Give the first line of a well-known book. (The first paragraph is okay too.) The person who names the book gets to post the next one. Try not to get so obscure that nobody can guess it. I'll go first:
"In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice
that I've been turning over in my mind ever since."
Quote from: Chris L on Jul 13, 2017, 01:35 PMGive the first line of a well-known book. (The first paragraph is okay too.) The person who names the book gets to post the next one. Try not to get so obscure that nobody can guess it. I'll go first:
"In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice
that I've been turning over in my mind ever since."
Okay, after a week with no response, I'm going to go with another one. (This was
The Great Gatsby.)
"He was an [part of the title] who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish."
I wondered about Gatsby and wanted to check the novel instead of Googling but can't find it - probably in the attic somewhere.
I'm pretty sure this is The Old Man and the Sea.
The studio was filled with the rich odour of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden, there came through the open door the heavy scent of the lilac, or the more delicate perfume of the pink-flowering thorn.
The Picture of Dorian Gray?
Bullseye!
Your turn
You will rejoice to hear that no disaster has accompanied the commencement of an enterprise which you have regarded with such evil forebodings.
Frankenstein; or the Modern Prometheus - Mary Shelley
"The [redacted] (for so it will be convenient to speak of him) was expounding a recondite matter to us."
I'm going for the first paragraph on this one, because the first sentence is too generic.
"The [redacted] (for so it will be convenient to speak of him) was expounding a recondite matter to us. His grey eyes shone and twinkled, and his usually pale face was flushed and animated. The fire burned brightly, and the soft radiance of the incandescent lights in the lilies of silver caught the bubbles that flashed and passed in our glasses. Our chairs, being his patents, embraced and caressed us rather than submitted to be sat upon, and there was that luxurious after-dinner atmosphere when thought roams gracefully free of the trammels of precision. And he put it to us in this way—marking the points with a lean forefinger—as we sat and lazily admired his earnestness over this new paradox (as we thought it) and his fecundity."
Is this Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice?
Quote from: KathyB on Jul 27, 2017, 11:39 AMIs this Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice?
No.
Quote from: Chris L on Jul 27, 2017, 05:35 AMI'm going for the first paragraph on this one, because the first sentence is too generic.
"The [redacted] (for so it will be convenient to speak of him) was expounding a recondite matter to us. His grey eyes shone and twinkled, and his usually pale face was flushed and animated. The fire burned brightly, and the soft radiance of the incandescent lights in the lilies of silver caught the bubbles that flashed and passed in our glasses. Our chairs, being his patents, embraced and caressed us rather than submitted to be sat upon, and there was that luxurious after-dinner atmosphere when thought roams gracefully free of the trammels of precision. And he put it to us in this way—marking the points with a lean forefinger—as we sat and lazily admired his earnestness over this new paradox (as we thought it) and his fecundity."
I have no idea, but I have read these five sentences four times now and still can't make any sense of them! I've ruled out Henry James and Enid Blyton. I'm wondering if it's from the pen of either E.L. James or Dan Brown?
Quote from: Vera Charles on Jul 27, 2017, 02:21 PMQuote from: Chris L on Jul 27, 2017, 05:35 AMI'm going for the first paragraph on this one, because the first sentence is too generic.
"The [redacted] (for so it will be convenient to speak of him) was expounding a recondite matter to us. His grey eyes shone and twinkled, and his usually pale face was flushed and animated. The fire burned brightly, and the soft radiance of the incandescent lights in the lilies of silver caught the bubbles that flashed and passed in our glasses. Our chairs, being his patents, embraced and caressed us rather than submitted to be sat upon, and there was that luxurious after-dinner atmosphere when thought roams gracefully free of the trammels of precision. And he put it to us in this way—marking the points with a lean forefinger—as we sat and lazily admired his earnestness over this new paradox (as we thought it) and his fecundity."
I have no idea, but I have read these five sentences four times now and still can't make any sense of them! I've ruled out Henry James and Enid Blyton. I'm wondering if it's from the pen of either E.L. James or Dan Brown?
Nope.
Quote from: Chris L on Jul 27, 2017, 02:22 PMQuote from: Vera Charles on Jul 27, 2017, 02:21 PMI have no idea, but I have read these five sentences four times now and still can't make any sense of them! I've ruled out Henry James and Enid Blyton. I'm wondering if it's from the pen of either E.L. James or Dan Brown?
