First Line Game Chapter 9

Starting the new thread but this is Aviddiva's line:

"Arthur, who had a masterly way with meetings, was gathering this one together for a conclusion."

No idea, but thanks for the new thread.

no idea either

Don't want to kill the thread (again!) Should I give a clue?

Random stab in the dark here....is it Arthur and George by Julian Barnes?

I keep thinking its a Tom Holt style book, King Arthur in a business suit or something, rather than a serious one. But I can't come up with a title and I am not at home to raid my books. I'll take a guess at Grailblazers but I'm not confident it's that one.

It's not Arthur and George, because I thought that too, and checked...

None of the above... the author is Canadian.

Ooh, is it by that Mists of Avalon woman, Marion Zimmer Bradley (whose name I did not know but the touchstones told me)?

Actually, is it Mists of Avalon? I've never read it but we lived close to Glastonbury for years and that book was everywhere.

ETA - I seem to be determined that this is a King Arthur book and I have no idea why.

Is it something by Douglas Coupland? Maybe JPod?

No, and no -- less contemporary than Douglas Coupland, I think (written in the 80's), and the author is a man.

Hah! You know what? I think I prefer the questions where it turns out I've never read the book, but can get it from the clues.

It's definitely from The Cornish Trilogy by Robertson Davies - and I'm hoping it's from The Lyre of Orpheus, but I'm not absolutely certain.

I googled it, and you're right, Macon! Your turn.

Well done, Macon! It is The Lyre of Orpheus.

OK: where does this come from? (I have a suspicion it's too easy. Spare my blushes, and pretend you don't know it for 15 minutes at least.)

"Fear presides over these memories, a perpetual fear."

The Plot against America by Philip Roth.

I'm 99% sure this is right.

"I am nothing but a corpse now, a body at the bottom of a well."

Yes, it's right. And LibraryThing was down for a bit, which meant it lasted more than 10 minutes.

I'm going to make a wild guess and say Ring by Koji Suzuki.

I don't think it is Ring, I read that a long while ago and am not completely certain.

I think I picked this up in a bookshop not long ago and didn't get it. I'm sure it was something about the middle east or India or Islam but for the life of me I can't think of the title.

So I am going to guess at The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie.

It's not Ring or Satanic Verses, but you're in the ballpark with the Middle East.

Got it.

My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk.

Indeed it is.

Hope this is harder than my last two. Think it should be.

"This all started on a Saturday morning in May, one of those warm spring days that smell like clean linen."

I know that I have read this, I'm almost sure I have this in my libary but I can't put my finger on the title because the word Saturday is making me think of the Ian McEwan book and it's stopping my brain from working.

*goes to search through all the books in the house*

#25 - mmm...criptic. Gave up on the book search and am relying on sudden inspiration now.

Clue please.

I forgot about this but I've done a brief and lazy search of the bookcase at the foot of the stairs and tracked it down. Ladder of Years by Anne Tyler.

This one should be easy but it's too good a book to be left out because of that.

In eighteenth-century France there lived a man who was one of the most gifted and abominable personages in an era that knew no lack of gifted and abominable personages.

oh, that's Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

loved that book

I'm 100% sure I right about that, having the book open in front of me, so the next one is:

It begins, as most things begin, with a song.

Forgive me if this one has already been used - I've never actually been able to answer one of these before!

Oh, I *know* I know that one. Garh! Brain... not... working...!

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman

Edited to fix touchstone but it's still not working...

GWAH! I actually knew the Perfume one. Always too late.

bell7 is right!

Here's mine:

"This is my favorite book in all the world, though I have never read it."

Wild guess:

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith?

No, sorry.

Should I give a hint or wait a bit longer?

Is it The Princess Bride by William Goldman, by any chance?

yes it is, twomoredays. Your turn.

Here we go:

"I have no reason not to answer the door so I answer the door."

I picked this up in a book shop the other day and looked at the first page. I'm alomst certain it's by the bloke who wrote A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (thanks touchstones - Dave Eggers) but right now the name of the book defeats me. Someone must be able to save me the hassle of going through everything he's written on Amazon. Please. I'll do it if I have to.

Booksloth you're definitely right about the author...

He only has written a few books (and it's not A.H.W.O.S.G.) so somebody get to guessing.

Okay, I'm going through your library now twomoredays. I don't really know this author very well and you have a huge list of his work so I hope I'm managing to avoid anthologies and mags. I'll start with You Shall Know Our Velocity ??

ETA touchstones but it looks as if I've already done that - maybe they're having an evening off.

It's not any of the anthologies or McSweeney's but one of his actual books. And it's not You Shall Know Our Velocity.

What is the What?

Yup, that's it.

"The station wagons arrived at noon, a long shining line that coursed through the west campus."

I don't have my copy to hand, but Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon, maybe?

no, not Wonder Boys, sorry

Moo by Jane Smiley?

no, not Moo either!

