# 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:** 147
### Author:  [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2024, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2931 "2024-03-07T23:07:55Z")
Not the first sentence from _Betrayers_ by Bill Pronzini, but it’s oddly fitting:
“A doper,” he said. “You can’t trust dopers, they’re the dregs, they’re gene-pool scum.”
Truer words…
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2024, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2932 "2024-03-10T15:06:53Z")
Objection!
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2024, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2933 "2024-03-12T20:23:35Z")
“For nearly thirty years I have made my living by writing about science.”
_Transient and Strange: Notes on the Science of Life_, by Nell Greenfieldboyce.
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### Author:  [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2024, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2934 "2024-03-13T12:57:20Z")
“The men called her Henriette, but it wasn’t her name.”
The Blueprint, by Rae Giana Rashad
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2024, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2935 "2024-03-13T23:54:24Z")
“The boy’s name was Santiago.”
_The Alchemist_, by Paulo Coelho
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2024, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2936 "2024-03-15T19:06:29Z")
“Take a journey with this crew.”
_Tenacious: Fifteen Adventures Alongside Disabled Athletes_, by Patty Cisneros Prevo
“The driver of the wagon swaying through forest and swamp of the Ohio wilderness was a ragged girl of fourteen.”
_Arrowsmith_, by Sinclair Lewis
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2024, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2937 "2024-03-19T23:20:13Z")
“On the Nicollet Mall in Minneapolis, it’s not unusual to spot someone walking down one of the sidewalks, and at the 7th Street intersection, suddenly flinging his or her hat into the air.”
_Dressing the Part: Television’s Most Stylish Shows_, by Hal Rubenstein
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### Author:  [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2024, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2938 "2024-03-20T00:32:30Z")
“Breaking the American market was the ultimate goal for British bands, in order to gain world recognition and not be forgotten in the limbo of the hundred groups that had blossomed in the wake of The Beatles’ success.”
_Teenage Wasteland: The Who at Winterland, 1967 and 1976_ by Edoardo Genzolini
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2024, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2939 "2024-03-20T23:41:16Z")
“‘He had heart trouble,’ the woman was telling Carella.”
_The Last Dance_, by Ed McBain
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2024, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2940 "2024-03-22T21:25:02Z")
“We’re supposed to think that Jackson Pollock invented drip painting, and with it the American branch of Abstract Expressionism.”
_Brushed Aside: The Untold Story of Women in Art_, by Noah Charney.
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2024, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2941 "2024-03-23T23:22:46Z")
“Although every effort has been taken to make Moon Base Alpha the safest human habitat ever built, we still urge you to be extremely careful and vigilant for your own well-being.”
_Spaced Out_, by Stuart Gibbs
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2024, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2942 "2024-03-25T18:30:18Z")
“I spent much of my youth on the Mercer dairy farm of my maternal grandparents, Florian and Lucille ‘Lue’ Yeaton.”
_Bald Eagles, Bear Cubs, and Hermit Bill: Memories of a Maine Wildlife Biologist_, by Ron Joseph
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### Author:  [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2024, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2943 "2024-03-26T21:15:13Z")
"I was in deep sleep, alone aboard my houseboat, alone in the half acre of bed, alone in a sweaty dream of chase, fear, and monstrous predators. "
_Dreadful Lemon Sky_ (John D. MacDonald)
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2024, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2944 "2024-03-26T23:04:07Z")
“Hating the Earth was easy.”
_Growing Up Weightless_, by John M. Ford
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2024, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2945 "2024-03-28T23:14:58Z")
“The spaces we live in shape our lives.”
_The Shaping of Us: How Everyday Spaces Structure Our Lives, Behavior, and Well-Being_, by Lily Bernheimer
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2024, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2946 "2024-03-29T18:52:05Z")
“This marriage, it’s going to be a problem. _She_ is going to be a problem.”
_Bride_ by Ali Hazelwood
“In a book about profanity, it’s almost awkward that our tour begins with _damn_ and _hell_, in that most of us don’t sense these words as truly, well, dirty.”
_Nine Nasty Words_ by John McWhorter
“Don’t get me wrong: I _love_ the restaurant business.”
_Kitchen Confidential_ by Anthony Bourdain
“According to their biographies, Destiny’s favored children usually had their lives planned out from scratch.”
_Time for the Stars_ by Robert A. Heinlein
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2024, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2947 "2024-03-30T13:29:24Z")
“Cordover and Hum stood on the rocky mountaintop, watching the new thing happen.”
_Untouched by Human Hands_ by Robert Sheckley (Note: This is a story collection, and the above quote is from the first story, “The Monsters”.)
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2024, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2948 "2024-04-01T12:10:12Z")
“During the summer of 2016, the firefighter became convinced the bear was watching him.”
_A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear: The Utopian Plot to Liberate an American Town (And Some Bears)_, by Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling.
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### Author:  [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2024, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2949 "2024-04-02T00:03:06Z")
“The monastery was originally a nunnery.”
_The Gene: An Intimate History_ by Siddhartha Mukherjee
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [April 3, 2024, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/2950 "2024-04-03T13:06:13Z")
“A shockwave slams into my back.”
_Jewish Futures: Stories from the World’s Oldest Diaspora_, edited by Michael A. Burstein.
(Note: the sentence comes from the first story, “Shema”, by Samantha Katz.
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