Nope.
I've resorted to Googling it and now understand why it didn't make any sense to me :-[
I'm afraid it's a Genre that I've never been able to get a handle on!
Is it The Time Machine by H G Wells?
There was no possibility of taking a walk that day.
There was no possibility of taking a walk that day. We had been wandering, indeed, in the leafless shrubbery an hour in the morning; but since dinner (Mrs. Reed, when there was no company, dined early) the cold winter wind had brought with it clouds so sombre, and a rain so penetrating, that further out-door exercise was now out of the question.
Jane Eyre
I am always drawn back to places where I have lived, the houses and their neighborhoods.
Quote from: MartinG on Jul 30, 2017, 08:31 AMI am always drawn back to places where I have lived, the houses and their neighborhoods.
It certainly sounds familiar, but...any hints,
@MartinG?
It's a novel which was adapted into a film with an Oscar-winning song.
Breakfast at Tiffany's?
Give the man a vegan chocolate medal! ;D
To the red country and part of the gray country of Oklahoma, the last rains came gently, and they did not cut the scarred earth.
Is it Green Grow the Lilacs?
I was just going to guess this, but I checked and verified it first: The Grapes of Wrath.
"She was so deeply imbedded in my consciousness that for the first year of school I seem to have believed that each of my teachers was my mother in disguise."
A Prayer For Owen Meany?
Quote from: Chris L on Aug 05, 2017, 03:37 PM"She was so deeply imbedded in my consciousness that for the first year of school I seem to have believed that each of my teachers was my mother in disguise."
This was the first line from the breakthrough bestseller by one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. (He's my personal favorite among 20th century literary writers.) He kept writing until well into the 21st century, but recently announced his retirement.
Never trust a writer who says he's retiring unless he has Alzheimer's (which I hope he doesn't)...
The Bell Jar?
Quote from: Chris L on Aug 06, 2017, 10:30 PMone of the greatest writers of the 20th century
Lol that narrows it down :D
I actually knew this one immediately but I recuse myself because I just know Chris too well.
Quote from: valmont on Aug 07, 2017, 04:50 AMQuote from: Chris L on Aug 06, 2017, 10:30 PMone of the greatest writers of the 20th century
Lol that narrows it down :D
I'll narrow it down further by saying "one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century." My use of pronouns in the clue tells you the writer is male and the fact that he was still writing in the 21st century knocks a lot of other writers off the list. And he's still alive.
More about this author: He is Jewish, though that doesn't narrow down the field of great 20th century American authors as much as you'd think it would. His major subject matter has been sex, to the point where you could say he's obsessed with it, both in his writing and apparently in his personal life. Sex is the main subject matter of the book in question, which made it highly controversial when it was published in the late 1960s. His writing career can be divided into two phases, the first (which lasted from the late 1950s, when he was quite young, to the mid 1980s) was heavily suffused with humor, occasionally to the point of satire. The second, which lasted until very recently, was more deeply serious, as though he felt he needed to live up to the image of "great author." Personally I prefer the earlier period for his extreme readability; more recent novels have been more difficult reads and I've only managed to finish one of them (which was made into a film about a decade ago).
The quote again:
"She was so deeply imbedded in my consciousness that for the first year of school I seem to have believed that each of my teachers was my mother in disguise."
Portnoy's Complaint?
No one who had ever seen [C. M.] in her infancy, would have supposed her born to be an heroine.
Ooh, I've a reasonably strong hunch that might be Northanger Abbey.
Quote from: MartinG on Aug 08, 2017, 05:30 AMOoh, I've a reasonably strong hunch that might be Northanger Abbey.
You are correct!
Not sure I'd have been so confident if you'd omitted the initials :)
This should go pretty quickly. First to post it gets a doily from Betty's Tea Rooms...
In 1902 Father built a house at the crest of the Broadview Avenue hill in New Rochelle, New York.
This sounds so familiar. Is it Little Women?
Little Women takes place during the Civil War. Is it Ragtime?
That's right. Also I don't think it's in the first person.
For a long time I used to go to bed early.
