Page 10 | Guess the opening lines...

kinkytoes · 2026-05-14T14:02:19+00:00

Hi all, hope it's ok to start this here. Thought it might be fun and stretch the old grey matter a bit. I'll attach a shot of some opening lines and whoever guesses correctly post their own? We could all just post pics but then we might lose track. I don't mind. Let me know what you think (of the idea, and the opening lines here - hopefully started off with an easyish one but let me know if any clues are needed!) If it's being done elsewhere please someone direct me 😊

FruAashild · 15/05/2026 13:02

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 15/05/2026 13:01

I Capture the Castle.

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Correct

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 15/05/2026 13:01

FruAashild · 15/05/2026 12:55

Another classic:
I write this sitting in the kitchen sink.

I Capture the Castle.

FruAashild · 15/05/2026 12:55

Another classic:
I write this sitting in the kitchen sink.

HelenaWilson · 15/05/2026 12:30

There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb and he almost deserved it.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Ormally · 15/05/2026 12:28

A photo one - or it won't be right!

Igneococcus · 15/05/2026 12:23

A book whose protagonist divided my family, half love him the other half loathes him:
"The clock struck half past two. In the little office at the back
of Mr McKechnie's bookshop, Gordon--Gordon Comstock, last member
of the Comstock family, aged twenty-nine and rather moth-eaten
already--lounged across the table, pushing a four-penny packet of
Player's Weights open and shut with his thumb."

Igneococcus · 15/05/2026 12:11

BeaAndBen · 15/05/2026 12:09

That's the fella!

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One of dp's favourite books.
I realise I'm hampered by the fact that I didn't read books in English until my teens. I don't recognize a lot of the English language children's literature.

BeaAndBen · 15/05/2026 12:09

Igneococcus · 15/05/2026 12:08

A Prayer for Owen Meany?

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That's the fella!

Igneococcus · 15/05/2026 12:08

BeaAndBen · 15/05/2026 12:06

I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice — not because of his voice, or because he was the smallest person I ever knew, or even because he was the instrument of my mother's death, but because he is the reason I believe in God

I edited out the end of that lengthy sentence as it rather gives the game away.

A Prayer for Owen Meany?

BeaAndBen · 15/05/2026 12:06

I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice — not because of his voice, or because he was the smallest person I ever knew, or even because he was the instrument of my mother's death, but because he is the reason I believe in God

I edited out the end of that lengthy sentence as it rather gives the game away.

BeaAndBen · 15/05/2026 12:03

How about an old classic -

There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb and he almost deserved it.

DeanElderberry · 15/05/2026 11:51

BeaAndBen · 15/05/2026 10:44

Oh wait, someone already posted that one and lots of people answered it 🙊

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oh, sorry. I'll try to think of something original. At least the katydids were a challenge,

Lilyundervalley · 15/05/2026 11:04

Jodi Taylor - the first of the chronicles of st mary's

BeaAndBen · 15/05/2026 10:44

BeaAndBen · 15/05/2026 10:38

Swallow and Amazons

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Oh wait, someone already posted that one and lots of people answered it 🙊

BeaAndBen · 15/05/2026 10:40

DeanElderberry · 15/05/2026 07:29

I was sitting in the meadows one day, not long ago, at a place where there was a small brook. It was a hot day. The sky was very blue, and white clouds, like great swans, went floating over it to and fro. Just opposite me was a clump of green rushes, with dark velvety spikes, and among them one single tall, red cardinal flower, which was bending over the brook as if to see its own beautiful face in the water. But the cardinal did not seem to be vain.

The picture was so pretty that I sat a long time enjoying it. Suddenly, close to me, two small voices began to talk – or to sing, for I couldn't tell exactly which it was. One voice was shrill; the other, which was a little deeper, sounded very positive and cross. They were evidently disputing about something, for they said the same words over and over again. These were the words –

What Katy Did! The narrator hears the insects and remembers Katy Carr

BeaAndBen · 15/05/2026 10:38

DeanElderberry · 15/05/2026 07:54

Roger, aged seven, and no longer the youngest of the family, ran in wide zigzags, to and fro, across the steep field that sloped up from the lake to Holly Howe, the farm where they were staying for part of the summer holidays.

Swallow and Amazons

BeaAndBen · 15/05/2026 10:38

pollyhemlock · 15/05/2026 07:32

The Bell Jar I think . Loved it when I read it years ago but not sure I’d want to read it again.

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I read it for the first time last month and realised I was 30 y ars to old for it. I think I'd have loved it when I was young.

Great first line.

FruAashild · 15/05/2026 09:24

pollyhemlock · 15/05/2026 07:32

The Bell Jar I think . Loved it when I read it years ago but not sure I’d want to read it again.

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Correct.

DeanElderberry · 15/05/2026 07:54

Roger, aged seven, and no longer the youngest of the family, ran in wide zigzags, to and fro, across the steep field that sloped up from the lake to Holly Howe, the farm where they were staying for part of the summer holidays.

pollyhemlock · 15/05/2026 07:32

FruAashild · 15/05/2026 05:56

Quite a famous one this:

It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn't know what I was doing in New York.

The Bell Jar I think . Loved it when I read it years ago but not sure I’d want to read it again.

DeanElderberry · 15/05/2026 07:29

I was sitting in the meadows one day, not long ago, at a place where there was a small brook. It was a hot day. The sky was very blue, and white clouds, like great swans, went floating over it to and fro. Just opposite me was a clump of green rushes, with dark velvety spikes, and among them one single tall, red cardinal flower, which was bending over the brook as if to see its own beautiful face in the water. But the cardinal did not seem to be vain.

The picture was so pretty that I sat a long time enjoying it. Suddenly, close to me, two small voices began to talk – or to sing, for I couldn't tell exactly which it was. One voice was shrill; the other, which was a little deeper, sounded very positive and cross. They were evidently disputing about something, for they said the same words over and over again. These were the words –

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 15/05/2026 06:15

BeaAndBen · 14/05/2026 23:01

Tarnation!
I've been busy this afternoon so have only now been able to read this thread.

I've been excitedly thinking "I know that one" only to realise that obviously everyone else knows it too.

‘Jolly well he isn’t! Poor dear! He’s all gout and crutches.’ And Madge threw back her head with a merry laugh.
@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g - Chalet School? I read the first three this year.

Yes, The School at the Chalet. I love the early books.

FruAashild · 15/05/2026 05:56

Quite a famous one this:

It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn't know what I was doing in New York.

FruAashild · 15/05/2026 05:50

Igneococcus · 14/05/2026 16:53

Someone beat me to A Town Called Alice :)
I've been looking for a book today on the shelves that ds wants to read. This is the first paragraph:
"Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond. His fame rested on solid personal achievements. As a young man of eighteen he had brought honor to his village by throwing Amalinze the Cat. Amalinze was the great wrestler who for seven years was unbeaten, from Umuofia to Mbaino. He was called the Cat because his back would never touch the earth. It was this man that Okonkwo threw in a fight which the old men agreed was one of the fiercest since the founder of their town engaged a spirit of the wild for seven days and seven nights."

This is Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

LittleMyLabyrinth · 14/05/2026 23:29

pollyhemlock · 14/05/2026 21:04

And Number 2 is The Turn of the Screw

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Both right!