# What is the first sentence from the book you are currently reading? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [April 20, 2017, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858 "2017-04-20T16:51:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 111
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2022, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2210 "2022-10-03T19:30:07Z")
“My lifelong love of children’s books begins on a humid day in Flushing, Queens.” _Steeped in Stories: Timeless Children’s Novels to Refresh Our Tired Souls_, by Mitali Perkins. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2022, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2211 "2022-10-04T18:43:50Z")
“The night breeze off the sea riffled through the bone orchard, playing softly in the ghastly white fruits, making the solid ones clatter while the long bones chimed and fluted.” _The Bone Orchard_, by Sara A. Mueller ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2022, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2212 "2022-10-05T18:25:01Z")
“More than 300 million people in the world speak English and the rest, it sometimes seems, try to.” _The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way_ by Bill Bryson ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2022, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2213 "2022-10-06T15:19:19Z")
“His arrival in Philadelphia is one of the most famous scenes in autobiographical literature: the bedraggled 17-year-old runaway, cheeky yet with a pretense of humility, straggling off the boat and buying three puffy rolls as he wanders up Market Street.” _Benjamin Franklin – An American Life_ by Walter Isaacson ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2022, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2214 "2022-10-06T21:21:12Z")
“If one wishes to gaze upon the most marvelous landscape in the world, one must go to the topmost story of the Tower of Victory in Chitor.” _The Book of Imaginary Beings_ by Jorge Luis Borges ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2022, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2215 "2022-10-08T18:06:46Z")
As with most of the Japanese-held islands they assaulted in their long, brutal trek across the Pacific, virtually none of the GIs and Marines assigned to invade Okinawa had ever heard of the place until a few weeks before they landed there. _The Ultimate Battle: Okinawa 1945 – the Last Epic Struggle of World War II_, by Bill Sloan Saipan June 17, 1944 The flies were everywhere. _The Twilight Warriors: The Deadliest Naval Battle of World War II and the Men Who Fought It_, by Robert Gandt Two books about Okinawa, one covering the whole battle from both American and Japanese viewpoints, and one focusing on the fighter pilots aboard USS _Intrepid_ (CV-11). ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2022, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2216 "2022-10-08T18:16:50Z")
“It was one of those raw, windy, dreary Monday afternoons in February when gloom settled over the land and seasonal depression was rampant.” _Sparring Partners_, by John Grisham ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2022, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2217 "2022-10-08T20:24:29Z")
“Lenore had carefully chosen what to wear but felt dissatisfied.” _When Things Get Dark: Stories Inspired by Shirley Jackson_, edited by Ellen Datlow. (Note that the above line is from the first story, “Funeral Birds” by M. Rickert.) ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2022, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2218 "2022-10-08T21:04:11Z")
“The famous Left Bank, which includes the Quartier Latin and Montparnasse, I had left behind me.” _Back to Montparnasse, Glimpses of Broadway in Bohemia._ by Sisley Huddleston ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2022, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2219 "2022-10-09T23:48:44Z")
“Dashiell Hammett, the bestselling creator of Sam Spade, _The Maltese Falcon_, and _The Thin Man_, was one of the twentieth century’s most entertaining authors, and one of its most influential.” – _Lost Stories_, a collection of 21 Dashiell Hammett stories never seen again after their original publishings. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2022, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2220 "2022-10-10T01:32:56Z")
The Moon. Shackleton Crater. Lunar latitude 90 degrees south. Date: 2069. At the exact moment of the centenary, the depths of Shackleton Crater at the Moon’s south pole went dark, as they had been for billions of years before humans arrived. _Space 2069: After Apollo: Back to the Moon, to Mars, and Beyond_, by David Whitehouse ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2022, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2221 "2022-10-10T16:01:46Z")
“After my junior year at Princeton, it another desultory academic lay-by, I decided I might as well go into the army and get it over with.” _Over Time: My Life as a Sportswriter_, by Frank Deford. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2022, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2222 "2022-10-12T18:40:47Z")
“Anyone who watches even the slightest amount of TV is familiar with the scene: An agent knocks on the door of some seemingly normal home or office.” _Me Talk Pretty One Day_ by David Sedaris (from the short story “Go Carolina”) ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2022, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2223 "2022-10-12T18:44:00Z")
Anna Essinger, the accomplished headmistress of a progressive boarding school in southern Germany, was not a woman prone to alarm or overreaction. _The School That Escaped the Nazis: The True Story of the Schoolteacher Who Defied Hitler_, by Deborah Cadbury ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2022, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2224 "2022-10-12T18:44:16Z")
“And _where_ is home this week?” _Stand Tall_ by Joan Bauer ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2022, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2225 "2022-10-13T20:22:18Z")
“Brilliant shards of crimson and gold pierced the eastern sky as dawn broke over Cambrai.” _The Facemaker: A Visionary Surgeon’s Battle to Mend the Disfigured Soldiers of World War I_, by Lindsey Fitzharris. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2022, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2226 "2022-10-15T11:16:30Z")
“How did the Marquis de Lafayette win over the stingiest, crankiest tax protesters in the history of the world?” _Lafayette in the Somewhat United States_, by Saarah Vowell ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2022, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2227 "2022-10-15T20:11:38Z")
“There were unexpected difficulties,” said the dark gray blur. _Provenance_, by Ann Leckie ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2022, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2228 "2022-10-15T22:21:55Z")
In the spring of 1944, outside the farming hamlet of Sussac in south-central France, an old water mill, long disused, rumbled back to life. _Scholars of Mayhem: My Father’s Secret War in Nazi-Occupied France_, by Daniel C Guiet and Timothy K Smith Current theories on the creation of the Universe state that, if it was created at all and didn’t just start, as it were, unofficially, it came into being between ten and twenty thousand million years ago. _Good Omens_, by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2022, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2229 "2022-10-16T00:54:11Z")
It was unusually quiet that Saturday morning at the upstate New York weekly newspaper where I worked part time as a copy boy. _Passing Gas And Other Towns Along the American Highway_, by Mary Gladstone [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858.md?page=110) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858.md?page=112)