Famous First Sentences

[Dixon Carter Lee]

Name the source.

1) It was a bright cold day in April and the clocks were striking thirteen.

2) Once upon a time there was a Martian named Michael Valentine Smith.

3) O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend
The brightest heaven of invention,
A kingdom for a stage, princes to act
And monarchs to behold the swelling scene!

4) Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents, grumbled Jo, lying on the rug.

5) PERSONS attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.

6) It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way -- in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

I'm in a games mood today.

 

[seXieleXie]

1)1984

2)Stranger in a Strange Land

3)Fuck... one of shakespeare's histories... i don't remember which one

4)Little Women

5)i remember this from my twain kick but i don't know if it's huck finn or tom sawyer

6)A Tale of Two Cities

easy peasy

 

[Rambling Rose]

4) Little Women

6) A Tale of Two Cities

Give me a few minutes on the rest...you've stumped me!

 

[riff]

DCL

You are a genius.

I am just a drunk stumbling up to the poker table and asking for a light. I do not comprehend much. I just want a light.

Somewhere there is a place where people are free. Not just free, but I mean... liberated.

You don't know what I mean? It's all right. I am just talking to myself here. Maybe I can find my way into a story or something where I really count as somebody?

She doesn't love me. Poo poo. As you would say.

I am being an asshole. I am an asshole. I don't care. People are PMing me to say I should not care. What the fuck is wrong with people? What the fuck is wrong with me?

I could give a shit. To be honest. The world is a big fucking place and I could give a shit. I could spend my life traveling.

Please slap me in 2 weeks. I'll need it. But hey. Who gives a shit? Life happens only once. Fuck the rest if they cannot take a joke.

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

Huh? What ARE you on about?

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

easy peasy

LOL You want me to make it harder? I could do famous last sentences.

 

[ExLimey]

sorta hijacking, but not really

I have no idea about any of yours but here's my all time favorite first line (more like paragraph) and last lines from the same book. Ah, but the lines in between are what make it so good.


This is the story - the long and true story - of one ocean, two ships, and about a hundred and fifty men. It is a long story because it deals with a long and brutal battle, the worst of any war. It has two ships because one was sunk and had to be replaced. It has a hundred and fifty men because that is a manageable number of people to tell a story about. Above all, it is a true story because that is the only kind worth telling.


"Yes," Ericson brooded, leaning heavily against a corner of the bridge where he must have spent many hundreds of hours. Out of the deep dusk he said - and after sixty-eight months it was still a shock to hear him use the words: "I must say I'm damned tired."

 

[scylis]

5) The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

 

[RisiaSkye]

Dix's #3--Henry V

A few more:

1. First of all, it was October, a rare month for boys.

2. In the castle of Baron Thunder-ten-tronck in Westphalia, there once lived a youth endowed by nature with the gentlest of characters.

3. The boy with fair hair lowered himself down the last few feet of rock and began to pick his way toward the lagoon.

4. If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.

5. They're out there.
Black boys in white suits up before me to commit sex acts in the hall and get it mopped up before I can catch them.

 

[seXieleXie]

1)Something Wicked This Way Comes
2)no clue
3)The Lord of the Flies
4)The Catcher in the Rye
5)i'm not sure, but i *think* that's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

 

[seXieleXie]

my turn!

1)All happy families are alike, but an unhappy family is unhappy after its own fashion.
2)The story so far: In the beginning the Universe was created.
3)It was a pleasure to burn.
4)Everyone had always said that John would be a preacher when he grew up, just like his father.
5)Through the fence, between the curling flower spaces, I could see them hitting.

 

[SpectralDragoon]

You folks have brought me to a wonderful realization....

I reaaaaaaaally need to read more.

 

[RisiaSkye]

lex--you were right about Cuckoo's Nest, and the one you didn't get is Candide.

lex's list:
1. Anna Karenina
2. no idea
3. Fahrenheit 451
4. Go Tell it on the Mountain
5. The Sound & The Fury

another round:

1. All of this happened, more or less.

2. Last night I dreamed I went to Manderly again.

3. In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since.

4. 124 was spiteful.

5. Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board.

 

[Dillinger]

Once upon a time there was a Martian named Michael Valentine Smith.irect the other way

DCL - just seeing that made me smile. I just listened to the audio version of "Stranger" a couple of months ago... of course I've read it a couple times since I was a kid... but revisiting it again was wonderful.

 

[Nigel]

Name the source.


3) O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend
The brightest heaven of invention,
A kingdom for a stage, princes to act
And monarchs to behold the swelling scene!

Lexie was warm on this one....it's Shakespeare's "Henry V"

Nigel

 

[Nigel]

2)The story so far: In the beginning the Universe was created.

Is this "The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy"?

Nigel

 

[Dillinger]

Originally posted by RisiaSkye

1. All of this happened, more or less.

Slaughterhouse 5!!! Vonnegut - one of my favorite books and the very first R rated movie I ever saw!

2. Last night I dreamed I went to Manderly again.

???

3. In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since.

The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald

4. 124 was spiteful.

???

5. Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board.

???

 

[vylette]

????

is # 2 rebecca maybe????...let me know the answer ok?..thanks..

i am refering to the question "last night i dreamed i went to manderly again"

 

[Dillinger]

Originally posted by seXieleXie

1)All happy families are alike, but an unhappy family is unhappy after its own fashion.

Anna Karenina: Leo Tolstoy

2)The story so far: In the beginning the Universe was created.

Yes Nigel - it is... the full quote is:

"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."
(Douglas Adams: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)

3)It was a pleasure to burn.

Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451 - What an impact that book made on me when was young! WOW! It also was one of the first computer games I ever played - back when there were no graphics, just text.

4)Everyone had always said that John would be a preacher when he grew up, just like his father.

Go Tell It on the Mountain, by James Baldwin

(You're not going to stump me on Baldwin, sexy one - and you still owe me from the other night!)


5)Through the fence, between the curling flower spaces, I could see them hitting.

Now that is familiar - but I'm drawing a blank...


http://looney.physics.sunysb.edu/~daffy/icons/dontpanic.gif

 

[seXieleXie]

4. Beloved (toni morrison went to my school )
5. Their Eyes Were Watching God (i LOVE this book!)

 

[seXieleXie]

more more!

(this is fun.... someone tell me if i'm being obnoxious )

1. "When Mary Lennox was sent to Misselthwaite Manor to live with her uncle everybody said she was the most disagreeable-looking child ever seen."

2. "Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a moocow coming down along the road and this moocow that was coming down along the road met a nicens little boy named baby tuckoo. "

3. "No one remembers her beginnings."

4. "This is a tale of a meeting of two lonesome, skinny, fairly old white men on a planet which was dying fast. "

5. "Nellie, a cruising yawl, swung to her anchor without a flutter of sails, and was at rest. "

 

[RisiaSkye]

Dilly, you whacko--don't draw a blank! Just look above, where I already gave the answer. Sheesh. I gave Henry V on the previous page, too, and nobody noticed until someone gave it again on this page. Am I invisible?

and, vylette--yes it was Rebecca. Have you seen Jawbreaker? Is that where you got the spelling for your name?

Nice job, lexie, on the last two.

And by the way, Dilly: clearly, you need to read more works by women of color--you missed Hurston and Morrison? For shame!

 

[Dillinger]

I am so ashamed! Will you educate me?

I have read Angela Davis.

And you are anything but invisible!

 

[seXieleXie]

hints!

#3 is a nod to one of the wonderful ladies of lit

#4 has been mentioned lately a couple of times by a crazy but well liked new-ish member

 

[ohiobbw]

Originally posted by seXieleXie

1. The Secret Garden

2. Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (?)


Edited to add-
(these are guesses)

3. The Red Tent

4. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy