books' first sentences meme

[enthusiastick]

Post the first sentence of ten favorite books, and see if your Friends can figure out what those books are. (If no one's guessed within 24 hours, try the next sentence, which is in some cases much more revealing.) Minor hint: They're all fiction, and they're all prose; no poetry or comics or anything odd like that. Please, no Googling (that would be cheating!)

I caught this particular one from rollick, and have heard rumors that its generally making the rounds at the moment. I should point out that these aren't precisely my favorite books of all time (nor are they arranged in any particular order), they're simply all books that I enjoyed a lot. I have no doubt that some of them will prove startlingly easy, but others will hopefully be a bit more obscure.

1. A dark red Mustang perched beside the ribbon of highway, alone but for the young man resting against its door. (The Chrome Borne [aka Born To Run] by Mercedes Lackey & Larry Dixon, identified by sleetfall.)


2. On a windless summer day in an uncertain year, more than a century after the founding of Cornell, a man who told lies for a living climbed to the top of The Hill to fly a kite. (Fool On the Hill by Matt Ruff, identified by theshanakee.)


3. Brian Robeson stared out the window of the small plane at the endless green northern wilderness below. (Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, identified by lady_eleret.)


4. If you listen, you can hear it.


5. "Hold," said Jarhead.


6. Of all the various unpleasant ways to be aroused from a sound sleep, one of the worst is the noise of a dragon and a unicorn playing tag. (Myth Conceptions by Robert Aspirin, identified by lady_eleret.)


7. Dear friend,
   I am writing to you because she said you listen and understand and didn't try to sleep with that person at that party even though you could have. (The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, identified by lady_eleret.)


8. The great radar pulse generator Excalibur, powered by nuclear explosions, had been out of service for almost half a century.


9. Part of the problem, Nita thought as she tore desperately down Rose Avenue, is that I can't keep my mouth shut. (So You Want To Be A Wizard by Diane Duane, identified by theshanakee.)


10. As the door to the suite dilated, the man seated staring glumly out the window looked around.

Comments

[theshanakee.livejournal.com]

ACK! Screwed that up.

2. Fool on the Hill
9. So you want to be a wizard.

I should know some of the others, but I can't think about it now, and have to go to work.

[rollick.livejournal.com]

#6 is certainly one of Robert Aspirin's Myth books, though I couldn't tell you which; too many of 'em.

A couple of the others struck me as really familiar, so I looked 'em up… and found I'd never read those books, so who knows what I was thinking of. Sigh.

[pooka-madness.livejournal.com]

Hmm... to give you partial (or even full) credit on #6 or to wait and see if someone, like maybe sleetfall can pin it down specifically?

And without mentioning titles, which ones seemed familiar to you?

[rollick.livejournal.com]

4 and 8 seemed familiar; I've read 8, but not 4.

[lady-eleret.livejournal.com]

#6 is from Myth Conceptions. I think that #7 is from Perks of Being a Wallflower. (And I'm bummed that Will got to #2 before me.)

[pooka-madness.livejournal.com]

I cannot tell you how much I think you should read number four. I know, your life is a never-ending list of books to read. But 4 is genuinely one of my all-time favorite books.

[pooka-madness.livejournal.com]

Don't be too bummed. You will always be the person that suggested I read it.

[lady-eleret.livejournal.com]

So here's a crazy question...is #3 from Hatchet?

[pooka-madness.livejournal.com]

You are correct.

[sleetfall.livejournal.com]

Damn am I a latecomer to this...

but #1 is so Chrome Born it Huuuuuurts! :)

i think the specific book is Born to Run, but its been several years since I read it...