# 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:** 163
### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2025, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3251 "2025-02-02T17:18:58Z")
“The reflections contained herein stem from a deep investment in the American landscape.”
_Earth Keeper: Reflections on the American Land_, by N. Scott Momaday
“Right now I’m supposed to be all geeked up because I’m getting ready for a New Year’s Even party that some guy named Lionel invited me to.”
_Waiting to Exhale_, by Terry McMillan
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2025, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3252 "2025-02-05T23:10:39Z")
“The Mississippi is well worth reading about. It is not a commonplace river, but on the contrary is in all ways remarkable.”
_Life on the Mississippi_ by Mark Twain
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2025, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3253 "2025-02-06T14:24:08Z")
“The men called it the Boat Place.”
_Dinner on Mars: The Technologies That Will Feed the Red Planet and Transform Agriculture on Earth_, by Lenore Newman and Evan D. G. Fraser
“The house stood a little apart from the rest of the block, as if it did not quite fit in.”
_Not Quite a Ghost_, by Anne Ursu.
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2025, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3254 "2025-02-09T17:03:34Z")
“They call him the Prince of Silence and you are in his woods.”
_The Secret Life of Hidden Places: Concealed Rooms, Clandestine Passageways, and the Curious Minds That Made Them_, by Stefan Bachmann and April Genevieve Tucholke
“Morwenna’s face floated in the single beam of light, lovely and framed in hair dark as my cloak; blood from her neck pattered to the stones.”
_The Claw of the Conciliator_, by Gene Wolfe.
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2025, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3255 "2025-02-10T03:33:22Z")
“I was driving alone, on a moonless night, along the rim of the vast desert known as the Empty Quarter.”
_Baghdad Without a Map_ by Tony Horwitz
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### Author:  [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2025, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3256 "2025-02-10T16:13:38Z")
“Call me Jonah.”
_Cat’s Cradle_, Vonnegut. Haven’t read it in a long time. Very progressive for it’s time. But still some questionable bits.
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### Author:  [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2025, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3257 "2025-02-12T16:49:08Z")
“Wise guests wake early at the Royal Karnak Palace Hotel.”
Havoc, by Christopher Bollen
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2025, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3258 "2025-02-15T21:41:11Z")
“This is how I imagine it: _Nightfall, early autumn, fog creeping in from the coast, a gibbous moon._”
_The Northwomen: Untold Stories From the Other Half of the Viking World_, by Heather Pringle
“I watched the playground on the other side of the high, chain-link fence, trying to figure out which of the elementary school children had the gun.”
_The Night Dahlia_, by R. S. Belcher
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2025, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3259 "2025-02-16T03:53:25Z")
“The bearded man in the entryway softly closes the door behind him.”
_O Captain, My Captain_ by Robert Burleigh, illustr. by Sterling Hundley
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### Author:  [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2025, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3260 "2025-02-16T17:16:05Z")
“Jeff Winston was on the phone with his wife when he died.”
_Replay_ by Ken Grimwood. Heard about it in this thread. Good so far.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2025, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3261 "2025-02-17T04:07:29Z")
In 1999, two of the world’s leading executive headhunters teamed up to write _Lessons from the Top: The Search for America’s Best Business Leaders_.
_Why They Do It: Inside the Mind of the White-Collar Criminal_ by Eugene Soltes
* * *
Lucas Priest, Sergeant Major, United States Army Temporal Corps, was trying to figure out how to stop a charging bull elephant with nothing but a Roman short sword.
_The Ivanhoe Gambit_ by Simon Hawke
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2025, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3262 "2025-02-17T21:53:30Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
>
> Lucas Priest, Sergeant Major, United States Army Temporal Corps, was trying to figure out how to stop a charging bull elephant with nothing but a Roman short sword.
>
> _The Ivanhoe Gambit_ by Simon Hawke
That’s a fun little series.
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2025, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3263 "2025-02-20T00:54:49Z")
“After writing _Freakonomics_ and _SuperFreakonomics_, we started to hear from readers with all sorts of questions.”
_Think Like a Freak: The Authors of Freakonomics Offer to Retrain Your Brain_, by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
“Mirabelle was in the garden feeding bones to the flowers when Uncle Enoch came for her.”
_The Monsters of Rookhaven_, a fantasy by Padraig Kenny
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2025, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3264 "2025-02-25T00:54:22Z")
“They say that everything that could possibly be invented has already been invented.”
_Weird Inventions: Bizarre Gadgets You Can’t Live Without_, by Edward Hopper, et al
“Your Excellency: A circumstance has come to the attention of this Ministry, the significance of which I am at a loss to define, but, since it appears to involve matters of State, both here and abroad, I am convinced that it is of sufficient importance to be brought to your personal attention.”
_Paratime_, by H. Beam Piper (Note that this is a story collection, and the above sentence is from “He Walked Around the Horses”.)
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### Author:  [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2025, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3265 "2025-02-25T01:16:42Z")
“This is the book of the true practice of Magical Wisdom, passed to me - Abraham, son of Simon, son of Judah, son of Simon - by oral tradition.”
The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage, attributed to Abraham von Worms, translated by Georg Dehn and Steven Guth
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2025, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3266 "2025-02-25T01:24:02Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#):
>
> Note that this is a story collection, and the above sentence is from “He Walked Around the Horses”.)
That is one of the best sf short stories evah! Especially the very last line. Piper nailed it.
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### Author:  [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2025, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3267 "2025-02-25T02:36:10Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#):
>
> _Paratime_, by H. Beam Piper (Note that this is a story collection, and the above sentence is from “He Walked Around the Horses”.)
That is one of my top ten favorite short stories. It’s told in the form of a series of letters back and forth between government officials. The signature of the last letter, which is the last two words of the story, is absolutely priceless for the irony.
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### Author:  [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2025, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3268 "2025-02-25T03:28:01Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#):
>
> > [@Dendarii\_Dame](#):
> >
> > Note that this is a story collection, and the above sentence is from “He Walked Around the Horses”.)
>
> That is one of the best sf short stories evah! Especially the very last line. Piper nailed it.
Agreed! There are a few SF/F stories that are enduring gems for me, and that’s one of them.
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### Author:  [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2025, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3269 "2025-02-26T01:11:17Z")
> [@Baker](#):
>
> The signature of the last letter, which is the last two words of the story, is absolutely priceless for the irony.
Yeah, the first time I read it, I was young enough not to recognize the name immediately, but I could tell it was significant, so I made a quick trip to the encyclopedia (DendariiDame is reading my copy, btw)
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### Author:  [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2025, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3270 "2025-02-26T21:44:33Z")
“O mighty Caliph and Commander of the Faithful, I am humbled to be in the splendor of your presence; a man can hope for no greater blessing as long as he lives.”
- “Exhalation,” a compilation of short stories, by Ted Chiang. The first story is “The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate.”
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