# Yet another "Guess the book from the opening line" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 22, 2007, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/427408 "2007-11-22T06:32:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Bobotheoptimist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/919ad9/32.png) [@Bobotheoptimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobotheoptimist)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2007, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/427408/181 "2007-11-28T15:17:20Z")
“The rain made everything sound different – the engine of my delivery van, the traffic as it rolled by on a film of fallen clouds, the occasional dull honk.” “LO, praise of the prowess of people-kings of spear-armed Danes, in days long sped, we have heard, and what honor the athelings won!” **Dunawake** got it with _Beowulf_ “A man with binoculars. That is how it began: with a man standing by the side of the road, on a crest overlooking a small Arizona town, on a winter night.” **Laughing Lagomorph** is correct, _Andromeda Strain_ ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2007, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/427408/182 "2007-11-28T15:27:52Z")
Here’s a new one: “A sum of money is a leading character in this tale about people, just as a sum of honey might properly be a leading character in a tale about bees.” ---
**Author:** ![cckerberos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2007, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/427408/183 "2007-11-28T16:53:12Z")
[QUOTE=ThirdCultureKid] Is this Orwell, **Down and Out** ]? [/QUOTE] Yes, that’s correct. ---
**Author:** ![Reno\_Nevada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Reno\_Nevada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reno_Nevada)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/427408/184 "2007-12-11T15:24:05Z")
[QUOTE=Kizarvexius] **Quote the first:** “In that pleasant district of merry England which is watered by the river Don, there extended in ancient times a large forest, covering the greater part of the beautiful hills and valleys which lie between Sheffield and the pleasant town of Doncaster.” [/QUOTE] OK, I hope it is not cheating if I happen to pick up the book in question…and, I should say, I was close before, since it does feature the good Earl of Huntingdon… This is \*Ivanhoe \* by Sir Walter Scott. Another: > [@](#): > > Only at one point along the straight earth-road leading from Loo-chow > to Yu-ping was there any shade, a wood of stunted growth, and here XXX cast himself down in refuge from the noontide sun and slept. With a given name excised, else it were too easy ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/427408/185 "2007-12-11T15:36:25Z")
[QUOTE=Reno Nevada] OK, I hope it is not cheating if I happen to pick up the book in question…and, I should say, I was close before, since it does feature the good Earl of Huntingdon… This is \*Ivanhoe \* by Sir Walter Scott. [/QUOTE] Yea, verily. 'Tis so. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/427408/186 "2007-12-11T16:44:35Z")
[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir] … (1) “At the first gesture of morning, flies began stirring.” (2) “Hello? Hello? Yes, I see it works. Good.” (3) “I don’t usually go to a bar with one of my students. It is almost always a mistake.” [/QUOTE] No one’s answered these, and it’s been awhile, so I’ll tell you: 1. _Cold Mountain_, by Charles Frazier 2. _Tuf Voyaging_, by George R.R. Martin (a longtime favorite book) 3. _In the Cut_, by Susanna Moore [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-guess-the-book-from-the-opening-line/427408.md?page=9)