Guess the book

[Aiculík]

The goal is to guess the book by the quote from it.

There are some rules about quotes:

- don't give the quote that is generally known, e.g. "To be or not to be, that is the question".
- if the book is very popular, don't give names of main characters (Romeo, Hermione, Legolas...:) )
- naturally, if we are to guess it, there should be English translation (at least 3 years old)
- the quote should be somehow characteristic of the book. That means, don't write a description of some house in one of Austen's novels, for example. While some people might be able to guess it's Austen, there will be few (if any) able to say the name of the book
- you may give one hint

The one who guess the name of the book, will post another quote. I'll begin:

He had not a minute more to lose. He pulled the axe quite out, swung it with both arms, scarcely conscious of himself, and almost without effort, almost mechanically, brought the blunt side down on her head. He seemed not to use his own strength in this. But as soon as he had once brought the axe down, his strength returned to him.

[Moira]

Crime and punishment - F. Dostoievsky

And, yet, how vivid was his recollection of the whole thing! First in the dim twilight, and then in the bright dawn, he had seen the touch of cruelty round the warped lips. He almost dreaded his valet leaving the room. He knew that when he was alone he would have to examine the portrait. He was afraid of certainty. When the coffee and cigarettes had been brought and the man turned to go, he felt a wild desire to tell him to remain. As the door was closing behind him, he called him back. The man stood waiting for his orders.

[Scheherazade]

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Wilde


"There is nothing so mysterious about it. He's not working at all. He's playing. Or else, He's forgotten all about us. That's the kind of God you people talk about - a country bumpkin, a clumsy, bungling, brainless, conceited, uncouth hayseed. Good God, how much reverence can you have for a Supreme Being who finds it necessary to include such phenomena as phlegm and tooth decay in His divine system of creation? What in the world was running through that warped, evil scatological mind of His when He robbed of people of the power to control their bowel movements? Why in the world did He ever create pain?"

[Moira]

-"Catch-22", Joseph Heller


"I saw no other way of escape from this dreadful spectre. Suppose that today cowardice won a victory over despair, tomorrow and each succeeding day I would again face despair heightened by self-contempt. It was merely taking up and throwing down the knife till at last it was done. Better today then I reasoned with myself as though with a frightened child. But the child would not listen. It ran away. It wanted to live. "

[Aiculík]

Hesse... Steppenwolf?

Very early in the morning, it was still almost night, he had the chance to test the strength of his new resolutions, for his sister, nearly fully dressed, opened the door from the hall and peered in. She did not see him at once, yet when she caught sight of him under the sofa-well, he had to be somewhere, he couldn't have flown away, could he?-she was so startled that without being able to help it she slammed the door shut again.

[Aiculík]

Hm... ok, here's the hint: one morning he got up and found he's not what he used to be any more. :)

[Scheherazade]

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka


"I want to know her ever so much. I know just what your aunt would be; I know I'd like her. She'd be very exclusive. I like a lady to be exclusive; I'm dying to be exclusive myself. Well, I guess we are exclusive, mother and I. We don't speak to any one--or they don't speak to us. I suppose it's about the same thing. Anyway, I shall be ever so glad to meet your aunt."

[Adolescent09]

Yuck, I had to burrow through my pile of classics in order to recall this passage. I feel so ignorant since I love Henry James' works. Ok um.. That'll be Daisy Miller?


The Don mistakes the tale for Dulcinea's fate. He fantasizes that he is once again young and chasing his love. Dulcinea, however, does not know of his quest and is forced to marry the evil emperor. She grabs a dagger and kills herself in protest. The young Don arrives to battles the evil emperor and kills him. Alas he is too late and Dulcinea dies in his arms. Angels come to claim her and turn her into one of their own. She asks the Don to help Kitri and Basilio fulfill their love

[Aiculík]

Is it Don Quijote de la Mancha?

I started, for it amazed me that I had not seen him, since the reflection of the glass covered the whole room behind me. In starting I had cut myself slightly, but did not notice it at the moment. Having answered the Count's salutation, I turned to the glass again to see how I had been mistaken. This time there could be no error, for the man was close to me, and I could see him over my shoulder. But there was no reflection of him in the mirror!

[kathycf]

That is from Dracula. :)

Here is mine:

I am glad you are no relation of mine. I will never call you aunt again as long as I live. I will never come to visit you when I am grown up; and if any one asks me how I liked you, and how you treated me, I will say the very thought of you makes me sick. . . .

[CountingSheep]

Jane... something starting with an e?

"I'm stupid about executions. The idea of being electrocuted makes me sick, and thats all there was to read about in the papers- google-eyed headlines staring up at me on every street corner and at the fusty, peanut-smelling mouth of every subway... I couldn't help wondering what it would be like, being burned alive all along your nerves."

[RobinHood3000]

Jane Eyre was the last one, by Charlotte Brontë.

[Aiculík]

Jane... something starting with an e?

"I'm stupid about executions. The idea of being electrocuted makes me sick, and thats all there was to read about in the papers- google-eyed headlines staring up at me on every street corner and at the fusty, peanut-smelling mouth of every subway... I couldn't help wondering what it would be like, being burned alive all along your nerves."

I admit I have no idea. :blush: Could you please give some hint?

[Adolescent09]

Jane... something starting with an e?

"I'm stupid about executions. The idea of being electrocuted makes me sick, and thats all there was to read about in the papers- google-eyed headlines staring up at me on every street corner and at the fusty, peanut-smelling mouth of every subway... I couldn't help wondering what it would be like, being burned alive all along your nerves."

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath (A fine classic that is also on my reading list--Man! So many great books I haven't read yet!)


could leading him on till he asked me to say yes and I wouldnt answer first onlly looked out over the sea and the sky I was thinking of so many things he didnt know of Mulvey and Mr Stanhope and Hester and father and old captain Groves and the sailors playing all birds fly and I say stoop and washing up dishes they called it on the pier and the sentry in front of the governors house with the thing round his white helmet poor devil half roasted and the Spanish girls laughing in their shawls and their tall combs and the auctions in the morning the Greeks and the jews and the Arabs and the devil knows who else from all the ends of Europe and Duke street and the fowl market all clucking outside Larby Sharons...

[nps_marina]

Joyce's Ulysses


This was before emergncy wards, and that was too bad, at least for ...'s father, because there was no place to take him after ...'s punch landed, except to his own bed, where he remained with his eyes shut for a day and a half, except for when the milkman came to fix his broken jaw- this was not before doctors, but in Turkey they hadn't gotten around to claiming the bone business yet; milkmen still were in charge of bones, the logic being that since milk was so good for bones, who would know more about broken bones than a milkman?