# First Lines - name the book given the first line

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-lines-name-the-book-given-the-first-line/195838>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [August 17, 2003, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-lines-name-the-book-given-the-first-line/195838 "2003-08-17T22:28:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![FairyDust](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ccd318/32.png) [@FairyDust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyDust)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-lines-name-the-book-given-the-first-line/195838/1 "2003-08-17T22:28:07Z")

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[This](http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/jad22/) is a fun game. I was able to correctly name most of the children’s books.

Can you recognize most of the books listed there just by reading the first line?

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**Author:** ![E.Thorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2003, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-lines-name-the-book-given-the-first-line/195838/2 "2003-08-18T01:54:12Z")

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Fun! There’s a bookstore in my neighborhood that posts a different first line on a sandwich board every day. If you can whisper the book title to the sales clerk, you get 20% off any book in the store. Good business, that.