Oscar Wish List 2024

10 Sunday Mar 2024

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And the Oscar goes to…

Well, they say to manifest your desires. And Milo was robbed!

Nomination robberies aside, it’s a pretty good year for the Best Picture category. Not only did I really want to see all the nominees (and did!), I actually think they are all worthy contenders, with my two least favorite films (Oppenheimer and Maestro) still earning a solid three stars in my scoring system.

In fact, I was so excited about this year’s crop of nominees I couldn’t resist creating an Oscar menu even though I have abandoned my annual tradition of hosting an Oscar dinner and pool. The menu I created reflects my New England and Polish roots and was inspired by the nostalgia I found in many of my favorite films of 2023.

Oscar Menu 2024

Specialty Cocktail
in honor of American Fiction, The Holdovers, and Maestro
“The New Englander”
(aka The “Masshole”)
rye, apple cider, brandied cranberries, maple syrup, lemon juice

Main Course
in honor of Killers of the Flower Moon and Oppenheimer
“Mushroom Clouds in an O-Sage Sky”
(uszka on a bed of wild mushrooms cooked with butter, fresh sage, and apple & sage sausage)

Sides
in honor of Barbie, Past Lives, Poor Things, and Zone of Interest
Cucumber Salad
Kimchi and Sauerkrauts
Pink Horseradish

Dessert
in honor of Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest
“The Sandra Hüller”
(apples hidden in puff pastry topped with a “roof” of whipped cream and three cranberry splatters)

Now, on to the awards!

After watching (and, in many cases, rewatching) all ten films nominated for Best Picture as well as other nominees and contenders,* I hereby present my wish list for tonight’s awards. If you know me at all, you know I love both an underdog and a surprise win so my fondest wish for the night is for a couple of dark horses, especially Anatomy of a Fall, to steal away with some of the eight predicted awards for Oppenheimer. While I thought Oppenheimer was perfectly fine, I do not think it is a significantly better film than most of the other nominees and I do not think it should be the “sure thing” it seems to be in many of these categories. In any case, I’m really glad it won’t come close to a clean sweep.

Ultimately, as always, I’m simply rooting to be surprised in practically any category whatsoever.

With that said, and based on what I’ve seen, here is what or who the oddsmakers think will win today, what or who I would like to see win, and, in some categories, those I feel should (or shouldn’t) have been nominated. As always, if I propose a “new” nomination, I take a current nominee off the list: This doesn’t necessarily mean the person or film is undeserving (though it can), but it’s easy to say that so-and-so should have been nominated when the reality is that there are only five slots to fill.

Best Picture
Will win: Oppenheimer
Should win: Anatomy of a Fall
Should have been nominated: All of Us Strangers
Shouldn’t have been nominated: Maestro

I really do think we were blessed this year in terms of nominees. I’m not even sure which film I would pick myself if I were really voting. In the end, I realized I most want Anatomy of a Fall to win as it managed to captivate me both in the theater and at home despite its long running time. It seems many others agree—it’s the nominee with the highest Rotten Tomatoes score and has the same rating as Oppenheimer on Letterboxd. I also think it’s the only film at this point that has a chance of toppling Oppenheimer since it really seems to have the awards mojo of late. (Yes, I know it’s virtually impossible odds-wise.) Finally, I would have liked to have seen All of Us Strangers in the mix. Even though I admire the risk-taking of Maestro, it was a bit of a mess.

Directing
Will win: Christopher Nolan for Oppenheimer
Should win: Justine Triet for Poor Things
Should have been nominated: Greta Gerwig for Barbie
Shouldn’t have been nominated: Martin Scorsese for Killers of the Flower Moon

If film directing is the process of successfully bringing to life the creative vision of a film, I don’t see how Greta Gerwig is not in the mix for Barbie here. This was made even clearer to me on rewatch. There were just too many times when I was watching both Oppenheimer and The Zone of Interest where I was not convinced that the director had made the right choice in crafting the artistic and dramatic elements of the movie. And, while I thoroughly enjoyed Poor Things in the theater, it was one of the few films whose score did not improve for me on rewatch. I’d give this one to Triet, if only for the incredible performances she got out of her actors.