White Noise, Don DeLillo

that's exactly right, Booksloth!

Ya-hey! Seems like a long time since I succeeded in this one! Here's mine then:

"-Something a little strange, that's what you notice, that she's not a woman like all the others."

Was it something I said? Not even a bit of a guess from anyone?

Maybe an ickle-pickle clue?

I keep thinking of Attack of the 50 foot woman but I don't think it is a book, just a film, so I am going to guess at Valley of the Dolls, which I have not read but the title always makes me think of the film.

D'you know what, Jody? I'm beginning to wish it WAS the Atteck of the 50ft Woman! It's not though, nor is it Valley of the Dolls. Ickle-pickle clue then: Written by a man who is no longer living. Translated from its original language. And that first line is strangely prophetic regarding the rest of the book (I think so anyway).

So I deaded it.

Some kind of attempt at CPR then.

Written in Spanish in 1976. Was a quite brilliant film. Owned by 600-and-something LTers but heard of by most, I would have thought.

Like Water For Chocolate? That is a guess solely based on your clues. I've never read it, or even seen the film.

No - a much better book than that (though that is only my opinion) and quite a bit edgier (in fact, some people might think 'edgy' is putting it mildly).

Edited to fix italics.

Not read it: but from all the clues, I think it must be Kiss of the Spiderwoman by Manuel Puig.

Phew! You got it Macon! I was beginning to think I'd dreamt up the whole book's existence!

Was that the one you've been saving up for ages and ages? Or is it that still to come?

I think this one will be got very quickly indeed:-

"It was the day my grandmother exploded."

God! I know that and I can't place it. It's going to drive me MAD!

I know that and I think we've had it before, but there's no way I'm going through all this again yet.

I think it's The Crow Road by Iain Banks. Although on second thoughts, I think it starts with the funeral of his grandfather, so not sure...

I've just looked it up, and I was right. Funny how your memory plays tricks ...

"All this happened, more or less."

Is that Making History by Stephen Fry?

I googled it to check as I knew I hadn't read it and it isn't that one.

But now I really want to read the one it is as it sounds really great and it's one I would never have even picked up before.

I knew it! I knew that I had seen that line somewhere. But I googled. Boo.

Perhaps we need a second line?

Or a clue about the author or the book in general.

The author - a prolific writer - died last year. This is probably his most famous work.

Slaughter-house Five?

That's correct. Your turn.

I really didn't expect that to be right...oh well.

"In the beginning there was a river."

In the beginning there was a river. The river became a road and the road branched out to the whole world. And because the road was once a river it was always hungry.

In that land of beginnings spirits mingled with the unborn. We could assume numerous forms. Many of us were birds............

what a terrific beginning to a book

The Famished Road by Ben Okri

Well done, dperrings! You're up!

I knew I'd read that somewhere! Brilliant book, ages since I've read it - now you've reminded me to add it to next years TBR list!

I bought it at a bookfair last weekend so it was literally sitting on the top of my TBR pile. I can't wait to read it, but I'm in the middle of another Booker Prize winner at the moment - Midnight's Children.

I is nice to know that i am up. i will get on it hopefully at lunch time today. i just got back to the electronic world.

david

"Two mountain chains traverse the republic roughly from north to south, forming between them a number of valleys and plateaus."

May we have a clue, please?

I think it might be Under the Volcano, but I'm not sure. I know I've read it before somewhere.

yes it is Under the Volcano

your up

yay! ok:

"It seems increasingly likely that I really will undertake the expedition that has been preoccupying my imagination now for some days."

Remains of the Day?

Frankenstein?

I think bell7 is right, I'm almost certain it's The Remains of the Day too.

bell7 is right - The Remains of the Day. I'm a bit tempted to read it again, now that it's off my shelves and all.

Mmm...that would be fun to reread and not feel rushed by class deadlines. :-)

"The story that follows is one I never intended to commit to paper."

Is it The Historian by Elisabeth Kostova?

yes it is. Your turn, Jody!

Thank you, I really liked that line. I'm confined to my sofa so my line will have to come from something close at hand.

The sea that lies before me as I write glows rather than sparkles in the bland May sunshine.

Maybe I should give a clue. This book is a booker prize winner.

The Sea, The Sea?

That's the one, well done. I've only just started reading it but am enjoying it very much. Your go jfetting.

Yay! Here goes:

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

The Sea, John Banville!

I googled and it looks like you are right Booksloth.

Jfetting, I like your thinking in that one, just cut my books title in half. Sneaky :-)

Jody, yes, I did that on purpose. I amused myself for a good half-hour over that.

Booksloth, you are right! sorry to take so long to confirm - no internet access for a few days.

Not a problem - took me a while to find your reply too! I knew I'd guessed one - just couldn't remember which game it was!

So . . .. first line game, huh?

