Monday, May 4, 2009

MEME: first lines

from the book memes community at LiveJournal

1. Pick 10 of your favorite books. (not necessarily my favorite, as I don't keep a lot of books around and I read a lot from the library but these I books I would easily recommend)
2. Post the first sentence of each book. (If one sentence seems too short, post two or three!)
3. Let everyone try to guess the titles and authors of your books! (I'll take guesses in the comments)


eta: I bolded the ones that have been identified, and the answers are hidden after the quote, so just highlight the area to see the book. A few are still now determined yet, keep trying!

1. If it had not rained on a certain May morning Valency Stirling's whole life would have been entirely different. Blue Castle

2. Dear friend, I am writing to you because she said you listen and understand and didn't try to sleep with that person at that party even though you could have.
the perks of being a wallflower

3. My great-grandmother Morrison fixed a book rest to her spinning wheel so that she could read while she was spinning, or so the story goes.

4. No one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her infancy would have supposed her born to be a heroine. Northanger Abby

5. OK. Don't panic. Don't panic. It's only a VISA bill. Confessions of a Shop-a-Holic

6. This happened in 1932, when the state penitentiary was still at Cold Mountain.
The Green Mile

7. The naked child ran out of the hide-covered lean-to toward the rocky beach at the bend in the small river.

8. The gunman is useless. I Am the Messenger

9. Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

10. It was 7 minutes after midnight. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

17 comments:

  1. Hmmm...I'm pretty sure #4 is Northanger Abbey, and #9 is clearly a Harry Potter book, although I don't know which one.

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  2. Off to a great start, but I'm not giving you #9!
    but yes, #4 is Northanger Abby, with the scrumptious Henry Tilney

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  3. Okay. Some of these are easy. But others are really difficult.

    1. The Blue Castle. Love!
    4. Has already been guessed, but definitely Northanger Abby
    5. Confessions of a Shopaholic?
    9. Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone, I believe.

    And that's all I know.

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  4. court - the ones you know are always easy!
    yes #1, more people should read Blue Castle
    #5 - yes, I love silly Becky and her money problems
    #9 - yes, my daughter is reading the first one right now

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  5. Absolutely love The Blue Castle!! I'm always so pleased to find other people that do! #2 is Perks of Being a Wallflower, I think! And this may be totally off-base, but I feel like #8 is Zusak's excellent I Am the Messenger.

    (I'm going to feel silly if that's not right.)

    #10 sounds familiar but I can't place it.j

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  6. jenny - 2. yep, the perks it is.
    wow, great feeling, # 8 is I Am the Messenger, a most excellent book.

    you guys are doing really well so far!

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  7. Argghhh, This is killing me. I know I know #3, but I can't get it. Something's telling me it's The Birth House but I can't say for sure.

    And I don't really know #6, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say, Cold Mountain?

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  8. john - nope on both. Not Birth House or Cold Mountain. try agian!

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  9. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time!

    For #10.

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  10. #3 sounds so familiar! I know I've read that line somewhere. Argh! :)

    Fun meme!

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  11. jenny - yes! You figured it out. Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime is #10.

    les - thanks! I love quizzes. Good luck remembering.

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  12. My memory is terrible, so I Googled the line. Won't spoil it for everyone else but now I'll be able to sleep tonight! ;) And it's one of my favorite books, too. Read it twice.

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  13. I have no idea of the ones yet to be guessed but I did know Northanger Abbey and Harry Potter.

    I stole the idea for my blog - I hope you don't mind!

    http://booksandmovies.colvilleblogger.com/2009/05/06/first-lines-meme-quiz-style/

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  14. carrie - I think it's great that you did your own. thanks for linking it for me, but yours are so hard! Only a couple are vaguely familiar.

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  15. Oh, how fun!!! Unfortunately, I don't have a clue about the un-guessed ones. I only knew #9 and #10 (and the only reason I knew 10, was because it's the book I'm reading right now). You've left me with some books to check into though...I'm not sure I've ever heard of The Blue Castle and I'm definitely intrigued.

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  16. I guess the Green Mile for #6.

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