For a long time I used to go to bed early. Sometimes, when I had put out my candle, my eyes would close so quickly that I had not even time to say "I'm going to sleep." And half an hour later the thought that it was time to go to sleep would awaken me; I would try to put away the book which, I imagined, was still in my hands, and to blow out the light; I had been thinking all the time, while I was asleep, of what I had just been reading, but my thoughts had run into a channel of their own, until I myself seemed actually to have become the subject of my book: a church, a quartet, the rivalry between François I and Charles V.
Hint: this is a translation from the original language.
Ah, so might it be A La Recherche Du Temps Perdu?
Quote from: MartinG on Aug 11, 2017, 11:48 AMAh, so might it be A La Recherche Du Temps Perdu?
Yes!
A squat grey building of only thirty-four storeys.
Quote from: MartinG on Aug 11, 2017, 04:01 PMA squat grey building of only thirty-four storeys.
Clue,
@MartinG?
It's a dystopian vision with a title from a stormy swansong...
Brave New World?
I checked and I'm correct, so...
umber whunnnn
yerrrnnn umber
fayunnnn
Misery?
The story had held us, round the fire, sufficiently breathless, but except the obvious remark that it was gruesome, as, on Christmas Eve in an old house, a strange tale should essentially be, I remember no comment uttered till somebody happened to say that it was the only case he had met in which such a visitation had fallen on a child.
That's the first sentence of the prologue. Here's the first sentence of the narrative proper:
I remember the whole beginning as a succession of flights and drops, a little seesaw of the right throbs and the wrong.
Many films, plays, and even an opera have been adapted from this book.
I feel really bad that I don't know this because it sounds like exactly the kind of thing I'd be aware of (though when I find out what it is, I may be embarrassed to discover that it was something that I was quite aware of and my memory's just going :( ).
It's not The Innocents is it?
Quote from: MartinG on Sep 15, 2017, 12:06 AMIt's not The Innocents is it?
Wasn't The Innocents the film adaptation of The Turn of the Screw? Or am I thinking of a different The Innocents?
Quote from: Chris L on Sep 15, 2017, 12:56 AMQuote from: MartinG on Sep 15, 2017, 12:06 AMIt's not The Innocents is it?
Wasn't The Innocents the film adaptation of The Turn of the Screw? Or am I thinking of a different The Innocents?
Yes, the book's title is The Turn of the Screw.
Of course it was! D'oh - early morning brain fog.
That's Chris' turn really.
Thanks,
@MartinG. Yeah, I was right. I've read the book (many years ago) and should have recognized the first line (though somehow that second quote just didn't sound like Henry James).
Be back with a new one.
It was about eleven o'clock in the morning, mid October, with the sun not shining and a look of hard wet rain in the clearness of the foothills.
Quote from: Chris L on Sep 15, 2017, 02:06 PMIt was about eleven o'clock in the morning, mid October, with the sun not shining and a look of hard wet rain in the clearness of the foothills.
Whoa, this has been sitting here for a while!
HINT: This is the first sentence of the first novel by one of the biggest name detective story authors of the mid 20th century. It was made into a film starring Humphrey Bogart. The title is iconic enough that quite a few later films, including one by the Coen Brothers, have had titles that allude to it.
The Big Sleep?
The soldiers were shimmering again.
Quote from: MartinG on Oct 28, 2017, 02:25 AMThe soldiers were shimmering again.
I really feel like I know this, but I think I need a hint.
@MartinG?
Well, the author lives mostly in a capital city and has another significant artistic string to her bow...
Further clue - it's the first book in a series, the final instalment of which has yet to be published.
I don't play this game but I bet that naughty
@MartinG is teasing us with a book by one of our very own, Kinglet by the multi-faceted MrsMig.
Busted! ;D
Looks like you play this game now, Gordon...
Quote from: MartinG on Sep 30, 2018, 11:27 AM
Busted! ;D
Looks like you play this game now, Gordon...
"If only the swans would swim side by side on the dark green lake, this picture might turn out to be the crowning achievement of the wedding photographer's career."I'm reading this right now ... downloaded to my Kindle just 2 days ago.
@Gordonb - Given that you've just downloaded it to your Kindle, is this a new book or something that's been around for a while?
Quote from: Chris L on Oct 04, 2018, 05:27 PM@Gordonb - Given that you've just downloaded it to your Kindle, is this a new book or something that's been around for a while?
Recently published- in the last 4 to 6 weeks I believe.
