The book dialog game

[HomeInMyShoes]

Hmmm...I'm thinking the second would fit into Calvin and Hobbes, but maybe it's Life of Pi.

The first one is a bust for me. I'm pretty sure I haven't read it.

[djulian]

Some clues on the first one:

1) It's a first novel
2) by a British novelist
3) and published in 2000

[djulian]

I'll throw in three more clues:

1) It involves a rodent and Jehovah's Witnesses
2) It was made into a mini-series
3) The author made Granta's Best Young British Novelists

[poohbear_nc]

1) It involves a rodent and Jehovan's Witnesses

This clue made me spit coffee onto my keyboard!

I'm still clueless -

sounds like Jonathen Lethem's writing style.

[Daithi]

My yorkie belongs to an offshoot of the Mormons -- The Church of Latter Day St. Bernards. Their slogan is "Have you found Dog?"

He doesn't know who wrote djulian's book though either.

[djulian]

Originally Posted by Daithi

My yorkie belongs to an offshoot of the Mormons -- The Church of Latter Day St. Bernards. Their slogan is "Have you found Dog?"

He doesn't know who wrote djulian's book though either.

I thought I saw a dog on a bike wearing a white shirt and a tie the other day. I told my wife, she didn't believe me.

I guess the book was a little obscure. The quote comes from White Teeth by Zadie Smith.

(The bonus quote was from Calvin & Hobbes, first strip. Well done HomeInMyShoes!)

I don't know what happens now, but I'll pass it over to HIMS for getting the C&H quote.

[HomeInMyShoes]

It's odd, I was just reading the Essential Calvin & Hobbes Treasury the other day. Just a great, great comic strip. Good stories, humour, and great artwork as well.

Okay, this one should be easier than some.

Originally Posted by guessThisBook

There were people who called themselves Satanists who made Crowley squirm. It wasn't just the things they did, it was the way they blamed it all on Hell. They'd come up with some stomach-churning idea that no demon could have thought of in a thousand years, some dark and mindless unpleasantness that only a fully-functioning human brain could conceive, then shout "The Devil Made Me Do It" and get the sympathy of the court when the whole point was that the Devil hardly ever made anyone do anything. He didn't have to. That was what some humans found hard to understand. Hell wasn't a major reservoir of evil, any more than Heaven, in Crowley's opinion, was a fountain of goodness; they were just sides in the great cosmic chess game. Where you found the real McCoy, the real grace and the real heart-stopping evil, was right inside the human mind.

[pdurrant]

Good Omens, by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.

An utterly splendid humorous fantasy book.

[HomeInMyShoes]

^Ding ding ding. We have a winner.

I'm just about done it now. It is terrific.

I was hoping to get one of the global warming/CO2 quotes in. For 1990, it reads like it could be written yesterday almost.

Originally Posted by GaimanAndPratchett

The alien exchanged glances with its colleague. 'Been letting the old acid rain build up, haven't we, sir?' it said. 'Been letting ourselves go a bit with the old hydrocarbons, perhaps?'

'I'm sorry.'

'Could you tell me your planet's albedo, sir?' said the the toad, still staring levelly at the horizon as though it was doing something interesting.

'Er. No.'

'Well, I'm sorry to have to tell you, sir, that your polar ice caps are below regulation size for a planet of this category, sir.'

'Oh, dear,' said Newt. He was wondering who he could tell about this, and realizing that there was absolutely no one who would believe him. [...]

The small alien walked past the car.

'CO2 level up 0.5 percent,' it rasped, giving him a meaningful look. 'You do know you could find yourself charged with being a dominant species while under the influence of impulse-driven consumerism, don't you?'"

Take it away pdurrant.

[pdurrant]

"I am no doubt rather dense," said the mouse with mounting truculance. "May we take it a step at a time? The spell was right, except that you ordered a donkey. And what did you get? You got a mouse. So somebody blundered. It can't possibly be you. So, I suppose it's me, for not being a donkey!"

A splendid children's story published in 1966 (some might say first published in 1937).

[pdurrant]

Perhaps that bit of dialog is a bit obscure. Here's some with a character name. More tomorrow if no-one gets it.

"We are gathered here," he proceeded, "to offer our ridiculously ineffectual assistance in deciding what lady, princess, or other female of suitably affluent status, shall be given the honour of Prince Abu Ali's hand in marriage!"

[Daithi]

Is is something by Rudyard Kipling?

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by Daithi

Is is something by Rudyard Kipling?

No. "Something" was by George Harrison.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Daithi

Is is something by Rudyard Kipling?

No, the author was a bit younger than Kipling.

This should give it away, if you know it at all. From the first chapter: "Which explains how, why, when and where there was ever any problem in the first place,"

"Tut! Calm yourself, mamma, " Aladdin soothed her. "A day-old baby doesn't talk!"

"I know it doesn't!" replied the Widow Twankey loudley. "And I know how old my grandson is, to the minute; but he still called me a button-nosed tortoise! So don't just stand there, Aladdin! Do something!"

[poohbear_nc]

The Princess Bride?