Okay, here goes -

'When summer comes to the North Woods, time slows down. And some days it stops altogether.'

(Thar ya go - two for the price of one!)

That's A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly, isn't it?

Tis too. That didn't take long!

Well, I read it fairly recently, and about the time I started taking note of first lines - inspired by this game!

Here's the new one:

"Most Illustrious Lord Father: We are terribly saddened by the death of your cherished sister, our dear aunt; but our sorrow at losing her is as nothing compared to our concern for your sake, because your suffering will be all the greater, Sire, as truly you have no one else left in your world, now that she, who could not have been more precious to you, has departed, and therefore we can only imagine how you sustain the severity of such a sudden and completely unexpected blow."

Is it Galileo's Daughter?

can't recall the author though

The author is Dava Sobel, and you're correct! orangeena, your turn!

I listened to that on an audio book and really loved it.
Here's the new line......

"When I reached C Company lines, which were at the top of the hill, I paused and looked back at the camp, just coming into full view below me through the grey mist of early morning"

Almost certain that's Brideshead Revisited

Correct....you're up

OK. Which book does this come from?

"Sometimes in the night, he dreamed about the dead - familiar faces and the others, half-forgotten ones, fleetingly summoned up."

I'm so sure I've read that (as usual). Is it in my library? (I do know this isn't 20 questions, but . . . )

Not After Dark?

No, it's not, just checked. 'S'okay, I'm used to talking to myself.

Okat, I couldn't resist it any longer. I googled. No, I don't have it and it sounds amazing. Another one for the wishlist.

Haha - came back to my computer, saw 4 new messages, and was really disappointed that someone must have got it so quickly.

But yep, it's pretty good.

I know it! I was just abrowsin' for my next read in my shelves and I came across it! The Master by Colm Toibin. Took me a while to remember which game it had been posted in though....

As I know it's right, here's the next one up:

"He was tall, about fifty, with darkly handsome, almost sinister features: a neatly trimmed mustache, hair turning silver at the temples, and eyes so black they were like the tinted windows of a sleek limousine - he could see out, but you couldn't see in."

klarusu,

thanks for the post it has been a little slow lately

I know I've read that - that bit about the eyes is so sinister! I'm guessing Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil but that could be the first in a very long list.

Bah! All yours Booksloth ;)

Aha! Just as I'd decided I was wrong! Try this one for size, from one of my all-time faves:

'Sleeping, just before five, on a dark October's afternoon, he had a singularly vivid and audible dream.'

A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny?

Ooh! It really should be, but it's not. The paragraph continues with -

'He dreamed that he was on a ship, which was bound upon some far, lovely, and momentous voyage, but which had left the coast less than an hour ago.'

Bit more?

'The coast, implicitely and strangely, was that of Spain. He was leaning over the side and peacefully savouring the phase of the journey - a phase which he knew well.'

You know this doesn't count if I end up quoting the whole book?
{I'll skip the rest of the dream here - next para . . .}

'He awoke, with jarring abruptness, into the obliterating darkness of his own room. The swishing was his own breath, and the disinclination to move traceable to his snuggled, though cold and stiff position, on the bed. His dream sickness was a waking sickness. The thundering of the wind in his dream was the passing of a lorry in the Euston Road outside.'

It sounds great, but I have no idea what it might be...

Ah, but at least you're trying, star - which means you get some clues (yes, it IS great!). It's by a deceased British author who wrote a lot of books about the working classes in 1930s London. The one I've chosen is the first in a trilogy and I will accept either the name of the book or the trilogy.

Looking at your library, I think it must be Twenty thousand streets under the sky, but I don't think I've ever read anything by Patrick Hamilton - it does sound great. I got the DVD in a gift box of "BBC classic series" - is it worth watching, or should I read the books first?

I loved the series too (Yes, of course you're right!) and saw that before I bought the book so I think you're probably pretty safe there. As far as I remember, it sticks pretty closely to the book though I'd probably give it a while in between the two. As for the rest of his books - I suspect some people might accuse him of being a bit 'samey' - they're all set in rainy, dark, 1930s London Streets - but his writing is so perfect I could go on reading him forever.

...I'll have to put them on my TBR and TBW lists, then! New opening line, should be easy, but you never know:

"Hole!" said Mr ----, and then for a change, and with greatly increased emphasis: "'Ole!"

Wind In The Willows?

>136 dreamlikecheese: You're very close on the publication date and setting, but it's not a children's book.

A bit more, though it won't help much:

He paused, and then broke out with one of his private and peculiar idioms. "Oh! Beastly Silly Wheeze of a Hole!"
He was sitting on a stile between two threadbare looking fields, and suffering acutely from indigestion.

Sounds like P.G. Wodehouse to me, but I wouldn't know which one.

No, not PGW.
It's a writer who tends to be remembered nowadays more for his works in an entirely different genre.