Quote from: Gordonb on Oct 05, 2018, 12:48 AMRecently published- in the last 4 to 6 weeks I believe.
Hmm, that's going to make it tough, given that I'm a couple of years behind on my reading. Still, the "wedding photographer" should be a clue...
Reposting your quote from the book:
"If only the swans would swim side by side on the dark green lake, this picture might turn out to be the crowning achievement of the wedding photographer's career."
Quote from: Chris L on Oct 05, 2018, 01:43 AMQuote from: Gordonb on Oct 05, 2018, 12:48 AMRecently published- in the last 4 to 6 weeks I believe.
Hmm, that's going to make it tough, given that I'm a couple of years behind on my reading. Still, the "wedding photographer" should be a clue...
Reposting your quote from the book:
"If only the swans would swim side by side on the dark green lake, this picture might turn out to be the crowning achievement of the wedding photographer's career."
No Chris "the wedding photographer" has no particular relevance; the wedding being photographed is relevant to the ongoing development of one of the married couple's relationship with the "lead" character.
My use of "ongoing" should tell you that this book is not the first in a series ...
One more clue; I'm not sure that this genre is one that you read much Chris, but it is one which I devour with gusto.
Is it the new Bridget Jones? Is there a new Bridget Jones?!
Quote from: Leighton on Oct 07, 2018, 11:05 AMIs it the new Bridget Jones? Is there a new Bridget Jones?!
Dunno, so that'll be a no.
@Gordonb - I know that you read a lot of mystery/suspense/thriller fiction, a genre that's filled with series works -- so many that I don't know where to start looking at Amazon Look Inside pages for the quote.
Okay, I guessed what it was and verified my guess with Barnes & Noble's Look Inside feature. (Amazon's wouldn't go past the copyright page.) It's J.K. Rowling's new novel Lethal White.
(I don't regard checking the online Look Inside as cheating. Looking up the quote in Google, on the other hand, would definitely be cheating.)
So now I have to come up with one. Give me a few minutes.
I'm hoping somebody here has read the book version of this as well as seeing the film. (That's your first hint.)
"In those days cheap apartments were almost impossible to find in Manhattan, so I had to move to Brooklyn."
Quote from: Chris L on Oct 07, 2018, 05:24 PMOkay, I guessed what it was and verified my guess with Barnes & Noble's Look Inside feature. (Amazon's wouldn't go past the copyright page.) It's J.K. Rowling's new novel Lethal White.
(I don't regard checking the online Look Inside as cheating. Looking up the quote in Google, on the other hand, would definitely be cheating.)
So now I have to come up with one. Give me a few minutes.
Ok you've spoilt my ideas for teasers but well done.
To be pedantic though it's not J. K Rowling's "Lethal White" it's Robert Galbraith's.
Ooooh I think I know this one - is it Sophie's Choice?!
If so, I will offer this (though it may be a touch obvious!):
"On the morning the last Lisbon daughter took her turn at suicide - it was Mary this time, and sleeping pills, like Therese - the two paramedics arrived at the house knowing exactly where the knife drawer was, and the gas oven, and the beam in the basement from which it was possible to tie a rope."
Quote from: Leighton on Oct 09, 2018, 12:56 PMOoooh I think I know this one - is it Sophie's Choice?!
If so, I will offer this (though it may be a touch obvious!):
"On the morning the last Lisbon daughter took her turn at suicide - it was Mary this time, and sleeping pills, like Therese - the two paramedics arrived at the house knowing exactly where the knife drawer was, and the gas oven, and the beam in the basement from which it was possible to tie a rope."
Bingo! You got it! I've taken the liberty of boldfacing your own quote.
Quote from: Gordonb on Oct 09, 2018, 12:26 AMOk you've spoilt my ideas for teasers but well done.
To be pedantic though it's not J. K Rowling's "Lethal White" it's Robert Galbraith's.
I knew she'd written it under a pseudonym, but I didn't want to bother looking it up. ;)
(I have to wonder why Rowling even bothered using a pseudonym, since she was almost instantly outed by the press when the first book appeared. Clearly it was a very poorly kept secret and I have to assume that her publisher leaked it for sales reasons, but maybe there'll be a few readers who stumble on it without knowing who the actual author is. And immediately pass over it for a book by a better known author.)
