Thursday 29 April 2010

Opening Lines. Whose brain has turned?

 

Seychelles Feb 2010 The Light Stays On by brilliant blog pal Karen Jasper of Options For A Better World.

 

“Reading makes immigrants of us all. It takes us away from home, but more important, it finds homes for us everywhere.”

Jean Rhys

 

preslin.seychellesFeb2010Chillin’ with a book – Seychelles 2010 

 

Susan Sanford of ArtSpark Theatre (whose brain appears to be very much intact, contrary to Mrs. Stuart’s hysterical proclamation about too many books addling the mind) is the runaway winner of the Armadillo Opening Lines Quiz with eleven correct answers!  Genius! 

Close runner-up was Lakeviewer of sixtyfivewhatnow who gets the special Wow Award for her amazing straight off-the-cuff answers.

I shall be sending both Susan and Lakeviewer one of  Keri Smith’s delightful books – so snail mail addresses are needed please.

Thank so much for joining in the fun – I’ve replied to you all in the comments section of  the Quiz post and here are the answers to each so even if you didn’t participate you’ll be able to see which title fits which line.  Happy literary travels everyone!

 

1.

“On they went, singing 'Rest Eternal', and whenever they stopped, the sound of their feet, the horses and the gusts of wind seemed to carry on their singing.”

a) Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak

2.

“To the Red Country and part of the gray country of Oklahoma, the last rains came gently, and they did not cut the scarred earth.”

a) The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

3.

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

a) Neuromancer by William Gibson

4.

“When Farmer Oak smiled, the corners of his mouth spread till they were within an unimportant distance of his ears, his eyes were reduced to chinks, and diverging wrinkles appeared round them, extending upon his countenance like the rays in a rudimentary sketch of the rising sun.”

b) Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy

5.

“We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something like 'I feel a bit lightheaded; maybe you should drive . . .'

b) Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S Thompson

6.

“There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.”

a) The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by CS Lewis

7.

"I did not kill my father, but I sometimes felt I had helped him on his way."

a) The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan

8.

"We slept in what had once been the gymnasium."

c) The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

9.

“It was a wrong number that started it, the telephone ringing three times in the dead of night, and the voice on the other end asking for someone he was not.”

b) The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster

10.

"I was born in the city of Bombay...once upon a time."

a) Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

11.

“It was the day my grandmother exploded.”

b) The Crow Road by Iain Banks

12.

“Take my camel, dear,” said my Aunt Dot, as she climbed down from this animal on her return from High Mass."

b) The Towers of Trebizon by Rose Macaulay

13.

“The play – for which Briony had designed the posters, programmes, and tickets, constructed the sales booth out of a folding screen tipped on its side, and lined the collection box in red crepe paper – was written by her in a two –day tempest of composition, causing her to miss a breakfast and a lunch.”

c) Atonement by Ian McEwan

14.

"The year was 1795. George III was dabbing the walls of Windsor Castle with his own spittle, the Notables were botching things in France, Goya was deaf, De Quincey a depraved pre-adolescent.”

d) Water Music by T.C. Boyle

15.

“I write this sitting at the kitchen sink”

d) I Capture The Castle by Dodie Smith

Thursday 22 April 2010

“She is too fond of books, and it has turned her brain.”

Work: A Story of Experience by Louisa May Alcott ~ excerpt from Chapter II

“Mrs. Stuart, though in her most regal array, seemed to have left her dignity downstairs with her opera cloak, for with skirts gathered loosely about her, tiara all askew, and face full of fear and anger, she stood upon a chair and scolded like any shrew.

The comic overpowered the tragic, and being a little hysterical with her sudden alarm, Christie broke into a peal of laughter that sealed her fate. “Look at her! look at her!" cried Mrs. Stuart gesticulating on her perch as if about to fly. "She has been at the wine, or lost her wits. She must go, Horatio, she must go! I cannot have my nerves battered by such dreadful scenes. She is too fond of books, and it has turned her brain.”

 

L'Arlesienne, Vincent van GoghL'Arlesienne ~ Vincent van Gogh  

I know I said that I’d continue with more nostalgic pictorial ramblings after my How can you buy the sky? post, but first I have a challenge – and a little prize - for you. 

