book meme!

[nonelvis]

I have had a moderately evil morning and am going to improve my mood through memeage.

1. Pick 10 of your favorite books or series.
2. Post the first sentence of each book. (If one sentence seems too short, post two or three!)
3. Let everyone try to guess the titles and authors of your books.

Hint: most of these are SF/fantasy.

1. A screaming comes across the sky. Gravity's Rainbow, by Thomas Pynchon, guessed by orbitalmechanic

2. "And by the way," said Mr. Hankin, arresting Miss Rossiter as she rose to go, "there is a new copy-writer coming in today." Murder Must Advertise, by Dorothy Sayers, guessed by orbitalmechanic

3. It's almost impossible to pinpoint the beginning of a fad. Bellwether, by Connie Willis, guessed by ms_hooligan

4. The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel. Neuromancer, by William Gibson, guessed by platypus

5. The Deliverator belongs to an elite order, a hallowed sub-category. Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson, guessed by luckylefty

6. The island of Gont, a single mountain that lifts its peak a mile above the storm-racked Northeast Sea, is a land famous for wizards. A Wizard of Earthsea, by Ursula K. LeGuin, guessed by papilio_luna

7. Georges Leon held his little boy's hand too tightly and stared up from under his hatbrim at the unnaturally dark noon sky.

8. On Friday, August third, 1923, the morning after President Harding's death, reporters followed the widow, the Vice President, and Charles Carter, the magician. Carter Beats the Devil, by Glen David Gold, guessed by columbina

9. I was the shadow of the waxwing slain* Pale Fire, by Vladimir Nabokov, guessed by columbina

10. "Tonight we're going to show you eight silent ways to kill a man." The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman, guessed by elliptic_eye


*This one is a tiny cheat, as it comes from a novel whose author's foreword is actually part of the story, and this first sentence is from the "real opening" of the book. That information alone may be enough to tell you what it is.

Comments

[platypus]

The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.

Neuromancer. (Do kids these days think that means it was a bright blue sunny day?)

[nonelvis]

You're fast!

Do kids these days think that means it was a bright blue sunny day?

Oh God, I hadn't even considered that that sentence might be dating itself, but you have a point.

[orbitalmechanic.livejournal.com]

Neil Gaiman's already used that opening line, in fact.

I, uh, got six of those straight away and kind of feel guilty about posting so fast. I think you and I should start reading different things!

[nonelvis]

Or we could just agree we have excellent taste in books.

ETA: Feel free to post your guesses, and if you're feeling guilty about knowing so many, maybe only pick two?

[papilio-luna.livejournal.com]

Is #6 A Wizard of Earthsea? I feel kind of bad guessing that as I've not actually for-real read the book, just glanced at it.

[nonelvis]

It is indeed, and you should go read it immediately.

[platypus]

Heh. I guessed it without having read the book, too, but was not confident enough to post :).

[orbitalmechanic.livejournal.com]

Well, then let's do 1. Gravity's Rainbow because I love that line, and 2. Murder Must Advertise because it's a comfort book.

[nonelvis]

When I was choosing lines, it took great will to put down Murder Must Advertise and not read it right then and there. I love that book so much.

[columbina.livejournal.com]

I would have said #8 was too easy, given the enormous clue right there in the line, but apparently our friends all managed to ignore us yelling and screaming that they should read this book.

#9 is from a famous poem by John Shade. Even I know that, and you know how poorly I have dealt with the false azure of the windowpane. (Also, I bet this one is highly non-Googleproof, but that's cheating, innit?)

[nonelvis]

Yeah, I almost didn't use #8 because of that enormous clue, but finally decided the book might be obscure enough regardless. I'll credit you for both books shortly.

P.S. Please get online so I can ask you a stupid JavaScript question.

P.P.S. Or perhaps that's why you're not online now, to avoid stupid JavaScript questions.

[prof-pangaea.livejournal.com]

murder must advertise is one of my favourite books EVER. oh i love it so much and indeed was having a conversation about my love just a couple days ago. and actually another one just a few days before that!

[ms-hooligan.livejournal.com]

3. sounds like it might be Bellwether by Connie Willis.

[nonelvis]

That's the one!

[nonelvis]

It is really really killing me right now that I need to keep futzing with JavaScript and cannot go grab a cup of cocoa and that book and spend the rest of the day reading it.

[luckylefty.livejournal.com]

Is #5 Snow Crash?

[nonelvis]

It is! I'm surprised it's taken people this long to guess it, but I expect it's one of the six orbitalmechanic said she knew.

[elliptic-eye.livejournal.com]

*squints* #10 is The Forever War, surely?

[nonelvis]

Why, yes, it is :D Joe Haldeman is ♥.

[elliptic-eye.livejournal.com]

I actually only know that because I looked at the first few pages in Borders, once, and remembered the cover. But it did seem promising, so with your endorsement I shall add it to my list. My 523,574,168,452-title long list.