# Guess the Novel By Its First Line: A Game **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [March 30, 2008, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-novel-by-its-first-line-a-game/443296 "2008-03-30T18:42:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Weaver\_of\_Nightmares](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/73ab20/32.png) [@Weaver\_of\_Nightmares](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weaver_of_Nightmares)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-novel-by-its-first-line-a-game/443296/41 "2008-04-02T13:42:53Z")
[QUOTE=Gadarene] 1. Friday, in the evening, the landlady shouted up the stairs: “Oh God, oh Jesus, Oh Sacred Heart.” [/QUOTE] _Ulysses_, by James Joyce. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-novel-by-its-first-line-a-game/443296/42 "2008-04-02T15:48:48Z")
[QUOTE=Weaver of Nightmares] 38. Once upon a time when the world was young there was a Martian named Valentine Michael Smith. [/QUOTE] Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein. ---
**Author:** ![pprgrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f6c823/32.png) [@pprgrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pprgrl)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-novel-by-its-first-line-a-game/443296/43 "2008-04-02T16:17:09Z")
[QUOTE=Weaver of Nightmares] _Ulysses_, by James Joyce. [/QUOTE] Right country, wrong author. 1. is _Neverwhere_ by Neil Gaiman. ---
**Author:** ![Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bambi_Hassenpfeffer)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-novel-by-its-first-line-a-game/443296/44 "2008-04-02T16:45:36Z")
[QUOTE=pasunejen] _The Diamond Age_, Neal Stephenson [/QUOTE] Yup. [QUOTE=pprgrl] I’m pretty sure this is _The Color Purple_ but I can’t check because for some inexplicable reason it is not sitting on my shelf of favorite books. [/quote] You got it. Next line: “It’d kill your mammy.” > [@pprgrl](#): > > BH1 is really, really familiar but I can’t quite place it. I’m gonna be doing one of these :smack: when somebody walks in here with the right answer. You want a hint? Author:Amy Tan. ---
**Author:** ![ArrMatey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrmatey/32/3522_2.png) [@ArrMatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArrMatey)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-novel-by-its-first-line-a-game/443296/45 "2008-04-02T18:10:43Z")
35 is Something Wicked This Way Comes (I think). I also believe 39 is ‘Meathouse Man’. 1. “His followers called him Mahasamatman and said he was a g-d” ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-novel-by-its-first-line-a-game/443296/46 "2008-04-02T18:43:19Z")
[QUOTE=Švejk] 1. “So they killed our Ferdinand!” [/QUOTE] From your namesake: _The Good Soldier Švejk_, by Jaroslav Hašek. 🙂 Here’s mine: Amerigo Bonasera sat in New York Criminal Court Number 3 and waited for justice; vengeance on the men who had so cruelly hurt his daughter, who had tried to dishonor her. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-novel-by-its-first-line-a-game/443296/47 "2008-04-02T18:52:36Z")
[QUOTE=Gadarene] 5. The snow in the mountain was melting and Bunny had been dead for several weeks before we came to understand the gravity of our situation. [/QUOTE] _The Secret History_, by Donna Tartt. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-novel-by-its-first-line-a-game/443296/48 "2008-04-02T19:16:14Z")
[QUOTE=Fretful Porpentine] 5 – _The Secret History_, by Donna Tartt [/QUOTE] Darn it! ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-novel-by-its-first-line-a-game/443296/49 "2008-04-02T20:56:28Z")
[QUOTE=Enginerd] 22. I am seated in an office, surrounded by heads and bodies. [/QUOTE] “Infinite Jest” by David Foster Wallace ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-novel-by-its-first-line-a-game/443296/50 "2008-04-02T21:23:55Z")
[QUOTE=pravnik] Amerigo Bonasera sat in New York Criminal Court Number 3 and waited for justice; vengeance on the men who had so cruelly hurt his daughter, who had tried to dishonor her. [/QUOTE] The Godfather? ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-novel-by-its-first-line-a-game/443296/51 "2008-04-02T23:13:59Z")
[QUOTE=Finagle] The Godfather? [/QUOTE] Very good. One of my favorite first lines. 🙂 An easy one: Tyler gets me a job as a waiter, after that Tyler’s pushing a gun in my mouth and saying, the first step to eternal life is you have to die. ---
