Saturday, April 18, 2009

Read-a-Thon Mini Challenge!


It's time for a Mini-Challenge!

I hope everyone's Read-a-Thon has been great so far - I'm sure everyone is reading LOTS of great books.

Speaking of great books, that's the theme of this mini-challenge. I've compiled a list of great first lines from great books over the years, and it's your job to tell me what books they are from! Sounds easy, right? The first 10 are from books that I would consider "classics" - books that have stood the test of time for years. The second 10 are contemporary favorites - books I've read and enjoyed that were published since I've been alive. =) I tried to pick titles that were fairly well-known, so even if you haven't read something, you have probably heard of it. Also, all these books can be found on my shelves - I just went through and picked out some favorites.

SO, the first person who guesses all the correct titles wins! Easy, huh? You can either leave your list in the comments, or post it on your blog, and leave a link to your post in the comments. If you don't get them all, comment anyway - if nobody guesses all correctly, then the person who gets the MOST right will be the winner. If there is a tie, I'll go with whomever commented first. AND, there will also be a second place winner, AND I will pick one RANDOM winner from all commenters. So even if you don't know all the answers, give it a shot - you might be a winner anyway! (And please, no cheaters who look at comments first and then submit your answers - you are all on the honor system!) The challenge will run until 4:00 pm CST, and then I will pick the winners! This is open to Readers AND Cheerleaders, so we can all have fun together!

In addition to prizes, I will be making a donation for each person who participates to Reach Out and Read.

Prizes will be your choice of book from a list I will post when I announce the winners - if there's not a book you like, I'll arrange for a gift certificate from Amazon or Powell's. Also, a cute little beaded bookmark. =)

So, here it is - your list of great first lines. Good luck, and happy reading!

1 - Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.

2 - The Opera Ghost really existed.

3 - It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.

4 - "Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents," grumbled Jo, lying on the rug.

5 - All children, except one, grow up.

6 - When Mr. Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton.

7 - This is the story of what a Woman's patience can endure, and what a Man's resolution can achieve.

8 - When Mary Lennox was sent to Misslethwaite Manor to live with her uncle, everybody said she was the most disagreeable-looking child ever seen.

9 - He - for there could be no doubt of his sex, though the fashion of the time did something to disguise it - was in the act of slicing at the head of a Moor which swung from the rafters.

10 - Who is John Gault?



11 - A mile above Oz, the Witch balanced on the wind's forward edge, as if she were a green fleck of the land itself, flung up and sent wheeling away by the turbulent air.

12 - Sunday, 1 January. 129 lbs (but post-Christmas), alcohol units 14 (but effectively covers 2 days as 4 hours of party was on New Year's Day), cigarettes 22, calories 5424.

13 - Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number 4, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.

14 - Even in high summer, Tintagel was a haunted place; Igraine, lady of Duke Gorlois, looked out over the sea from the headland.

15 - What can you say about a 25 year old girl who died?

16 - When I wake up, the other side of the bed is cold.

17 - I was born twice: first as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974.

18 - Tyler gets me a job as a waiter, after that Tyler's pushing a gun in my mouth and saying the first step to eternal life is you have to die.

19 - There are some guys who enter a woman's life and screw it up forever.

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

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't know them all but here are my guesses:

2. Phantom of the Opera
3. Pride and Prejudice
4. Little Women
5. Peter Pan
6. The Lord of the Rings (The Fellowship of the Ring)
11. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
12. Bridget Jones Diary
13. Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone
14. I am not sure which book exactly but definitely something Arthurian! Maybe The Mists of Avalon?
17. Middlesex
20. The Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy

Deborah said...

1. David Copperfield
2. Phantom of the Opera
3. Pride and Prejudice
4. Little Women
5. Peter Pan
6. The Fellowship of the Ring
7. The Woman in White
8. The Secret Garden
9. Orlando
10. Atlas Shrug
11. The Wizard of Oz
12. Bridget Jone’s Diary
13. Harry Potter and the Sorcerors Stone
14. The Mists of Avalon
15. Love Story
16. The Hunger Games
17. Middlesex
18. Fight Club
19. One for the Money
20. The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Alaine said...

Great challenge!

soleil said...

a lot of them sound familiar but the only ones i got were the following:

4. Little Women
5. Peter Pan
6. Lord of the Rings I
8. The Secret Garden
11. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
12. Bridget Jones' Diary
13. Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone
14. Isolde, Queen of the Western Isles
17. Middlesex
20. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Lily said...

I own some of these books and have read most of the rest, so this was a great exercise in memory. Thanks for the challenge!

1. David Copperfield
2. Phantom of the Opera
3. Pride and Prejudice
4. Little Women
5. Peter Pan
6. Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
7. The Woman in White
8. The Secret Garden
9. Orlando
10. Atlas Shrugged
11. Wicked
12. Bridget Jones's Diary
13. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
14. The Mists of Avalon
15. Love Story
16. The Hunger Games
17. Middlesex
18. Fight Club
19. One for the Money
20. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Fyrefly said...

1. David Copperfield
2. Phantom of the Opera
3. Pride and Prejudice
4. Little Women
5. Peter Pan
6. The Fellowship of the Ring
8. The Secret Garden
11. Wicked
12. Bridget Jones's Diary
13. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
14. The Mists of Avalon
16. Hunger Games
17. Middlesex
18. Fight Club
20. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (I was actually reading this earlier today!)

Don't know the rest. Fun contest!

Anonymous said...

