Page 18 | 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 😊

FeliciaFancybottom · 14/05/2026 17:19

Can people please quote what they're responding to?

HelenaWilson · 14/05/2026 17:18

Jane Eyre and My Family and Other Animals.

FeliciaFancybottom · 14/05/2026 17:18

Threeslothsontheshirt · 14/05/2026 17:15

There was no possibility of taking a walk that day

Jane Eyre.

Cyclistmumgrandma · 14/05/2026 17:17

Sorry forgot to claim Jane Eyre for “There was no possibility of taking a walk that day.”

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 14/05/2026 17:17

TonTonMacoute · 14/05/2026 17:04

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g PG Wodehouse, could it be another?

Dead easy one

Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.

And who could forget
**
It is a truth universally acknowledged ...

Edited

Yes indeed. The Luck of the Bodkins. I don't know the book but in a crowded field that's one my favourite Wodehouse quotes.

Cyclistmumgrandma · 14/05/2026 17:16

And
"We have never been very certain of my mother's age, for the simple reason that she can never remember her date of birth; all I can say is that she was old enough to have four children".

Threeslothsontheshirt · 14/05/2026 17:15

There was no possibility of taking a walk that day

FeliciaFancybottom · 14/05/2026 17:15

Undergroundovergroundwomblingfree · 14/05/2026 17:05

Currently reading this.

'Put me out with the bins,' he said, regularly. 'When I die, put me out with the bins. I'll be dead, so I won't know any different. you'll be crying your eyes out,' and he would laugh and I'd laugh too because we both knew that I wouldn't be crying my eyes out. I never cry.
When the time came, on Wednesday 29th November 2017, I followed his instructions. He was small and frail and eighty-two years old by then, so it was easy to get him into one large garden waste bag.

Strange Sally Diamond.

merryhouse · 14/05/2026 17:14

HelenaWilson · 14/05/2026 17:13

merryhouse

Is that one of the Flashman books? I know what the event is of course.

It is, yes - At The Charge

HelenaWilson · 14/05/2026 17:13

merryhouse

Is that one of the Flashman books? I know what the event is of course.

merryhouse · 14/05/2026 17:13

Bridget Jones' Diary

Cyclistmumgrandma · 14/05/2026 17:13

TonTonMacoute · 14/05/2026 17:04

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g PG Wodehouse, could it be another?

Dead easy one

Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.

And who could forget
**
It is a truth universally acknowledged ...

Edited

Rebecca

The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.

Threeslothsontheshirt · 14/05/2026 17:12

Sunday 1st January 9st 3

SandwichMakerHater · 14/05/2026 17:11

These are great, I only knew The Wind in the Willows 🤣

This is from one of my favourite books:

"When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home".

Threeslothsontheshirt · 14/05/2026 17:08

Undergroundovergroundwomblingfree · 14/05/2026 17:05

Currently reading this.

'Put me out with the bins,' he said, regularly. 'When I die, put me out with the bins. I'll be dead, so I won't know any different. you'll be crying your eyes out,' and he would laugh and I'd laugh too because we both knew that I wouldn't be crying my eyes out. I never cry.
When the time came, on Wednesday 29th November 2017, I followed his instructions. He was small and frail and eighty-two years old by then, so it was easy to get him into one large garden waste bag.

🤣🤣🤣

shellyleppard · 14/05/2026 17:07

Sorry I haven't been able to answer any of the above apart from the wind in the willows. I have two if thats okay??
My first is " the man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed".
My second is:
Prologue
20 December 1837
Liaten. Three miles deep in the forest just below Arnotts ridge, and you're in silence so dense it's like you're wading through it. There's no birdsong past dawn and especially not now, with the chill air so thick with moisture that it stills those few leaves clinging ganely to the branches. Among the oak and hickory nothing stirs:

Threeslothsontheshirt · 14/05/2026 17:07

TonTonMacoute · 14/05/2026 17:04

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g PG Wodehouse, could it be another?

Dead easy one

Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.

And who could forget
**
It is a truth universally acknowledged ...

Edited

Rebecca
Pride and Prejudice

Undergroundovergroundwomblingfree · 14/05/2026 17:05

Currently reading this.

'Put me out with the bins,' he said, regularly. 'When I die, put me out with the bins. I'll be dead, so I won't know any different. you'll be crying your eyes out,' and he would laugh and I'd laugh too because we both knew that I wouldn't be crying my eyes out. I never cry.
When the time came, on Wednesday 29th November 2017, I followed his instructions. He was small and frail and eighty-two years old by then, so it was easy to get him into one large garden waste bag.

merryhouse · 14/05/2026 17:05

The moment after Lew Nolan wheeled his horse away and disappeared over the edge of the escarpment with Raglan's message tucked in his gauntlet, I knew I was for it. Raglan was still dithering away to himself, as usual, and I heard him cry: "No, Airey, stay a moment - send after him!"and Airey beckoned me from where I was trying to hide myself nonchalantly behind the other gallopers of the staff.

HelenaWilson · 14/05/2026 17:05

Classic here: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”

It is a far far better thing....

CrossPurposes · 14/05/2026 17:04

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 14/05/2026 17:02

Here's another one:

It was about eleven o’clock in the morning, mid October, with the sun not shining and a look of hard wet rain in the clearness of the foothills. I was wearing my powder-blue suit, with dark blue shirt, tie and display handkerchief, black brogues, black wool socks with dark blue clocks on them. I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn’t care who knew it. I was everything the well-dressed private detective ought to be. I was calling on four million dollars.

The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler

TonTonMacoute · 14/05/2026 17:04

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g PG Wodehouse, could it be another?

Dead easy one

Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.

And who could forget
**
It is a truth universally acknowledged ...

Threeslothsontheshirt · 14/05/2026 17:03

Classic here: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 14/05/2026 17:02

Here's another one:

It was about eleven o’clock in the morning, mid October, with the sun not shining and a look of hard wet rain in the clearness of the foothills. I was wearing my powder-blue suit, with dark blue shirt, tie and display handkerchief, black brogues, black wool socks with dark blue clocks on them. I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn’t care who knew it. I was everything the well-dressed private detective ought to be. I was calling on four million dollars.

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 14/05/2026 17:00

You might not know the book here (I wouldn't), but who's the author? One of my absolute favourites.

‘Into the face of the young man who sat on the terrace of the Hotel Magnifique at Cannes there had crept a look of furtive shame, the shifty hangdog look which announces that an Englishman is about to talk French.’