# Guess the book from the opening lines....again! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 22, 2003, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-lines-again/220493 "2003-12-22T19:16:44Z")\ **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:** [December 22, 2003, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-lines-again/220493/1 "2003-12-22T19:16:44Z")
The rules are simple. Post the first few lines from a book, and then someone else will try to guess what the book is. I’ll go first: > [@](#): > > I had the story, bit by bit, from various people, and, as generally happens in such cases, each time it was a different story. ---
**Author:** ![Dread\_Pirate\_Danno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@Dread\_Pirate\_Danno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dread_Pirate_Danno)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2003, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-lines-again/220493/2 "2003-12-22T22:55:17Z")
_Ethan Frome_ by Edith Wharton. > [@](#): > > “I’ve watched through his eyes, I’ve listened through his ears, and tell you he’s the one. Or at least as close as we’re going to get.” ---
**Author:** ![Atreyu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@Atreyu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atreyu)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2003, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-lines-again/220493/3 "2003-12-22T23:50:01Z")
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. > [@](#): > > The Deliverator belongs to an elite order, a hallowed subcatgeory. ---
**Author:** ![beeftrax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/77aa72/32.png) [@beeftrax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beeftrax)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-lines-again/220493/4 "2003-12-23T00:13:37Z")
_Snow Crash_ by Neal Stephenson. Great Book! > [@](#): > > In the year 1815 Monseigneur Charles-Francois-Bienvenu Myriel was Bishop of Digne. He was then about seventy-five, having held the bishopric since 1806. ---
**Author:** ![Julius\_Henry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8797f3/32.png) [@Julius\_Henry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Julius_Henry)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-lines-again/220493/5 "2003-12-23T01:33:18Z")
_Les Miserables_. The unabridge version. > [@](#): > > Boys are playing basketball around a telephone pole with a backboard bolted to it. ---
**Author:** ![Dizzy\_Fingers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dizzy\_Fingers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dizzy_Fingers)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-lines-again/220493/6 "2003-12-23T01:39:45Z")
“Rabbit, Run” by John Updike. “Does such a thing as ‘the fatal flaw,’ that showy dark crack running down the middle of a life, exist outside of literature? I used to think it didn’t. Now I think it does.” ---
**Author:** ![Dizzy\_Fingers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dizzy\_Fingers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dizzy_Fingers)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-lines-again/220493/7 "2003-12-23T01:54:17Z")
Uhh. . . quote tag. Right. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-lines-again/220493/8 "2003-12-23T02:50:56Z")
> [@](#): > > All my life I’ve wanted to go to Earth. Not to live, of course–just to see it. As everybody knows, Terra is a wonderful place to visit but not to live. Not truly suited to human habitation. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-lines-again/220493/9 "2003-12-23T03:04:38Z")
Heinlein’s _Podkayne of Mars_ (I almost guessed “The Menace from Earth” but that’s a short story.) > [@](#): > > It was a dark and stormy night. Suddenly the snot ran out. ---
**Author:** ![Gmork](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f19dbf/32.png) [@Gmork](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gmork)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-lines-again/220493/10 "2003-12-23T03:28:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dizzy Fingers \* > \*\*“Rabbit, Run” by John Updike. > > “Does such a thing as ‘the fatal flaw,’ that showy dark crack running down the middle of a life, exist outside of literature? I used to think it didn’t. Now I think it does.” \*\* _The Secret History_ - Donna Tartt ? mine: > [@](#): > > Once when I was six years old I saw a magnificent picture in a book called ‘True Stories of the Virgin Forest’. ---
**Author:** ![Frankenbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c0e974/32.png) [@Frankenbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frankenbear)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-lines-again/220493/11 "2003-12-23T04:12:20Z")
_The Little Prince_ by Antoine de Sainte Exupery. > [@](#): > > One evening in the spring of 1936, when I was a boy of fourteen, my father took me to a dance performance in Kyoto. ---
**Author:** ![Akaadji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@Akaadji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaadji)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-lines-again/220493/12 "2003-12-23T04:16:45Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Elaella \* > \*\* One evening in the spring of 1936, when I was a boy of fourteen, my father took me to a dance performance in Kyoto._\* _Memoirs of A Geisha_ ---
**Author:** ![Akaadji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@Akaadji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaadji)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-lines-again/220493/13 "2003-12-23T04:20:22Z")
Oops…forgot mine…stupid lack of preview…hopefully it’s still allowed if the book’s part of a series… > [@](#): > > I’ve traveled through Death’s Gate four times, yet I don’t remember anything about the journey. Each time I’ve entered the Gate, I’ve been unconscious. ---
**Author:** ![BuckleberryFerry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5f9b8f/32.png) [@BuckleberryFerry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BuckleberryFerry)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-lines-again/220493/14 "2003-12-23T04:25:43Z")
**Ri-chan** , I was going to guess _Memoirs_, too, but I thought it was told through the POV of the woman it was about, so that it could not say “when I was a boy of fourteen.” Am I forgetting? ---
**Author:** ![Akaadji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@Akaadji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaadji)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-lines-again/220493/15 "2003-12-23T05:22:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BuckleberryFerry \* > \*\ ***Ri-chan** , I was going to guess _Memoirs_, too, but I thought it was told through the POV of the woman it was about, so that it could not say “when I was a boy of fourteen.” Am I forgetting? \*\* ---
**Author:** ![Akaadji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@Akaadji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaadji)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-lines-again/220493/16 "2003-12-23T05:23:29Z")
:smack: Oh, for…that does it, I am definitely getting more bloody sleep… Yes, sort of. It WAS told by Chiyo/Sayuri, however the quote is the beginning of the translater’s note… ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-lines-again/220493/17 "2003-12-23T06:07:13Z")
Sorry I have no idea of any given, but here’s an entry- my favorite opening line (given from memory…) "There was a boy named Eustace Scrubb and he almost deserved it. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-lines-again/220493/18 "2003-12-23T06:28:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by FriarTed \* > \*\*"There was a boy named Eustace Scrubb and he almost deserved it. \*\* _The Voyage of the Dawn Treader_, by C. S. Lewis. The Wind howled. Lighting stabbed at the earth erratically, like an inefficient assassin. Thunder rolled back and forth across the dark, rain-lashed hills. ---
**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:** [December 23, 2003, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-lines-again/220493/19 "2003-12-23T08:01:55Z")
_Wyrd Sisters_ by Terry Pratchett. [symbol]Apocaluyis Ihsou Cristou hn edwken autw o qeos deixai tois doulois autou a dei genesqai en taci kai eshmanen aposteilas dia tou angelou autou tou doulw autou Iwannh[/symbol] ---
**Author:** ![First\_Amongst\_Daves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/4491bb/32.png) [@First\_Amongst\_Daves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/First_Amongst_Daves)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-lines-again/220493/20 "2003-12-23T09:16:46Z")
Stab in the dark - Xenophon’s Anabasis? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-lines-again/220493.md?page=2)