stormy night" excerpt from all of the Peanuts cartoons... I have no idea what this other line is from, however... even with doing a google search. I'm stumped. :p
Novel First Lines
Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2009 5:23 pm
by G-man
I'm starting a new one to get things rolling.
Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
.
Novel First Lines
Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2009 5:40 pm
by AussiePam
I've often wondered if that's true. Know the first line of course - it's often quoted - but haven't actually read the book, so I'll leave it to someone who has... :sneaky:
Here's one for you, G-Man.
Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a moocow coming down along the road and this moocow that was coming down along the road met a nicens little boy named baby tuckoo.