Listed below are the first and last sentences from 25 books in the bookshelf chez Pseudo. Now tell me the title of the book and the author. The books are all well-known. Mostly literature. Some sci-fi. A couple of the books are of foreign origin, as such the sentences given may be peculiar to the particular translation that I own.
The first sentence is the very first sentence (or two, if I thought it necessary) in chapter 1 of the book, not counting any quotations or verse at the start of the chapter. Some exceptions: I took one first sentence from the prologue rather than the first chapter. I used the second sentence from another book, since the first sentence was the book's title in this case.
The final sentence is the last sentence (or two, again if I thought it necessary) of the final chapter - or epilogue, if this was the logical conclusion of the story. Appendices were not considered.
Unanswered questions in RED
1.
First: "Who is John Galt?"
Last: He raised his hand and over the desolate earth he traced in space the sign of the dollar.
2.
First: When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.
Last: He would be there all night, and he would be there when Jem waked up in the morning.
3.
First: If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.
Last: Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.
4.
First: The primroses were over.
Last: Hazel followed; and together they slipped away, running easily down through the wood, where the first primroses were beginning to bloom.
5.
First: Mr. Tench went out to look for his ether cylinder, into the blazing Mexican sun and the bleaching dust.
Last: But the boy had already swung the door open snd put his lips to his hand before the other could give himself a name.
6.
First: "What's it going to be then, eh?"
Last: Amen. And all that cal.
7.
First: An easterly is the most disagreeable wind in Lyme Bay - Lyme Bay being that largest bite from the underside of England's outstretched south-western leg - and a person of curiosity could at once have deduced several strong possibilities about the pair who began to walk down the quay at Lyme Regis, the small but ancient eponym of the inbite, one incisively sharp and blustery morning in the late March of 1867.
Last: And out again, upon the unplumb'd, salt, estranging sea.
8.
First: A squat grey building of only thirty-four stories.
Last: Slowly, very slowly, like two unhurried compass needles, the feet turned towards the right; north, north-east, east, southeast, south, south-south-west; then paused, and after a few seconds, turned unhurriedly back towards the left. South-south-west, south, south-east, east...
9.
First: Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday, I don't know.
Last: For the final consummation and for me to feel less lonely, my last wish was that there should be a crowd of spectators at my execution and that they should greet me with cries of hatred.
10.
First: It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.
Last: He had won the victory over himself. He loved *** *******.
(note: final two words obscured 'coz they are a dead giveaway)
11.
First: On a very hot evening at the beginning of July a young man left his little room at the top of a house in Carpenter Lane, went out into the street, and, as though unable to make up his mind, walked slowly in the direction of Kokushkin Bridge.
Last: That might be the subject of a new story - our present story is ended.
12.
First: Carlton is a little coastal town some miles south of Perth in Western Australia.
Last: They had escaped pollution on earth, only to discover that they had carried with them another pollution, a pollution that they could not escape. The pollution in their own souls.
13.
First: I am a large man, with big butcher's hands, great oak thighs, rock-jawed head, and massive, thick-lens glasses.
Last: "Ah", he said, "a new option".
14.
First: Harry Joy was to die three times, but it was his first death which was to have the greatest effect on him, and it is this first death which we will now witness.
Last: He talked to the lightning, the trees, the fire, gained authorities over bees and blossoms, told stories, conducted ceremonies, was the lover of Honey Barbara, husband of Bettina, father of David and Lucy, and of us, the children of Honey Barbara and Harry Joy.
15.
First: My suffering left me sad and gloomy.
Last: Very few castaways can claim to have survivied so long at sea as Mr. Patel, and none in the company of an adult Bengal Tiger.
16.
First: The boy with the fair hair lowered himself down the last few feet of rock and began to pick his way towards the lagoon.
Last: He turned away to give them time to pull themselves together; and waited, allowing his eyes to rest on the trim cruiser in the distance.
17.
First: Once upon a time there was a Martian named Valentine Michael Smith.
Last: He could see a lot of changes he wanted to make -
18.
First: "I've watched through his eyes, I've listened through his ears, and I tell you he's the one."
Last: He looked a long time.
19.
First: This time there would be no witnesses. This time there was just the dead earth, a rumble of thunder, and the onset of that interminable light drizzle from the north-east by which so many of the world's most momentous events seem to be accompanied.
Last: He put on his hat and left for the day.
20.
First: In the week before their departure to Arrakis, when all the final scurrying about had reached a nearly unbearable frenzy, an old crone came to visit the mother of the boy, Paul.
Last: "While we, Chani, we who carry the name of concubine - history will call us wives."
21.
First: When a day that you happen to know is Wednesday starts off by sounding like Sunday, there is something seriously wrong somewhere.
Last: We think now that we can see the way, but there is still a lot of work and research to be done before the day when we, or our children, or their children, will cross the narrow straits on the great crusade to drive the ******** back and back with ceaseless destruction until we have wiped the last one of them from the face of the land that they have usurped.
(note: one word has been obscured 'coz it would give the title away to anyone who hasn't read the book)
22.
(Prologue) First: Renowned curator Jacques Sauniere staggered through the vaulted archway of the museum's Grand Gallery.
Last: For a moment, he thought he heard a woman's voice... the wisdom of the ages... whispering up from the chasms of the earth.
23.
First: Fire roared through the bifurcated city of Ankh-Morpork.
Last: There didn't seem to be any alternative.
Author identified, still waiting on the title
24.
SECOND: We found him on a bean bag with his chin resting on the top button of a favourite flannelette shirt.
Last: But in the end I bought the house beers and pizza and that weekend we had a fantastic party. Hired a band and everything.
25.
First: The sky above the port was the colour of television, tuned to a dead channel.
Last: He never saw Molly again.
