# 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:** 8\ **Page:** 9
**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 21, 2003, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963/161 "2003-04-21T17:39:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jeanster \* > \*\*I had this story from one who had no business to tell it to me, or to any other. \*\* Edgar Rice Burroughs, _Tarzan of the Apes_. Try this one :- > [@](#): > > “Well, Prince, so Genoa and Lucca are now just family estates of the Buonapartes.” (Another translated book, so exact phrasing may vary depending on the translation … ) (Oh, and yes, I know the Bird and Bantling 🙂 ) ---
**Author:** ![jeanster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc348/32.png) [@jeanster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jeanster)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963/162 "2003-04-21T18:56:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Steve Wright \* > \*\*Edgar Rice Burroughs, _Tarzan of the Apes_. > > \*\* Steve, you are correct. ---
**Author:** ![Jabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5e925/32.png) [@Jabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jabba)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963/163 "2003-04-21T23:05:52Z")
**Steve Wright’s** is _War and Peace_ ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2003, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963/164 "2003-04-26T06:03:39Z")
> [@](#): > > There were four of us - George, and William Samuel Harris, and myself, and Montmorency. We were sitting in my room, smoking, and talking about how bad we were - bad from a medical point of view, I mean. ---
**Author:** ![Jabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5e925/32.png) [@Jabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jabba)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2003, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963/165 "2003-04-26T09:35:34Z")
_Three Men in a Boat_: The funniest opening couple of pages ever. ---
**Author:** ![Jabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5e925/32.png) [@Jabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jabba)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2003, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963/166 "2003-04-26T09:37:19Z")
By the way, I still have three open from page 2: 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:** ![hillbillycavewoman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/bc8723/32.png) [@hillbillycavewoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hillbillycavewoman)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2003, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963/167 "2003-04-26T23:11:23Z")
The one about Billy Pilgrim being unstuck in time: that’s gotta be Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut…or did someone else already answer that and I didn’t see it? Betcha nobody gets this one: “At the start, there wasn’t a thing.” ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2003, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963/168 "2003-04-27T04:21:00Z")
Here is an uber easy one: > [@](#): > > Who is John Galt? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/168963.md?page=8)