1. David Copperfield
2. Phantom of the Opera
3. Pride and Prejudice
4. Little Women
5. Peter Pan
6. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
7. The Woman in White
8. The Secret Garden
9. Orlando
10. Atlas Shrugged (?)
11. Wicked
12. Bridget Jones's Diary
13. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
14. The Mists of Avalon
15. Love Story
16. The Hunger Games
17. Middlesex
18. Fight Club
19. One for the Money
20. The Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy

S. Krishna said...

My answers: http://www.skrishnasbooks.com/2009/04/read-thon-first-lines-mini-challenge.html

Anna said...

1. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

2. The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux

3. Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen

4. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

5. Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

6. Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien

7. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

8. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

9. Orlando by Virginia Woolf

10. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

11. Wicked by Gregory Maguire

12. Bridget Jones' Diary by Helen Fielding

13. Harry Potter & The Sorcerers Stone by J.K. Rowling

14. The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley

15. Love Story by Erich Segal

16. Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

17. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

18. Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

19. One for the Money by Janet Evanovich

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

--Anna
Diary of an Eccentric

nfmgirl said...

I don't know too many of them, but these are my guesses:

2-- I'll guess Phantom of the Opera

3-- Pride or Prejudice

4-- Little Women

5-- Peter Pan

6-- The Hobbit

11-- Wicked

20-- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Becky said...

1. David Copperfield --Dickens
2. Phantom of the Opera -- Gaston Leroux
3. Pride and Prejudice -- Austen
4. Little Women -- Alcott
5. Peter Pan -- Barrie
6. Fellowship of the Ring -- Tolkien
7. Woman in White -- Collins
8. Secret Garden -- Burnett
9. Orlando -- Woolf
10. Atlas Shrugged
11. Wicked
12. Bridget Jones' Diary
13.
14.
15.
16. The Hunger Games
17.
18.
19.
20. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Irish said...

1. David Copperfield
2. The Phantom of the Opera
3. Pride & Prejudice
4. Little Women
5. Peter Pan
6. The Fellowship of the Ring
7. The Woman in White
8. The Secret Garden
9. Orlando
10. Atlas Shruggred
11. Wicked
12. Bridget Jones's Diary
13. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
14. The Mists of Avalon
15. Love Story
16. Hunger Games
17. Middlesex
18. Haunted
19. One for the Money
20. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Staci said...

Here's my try!!

http://lifeinthethumb.blogspot.com/2009/04/read-thon-mini-challenge.html

priyanka shetty said...

1.David Copperfield,Charles Dickens

2.The Phantom of the Opera

3.Pride and Prejudice-Jane Austen

4.Little Women-Louissa may alcott

5.Peter Pan

6.The fellowship of the ring,JRR Tolkien

7.The woman in white,Wilkie Collins

8.The secret garden

9.Orlando,A biography

10.Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged

11.Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
by Gregory Maguire

12.Briget Jones Diary

13.Harry potter and soccers stone

14.The Mists of Avalon By Marion Zimmer Bradley

15.Love story by erich segal
16????

17.Middlesex

18.Chuck palahniuk

19.One for the money

20The hitchhikers guide to the galaxy.

Kristi said...

Here are mine:
1 David Copperfield
2 The Phantom of the Opera
3 Pride and Prejudice
4 Little Women
5 Peter Pan
6 The Fellowship of the Ring
7 The Woman in White
8 The Secret Garden
9 Orlando: A Biography
10 Atlas Shrugged
11 Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
12 Bridget Jones' Diary
13 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
14 The Mists of Avalon
15 Love Story
16 The Hunger Games
17 Middlesex
18 Fight Club: A Novel
19 One For the Money (Stephanie Plum Series #1)
20 Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Hoarders Extraordinaire said...

wow the only ones I got were

4. little women
5. peter pan
6. LOTR

but it was a fun break!

MandaNikole said...

I don't know most of them but my guess for them are:

1- No clue...
2- The Phantom of the Opera
3- Pride and Prejudice (one of my favorite first lines)
4- Little Women
5- Peter Pan
6- The Fellowship of the Ring
7- Don't know...
8- The Secret Garden
9- Don't know...
10- Don't know...
11- Another I don't know...
12- Bridget Jones' Diary
13- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
14- No clue...
15- Another blank...
16- Don't know it...
17- No clue...
18- Fight Club
19- I'm really not doing very well...
20- But at least I tried...

Tammy said...

My answers are here.

fiona said...

I got in too late to bother posting but had hoped to see "Mother died today..or was it yesterday?"

Amanda said...

1. David Copperfield
2. The Phantom of the Opera
3. Pride and Prejudice
4. Little Women
5. Peter Pan
6. Fellowship of the Rings
7. Woman in White (just read this!)
8. The Secret Garden
9. ?
10. Atlas Shrugged
11. Wicked?
12. ?
13. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
14. The Mists of Avalon
15. ?
16. The Hunger Games
17. Middlesex
18. The Fight Club
19. ?
20. The Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy

Unknown said...

So, I don't know them all, but here are my thoughts:

1. David Copperfield
2. Phantom of the Opera
3. Pride & Prejudice
4. Little Women
5. Peter Pan
6. Lord Of The Rings (first book)
11. The Wizard Of Oz
12. Bridet Jones' Diary
13. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
14. Mists Of Avalon
16. Hunger Games
17. Middlesex
18. Fight Club
19. One For The Money
20. Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy

Eva said...

1. The Life of David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
2. Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
3. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
4. Little Women by Lousia May Alcott
5. Peter Pan by John Barrie
6. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
7. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
8. The Secret Garden by Frances HOgdeson Burnett
9.
10.
11. Wicked by Gregory Macquire
12. Bridget Jones Diary by Helen Fielding
13. Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling
14. Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
15.
16.
17. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
18. Fight Club by Chuck Palahnuik
19.
20. The Hitchhikier's Guide to the Galazy by Douglas Adams

Jenners said...

I'm bummed I was out of town and behind on my blogging and missed this! How fun!