Silly game- anyone up for it?

For anyone who is interested in exciting historical books for confident readers 9+ both boys and girls, I quoted 3 posts above from 'Young Samurai - the way of the warrior'. The series of 8 are set in Japan in the 17th century and are really cracking fast paced adventure stories. The author is Chris Bradford.

As an adult I loved them too !

sorry, people, I was going to join in but find this whole thread too confusing! So many comments and quotes that don't relate to one another.

Gosh, didn't realise this had been resurrected! Good. (That is a straightforward comment, BTW!)

The boy snapped awake. He seized his sword. Tenno hardly dared to breathe.

This is a children's book.

well done Zengran but you have stumped me now.

The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath.

The summer day was drawing to a close and dusk had fallen on ...........

lamb A Room with a View

It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn't know what I was doing in New York

The Kite Runner?

NanRuth is this Fay Maschler or Katherine White

horn?

Alice in Wonderland
ANA
"The Signora had no business to do it" said Miss Bartlett "no business at all"

Oh dear iPad finger.

Day and Part

I suppose he is a little obscure but his books were hugely popular in their ay and well worth a read. For one
Droid of his life he lived in a house not far from me and there is a blue plaque on the wall to say so.

Now, I haven't googled but is

'I'm so busy' the woman who said life was too short to stuff a mushroom?

My other teaser should be easy, but if you google you'll get a very smart clothing company!

"It is sweet on awaking in the early morn to listen to the small bird singing on the tree."

Field and hedgerow, the last essays of Richard Jefferies

In full and shameful confession, this avid reader and seasoned librarian not only had to Google the sentence, but still had I still no idea who Richard Jefferies is and had never heard of the book

Now I'm working on your next riddle...

I was being cheeky I'm afraid, and delving into the non-literary shelves of my bookcase...

It is the first sentence of my favourite English cookbook.

Oh, and I agree with Gracesmum. I have no idea. You'll have to reveal a bit more..

Good points NanRuth especially about ways of researching.

No one's answered my last one yet so here's a clue, RJ.

Now, taking NR's prod is one from across the channel:

"There lived at Babylon, in the reign of King Moabdar, a young man named Zadig, of a good natural disposition, strengthened and improved by education."

Well you have floored me nanruth - any chance of a few more words.....? Or a hint???

You are right about us being parochial NanRuth I just had a look at my bookshelves and realised they are about 99.9% British. Most of the foreign books I have read have been pre 20th century too, Tolstoy, Chekov, Jules Verne and Zola and the like. The only modern foreign authors that have come my way have been Andrea Camilleri and Stieg Larssen.

Can't place your opening line at all, but I expect I shall kick myself when you tell us!

I was really enjoying this thread (retrospectively - catching up on leisure browsing today) until:

1. I couldn't match answer to quote. For those of us who want to learn rather than show off, this is frustrating. Surely the questioner can take the trouble to put the quote in quotation marks and the answerer take the trouble to copy and paste the quote into their answering comment?

2. I realised how parochial this thread is. Only a few non-British books have appeared. I am an Australian librarian and my favourite writers come from all over the world (though there are many Australians who take the peculiar view that only Australian books are worth reading)

3. Some put-down posts started appearing. Such a shame to criticise ways of finding answers; research is such good fun and a wonderful intellectual exercise, whether it's Googling or hunting through our bookshelves (physical or digital of course). I don't think there are many of us who can recall more than one or two books' opening lines! I so agree with the post about a book's impact on us not being dependent upon us remembering its name, let alone whole sentences!

So can we keep this thread going?

And may I make a contribution from one of my favourite British writers?"

"I'm too busy..."

It's well worth a read, broomsticks. I always find Peter Ackroyd's books are great for just dipping in and out of.

Yep, mine was Terry Pratchett - Maskerade actually.

Haven't read the river one yet.

Gracesmum - I don't know.

Im convinced I saw the first line of Cider With Rosie quoted as a question and |I answered it.

Now I cant find the quote.

I must have been drinking :D

Oh, I know that one. It's about Harold Fry. Loved it.

'It is sweet on awakening in the early morn to listen to the small bird singing on the tree",

No. Clue - it's been a Gransnet Book Club choice lately.

By.... Galen, I know you know, and the name of the collection...?
And yours is The new testament?

Harry Potter and the PS ? maggie ?