First line game

On the website games forum, oxlin started a game of identifying books by their first lines. It got tricky to figure out which ones were still in play, so this page collects them along with answers for those which have been solved. If you know one, please go to the game thread and give your answer there before updating this page.

Still in play
3) Of course the house is haunted. Offered by oxlin Hint: This one is from an anthology, not a novel.

8) When Sean Devine and Jimmy Marcus were kids, their fathers worked together at the Coleman Candy plant and carried the stench of warm chocolate home with them. Offered by Elizabeth Bear Hint: This book is not SFF, is set in Boston, and was made into a movie that won two Academy Awards.

46) It is his last day, and by six in the morning he is already drinking, drinking and shot up, eyes frantic, limbs flailing like he's ready to explode. Offered by jeffy Hint: this book is subtitled "a love song"

55) A big man in brown, sitting behind a table. Offered by Cal

59) Veldt to scrub to fields to farms to these first tumbling houses that rise from the earth. Offered by oxlin

68) The astonishing sequence of events which affected the entire civilized galaxy, including not only the many leagues, alliances, temporary interworld liaisons, and independent worlds but also the lives of billions of individual human beings, began with a leftover cheese sandwich. Offered by Jezabella49

70) Mr. Bond. Good day to you, sir. Offered by MadGastronomer Hint: This Mr. Bond's first name is not James.

71) It is possible I already had some presentiment of my future. Offered by Mattador

72) The twin moons cast down shadows like blood scores across the sand. Offered by Mattador

73) Theodore is in the ground. Offered by glinda_w

74) He stands like a statue, perfect in arrogance. Offered by peneli

75) There were prodigies and portents enough, One-Eye says. Offered by peneli

Correctly answered
1) There were four of us - George, and William Samuel Harris, and myself, and Montmorency. Mattador said: Three Men In a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome

2) One day, Raven was bored. Amazon.com said: Earth Logic by Laurie J. Marks

4) The Deliverator belongs to an elite order, a hallowed subcategory. ebony14 said: Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

5) A sea of mist drifted through the cloud forest: soft, grey, luminescent. hawkwing_lb said: Cordelia's Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold

6) The primroses were over. Elizabeth Bear said: Watership Down by Richard Adams.

7) He was one hundred and seventy days dying and not yet dead. hawkwing_lb said: The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester

9) About to die. Hint: Two of these words also appear in the title of this book, by a well-regarded feminist SF author. oxlin said: We Who are About To... by Joanna Russ

10) That was when I saw the Pendulum. MadGastronomer said: Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco

12) The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel. jeffy said: Neuromancer by William Gibson

13) Zoe Domingo walked into my life in the back room of a casino on the edge of Crittertown. MadGastronomer said: Chimera by Will Shetterly

14) Ilium, New York, is divided into three parts. glinda_w said tentatively: Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut

15) You must and will suppose (fair or foul reader, but where's the difference?) that I suppose a heap of happenings that I had no eye to eye knowledge of or concerning. Elizabeth Bear said: A Dead Man in Deptford by Anthony Burgess

16) to wound the autumnal city. Elizabeth Bear said: Dhalgren by Samuel Delany

17) Walk any path in Destiny's garden, and you will be forced to choose, not once but many times. glinda_w said tentatively: Season of Mists by Neil Gaiman

18) The visiting Scottish folksinger peered out of the elevator into the hotel lobby. jennythe_reader said: Bimbos of the Death Sun by Sharyn McCrumb

19) The University Bar was not, in the grand scheme of the city, close to the university. Mattador said: War for the Oaks by Emma Bull

20) Dog carcass in the alley this morning, tire tread on burst stomach. Elizabeth Bear said: Watchmen by Alan Moore

22) She scowled at her glass of orange juice. hawkwing_lb said: The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley

23) This time there would be no witnesses. MadGastronomer said: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams

24) Once when I was six years old I saw a beautiful picture in a book about the primeval forest called True Stories. Edmund Schweppe said: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

25) "What's it going to be then, eh?" winterwind said: A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

26) The steerswoman centered her chart on the table and anchored the corners around. dancing crow said: Steerswoman by Rosemary Kirstein

27) "The Signora had no business to do it," said Miss Bartlett, "no business at all." Hint: Written in 1910, set in Italy and England. 1985 movie starred Helena Bonham Carter and Daniel Day Lewis. Cal said: A Room with a View by E.M. Forster

28) The unicorn lived in the lilac wood, and she lived all alone. Elizabeth Bear said: The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle

29) It was a dazzling four sun afternoon. Jezabella49 said: Nightfall by Isaac Asimov

30) In the image above the vid plate, the sperm writhed in elegant, sinuous curves. winterwind said: Diplomatic Immunity by Lois McMaster Bujold

31) It was a rainy, grey day, and Jill Pole was crying behind the gym. Korvar said: The Silver Chair by C. S. Lewis

32) It was a dark and stormy night. MadGastronomer said: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle (This was the desired answer. More welcome.)

