# 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:** 136
**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:** [October 9, 2023, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2711 "2023-10-09T13:46:39Z")
“Tim Reed sits in the driver’s seat of his ancient and rust-punched Datsun hatchback, balancing a screwdriver on the tip of his finger.” Fever House, by Keith Rosson ---
**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:** [October 9, 2023, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2712 "2023-10-09T18:17:21Z")
“This is a book about children’s views of the Bible, one of the great classics if not the grandest collection of books ever written.” _Just Build the Ark and the Animals Will Come: Children on Bible Stories_, by David Heller. ---
**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:** [October 10, 2023, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2713 "2023-10-10T12:35:15Z")
“The wooded slope on which a dozen Scouts of Troop 15 had pitched their week’s camp was naturally cheerful.” _Alfred Hitchcock’s Haunted Houseful_, edited by Alfred Hitchcock. (Note that this is an anthology, and the above sentence is from the first story, “Let’s Haunt a House”, by Manly Wade Wellman.) ---
**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:** [October 11, 2023, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2714 "2023-10-11T13:51:00Z")
“At seven p.m., Kathleen Held was in a taxi heading home from JFK to Greenchester, a full three hours earlier than originally scheduled.” _The Society of Shame_ by Jane Roper ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2023, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2715 "2023-10-12T05:09:19Z")
“Alec Simpson, RN, stepped from the platform at Newton Abbot into a first class compartment of the Plymouth Express. A porter followed him with a heavy suitcase. He was about to swing it up to the rack, but the young sailor stopped him.” “The Plymouth Express”, short story by Agatha Christie, in _The Under Dog and Other Stories_. ---
**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:** [October 12, 2023, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2716 "2023-10-12T12:18:59Z")
“I know it’s Miss Price, and I know it can’t be Miss Price: that’s what I keep thinking.” Pet, by Catherine Chidgey ---
**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:** [October 13, 2023, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2717 "2023-10-13T14:51:22Z")
“Looking back on my school years, I think they were among the happiest and most magical in my life.” _Lessons Learned and Cherished: The Teacher Who Changed My Life_, edited by Deborah Roberts. (Note: This book is an anthology of essays from numerous people. The above quote is from the introduction by the editor.) ---
**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:** [October 13, 2023, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2718 "2023-10-13T23:35:46Z")
“The girl from the future told me the sky is full of dying worlds” _Transcendent_ by Stephen Baxter ---
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2023, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2719 "2023-10-14T11:21:48Z")
_"Everyone now knows how to find the meaning of life within himself. But mankind wasn’t always so lucky._" **The Sirens of Titan** by Kurt Vonnegut. Yes, technically it’s two sentences. _But_ it could just as easily been one. ---
**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:** [October 14, 2023, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2720 "2023-10-14T13:37:40Z")
“Chance occurrences change the course of our lives all the time.” _Random Acts of Medicine: The Hidden Forces That Sway Doctors, Impact Patients, and Shape Our Health_, by Anupam B. Jena, M.D., and Christopher Worsham, M. D ---
**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:** [October 15, 2023, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2721 "2023-10-15T03:44:53Z")
“It’s an old city, and no longer in very good shape, nor is the lake beside which it has been built, but there are parts of it that are still pretty nice.” – _Holly_, by Stephen King ---
**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:** [October 16, 2023, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2722 "2023-10-16T13:17:29Z")
“As I stood singing the birthday song for the fifth time that evening, I realized I was wrong for not believing in hell.” Black Sheep, by Rachel Harrison ---
**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:** [October 16, 2023, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2723 "2023-10-16T15:48:55Z")
“Viv buried her greatsword in the scalvert’s skull with a meaty crunch.” _Legends & Lattes_, by Travis Baldree ---
**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:** [October 16, 2023, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2724 "2023-10-16T17:47:42Z")
“A sullen wedge of gun-metal colored clouds rolled in from the west, autumn’s jackboot crunching down on the Twin Cities.” _Judgment Prey_ by John Sandford ---
**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:** [October 17, 2023, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2725 "2023-10-17T22:58:28Z")
“The horn of Hell plays, furious and Francis Macomber is hiding underneath the bed; A thousand thin devils belched from their black hole like geysers of madness, screaming cold.” _Classic Monsters Unleashed_, edited by James Aquilone. (Note that this is an anthology. The above sentence is from the first piece, “Inferno”, by Alessandro Manzetti.) ---
**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:** [October 17, 2023, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2726 "2023-10-17T23:48:09Z")
Sergeant Adib Julian, Third Platoon, Bravo Company of The Empress’ Own, opened his eyes, looked around the inside of his cramped, one-man bivy tent, and frowned sleepily. _March to the Sea_, by David Weber and John Ringo ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stainless_steel_rat/32/5727_2.png) [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2023, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2727 "2023-10-18T16:02:15Z")
When the office door opened suddenly, I knew the game was up. _The Stainless Steel Rat_ by Harry Harrison (hey, been 20 years since I read it last, so seemed a natural fit…) ---
**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:** [October 22, 2023, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2728 "2023-10-22T18:06:24Z")
“All this happened, more or less.” _Slaughterhouse-Five_, by Kurt Vonnegut ---
**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:** [October 22, 2023, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2729 "2023-10-22T18:45:23Z")
“Nicolas de Chamfort once said, ‘Most anthologists of quotations are like those who eat cherries or oysters: first picking the best ones and winding up by eating everything’ - and man, are we full!” _Smart Mouths: The Best Quotations Ever Collected_, edited by The Knowledge Commons ---
**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:** [October 23, 2023, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2730 "2023-10-23T23:05:59Z")
“I just need to check you now for any weapons.” _The Girls Who Fought Crime: The Untold True Story of the Country’s First Female Investigator and Crime-Fighting Squads_, by Major General Mari K. Eder. (U. S. Army, Retired.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858.md?page=135) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858.md?page=137)