citrin@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU (Wayne Citrin) (01/12/86)
Thanks to everyone who responded to my survey. I hope the respondents got as much fun from writing their responses as I got from reading them. First, I'll repeat the questions, then I'll give the responses, starting with mine. (After all, it's my survey.) >1) What are your favorite opening line(s) in a book, and why? > [The answers that the Times got back for this one included the opening line of "Moby Dick," also cited below, as well as the line from "Anna Karenina" about happy families being all alike, but unhappy families each being unhappy in its own way.] >2) Is there a particular book or author whose books you've wanted to read > and have started (perhaps a number of times) but never been able to finish? > Which book or author and why do you think this is? > [Several Times respondents mentioned Henry James as an author they could never finish. Surprising, noone below mentioned James.] >3) Which fictional character would you most like to be and why? > [The only response to the Times survey that I remember was Woody Allen's hilarious explanation of why he wanted more than anything in the world to be Gigi.] ------------ From ucbvax!citrin (me) 1) "The world is what it is; men who are nothing, who allow themselves to become nothing, have no place in it. - "A Bend in the River" (V. S. Naipaul) This is a pretty strong statement. When I read it, I wondered why the narrator felt this way, and whether he was able to live up to standard he had set. I wanted to read the book to leardn the answers to these questions. "There was a white horse, on a snowy day...." <there's more, but I can't remember>: "Winter's Tale" (Mark Helprin) This, and the whole first paragraph, set the dreamy mood that continues throughout the book. There are many memorable lines in this book. 2) If someone were to have asked me that question last month, I would have said Joseph Conrad. Somehow I was never able to finish any of his work. This distressed me because Conrad was writing about things that I felt would interest me, but the pacing was so slow and his style was so wordy that I was never able to get more than 30 pages into one of his books before I would put it aside for something else. I was never able to finish "Heart of Darkness" in high school, and my bookshelf holds copies of "Lord Jim," "Nostromo," and "The Portable Joseph Conrad" from attempts to read these books over the last eight years. Last month, though, I finally read "Heart of Darkness" and liked it very much. And last week, I finally read "Lord Jim" and found it well worth the effort. These books are not easy to read, but I guess I've matured as a reader. I've since bought "Under Western Eyes" and plan to read it as soon as I finish what I'm currently reading. Currently, my prime candidate for most tried and unfinished book is "The Power and the Glory," by Graham Greene. I like Greene very much and have read several of his books, but somehow I've never been able to finish this, 3) I guess I shouldn't be proud to admit it, but I think I'd like to be Harry Flashman, from the Flashman novels by George MacDonald Fraser. Sure he was a coward and a cad, he was always in trouble and usually on the run, but his life was never dull and he got to participate in most of the most important events of his time. Things would always work out well for him in the end, too. Another possibility would be Conrad's alter ego, Marlow, who narrates both "Heart of Darkness" and "Lord Jim," as well as a number of other stories. Marlow is more admirable than Flashman, but no less astute an observer. In fact, I think it's the combination of participant ond observer in both characters that appeals to me. Marlow's also a good storyteller, though a bit long-winded. ------------------ From plaid!chuq >1) What are your favorite opening line(s) in a book, and why? "It was a dark and stormy night..." Why? Because of all the fun the world has had with it ever since (track down the book by that title containing the choicer elements of the annual contest, and a second volume is forthcoming) Runner up: "Call me Ishmael" -- such a wonderful opening to a hopeless and pondering book.... >2) Is there a particular book or author whose books you've wanted to read > and have started (perhaps a number of times) but never been able to finish? > Which book or author and why do you think this is? Paradise Lost, by Milton. A true literary classic, completely inaccessible. The literaci always drool over it, and while I love Dante, I've never made it far into this one. Runner up: Moby Dick, by Melville. >3) Which fictional character would you most like to be and why? Oh, nasty... How about Kafka's cockroach? Seriously, probably Bernie Rhodenbarr from the Burglar books by Lawrence Block. A bookaholic and a gentleman burglar, has the time of his life trying to get out of the random twists of his warped authors mind. What more could a person ask for? --------------- From krantz@nyu-csd2.arpa: 1) Clearly the most famous line in the history of books is "Call me Ishmael." My current favorites? Two. From Anne Rice's The_Vampire_Lestat: "I am the vampire Lestat. I'm immortal. More or less." And in a more literary mode, from the opening story of Raymond Carver's collection What_We_Talk_About_When_We_Talk_ About_Love: "In the kitchen, he poured another drink and looked at the bedroom suite in his front yard." Both leave one no choice but to read on, breath bated. 