First Lines Meme...

[savageseraph]

I cannot begin to express how utterly impossible it is for me to pick 10 favorite books. Still, I've culled through my shelves for 12 that I really enjoy very much. I didn't figure that I needed to include LOTR, because, yeah, you already know that. And I've limited myself to one book per writer.

A few of the books had first lines that I figured were probably impossible to guess on their own, so I've included the first two lines on those.

Go ahead. Click in and start guessing.



1. The mermaid rose out of deep water into the stormheart. Prospero's Children by Jan Siegel (guessed by chrissie_m)

2. It was predictable, in hindsight. Everything about the history of the Society of Jesus bespoke deft and efficient action, exploration and research. The Sparrow by Maria Doria Russell (guessed by bexone)

3. Hapscomb's Texaco sat on US 93 just north of Arnette, a pissant four-street burg about 110 miles from Houston. The Stand (guessed by circehellene and chrissie_mWalking the Moon by Elizabeth Hand (guessed by circehellene)

5. Shadow had done three years in prison. American Gods by Neil Gaiman (guessed by seleneheart and caras_galadhon)

6. Physicist Leonardo Vetra smelled burning flesh, and he knew it was his own. Angels and Demons by Dan Brown (guessed by caras_galadhon)

7. "Don't go, Bobby," said my friend. "It's not worth it."

8. Lucivar Yaslana, the Eyrien half-breed, watched the guards drag the sobbing man to the boat. Daughter of the Blood by Anne Bishop (guessed by circehellene)

9. When you get down to the bottom of the bottle, as Momma used to say, this is the story of how I became a mother.

10. Asengai's torturers were regular in their habits-they always left off at sunset. Luck in the Shadows by Lynn Flewelling (guessed by cara_chapel)

11. Veldt to scrub to fields to farms to these first tumbling houses that rise from the earth. Perdido Street Station by China Mieville (guessed by caras_galadhon)

12. The storm came up out of the southwest like a fiend, stalking its prey on legs of lightning. Abarat by Clive Barker (guessed by caras_galadhon)

Comments

[seleneheart]

Well, #5 is American God, Neil Gaiman.

[savageseraph.livejournal.com]

Yep!

[bexone.livejournal.com]

#2 is Mary Doria Russell, The Sparrow.

And I know I've read #11, but I can't remember what it is.

[savageseraph.livejournal.com]

Indeed it is.

I've been reading other people's, and I hate that feeling where I know I've read the book, and it's on the tip of my tongue, and I just can't get ahold of it.

[chrissie-m.livejournal.com]

That's how I felt about de Lint's Trader on ithiliana's list, which you guessed. I was sure it was a de Lint, but not which one, and since I have pretty much every one of his books shelved in three different bookcases, I didn't want to do the investigative work to pin it down further.

[caras-galadhon.livejournal.com]

Damn. Too late to correctly identify #5, but let's see...

#6 is Angels & Demons, Dan Brown.
#12 is Abarat, Clive Barker.

Is #11 a Philip K. Dick?

[savageseraph.livejournal.com]

Nope. No Dick on the list.

[caras-galadhon.livejournal.com]

Is it bad that I want to snicker at the way you phrased that? *cough*

[savageseraph.livejournal.com]

Heh. There is no Dick here, which means that this icon is totally inappropriate.

[caras-galadhon.livejournal.com]

#11 is Perdido St. Station, China Mieville. D'oh.

[bexone.livejournal.com]

Which explains why I couldn't come up with it, as I've only read the first third or so of it, never the whole thing.

Three years as a bookseller, I racked up a lot of unfinished books...

[cara-chapel.livejournal.com]

2. The Da Vinci Code?

10. Luck in the Shadows?

[savageseraph.livejournal.com]

Half right. You got 10 but not 2.

[chrissie-m.livejournal.com]

1. Jan Siegel, Prospero's Children

[savageseraph.livejournal.com]

Yep.

[chrissie-m.livejournal.com]

I read the advance review copy just once, ages ago, on the plane to ICFA, and yet as soon as I read the line I thought of it. Now that's imagery that stays in the heart.

[chrissie-m.livejournal.com]

3. Stephen King, The Stand

[savageseraph.livejournal.com]

Correct.

[d-aulnoy.livejournal.com]

3.) The Stand, Stephen King
4.) Waking the Moon, Liz Hand.
8.) Daughter of the Blood, Anne Bishop

[savageseraph.livejournal.com]

Right on all three.

[d-aulnoy.livejournal.com]

Hee. Apparently, I share a bookshelf with you and a brain/sense of timing with Chrissie ...

[savageseraph.livejournal.com]

*laughs* That seems to be the case.

[chrissie-m.livejournal.com]

I knew that 8 sounded familiar, but just could not pin it down. And actually, I never had that one on my bookshelves (read at a friend's) so that's my excuse.