Adapted Screenplay
Will win: American Fiction
Should win: Barbie
Should have been nominated: Are You There God? It’s me, Margaret.
Shouldn’t have been nominated: Oppenheimer

As often seems to happen, the writing awards are somewhat up for grabs. The oddsmakers give it to American Fiction but both Oppenheimer and Barbie are close behind. I think I would put my money on Barbie because it is a brilliant script and this is one category where the tendency of the Oscars to reward a snubbed director often comes into play. At least I hope so, I think Oppenheimer‘s screenplay is pretty weak, especially when it comes to the two fascinating women he insists on highlighting but does absolutely nothing with.

Original Screenplay
Will win: Justine Triet and Arthur Harari for Anatomy of a Fall
Should win: Justine Triet and Arthur Harari for Anatomy of a Fall
Should have been nominated: Asteroid City
Shouldn’t have been nominated: Maestro

For me, this was between “Past Lives” and “Anatomy of a Fall,” and it was very close. With Anatomy, I loved the structure and teasing out of things, and especially that it doesn’t give you the answer; you, as the audience member, have to decide. For the record, I think she did it.

—Brutally Honest Oscar Ballot #1, Animation Branch, Brutally Honest Oscar Ballot #1

Often this is the weaker of the two writing categories, but this year I think it may be the stronger of the two, as evidenced by the fact that Asteroid City didn’t even make the cut. I didn’t particularly like that film but the originality and quality of the story and dialogue in that script is far better than Maestro, the only film I would be disappointed to see win here.

Actor in a Leading Role
Will win: Cillian Murphy for Oppenheimer
Should win: Cillian Murphy for Oppenheimer
Should have been nominated: Andrew Scott for All of Us Strangers
Shouldn’t have been nominated: Bradley Cooper for Maestro

This one is a pretty safe bet. Cillian Murphy’s only real competition is Paul Giamatti in The Holdovers, who I would love to see win, but I’m not really convinced he deserves it over Murphy. In fact, all of these performances were very strong, even if I would have nominated Andrew Scott over Bradley Cooper.

Actress in a Leading Role
Will win: Lily Gladstone for Killers of the Flower Moon
Should win: Sandra Hüller for Anatomy of a Fall
Should have been nominated: Teyana Taylor for A Thousand and One
Shouldn’t have been nominated: Annette Bening for Nyad

While the general consensus seems to be that Lily Gladstone will win here, Emma Stone is a very close second, and she could certainly pull off an upset because she is fantastic in Poor Things. However, my choice for the win would be Sandra Hüller for her incredible performance in Anatomy of a Fall.

Actor in a Supporting Role
Will win: Robert Downey Jr for Oppenheimer
Should win: Ryan Gosling for Barbie
Should have been nominated: Milo Machado-Graner for Anatomy of a Fall
Shouldn’t have been nominated: Mark Ruffalo for Poor Things

As much as I liked Poor Things very much, I’m afraid Mark Ruffalo was my least favorite thing about it. Milo Machado-Graner in Anatomy of a Fall is one of the best child performances I’ve seen in years. I thought Robert Downey Jr was fine, but if he wins, I think it will be more for his career story than anything. A lot of people could have played his part well whereas I can’t see anyone else being as successful as Ryan Gosling in playing Ken in Barbie.

Actress in a Supporting Role
Will win: Da’Vine Joy Randolph for The Holdovers
Should win: Da’Vine Joy Randolph for The Holdovers
Should have been nominated: Rachel McAdams for Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret
Shouldn’t have been nominated: Jodie Foster for Nyad

I think this is probably the biggest lock of the night. Da’Vine Joy Randolph has swept the awards for this category and it’s a film and a role that people love. Both performances in Nyad were worthy of nominations even if the film was rather run of the mill, but I thought Rachel McAdams was pitch perfect as the the mother in Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, a film that should have received at least some Academy love.

Cinematography
Will win: Oppenheimer
Should win: Maestro

What can I say? I don’t think it was a particularly interesting year for cinematography as most of it seemed to rely on tricks and ticks that didn’t necessarily serve the story, but Maestro‘s cinematography made the biggest impression on me in the theater (and, yes, I saw Oppenheimer in IMAX).

Film Editing
Will win: Oppenheimer
Should win: Anatomy of a Fall
Should have been nominated: Past Lives or BlackBerry
Shouldn’t have been nominated: Oppenheimer

Honestly, just the fact that Oppenheimer is three hours long because that is the limit for IMAX exhibition should disqualify it from any editing award. But, sigh, I know that Oppenheimer is likely to win. Too bad, because just the fact that Anatomy of a Fall leaves audience members arguing about whether or not she did it tells you what a brilliant job the editor did.