**Author:** ![pasunejen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/58956e/32.png) [@pasunejen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pasunejen)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-novel-by-its-first-line-a-game/443296/52 "2008-04-02T23:23:27Z")
[QUOTE=pravnik] Very good. One of my favorite first lines. 🙂 An easy one: Tyler gets me a job as a waiter, after that Tyler’s pushing a gun in my mouth and saying, the first step to eternal life is you have to die. [/QUOTE] _Fight Club_ ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-novel-by-its-first-line-a-game/443296/53 "2008-04-02T23:43:16Z")
[QUOTE=ArrMatey!] 44. “His followers called him Mahasamatman and said he was a g-d” [/QUOTE] 1. Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2008, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-novel-by-its-first-line-a-game/443296/54 "2008-04-03T00:40:38Z")
Trust you, **Scarlett** , to get that one. 😛 Okay, from three of my favorite authors: 1. The panic-stricken girl was galloping full speed back towards the coast, half a mile ahead, along footpaths that led precariously through the rice swamps and paddy fields. 2. It wasn’t a very likely place for disappearances, at least at first glance. 3. Having no personal commitment to either of the new consuls, Gaius Julius Caesar and his sons simply tacked themselves onto the procession which started nearest to their own house, the procession of the senior consul, Marcus Minucius Rufus. ---
**Author:** ![pprgrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f6c823/32.png) [@pprgrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pprgrl)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2008, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-novel-by-its-first-line-a-game/443296/55 "2008-04-03T02:35:48Z")
[QUOTE=Bambi Hassenpfeffer] Yup.You got it. Next line: "It’d kill your mammy."You want a hint? Author:Amy Tan. [/QUOTE] Ah, okay, then that’s from _The Joy Luck Club_ (spoilered in case someone else can get it without the hint). I thought as much, but I can’t double-check any of these because about 95% of my books are in storage right now. 1. Some hours before dawn Henry Perowne, a neurosurgeon, wakes to find himself already in motion, pushing back the covers from a sitting position, and then rising to his feet. And two of my earlier ones that have not been guessed yet: 1. It was a nice day. 2. Friday, in the evening, the landlady shouted up the stairs: "Oh God, oh Jesus, Oh Sacred Heart. ---
**Author:** ![Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bambi_Hassenpfeffer)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2008, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-novel-by-its-first-line-a-game/443296/56 "2008-04-03T07:08:27Z")
[QUOTE=pprgrl] Ah, okay, then that’s from _The Joy Luck Club_ (spoilered in case someone else can get it without the hint. [/QUOTE] Nope, not that one. Answer: The Kitchen God’s Wife ---
**Author:** ![pprgrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f6c823/32.png) [@pprgrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pprgrl)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2008, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-novel-by-its-first-line-a-game/443296/57 "2008-04-03T11:29:43Z")
^ :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2008, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-novel-by-its-first-line-a-game/443296/58 "2008-04-03T13:50:32Z")
[QUOTE=ivylass] 46. It wasn’t a very likely place for disappearances, at least at first glance. [/QUOTE] That’s from _Outlander_, by Diana Gabaldon. She’s one of my favorites, too. ---
**Author:** ![Weaver\_of\_Nightmares](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/73ab20/32.png) [@Weaver\_of\_Nightmares](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weaver_of_Nightmares)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2008, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-novel-by-its-first-line-a-game/443296/59 "2008-04-03T14:17:44Z")
[QUOTE=ArrMatey!] 35 is Something Wicked This Way Comes (I think). I also believe 39 is ‘Meathouse Man’. [/QUOTE] You’re right about the Bradbury, but the other one’s wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Credible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a8b319/32.png) [@Justin\_Credible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Credible)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2008, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-novel-by-its-first-line-a-game/443296/60 "2008-04-03T14:43:24Z")
I’ve never heard of half the authors or books in this thread. The only one I have known so far was Salem’s Lot, which Ivylass got. I’ll go ahead and add one anyway, from one of my favorite books: 1. For a long time the horizon had been a monotonous flat blue line separating the Pacific Ocean from the sky. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-novel-by-its-first-line-a-game/443296.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-novel-by-its-first-line-a-game/443296.md?page=4)