# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![look\_ninjas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b2d939/32.png) [@look\_ninjas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/look_ninjas)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2003, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963/81 "2003-04-17T13:07:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by fishcheer15 \* > \*\*Now mine: > > The sentence doesn’t stop there, but quoting it in full would surely spoil the whole thing. \*\* **The Catcher in the Rye** , J.D. Salinger. Here’s an easy one > [@](#): > > When that Aprill with his shoures soote > the droghte of March has perced to the roote > And bathed every veyne in swich licour > Of which vertu engendred is the flour;… Mine also continues, of course, but it’s already too easy as it is. ---
**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 17, 2003, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963/82 "2003-04-17T13:11:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by asterion \* > \*\*“The last drops of the thundershower had hardly ceased falling when the Pedestrian stuffed his map into his pocket, settled his pack more comfortably on his tired shoulders, and stepped out from the shelter of a large chestnut-tree into the middle of the road.” > \*\* That one is CS Lewis. I’ve drunk beer in the same pub as him and JRR Tolkien. Out of the Silent Planet BTW ---
**Author:** ![Fish\_Cheer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fish_cheer/32/17179_2.png) [@Fish\_Cheer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish_Cheer)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2003, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963/83 "2003-04-17T13:13:24Z")
Correct, **spoonbender** (and **look!ninjas** ). ---
**Author:** ![Jabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5e925/32.png) [@Jabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jabba)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2003, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963/84 "2003-04-17T13:15:17Z")
_The Canterbury Tales_ for **look!ninjas** , and **Tapioca Dextrin** was right about _Blood Meridian_. Some replacements, in what I think is increasing order of difficulty: 1. riverrun, past Eve and Adam’s, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs. 2. London. Michaelmas term lately over, and the Lord Chancellor sitting in Lincoln’s Inn Hall. 3. Through the fence, between the curling flower spaces, I could see them hitting. ---
**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 17, 2003, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963/85 "2003-04-17T13:15:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DeVena \* > > OK Here’s mine… > “This is a book about what happens to people when they are overwhelmed by change.” \*\* Our first non-fiction book. Future Shock, Alvin Toffler ---
**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 17, 2003, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963/86 "2003-04-17T13:25:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jabba \* > \*\* > Some replacements, in what I think is increasing order of difficulty: > > 1. riverrun, past Eve and Adam’s, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs. > > 2. London. Michaelmas term lately over, and the Lord Chancellor sitting in Lincoln’s Inn Hall. > > 3. Through the fence, between the curling flower spaces, I could see them hitting. \*\* 1 How the bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk am Isupposed to know that one ? 😃 2 Bleak House. If you’d just given the first sentence as “London.” it would have taken me a lot longer 3 The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner ---
**Author:** ![Jabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5e925/32.png) [@Jabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jabba)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2003, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963/87 "2003-04-17T13:30:09Z")
Well done. I’ll even give you the first one of behalf of the six of us on the boards who got the joke. ---
**Author:** ![Jabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5e925/32.png) [@Jabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jabba)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2003, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963/88 "2003-04-17T13:40:31Z")
Since **Tapioca Dextrin** is so clever, I’ll have to put in some more. 1. Under certain circumstances there are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to afternoon tea. 2. Thirty years ago, Marseilles lay burning in the sun, one day. 3. When she was home from boarding-school I used to see her almost every day sometimes, because their house was right opposite the Town Hall Annexe. ---
**Author:** ![Emilio\_Lizardo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Emilio\_Lizardo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emilio_Lizardo)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2003, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963/89 "2003-04-17T14:12:12Z")
> [@](#): > > “Roscommon came and laid waste to the garden an hour after dawn, about the time I usually get out of bed and he usually passes out on the shoulder of some freeway.” **Zodiac** , by Neal Stephenson > [@](#): > > You are not the kind of guy who would be at a place like this at this time of the morning **Bright Lights, Big City** , Jay McInerny ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2003, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963/90 "2003-04-17T14:31:38Z")
> [@](#): > > “News item from the Westover (Me.) weekly Enterprise, August 19, 1968:” **Carrie**? ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2003, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963/91 "2003-04-17T14:32:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Steve Wright \* > \*\*That’s E. E. “Doc” Smith, _First Lensman_. \*\* That’s also the one I haven’t been able to keep interest through. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2003, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963/92 "2003-04-17T14:34:17Z")
“His name was Gaal Dornick and he was just a country boy who had never seen Trantor before.” ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2003, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963/93 "2003-04-17T14:40:08Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Shodan_ > It was not long after dawn, when the captain of HMS frigate Lydia came up on deck. **Horatio Hornblower** ---
**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 17, 2003, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963/94 "2003-04-17T15:06:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ranchoth \* > \*\* > Here’s a couple that should be a bit more…challenging. > > “Apart from the one in the church tower, there were five clocks in the village that kept reasonable time, and my father owned one of them.” > > and… > > “Gene Cernan was having the time of his life.” \*\* These are the only two to reamin unsloved from further up the page. I have no idea what they are ☹ ---
**Author:** ![mcms\_cricket](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@mcms\_cricket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcms_cricket)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2003, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963/95 "2003-04-17T15:36:19Z")
“Gene Cernan was having the time of his life.” I think this is _Back to the Moon_ …? This one is pretty easy, but it’s one of my favorites: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” Here’s a harder one (from one of my favorite childhood books): “It was Mrs. May who first told me about them.” Cricket ---
**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 17, 2003, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963/96 "2003-04-17T15:41:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jabba \* > \*\*riverrun, past Eve and Adam’s, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs. > \*\* Already identified by **Tapioca Dextrin** (How Cleverly Explained!), but not by name: **Finnegans Wake**. Here’s another: “A screaming comes across the sky.” ---
**Author:** ![Emilio\_Lizardo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Emilio\_Lizardo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emilio_Lizardo)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2003, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963/97 "2003-04-17T16:10:04Z")
> [@](#): > > A screaming comes across the sky **Gravity’s Rainbow** , Thomas Pynchon. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2003, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963/98 "2003-04-17T16:26:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Diogenes the Cynic \* > \*\*“His name was Gaal Dornick and he was just a country boy who had never seen Trantor before.” \*\* Isaac Asimov, _Foundation_. Must come up with a couple more myself, mustn’t I? (Aside to **Tapioca Dextrin** : are you talking about the Lamb & Flag, or the Eagle & Child?) ---
**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 17, 2003, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963/99 "2003-04-17T16:41:04Z")
Bird and Babe it is **Steve** ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2003, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963/100 "2003-04-17T17:00:47Z")
**Diogenes** , Yes, that was _Carrie_. This one is pretty easy, but it’s one of my favorites: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” _Pride and Prejudice_ My favorite book, **mcms\_cricket** 🙂 Here’s an easy one: “There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963.md?page=6)