Guess the author from a single sentence

[NoJo]

A challenge: Post a sentence from a story by a famous author, which is charactistic of their writing style, and see if we can guess who wrote it. Bonus points for guessing the story too.

Ok, me first:

With his long, white nervous fingers he adjusted the delicate needle and rolled back his left shirtcuff.

 

[kendo1]

Sherlock Holmes? i seem to remember this but don't know which one.

Oh yeah Conan Doyle, BTW!

 

[NoJo]

Sherlock Holmes? i seem to remember this but don't know which one.

Oh yeah Conan Doyle, BTW!

A Trichinopoly Cigar to the gentleman.

It was The Sign of Four.

Wanna do one?

 

[MaeveoSliabh]

Oo! Oo! Me! Me!

*ahem*

He dreamed he was a wolf who dreamed he was a man who dreamed he was a wolf who dreamed.

 

[NoJo]

Hmm, I remember seeing that posted on a thread here once, but demme if I can remember when or on what thread. It's not one of your stories is it?

 

[kendo1]

When I came to again, I was sitting under an oak tree, on the grass, with a whole beautiful and broad country landscape all to myself--nearly.

 

[MaeveoSliabh]

Hmm, I remember seeing that posted on a thread here once, but demme if I can remember when or on what thread. It's not one of your stories is it?

i probably posted it. One of my favorites lines. And no, it's not mine.

 

[L_homme]

probably need a photographic memory to do well in this thread.

''Once upon a time, there lived in a certain city in China an impoverished tailor who had a son called...''

?

 

[NoJo]

When I came to again, I was sitting under an oak tree, on the grass, with a whole beautiful and broad country landscape all to myself--nearly.

Walt Whitman? Mark Twain?

 

[OhMissScarlett]

Oo! Oo! Me! Me!

*ahem*

He dreamed he was a wolf who dreamed he was a man who dreamed he was a wolf who dreamed.

Is that Jack London?

 

[kendo1]

Mark Twain

 

[NoJo]

Well, it has to be Huck Finn. Or the other one.

 

[kendo1]

Well, it has to be Huck Finn. Or the other one.

The other one.

Gotta go.
Night.

 

[ringle]

A twist on this...use as few words as possible and still be easily identifiable.

1. Ask not...

2. One small...

3. I have...

 

[glynndah]

A twist on this...use as few words as possible and still be easily identifiable.

1. Ask not...

2. One small...

3. I have...

JFK
Neil Armstrong
Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

[ringle]

Very good. Which begs the question...what makes something memorable or easily recognisable? Is it media exposure, the gravity of an event, or something else?

 

[glynndah]

Very good. Which begs the question...what makes something memorable or easily recognisable? Is it media exposure, the gravity of an event, or something else?

Many times the quote just "resonates" for the time. The perfect distillation of the right time, the right event, the right speaker and the right words.
(I don't think it's necessarily the media exposure or I'd have that stupid Janet Jackson/Justin Timberlake song from the Super Bowl permanently etched in my brain.)

 

[MaeveoSliabh]

Is that Jack London?

Nope.

 

[Guest]

Oo! Oo! Me! Me!

*ahem*

He dreamed he was a wolf who dreamed he was a man who dreamed he was a wolf who dreamed.

Robert McCammon.

 

[MaeveoSliabh]

Robert McCammon.

Yep.

 

[Guest]

Yep.

Ohhh, I'm not smart or nuthin', only knew because I'm a fan of his writing. Swan Song is my favorite book he has written.

 

[MaeveoSliabh]

Ohhh, I'm not smart or nuthin', only knew because I'm a fan of his writing. Swan Song is my favorite book he has written.

That one was... odd. Took me a while to get through it the first time, but i still have a (well-worn) copy around somewhere.

 

[NoJo]

A twist on this...use as few words as possible and still be easily identifiable.

1. Ask not...

2. One small...

3. I have...

Hey that's more fun!

Okay:

1. Imagine
2. man, my son
3. toves

 

[Guest]

Hey that's more fun!

Okay:

1. Imagine
2. man, my son
3. toves

1. john lennon
2. jesus
3. jabberwoky

you like to keep it in the 'j' names, dontcha?

 

[FallingToFly]

"I inherited my brother's life, and it almost killed me."