Thanks for playing along yesterday. As promised, here are the answers.

1. “The family of Dashwood had been long settled in Sussex.”
As many of you guess it, this is Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility. I hadn’t read it until this fall, but I felt like it was as good (maybe even better?) than Pride and Prejudice.

2. “The suburb of Saffron Park lay on the sunset side of London, as red and ragged as a cloud of sunset.”
I didn’t think anyone would get this. I probably wouldn’t have either. It is G. K. Chesterton’s The Man Who Was Thursday. It’s a very clever book, and I can’t wait to read it again.

3. “Mr. Jones, of the Manor Farm, had locked the hen-houses for the night, but was too drunk to remember to shut the popholes.”
Another easy one: George Orwell’s Animal Farm. I also thought it was strange that the first three books I put contained locations in them.

4. “Seldon paused in surprise.”
Someone thought this was one of the English books (based on my hint that all but three were), but in fact this is from an American book. I suppose the name Seldon kinda throws you off. Anyway, it is Edith Wharton’s House of Mirth. To anyone familiar with the book, I almost included the second line as well, which contains Lily Bart’s name, which would have made it a whole lot easier.

5. “On an exceptionally hot evening early in July a young man came out of the garret in which he lodged in S. Place and walked slowly, as though in hesitation, toward K. bridge.”
This is the other Russian book (the other was guessed, #8). If I had taken this quiz and not written it, this would have been one that I would have thought was familiar but couldn’t place, most likely. It’s from Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment. Very intriguing book.

6. “Elfride Swancourt was a girl whose emotions lay very near the surface.”
Okay, I was quite impressed that Amanda was able to place this as a Thomas Hardy book. I hadn’t realized any other normal people have read as many of his books as I have (okay, I think I’ve only read 4). Regardless, this is from A Pair of Blue Eyes. This first sentence pretty much sums up the whole book.

7. “Among other public buildings in a certain town, which for many reasons it will be prudent to refrain from mentioning, and to which I will assign no fictitious name, there is one anciently common to most towns, great or small: to wit, a workhouse; and in this workhouse was born; on a day and date which I need not trouble myself to repeat, inasmuch as it can be of no possible consequence to the reader, in this stage of the business at all events; the item of mortality whose name is prefixed to the head of this chapter.”
Nobody’s read Oliver Twist? This was pretty much a giveaway, if you’ve read the book. This is classic Charles Dickens and oh so funny. There’s a reason I want to write like him. We turn it into a children’s story, but it is so not.

8. “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”
Yes, several people recognized this as being from Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. My favorite start to a book EVER. Once again, it pretty much sums up the book, but it also quite clever. Yes, the book is long, but I promise it doesn’t read like it. You should definitely give it a try. This book is where my love of 19th century Russian literature came from.

9. “I have just returned from a visit with my landlord–the solitary neighbor that I shall be troubled with.”
Seriously, no one got this? Most of you have read it! Or at least most people who went to high school were supposed to read it. It is Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights. I haven’t read this in a very long time (see my earlier comment about high school), but I really enjoyed it. I hope to read it again soon.

10. “Reader, it is impossible we should know what sort of person thou wilt be; for, perhaps, thou may’st be as learned in human nature as Shakespeare himself was, and, perhaps, thou may’st be no wiser than some of his editors.”
Okay, I would have been very surprised if anyone had gotten it. This is Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones. An absolutely hilarious novel. In each book (I think there are like 26), he starts with a chapter addressing the reader on some other topic related to the story (this first one outlines the style of the book), but not about the story of the book. It’s just great.

Lynda posted a list of the first lines of her favorite 11 books. It looked like so much fun, I thought I’d do it too! To be honest, I didn’t quite pick my all-time favorite books, because I thought that might be too easy. But every title listed is way up there on my favorite book list, and every book is considered a classic. Do you recognize what any of these books are?

1. “The family of Dashwood had been long settled in Sussex.”

2. “The suburb of Saffron Park lay on the sunset side of London, as red and ragged as a cloud of sunset.”

3. “Mr. Jones, of the Manor Farm, had locked the hen-houses for the night, but was too drunk to remember to shut the popholes.”

4. “Seldon paused in surprise.”

5. “On an exceptionally hot evening early in July a young man came out of the garret in which he lodged in S. Place and walked slowly, as though in hesitation, toward K. bridge.”

6. “Elfride Swancourt was a girl whose emotions lay very near the surface.”

7. “Among other public buildings in a certain town, which for many reasons it will be prudent to refrain from mentioning, and to which I will assign no fictitious name, there is one anciently common to most towns, great or small: to wit, a workhouse; and in this workhouse was born; on a day and date which I need not trouble myself to repeat, inasmuch as it can be of no possible consequence to the reader, in this stage of the business at all events; the item of mortality whose name is prefixed to the head of this chapter.”

8. “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”

9. “I have just returned from a visit with my landlord–the solitary neighbor that I shall be troubled with.”

10. “Reader, it is impossible we should know what sort of person thou wilt be; for, perhaps, thou may’st be as learned in human nature as Shakespeare himself was, and, perhaps, thou may’st be no wiser than some of his editors.”