Since I've rolled us over to a new page, I'm reposting Leighton's quote:
"On the morning the last Lisbon daughter took her turn at suicide - it was Mary this time, and sleeping pills, like Therese - the two paramedics arrived at the house knowing exactly where the knife drawer was, and the gas oven, and the beam in the basement from which it was possible to tie a rope."
Leighton, since you say this should be obvious -- is it The Virgin Suicides?
Sure is!
"We slept in what had once been the gymnasium."
Quote from: Chris L on Oct 10, 2018, 01:45 PMQuote from: Gordonb on Oct 09, 2018, 12:26 AMOk you've spoilt my ideas for teasers but well done.
To be pedantic though it's not J. K Rowling's "Lethal White" it's Robert Galbraith's.
I knew she'd written it under a pseudonym, but I didn't want to bother looking it up. ;)
(I have to wonder why Rowling even bothered using a pseudonym, since she was almost instantly outed by the press when the first book appeared. Clearly it was a very poorly kept secret and I have to assume that her publisher leaked it for sales reasons, but maybe there'll be a few readers who stumble on it without knowing who the actual author is. And immediately pass over it for a book by a better known author.)
I think you're being a bit unkind Chris.
As I understand it she initially published as Galbraith to see if it would be well received, without the inevitable publicity that would have ensued had it been known that she had written it. It was reasonably well received and indeed I bought it based on the Amazon blurb and reviews as I often do for first time writers. I enjoyed it immensely and was surprised when all was revealed.
It seems that her lawyers 'leaked' the story when the wife of one of its partners 'innocently' mentioned it to a friend who passed it on to a journalist ... the rest us history. They were fined by some solicitor disciplinary body for their actions and apparently she got them to make a sizeable donation to a charity of her choice.
Quote from: Gordonb on Oct 13, 2018, 10:06 AMI think you're being a bit unkind Chris.
As I understand it she initially published as Galbraith to see if it would be well received, without the inevitable publicity that would have ensued had it been known that she had written it. It was reasonably well received and indeed I bought it based on the Amazon blurb and reviews as I often do for first time writers. I enjoyed it immensely and was surprised when all was revealed.
It seems that her lawyers 'leaked' the story when the wife of one of its partners 'innocently' mentioned it to a friend who passed it on to a journalist ... the rest us history. They were fined by some solicitor disciplinary body for their actions and apparently she got them to make a sizeable donation to a charity of her choice.
I'll concede your point. I don't follow books as closely as I did when I was younger and the first time I became aware of the first book in the series was in a review that already treated it as a Rowling novel. I really don't know how long that was after publication. Of course, it may have been published in the U.S. later than it was published in the UK.
My current quote, for those who may have missed it:
"We slept in what had once been the gymnasium."
I'd post the entire first paragraph of the novel, but it's fairly long. Here's part of it:
"We slept in what had once been the gymnasium. The floor was of varnished wood, with stripes and circles painted on it, for the games that were formerly played there; the hoops for the basketball nets were still in place, though the nets were gone. A balcony ran around the room, for the spectators, and I thought I could smell, faintly like an afterimage, the pungent scent of sweat, shot through with the sweet taint of chewing gum and perfume from the watching girls, felt-skirted as I knew from pictures, later in mini-skirts, then pants, then in one earring, spiky green-streaked hair."
(I know what it is but I didn't want the game to become a version of tennis between us!)
Quote from: Leighton on Oct 16, 2018, 11:15 AM(I know what it is but I didn't want the game to become a version of tennis between us!)
If we're the only players, it'll have to be. (Anyone else out there? Hello?)
Quote from: Chris L on Oct 16, 2018, 01:15 PMQuote from: Leighton on Oct 16, 2018, 11:15 AM(I know what it is but I didn't want the game to become a version of tennis between us!)
If we're the only players, it'll have to be. (Anyone else out there? Hello?)
I'm here! I don't know the answer, though.
Also lurking around but haven't a clue, regrettably :(
Go for it, Leighton!
It's The Handmaids' Tale, isn't it?
If so: "The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed"
The Handmaid's Tale is correct! I know what yours is, but I'll give somebody else a chance to answer so we don't have to play tennis.
Okay,
@Leighton - I don't think anybody else is going to get it. It's Stephen King's
The Gunslinger."When I think of my wife, I always think of her head."
