The Next Best Book Club discussion

Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

that was vicious Kathryn!! :)

"Mrs. Gorf has a long tongue and pointed ears."

Oops, my bad, Angela. I think I was talking on the phone when I did this. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. Ha, ha. In my defense, I was in a book group once where we did post some of our favorite first lines from books, stating the book and author. Enjoy your game.

Side-way Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar

"When I was 17 my life changed forever."

A Walk to Remember- Nicholas Sparks

My favourite opening of all time

"The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel"

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

"It was November. Although it was not yet late, the sky was dark when I turned into Laundress Passage.

wait i'm confused...wendy didn't answer nicholas' right? cause hers is the answer for the thirteenth tale...so i guess i answer nicholas?
Neuromancer- William Gibson

"The sky was the color of cat vomit."

Aha! Uglies, by Scott Westerfield.

"When I was nine years old, I hid under a table and heard my sister kill a king."

Is this an oops? "One afternoon..." is from The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, and (sorry, I had to google it) but the line above, "When I was nine years old..." is from Quest for a Maid by Frances Hendry.

My turn?

"That Sam-I-Am!"

Is it "Green Eggs and Ham" by Dr. Seuss?

And lets see...

"HERE KITTY, KITTY...HERE, KITTY, KITTY...

(And yes, it is all in caps in the book)

THE FOLLOWING DAY, NO ONE DIED. THIS FACT, BEING ABSOLUTELY contrary to life's rules, provoked enormous and, in the circumstances, perfectly justifiable anxiety in people's minds, for we only have to consider that in the entire forty volumes of universal history there is no mention, not even one exemplary case, of such a phenomenon ever having occurred, for a whole day to go by, with its generous allowance of of twenty-four hours, diurnal and nocturnal, matutinal and vespertine, without one death from an illness, a fatal fall, or a successful suicide, not one, not a single one.

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao?

"The family of Dashwood had been long settled in Sussex."

Sense and Sensibility


"Sitting beside the road, watching the wagon mount the hill toward her, Lena thinks, 'I have come from Alabama: a fur piece.'"

Light in August.

"Bailey Wingate woke up crying. Again."

Up Close & Dangerous by Linda Howard

"These two very old people are the father and mother of Mr. Bucket."

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

"The two men appeared out of nowhere, a few yards apart in the narrow, moonlit lane."

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

A Saturday afternoon in November was approaching the time of twilight and the vast hills that surrounded Edgecomb common embrowned themselves moment by moment.

Does no one know this?

The Return of the Native

I am by birth a Genevese; and my family is one of the most distinguished of that republic.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Three hollow knockings of gourd disturbed the night.

Voodoo Dreams by Jewell Parker

This story begins within the walls of a castle, with the birth of a mouse.

The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo

"It was a pleasure to burn."

Fahrenheit 415 by Ray Bradbury.

Who is John Galt?

Atlas Shrugged bby Ayn Rand

-*I believe it is Fahrenheit 451.*-

"I'd never given much thought to how I would die - though I'd never had reason enough in the last few months - but even if I had, I would not have imagined i like this.
"

Japi wrote: -*I believe it is Fahrenheit 451.*-


Damn I need to learn to type... All the right keys, not necessarily in the right order... :)

Gemma wrote: "Japi wrote: -*I believe it is Fahrenheit 451.*-


Damn I need to learn to type... All the right keys, not necessarily in the right order... :)"


ehehehehe it happens, I knew you mean Fahrenheit 451 =)

Not sure what the last line is so starting with a new one....


"My name is Salmon; like the fish. First name, Susie. I was fourteen years old the day I was murdered on December 6, 1973."

Japi's "I'd never given much thought to how I would die..." Twilight by Stephenie Meyer.

"My name is Salmon..." The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold.

Next opening...

"The men of East Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, US Army, came from different backgrounds, different parts of the country."

Band of Brothers.

Next opening...

"It was inevitable: the scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love."

Love In The Time of Cholera


Next...

Mae Mobley was born on a early Sunday morning in August, 1960.

The Help

Next...

Robert Cohn was once middleweight boxing champion of Princeton.

The Sun Also Rises

Next ...

Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun.

The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
by Douglas Adams

Next...

Only three people were left under the red and white awning of the grease joint: Grady, me, and the fry cook.

I think that is [book:Water for Elephants|43641.

Next one...

My name is Towner Whitney.

The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry

next one ...

The Morris dance is common to all inhabited worlds in the multiverse.

Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett

next opening line...

This morning I got a note from my aunt asking me to come for lunch.

The Moviegoer by Walker Percy

next line ...

In the year 1878 I took my degree of Doctor of Medicine of the University of London, and proceeded to Netley to go through the course prescribed for surgeons in the army.

A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle

next line ...

"I open my eyes and don't know where I am or who I am."

Open: An Autobiography by Andre Agassi

Next line is:

"Miss Brooke had that kind of beauty which seems to be thrown into relief by poor dress."

Middlemarch by George Eliot

Next line is...

"My dear Wormwood, I note what you say about guiding your patient's reading and taking care that he sees a good deal of his materialist friend."

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
(the "Wormwood" character gave it away! )

Next opening line...

"I once joked in a book that there are three things you can't do in life."

I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America After 20 Years Away by Bill Bryson

Next line is:

"Wang Lung lay dying."

Pearl S. Buck (pseudonym of Pearl Walsh nee Sydenstricker), Sons [1932]

I have just returned from a visit to my landlord--the solitary neighbour that I shall be troubled with.

Wuthering Heights
One of my all time favorite books!


"It is a sin to write this."

Anthem by Ayn Rand

"The time of my end approaches."

The Lifted Veil by George Eliot

"I returned from the City about three o'clock on that May afternoon pretty well disgusted with life."

The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan

"With a single drop of ink for a mirror, the Egyptian sorcerer undertakes to reveal to any chance comer far-reaching visions of the past."

Adam Bede by George Eliot

"January 18, 1988, was a bitterly cold Iowa Monday."

Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron

"Thirty years ago, Marseilles lay burning in the sun, one day."

Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens

"Ten days after the war ended, my sister Laura drove a car off a bridge."

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

(This is one of my favourtie books so I got this one straight away.)

"I left the car by the side of the cathedral, and then walked down the steps into the Place des Jacobins."