For some reason I'm thinking CS Lewis.

The Screwtape Letters? Though surely that would be in letter format.

No: too young, too posh, too conservative...

just bumping this ... because I have no idea what the book is, but I would like to know...

thorold has disappeared for a few days, but he left me the answer so we can keep going.

It's an English author. There is an old film version of this book, and a more recent TV adaptation.

The Forsyte Saga?

Nope. Much shorter.

Is it from H. G. Wells, Mr. Polly?

Drat it! Just came on to say that! You beat me to it paulstalder!

Oh boy, I am so sorry - but I am right, right?

Yes, I'm certain you're right.

Yes, paulstalder, you're right! Your turn!

Okay, here we go. Sorry for letting you wait (I was deeply asleep when you mailed...)

'March unleashed a torrent of rainfall after an abnormally dry winter.'

Well, no-one seems to know that book. It was published in 2007 and became one of the No. 1 New York Times Bestsellers.

Before the text starts there are some lyrics quoted:
Two roads diverged in the middle of my life,
I heard a wise man say
I took the road less traveled by
And that's made the difference every night and every day.

Anybody in for a guess?

It sounds oddly familiar (the first line that is, the poem is well known) but I absolutely cannot place it.

It is based on a true story in the US

We need to talk about Kevin?

No, about Missi

The Shack by William Young

Yes, that's right. Congratulations
No is it your turn...

Because you're all as addicted to this as I am ... you should check out the Crambo! group. I just found another time sink .... doh! (and sorry for interrupting orangeena's turn ...)

No worries......here's the next line:

"My mother did not tell me they were coming."

"My mother did not tell me they were coming. Afterwards she said she did not want me to appear nervous."

Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier

"It was two in the morning, an hour that was both early and late. Two a.m. was a world to itself."

I guess it's Stalin's ghost - at least the German reads: Es war zwei Uhr morgens, früh und spät zugleich. Zwei Uhr morgens war eine Welt für sich. ( Stalins Geist by Martin Cruz Smith.
Is that a valid proposition?

Yes that is it!

Okay, here we go:
"I met Bobby Callahan on Monday of that week."

Lurking ....*bump*

Well, the last line reads:
I hope, wherever he may be, that he sails among the angels, untethered and at peace.

I hope that helps a bit

I can't remember the book and it's driving me mad but the trilogy together was called Requiem for an Angel by Andrew Taylor. Is it that or one of them?

I get so confused by all these different names. If, as I understand, Requiem For an Angel is the same book as Fallen Angel (the Roth trilogy) which I have just dragged off the shelf to check, then you're wrong Jody - and you seemed so sure I was convinced you were right!

I'm sure I've read both the first and last lines above and loved them. This one's driving me mad!

I wish I read more books in the past to participate with these kind of games. (= D

Actually I might read this one right now, Angels and Demons.

Don't do it ironmonkey! Horrible book.

It is indeed, but I'm a man who finishes. And I'm already on page 399 that held me in a horrible suspense, that made me put it on hold. I like the style, and also suspense it is giving me though.

It's written by an American author - about Bobby whose car was pushed over the edge and he lost part of his memory - well, the killer was faster than the return of his memory...

I wasn't as sure as I sounded but the last line sounded like something from the Roth trilogy which was gathered together as Requiem for an Angel.

From the further clues given I am going to guess at Lisa Gardiner as the author but am still not sure what book.

No, it isn´t Lisa Gardiner.

Bobby should have been protected but the protector wasn´t there and so he was killed and now the search for the killer starts.

The heroine likes to drink a glass of white wine.

That'll be me then.

Okay,

it's Chardonay. does that any bells?

*bump*

Extra clue added by paulstalder above...

I think we might have to give up on this one.

Perhaps tell us the answer, and pick a first line from another book, paulstalder?

Okay, I thought that Sue Grafton is known well enough - her heroine drinking white vine when she goes to her favorite restaurant. Well, this line comes from C is for corpse. Sometimes the title is 'C for Callahan' - so the name in the first line should have given it away.

Nexyt first line - I am a bit, well, ashamed for this one, but I have nothing else here at my office (I have my lunch brake now), but here we go:

'All of the following is true.' (that's from the prologue)
'It is six o'clock in the bloody morning, and I'm already hot.'

Is it World War Z?

No, I am sorry to say. Since I work at the WWZ I got interested in World War Z, but never got round to read it. So, it's on my wish list.

It's about living in luxury.

*thinks of books he'd be ashamed about*

Lace by Shirley Conran?

Okay, I can't resist any longer. What is the WWZ?

I know I've already suggested this once in this thread and got it wrong, but is it Making History by Stephen Fry? That's only obliquely about living in luxury, but hey, it's worth a guess.

> 187 WWZ = Wirtschafts-Wissenschaftliches Zentrum

> 188 sounds interesting and I am going to have a look if the book is in our library - but no. The author has written several books about luxury - they have similar titles (484 LT members have books of her)

#189 Ah.

