That Novel Meme

[adelynne]

The instructions are as follows:
a. Choose ten of your all-time favorite books.
b. Take the first sentence of the first chapter (NOT the prologue) and make a list in your journal.
c. Don't reveal the author or the title of the book.
d. Now everyone try and guess.

Some of the "all-time" favorites are way too easy, so this is the current edition. I also cheat slightly in that there's one short story in the bunch. No Google for you and no particular order for me. (And yes, some of these shall be very easy, no matter how hard I try.)

1. Kaye spun down the worn, gray planks of the boardwalk. (Tithe - by Holly Black mroctober)

2. This is a story about magic and where it goes and perhaps more importantly where it comes from and why, although it doesn't pretend to answer all or any of these questions. (Equal Rites - by Terry Pratchett solnishka)

3. Celia Townsend's mother brought up the subject of debutante balls for the first time in June. ("Cotillion" by Delia Sherman, Firebirds, Sharyn November, ed. lareinenoire)

4. I'll make my report as if I told a story, for I was taught as a child on my homeworld that Truth is a matter of the imagination. (The Left Hand of Darkness - by Ursula Le Guin chaoticgoodnik)

5. On December 7, 2059, Emilio Sandoz was released from the isolation ward of Salvador Mundi Hospital in the middle of the night and transported in a bread van to the Jesuit Residence at Number 5 Borgo Santo Spìrito, a few minutes' walk across St. Peter's Square from the Vatican. (The Sparrow - by Mary Doria Russell wayzgoose)

6. I'm not a teller of tales, not like the Rhymer. (Thomas the Rhymer - by Ellen Kushner chaoticgoodnik)

7. There once was a young man who wished to gain his Heart's Desire. (Stardust - by Neil Gaiman & Charles Vess lunaratu)

8. The Star-Bearer and Raederle of An sat on the crown of the highest of the seven towers of Anuin. (The Harpist in the Wind - Patricia McKillip the_jackalope)

9. The Hall of the Chimeras, having no windows, was lit by seven massive candelabra hanging above the mosaic floor like monstrous birds of prey. (Mélusine - by Sarah Monette mroctober)

10. Always remember that they come from the desert. (The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay lareinenoire)