Classic book quiz?

The Morganville Vampires by Rachel Caine

"Without a doubt. The railway is not finished-"
"How! It is not finished?"
"No! There is still a section of fifty mile to construct between this point and Allahabad, where the track commences again".
"But the papers have announced the opening of the entire line".

Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne?

It's all bought up as fast as it can be made,' said the fellow. 'There
are fourteen water-mills, six steam-engines, and a galvanic battery,
always a-working upon it, and they can't make it fast enough, though
the men work so hard that they die off, and the widows is pensioned
directly, with twenty pound a-year for each of the children, and a
premium of fifty for twins. One penny a square! Two half-pence is all
the same, and four farthings is received with joy. One penny a square!
Wine-stains, fruit-stains, beer-stains, water-stains, paint-stains,
pitch-stains, mud-stains, blood-stains! Here is a stain upon the hat
of a gentleman in company, that I'll take clean out, before he can
order me a pint of ale.

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

He had not been at his work many months when again he did not come home one night.
"Do you know where Arthur is?" asked Paul at breakfast.
"I do not," replied his mother.
"He is a fool," said Paul. "And if he DID anything I shouldn't mind. But no, he simply can't come away from a game of whist, or else he must see a girl home from the skating-rink—quite proprietously—and so can't get home. He's a fool."
"I don't know that it would make it any better if he did something to make us all ashamed," said Mrs. Morel.

Sons and Lovers, D.H. Lawrence

Frogs are good swimmers but they haven't much endurance. Down the pool they went until finally they were bunched and crowded against the end. And the feet and wildly plunging bodies followed them. A few frogs lost their heads and floundered amount the feet and got through and these were saved. But the majority decided to leave this pool forever, to find a new home in a new country where this kind of thing didn't happen.

Cannery Row, John Steinback

Gentlemen, it seems to me you're both out of line to be laying down the law about things that are really up to me. I am no schoolboy, and I won't be dictated to with hours and schedules. I'll have my lessons in the order and manner I prefer. So to cut short this argument, let's figure this out.

The Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare.


After the knife incident, Father spent less and less time at home and more at work. He made excuses to the family, but I didn't believe him. I often shivered with fear as I sat in the garage, hoping for some reason he might not leave. In spite of all that had happened, I still felt Father was my protector. When he was home, Mother only did about half the things to me that she did when he was gone.

A Child Called It by Dave Pelzer

The Director leads the students to the garden, where several hundred naked children are playing. The Director remarks that “in Our Ford's day,” games involved no more than a ball or two, a few sticks, and maybe a net. Such simple apparatus did nothing to increase consumption. In the current World State, all games, like “Centrifugal Bumble-puppy,” involve complicated machines.

Brave New World, Aldous Huxley

With its two fighting claws held forward like a wrestler's arms the big pandinus scorpion emerged with a dry rustle from the finger-sized hole under the rock.
There was a small patch of hard, flat earth outside the hole and the scorpion stood in the centre of this on the iips of its four pairs of legs, its nerves and muscles braced for a quick retread and its senses questing for the minute vibrations which would decide its next move.

Diamonds Are Forever, Ian Fleming

The little prince is apprehensive at first. He says he does not have much time and that he is looking for friends. The fox says that if the prince wants a friend, he will have to tame the fox. The prince asks how such a thing is done, and the fox coquettishly takes him through the ritual. He explains that rites and rituals are important because they allow certain moments to stand out from all the others.

I begged her to let me go and kill another little boy.