First Lines Quiz

In this game we are visiting the library, which is in my humble opinion one of the best places on earth! Let's take a look at some of those famous opening lines of classic books.

To Play: Read the first lines below and try to guess which classic novel and author they come from without looking up the answer. If you get stuck you can use the Titles Bank below for help (keep in mind there are 10 extra titles listed just to keep you guessing!). Leave your guesses in a comment and I'll respond with your score. Guess as many times as you like.

Scoring: Two points for each correctly guessed book title and author. A total of 100 points can be earned.

Classic First Lines:

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

#2. "One thing was certain, that the white kitten had had nothing to do with it - it was the black kitten's fault entirely."

#3. "Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that situation will be held by anybody else, these pages must show."

#4. "There was no possibility of taking a walk that day."

#5. "The weather door of the smoking-room had been left open to the North Atlantic fog, as the big liner rolled and lifted, whistling to warn the fishing-fleet."

#6. "When Farmer Oak smiled, the corners of his mouth spread till they were within an unimportant distance from 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."

#7. "Call me Ishmael."

#8. "It's time to go to the station, Tom."

#9. "A surging, seething, murmuring crowd of being that are human only in name, for to the eye and ear they seem naught but savage creatures, animated by vile passions and by the lust of vengeance and of hate."

#10. "To begin with the old rigmarole of childhood."

#11. "About thirty years ago, Miss Maria Ward, of Huntingdon, with only seven thousand pounds, had the good luck to captivate Sir Thomas..."

#12. "The house in the hollow was "a mile from anywhere" - so Maywood people said. It was situated in a grassy little dale, looking as if it had never been built like other houses but had grown up there like a big, brown mushroom."

#13. "I will begin the story of my adventures with a certain morning early in the month of June, the year of grace 1751, when I took the key for the last time out of the door of my father's house."

#14. "There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it."

#15. "Mr Salteena was an elderly man of 42 and was fond of asking people to stay with him."

#16. "Cedric himself knew nothing whatever about it. It had never been even mentioned to him."

#17. "1801 - I have just returned from a visit to my landlord - the solitary neighbor that I shall be troubled with."

#18. "Among other public buildings in a certain town, which for many reasons it will be prudent to refrain from mentioning, and to which I will assign no fictitious name, there is one anciently common to most towns, great or small: to wit, a workhouse; and in this workhouse was born; on a day and date which I need not trouble myself to repeat, inasmuch as it can be of no possible consequence to the reader, in this stage of the business at all events; the item of mortality whose name is prefixed to the head of this chapter."

#19. "Miss Polly Harrington entered her kitchen a little hurriedly this June morning. Miss Polly did not usually make hurried movements; she specially prided herself on her repose of manner. But to-day she was hurrying - actually hurrying."

#20. "In these times of ours, though concerning the exact year there is no need to be precise, a boat of dirty and disreputable appearance, with two figures in it, floated on the Thames, between Southwark bridge which is of iron, and London Bridge which is of stone, as an autumn evening was closing in."

#21. "If anybody cares to read a simple tale told simply, I, John ____, of the parish of Oare, in the county of Somerset, yeoman and churchwarden, have seen and had a share in some doings of this neighborhood, which I will try to set down in order, God sparing my life and memory."

#22. "All children, except one, grow up."

#23. “Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents,” grumbled Jo, lying on the rug.

#24. "Miss Brooke had that kind of beauty which seems to be thrown into relief by poor dress."

#25. "'Edith!' said Margaret, gently, 'Edith!' But, as Margaret half suspected, Edith had fallen asleep.

Titles Bank: (you can use this for a little help but keep in mind there are 10 extra titles listed)

A Little Princess ~ Alice in Wonderland ~ An Old-Fashioned Girl ~ Anne of Green Gables ~ Bleak House ~ Captains Courageous ~ David Copperfield ~ Emily of New Moon ~ Far From The Madding Crowd ~ Ivanhoe ~ Jane Eyre ~ Kidnapped ~ Les Misérables ~ Little Lord Fauntleroy ~ Little Women ~ Lorna Doone ~ Mansfield Park ~ Middlemarch ~ Moby Dick ~ North and South ~ Northanger Abbey ~ Oliver Twist ~ Our Mutual Friend ~ Peter Pan ~ Pollyanna ~ Pride and Prejudice ~ The Adventures of Tom Sawyer ~ The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe ~ The Scarlet Pimpernel ~ The Voyage of the Dawn Treader ~ The Young Visiters ~ Through The Looking-Glass ~ Treasure Island ~ Wives and Daughters ~ Wuthering Heights

Answers will be posted next week.

Enjoy!


Very Truly Your's,