Production Design
Will win: Poor Things
Should win: Barbie

Costume Design
Will win: Barbie
Should win: Barbie

Oddsmakers are saying that both these categories are a contest between Poor Things and Barbie and I agree. However, if I was going to split the awards between them, as the oddsmakers do, I would probably give Production Design to Barbie and Costume Design to Poor Things rather than the other way around. I actually think Barbie deserves the win in both categories, but I won’t be mad if they split.

Original Score
Will win: Oppenheimer
Should win: Killers of the Flower Moon
Should have been nominated: The Zone of Interest
Shouldn’t have been nominated: Oppenheimer

As I’ve said before, I don’t often notice score, and when I do, it’s usually for the wrong reasons—it’s annoying, it’s bombastic, it’s intrusive, etc. And that is how Oppenheimer was for me (I almost always hate Nolan’s aural landscapes). While I felt that was partly true about The Zone of Interest as well, I thought it worked better within the context of the film so, personally, I would have nominated it over Oppenheimer.

Sound
Will win: Oppenheimer
Should win: The Zone of Interest

See above re Nolan. That fact that his films are ever nominated for sound baffles me. The Zone of Interest is all about sound so I am really hoping for an upset in this category, especially given that oddsmakers put it in second place.

Original Song
Will win: “What Was I Made For?” from Barbie
Should win: “I’m Just Ken” from Barbie

Barbie vs. Barbie. This is another close one, but I think “What Was I made For?” will come out on top, despite the brilliance of “I’m Just Ken” (which I was humming for days). In either case, this will be a well-deserved win for Barbie.

And with that, I think I’ve exhausted the categories I really care (or know) about this year, so I will simply leave you with the odds-on favorites for the final categories:

Makeup and Hairstyling: Maestro
Visual Effects: Godzilla Minus One
International Feature: United Kingdom, The Zone of Interest
Documentary Feature: 20 Days in Mariupol
Documentary Short Subject: The ABCs of Book Banning
Animated Feature: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Animated Short Film: WAR IS OVER! Inspired by the Music of John and Yoko
Live-Action Short Film: The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar

Who would you like to see take home one of these golden boys?

The Oscars will air live today at 4pm PT.

*Oscar-nominated features I’ve seen to date: American Fiction, Anatomie d’une chute (Anatomy of a Fall), Barbie, The Color Purple, The Holdovers, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Killers of the Flower Moon, Maestro, May December, Nyad, Oppenheimer, Past Lives, Poor Things, Rustin, La sociedad de la nieve (Society of the Snow), and The Zone of Interest

Other 2023 features that I considered for this post: All of Us Strangers; Amanda; Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.; Asteroid City; BlackBerry; Blue Jean; Bottoms; Earth Mama; Flora and Son; A Haunting in Venice; John Wick: Chapter 4; Joy Ride; The Killer; No Hard Feelings; Le otto montagne (The Eight Mountains); Polite Society; Renfield; Roter Himmel (Afire); Showing Up; A Thousand and One; The Unknown Country; Wonka; You Hurt My Feelings. I also watched En corps (Rise), Mountains, Pacifiction, Rye Lane, and Les Trois Mousquetaires: D’Artagnan (The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan), five 2023 films that were not on the AMPAS “eligible” list.

Oscar Nominations: Anatomy of a Doll

23 Tuesday Jan 2024

Posted by Sly Wit in Film

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Oscars

And so the race for the 96th Academy Awards begins.

The nominees for Best Picture are…

American Fiction (5 nominations)
Anatomie d’une chute (Anatomy of a Fall) (5 nominations)
Barbie (8 nominations)
The Holdovers (5 nominations)
Killers of the Flower Moon (10 nominations)
Maestro (7 nominations)
Oppenheimer (13 nominations)
Past Lives (2 nominations)
Poor Things (11 nominations)
The Zone of Interest (5 nominations)

You can see a full ballot list here.

My first thoughts on this list? Although it was fairly predictable, I must say I’m rather pleased to have a Best Picture roster where all the films represent strong personal visions, even if there were a few that didn’t really work for me (Oppenheimer and Maestro, I’m looking at you). This is a significant improvement over last year’s list, which I was rather meh on.

And at least three films have extensive non-English dialogue! That is, I know Anatomy of a Fall, Killers of the Flower Moon, and Past Lives do, but I haven’t yet seen The Zone of Interest so there might be four. In any case, that has to be some kind of record. Of those, I’m most thrilled and surprised to see Past Lives, mostly because it was my favorite film of 2023 but the most in doubt in terms of nominations. This is the third year of having a mandated full slate of ten Best Picture nominees so I knew it had a good chance, but one can never be sure what will grab the final one or two slots.

