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
Chillin’ 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