The 'Booknerd' Meme

[kennahijja]

(shamelessly filched from cluegirl)

Pick passages from five of your favorite books. The first book’s passage should come from the fifth page, the second from the tenth, the third from the fifteenth, the fourth from the twentieth, and the fifth from the twenty-fifth. Do not give the titles and see if your flist guesses the books.

Well, picked from among my favourite English novels. Two of them might be rather tricky... But have fun if you're riddle-ishly inclined :).

ETA: Three guessed, two still open - actually the two I thought would be the easiest and the hardest...

1) She frowned; why should she treat a visit from her own sister as the work of the Devil? Father Columba could say what he wished; perhaps his God was wiser than he was. Which, XXXX thought, suppressing a giggle, would not be very difficult. (p. 5)

2) Like most people – most people, at any rate, below the age of sixty or so – XXXX hadn't exercised his mind much about what happened to you when you died. Like most people since the dawn of time, he assumed it all somehow worked out all right in the end.
And, like most people since the dawn of time, he was now dead. (p. 10)
Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett, as guessed by narcissam.

3) On a morning in the springtime of the year, when the snows of the mountains were melting and the rivers swift in their running, XXXX watched her husband ride out at dawn to hunt in the forest west of the castle, and shortly she took horse herself, travelling north and east along the shores of the lake towards the begetting of her son. (p. 15)
A Song for Arbonne by Guy Gavriel Kay, picked up by lazy_neutrino and chthonya. Some minds just think alike :).

4) Is it like this, to be dead? What happened to the world, that books are mostly codices and lights come on and off by touching and how do I know these things and why do these people I never met in my life all know me?
Is that what it is, to be dead? Are these shades and shadows?
Is this man Niccolo one of us?
Is he a god like Hatshepsut?
Am I?
What did I die of? Why can't I remember? (p. 20)

5) The children of the Empire were arming for the game.
XXXX was a Lancer. He tested the adhesion of his thick-soled boots, adjusted a strap and found them excellent. He flexed his shoulders within their padding – the armor was slightly stiff with newness; he would have to allow for that. (p. 25)
The Final Reflection, the best Star Trek novel ever, by John M. Ford. frogslayr and cordelia_v recognised it, and awed me to no end with it :).

Comments

[balfrog.livejournal.com]

I'm not going to be a hog, but OMG, is 5) John M Ford's Star Trek novel? The Final Reflection? Am I completely nuts? (separate issue)

[cordelia_v]

No, of course you're right: it's "The Final Reflection." One of my favorite all time novels, btw. I know I'm in the right fandom, when several other people on my flist list that one as one of their favorites.

I'd kill to read fanfic based on those Klingon characters, btw.

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

OMG, you're brilliant! It's one of my top favourite books of all times (and we developed the most elaborate RPG from hell with it as a background which pretty much defined most of my childhood (and quite a bit after!).

*is totally awed*
And I thought this would be one of the tough ones! You're brilliant, both!

[balfrog.livejournal.com]

I'm just looking at cordelia_v up there and nodding, yup, we're in the right fandom. We *loves* this book! I got it second hand while I was in high school and man, it was brill!

You made an RPG based on this? wow...

but really, it's a pity they don't give those Star Trek books as much free reign as they used to. The early ones were just amazing...

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

You made an RPG based on this? wow...
Well, more like a fictional universe with no (written rules) and hundreds of characters :).

but really, it's a pity they don't give those Star Trek books as much free reign as they used to. The early ones were just amazing...
I must have read up to the first 50 or 60, but some exceptions aside, the first twenty were the very best. I loved Ford's other novel How Much for Just the Planet? as well, but it was parody and a very different atmosphere...

[cordelia_v]

Sorry; I missed this whole thread. I thought lj would automatically cc me on yours and Frog's comments, but no.

You're suprised we got this one? It was the easy one! I know Star Trek: TOS even better than I know hp canon and fanon, to be honest. But I drifted away from that fandom about 20 years ago.

Myself, I guess I bought, oh, the first 70 or so ST books before I gave up on them, as the quality did decline. Some amazing h/c however, since Vulcans and Romulans can take a lot of punishment and come back for more. And the homoerotic subtexts (even in the "official" Paramount stuff) just killed me, at the time.

Yes, "How Much for Just the Planet" was very different. Sort of a clever slapstick atmosphere. But "The Final Reflection" had a much greater impact on me. To this day, I could summarize every scene for you in some detail.

You made up a fictional universe based on this? Man, you had one of the coolest set of friends I've ever heard of.

[lazy-neutrino.livejournal.com]

The first and second look horribly familiar but I'm not going to get them. The third is the opening paragraph of 'A Song for Arbonne' - Guy Gavriel Kay.

[chthonya]

That's the only one I recognised, too. :)

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

And you're both right, of course!
*bows to the experts*
Of course I was pretty sure that chthonya at least had to pick it up :).

[narcissam.livejournal.com]

2. Wyrd Sisters.

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

*bows*
Exactly! And such an great book that nearly every page has some really great quotes to choose from. Though the above is certainly one of my favourites :).

[seventines.livejournal.com]

I don't recognize any of them, but I think I'd like to read No. 4, so I'll check back later for an update...

And No. 3 sounds just like the novel my friend's writing at the moment. That sort of thing happens a lot.

No 2 sounds sort of Douglas Adams/Terry Pratchett, but I don't know.

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

Full points for Pratchett in No. 2 :). I'll give No. 4 a few more days, but it's definitely the trickiest of the lot, though the author is rather well known... Just not for *this*, I think ;).

[queen-bellatrix.livejournal.com]

I seriously doubt you'll get this, since the entry is so old. However, I'm thrilled to find another MZB fan; I nearly squeed when I realized that the passage for number one is from Mistress Of Magic. MZB's books don't seem to be getting the credit they deserve, especially in this day and age, but gods, she was one of the great feminist movers and shakers.
Bella

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

Mists of Avalon, actually :). And yes, she was one of my favourite writers too, especially the Darkover novels. And yes again - most of my feminist side I owe to her books.

[queen-bellatrix.livejournal.com]

Sorry, when I read the book nurd reveal, I realized that I was thinking of the individual books that make up the novel, instead of the overall novel itself. That's what I get for overanalyzing.
Bella

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

Ah, now I get it! :)