And that leads me to…

Three films directed by women! You love to see it. Well, I do anyway. And with fifteen nominations among them! Anatomy of a Fall, Barbie, and Past Lives are solidly in my Top Ten for the year and at this point I’ve seen most of the critical darlings so I don’t think they will be dethroned as I catch up on the two nominees I haven’t seen: American Fiction (for which I have an Indie Spirit Award screener) and The Zone of Interest (which I had planned on seeing in the theater later today).

Finally, I’m happy to see The Holdovers get so much love. I think it’s a lot more layered than people have given it credit for and represents a certain kind of old-school solid filmmaking that we don’t see too much of anymore. I’d put Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. in that category as well and I must admit I’m a bit disappointed to see that film completely shut out of the running (along with All of Us Strangers, which I thought might at least pick up a few nods for Adapted Screenplay and Best Actor if not Best Picture).

And with that, let’s dig deeper into what really happened with the rest of the nominations, shall we?

Sandra Hüller discusses her case with her lawyer in Anatomy of a Fall.

The Good

I was very happy to see both Sandra Hüller and Lily Gladstone get acting nods (for Anatomy of a Fall and Killers of the Flower Moon respectively); they were each great in multiple films this year. [Side note: I highly recommend checking out Gladstone in The Unknown Country.]

Also, I haven’t seen Nyad, but good for Annette Bening on sneaking into Best Actress alongside them ahead of Margot Robbie for Barbie. I mean, I would have been happy to see Robbie get nominated for her performance, but Ryan Gosling really does steal the show in that film so I understand why she didn’t. And, as a producer, she already has a nomination, for Best Picture.

I’m also thrilled that “Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People)” from Killers of the Flower Moon was nominated for Original Song. The Fighting in the War Room podcast now uses it for transition music so it has wormed its way into my brain almost as much as the two songs from Barbie in this category, both of which are worthy contenders.

Speaking of fun, I was also glad to see Samy Burch and Alex Mechanik recognized for their Original Screenplay for May December. Remarkably, Original Screenplay is the only nomination for this film, which currently sits at #3 in my 2023 Top Ten, just ahead of Poor Things. But also not remarkable because May December was an excellent script that had a difficult job in making a dicey subject more enjoyable than it should have been. What truly is remarkable is the fact that this is Samy Burch’s first feature film script! [Side note: Apparently she also worked on the screenplay for the recently shelved Coyote vs. Acme.]

The Bad

Although the list for Best Directing was good and I really can’t argue with the choices made (see above re strong personal visions), it was still disappointing not to see Greta Gerwig on it. However, this is always an extremely competitive category and this year it was unclear exactly who would get in. In fact, given the strong showing of The Holdovers, I’m sort of relieved that Justine Triet managed to get a slot ahead of Alexander Payne. Not that it wouldn’t have been fantastic to see two female directors in there, but Lanthimos, Nolan, and Scorsese were pretty much shoe-ins and everything I’ve heard about The Zone of Interest made me suspect Glazer would probably be on there too so that didn’t leave much room. As much as I loved Barbie and don’t think it is getting nearly enough “cinematic” credit in the general discourse, I do think the Directing Branch probably made the right call here.

A couple of absences in the Supporting categories that stung a bit are Dominic Sessa (The Holdovers) and Charles Melton (May December), mostly because Mark Ruffalo’s performance in Poor Things was one of the few things I didn’t like about that film. And how did America Ferrera (Barbie) get in there? I mean, I like her in the role just fine, but I’m rather surprised to see her singled out. This is one of those years where I think we would have been better served by one genderless category with ten nominees.

Finally, there was quite a surprise in the Adapted Screenplay category, where The Zone of Interest nabbed a slot over what I thought would be a front-runner, Killers of the Flower Moon. [Side note: I guess the Academy really went for The Zone of Interest didn’t they? Which makes the Directing choices even more understandable.] I must admit I was kind of hoping to see All of Us Strangers or Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. here as well but this was definitely a tough category this year. Given the options, I hope Barbie takes this one. As clunky as the America Ferrara speech was, it wasn’t nearly as bad as the dialogue in Oppenheimer. And, if you are going to insist on it being an adaptation, as the Academy apparently does, it certainly does a lot more with the “source” material than Oppenheimer did. [Side note: That’s right, I said it.]

