# 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:** 132
**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:** [August 20, 2023, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2631 "2023-08-20T18:07:03Z")
Tuesday, 4 July 1939, and a hot, humid Independence Day in New York City. _The Rise of Germany 1939-1941_ (_The War in the West_ Vol 1), by James Holland ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2023, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2632 "2023-08-20T18:18:53Z")
Once, years ago, I left home looking for a grand adventure and spent five months staring at mud. _On Trails: An Exploration_ by Robert Moor ---
**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:** [August 20, 2023, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2633 "2023-08-20T19:52:26Z")
Formori Greece At night here I often dream of my parents. _Voice of our Shadow_ Jonathan Carroll ---
**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:** [August 20, 2023, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2634 "2023-08-20T19:59:28Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Several good stories there. The Narnia one was killer. Yes. I always felt Susan never got her due. ---
**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:** [August 20, 2023, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2635 "2023-08-20T21:25:52Z")
“Our father is dead and I have come to discuss matters of his estate.” _Dust & Grim_, by Chuck Wendig ---
**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:** [August 21, 2023, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2636 "2023-08-21T23:16:39Z")
“And with that, I put down my Peterson pipe, tapping the chamber upon my armrest, chuckling mightily.” _Comedy Bang! Bang! The Podcast: The Book_, edited by Scott Aukerman ---
**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:** [August 22, 2023, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2637 "2023-08-22T22:31:28Z")
“By the time they had lived seven years in the little house on Greentree Avenue in Westport, Connecticut, they both detested it.” _The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit_, by Sloan Wilson ---
**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:** [August 23, 2023, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2638 "2023-08-23T19:11:02Z")
“My sainted mother taught me the seven acts of corporeal mercy: to feed the hungry; refresh the thirsty; clothe the naked; shelter the traveller; comfort the sick; visit those imprisoned; and bury the dead.” _The Poison Thread_, by Laura Purcell ---
**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:** [August 23, 2023, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2639 "2023-08-23T21:27:13Z")
“The residents of Wakarusa, Indiana, could spin gossip faster than a spider spins its web.” _All Good People Here_ by Ashley Flowers ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2023, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2640 "2023-08-23T23:02:24Z")
“There is NO such thing as a line.” _Along Those Lines - The Boundaries That Create Our World_ by Peter Cashwell ---
**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:** [August 25, 2023, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2641 "2023-08-25T15:58:34Z")
“Though English was the language of my parents, the language in which I was raised and schooled, I have never felt I belonged to it.” _Every Word Is a Bird We Teach to Sing: Encounters with the Mysteries and Meanings of Language_, by Daniel Tammet ---
**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:** [August 27, 2023, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2642 "2023-08-27T19:40:58Z")
“The first thing Vasha did in the morning was wind her watch.” _The Future Second by Second_, by Meridel Newton ---
**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:** [August 28, 2023, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2643 "2023-08-28T15:07:17Z")
“It’s perfectly formed.” _Darwin Comes to Town: How the Urban Jungle Drives Evolution_, by Menno Schilthuizen. ---
**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:** [August 28, 2023, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2644 "2023-08-28T17:18:42Z")
“Even on the Sabbath dawn Penn Station was a busy place.” _The Long Gray Line_ by Rick Atkinson ---
**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:** [August 28, 2023, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2645 "2023-08-28T20:31:12Z")
“In the end, each of us has only one story to tell.” _The Marriage of Sticks_ by Jonathan Carroll ---
**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:** [August 30, 2023, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2646 "2023-08-30T20:06:35Z")
“Nicholas Hansard knew that he was trapped.” _The Scholars of Night_, by John M. Ford ---
**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:** [August 31, 2023, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2647 "2023-08-31T19:05:37Z")
I’m not sure what to use as the first sentence of this book. So I’ll just put all of them. Foreword (by a different author): “At risk of stepping on stage with too much flair, a note: About halfway through this book, the book you now hold, I felt a few tears coming on.” Introduction: “Forgive me for the title of this book.” First sentence of first entry: “As a child, I hated it when adults would say, ‘Good night, sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite.’” _101 Horror Books to Read Before You’re Murdered_, by Sadie “Mother Horror” Hartmann ---
**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:** [August 31, 2023, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2648 "2023-08-31T19:35:49Z")
“In the summer of 2021, the woman flew into Miami International with nothing to declare but the clothes she stood in, a phony passport, an iPhone with a broken screen, and a ballpoint pen.” _Dark Angel_ by John Sandford ---
**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:** [September 1, 2023, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2649 "2023-09-01T19:23:37Z")
“By the time the front door closed, the car was parked outside Claire Arden’s home, waiting for her.” _The Passengers_ by John Marrs “As I returned from lunch to my Cleveland, Ohio office on November 22, 1963, someone in our elevator said, ‘The president’s been shot.’” _JFK, Oswald and Ruby: Politics, Prejudice and Truth_ by Burt W. Griffin ---
**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:** [September 1, 2023, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2650 "2023-09-01T21:39:35Z")
“Tempelhof Airport is quiet now, being turned into a giant park by the Berlin City Council.” _Daring Young Men: The Heroism and Triumph of the Berlin Airlift, June 1948 - May 1949_, by Richard Reeves [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858.md?page=131) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858.md?page=133)