Saturday, November 11, 2006

A little something for the weekend.

Due to a general lack of inspiration and the bloody stat counter here is another quiz.
I did first lines of books last time so in a daring bastardisation of the genre this one will be last lines of books.
1 point for the title, 1 for the author.
The winner will get something, probably, if I can be bothered.

1. Peace.
Underworld Don deLillo TME

2. I lingered round them, under that benign sky; watched the moths fluttering among the heath and harebells; listened to the soft wind breathing through the grass; and wondered how anyone could ever imagine unquiet slumbers, for the sleepers in that quiet earth.
Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte Annie

3. The offing was barred by a black bank of clouds, and the tranquil waterway leading to the utmost ends of the earth flowed sombre under an overcast sky - seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness.
Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad mangonel

4. Yet what is any ocean but a multitude of drops?
Cloud Atlas David Mitchell timorous beastie

5. And on the way home, she met her brothers, and there was a rough-and-tumble, and the lovely crown was broken, and she forgot the message, which was never delivered.
Possession AS Byatt TME(nearly)

6. The gun, Bill Roach had finally convinced himself, was after all a dream.
Tiinker Tailor John Le Carre vicus

7. For the first time they had done something out of Love.
Perfume Patrick Suskind TME

8. "The republic of heaven," said Lyra.
The Amber Spyglass Phillip Pullman Annie

9. Just go to bed now. Quickly. Quickly and slowly.
Seymour an introduction JD Salinger TME

10. One bird said to Billy Pilgrim, 'Poo-tee-weet?'
Slaughterhouse 5 Kurt Vonnegut vicus

11. Bitter women will call you to rebellion, but you have too much to do. What will you do?
The Female Eunuch Germaine Greer TME

12. 'Darling,' replied Valentine, 'has not the count just told us that all human wisdom is summed up in two words? -"Wait and hope."'
The Count of Monte Cristo Alexander Dumas Nobody

13. There will be no conclusion.
Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow Peter Hoeg TME

14. Might I trouble you then to be ready in half an hour, and can we stop at Marcini's for a little dinner on the way?
The Hound of the Baskervilles Arthur Conan Doyle Tim

15. I should hope, then, that by the time of my employer's return, I shall be in a position to pleasantly surprise him.
Remains of the Day Kazuo Ishiguro TME

16. O God - please give him back! I shall keep asking You.
A Prayer for Owen Meany John Irving TME

17. All waiting for the amber.
All waiting for the green.
If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things Jon McGregor TME

18. The strains of the piano and violin rose up weakly from below.
The Unbearable Lightness of Being Milan Kundera ziggi

19. Between Barton and Delaford, there was that constant communication which strong family affection would naturally dictate; and among the merits and the happiness of Elinor and Marianne, let it not be ranked as the least considerable, that though sisters, and living almost within sight of each other, they could live without disagreement between themselves, or producing coolness between their husbands.
Sense and Sensibility Jane Austen chaucer's bitch

20. "It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known."
A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens chaucer's bitch

There you go then, some really easy ones, some hard and a few, I think, are almost impossible. No googling, though, because that, I think we all agree, would be cheating.

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

5. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe?

19. Sense and Sensibility (that was an easy one)

20. Tale of Two Cities

not a whole lot of help there, but it's a start

Annie said...

Damn, Chaucer's Bitch beat me to it.

2 - Is it Wuthering Heights? (highly ironic, considering how it starts off with ghosties & hauntings)

8 One of His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman - The Amber Spyglass?
Look here for a Daemon Name Generator. Mine would be a sloth.

Vicus Scurra said...

Easy? I think not.
Bill Roach was in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by Le Carre
and Billy Pilgrim was the central character in Slaughterhouse Five.
I think.

Mangonel said...

1.
2.
3. Heart of Darkness?
4.
5.
6.
7.
8. Amber Spyglass
9.
10. Slaughterhouse Five
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19. Sense and Sensibility
20. Tale of Two Cities.

Oh crap.

realdoc said...

You're doing well so far, but that number 5 guess is wrong CB. Not all the easy ones have gone yet.

Molly Bloom said...

All the ones I know are gone. Oh poopster. Never mind. I enjoyed reading them thoughxx

Anonymous said...

One of the reasons I never took English Lit A level was because I would never remember this kind of stuff. I'm absolutely hopeles at it. I've read Slaughterhouse Five - I've got it in the house but buggered if I can remember anyone's name. Ask me what all our car number plates have been since 1970 and I'll have no problem (no, don't).

Timorous Beastie said...

I love these quizzes. Thanks Realoc. The ones I was confident about have gone too, but is no 4. from Cloud Atlas (David Mitchell)?

Tim F said...

Damn. Was just coming in with Cloud Atlas. But 14 is Sherlock Holmes, and I'm pretty sure it's The Hound of the Baskervilles

Anonymous said...

Is 5. Obsession by AS Byatt?

12. War and Peace by Tolstoy (on the grounds there are always some Counts in his books)

10. Out of leftfield but is it "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" by Ken Kesey

damn someone beat me to 3, 8, 19 and 20

is 11. "The Female Eunuch" by Germaine Greer (I don't know for sure because Realdoc borrowed my copy before I had a chance to read it and hasn't given it back yet!

Spinsterella said...

Hmph.

I don't recognise any, even though if all the guesses are right I've read a fair few of them.

God, brain like a sieve.

Valerie Polichar said...

Well, crap. I can only get the Pullman, Austin and Dickens, just like a million before me. And yet. I'm sure I've read several of these. I just have a brain like a steel... sieve.

I like the quiz, though.

Valerie Polichar said...

I swear I did not read the comments before posting my comment. So I honestly didn't copy 'steel sieve'. But it sure looks like it {hangs head}...

Guess there are a lot of us sieveheads around.

Must drink heavily.

realdoc said...

Seems to be proving harder this one. I'll put up the right answers so far and give you a few clues.

Anonymous said...

15. Kazuo Ishiguro The Remains of the Day

16. A Prayer for Owen Meany (should have got that already!)

Is 7. Perfume by Patrick Suskind

FirstNations said...

total strikeout. and i brag about being well read...! *clutching library card, weeping quietly*

Zig said...

18 Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera

Moominmama said...

1. Must be something by John Steinbeck. Or Herman Melville. Oh hell. i never read stuff written on the wrong side of the pond.

Anonymous said...

Forgot to say 'A Prayer for Owen Meany' is by John Irving.

Is the one with the Count in it Anna Karenina by Tolstoy? It's upstairs but I can't be bothered getting off my arse.

Anonymous said...

9. Raise High The Roof Beams Carpenters by JD Salinger

Anonymous said...

1. Don DeLillo Underworld

yay! the books I can reach from my slothful state on the sofa are coming up trumps. Unfortunately I don't see the last line of the Contented Little Baby Book anywhere.

p.s. Am still affronted by getting the title of the AS Byatt book wrong. Hangs head in shame.

Anonymous said...

13. Miss Smilla's Feelings for Snow by Peter Hoeg

17. If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things by Jon McGregor

The books within reach of the sofa come up trumps again. Although I feel I am at a slight advantage given that we generally swap books and read mainly the same things

realdoc said...

Thanks anyway TME for putting this interminable quiz out of its bloody misery