Frankenstein’s monster meets the doll Coppélia in Poor Things.

The Ugly

I’m not really seeing anything egregious this year, but I definitely don’t like what seems to be a trend of nominations in acting and technical categories clustering around the Best Picture nominations. While it obviously makes sense if they are indeed the “best” pictures, it always makes me wonder how many films voters actually saw. This year, the only non-Best Picture nominee to score more than two nominations was Napoleon, in Costume, Production Design, and Visual Effects. And only four other films earned two nominations each: The Creator (Sound and Visual Effects), Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (Sound and Visual Effects), Nyad (Lead Actress and Supporting Actress), and The Society of the Snow (Makeup and International Feature).

No additional Costume nod for The Color Purple (Supporting Actress) or recognition of the acting in May December (Original Screenplay)? Or, in terms of films that were shut out completely, no Production Design or Screenplay nominations for Asteroid City? No Editing or Sound nominations for The Killer? No Costume or Production Design for Wonka? No Best Actor nods for Andrew Scott in All of Us Strangers or Glenn Howerton in BlackBerry? Why didn’t Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. get the love that The Holdovers did? [Side note: Actually, I know the answer to that one. It’s the patriarchy, Margaret.]

I’m sure I’ll have more to say on this when I post my Wish List just before Oscar night but, in short, I prefer when the love is spread around a bit more.

Mother and daughter go bra shopping in Are You there God? It’s Me Margaret.

The Oscar Blitz

So, what will I be running out to see?

Well, as noted above, I’ve seen most of the Best Picture nominees and I’ll probably see both American Fictions and The Zone of Interest this week, if not today. And then probably Nyad and The Society of the Snow, both of which are streaming on Netflix. After that, I suppose it will be Rustin since that film is also already on Netflix and will close out the acting categories for me. After that, I’ll have seen all nominees in what I consider to be the ten major categories (Best Picture, Directing, Adapted and Original Screenplay, Editing, Cinematography, and the four Acting categories) except for El Conde, where Edward Lachman is up for Cinematography. I’m not particularly interested in the film per se, but I’ve liked some of Larraín’s other work and Lachman has an impressive filmography so I might take it on since, once again, it is currently on Netflix. [Side note: Damn, Netflix.]

On the flip side, I will probably not be seeing Napoleon. If I didn’t go to see it when it was playing in Los Angeles over Thanksgiving at the recently restored Vista, which I really did want to check out, I’m not going to sit through it at home on the small screen. Also, I have no desire to see The Creator, a film I had to look up when I saw the name because it was completely off my radar.

Instead, I will likely rewatch the other Best Picture nominees, all of which I have access to via various streaming services and/or Indie Spirit Award screeners. Yes, maybe even Maestro and Oppenheimer. Maybe.

I guess we’ll see what I get to before the awards telecast on Sunday, March 10, but, until then, I’m most rooting for Anatomy of a Fall, Barbie, Past Lives, and Poor Things to grab what they can.

What are your thoughts on the nominations? Feel free to add them in the comments and stay tuned over the next few weeks for potential posts in an Oscar Blitz series with more details on major categories.

Returning to Manderley 2023

27 Monday Nov 2023

Posted by Sly Wit in Books

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Games

As promised, here are the answers to the “first lines” challenge I posted last week. Click here if you’d like to try to guess some of the books before reading the answers below.

Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.

—The opening of Rebecca (1938) by Daphne du Maurier

1. He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad.
—Rafael Sabatini, Scaramouche (1921)

2. “You’ve heard of her,” I say—a challenge, an assurance.
—Rebecca Makkai, I Have Some Questions for You (2023)

3. We agreed to meet a few hours after the funeral.
—Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, Spare (2023)

4. James Bond, with two double bourbons inside him, sat in the final departure lounge of Miami Airport and thought about life and death.
—Ian Fleming, Goldfinger (1959)

5. Sir Oliver Tressilian sat at his ease in the lofty dining-room of the handsome house of Penarrow, which he owed to the enterprise of his father of lamented and lamentable memory and to the skill and invention of an Italian engineer named Bagnolo who had come to England half a century ago as one of the assistants of the famous Torrigiani.
—Rafael Sabatini, The Sea Hawk (1915)

6. Mrs. Ariadne Oliver had gone with the friend with whom she was staying, Judith Butler, to help with the preparations for a children’s party which was to take place that same evening.
—Agatha Christie, Hallowe’en Party (1969)