I’ve been reading voraciously recently because I have time at the moment, mainly due to long hours of enforced hospital visits but mostly because I just love books with a passion.  Always have – ever since the very beginning!   But not only have I been reading, I’ve been able to snatch moments to write as well which led me to think about great opening lines.  You know what I mean – the brilliantly clever first sentence which slaps you right upside your brain and that’s it…..the beginning of a marvellously mercurial ride into another world?

sittingroom.books

Unless you are blessed with an extraordinarily retentive memory, I don’t think anyone can remember, word for word, ALL the opening lines that have dazzled and held one.  I certainly couldn’t so I had to do a bit of shuffling through my collection of books (and some library research) to help remember correctly those gems which have made me take flight.  Here are 15 of them and the challenge is for you to put the right lines with the right book from the multiple choices.  Instead of taking up yards of space in the comments section, how about you email your answers to me at makula.mafuta@btinternet.com and I’ll announce the winning genius - ie. very smart person with the most correct answers  - in a blog post this time next week – Thursday, April 29th.  

The prize is a wonderfully whacky book by Keri Smith called Living Out Loud: Activities to Fuel a Creative Life.   Georgie (wise daughter) gave it to me recently and I love it so much I bought 2 or 3 extra copies for friends.  Click on the cover to read more:

livingoutloud

Okay, this is it - An Aerial Armadillo’s Opening Lines Quiz (Hmm, doesn’t that looks good in print?)  Don’t go blowing brain cells, guys, this really is just for fun!  Print it out and do it in the bath or under a tree with a glass of the good grape……

 

1.

“On they went, singing 'Rest Eternal', and whenever they stopped, the sound of their feet, the horses and the gusts of wind seemed to carry on their singing.”

a) Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak

b) War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

c) The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

d) Flashman at the Charge by George Macdonald Fraser

2.

“To the Red Country and part of the gray country of Oklahoma, the last rains came gently, and they did not cut the scarred earth.”

a) The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

b) Paradise by Toni Morrison

c) Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse

d) The Innocent Man by John Grisham

3.

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

a) Neuromancer by William Gibson

b) Cities of the Red Night by William Burroughs

c) Fahrenheit 451 by Kurt Vonnegut

d) 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C Clarke

4.

“When Farmer Oak smiled, the corners of his mouth spread till they were within an unimportant distance of his ears, his eyes were reduced to chinks, and diverging wrinkles appeared round them, extending upon his countenance like the rays in a rudimentary sketch of the rising sun.”

a) Tess of the D'Urbevilles by Thomas Hardy

b) Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy

c) Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens

d) The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot

5.

“We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something like 'I feel a bit lightheaded; maybe you should drive . . .' And suddenly there was a terrible roar all around us and the sky was full of what looked like huge bats, all swooping and screeching and diving around the car, which was going about a hundred miles an hour with the top down..”

a) On the Road by Jack Kerouac

b) Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S Thompson

c) The Books of Albion: The Collected Writings of Peter Doherty

d) The Naked Lunch by William Burroughs

6.

“There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.”

a) The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by CS Lewis

b) The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens

c) The Water Babies by Charles Kingsley

d) The Magic Finger by Roald Dahl

7.

"I did not kill my father, but I sometimes felt I had helped him on his way."

a) The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan

b) Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

c) Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

d) The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

8.

"We slept in what had once been the gymnasium."

a) We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver

b) Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld

c) The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

d) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling

9.

“It was a wrong number that started it, the telephone ringing three times in the dead of night, and the voice on the other end asking for someone he was not.”

a) The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

b) The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster

c) The Woman in Black by Susan Hill

d) The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy

10.

"I was born in the city of Bombay...once upon a time."

a) Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

b) The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

c) A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth

d) A House for Mr Biswas by VS Naipaul

11.

“It was the day my grandmother exploded.”

a) George's Marvellous Medicine by Roald Dahl

b) The Crow Road by Iain Banks

c) Horrid Henry's Revenge by Francesca Simon

d) Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson

12.

“Take my camel, dear,” said my Aunt Dot, as she climbed down from this animal on her return from High Mass."

a) The Ukimwi Road by Dervla Murphy

b) The Towers of Trebizon by Rose Macaulay

c) East is West by Freya Stark

d) Escaping The Winter by Anne Mustoe

13.

“The play – for which Briony had designed the posters, programmes, and tickets, constructed the sales booth out of a folding screen tipped on its side, and lined the collection box in red crepe paper – was written by her in a two –day tempest of composition, causing her to miss a breakfast and a lunch.”

a) The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

b) The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing

c) Atonement by Ian McEwan

d) Wonder Boys by Michal Chabon

14.

