# 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:** 112
**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 16, 2022, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2230 "2022-10-16T21:41:10Z")
“Our meeting was not contrived.” – _Agent Running in the Field_, by John Le Carre ---
**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 18, 2022, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2231 "2022-10-18T20:42:35Z")
“Art is universal.” _The Arts_ by Hendrik Willem Van Loon ---
**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 18, 2022, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2232 "2022-10-18T22:09:37Z")
Almost two years before the Arduino funerals in Turin, at 5.15 on Saturday 24 July 1943, a hot, still, sultry Roman afternoon, the Fascist Grand Council gathered in the Sala del Pappagallo in the Piazza Venetia. _A House in the Mountains: The Women Who Liberated Italy from Fascism_, by Caroline Moorehead ---
**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 19, 2022, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2233 "2022-10-19T18:57:19Z")
“‘Linnet Ridgeway!’ ‘That’s her!’ said Mr. Burnaby, the landlord of the Three Crowns. He nudged his companion.” _Death on the Nile_ by Agatha Christie ---
**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 19, 2022, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2234 "2022-10-19T20:36:49Z")
"Stephen Grover Cleveland was born on March 18, 1837, in Caldwell, New Jersey, the son of Richard F. Cleveland, a Presbyterian pastor, and Ann Neal Cleveland, the daughter of a Baltimore law book publisher.” _The Forgotten Conservative – Rediscovering Grover Cleveland_ , by John M. Pafford ---
**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 20, 2022, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2235 "2022-10-20T19:03:53Z")
When he lies down to sleep, this landscape is always on his mind: A pine forest covers the hills, as thick as the fur on a bear’s back. _The Hammer of Eden_, by Ken Follett ---
**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 23, 2022, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2236 "2022-10-23T11:39:14Z")
“My friend Patsy was telling me a story.” _When You Are Engulfed in Flames_, by David Sedaris ---
**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 23, 2022, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2237 "2022-10-23T20:20:05Z")
“In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since.” – _The Great Gatsby_, by F. Scott Fitzgerald ---
**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 24, 2022, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2238 "2022-10-24T12:59:45Z")
“The dinosaur looked more like a squashed chicken than like the fanged killers of the American movies.” _Living Memory_ by David Walton ---
**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 24, 2022, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2239 "2022-10-24T15:42:23Z")
Chatham is a bump in the road in the southern part of Virginia: a small, picturesque town of just over a thousand people, with well-tended Victorians and a downtown known for its handsome redbrick Greek Revival courthouse. _Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II_, by Liza Mundy Looming is an old sea term – it describes the result of peculiar atmospheric conditions that occur rarely, but most often at sea, in which ships far beyond the furthest horizon may be clearly seen long before they are within visual range. _Danger’s Hour: The Story of the USS_ Bunker Hill _and the Kamikaze Pilot Who Crippled Her_, by Maxwell Taylor Kennedy ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2240 "2022-10-25T00:15:53Z")
> Dawn was beginning to soften the edge of the night as the Buick convertible cruised through the Essex countryside. _Piece of Cake_ by Derek Robinson ---
**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 25, 2022, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2241 "2022-10-25T17:54:52Z")
“To my mind, the problem with asparagus is the planting instructions, which begin “Dig a trench.” How Carrots Won the Trojan War: Curious but True Stories of Common Vegetables by Rebecca Rupp ---
**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 27, 2022, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2242 "2022-10-27T21:18:04Z")
“My name is Dovey Coe and I reckon it don’t matter if you like me or not.” _Dovey Coe_ by Frances O’Roark Dowell ---
**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 28, 2022, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2243 "2022-10-28T20:00:31Z")
“The bells seemed louder than usual this evening.” _The Kew Garden Girls_ by Posy Lovell ---
**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 28, 2022, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2244 "2022-10-28T20:46:57Z")
"A few days after Truman’s swearing-in, Eben Ayers, a former newspaperman who’d come to work in the White House press office just before Roosevelt’s death, told his diary, “Confusion and uncertainty prevail.'” _The Trials of Harry S. Truman: The Extraordinary Presidency of an Ordinary Man, 1945-1953_ by Jeffrey Frank ---
**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 28, 2022, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2245 "2022-10-28T21:02:08Z")
The flight deck of USS _Enterprise_ (CV-6) echoed with the command over the loudspeaker from the bridge: “Pilots! Man your planes!” _I Will Run Wild: The Pacific War from Pearl Harbor to Midway_, by Thomas McKelvey Cleaver One of the world’s most beautiful countries, Japan is so crowded she has developed both a unity of social grace and a national impulse of exceeding kindness to strangers. _Pearl Harbor: From Infamy to Greatness_, by Craig Nelson ---
**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 30, 2022, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2246 "2022-10-30T19:28:13Z")
“So, then, I have to go downtown to the University and forage for dollars again.” _Dying Inside_ by Robert Silverberg ---
**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 30, 2022, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2247 "2022-10-30T23:51:48Z")
It was the most romantic plane ever made. _Night Over Water_, by Ken Follett ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2022, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2248 "2022-10-31T00:09:58Z")
> “Is it a hanging?” an eager newspaper delivery boy asked no one in particular. _Shrines of Gaiety_ by Kate Atkinson ---
**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 31, 2022, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2249 "2022-10-31T00:24:33Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > _Night Over Water_, by Ken Follett A most excellent read by Follett. You will enjoy this one. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858.md?page=111) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858.md?page=113)