2) That's an interesting one. A common phenomenon that nobody wants to talk about. My best answer would have to be one book in particular, which I'm especially guilty about never having finished, despite several tries, since I'm a grad student in English/Creative Writing and ALL of us are supposed to have studied this book, generally considered to be the best ever written in the English language. I speak, of course, of James Joyce's Ulysses. There; it's out. I can sleep now. 3) Fantasy time. My first impulse is to say Frodo Baggins in The_Lord_Of_The_Rings trilogy, an answer for which I think no explanation is necessary, since every computer hack in the history of logons has read them all several times. Next, I guess I'd be the protagonist (no specific name outside "the kid" and, possibly, Jim Dhalgren) in Samuel R. Delany's post-modern classic Dhalgren. Why? He lives in such an evocative, surreal, passionate, bizarre, intellectual, fiery, incomprehensible city, where anything goes and everything matters. Also he gets some of the best sex ever recorded, though I'm not sure I'd like to bed down with a 12 year old boy, as he does... -------------------------------- From dec-yogi!marks: <1) What are your favorite opening line(s) in a book, and why? This is a toughy. Generally, I don't get caught up in the opening of a book -- it takes a few pages to get hooked, and since I am a recreational rather than a critical reader, I go from one book to another, quickly, happy to leave with an impression. However, usually my all time favorite book (including the opening lines) is the one I have just finished (unless, of course, it was a dog). <2) Is there a particular book or author whose books you've wanted to read < and have started (perhaps a number of times) but never been able to finish? < Which book or author and why do you think this is? Most anything by Joseph Heller falls into this category for me. Something Happened simply did not (could not) happen for me. It made me think Heller was a terrible fraud. His books, at least some years ago, were awaited with bated breath. I feel the anticipation was much more exciting than the book. To have this happen for me is extremely unusual. (Although I thought it was the pits, I even finished the one Sidney Sheldon book I started.) I find Heller disorganized, sloppy, lazy in his writing, arrogant, and obnoxious. I have no idea what the hoo-hah is all about. I suspect he is an author who has endured on the basis of the success of his first (was it his first? -- at least an early) book, Catch-22. <3) Which fictional character would you most like to be and why? Again, perversely, I fantasize about being the author rather than being the character. Perhaps because they are period pieces, it might have been fun to be some of Dickens' heroines (temporarily, thank you) or to be Jo in Little Women. In that respect, my acting fantasies come to the fore. I played Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion once, and that character ran the gamut of emotion and experience. Nevertheless, most women in most fiction have not had very admirable roles, particularly from a late 20th century standpoint. Perhaps if I were a man I might be able better to identify with some fictional characters. ---------- From udenva!showard: 1.) None comes to mind right offhand. 2.) Frank Herbert's _Dune_. I've tried on at least four occasions to read this book, but I've never made it past the first chapter. Herbert's style is so drawn-out and dry it's like the pages of the book were dipped in molasses, slowing down the reader as he attempts to crack this huge book that everyone says is so wonderful. 3.) Zaphod Beeblebrox (or Ford Prefect) for the "excitement, adventure, and really wild times". ---------------- From steinmetz!putnam: >1) What are your favorite opening line(s) in a book, and why? Many. For a long time i collected opening lines, and had quite a nice batch. But of the ones i still remember well... "Fog." (and the following paragraph). 'Bleak House', Dickens. I have often thought that Bleak House was Dickens' best work (and i like Dickens), and it is interesting in that it contains two narrators with very different styles. The "fog" paragraph belongs to the first of these, and this narrator may have some of the best english Dickens wrote. "It was the afternoon of my eighty-first birthday, and I was in bed with my catamite when Ali announced that the archbishop had come to see me." 'Earthly Powers', Anthony Burgess. This line is just sheer fun. >2) Is there a particular book or author whose books you've wanted to read > and have started (perhaps a number of times) but never been able to finish? > Which book or author and why do you think this is? Joyce Carol Oates. I read and loved Bellefleur, but have never managed to finish anything else by her. This is odd because i really like her style, and think that she may be among the best living American authors, however, every time, i get a ways into one of her novels and somehow get sidetracked into reading something else, and Ms. Oates gets put by the wayside. >3) Which fictional character would you most like to be and why? This is tough. I cant think of any offhand, but would likely choose someone out of Dickens, perhaps Herbert Pocket ("Great Expectations"). ----------------- From stcvax!dlb: 1) What are your favorite opening line(s) in a book, and why? The opening lines of _Lolita_ because of the way that they sing nad make promises that the rest of the book fulfills. 