> 189 OK, I've looked up how Making History actually starts, so I won't guess it again unless someone really does put up the first line! Hope you find it at the library - it's a great book.

Clue perchance?

Oh, it's going too long, so here is the answer:
Beach Babylon by Imogen Edwards-Jones

It's probably a little bit obscure still, just 16 copies on the link when I clicked it.

Well done for stumping us twice though. What happens now?

Okay, another try:
'As the tune played inside my head, gunfire exploded in the cramped underground space around me.'
Any guesses?

Sounds like a good opening, but perhaps all the guessers have been having some Christmas time off?

It sounds familiar to me, maybe one of the Kay Scarpetta series or something like it, an Alex Kava or Lisa Gardiner book perhaps. I've read a lot but muddle them together. But it sounds very familiar.

The tune which played in her head was: Monday, Monday, can't trust that day...

May we have another first line? It seems we cannot figure this one out.

Okay, it was Monday mourning by Kathy Reichs.

Another one:
"I start the year with a throbbing head and shaking limbs, owing to excessive amounts of alcohol I was forced to drink at my mother's party last night."

I hope you all had a good start into the new year.

I think that's an Adrian Mole book - The cappuchino years?

hey, great, it is Adrian Mole but another volume.

Oh, now I know it's Adrian, I remember the line.

It's Adrian Mole: The Wilderness Years.

Isn't it?

Yeah, that's right.
I thought it was a fitting line starting the new year ... (not so much because of its content - just the mentioning of 'start the year')

Your turn now.

OK, I'm expecting this one to be really easy.

"I told you last night that I might be gone sometime, and you said, Where, and I said, To be with the Good Lord, and you said, Why, and I said, Because I'm old, and you said, I don't think you're old."

However, if it's harder than I think, I'm happy to give as many hints as necessary - but you have to ask for them. If you don't ask, no hints....

I think I should know this but I'm not sure because I think I didn't finish it.

Is it Gilead? I remember having to take that back to the library as I had just started it when it needed renewing (one week fast track book) and them not letting me keep it because someone else was waiting.

interduce me to this book i don,t know it thanx

Yes its Gilead Jody :) your turn

Two minutes? Two MINUTES???

Bah.

#209 - sorry :-) But it's good we got moving quickly again and I think mine might go just as fast.

Here's my quote: I might as well say, right from the jump: it wasn't my usual kind of job.

I know it, Miss! Over here! I know it! It's People of the Book. (At least, it had better be now.)

That's the one and it's lovely. Well done, your go.

I haven't actually got round to reading this one yet, though I'm looking forward to it:
"The morning express bloated with passengers slowed to a crawl, then lurched forward suddenly, as though to resume full speed."

That's A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry.

It's really good, too....

And it's all yours, Macon!

"It began with the day when it was almost the Fifth of November, and a doubt arose in some breast - Robert's, I fancy - as to the quality of the fireworks laid in for the Guy Fawkes celebration."

It's not Witch Week by Diana Wynne Jones, is it?

Oh, you had me worried there. But no, it isn't...

So I've broken the 40 minute mark.

>212 QueenOfDenmark:, Jody I started People of the Book today.. are you reading it now?

Isn't that The Phoenix and the Carpet?

#219 - I finished it not too long ago and loved it.

Gah. Yes, it is. You're up, dancingstarfish

#222 - no not me, dancingstarfish. My bit was about just finishing People of the Book.

This may be too easy...

"The ghost was in love with a woman named German Landis."

That would be The Ghost in Love by Jonathan Carroll. Just read that a few months ago. :)

New line, that I don't think we've used yet:
"After a year of hunting, I finally caught up with Sarah."

Heh, things were going so well for a day, and then I killed it.

Clue: It's a young adult book, although arguably not the one for which the author is most well-known.

I don't really know, but I'll take a stab at it...Sarah Bishop by Scott O'Dell?

Or is it one of these creep books by Westerfeld?

What about Peeps?

228 and 229 are both right! Peeps it is! (by Scott Westerfeld.)

Your turn, MissTeacher!

Thanks for the nudge Paul!

"When he finished packing, he walked out on to the third floor porch of the barracks brushing the dust from his hands, a very neat and deceptively thin young man in the summer khakis that were still early morning fresh."

I believe that is From Here to Eternity by James Jones.

the "deceptively thin man" played by Frank Sinatra in the movie version

orangeena, I know you're right because I just took the book down to check for myself before I realised you'd already answered!

It has been forever since I read FHT Eternity, but it just jumped out there. Here is a new beginning to chew on.....

'Will she last out the night, I wonder? '
'Look at the clock, Mathew.'

Good job, Orangeena! Great book, great movie!

No guesses???

Here's the line again:

'Will she last out the night, I wonder? '
'Look at the clock, Mathew.'

