# Identify the books from the opening lines **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 20, 2005, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-the-books-from-the-opening-lines/285695 "2005-01-20T08:17:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jayn\_Newell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jayn\_Newell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayn_Newell)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2005, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-the-books-from-the-opening-lines/285695/21 "2005-01-20T22:47:08Z")
Afraid I can’t answer any so far. But here’s one that’s completely unforgettable. _My mother was the village whore and I loved her very much._ ---
**Author:** ![Waenara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@Waenara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waenara)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2005, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-the-books-from-the-opening-lines/285695/22 "2005-01-20T23:11:18Z")
> [@Reno Nevada](#): > > RN2: “Within five years the penis will be obsolete,” said the salesman. _Steel Beach_ by John Varley ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2005, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-the-books-from-the-opening-lines/285695/23 "2005-01-20T23:21:32Z")
A few of my own: Z1: There was once a boy named Milo who didn’t know what to do with himself - not just sometimes, but always. Z2: It was a dark and stormy night. (Yes, there really is a popular book that starts that way) Z3: Once upon a time, sixty years ago, a little girl lived in the Big Woods of Wisconsin, in a little grey house made of logs. Z4: Clare: The library is cool and smells like carpet cleaner, although all I can see is marble. Z5: “I’ve watched through his eyes, I’ve listened through his ears, and I tell you he’s the one. Or at least as close as we’re going to get.” Z6: “Death,” the proprietor said clearly, showing the stone. Z7: Before she went to the launch site, Helena Lyakhov always went through the same ritual. Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2005, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-the-books-from-the-opening-lines/285695/24 "2005-01-20T23:48:03Z")
Z2 is _A Wrinkle in Time_. I considered that one myself. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2005, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-the-books-from-the-opening-lines/285695/25 "2005-01-20T23:49:30Z")
Z5 is _Ender’s Game_. ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2005, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-the-books-from-the-opening-lines/285695/26 "2005-01-20T23:49:28Z")
Oh, and I believe Z3 is _Little House in the Big Woods_. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Babbington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Mr.Babbington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Babbington)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2005, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-the-books-from-the-opening-lines/285695/27 "2005-01-20T23:53:32Z")
Here’s one: > [@](#): > > Some of the evil of my tale may have been inherent in our circumstances. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2005, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-the-books-from-the-opening-lines/285695/28 "2005-01-20T23:57:21Z")
> [@](#): > > Z1: There was once a boy named Milo who didn’t know what to do with himself - not just sometimes, but always. _The Phantom Tollbooth_. Props to **silverfish** for getting _Through the Looking-Glass_. FP3: On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays it was Court Hand and Summulae Logicales, while the rest of the week it was the Organon, Repetition and Astrology. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Babbington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Mr.Babbington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Babbington)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-the-books-from-the-opening-lines/285695/29 "2005-01-21T00:04:21Z")
FP3: _The Glass Bead Game_? ---
**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:** [January 21, 2005, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-the-books-from-the-opening-lines/285695/30 "2005-01-21T00:09:04Z")
To complete the original 10 > [@](#): > > 8 - Dusk - of a summer night. And the tall walls of the commercial heart of an American city of perhaps 400,000 inhabitants - such walls as in time may linger as a mere fable. An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser ---
**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:** [January 21, 2005, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-the-books-from-the-opening-lines/285695/31 "2005-01-21T00:16:36Z")
> [@](#): > > Z4: Clare: The library is cool and smells like carpet cleaner, although all I can see is marble. The Time Taveller’s Wife. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Purl_McKnittington)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-the-books-from-the-opening-lines/285695/32 "2005-01-21T00:21:01Z")
> [@Fretful Porpentine](#): > > FP2: No one who had seen [character] in her infancy, would have supposed her born to be an heroine. Her situation in life, the character of her father and mother, her own person and disposition, were all equally against her. Ooh! Jane Austen, _Northanger Abbey_. MPK 1: One may as well begin with Helen’s letters to her sister. MPK 2: [Character name], who was usually very late in the mornings, save upon those not infrequent occasion when he stayed up all night, was seated at the breakfast table. ---
**Author:** ![Tracy\_Lord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@Tracy\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tracy_Lord)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-the-books-from-the-opening-lines/285695/33 "2005-01-21T00:28:26Z")
> [@zev\_steinhardt](#): > > Z3: Once upon a time, sixty years ago, a little girl lived in the Big Woods of Wisconsin, in a little grey house made of logs. _Caddie Woodlawn_? ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-the-books-from-the-opening-lines/285695/34 "2005-01-21T00:29:10Z")
> [@](#): > > Z6: “Death,” the proprietor said clearly, showing the stone. WAG: Piers Anthony’s On A Pale Horse. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-the-books-from-the-opening-lines/285695/35 "2005-01-21T00:30:04Z")
> [@Mr. Babbington](#): > > FP3: _The Glass Bead Game_? Nope. (Miss Purl McKnittington is spot on about _Northanger Abbey_, though.) > [@](#): > > MPK 1: One may as well begin with Helen’s letters to her sister. _Howards End_, right? FP4: 1801 – I have just returned from a visit to my landlord – the solitary neighbor that I shall be troubled with. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Purl_McKnittington)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-the-books-from-the-opening-lines/285695/36 "2005-01-21T00:44:32Z")
> [@Fretful Porpentine](#): > > Nope. (Miss Purl McKnittington is spot on about _Northanger Abbey_, though.) Whoo! > [@](#): > > _Howards End_, right? Ayuh. One more! MPK 3: Mrs. [Character name] said she would buy the flowers herself. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-the-books-from-the-opening-lines/285695/37 "2005-01-21T00:52:14Z")
> [@zev\_steinhardt](#): > > A few of my own: > > Z1: There was once a boy named Milo who didn’t know what to do with himself - not just sometimes, but always. Phantom Tollbooth, Juster > [@](#): > > Z3: Once upon a time, sixty years ago, a little girl lived in the Big Woods of Wisconsin, in a little grey house made of logs. Little House In The Big Woods, Wilder F1: Claudia knew that she could never pull off the old-fashioned kind of running away. F2: One night after dinner when David was reading _Doctor Dolittle in the Moon_ and his father was reading the newspaper, and his mother was darning socks, his father suddenly exclaimed; “Well, now, _that’s_ very odd!” ---
**Author:** ![stargazer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb8c5e/32.png) [@stargazer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stargazer)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-the-books-from-the-opening-lines/285695/38 "2005-01-21T00:57:09Z")
> [@Fretful Porpentine](#): > > FP3: On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays it was Court Hand and Summulae Logicales, while the rest of the week it was the Organon, Repetition and Astrology. _The Once and Future King_? ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-the-books-from-the-opening-lines/285695/39 "2005-01-21T00:59:02Z")
> [@stargazer](#): > > _The Once and Future King_? Or _The Sword In The Stone_, depending on if she has the collected version or not! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-the-books-from-the-opening-lines/285695/40 "2005-01-21T01:35:51Z")
Yep, **stargazer** and **Fenris** have got it. > [@](#): > > F1: Claudia knew that she could never pull off the old-fashioned kind of running away. Um… _From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler_? > [@](#): > > MPK 3: Mrs. [Character name] said she would buy the flowers herself. _Mrs. Dalloway_? (Not sure about either of those, so will hold off on posting new ones.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-the-books-from-the-opening-lines/285695.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-the-books-from-the-opening-lines/285695.md?page=3)