# 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:** 2
**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, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-lines-again/220493/21 "2003-12-23T11:16:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Diogenes the Cynic \* > \*\*_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] \*\* Had to get out my Greek New Testament to be sure, but that’s The Revelations of St. John. ---
**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 23, 2003, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-lines-again/220493/22 "2003-12-23T14:39:34Z")
> [@](#): > > 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. I don’t have the books in front of me, but I believe this to be from one of the _Death’s Gate Cycle_ books by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis, most likely the first one. A great series, BTW. Since it got overlooked and I am clueless, I am going to repost **Polycarp’s** quote, since I am curious to see if anyone knows it. > [@](#): > > It was a dark and stormy night. Suddenly the snot ran out. ---
**Author:** ![Krisfer\_the\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Krisfer\_the\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krisfer_the_Cat)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-lines-again/220493/23 "2003-12-23T14:46:40Z")
Up until the snot it was Snoopy’s Great American Novel. 😃 > [@](#): > > The Piazza Rusticuci was not one of Rome’s most prestigious addresses. Though only a short walk from the Vatican, the square was humble and nondescript,… ---
**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, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-lines-again/220493/24 "2003-12-23T15:07:41Z")
The original quote, with “…Suddenly a shot rang out.”, was _Paul Clifford_, by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, the archetypal Bad Novel. Hint: my quote is (obviously a riff rom it by) a contemporary Canadian author born on Long Island. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-lines-again/220493/25 "2003-12-23T15:14:43Z")
> [@](#): > > The Piazza Rusticuci was not one of Rome’s most prestigious addresses. Though only a short walk from the Vatican, the square was humble and nondescript,… _Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling_ by Ross King. > [@](#): > > Serene was a word you could put to Brooklyn, New York. Especially in the summer of 1912. Somber, as a word, was better. . ---
**Author:** ![Krisfer\_the\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Krisfer\_the\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krisfer_the_Cat)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-lines-again/220493/26 "2003-12-23T15:21:43Z")
Well sheesh that was fast **Lsura**. I gotta go for REAL obscure now…😉 > [@](#): > > As odd as it may seem, Los Angeles is a particularily good place to become a paleontologist. I didn’t always appreciate this. Okay science nerds whozzat? ---
**Author:** ![cromulent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b4bc9f/32.png) [@cromulent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cromulent)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-lines-again/220493/27 "2003-12-23T15:26:27Z")
> [@](#): > > Serene was a word you could put to Brooklyn, New York. Especially in the summer of 1912. Somber, as a word, was better. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn! ---
**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, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-lines-again/220493/28 "2003-12-23T15:27:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dread Pirate Danno \* > \*\*I don’t have the books in front of me, but I believe this to be from one of the _Death’s Gate Cycle_ books by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis, most likely the first one. A great series, BTW. > \*\* Yup, Death Gate book. It’s the third one, though. ^^ I love those books as well… ---
**Author:** ![Loneraven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c0e974/32.png) [@Loneraven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loneraven)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-lines-again/220493/29 "2003-12-23T16:22:48Z")
> [@](#): > > My father had a face that could stop a clock. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-lines-again/220493/30 "2003-12-23T16:32:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Polycarp \* > \*\*The original quote, with “…Suddenly a shot rang out.”, was _Paul Clifford_, by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, the archetypal Bad Novel. Hint: my quote is (obviously a riff rom it by) a contemporary Canadian author born on Long Island. \*\* Spider Robinson, _Time Pressure_. ---
**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, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-lines-again/220493/31 "2003-12-23T16:55:52Z")
It was a nice day. All the days had been nice. There had been rather more than seven of them so far, and rain hadn’t been invented yet. But clouds massing east of Eden suggested that the first thunderstorm was on its way, and it was going to be a big one. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-lines-again/220493/32 "2003-12-23T17:13:48Z")
“At first Potiphar Breen didn’t notice the girl taking her clothes off.” ---
**Author:** ![substatique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@substatique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/substatique)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-lines-again/220493/33 "2003-12-23T17:21:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Diogenes the Cynic \* > \*\*It was a nice day. > All the days had been nice. There had been rather more than seven of them so far, and rain hadn’t been invented yet. But clouds massing east of Eden suggested that the first thunderstorm was on its way, and it was going to be a big one. \*\* I’m guessing _Not Wanted on the Voyage_ by Timothy Findley. > [@](#): > > He speaks in your voice, American, and there’s a shine in his eye that’s halfway hopeful. ---
**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, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-lines-again/220493/34 "2003-12-23T17:22:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BrotherCadfael \* > \*\*“At first Potiphar Breen didn’t notice the girl taking her clothes off.” \*\* You’re cheating – that’s “The Year of the Jackpot,” by Heinlein, which is a short story. The **book** that it’s the opening lines of is the short story collection _The Menace from Earth._ Just for kicks, who can identify this? > [@](#): > > Rayford Steele’s mind was on a woman he had never touched. ---
**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, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-lines-again/220493/35 "2003-12-23T17:25:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Diogenes the Cynic \* > \*\*It was a nice day. > All the days had been nice. There had been rather more than seven of them so far, and rain hadn’t been invented yet. But clouds massing east of Eden suggested that the first thunderstorm was on its way, and it was going to be a big one. \*\* Is that by any wild chance Twain? ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-lines-again/220493/36 "2003-12-23T17:28:52Z")
Heinlein’s _Year of the Jackpot_ was originally published in one of the pulp magazines. I just included it because it is one of my favorite opening lines. My favorite closing line is “Overhead, one by one, the stars were going out”. Any takers? ---
**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, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-lines-again/220493/37 "2003-12-23T17:45:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Polycarp \* > \*\*Is that by any wild chance Twain? \*\* No, and it’s not Findley either. I’ll give a hint that it’s a collaboration. ---
**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, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-lines-again/220493/38 "2003-12-23T17:45:31Z")
Perhaps you meant > [@](#): > > Overhead, **without any fuss** , the stars were going out. which is the last line of _The Nine Billion Names of God_ by Arthur C. Clarke. ---
**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, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-lines-again/220493/39 "2003-12-23T17:50:26Z")
> [@](#): > > Rayford Steele’s mind was on a woman he had never touched. _Left Behind_? ---
**Author:** ![MaggietheCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@MaggietheCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaggietheCat)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-lines-again/220493/40 "2003-12-23T18:03:03Z")
Diogenes’ is Good Omens by Pratchett & Gaiman. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-lines-again/220493.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-book-from-the-opening-lines-again/220493.md?page=3)