# 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:** 154
### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2024, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3071 "2024-08-19T22:11:37Z")
“Contrary to what you’ve heard, I did not entertain the troops at Valley Forge.”
_Dear Bob… Bob Hope’s Wartime Correspondence with the G.I.'s of World War II_, written and compiled by Martha Bolton with Linda Hope
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2024, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3072 "2024-08-20T20:26:32Z")
“Our story begins in the company of the Right Honorable Christopher Birdwood Thomson, First Baron Thomson of Cardington, Privy Councillor, Commander of the British Empire, peer of the House of Lords, ex-brigadier, ex–General Staff, ex-Cheltenham, ex-Woolwich, ex–Royal Engineers, ex–a lot of other things. His official title is Secretary of State for Air, which has a nice Shakespearean ring and is an apt description of what he does for a living.”
_His Majesty’s Airship_ by S.C. Gwynne
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [August 21, 2024, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3073 "2024-08-21T20:49:13Z")
“The rose is part of a larger group of plants in the Rosaceae family (the term “Rosaceae” refers to a family of flowering plants).”
_Rosa: The Story of the Rose_, by Peter E. Kukielski with Charles Phillips.
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### Author:  [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)
#### Post date: [August 21, 2024, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3074 "2024-08-21T21:15:24Z")
“The California Bear, a serial torturer-murderer who had eluded justice for close to four decades, wanted a cookie.”
_California Bear_ by Duane Swierczynski
I started it this morning and I’m having a hard time putting it down. Quite entertaining thus far.
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### Author:  [@TheTooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheTooth)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2024, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3075 "2024-08-22T00:36:04Z")
“I rise into darkness, away from the garden they watered with the blood of my friends.”
_Morning Star_ by Pierce Brown
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### Author:  [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2024, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3076 "2024-08-22T21:57:05Z")
The way into the underland is through the riven trunk of an old ash tree." _Underland_ - Robert MacFarland.
Sounds like a fantasy novel but is non-fiction mixed with a bit of philosophy. Its about the places beneath our feet - caves, mines and (I think) glaciers. I’ve only just started it. So far, so good.
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2024, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3077 "2024-08-23T13:56:44Z")
“The crown is heavy on her head, the petals shaking pollen into her eyes, watering them, sending heat to her nose, flushing her cheeks.”
_Bitter Become the Fields: A Horror Anthology_, edited by Jes McCutchen, Victoria Moore, and H. V. Patterson. (Note that the above sentence is from the first story, “One with the Woods” by Rowan Witt.)
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### Author:  [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2024, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3078 "2024-08-23T17:32:54Z")
He ambled into the room, sat in the indicated chair, and said nothing. The baffled expression had been on his face for some time and was getting a bit tired of wearing it.
_Wasp_ by Eric Frank Russell (1957)
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2024, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3079 "2024-08-24T23:29:08Z")
“On the scale of catastrophic things in the world, being a twenty-nine-year-old virgin isn’t that bad.”
_Unorthodox Love_, by Heidi Shertok
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2024, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3080 "2024-08-25T03:48:57Z")
"The front page of the late city edition of _The New York Times_ on Tuesday, December 24, 1940, included headlines such as EVE OF CHRISTMAS FINDS BUSTLING CITY IN FESTIVE SPIRIT juxtaposed next to CHURCHILL BIDS ITALY OUST MUSSOLINI; GREEKS TAKE ANOTHER COASTAL TOWN; GERMANS RAIN BOMBS ON MANCHESTER.
– _On Call: A Doctor’s Journey in Public Service_, by Anthony Fauci MD
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### Author:  [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2024, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3081 "2024-08-26T16:34:34Z")
“In the centuries before Rome adopted Christianity as its official religion, the Eternal City served as a symbol of world domination imposed by vigorous military leaders and efficient civilian administrators.”
_Ravenna: Capital of Empire, Crucible of Europe_ by Judith Herrin
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### Author:  [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2024, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3082 "2024-08-26T17:12:41Z")
None of the five Americans spoke much as the university van took them from _Flughafen Wien-Schwechat_ – Vienna International Airport, just southeast of the city – to the Institute of Science and Technology campus on the western outskirts of Klosterneuburg.
_To Turn the Tide_, by S M Stirling
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2024, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3083 "2024-08-26T23:28:15Z")
“Imagine millions of ordinary people plagued by a fear that technology is accelerating out of control.”
_Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech_, by Brian Merchant.
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2024, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3084 "2024-08-29T23:31:21Z")
“Rocco Fitch spotted the beggar on his regular morning walk to get a latte at Emilio’s Coffee Shop.”
_Road Trip_, by David Keener
“Move it!”
_Raising Hell Plus_, by Norman Spinrad (Note that this is a collection of some of his short works, and the sentence is from “Raising Hell”.)
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2024, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3085 "2024-08-30T18:58:34Z")
“The face of Nicholas Easter was slightly hidden by a display rack filled with slim cordless phones, and he was looking not directly at the hidden camera but somewhere off to the left, perhaps at a customer, or perhaps at a counter where a group of kids hovered over the latest electronic games from Asia.”
_The Runaway Jury_ by John Grisham
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### Author:  [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2024, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3086 "2024-08-30T19:20:40Z")
The cold winds of autumn were setting in, and the leaves just beginning to turn amber and crimson.
_Give Me Tomorrow: The Korean War’s Greatest Untold Story – the Epic Stand of the Marines of George Company_, by Patrick K O’Donnell [G Co, 3/1 Marines]
“Oh, _merde_.”
_A World of Curiosities_, the 17th Chief Inspector Gamache novel by Louise Penny
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2024, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3087 "2024-08-31T05:46:18Z")
William Moulton Marston, who believed women should rule the world, decided at the unnaturally early and altogether impetuous age of eighteen that the time had come for him to die.
_The Secret History of Wonder Woman_ by Jill Lepore
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [September 1, 2024, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3088 "2024-09-01T13:26:35Z")
“O Lord, we come this morning
Knee-bowed and body-bent
Before thy throne of grace.”
_God’s Trombones_ by James Weldon Johnson (Note that this is a poetry collection, and the sentence is from the first poem, “Listen, Lord”.)
“Equations and formulas (or should that be formulae?).”
_An Equation for Every Occasion: Simple Formulas for Surviving the Unexpected_, by Chris Waring.
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### Author:  [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2024, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3089 "2024-09-02T03:08:20Z")
Nobody sensible takes a leisure cruise in February.
_Death on the Tiber_, the twelfth Flavia Alba mystery by Lindsey Davis.
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2024, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3090 "2024-09-02T15:47:07Z")
“The Mississippi is well worth reading about.”
_Life on the Mississippi_ by Mark Twain
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