# What is the first sentence from the book you are currently reading?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858
**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:** 145
### Author:  [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2024, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2891 "2024-02-06T00:02:07Z")
> [@silenus](#):
>
> Unruly: The Ridiculous History of England’s Kings and Queens- David Mitchell
Read that last month. There were laugh-out-loud moments. (Not surprising when the author is a comedian.)
---
### Author:  [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2024, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2892 "2024-02-06T00:07:26Z")
> [@Railer13](#):
>
> > [@Baker](#):
> >
> > If a book has a short prologue is the first sentence from that, or the main text?
>
> I’ve had this situation a couple of times. I used the main text. I’m not real sure why I did that.
That’s the way I do it – the main text, not the prologue or foreword.
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### Author:  [@Chad\_Sudan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chad_Sudan)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2024, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2893 "2024-02-06T12:51:09Z")
“There was never _nothing_.”
_The Sugar Frosted Nutsack_, by Mark Leyner
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### Author:  [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2024, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2894 "2024-02-06T13:39:10Z")
Great title, disappointing cover art. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2024, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2895 "2024-02-06T14:44:07Z")
“Being puzzled by great works of literature is, I’ve always believed, a healthy response.”
_Frankenstein’s Brain: Puzzles and Conundrums in Mary Shelley’s Monstrous Masterpiece_, by John Sutherland
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### Author:  [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2024, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2896 "2024-02-06T23:22:27Z")
“How the _hell_ did you not see anything until now?”
_The Valley of Shadows_, by John Ringo and Mike Massa
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2024, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2897 "2024-02-08T18:34:30Z")
“Dr. Bharadwaj told me once that she thought I hated planets because of the whole thing with being considered expendable and the possibility of being abandoned.”
_System Collapse_, by Martha Wells
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### Author:  [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2024, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2898 "2024-02-08T21:33:20Z")
“When are we going to LEAVE this FUCKING house!" screamed Dina Bua, startling everyone around her.
_River of Night_, by John Ringo and Mike Massa
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### Author:  [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2024, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2899 "2024-02-08T21:33:23Z")
> [@SCAdian](#):
>
> > [@Railer13](#):
> >
> > > [@Baker](#):
> > >
> > > If a book has a short prologue is the first sentence from that, or the main text?
> >
> > I’ve had this situation a couple of times. I used the main text. I’m not real sure why I did that.
>
> That’s the way I do it – the main text, not the prologue or foreword.
OP chiming in (if that matters)…
As for me, I read each of the “first” sentences and post the more interesting one.
That said, each contributor may feel free to follow their own rule on this, as long as just one sentence is posted.
mmm
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### Author:  [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2024, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2900 "2024-02-09T02:12:09Z")
“Mom had a way of obfuscating when anyone asked how she and our father first met.”
_The Latecomer_ by Jean Hanff Korelitz.
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### Author:  [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2024, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2901 "2024-02-11T13:37:26Z")
“Three presidents dominate American history: George Washington, who founded the country; Abraham Lincoln, who preserved it; and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who rescued it from economic collapse and then led it to victory in the greatest war of all time.”
_ **FDR** _, by Jean Edward Smith
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2024, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2902 "2024-02-11T17:10:22Z")
“Abba Poemen said about Abba Pior that every single day he made a fresh beginning.”
_Desert Wisdom: Sayings from the Desert Fathers_, translated by Yushi Nomura.
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### Author:  [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2024, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2903 "2024-02-12T15:31:19Z")
Filipe Sousa and Pedro Alves squelched through the muddy streets of Boma.
_The Wages of Sin_, by Harry Turtledove
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2024, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2904 "2024-02-12T21:03:30Z")
“I am going to begin a diary again, because I have quite a little time on my hands, with nothing to do for quite a time.”
_But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes_, by Anita Loos
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### Author:  [@Eclipse\_Chaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eclipse_Chaser)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2024, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2905 "2024-02-13T12:25:41Z")
“James Christopher Harrison peered out the paned living-room window of his family home in the railway town of Junee in New South Wales, Australia.”
_Good Blood: A Doctor, a Donor, and the Incredible Breakthrough that Saved Millions of Babies_, by Julian Guthrie
Now I read that as “peed out the window”.
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### Author:  [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2024, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2906 "2024-02-13T13:48:39Z")
“The King stood in a pool of blue light, unmoored.”
_Station Eleven,_ Emily St. John Mandel
Fourth one in this thread.
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2024, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2907 "2024-02-13T23:58:10Z")
“Venice is a fish.”
_Venice Is a Fish_, by Tiziano Scarpa
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### Author:  [@Jack\_Burden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Burden)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2024, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2908 "2024-02-14T15:00:40Z")
“Then said Littleheart son of Bronweg: ‘Know then that Tuor was a man who dwelt in very ancient days in that land of the North called Dor-Lómin or the Land of Shadows, and of the Eldar the Noldoli know it best.”
_The Fall of Gondolin_ by J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Christopher Tolkien
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2024, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2909 "2024-02-15T21:13:06Z")
“Take 'em an inch and they’ll give you a hell.”
_The Shockwave Rider_ by John Brunner
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2024, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2910 "2024-02-16T03:18:03Z")
As Frank Wisner watched from a dark corner of the nightclub, the diverted stage spotlight swept over the crowd until it found the man who had just stepped through the entranceway.
_The Quiet Americans: Four CIA Spies at the Dawn of the Cold War_ by Scott Anderson
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