Identify the books from the opening lines

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.

Steel Beach by John Varley

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

Z2 is A Wrinkle in Time. I considered that one myself.

Z5 is Ender’s Game.

Oh, and I believe Z3 is Little House in the Big Woods.

Here’s one:

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.

FP3: The Glass Bead Game?

To complete the original 10

An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser

The Time Taveller’s Wife.

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.

Caddie Woodlawn?

WAG: Piers Anthony’s On A Pale Horse.

Nope. (Miss Purl McKnittington is spot on about Northanger Abbey, though.)

Howards End, right?

FP4: 1801 – I have just returned from a visit to my landlord – the solitary neighbor that I shall be troubled with.

Whoo!

Ayuh.

One more!

MPK 3: Mrs. [Character name] said she would buy the flowers herself.

Phantom Tollbooth, Juster

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!”

The Once and Future King?

Or The Sword In The Stone, depending on if she has the collected version or not! :wink:

Yep, stargazer and Fenris have got it.

Um… From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler?

Mrs. Dalloway?

(Not sure about either of those, so will hold off on posting new ones.)