The rest of the first paragraph:
When I think of my wife, I always think of her head. The shape of it, to begin with. The very first time I saw her, it was the back of the head I saw, and there was something lovely about it, the angles of it. Like a shiny, hard corn kernel or a riverbed fossil. She had what the Victorians would call a finely shaped head. You could imagine the skull quite easily.
I don't know the answer, but I have the suspicion I've read this one.
Quote from: KathyB on Nov 05, 2018, 02:20 PMI don't know the answer, but I have the suspicion I've read this one.
I'd be surprised if you hadn't. Hint: It's from this decade.
Quote from: Chris L on Nov 05, 2018, 04:42 PMQuote from: KathyB on Nov 05, 2018, 02:20 PMI don't know the answer, but I have the suspicion I've read this one.
I'd be surprised if you hadn't. Hint: It's from this decade.
Another hint: The book's title is a synonym for "Departed Young Female."
Quote from: Chris L on Nov 25, 2018, 03:32 PMQuote from: Chris L on Nov 05, 2018, 04:42 PMQuote from: KathyB on Nov 05, 2018, 02:20 PMI don't know the answer, but I have the suspicion I've read this one.
I'd be surprised if you hadn't. Hint: It's from this decade.
Another hint: The book's title is a synonym for "Departed Young Female."
Oh! It's
Gone Girl I didn't realize those were the first words.
Quote from: KathyB on Nov 26, 2018, 11:33 AMOh! It's Gone Girl I didn't realize those were the first words.
Nobody did, apparently. ;)
Your turn.
"On December 8th, 1915, Meggie Cleary had her fourth birthday."
Quote from: KathyB on Nov 26, 2018, 04:42 PM"On December 8th, 1915, Meggie Cleary had her fourth birthday."
Just a guess, because I don't remember that much about how the novel opened, but
Atonement?
Good guess, but sadly, incorrect. Different part of the world.
I gave the first sentence of the novel itself, but there is an opening paragraph before the beginning of the book that starts out like this:
There is a legend about a bird which sings just once in its life, more sweetly than any other creature on the face of the earth.
That sounds very familiar, but I'm having trouble placing it. I'm going to request a hint: Is it fantasy?
Quote from: Chris L on Jan 19, 2019, 05:16 PMThat sounds very familiar, but I'm having trouble placing it. I'm going to request a hint: Is it fantasy?
No. It's historical fiction. (bonus hint)
It's historical fiction, written by the most well-known resident of Norfolk Island.
I decided I was allowed to cheat at this point, so I looked up Norfolk Island and learned that Colleen McCullough lived there. Is it The Thorn Birds?
Yes, it is. Your turn!
There's a certain thematic relationship between Kathy's book and this one, but I'm not going to say what it is (and you probably have to be over a certain age to get it):
"The gale tore at him and he felt its bite deep within and he knew that if they did not make landfall in three days they would all be dead."
Quote from: Chris L on Feb 04, 2019, 01:14 PMThere's a certain thematic relationship between Kathy's book and this one, but I'm not going to say what it is (and you probably have to be over a certain age to get it):
"The gale tore at him and he felt its bite deep within and he knew that if they did not make landfall in three days they would all be dead."
I'm going to drop this one because I suspect the novel has become too outdated and esoteric. It's
Shogun by James Clavell, the thematic continuity with Kathy's post being that, like
The Thorn Birds, it had been made into a miniseries starring Richard Chamberlain.
If anyone else has a sentence or paragraph they'd like to try, feel free. If not, I'll post a different one.
I probably should have been able to get that, because I tried to read Shogun once. I don't remember how far I got, but it was definitely past the first line.
Because I am up to my kneecaps in books right now (no, that's not a euphemism for anything), here's one from the top of one of the piles:
"There was once a boy named Milo who didn't know what to do with himself—not just sometimes, but always."
Is it The Phantom Tollbooth? I loved it when I was little but sadly can't seem to find it now.
One of my favorites
tollbooth.jpg
You're both right. :) Your turn, Leighton!
I think you mean Martin.
I do.Thank you. I wasn't paying attention. Your turn, Martin!
My dear wife Carrie and I have just been a week in our new house, "The Laurels," Brickfield Terrace, Holloway - a nice six-roomed residence, not counting basement, with a front breakfast-parlour.