7. Peter Blood, bachelor of medicine and several other things besides, smoked a pipe and tended the geraniums boxed on the sill of his window above Water Lane in the town of Bridgewater.
—Rafael Sabatini, Captain Blood (1922)

8. The sky above the port was the colour of television, tuned to a dead channel.
—William Gibson, Neuromancer (1984) [Hugo Award; Nebula Award]

9. Major Sands, conscious of his high deserts, was disposed to receive with condescension the gifts which he perceived that Fortune offered him.
—Rafael Sabatini, The Black Swan (1931)

10. No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man’s and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water.
—H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds (1897)

11. During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country; and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher.
—Edgar Allan Poe, “The Fall of the House of Usher” (1839)

12. Punctually at six o’clock the sun set with a last yellow flash behind the Blue Mountains, a wave of violet shadow poured down Richmond Road, and the crickets and tree frogs in the fine gardens began to zing and tinkle.
—Ian Fleming, Dr. No (1958)

Baker’s Dozen Holiday Bonus: One evening, shortly before Christmas, in the days when our forefathers, being young, possessed the earth—in brief, in the year 1879—Mrs. Garden came briskly into the drawing-room from Mr. Garden’s study and said in her crisp, even voice to her six children, “Well, my dears, I have to tell you something. Poor papa has lost his faith again.”
—Rose Macaulay, Told By An Idiot (1923)

Double-Secret-Probation Bonus Round: I got off at Barbès. Like last time, men were idly waiting, clustered at the foot of the Métro overhead.
—Annie Ernaux, L’événement (Happening) (2000) [Nobel Prize for Literature, 2022]

Third-Time’s-a-Charm Bonus Round: I was running away. I was running away from England, from my childhood, from the winter, from a sequence of untidy, unattractive love-affairs, from the few sticks of furniture and jumble of overworn clothes that my London life had collected around me; and I was running away from drabness, fustiness, snobbery, the claustrophobia of close horizons and from my inability, although I am quite an attractive rat, to make headway in the rat race. In fact, I was running away from almost everything except the law.
—Ian Fleming, The Spy Who Loved Me (1962)

Congrats to Marissa who guessed 3 of these correctly out of the gate!

Which one(s) are you kicking yourself over? Which one was easiest? Which one was impossible?

Look for reviews and comments on these selections and more in my traditional year-end round-up post at the end of next month.

These Go To Eleven: The First Lines Challenge

23 Thursday Nov 2023

Posted by Sly Wit in Books

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Challenges, First Lines, Games

As I have done for the past ten Thanksgiving weekends, I hereby present the “first lines” challenge, stolen from James over at Following Pulitzer.

The first rule of Fight Club is: You do not talk about Fight Club. The second rule of Fight Club is: You do not talk about Fight Club.

The most important rule of this game is to rely on your own memory and brain and not to cheat by using Google or another resource, print or online. This includes looking up my recent reading at Goodreads.

I’ll say it again, DO NOT use any other resources other than your own brain and/or the brains of those around you.

So, what’s the game, you say?

Below I’ve posted a list of first lines from books or short stories I’ve read (or am reading) this year—your job is to guess the author and title of the work I’ve quoted from.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.

—The opening of Pride and Prejudice (1813) by Jane Austen

Some truths:
• Some of these should be quite easy; others are fairly difficult.
• I’ve used discretion as to what counts as the first line.
• The line may be in translation, my own or another’s work.
• Except for bonus-round selections, the authors or books are generally well known, have won or been nominated for prizes this year, have been adapted for the silver screen, or have been otherwise much discussed recently.
• The selections can be from any time period or genre, fiction or non-fiction—what ties them together is that I have read (or am reading) them this year.

If you own a copy of the work, it’s fine to check it before you post it as a guess. Any other reference work or tool, print or online, is strictly forbidden. If it’s driving you crazy and you end up googling the answers, that is certainly understandable, but don’t share your findings with the rest of us, that is unforgivable!

Anybody is welcome to comment and guess and I encourage you to do so since even an incorrect guess may trigger something in someone else’s memory. I may also add hints to entries over the next couple of days or offer hints in my responses to comments so be sure to subscribe to the comments and/or check back periodically. Whatever is not guessed outright or crowd-sourced through the comments will be posted on Monday, November 27.

Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

—The opening of Anna Karenina (1877) by Leo Tolstoy

1. He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad.