# 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:** 129
**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:** [July 15, 2023, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2571 "2023-07-15T19:41:37Z")
“Real drinkers make good murder suspects.” _Something More Than Night_, by Kim Newman ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2023, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2572 "2023-07-15T22:32:45Z")
At this point my question is probably foolish. But if a book has a short prologue, and then has a first chapter, what is considered the first line? The prologue or chapter line? And I’m speaking of fiction here. ---
**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:** [July 15, 2023, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2573 "2023-07-15T23:45:54Z")
I use the first sentence from the first chapter. If the first line of the prologue (or the foreword of a non-fiction book) is interesting enough, I might give both of them. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2023, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2574 "2023-07-15T23:48:04Z")
Thanks for the reply. I’m restartin a favorite series of books, and the prologue tells you how things got started, but the conversation between two important characters opens the first chapter. ---
**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:** [July 17, 2023, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2575 "2023-07-17T13:31:04Z")
"New York City: the blue USPS mailbox, the bodega with English and Spanish signs in the window, and the guy selling bagels out of a cart. Move back five more feet and it’s a movie set in Toronto: the C-stands holding reflector boards, the lights, and a dozen crew members waiting to pounce on the ‘cut!’" _Every City is Every Other City_ by John McFetridge ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2023, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2576 "2023-07-17T14:50:07Z")
“The new doctor took her by surprise.” _The Silent Companions_, by Laura Purcell ---
**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:** [July 17, 2023, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2577 "2023-07-17T18:45:26Z")
“It began the usual way, in the bathroom of the Lassimo Hotel” _A Visit from the Goon Squad_ by Jennifer Egan ---
**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:** [July 17, 2023, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2578 "2023-07-17T19:03:02Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > _A Visit from the Goon Squad_ by Jennifer Egan I will be interested in your reaction to this book. I wasn’t a fan, and neither was @Elendil_s_Heir. ---
**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:** [July 17, 2023, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2579 "2023-07-17T19:09:08Z")
Oh, I liked it! Finished it this morning. I didn’t necessarily identify with the characters, but I identifed with the general zeitgeist. I actually liked some of the characters while not necessarily “approving” of them. It was a tour de force of writing though. I know some people found it confusing, but I didn’t. ---
**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:** [July 18, 2023, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2580 "2023-07-18T13:47:21Z")
“Genie Chance sat at the typewriter in her bedroom, returning a letter from an acquaintance in Juneau.” _This Is Chance!: The Shaking of an All-American City, A Voice That Held It Together_, by Jon Mooallem ---
**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:** [July 19, 2023, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2581 "2023-07-19T17:20:27Z")
“It was nighttime, February 1943, and I was standing next to my mother, thinking about the war in Europe.’” _My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business_ , by Dick Van Dyke ---
**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:** [July 19, 2023, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2582 "2023-07-19T23:17:51Z")
“What we want,” said Harris, “is a change.” _Three Men on the Bummel_, by Jerome K. Jerome ---
**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:** [July 20, 2023, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2583 "2023-07-20T00:15:32Z")
It was a lazy, late summer’s evening in St Kilda. _Death in Daylesford_, by Kerry Greenwood The Embarcadero and Market Street were bustling at noon on Tuesday, November 25, 1941. _Stranded in the Sky: The Untold Story of Pan Am Luxury Airliners Trapped on the Day of Infamy_, by Philip Jett ---
**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:** [July 20, 2023, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2584 "2023-07-20T00:26:58Z")
Move along, move along, there’s nothing to see here… ---
**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:** [July 21, 2023, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2585 "2023-07-21T13:36:03Z")
“Everyone has always assumed that I will die young.” _Being Seen: One Deafblind Woman’s Fight to End Ableism_, by Elsa Sjunneson. ---
**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:** [July 21, 2023, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2586 "2023-07-21T15:06:53Z")
“With the night came north winds, blowing bitter and cold across the uneasy city.” _Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire_ by Richard B. Frank ---
**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:** [July 22, 2023, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2587 "2023-07-22T14:09:44Z")
“The old artilleryman thoroughly enjoyed the fireworks.” _Hell to Pay: Operation DOWNFALL and the Invasion of Japan, 1945-1947_ by D.M. Giangreco ---
**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:** [July 22, 2023, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2588 "2023-07-22T14:28:57Z")
“Six months in and Bobbi Ricci couldn’t take any more, couldn’t lie there listening to whatever was hibernating down Lonzo’s throat.” _Cradle of the Deep_ by Dietrich Kalteis ---
**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:** [July 22, 2023, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2589 "2023-07-22T17:32:05Z")
“Rusul traveled to meet his death.” _Barsk: The Elephants’ Graveyard_, by Lawrence M. Schoen ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2023, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2590 "2023-07-23T17:53:22Z")
HEY, WAIT! Listen to the lives of the long-ago kids, the world-fighters, the parent-unminding kids, the improper, the politeness-proof, the unbowed bully-crushers, the bedtime-breakers, the raspberry-blowers, fighters of fun-killers, fearing nothing, fated for fame. _Bea Wolf_, by Zach Wienersmith [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858.md?page=128) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858.md?page=130)