# 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:** 114
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2022, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2270 "2022-11-12T21:50:09Z")
“Two Spanish soldiers swaggered up Tower Street toward William Shakespeare.” _Ruled Brittania_ by Harry Turtledove ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2022, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2271 "2022-11-12T21:55:09Z")
I ordered it online and if it takes too long I can lend it to you. I loved the tribute Flint wrote to Rick Boatright, so heartwarming. I knew Rick in high school and we dated a few times. Really nice guy. I am also hoping that somehow the series can continue. There are enough experienced authors in it that they should be about to get something organized. I’d still read the series even though Eric Flint has passed. ---
**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:** [November 12, 2022, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2272 "2022-11-12T22:42:31Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > I ordered it online and if it takes too long I can lend it to you. Let me know when you finish it. I may have it by then. > [@Baker](#): > > I am also hoping that somehow the series can continue. There are enough experienced authors in it that they should be about to get something organized. I’d still read the series even though Eric Flint has passed. The naval, North American, and main story lines are the ones I’m most interested in. _Grantville Gazette_ and Ring of Fire Press have been shut down. I gather the RoFP books can still be ordered until they run out, but that’s it. There are several I wanted to get. 8( ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2022, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2273 "2022-11-13T21:24:07Z")
Damn, just damn. ---
**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:** [November 14, 2022, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2274 "2022-11-14T20:07:57Z")
“I am Hawjan…” _HWJN_, by Ibraheem Abbas and Yasser Bahjatt ---
**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:** [November 15, 2022, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2275 "2022-11-15T16:13:26Z")
“She sat stiffly on the hot dusty fabric of the train seat and thought, not for the first time in her eighteen years, _What am I doing here?_” _White Collar Girl_ by Marjory Hall ---
**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:** [November 16, 2022, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2276 "2022-11-16T19:58:07Z")
(Friday, April 2, 1847, Night.) “Sheets of cold rain lashed the decks of the USS Jamestown and gale-force winds battered the three-masted American sloop of war through the swells of the North Atlantic.” _Voyage of Mercy: The U.S.S. Jamestown, the Irish Famine, and the Remarkable Story of America’s First Humanitarian Mission_, by Stephen Puleo ---
**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:** [November 19, 2022, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2277 "2022-11-19T22:53:33Z")
They were running. _Into the Storm_, first book in the ‘Destroyermen’ series by Taylor Anderson. The sun stood bright and hot over the “ruined” city of Nautla on the west coast of the Yucatán, which was being hacked back out of the dense surrounding forest even while other labor was under way to reclaim it. _Hell’s March_, second book in the ‘Artillerymen’ series by Taylor Anderson. ---
**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:** [November 20, 2022, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2278 "2022-11-20T16:39:04Z")
“An ancient English Cathedral Town?” _The Mystery of Edwin Drood_, by Charles Dickens ---
**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:** [November 22, 2022, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2279 "2022-11-22T22:39:02Z")
“In 1995 Pepsi ran a promotion where people could collect Pepsi Points and then trade them in for Pepsi Stuff.” _Humble Pi: A Comedy of Maths Errors_, by Matt Parker ---
**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:** [November 23, 2022, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2280 "2022-11-23T13:21:14Z")
“Mickey Cochrane stepped off the train into the night air at Michigan Central and grinned for the press photographers.” _Terror in the City of Champions_, by Tom Stanton (sub-titled _Murder, Baseball, and the Secret Society That Shocked Depression-Era Detroit_) ---
**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:** [November 23, 2022, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2281 "2022-11-23T15:10:12Z")
“‘Easy, boy, easy!’ Don Harvey reined in the fat little cow pony.” _Between Planets_ by Robert A. Heinlein ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2022, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2282 "2022-11-23T16:45:58Z")
I am a jackass living in America and living surprisingly well. _Paddle Your Own Canoe by Nick Offerman._ ---
**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:** [November 23, 2022, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2283 "2022-11-23T22:28:18Z")
“Amy pushed open the front door and paused for a moment on the mat, which did not say WELCOME.” _Amethyst_ by Rebecca Lisle ---
**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:** [November 24, 2022, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2284 "2022-11-24T16:54:38Z")
“Bitcoin billionaire, amateur art historian, onetime farm boy George Sonnewell sat on a concrete abutment in a sour-milk-smelling alley near Union Square in San Francisco, the cement rough against his jean-clad butt.” _Righteous Prey_ by John Sandford ---
**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:** [November 24, 2022, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2285 "2022-11-24T21:38:02Z")
“Like clockwork, a recognizable knock came at the door.” _The Alchemy of Us: How Humans and Matter Transformed One Another_, by Ainissa Ramirez ---
**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:** [November 25, 2022, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2286 "2022-11-25T01:41:53Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > I ordered it online and if it takes too long I can lend it to you. I have it. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2022, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2287 "2022-11-25T04:49:46Z")
Great. I still hold out a probably forlorn hope they can keep the series itself going. I had planned on trying to write a Gazette story but that’s out now. ---
**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:** [November 25, 2022, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2288 "2022-11-25T05:47:43Z")
I’m sure there are at least a couple of works by other authors (with or without Flint) in progress, and hope they will be completed and published. ---
**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:** [November 27, 2022, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2289 "2022-11-27T18:37:18Z")
“Jerry Stieglitz sat cross-legged in front of the stereo on the bottom shelf of one of the bookcases in his apartment.” _Three Miles Down_, by Harry Turtledove [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858.md?page=113) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858.md?page=115)