# 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:** 125
**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:** [May 15, 2023, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2491 "2023-05-15T18:38:47Z")
“Half an hour after Tim Jamieson’s Delta flight was scheduled to leave Tampa for the bright lights and tall buildings of New York, it was still parked at the gate.” _The Institute_, by Stephen King ---
**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:** [May 15, 2023, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2492 "2023-05-15T23:37:56Z")
“The very first measurement, like the first word or first melody, is lost to time: impossible to localize and difficult even to imagine.” _Beyond Measure: The Hidden History of Measurement from Cubits to Quantum Constants_, by James Vincent. ---
**Author:** ![bmasters1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5e925/32.png) [@bmasters1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bmasters1)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2023, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2493 "2023-05-16T08:23:14Z")
From _Murder, She Wrote_, _A Fatal Feast_: “Mornin’, Mrs. Fletcher.” ---
**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:** [May 17, 2023, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2494 "2023-05-17T17:14:03Z")
“Late March in the foothills of the Bighorn Mountains wasn’t yet spring by any means, but there were a growing number of days when spring could be dreamt of.” _Storm Watch_ by C.J. Box, #23 in the Joe Pickett series ---
**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:** [May 18, 2023, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2495 "2023-05-18T19:21:18Z")
“There was a letter from the Clearys at the post office.” _The Best of Connie Willis: Award Winning Stories_, by Connie Willis. (Note that the above sentence is from the first story, “A Letter from the Clearys.”) ---
**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:** [May 21, 2023, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2496 "2023-05-21T19:30:12Z")
“Melville, South Carolina was out of money, it was out of jobs, it was out of hope, and today it was out of astronauts.” _Badasstronauts_, by Grady Hendrix ---
**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:** [May 21, 2023, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2497 "2023-05-21T19:42:24Z")
Most of human history is irreparably lost to us. _The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity_, by David Graeber and David Wengrow ---
**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:** [May 22, 2023, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2498 "2023-05-22T17:54:28Z")
“The wind howls, the rain comes down in sheets, and Patty is still dead.” _Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day_, by Seanan McGuire ---
**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:** [May 23, 2023, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2499 "2023-05-23T22:26:11Z")
“A man stands at the end of a drafty corridor AKA the 19th Century and, in the flickering light of an oil lamp, examines a machine made of nickel and ivory, with brass rails and quartz rods.” _Time Travel_ by James Gleick ---
**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:** [May 23, 2023, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2500 "2023-05-23T23:16:52Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > “A man stands at the end of a drafty corridor AKA the 19th Century and, in the flickering light of an oil lamp, examines a machine made of nickel and ivory, with brass rails and quartz rods.” > > _Time Travel_ by James Gleick Just put this on hold at the library. 😃 ‘Drat,’ said Mercy Porter, balancing the tray on a concrete cherub as she tugged at the latch on the Garden Apartment gate. _Away with the Fairies_ (Phryne Fisher #11), by Kerry Greenwood Two armies faced each other across the River Epte in northern France. _Empires of the Normans: Conquerors of Europe_, by Levi Roach ---
**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:** [May 24, 2023, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2501 "2023-05-24T16:39:53Z")
“The Belle Isle police riot of April 30, 1967, was the first riot I ever played.” _The Hard Stuff - Dope, Crime, The MC5 & My Life of Impossibilities_ , by Wayne Kramer ---
**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:** [May 24, 2023, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2502 "2023-05-24T22:21:40Z")
“The American philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce somewhere remarked that unfortunately universes are not as plentiful as blackberries.” _Are Universes Thicker Than Blackberries? Discourses on Godel, Magic Hexagrams, Little Red Riding Hood, and Other Mathematical and Pseudoscience Topics_, by Martin Gardner. ---
**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:** [May 29, 2023, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2503 "2023-05-29T15:09:47Z")
“In his last years Marco’s older brother had become one of those people whose possessions swallowed them entirely.” _Lost Places_ by Sarah Pinsker (Note that this is a story collection, and the above sentence is from the first, “Two Truths and a Lie”.) ---
**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:** [May 29, 2023, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2504 "2023-05-29T21:25:59Z")
"It was about the Beginning of _September_ 1664, that I, among the Rest of my Neighbours, heard in ordinary Discourse, that the Plague was return’d again in Holland; for it had been very violent there, and particularly at _Amsterdam_ and _Roterdam_ [sic], in the Year 1663, whither _they say_, it was brought, some said from _Italy_, others from the _Levant_ among some Goods, which were brought home by their Turkey Fleet; others said it was brought from _Candia_; others from _Cyprus_. – _A Journal of the Plague Year_, by Daniel Defoe ---
**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:** [May 30, 2023, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2505 "2023-05-30T19:33:42Z")
“I came up with the title for this book in the aftermath of the 2000 presidential election.” _I Pledge Allegiance to the Lamb_ by Tossie Wiley Jr. ---
**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:** [May 30, 2023, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2506 "2023-05-30T20:07:16Z")
“Asgeir Gunnarsson farmed at Gunnars Stead near Undir Hofdi church in Austfjord.” – _The Greenlanders: A Novel_ by Jane Smiley. ---
**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:** [June 1, 2023, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2507 "2023-06-01T18:35:38Z")
“I still remember everything, the warm night, the rows of seats, all taken, and mine right at the front.” _Lev’s Violin: A Story of Music, Culture, and Italian Adventure_, by Helena Attlee ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2023, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2508 "2023-06-04T00:11:49Z")
“THE FIRST THING ANTOINETTE Ricci ever lost was her father, but she was so young when it happened that she never really felt like she could be held responsible.” _Lost in the Moment and Found_ by Seanan McGuire ---
**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:** [June 4, 2023, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2509 "2023-06-04T01:18:39Z")
“Linh arrived on Prosper Station blown by the winds of war amidst a ship full of refugees who huddled together, speaking tearfully of the invading armies: the war between the rebel lords and the Empire had escalated, and their war-kites had laid waste to entire planets.” _On a Red Station, Drifting_, by Aliette de Bodard ---
**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:** [June 4, 2023, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2510 "2023-06-04T19:27:06Z")
“West Virginia’s Wheeling Standards held a Fourth of July picnic in 1877 and the festivities included a contest to see who would catch a greased pig.” _Tales from the Dugout: 1,001 Humorous, Inspirational, & Wild Anecdotes from Minor League Baseball_, by Tim Hagerty. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858.md?page=124) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858.md?page=126)