# 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:** 123
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2023, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2451 "2023-04-18T16:43:15Z")
The lieutenant had been wounded while they were still on the water. _A Walk in the Sun_ by Harry Brown ---
**Author:** ![Danger\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6de8d8/32.png) [@Danger\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danger_Man)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2023, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2452 "2023-04-18T17:49:21Z")
«For hjertet er livet enkelt: det slår så lenge det kan. Så stopper det.» My Struggle (Mein Kampf) - Karl Ove Knausgård ---
**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:** [April 18, 2023, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2453 "2023-04-18T17:56:17Z")
“Owen used to like to tease me about how I lose everything, about how, in my own way, I have raised losing things to an art form.” _The Last Thing He Told Me_ by Laura Dave. ---
**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:** [April 18, 2023, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2454 "2023-04-18T18:35:58Z")
“Zum geburtstag viel Gluck! Zum geburtstag viel Gluck! Zum geburtstag alles gut! Zum geburtstag viel Gluck!” _The_ Orville: _Sympathy for the Devil_ by Seth MacFarlane “‘An old man should have a dog.’ Dan Chase’s daughter had told him that ten years ago, after his wife died.” _The Old Man_ by Thomas Perry ---
**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:** [April 18, 2023, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2455 "2023-04-18T20:20:25Z")
Let’s face it: humans are weird. _First Steps: How Upright Walking Made Us Human_, by Jeremy DeSilva ---
**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:** [April 19, 2023, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2456 "2023-04-19T13:29:45Z")
“On May 7, 1944, in the deep of night, a train carrying the 130th Chemical Processing Company of the U. S. Chemical Warfare Service steamed toward London.” _12 Seconds of Silence: How a Team of Inventors, Tinkerers, and Spies Took Down a Nazi Superweapon_, by Jamie Holmes ---
**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:** [April 20, 2023, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2457 "2023-04-20T02:36:56Z")
It was the egret, flying out of the lemon grove, that started it. _The Moon-Spinners_, by Mary Stewart ---
**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:** [April 22, 2023, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2458 "2023-04-22T13:26:55Z")
“To think–not language.” _A Desolation Called Peace_, by Arkady Martine ---
**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:** [April 24, 2023, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2459 "2023-04-24T00:31:18Z")
“From the kitchen, Callie heard Trevor tapping his fingers on the aquarium.” _False Witness_, by Karin Slaughter ---
**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:** [April 24, 2023, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2460 "2023-04-24T00:41:30Z")
Charlotte Ellison stood in the centre of the withdrawing room, the newspaper in her hand. _The Cater Street Hangman_, by Anne Perry ---
**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:** [April 24, 2023, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2461 "2023-04-24T19:07:00Z")
“Jeff Winston was on the phone with his wife when he died.” _Reply_ by Ken Grimwood ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2023, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2462 "2023-04-24T19:12:15Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > “The body lay naked and facedown, a deathly gray, spatters of blood staining the snow around it.” > > _Ancillary Justice_, by Ann Leckie I have it on audiobook and re-listen to it often. ---
**Author:** ![dirtball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dirtball/32/18772_2.png) [@dirtball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dirtball)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2023, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2463 "2023-04-24T20:01:28Z")
“On an otherwise ordinary evening in May, a week before his twenty-ninth birthday, Jonathan Hughes met his fate, commuting from another time, another year, another life.” _Killer, Come Back to Me: The Crime Stories of Ray Bradbury_, by Ray Bradbury (from the first story, “A Touch of Petulance”) ---
**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:** [April 26, 2023, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2464 "2023-04-26T12:30:18Z")
“Have you ever flipped through a beautiful art history book, or studied art history for that matter, and wondered, ‘Um, where are the women?’” _A Big Important Art Book–Now With Women!: Profiles of Unstoppable Female Artists and Projects to Help You Become One_, by Danielle Krysa ---
**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:** [April 28, 2023, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2465 "2023-04-28T21:17:33Z")
“Good morning, Monk,” Runcorn said with satisfaction spreading over his strong, narrow features. _A Dangerous Mourning_, by Anne Perry. ---
**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:** [April 29, 2023, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2466 "2023-04-29T00:17:56Z")
“Lisette Toutournier sighed.” _Everfair_, by Nisi Shawl ---
**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:** [April 30, 2023, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2467 "2023-04-30T02:51:02Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > “Jeff Winston was on the phone with his wife when he died.” > > _Reply_ by Ken Grimwood 🤦‍♂️ That’s _Replay._ ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2023, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2468 "2023-04-30T16:48:49Z")
Growing up, I always wondered why everything in Wandernaught seemed so dull. The Magic of Recluse, by L. E. Modesitt ---
**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:** [April 30, 2023, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2469 "2023-04-30T20:53:26Z")
Central Europe, autumn, 24,000 years ago. _Climate Chaos: Lessons on Survival from Our Ancestors_, by Brian Fagan and Nadia Durrani ---
**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:** [April 30, 2023, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2470 "2023-04-30T21:01:08Z")
“It lands with a _thunk_, from nowhere, out of time, out of order, thrown from the future or perhaps from the past, but landing here, in this place, at this moment, which could be any moment, which means, you guess, it’s no moment.” – _Antkind_, by Charlie Kaufman [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858.md?page=122) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858.md?page=124)