2) Is there a particular book or author whose books you've wanted to read and have started (perhaps a number of times) but never been able to finish? Which book or author and why do you think this is? Almost any book by V.S. Naipaul. I think that it is because he is usually so disgusted by his subject that I get disgusted too and just give up. 3) Which fictional character would you most like to be and why? Leopold Bloom because he's such a mensch. ---------------- From pucc-j!rsk: 1) What are your favorite opening line(s) in a book, and why? "The story so far: In the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move." (Douglas Adams, "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe") It's the right combination of the absurd and the irreverent; it fits in well with my concept of theology. 2) Is there a particular book or author whose books you've wanted to read and have started (perhaps a number of times) but never been able to finish? Which book or author and why do you think this is? I've never made it through "Dune" (Frank Herbert); it moves at the speed of a tranquilized diplodocus. "Plodding" simply is inadequate. I have, however, triumphed over "Godel, Escher, Bach" (Hofstadter) and "The Once and Future King" (White) in the last couple of years, so perhaps there's hope. 3) Which fictional character would you most like to be and why? Sherlock Holmes is (as Arthur said of Lancelot) "that which is best in men." Quick-witted, noble, brave, compassionate, resolute, and loyal is he. ---------------- From ptsfc!rjw: 1) "The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there". ("The Go-Between" by L. P. Hartley). This is a story about a young boy's loss of innocence. I guess I first read it at an impressionable age and this opening line crystallized my feelings about my own childhood at the time. I also love "It was the best of times; it was the worst of times..." because it's so easy to remember and it promises that a Good Read lies ahead. 2) As a native-born Dubliner, I'm ashamed to say I've never read Joyce's "Ulysses" despite several false starts. One reason is that during my prime reading years (adolescence - I had plenty of spare time) it was banned in Ireland! I guess I'm daunted by its length and the knowledge that I'd need to devote a lot of time and concentration to reading it "properly". Most of my reading these days is taken up with newspapers and magazines and short novels that don't require too much time to read. 3) Myra Breckenridge. Why?...um...that's private! (:-)) ---------------- From unc!goodrum: >1) What are your favorite opening line(s) in a book, and why? > 1. From "The Postman Always Rings Twice"--'They threw me off the hay truck about noon.' I like this sentence because it lets the reader know a lot about the protagonist just nine words into the book. He's a bum who's reduced to riding around on hay truck.Getting thrown off indicates that he's rather anti-social. And he's riding on a hay truck, so the reader knows that he's traveling through a rural area. 2. From "Catch-22"- 'It was love at first sight.' If the sentence from TPART is good because it tells you so much, this one is good because it tells you so little. It piques the reader's curiosity. >2) Is there a particular book or author whose books you've wanted to read > and have started (perhaps a number of times) but never been able to finish? > Which book or author and why do you think this is? > It would have to be "Ulysses" by James Joyce. I've started this at least three times, and have never gotten more than half-way through. I enjoy a lot of Joyce's clever allusions and puns, but these devices simply are not good enough to sustain an 800 page novel. >3) Which fictional character would you most like to be and why? > >---------- I'd like to be G.K. Chesterton's Father Brown. He is a humble, unassuming little man who is always underestimated by his colleagues, but is always able to solve baffling murder cases because of his wisdom and insights into human nature. He seems to be an embodiment of the scriptural injunction to be "wise as serpents and gentle as doves." ----------------- From dartvax!betsy: >1) What are your favorite opening line(s) in a book, and why? It has to be: In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Or, possibly, Dorothy Gale lived in Kansas... > >2) Is there a particular book or author whose books you've wanted to read > and have started (perhaps a number of times) but never been able to finish? > Which book or author and why do you think this is? It's a tie between Proust's Remembrance of things Past and Moby Dick. Moby Dick has the world's greatest first sentence (okay, I lied above...), and an incredibly fantastic first paragraph. Somehow, I never manage to get any farther. Proust... What is there to say about Proust? Who else can write for so long, and never, never, never get anywhere? > >3) Which fictional character would you most like to be and why? Here, it's a tie; there's been a lot of good fantasy released lately. I'd say it's a tie between "Angharad Crewe" in *The Blue Sword* and "Alanna of Trebond" in *In the Hand of the Goddess.* Both feisty women who lead good, adventurous lives in intriguing places. I'll never be a dangerous woman myself, so I enjoy reading about them immensely. Add one more: "Aliera e'Kieron" in *Jhereg*, *Yendi* by Steve Brust. (let me add, in self-preservation, that I greatly enjoy being myself; I'm taking your question as "which characters do you most identify with?".) ---------------- Thanks again for the responses. Wayne Citrin (ucbvax!citrin)