33) "We should start back," Gared urged as the woods began to grow dark around them. "The wildlings are dead." ebony14 said: The Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin

35) The man who was not Terrance O'Grady had come quietly. hawkwing_lb said: Agent of Change by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

36) 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. hawkwing_lb said: Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome

38) In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Jezabella49 said: The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein

39) Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun. glinda_w said: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

40) They never turn the lights off in Grand Central; and they may lock the doors between one and five-thirty a.m., but the place never quite becomes still. Mattador said: The Book of Night With Moon by Diane Duane

42) Jack Holloway found himself squinting, the orange sun full in his eyes. Elizabeth Bear said: Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper

45) Faris Nallaneen arrived at the gates of Greenlaw College on the same day winter did. Cal said: A College of Magics by Caroline Stevermer

47) Some years ago there was in the city of York a society of magicians. MadGastronomer said: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke

48) Chick with a harp. MadGastronomer said: Gossamer Axe by Gael Baudino

49) Kylara Vatta came to attention in front of the Commandant's desk. hawkwing_lb said: Trading in Danger by Elizabeth Moon

50) There was once a young man who wished to gain his Heart's Desire. jeffy said: Stardust by Neil Gaiman

52) Polly sighed and laid her book face down on her bed. Ada said: Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones

53) It was little more than three miles from the Wall into the Old Kingdom, but that was enough. Cal said: Sabriel by Garth Nix.

58) I had this story from one who had no business to tell it to me, or to any other. glinda_w said: Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs

60) The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed. MadGastronomer said: The Gunslinger by Stephen King

61) This is my favorite book in all the world, though I have never read it. MadGastronomer said: The Princess Bride by S. Morgenstern William Goldman

62) It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn't know what I was doing in New York. oxlin said: The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

64) No one sends for a niece they've never seen before just to annoy her family and ruin her life. hawkwing_lb said: The Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kushner

41) When Rome was first a city, its rulers were kings. MadGastronomer said: Histories by Tacitus which was judged close enough by hawkwing_lb (it's from Annals)

21) Towards the end of things, somebody asked Michael Kearney, "How do you see yourself spending the first minute of the new millennium?" Hint: This Tiptree Award winner features a serial killer protagonist. oxlin said Light by M. John Harrison

67) Mae lived in the last village in the world to go online. Elizabeth Bear said: Air by Geoff Ryman

44) Miss Savage was missing. Hint: Second line: And the French were coming. Hint: From a series of books that have been made into miniseries on the Beeb. ebony14 said: Sharpe's Havoc by Bernard Cornwell

51) Under certain circumstances there are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea. Hint: book was made into a movie with John Gielgud, Shelley Winters, Martin Donovan, Nicole Kidman, Viggo Mortensen, Shelley Duvall, John Malkovich, Mary-Louise Parker, Christian Bale, Barbara Hershey, and Richard E. Grant. Jezabella49 said: Portrait of a Lady by Henry James

69) It was on a Homeday in the early summer of 156th year of the Interregnum that a traveller entered a small village in the East. Offered by ebony14 Mattador said The Paths of the Dead by Steven Brust (or Book I of The Viscount of Adrilankha, by Paarfi of Roundwood, as translated by Steven Brust)

57) It was the week following Easter in Reading and no one could remember the last sunny day. Offered by Cal MadGastronomer said: The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde

54) September in Pine Cove is a sigh of relief, a nightcap, a long-deserved nap. Offered by MadGastronomer Hint: The [popular and prolific] author has written about demons, vampires, whales, angels, zombies, giant lizards, and the Bible (well, sort of). His latest book references one of Shakespeare's most difficult plays. Ash said: The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove by Christopher Moore

65) There are reasons I hate to drive fast. Offered by MadGastronomer Hint: [popular and prolific author] The series this is taken from became a short-lived show on SciFi. Mattador said: Grave Peril by Jim Butcher

56) By the time anyone noticed that the carrier was overdue, no one cared. Offered by ebony14 Hint: it's from a book co-written by one of the other Elizabeths (that is, not Bear) hint: This Elizabeth co-authored this with one of the Grand Dames (some would say THE Grand Dame) of Science Fiction. hawkwing_lb said: Sassinak by Elizabeth Moon and Anne McCaffrey

11) It's about sex, and cruelty, and forgiveness. Offered by hawkwing_lb Hint: The book is mostly set in 17th century England. The author, among other things, has also written a massive medieval fantasy about an alternate-history Belgium. (And I think she was writing Weird long before it was New, personally. However. Personal judgement.) glinda_w said: Sundial in a Grave by Mary Gentle

34) The five women fell silent as they climbed single file on the narrow woodland track, higher and higher through the long summer twilight, with the soft duff of the forest floor quiet beneath their sandals--or in one case, boot-heels. Offered by Ada Hint: Book 34 starts in Oregon. But not quite our Oregon. Hint: Now open to googling Google said: The Scourge of God by S.M. Stirling

37) (The epigraph which is less obscure than the first sentence.) Four No-Doz and Eight Meg of RAM. Offered by Ada Hint: Book 37 is nonfiction, and a travelogue of sorts, although the author stayed in Florida the whole time she was traveling. Ada took pity on us and revealed it to be: Surfing on the Internet by J. C. Herz

43) Several centuries (or so) ago, in a country whose name doesn't matter, there was a tall, skinny, straggly-bearded old wizard named Prospero, and not the one you are thinking of, either. Offered by Elizabeth Bear Hint: This author is better known for his children's books, but this one is for adults, and features two wizards named Prospero and Roger Bacon, and not the ones you are thinking of, either. Ada googled: The Face in the Frost by John Bellairs

63) The flotillas of the dead sailed around the world on underwater rivers. Offered by MadGastronomer Hint: Probably the most prolific author of the four, I can't even begin to cover what he's written. This one is about letters, though. peneli said: Going Postal by Terry Pratchett

66) On the corner of 16th Street and Hieratica a factory sings and sighs. Offered by MadGastronomer Hint: I shouldn't have used this one, but I was reading it at that moment. It's new, as I mentioned, and somewhat obscure.  But it's about a sexually transmitted city, and I recommend it most highly. peneli said: Palimpsest by Catherynne Valente