# 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:** 138
**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:** [November 7, 2023, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2751 "2023-11-07T19:14:52Z")
_On the Beach_ has one of the most heartbreaking scenes I’ve ever read (you probably know the one). A very sad, powerful, sobering novel. > [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > “Warren G. Harding is best known as America’s worst president.” > > _Warren G. Harding_ , by John W. Dean I’m guessing the book came out before 2017. ---
**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:** [November 7, 2023, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2752 "2023-11-07T19:16:15Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I’m guessing the book came out before 2017. Ha ha, yeah, I intended to make that sort of comment in my post but forgot. 2004, in fact. mmm ---
**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:** [November 8, 2023, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2753 "2023-11-08T23:57:01Z")
“This is the story of how I went to the Nearside and found old Lester and maybe grew up a little.” _The John Varley Reader: Thirty Years of Short Fiction_, by John Varley (Note that the above sentence is from the first story, “Picnic On Nearside”.) ---
**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:** [November 10, 2023, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2754 "2023-11-10T19:18:01Z")
“Kirk knew his journey would be ending soon.” _Federation_ by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens “How can I help libraries? That’s a question I never really thought about until recently.” _This is What a Librarian Looks Like_ by Kyle Cassidy ---
**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:** [November 11, 2023, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2755 "2023-11-11T02:51:19Z")
“That period of time before the selling of my company was probably the most confusing of my life.” _To Be Loved - The Music, the Magic, the Memories of Motown_ , by Berry Gordy ---
**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:** [November 11, 2023, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2756 "2023-11-11T03:16:17Z")
“Hernán Cortés strode to the bow of his flagship _Santa María de la Concepcíon_, a one-hundred-ton vessel and the largest of his armada, and scanned the horizon for land. He had much to ponder.” — _Conquistador: Hernán Cortés, King Montezuma, and the Last Stand of the Aztecs_, by Buddy Levy ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2023, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2757 "2023-11-11T03:25:25Z")
Commander Victor Henry rode a taxicab home from the Navy Building on Constitution Avenue, in a gusty gray March rainstorm that matched his mood. _The Winds of War_ by Herman Wouk. This is a re-read; I read both volumes back around 1980. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2023, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2758 "2023-11-11T03:33:59Z")
“Most of human history is irreparably lost to us.” — _The Dawn of Everything_, by David Graeber & David Wengrow It has an epigraph just above the lead sentence of > _‘This mood makes itself felt everywhere, politically, socially, and philosophically. We are living in what the Greeks called the καιρóς (Kairos) – the right time – for a “metamorphosis of the gods,” i.e. of the fundamental principles and symbols.’_ > > C. G. Jung, _The Undiscovered Self_ (1958) ---
**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:** [November 11, 2023, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2759 "2023-11-11T13:55:12Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > _The Winds of War_ by Herman Wouk. This is a re-read; I read both volumes back around 1980. I read both of them in about 1982, right before the television miniseries. I enjoyed both the books and the TV series. ---
**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:** [November 12, 2023, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2760 "2023-11-12T22:29:19Z")
“The family gathered in the visitor lot.” – _Resurrection Walk_, by Michael Connelly. ---
**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:** [November 12, 2023, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2761 "2023-11-12T22:50:42Z")
“Moving a guy as big as Keever wasn’t easy.” _Make Me_ by Lee Child ---
**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:** [November 13, 2023, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2762 "2023-11-13T15:25:00Z")
“Is it over? It certainly feels like it’s over.” Knock Knock, Open Wide, by Neil Sharpson ---
**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:** [November 13, 2023, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2763 "2023-11-13T20:24:59Z")
“It’s only a rumor,” Abuji said as I cleared the table. _When My Name Was Keoko_, by Linda Sue Park ---
**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:** [November 15, 2023, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2764 "2023-11-15T00:45:42Z")
“On July 24th, 1917, Flight Sub-Lieutenant Sidney Emerson Ellis of the 4 Naval Squadron took off on a routine training flight in Britain’s newest and most powerful fighter aircraft, the Sopwith Camel.” _The Science of Spin: How Rotational Forces Affect Everything from Your Body to Jet Engines to the Weather_, by Roland Ennos ---
**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:** [November 15, 2023, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2765 "2023-11-15T20:48:12Z")
“Anna had fallen into a routine - or as much of a routine as a 17-year-old can reasonably fall into, when she’s transient and living in hiding with an infant.” _The Lola Quartet_ by Emily St. John Mandel ---
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2023, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2766 "2023-11-16T01:44:14Z")
_“One never knows when the blow may fall.”_ **The Third Man** , written in 1949 by Graham Greene. This short novel was actually written as preparation for Greene’s screenplay for the later film. ---
**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:** [November 16, 2023, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2767 "2023-11-16T16:42:39Z")
“The village of Moonfleet lies half a mile from the sea on the right or west bank of the Fleet stream.” _Moonfleet_, by J. Meade Falkner ---
**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:** [November 17, 2023, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2768 "2023-11-17T01:10:55Z")
Back-to-back Sedaris: “The cat had a party to attend, and went to the baboon to get herself groomed.” _ **Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk** _ , by David Sedaris ~~ “When my family first moved to North Carolina, we lived in a rented house three blocks from the school where I would begin the third grade.” _ **Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim** _ , by David Sedaris ---
**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:** [November 18, 2023, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2769 "2023-11-18T22:29:53Z")
“All truth is paradox.” _Almost Everything: Notes on Hope_, by Anne Lamott. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2023, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2770 "2023-11-19T04:14:56Z")
“On the day we’re the last people to see indie kid Flynn alive, we’re all sprawled together in the Field, talking about love and stomachs.” **The Rest of Us Just Live Here** by Patrick Ness [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858.md?page=137) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858.md?page=139)