Answers for Yesterday

I'm going to write such the good answer for Phyl who has patiently waited, now, about a week. I'll try to get it up by midnight (I did have plenty of time to think about it).

Here are the answers. Clearly my non-SF/F and non-classics are desperately eclectic, too eclectic for most. Oh well, here they are:

1. These Old Shades, the best of a positive pantheon of excellent Georgette Heyer classics
   
2. Artemis Fowl, by Eoin Colfer (I hope I spelled that right). Yeah, I'm charmed by sarcasm.
   
3. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
   
4. Shogun by James Clavell
5. Watership Down by Robert Adams
   
6. Hawaii by James Michener
   
7. The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum I'm not much into mysteries but I do like these. I don't like Clancy, though.
   
8. The Red Dragon by Thomas Harris, my favorite of his books, though not the most well known.
   
9. Imitation in Death by JD Robb (aka Nora Roberts)
   
10. Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy Sayers
    

Now you know. I'm insane.

By the way, I forgot to mention that the bonus on the first one I did was All Things Bright and Beautiful by James Herriot. Undoubtedly, his books are my favorite non-novels.

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Carrying on the List From Yesterday

See, you all probably thought I'd give you all the answers today. Haha, not so fast. I'll be the first to say that I would have struggled to determine some of these books from the first line, but I do know my characters. And, besides, I got the idea from Relax Max. Again. So, for all the ones not guessed, I'm going to provide character names and let you try again. If there was a character mentioned in the first line, I'll assume it wasn't enough and add a second character.

1. Justin Alastair, Duke of Avon
2. Holly Short
3. Mary Lennox and Dicken Sowerby
4. Shogun by James Clavell
5. Fiver
6. Abner Hale
7. Marie Ste. Jacques
8. Will Graham and Francis Dolarhyde
9. Roarke and Niles Renquist
10. Death Bredon

And yes, though I should be addressing a space elevator, I'll be doing this on Ask Me Anything and Rocket Scientist.

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Other Favorite First Lines

And, yes, for completeness as I redo Relax Max' exercise from his blog (instead of answering Phyl's excellent question which I will get to tomorrow), here are more first lines from favorites that aren't necessarily classics and aren't SF/Fantasy. Wanna guess?

1. A gentleman was strolling down a side street in Paris, on his way back from the house of one Madame de Verchoureux.
2. Ho Chi Minh City in the summer.
3. When Mary Lennox was born, no one really wanted her.
4. The gale tore at him and he felt its bite deep within and he knew that if they didn't make landfall in three days they would all be dead. [I never before noticed that one of my favorite books of all times starts with a run-on].
5. The primroses were over.
6. Millions upon millions of years ago, when the continents were already formed and principal features of the earth had been decided, there existed, then as now, one aspect of the world that dwarfed all others.
7. The trawler plunged into the angry swells of the dark, furious sea like an awkward animal trying desperately to break out of an impenetrable swamp.
8. Will Graham sat Crawford down at a picnic table between the house and the ocean and gave him a glass of iced tea.
9. Summer of 2059 was a mean and murderous bitch who showed no sign of lightening her mood.
   
10. "And by the way," said Mr. Hankin, arresting Miss Rossiter as she rose to go, "there is a new copy-writer coming in today."
    

And here's a bonus, not a novel but a great book anyway...

• As I crawled into bed and put my arm around Helen it occurred to me, not for the first time, that there are few pleasures in this world to compare with snuggling up to a nice woman when you are half frozen.

I've done "classics" on Rockets and Dragons and science fiction/fantasy on Rocket Scientist.

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For Jeff: More about Me

Jeff King asked: What is your fav book? Who is your fav author? Who is your fav character?

It's hard for me to answer this. I love so many books for so many reasons and I can't remember ever having just "a" favorite book or "a" favorite author (and books or authors don't become favorites without loving the characters). The best I can do is give you some of my current favorites (noting that my tastes change through life).

Sharon Lee and Steve Miller - The Liaden series - I love these books. They're not for everyone, but they're filled to the eyeballs with my favorite kinds of characters and societies that intrigue me, flaws and all. And they have humor.

Georgette Heyer - Possibly my favorite author of all time. I've read most of her books dozens of times. She's funny and sarcastic and intelligent. I can't read one of her books and maintain a bad mood.

Robert Heinlein - True, some of his later stuff got pretty weird and flaky, but, when he was good, like with the incomparable The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, he was fabulous.

JD Robb/Nora Roberts - I'd fallen out of love with romance authors (except Heyer) and Nora Roberts changed my mind...sort of. I'm still mostly disgusted, but I like Nora Roberts' work, particularly her In Death series.

Edgar Allan Poe - the best poet EVER.

And more...

Dune series
Count of Monte Cristo
Hawaii
Shogun
Fruits Basket
Tsubasa: Those With Wings
Pride and Prejudice
Wuthering Heights...

And, sadly, I've only scraped the surface.

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