From a little known work by a well known mystery writer

Something by Agatha Christie?

I don't recognise it but it sounds like they should either be talking about a Queen or a cow.

I can see that conversation taking place in a royal bedroom or in a barn just as easily.

What about something like Scrubs or similarly hospitalized?

Jody - I love the 'queen or a cow' theory! If it isn't, it should be!
ETA - I think I may have figured out who the author is - just working on the title now.

Not Christie

I don't think it's either of these, but would I be getting warm with The New Magdalen or The Law and the Lady?

Or Basil or The Spectator? Stabbing away like crazy in the dark here.

Or Hide and Seek, The Dead Secret or The Queen of Hearts?

Okay - we all know I'm floundering here and I've been trying not to give away the name of the author but I'm certain it's Wilkie Collins. The only ones I know for sure it isn't are The Woman in White, The Haunted Hotel and The Moonstone. Am I anywhere close at all?

Hot as fire

'kay - well, there are loads of others (she says - frantically scrabbling around the back of her brain and taking a sneaky look inside her copy of Moonstone):
Ummmm . . . Armadale?

eta - Did you mean I had the right author?

After the Dark? Oooh, here's one - Poor Miss Finch?

You have named it, as well as the author, in one of your previous posts.

So do I have to go through them all again? Basil? The Spectator?

Hide and Seek?

I know, I know -- it's The Dead Secret! Booksloth should get the credit, though -- she did all the hard work.

Yes, that's the one.

You two may flip for it ;-)

Go for it diva! You actually knew it - I was only going through the list.

i have to admit I got lucky -- the first Wilkie Collins I picked up to check was that one.

OK, here goes:

"The old woman remembered a swan she had bought many years ago in Shanghai for a foolish sum."

That's The Joy Luck Club which I still haven't got round to reading yet but couldn't help noticing such a great first line. On my way out - will post the next one when I get back.

There you go, booksloth, you got it right back!

Ooops - and I forgot to post the next one! Here we go then:
"Death is outside life but it alters it: it leaves a hole in the fabric of things which those who are left behind try to repair."
(And I've now been and ordered The Dead Secret - I love Wilkie Collins and I think I earned it!)

I have absolutely no idea.... but I wonder if the author, whomever he/she may be ever read I Never Sang For My Father. Your quote immediately brought to mind....
"Death ends a life, but it does not end a relationship which struggles on in the mind of the survivor toward some final resolution which it may never find."

Sing out with your opinions when you finish The Dead Secret - I stumbled upon it at Half Price Books and have yet to read it. I grabbed it the moment I saw Wilkie Collins.

Taking off-game and so what comments away now.....;-)

Don't hold your breath orangeena, my books - all but a privileged few - tend to hang around on Mount TBR for quite a while before I got round to reading them too. It'll be a race to the finish to see who reads it first.

I'll give a bit of a clue to the above - and cut the possibilities it half - by confessing mine's a female author.

Have I killed it again? I just checked and there are actually fewer that 500 copies on LT so it might be a bit obscure but somebody should have read it surely? Set mainly in Venice and with artistic resonances.

I'm pretty sure it's Salley Vickers but I can't remember which book of hers goes with which title. I'm guessing it's either Instances of the Number 3 or Miss Garnet's Angel. I think.

Is that a quote from Robert Anderson? “Der Tod beendet ein Leben, aber er beendet nicht eine Beziehung, die im Gedächtnis des Überlebenden weiterbesteht und nach einer Lösung sucht, nach einer Bedeutung, die sie vielleicht nie finden wird.«
Segal starts his Oliver's story with that quote.

It's yours cheese! It was Miss Garnet's Angel - lovely book from slightly erratic author.

I'm going to cheat a bit and give you two lines, because the first line is so short.

'Was anyone hurt?'
'No one, I am thankful to say,' said __ ____, 'except two housemaids who lost their heads and jumped through a glass roof into the paved court.'

Well, I know I want to read it!

That's the other reason for giving the second line...it's great!

I think we need a clue.

Is it by Dorothy Sayers?

I'm thinking maybe Evelyn Waugh .....

I don't think it's Waugh - but it does sound very familiar, and I've been trying to place it. I was wondering if it could be Saki or someone like that.

Oh, it is Waugh! A Handful of Dust, right?

Absolutely right, jfetting! I'm so sorry about abandoning you all. I haven't had time to do my usual daily LT activities recently. You're up, jfetting!

"Home to stay, Glory! Yes!" her father said, and her heart sank.

"Home to stay, Glory! Yes!" her father said, and her heart sank.

a hint: the title of the book is one of the words in the above sentence.

I would guess...Glory...by Nabokov?? Never read it--just took the most title-worthy word from that sentence.

no, not Glory...

Home by Marilynne Robinson?

that's it, dreamlikecheese! Your turn!

