The rules:
Someone posts the first line/sentence of a novel. Whoever guesses it correctly, posts the next one.

The line:

"The decision to bomb the office of the radical Jew lawyer was reached with relative ease."

Someone?

Mmmm. Dunno. Is it an out and out thriller, or does it just start like one?

Yeah, it's a thriller from an author that specializes in a certain type of thrillers.

The Chamber by John Grisham. I'm 99% certain of that because I think I skimmed the first page of it in a bookshop 2 days ago!

Booksloth, make it 100% :) Your turn.

Sheer luck, 'cos I never read Grisham. Okay, here's mine (btw, I haven't played this game for a while so apologies if I double up on books that have already been used):

"It took me a long time and most of the world to learn what I know about love and fate and the choices we make, but the heart of it came to me in an instant, while I was chained to a wall and being tortured."

Shantaram by Gregory Roberts? (never read it, just liked the title when I saw it in a bookstore a few years ago and read the first page or so - for some reason did not like it much so never picked it up)

You missed a real treat there AnnieMod! Yes, it's Shantaram - your go!

Well - guess I will give it a chance then - I still love the title. :)

OK... next one:

"They departed, the gods, on the day of the strange tide."

The Sea - John Banville. Back with another in a mo but I have vistors right now.

Okay, visitors have gone.

"Most days I wish I was a British pound coin instead of an African girl."

Little Bee by Chris Cleave?

Hey, considering we seem to be the only ones here, we're not doing so badly, are we? It's called The Other Hand over here but yes, Little Bee it is. Great book!

Guess not :) Next one:

"The war ended last night, Caroline."

Ah well, it had to end sometime! You've got me there.

It's not even the one I wanted to post but have it only in the wrong language... so had to find something else.:)

Unless the wrong language is Greek or maybe schoolgirl French, there wouldn't have been much point (though it does rather raise the question of why the rest of us should expect everything to be in English).

Bulgarian actually:) So I went for a book in English :)

Maybe you should have gone for the Bulgarian and let the rest of us suffer :-)

How 'bout Empire by Edgar Box?

I think he wrote this one under the name Gore Vidal but yep, Empire it is. Your turn.

The line is

"It was 7 minutes after midnight."

I think that's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time.

Booksloth, that's it!

This is amazing! Usually, even if I've read them I can't remember them! Here we go then -

"I first met him in Piraeus."

Zorba the Greek? Or at least it was something very very similar.

So similar, in fact, that it is indeed that very book! (I suppose Piraeus was a bit of a give-away.)

:) yep. Need to reread this book actually :) Next one:

"The gale tore at him and he felt its bite deep within and he knew that if they did not make landfall in three days they would all be dead."

You lost me again!

At last, one I know! That's Shogun! *jumps around cheering* Must finish that one, as well.

Yep. Your turn.

"As you see, Sophie, I am as good as my word, and not spending all my time on frills and furbelows; I shall always have time for you."

Aha! One of my all-time favourites! That's from the sublime Dangerous Liaisons - or Les Liaisons Dangereuses, if you prefer.

Excellent guess, and an excellent book :) Your go again, Booksloth.

I am missing this thread!! Please pick it up again...

Oh dear - sorry guys, I seem to have left a few games in mid air. Here goes then:
"I was never so frightened as I am now."

That was the line - not just a comment on how I'm feeling right now.

Affinity by Sarah Waters!

Now, I will wipe the pumpkin bread crumbs aside and go find a book :)

"While still a child, I guess that this very singular smile represented a strange little victory for each of the women; yes, a fleeting revenge for disappointed hopes, for the coarseness of men, for the rareness of beautiful and true things in the world."

wow, I killed the game :(

Bad star! Bad! Any clues?

um, its was a national bestseller at one point? theres a country in the title?

Dreams of My Russian Summers by Andrei Makine

yup :)

"Nine months Landsman's been flopping at the Hotel Zamenhof without any of his fellow residents managing to get themselves murdered."

I've been out of this game for a while - you've got into a wave of books I never heard of - but I know that one. Hotel Zamenhof is a bit of a giveaway! - The Yiddish policemen's union

To keep the game moving, here's one I happen to have on my desk (NB: it's a translation from another language):

Sand as far as the eye can see, between the last hills and the sea —the sea—in the cold air of an afternoon almost past, and blessed by the wind that always blows from the north.

Ocean Sea by Alessandro Baricco ?

Yes - That was quick!

:)

"Even now, after all these years, I can hardly bear to look in a mirror."

True Murder! Only read it a few weeks ago and loved it!

Yep, your turn :)

And yep, it is a good book :) Picked it up almost by chance during one of my trips but loved it.

Here's another one I love to bits:
"Dear Osama they want you dead or alive so the terror will stop."

Incendiary by Chris Cleave - haven't read it but had seen it in a bookstore and it is not that easy to forget a book with Osama in the first sentence and Elvis and Cher in the next few.

I can definitely recommend it, Annie. Your go.

OK - forgot to post a line here - sorry everyone.

Booksloth,

Adding to the Mount TBR (Everest seems like a small hill these days compared to this one).

The next one:
"So now get up."

bumping...

Any clues, AnnieMod?

Award-winning novel published this year....

I think I know it now. Is it Wolf Hall? I haven't got it yet but I keep picking it up in bookshops to look at and that line rings a bell. Or else it's something else I've picked up at the same time and I'm way out.

Yep. All yours.

Oooo-er . . . off for a quick think, then . . . . . back again -
"A child wants to see"

Is that from Arthur and George?

Good one, Jody! Your go! (See, a little bit of something good to wind up your day.)

Yay! It's been such a long time since I got one.

My day wasn't a total disaster in the end (though I suppose you could say that not dying in the front garden after all was a good thing in its own way.

"At a party in a bedsit just off Gower Street, a young woman stood alone at a window, her elbows pinned to her sides in an attempt to hide the dark flowers of perspiration blossoming at the armholes of her dress."

I think I'd say that was a VERY good thing! Your line rings bells but I can't place it right now. Have I got it?

It doesn't look like you do have this one or any book by this author. But I'm sure you have browsed it in Waterstones.

Come to think of it, I'm not sure if I have added it to my library yet either.

Well, better not add it yet or it'll be a dead giveaway! Hmmmm, so what else have I browsed lately, I wonder . . . ?

The Believers by Zoe Heller ?

That's the one AnnieMod, well done.

"I could hear the intruder breaking into my house."