# 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:** 134
**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:** [September 11, 2023, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2671 "2023-09-11T02:16:59Z")
“The metal roof clattered as I barreled along.” – _In a Country with No Name_, by Ron Morris ---
**Author:** ![Myglaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2023, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2672 "2023-09-11T09:36:05Z")
It was dark, but there were stars upon the water. “Smoke and Whispers”. A novel by Nick Herron. Bought as it is set on Tyneside, only a few miles from where I am at present. ---
**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 11, 2023, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2673 "2023-09-11T15:37:07Z")
“The 12:05 A. M. trundled out of Highbury and Islington station and along the line.” _Wobble to Death_ by Peter Lovesey ---
**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 12, 2023, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2674 "2023-09-12T18:48:03Z")
“James Bond stood at the middle tees of the eighteenth, on the Sunningdale New Course, enjoying the tranquil normality of a sunny English afternoon in early September.” _Colonel Sun_ by Kingsley Amis ---
**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:** [September 12, 2023, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2675 "2023-09-12T19:05:47Z")
Ruzukov foundry, Ufa, Russia July 18, 1637 Izabella Utkin looked up from the desk in her office and grinned. _1638: The Sovereign States_, by Eric Flint, Gorg Huff and Paula Goodlett ---
**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 13, 2023, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2676 "2023-09-13T18:31:07Z")
“Dr. Elena Benitez was obsessed with extinction.” _Deadly Memory_, by David Walton ---
**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:** [September 14, 2023, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2677 "2023-09-14T15:17:32Z")
“I first saw Mr. Legere when the circus swung through Steubenville, but I’d only been with the show for two weeks; he might have been making his irregular visits indefinitely.” _Midnight Under the Big Top: tales of murder, madness, and magic_, edited by Brian James Freeman First sentence from the first story, The Night of the Tiger, 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:** [September 15, 2023, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2678 "2023-09-15T17:58:49Z")
“in the inner city or like we call it home we think a lot about uptown” _good woman: poems and a memoir 1969-1980_, by lucille clifton. (Note that this is the beginning of the first poem, “in the inner city”.) ---
**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 16, 2023, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2679 "2023-09-16T23:11:44Z")
“Things often happened to Gallegher, who played at science by ear.” _Robots Have No Tails_, by Henry Kuttner. (Note that this is a collection of short stories, and this is from the first, “The Proud Robot”.) ---
**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 18, 2023, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2680 "2023-09-18T18:15:25Z")
“If I asked you to guess, a shot in the dark, how many shipwrecks sit at the bottom of the oceans as relics of accidents past, what would you say?” _Sinkable_ by Daniel Stone ---
**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:** [September 18, 2023, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2681 "2023-09-18T18:18:22Z")
“‘You’ve got no shadow,’ Martina informs me, gazing down at my feet and then shifting her eyes back up to mine.” _Camp Damascus_, by Chuck Tingle ---
**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:** [September 18, 2023, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2682 "2023-09-18T18:46:18Z")
“I’m always hurting.” _Crazy From The Heat_ by David Lee Roth ---
**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:** [September 18, 2023, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2683 "2023-09-18T19:56:27Z")
“The candleflame and the image of the candleflame caught in the pierglass twisted and righted when he entered the hall and again when he shut the door.” _All the Pretty Horses_ by Cormac McCarthy ---
**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 18, 2023, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2684 "2023-09-18T21:05:49Z")
“On the tiny Greek island of Tinos, in the Aegean Sea, the daily ferry from Piraeus shudders into the main harbour.” _Ritual: How Seemingly Senseless Acts Make Life Worth Living_, by Dimitris Xygalatas ---
**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:** [September 19, 2023, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2685 "2023-09-19T18:23:52Z")
There were crimson roses on the bench; they looked like splashes of blood. _Strong Poison_, by Dorothy L Sayers ---
**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 22, 2023, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2686 "2023-09-22T11:59:34Z")
“The old ram stands looking down over rockslides, stupidly triumphant.” _Grendel_, by John Gardner ---
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2023, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2687 "2023-09-22T23:50:49Z")
_“When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.”_ **To Kill a Mockingbird** by **Harper Lee** , first published in 1960. The edition I’m reading is a paperback published in 1962, coinciding with the release of the acclaimed motion picture starring Gregory Peck. The book is falling apart at the seams. So why am I reading such an old book? Well, I began reading it when I was 12 years old, and home sick for a week. My very conservative mother took it away from me, declaring it inappropriate for a child my age. She may have been right, but I never picked it up again. Then a few years ago, I found the paperback at a book sale. I bought it, intending to read it “someday.” (I amassed a lot of books with the same intention.) Now I’m 71, and retired, and one thing on my bucket list is to read those books (or re-read some of them), making “someday,” now. I started this quest with a paperback volume of fantastic stories selected by Ray Bradbury, then moved on to “The African Queen” by C.S. Forrester. (It’s a favorite movie.) Wish me luck. I have a couple hundred yet to go. I’m halfway through “Mockingbird,” and it’s a masterpiece of American fiction. I know how it ends (I’ve seen the movie a couple of times) but I’ve found Ms. Harper’s storytelling skills to be thoroughly engaging. ---
**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 23, 2023, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2688 "2023-09-23T16:04:00Z")
“Drawing is a curious process, so intertwined with seeing that the two can hardly be separated.” _Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain: A Course in Enhancing Creativity and Artistic Confidence–Revised Edition_, by Betty Edwards. ---
**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 24, 2023, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2689 "2023-09-24T23:46:21Z")
**XOldies,** I’d encourage you to post anything other than the first sentence of a book, its title and author, over in the monthly “Whatcha Reading” thread, rather than here. Thanks! ---
**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:** [September 25, 2023, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2690 "2023-09-25T14:22:21Z")
“It was our dream house.” _The September House_, by Carissa Orlando [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858.md?page=133) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858.md?page=135)