C'est Camus, mais je ne me rappelle pas de quel livre.

Absolutely.

It took me forever to think of the book. It's "The Myth of Sisyphus," isn't it?

It most certainly is, KC. It's a book I revisit quite often, and his idea of a heroic existence in the face of an absurd world is one I find very attractive(even if I do think there is a god!)

Well, Kierkegaard did say that one should believe in God because it is absurd!

From highbrow culture, to lowbrow pop entertainment.

"'I see...' said the vampire thoughtfully, and slowly he walked across the room towards the window. For a long time he stood there against the dim light from Divisadero Street and the passing beams of traffic."

Well, I never read the book, but from having seen the movie, that sounds a lot like Interview with the Vampire.

I've never read the books or seen the movie, but I'd agree with your guess Maj.

A bit of trivia I know for some reason: Anne Rice's given first name is Howard.

quote:

Originally posted by MajorNougat:
Well, I never read the book, but from having seen the movie, that sounds a lot like Interview with the Vampire.

An excellent guess. It really was a pretty good book, for boilerplate. I've never really liked anything else of hers that I've read. I've read three or four other books, hoping to like them, to no avail. Decent bit of beach reading though, if you ever trawl the lower strata. You're up, Nougster.

No alarms going off here, I'm afraid...

Oh baby! One of my favorites of all time by possibly my favorite American author. None other than The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner. If you haven't read it, do so...NOW.

He originally requested the book have three different colors of ink to distinguish the characters.

It's been years since I've read Faulkner. S and F was my favorite, too. Good call!

I'm at work, but let me see if I can come up with something to post...

Here's one you might not expect from me. I think it's pretty easy.

"The sky, over the port, was the color of television tuned to a dead station."

Neuromancer, by Wm Gibson. I'm not sure if I liked it or not. For cyberpunk, I actually prefer Neal Stephenson. And I really didn't like Pattern Recognition.

Ok, so, it falls to me.
Let's stay thematically consistent:

"Anyhow, the important thing is that the kids enjoyed playing Syndrome; evidently it would sell, and that was what mattered. Already the two youngsters were learning the naturalness of surrendering their holdings. They gave up their stocks and money avidly, with a kind of trembling abandon.
Glancing up, her eyes bright, Laura said, 'It's the best educational toy you ever brought home, Dad!'"

I know this one (duh) but here's a hint. It's from a short story, but by no means is it this author's most recognized. If anything, it's a bit obscure and not the first story that comes to mind when thinking about this author.

you guys are really good. I read many books, but rarely remember lines from them.

I do, too. When it comes to Sci-Fi, unless it's one of the heavyweights, I usually have no clue, but you went easy. Not with the choice of story, mind you. This one happened to be in the only collection of this author I own.

Here's another clue

In a creepy electronic voice, "Do you want to play a game?"

quote:

Originally posted by rockthief:
you guys are really good. I read many books, but rarely remember lines from them.

I think, in general, we pick pretty iconic lines. Or, at least in my case, I try to have enough in there to give a pretty big hint. If you ever read the story that my line is from, the clues are "playing Syndrome," and "best educational toy."

I'll tell you that the author is probably more famous for the very well known movies made from his works, than from the works themselves. And, as always, PRG knows the answer almost before I write it. It's uncanny.

quote:

Originally posted by kendocubano:
"playing Syndrome,"

That's what tipped me to it, otherwise, I probably wouldn't have known it.

Although like I said, if you really want to stump me, stay in Sci-Fi/Fantasy but go for a less iconic author.