I'm getting anxious!

I'm so so sorry it took me so long to get back here! It's been a hectic week.

Here's the next line:

"Ours is essentially a tragic age, so we refuse to take it tragically."

Oh, that's Lady Chatterly's Lover isn't it?

Oh! Here I was chomping at the bit, and I missed it!! Good job orangeena!
:)

All yours, orangeena!

Here we go......

"It was a cold grey day in late November."

I usually try to wait 24 hours before chiming in with a clue, but I'll give a tiny hint...

mystery

Oh yes - I was beginning to fear Daphne had faded from everyone's memory!

She'll never fade from mine orangeena! Apart from the fact that we are/were practically neighbours so maybe she'll always be better remembered in my neck of the woods than anywhere, her books will always take a very special place in my library.

I'm going to throw my turn up for grabs to anyone who wants it. Going through a bit of a family crisis at the moment which means I keep disappearing for several days at a time so I may not be here for all the guessers. Whoever grabs first gets it!

I guess being up this early has its benefits. I'll take the turn if you don't mind. :)

"The Signora had no business to do it," said Miss Bartlett, "no business at all."

A Room With A View?

Absolutely right. Your turn.

OK, hope this isn't too obvious or too obscure.

"The moment I heard how McAra died I should have walked away."

"The moment I heard how McAra died I should have walked away."

Hint: thriller, British author

Hmm - I think we've eliminated the possibility of "too obvious"...

"The moment I heard how McAra died I should have walked away."

Hint: thriller, British author

The main character (not the narrator) is generally supposed to be a parody of Tony Blair.

Oh, could it be The Ghost by Robert Harris, then?

YES! (Thank God I didn't kill the game!)

Your turn, Macon.

"The first sound in the mornings was the clumping of the mill-girls' clogs down the cobbled street."

I'm happy to give as many clues as required - but will only post a clue if someone asks for one...

Hmm - that sounds as though it ought to be Dickens or Mrs Gaskell or someone, but it isn't any of the Victorian novels I can think of offhand. And "clumping" is odd - Lancashire clogs had irons on them, so they would have clattered. Clumping sounds more like Dutch clogs (klompen), but that would be the wrong sort of mill. And anyway, in any proper northern milltown epic you would hear the knocker-upper and the mill hooter before the clogs...

Just to get the game moving again and because of the word 'mill' I am going to guess The Mill on the Floss, which I have never read.

You should, Jody - it's great (like all GE's books). And what on earth are you doing still here anyway?

#302 - I'm trying not to be here, I really am. Although there are still eleven days to go to the proper due date, so plenty of time to read that book and find out if my uneducated guess was right. But I'm so big now that BRE can't possibly be waiting until the due date. I look like Violet Beaureguarde in Charlie and the Chocolate factory, round and turning a purple colour.

Not Mill on the Floss.

I'm going to interpret that as asking for a clue: it's fact, rather than fiction, and is pretty well known in the UK.

The author also wrote (even more famous) novels.

Oh, of course - it's The road to Wigan Pier, isn't it?

That's the one!

Well, you can't expect an Etonian to understand the subtleties of clogs...

OK - Staying in Lancashire, probably too easy:

There are some fields near Manchester, well known to the inhabitants as 'Green Heys Fields,' through which runs a public footpath to a little village about two miles distant.

Mary Barton!

Pretty quick off the mark for a sloth!

I was right about it being too easy, wasn't I? Well done - your go.

Creep like a sloth; drop like a hawk!

" A fire raged in an old farmhouse".

Additional lines/clues after each guess. No guesses; no clues!

The Bear went over the mountain :)

You crafty thing, you! Not even a teensy, weensy clue - you're up!

Hello? Anyone?

Have just nudged starfish.

hahaha sorry, grad school kicking my butt. i didn't even know I got it right. thanks for the nudge! OK i'm running off now to flip through my books..

"Kane dealt prescription drugs in Ashford; the Gateway to Europe."

hopefully thats not too super easy, I don't think anyones used it before :)

Kent, but it obviously isn't Dickens or H.G. Wells... I haven't read it, but it sounds as though it must be Nicola Barker's Darkmans

I knew I knew it but just couldn't place it! I can confirm that one for you thorold.

I'm beginning to lose track of what we've had before and what we haven't: this is one of my favourites, so forgive me if I've used it before.

Beginning this book (not as they say ‘book’ in our trade—they mean magazine), beginning this book, I should like if I may, I should like, if I may (that is the way Sir Phoebus writes), I should like then to say: Good-bye to all my friends, my beautiful and lovely friends.

(Edited to get the punctuation right)

A clue, because you've had 24hrs, and I'm going offline for a few days after tonight:

It's a novel that's never been made into a film, but my copy's got a photograph of Glenda Jackson on the front cover.

I'm not going to go through your whole library and, anyway, I suspect you may be crafty enough to have removed that particular cover! I'm thinking maybe something that was on TV then? Something historical maybe? Or something political? Am I getting warm?

< Mimes cranking a camera > The thing which involved Ms J has been on television, but it was a film (a play originally - I think she was in the play too). And she was a lot younger then, so it is clearly historical(!). Political only rather tangentially. And as I said, it's not an adaptation of the book, but...

Difficult to give a clue about the author that doesn't give the whole thing away. Perhaps best to say that it's someone whom you don't immediately think of as a novelist. And if you know their other works (I think you might, Sloth), the style is a bit of a give-away.

Since nothing seems to have happened while I was away on holiday...

Another clue: the title describes the medium.

I think we may need more, thorold....this one's a stumper!

Woman author, 1st half of 20th century, written on a typewriter...

Is it something by Gertrude Stein?

No.

Sorry - didn't think it was going to be so hard, but I see there are fewer than 200 copies on LT. It's a British writer.

Okay - I happen to know it's Stevie Smith and for a long time I couldn't remember the name of that damn book (which, incidentally, I haven't read so my profanity refers only to the fact that I'd forgotten it, not to the quality of Lovely Stevie's work) but I'm now willing to go for Novel on Yellow Paper.

Thanks for putting the thread out of its misery, Sloth! Your go...

Good one, T. Let's give everyone a bit of a break with one that, I think, should be pretty easy:
The people who remained in this place have often asked why it was that Ibrahim went mad,

Birds without Wings by Louis de Bernières.

There are few things humans are more dedicated to than unhappiness.

How Proust Can Change Your Life. (Bad touchstones!!!!!) Okay then, by Alain de Botton.

ETA Touchstones - decided they'd work this time.

Did we create a new thread that I've missed or have we killed this one?

Last I knew I thought I'd got it but can't be sure as I can't find my copy. Waiting for someone to confirm or deny really. If they did a runner behind your back, then they caught me out too, sanja.

I just googled the line and it looks like Booksloth is right.

Shall I go for it then? Here we are -
'Who is he, this young man who strolls towards us down Regent Street, a carnation in his collar and a cane in his hand?'

Hello . . ? Anyone there . . ? No clues without guesses.

It sounds to me as if it could be by P.G. Wodehouse, but if it is I really couldn't say which book.

Nope - not Wodehouse. Published in 2008.

I don't think it's Wodehouse. That "us" doesn't sound right. And it's not as though it were Piccadilly and a poppy or a lily, so I'm a bit stuck too...

Detective work: assuming it's Regent Street in London, it can't be before 1825. But "collar" is presumably jacket collar (a carnation would be a bit big for a shirt collar) so I'd have thought it has to be before shirts with collars became common. And "cane" by itself for a walking stick sounds a bit old-fashioned, unless it's an American writer.

So I'd guess at something early to mid-Victorian. Thackeray??

Nope - think we crossed in the ether but you get another clue anyway. Not the author's first book.

Mmm - there I go making bricks without straw again.

Would this be a green carnation, by any chance?

No, at least, it doesn't say, but it's not who you're thinking of - though I do believe he gets a casual mention at some point.

...Oh, well - just guessing from the books in your library.

I don't think anyone knows. Also, this thread is getting long. Should we start a new one?

Just been told I'm being waved at. Sorry guys - I'd more or less forgotten this one too but I thought I was waiting for someone to guess. If you all give in, just say -failing that, let's try another clue:

I did just check to make sure it was out in the US but I guess it is as there's a quote from the Boston Globe on the front cover. This is the third novel from an African-born author who seems to be rather fond of food and drink.

The Unbearable Lightness of Scones?

Great try, cheese! Unfortunately not. The book's title actually refers to a drink, rather than a foodstuff.

Grr - this is frustrating: I've gone through all sorts of writers born in Africa, but all of the ones I could think of published their third novels long before 2008 (to my shame I forgot all about Professor McCall Smith, but Cheese has eliminated him in the meantime anyway). With food and drink in the title, William Boyd would have been my next pick, but again the date rules him out.

This is beginning to turn into 20 questions (though what the hell? I liked that game). I think if anyone out there had read it they'd have guessed by now so let's go for some more general clues:
The author's two earlier books were set in Italy (Rome and Naples) and also heavily involved food and drink. The novel we are looking for is set in London and Africa. And the first letter of the writer's surname is C.

Well, I suppose it must be The various flavours of coffee, then - I have to admit that I've never heard of Anthony Capella, though apparently we were contemporaries at university. Is he good?

This one was - haven't actually read the others yet. But yes, at long last, tou got it! Sorry that one was such a toughie - I had no idea it was going to be! (Good to get rid of it at last.)

Well done thorold!

Phew. Amazing what a few tagmashes will do.

The game continues in a new thread here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/65840&newpost=1#lastmsg

I think this one should be a bit easier...