"The year was 1795. George III was dabbing the walls of Windsor Castle with his own spittle, the Notables were botching things in France, Goya was deaf, De Quincey a depraved pre-adolescent.”

a) Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh

b) Villa Incognito by Tim Robbins

c) One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey

d) Water Music by T.C. Boyle

15.

“I write this sitting at the kitchen sink”

a) Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee

b) The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

c) The Last Good Kiss by James Crumley

d) I Capture The Castle by Dodie Smith

 

Alexander Deineka.Girl Reading ~ Alexander Deineka.

 

Enjoy your very own marvellously mercurial rides this weekend, dear blog pals!  Perhaps if you do have a moment, you could also tell us about your own favourite opening lines?

Thursday 15 April 2010

How can you buy the sky?

 

The Illustration Friday prompt for this week is ‘Linked’.  That got me thinking…

“In every conceivable manner, the family is the link to our past, the bridge to our future.”

~ Arthur Haley ~

 

** Warning:  This is a self-indulgent, nostalgic pictorial meander. Switch off now if you think

you might gag! **

 

 

vist 

A visit with Grandma

You must keep the land and air apart and sacred
as a place where one can go
to taste the wind
that is sweetened by the meadow flowers.
The voice of my grandmother said to me:
Teach your children what you have been taught.
The earth is our mother.
What befalls the earth
befalls all the sons and daughters of the earth
.

 

Grandpapa

My Grandfather – Scotland 1951 

GrannyJess

My Grandmother  - en route somewhere! 

Daddy.Cape Town '50

My Papa – Cape Town 1950

Mama.Cape Town 1950

My Mama – Cape Town 1950

How can you buy the sky?
How can you own the rain and the wind?
My father said to me,
I know the sap that courses through the trees,
as I know the blood that flows through my veins.
We are part of the earth as it is part of us.
The perfumed flowers are our sisters.
The bear, the deer, the great eagle,
these are our brothers.
The rocky crests, the meadows, the ponies,
all belong to the same family.
The voice of my ancestors said to me.

Us

Us - Janie, Tessa, Papa, Mama 

 

You must teach your children that the ground beneath their feet is the ashes of our grandfathers.

So that they will respect the land, tell your children that the Earth is rich with the lives of our kin.

Teach your children what we have taught our children, that the Earth is our mother.

Whatever befalls the Earth befalls the sons of the Earth. If men spit upon the ground, they spit upon themselves.

This we know - the Earth does not belong to man - man belongs to the Earth.

This we know. All things are connected like the blood which unites one family.

All things are connected.

 

Australia.1st visit

First visit to my Mama’s homeland – Queensland, Australia

mbabane market.swazi'73

The Boy in The Landrover – Mbabane Market, Swaziland

(Click here for that story) 

family 022

My sister, Janie, in Kenya before flying down to SA to be Bridesmaid Par Excellence

lloyd tristino-africa-europa-brochure-

Honeymoon memorabilia 

Georgina Clarissa Edwards 001 

More honeymoon memorabilia - ‘it’s not a baby..it’s a bog brush!’

kano mosque.nigeria

A view of the world - Kano, Nigeria.

g&me.kano

Shopping (nothing’s changed!)

T&G.camaroon highlands

Christmas – Cameroon Highlands

ikotapeni.nigeria

Ikotapeni River, Nigeria – holding her own with the boys.

Each ghostly reflection
in the clear waters of the lakes
tells memories in the life of a people.
The water's murmur is the life
of your great-great-grandmother.
The rivers are our brothers.
They quench our thirst.
They carry our canoes
and feed our children.
You must give to the rivers
the kindness you would give any brother
.
 

G&T watamu

And with the girls – Watamu, Kenya 

home again

Home again. 

girls' safari.easterncape

Just before a bean - Garden Route, Eastern Cape.

New Bean 001

And along came the Bean!

Laughing Bean

Laughing Bean

Caribbean Bean

Caribbean Bean – USVI 

bean.sportsday'86

English Bean

Beani.St Thomas

Thoughtful Bean – Mafolie, St Thomas USVI

 

Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.

Tessa.Mombasa

Next Pictorial Episode of my tribe’s evolution?

In a couple of days….

**PS – I’d LOVE to read about YOUR tribe.  Please let me know if you do decide to do a blog post like this one!**

Poetry excerpts:  Attributed to Chief Seattle, but there is debate as to whether it was written in 1971 by Ted Perry, the screenwriter for the 1972 fim ‘Home’