A Bit of a Thinker - The Answers

Unfortunately even though one reader came very close no one was actually able to name all 11 of my favorite books... Maybe I should have done as Carrie did at Reading to Know and listed only 8? At any rate here are the answers:


1. "Miss Brooke had that kind of beauty which seems to be thrown into relief by poor dress." -- Middlemarch by George Elliot

2. "When Mary Lennox was sent to Misselthwaite Manor to live with her uncle everybody said she was the most disagreeable-looking child ever seen." -- The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

3. "This is the story of what a Woman's patience can endure, and what a Man's resolution can achieve." -- The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

4. "It is a Truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife." -- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

5. "William Wilmer was twenty-nine years old before he discovered that he could converse with animals." -- Mr. Wilmer by Robert Lawson

6. "'Edith!' said Margaret, gently, 'Edith!' But, as Margaret half suspected, Edith had fallen asleep." -- North And South by Elizabeth Gaskell

7. "'I Wonder when in the world you're going to do anything, Rudolf?' said my brother's wife." -- The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope

8. "On the morning of the eleventh of November, 1937, precisely at eleven o'clock, some well-meaning busybody consulted his watch and loudly announced the hour, with the result that all of us in the dining car felt constrained to put aside drinks and newspapers and spend the two minutes' silence in rather embarrassed stares at one another or out of the window." -- Random Harvest by James Hilton

9. "The worst winter in fifty years, the old Scotsman had told me. I'd only been around for sixteen, but it was the worst I'd seen, and I was willing to take his word for the other thirty-four." -- Mrs. Mike by Benedict and Nancy Freedman

10. "I believe that a well-known anecdote exists to the effect that a young writer, determined to make the commencement of his story forcible and original enough to catch and rivet the attention of the most blase of editors, penned the following sentence..." -- Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie

11. "They didn't say anything about this in the books, I thought, as the snow blew in through the gaping doorway and settled on my naked back." -- All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot


There you have it... The titles and authors of all 11 of my favorite books. It was very difficult to pick 11, but these are the ones that came to mind. Who knows... maybe some day I'll post reviews, but until then know this... they all come highly recommended.