# Guess the book from the opening line **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 15, 2003, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963 "2003-04-15T22:28:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_With\_The\_Golden\_Gun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@The\_Man\_With\_The\_Golden\_Gun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_With_The_Golden_Gun)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963/1 "2003-04-15T22:28:40Z")
I’ll start: “The two thirty-eights roared simultaneously.” ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963/2 "2003-04-15T22:35:22Z")
_I, the Jury_? “This is my favorite book in all the world, though I have never read it.” ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_With\_The\_Golden\_Gun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@The\_Man\_With\_The\_Golden\_Gun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_With_The_Golden_Gun)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963/3 "2003-04-15T22:56:08Z")
Nope. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963/4 "2003-04-15T23:07:46Z")
Moonraker by Ian Fleming ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963/5 "2003-04-15T23:57:45Z")
“It was the year when they finally immanentized the Eschaton.” ---
**Author:** ![SkeptiJess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2003, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963/6 "2003-04-16T00:01:00Z")
> [@](#): > > “This is my favorite book in all the world, though I have never read it.” The Princess Bride “Willie McCoy had been a jerk before he died.” ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_With\_The\_Golden\_Gun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@The\_Man\_With\_The\_Golden\_Gun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_With_The_Golden_Gun)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2003, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963/7 "2003-04-16T01:02:50Z")
Tapioca got it. ---
**Author:** ![DeVena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dec6dc/32.png) [@DeVena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeVena)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2003, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963/8 "2003-04-16T01:15:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\*“Willie McCoy had been a jerk before he died.” \*\* Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton this is an easy one… “Last night I dreamt I went to Mandalay again.” ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2003, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963/9 "2003-04-16T01:52:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Miller \* > \*\*“It was the year when they finally immanentized the Eschaton.” \*\* Shea & Wilson: **Illuminatus** (technically _The Eye in the Pyramid_) ---
**Author:** ![Fibber\_McGee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a6a055/32.png) [@Fibber\_McGee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fibber_McGee)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2003, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963/10 "2003-04-16T02:12:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DeVena \* > \*\* > this is an easy one… > > “Last night I dreamt I went to Mandalay again.” \*\* Rebecca ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2003, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963/11 "2003-04-16T02:12:37Z")
DeVena’s is “REBECCA”–mine is “It was love at first sight.” ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2003, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963/12 "2003-04-16T02:13:23Z")
> [@](#): > > “Last night I dreamt I went to Mandalay again.” **Rebecca** How 'bout something a wee bit more challenging? _I’ll make my report as if I told a story, for I was taught as a child on my homeworld that Truth is a matter of the imagination._ ---
**Author:** ![Fibber\_McGee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a6a055/32.png) [@Fibber\_McGee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fibber_McGee)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2003, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963/13 "2003-04-16T02:34:22Z")
Okay, now I’ll go: “The idiot lived in a black and gray world, puntuated by the white lightning of hunger and the flickering of fear.” ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2003, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963/14 "2003-04-16T02:40:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by twickster47 \* > \*\*[_I’ll make my report as if I told a story, for I was taught as a child on my homeworld that Truth is a matter of the imagination._ \*\* The Left Hand of Darkness ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2003, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963/15 "2003-04-16T02:48:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fibber McGee \* > \*\*Okay, now I’ll go: > > “The idiot lived in a black and gray world, puntuated by the white lightning of hunger and the flickering of fear.” \*\* “More Than Human” ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2003, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963/16 "2003-04-16T04:45:38Z")
“The primroses were over.” ---
**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2003, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963/17 "2003-04-16T06:20:14Z")
“Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrring!” ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Bongo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a9adbd/32.png) [@Winston\_Bongo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Bongo)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2003, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963/18 "2003-04-16T06:42:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jophiel \* > \*\*“The primroses were over.” \*\* **Watership Down** by Richard Adams And now for something completely different, from one of the coolest writers who ever lived: “The first time I laid eyes on Terry Lennox he was drunk in a Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith outside the terrace of The Dancers.” ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2003, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963/19 "2003-04-16T07:02:16Z")
This one has a few different possible answers, but I have a specific one in mind… “It was a dark and stormy night.” And it’s a Newberry Award winner, too, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2003, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963/20 "2003-04-16T11:05:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Winston Bongo \* > [B"The first time I laid eyes on Terry Lennox he was drunk in a Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith outside the terrace of The Dancers." \*\* The Long Goodnight by Raymond Chandler [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963.md?page=2)