Guess the book by the first line.

[Not Heidi]

"Maybe I shouldn't have given the guy who pumped my stomach my phone number . . . ."

[PJMcK]

1. I have no idea what book that is from

But with an opening like that, 'll have to read that one!

[Not Heidi]

16. Do.

It's semi-autobiographical. Carrie Fisher could write.

[TexasBushwhacker]

42. That was my guess!

And yes, she was a heck of a writer

[PJMcK]

2. Here's my contribution

"A well-known scientist (some say it was Bertrand Russell) once gave a lecture on astronomy."

[Diamond_Dog]

3. Here's the first line from a book I liked that thought was very thought provoking.

“I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petosky, Michigan, in August of 1974.”

[ucralum]

7. Middlesex?

Been a long time since I read it, but a wonderful book that stays with you.

[Clash City Rocker]

4. Postcards From the Edge?

[Fla Dem]

5. Correct. Carrie Fischer Author, later made into a movie in 1990

[Not Heidi]

15. Great movie

But naturally, the book was better.

But who knew Meryl Streep could sing? 😯

[wnylib]

50. Meryl Streep has been in a few musicals.

There are Mama Mia, and Into the Woods, for example.

[Not Heidi]

52. Ah, yes....

I need to see Into the Woods

[wnylib]

54. It's a great film.

[Not Heidi]

13. Yep.

Highly recommended reading.

[Clash City Rocker]

6. "It was a bright cold night in April and all the clocks were striking thirteen."

[Not Heidi]

14. 1984

?

[Clash City Rocker]

22. Correct!

Apparently the phrase “the clock struck thirteen” indicated a discovery that changes how you see the world. Pretty cool way to say that, I think.

[Not Heidi]

33. I agree. n/t

[Clash City Rocker]

8. "We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold."

[Nay]

9. That's got to be "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" by Hunter Thompson. nt

[Not Heidi]

10. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas?

Just a swag (scientific wild-ass guess).

[Clash City Rocker]

21. You are both correct!

[Baggies]

11. It was the best of times, it was the worst of time.

Just to give everyone a “feel good” option.

[Not Heidi]

12. A Tale of Two Cities

"feel good" - heh

[Jade Fox]

47. Charlotte's Web?

[Baggies]

17. Call me Ishmael.

One more for the “feel good” category.

[Not Heidi]

18. Moby Dick?

(never read it)

[Baggies]

19. Yes

Yes on the other one, too.

[Brother Buzz]

20. When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.

I had to read the entire book to learn how it got broke.

[Clash City Rocker]

23. To Kill A Mockingbird

[Brother Buzz]

27. Moments before Bob Ewell attacked them and then killed himself by falling on his knife.

What major movie star made his screen debut in the film?

[lpbk2713]

28. A:

Robert Duvall

[Brother Buzz]

32. Hey Boo

[Clash City Rocker]

24. Okay, one more

“Far Out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun.”

[Clash City Rocker]

29. Here's a hint, the first line of the book's sequel was

“The story so far: In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.”

[Wounded Bear]

30. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy? nt

[Clash City Rocker]

31. Yes!

[Jade Fox]

44. My all-time favorite book title.

[sarge43]

25. Mine

"Like a glowing jewel, the city lay upon the breast of the desert."

[malthaussen]

26. One of my favorites (but too long to fit in a subject line):

“'Take my camel, dear,' said my Aunt Dot, as she climbed down from this animal on her return from High Mass.”

-- Mal

[Ocelot II]

34. "It was a dark and stormy night."

A famous line, but who knows where it came from?

Here's the whole thing:

"It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents—except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness."

[Not Heidi]

35. The Hound of the Baskervilles

another swag, no doubt way off

[Ocelot II]

36. Nope!

Arthur Conan Doyle was a much better writer.

[Not Heidi]

38. I HAD A HUNCH AND I WAS RIGHT!

I looked it up. It has something to do with San Jose State University, no? . . . .

[Ocelot II]

39. San Jose State U. holds a bad writing contest based on it.

The status of the sentence as an archetype for bad writing comes from the first phrase of the opening sentence of English novelist Edward Bulwer-Lytton's 1830 novel Paul Clifford. The annual Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest was formed in 1982. The contest, sponsored by the English Department at San Jose State University, recognizes the worst examples of "dark and stormy night" writing. It challenges entrants to compose "the opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels." The "best" of the resulting entries have been published in a series of paperback books, starting with It Was a Dark and Stormy Night in 1984.

[Not Heidi]

40. Woot!

I love that contest. I just never knew what the first winner was.

[Not Heidi]

37. This one belongs in a movie quote thread, but

it came to mind because of the dark and stormy night:

The night was moist.

[TexasBushwhacker]

43. Throw Mama From the Train!

As a wannabe writer, I totally understood his frustration.

[Not Heidi]

53. Hello, fellow wannabe writer

Solidarity! (I have skills but would gladly suffer for a bit of imagination.)

[BluesRunTheGame]

41. "I used to have a cat, an old fighting tom, who would jump through the open window by my bed...

…in the middle of the night and land on my chest.”

[Jade Fox]

45. Something by Raymond Chandler?

It sounds so familiar......

[BluesRunTheGame]

46. I'll give you a clue: mid 70s, non fiction, Pulitzer winner.

[Jade Fox]

48. The White Album - Joan Didion

[BluesRunTheGame]

49. Nope

Another clue: the writer is female.

[BluesRunTheGame]

55. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard

[Jade Fox]

56. I would have never guessed that!

[Wolf Frankula]

51. Two, the first is a translation.

1: Pernando opened his eyes and looked around him.

2: I was awakened by the showfolk chanting "Saratoga Trunk Boom Boom! Saratoga Trunk Boom Boom!"

Wolf

[Harker]

57. "It was a pleasure to burn."

[Mad_Dem_X]

58. Fahrenheit 451

[Harker]

59. Yes.

A chilling opening.

[malthaussen]

60. "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again."

Should be dead easy, it's one of the most famous openers ever.

-- Mal