My Favorite Books

[athelind]

Meme from rain_luong:

1. Choose five to ten of your all time favorite books.
   
2. Take the first sentence of the first chapter and make a list in your journal.
   
3. Don't reveal the author or the title of the book.
   
4. Now everyone try and guess! Cross them off as they're guessed correctly.

The List:

1. The man in the bare steel chair was as naked as the room's white walls. --The Shockwave Rider, by John Brunner
   
   
2. I can see by my watch, without taking my hand from the left grip of the cycle, that it is eight-thirty in the morning. --Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Robert M. Pirsig
   
   
3. Stock cue SOUND: "Presenting SCANALYZER, Engrelay Satelserv's unique thrice-per-day study of the big big scene, the INdepth INdependent INmediate INterface between you and your world!" -- Stand on Zanzibar, by John Brunner
   
   
4. The wind came across the bay like something living.
   
   
5. Once upon a time there was a Martian named Valentine Michael Smith. --Stranger in a Strange Land, by Robert A. Heinlein
   
   
6. Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, came to power in 1740. --Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas R. Hofstadter
   
   
7. Of the history of the Little Kingdom few fragments have survived; but by chance an account of its origin has been preserved: a legend, perhaps, rather than an account; for it is evidently a late compilation, full of marvels, derived not from sober annals, but from the popular lays to which its author frequently refers. --Farmer Giles of Ham, by J.R.R. Tolkien
   
   
8. Current-borne, wave-flung, tugged hugely by the whole might of ocean, the jellyfish drifts in the tidal abyss. --The Lathe of Heaven, by Ursula K. LeGuin

Hints of Dubious Utility:

• There's one Gimme that even people who haven't read the book are likely to guess, but on the other end of the spectrum, at least two of the entries suggest completely different topics than the actual books.
  
• Only one of the entries is non-fiction.
  
• Most of the others betray a distressing lack of breadth in my tastes.
  
• I almost included another Gimme, since the term "Deliverator" would be a dead giveaway, but that's not so much one of my all-time favorite books as it is my all-time favorite opening.
  
• I couldn't find my copies of two of my "all-time favorites" to add to the list, so people expecting to see them will be disappointed.

Comments

[mavjop.livejournal.com]

Well, #5 is obvious. :-)

"Stranger in a Strange Land" by Robert Anson Heinlein.

#1 is "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Robert M. Pirsig

#8 is "Lathe of Heaven" by Ursula Le Guin

I'll leave it at that for now at least. :)

[athelind.livejournal.com]

Oooh, #8 was one of the Red Herrings. Nice call.

[athelind.livejournal.com]

Wrong on #1.

[mavjop.livejournal.com]

Um, oops. I meant #2 for that one. Sorry. :>

[athelind.livejournal.com]

Right you are.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

#3 Stand on Zanzibar?

[athelind.livejournal.com]

You got it.

I expect two more are guessable. I'll be really, really surprised if anybody guesses the other two.

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

Is #7 Gulliver's Travels? I read it in high school, or part of it, and that's ringing bells.

[athelind.livejournal.com]

Nope!

[tprjones.livejournal.com]

I know that's Tolkein, but I can't quite place it. :(

[soreth.livejournal.com]

I am tempted to say Farmer Giles of Ham, just based on half-remembered things I've heard about (or from) Athelind... but I never read the book myself and so I shouldn't really get credit if that's it.

[tprjones.livejournal.com]

Well, the meme is about Athelind's favorite books, so knowing that it's one of his favorites without having read it yourself should count for credit, IMO.

And I think you are right about which one it is, too.

[athelind.livejournal.com]

I'll give it to you.

But, jeez, man! Crysophylax is one of the best-written dragons in fantasy literature! You really need to read it!

[soreth.livejournal.com]

I am both gladdened and ashamed!

[athelind.livejournal.com]

For all of his virtues, however, Crysophylax lacks your jazzy taste in chapeaus.

[soreth.livejournal.com]

Well, I sort of nicked it from Bernard the Bard (of MegaZeux fame), but thank you. ;)

[stalbon.livejournal.com]

Argh, can't believe I didn't get that, considering it's one of the only Tolkien books I've read fully and loved.

[collie13.livejournal.com]

Oh, I loved that one too! ;)

[stalbon.livejournal.com]

Is #6 War & Peace? I can't recall, as I read it so long ago, but that seems familiar.

[athelind.livejournal.com]

Nope.

That's one of the red herrings. Even if you've READ the book, you probably won't get it.

[mavjop.livejournal.com]

Ok, it's been a while, so time for more guesses.

#1: "Shockwave Rider" by John Brunner
#4: "Zodiac" by Neal Stephenson
#6: "Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid" by Douglas R. Hofstadter

[athelind.livejournal.com]

Wow. Right on #1 and #6. I didn't expect ANYONE to get #6.

I still don't expect anyone to get #4.

[ssthisto.livejournal.com]

It isn't by chance "The Old Man and the Sea" is it?

[athelind.livejournal.com]

Cold, so very cold. Brrrr.

[twentythoughts.livejournal.com]

I got numbah four, but only through Googling :) So, well, I won't mention it here.

[athelind.livejournal.com]

Well, crap, I didn't even think of that. And it works. That's annoying.