# What are the LAST lines of the book(s) you've just finished? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 4, 2019, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-last-lines-of-the-book-s-youve-just-finished/828925 "2019-02-04T02:35:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2019, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-last-lines-of-the-book-s-youve-just-finished/828925/1 "2019-02-04T02:35:58Z")
I thought this might be a good companion to the [What is the first sentence from the book you are currently reading?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=824373) thread. The classic, of course, is:[SUP]1[/SUP] > [@](#): > > ‘Well, I’m back,’ he said. Most recently finished new book:[SUP]2[/SUP] > [@](#): > > Kaylin shook her head. “Not his cage, but his home.” Most recent reread:[SUP]3[/SUP] > [@](#): > > After all, I’m no hero. [SUP]1[/SUP]Lord of the Rings [SUP]2[/SUP]Cast in Oblivion [SUP]3[/SUP]The Suffering ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2019, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-last-lines-of-the-book-s-youve-just-finished/828925/2 "2019-02-04T15:32:40Z")
\*\*“Tell me,” he says, “have you ever heard of something called a _moon_?” \*\* The Fifth Season by NK Jemison. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2019, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-last-lines-of-the-book-s-youve-just-finished/828925/3 "2019-02-04T15:36:05Z")
King’s family, which had gathered in part to celebrate Father’s Day, is in seclusion tonight. Song of Susannah ---
**Author:** ![MoonMoon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moonmoon/32/2959_2.png) [@MoonMoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoonMoon)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2019, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-last-lines-of-the-book-s-youve-just-finished/828925/4 "2019-02-04T16:14:16Z")
The coin turns. The coin turns. And we are gone. - The Serpent: Gameshouse Novella 1 by Claire North ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2019, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-last-lines-of-the-book-s-youve-just-finished/828925/5 "2019-02-04T16:27:48Z")
“When I think of you, and Aunt Ruth and Grandam all being young together … how I wonder what you were all like! I can’t imagine it somehow….” “I don’t suppose you can,” said Miss Marple. “It was all a long time ago….” Agatha Christie, of course: _They Do It With Mirrors_ ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-last-lines-of-the-book-s-youve-just-finished/828925/6 "2019-02-06T21:04:18Z")
“And they hooked their fingers around its slender spurs, and pulled.” **Dreams of Gods and Monsters** , by Laini Taylor. The “it” referred to is a wishbone. It’s the last book in a trilogy. The first line of the first book is good too: “Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love. It did not end well.” ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-last-lines-of-the-book-s-youve-just-finished/828925/7 "2019-02-06T21:17:48Z")
_And in the dream I knew that he was goin on ahead and that he was fixin to make a fire somewhere out there in all that dark and all that cold and I knew that whenever I got there he would be there. And then I woke up._ ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-last-lines-of-the-book-s-youve-just-finished/828925/8 "2019-02-06T22:51:45Z")
Yes. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Burden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/958977/32.png) [@Jack\_Burden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Burden)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-last-lines-of-the-book-s-youve-just-finished/828925/9 "2019-02-06T23:23:02Z")
“And thus did the rule of the regents come whimpering to an end, as the broken reign of the Broken King began.” **Fire & Blood** by George R.R. Martin ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-last-lines-of-the-book-s-youve-just-finished/828925/10 "2019-02-06T23:32:14Z")
Big spoiler potential, this thread has. I’ve been rereading Neil Asher’s Polity novels. The latest is _Orbus_, with the last sentence being: > [@](#): > > However, those that object too strongly and loudly often fall prey to the most grotesque and fatal misfortunes, so my guess is that King Vrell, while not quite as vicious as his predecessors, ain’t exactly about to turn vegetarian either. ---
**Author:** ![Jet\_Jaguar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jet_jaguar/32/3562_2.png) [@Jet\_Jaguar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jet_Jaguar)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-last-lines-of-the-book-s-youve-just-finished/828925/11 "2019-02-07T03:56:47Z")
“And hopefully, in a few years, I’ll have another story to tell.” - _The Unfair Advantage_, by Mark Donohue. Donohue was a racing driver in the 60’s and 70’s and a trained engineer, known for his ability to develop his cars as well as drive them. He died after crash in an F1 practice session less than a year after the book was first published. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2019, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-last-lines-of-the-book-s-youve-just-finished/828925/12 "2019-02-17T05:19:55Z")
“True, they are unlikely to have to pay the high price Canaris paid for following the dictates of his conscience but, at the same time, it would be a rare member of that tiny breed who would not express some faint nod of admiration, if not envy, for the way the little admiral wove his independent path through the thorny maze of the most deadly crisis of modern times.” — Hitler’s Spy Chief: The Wilhelm Canaris Mystery ---
**Author:** ![Pithily\_Effusive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pithily_effusive/32/252_2.png) [@Pithily\_Effusive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pithily_Effusive)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2019, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-last-lines-of-the-book-s-youve-just-finished/828925/13 "2019-02-18T06:25:20Z")
Regardless of how nebulous, and often flimsy such considerations tend to reveal themselves to be, over the centuries since the troubadours heralded the great Romantic era dallying with this thing \*love \*while at the same time juggling this thing \*freedom \*is a practice that has not abated. Rather, it has only increased. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2019, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-last-lines-of-the-book-s-youve-just-finished/828925/14 "2019-02-20T18:21:17Z")
> [@](#): > > The standard metaphor for earth history is a 24-hour clock with human civilization occupying the last few seconds. I prefer to emphasize the accumulated oomph of effects utterly insignificant on the scale of our lives. We have just completed another year and the earth has slowed down by another 1/50,000 second. So blinking what? What you have just read is what. _The Panda’s Thumb_ by Stephen Jay Gould (1980). ---
**Author:** ![Celidin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Celidin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celidin)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2019, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-last-lines-of-the-book-s-youve-just-finished/828925/15 "2019-02-20T18:48:38Z")
“Then let the bastards come,” I told them. “We will fight them – with fae, with shifters, with a Wizard and the Powers of the High Court. If they want to burn the High Court down, then let them come.” - _Hunter’s Oath_ Glynn Stewart (Not exactly as deep as some of the others here, but a fun read) ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2019, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-last-lines-of-the-book-s-youve-just-finished/828925/16 "2019-02-20T20:57:46Z")
“Because nothing has to be true forever. Just for long enough, to tell you the truth.” The Truth by Terry Pratchett ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2019, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-last-lines-of-the-book-s-youve-just-finished/828925/17 "2019-02-20T21:06:39Z")
“Your increasingly, and ravenously affectionate uncle, Screwtape” Kind of beats my sign off. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2019, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-last-lines-of-the-book-s-youve-just-finished/828925/18 "2019-02-21T06:18:59Z")
“His sacrifice for religion gained for him the lasting respect of the Catholic Church, and he carried with him into lifelong exile an air of royalty and honour.” I wouldn’t like to spoil by giving the name of the book. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2019, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-last-lines-of-the-book-s-youve-just-finished/828925/19 "2019-02-22T04:35:05Z")
So she held him, crouched at her knees, against her breast, huddling his head in her arms that he might not hear eight o’clock strike. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2019, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-last-lines-of-the-book-s-youve-just-finished/828925/20 "2019-02-22T05:23:16Z")
“So much blue.” _So Much Blue_ by Percival Everett And the spoiler is… …that there is no spoiler. We never get to see what’s so blue. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-last-lines-of-the-book-s-youve-just-finished/828925.md?page=2)