# 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:** 164
### Author:  [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2025, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3271 "2025-02-28T14:50:47Z")
“Now in these days the Lord God had turned His face from the business of men; and the angels who had remained loyal to Him said to one another, we must look after the children of Adam. And they did so, as best they could.”
_Between Two Fires_, Christopher Buehlman
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### Author:  [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2025, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3272 "2025-02-28T16:24:28Z")
August 1941: the portly guard’s slumber in the stifling border post outside Swalmen was disturbed by the roar of a high-performance German sports car coming to a halt in front of the red-and-white barrier.
_The Traitor of Arnhem: The Untold Story of WWII’s Greatest Betrayal and the Moment that Changed History Forever_, by Robert Verkaik
17 April 1941
Even after eight months of heavy bombing on London, Louisa Sullivan hadn’t decided which part of hearing the bomb’s whistle was the worst: the constant whine, which prevented any respite from fear and defied any guess as to its navigation, or the immediate black silence that came in the seconds when it stopped.
_The Mitford Secret_, the sixth (and last) Mitford mystery by Jessica Fellowes
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### Author:  [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2025, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3273 "2025-02-28T18:47:59Z")
" Even in this metric age, it was still the thousand-foot telescope, not the three hundred-meter."
— " 2010: odyssey two", by Arthur C. Clarke
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### Author:  [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2025, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3274 "2025-02-28T20:35:29Z")
Archery was cancelled because Watborn had accidentally shot the cow.
from The Foot in the Crown, Christopher Fowler’s final novel.
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2025, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3275 "2025-02-28T22:32:26Z")
“October 24, 1877, was a day of minimal activity in the halls of Congress.”
_The Great Sweepstakes of 1877: A True Story of Southern Grit, Gilden Age Tycoons, and a Race That Galvanized the Nation_, by Mark Shrager
“The Garden Committee had met to discuss the earth; not the whole earth, the terrestrial globe, but the bit of it that had been stolen from the Gardens in the Square.”
_An Episode of Sparrows_, by Rumer Godden.
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### Author:  [@ShirleyIV](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShirleyIV)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2025, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3276 "2025-03-01T10:40:48Z")
Introduction “I remember when I discovered America”.
Chapter 1 “I have an uncle named James”.
Black AF History - The Un-Whitewashed Story of America by Michael Harriot
This book is wonderful, full of history, written with laughter and well researched - all at the same time. Not your typical “history book”!
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2025, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3277 "2025-03-03T03:42:43Z")
“Elwyn Brooks White became a writer while he was still wearing knickers.”
_Some Writer!: The Story of E.B. White_ by Melissa Sweet
“A collision between two vehicles is basic physics.”
_Headhunters_ by Jo Nesbo
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### Author:  [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2025, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3278 "2025-03-03T17:52:59Z")
“Elfland is the new section of Lunograd.”
_Satan’s World_, by Poul Anderson, part of his Future History series featuring David Falklyn and Nicholas Van Rijn.
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### Author:  [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2025, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3279 "2025-03-03T17:55:29Z")
“Thirty Seconds. If they were still arguing, she’d call the cops then.”
_Collision of Lies_ by Tom Threadgill
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2025, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3280 "2025-03-03T23:40:22Z")
“I am an American, New York born, but I started to spend some time in London in the 1990s, teaching study-abroad classes.”
_Gobsmacked: The British Invasion of American English_, by Ben Yagoda
“They used fire, back in the day.”
_Death Without Company_, by Craig Johnson
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2025, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3281 "2025-03-09T03:38:39Z")
"Half-way through the labour of an index to this book I recalled the practice of my ten years’ study of history; and realized that I had never used the index of a book fit to read.”
_Seven Pillars of Wisdom_ by T.E. Lawrence
“‘Where’s Papa going with that axe?’ said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast."
_Charlotte’s Web_ by E.B. White
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2025, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3282 "2025-03-09T23:16:28Z")
“May in Ayemenem is a hot, brooding month.”
_The God of Small Things_ by Arundhati Roy
“The angel gleamed in the light of Hethor’s reading candle bright as any brasswork automaton.”
_Mainspring_, by Jay Lake.
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### Author:  [@Morinput](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morinput)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2025, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3283 "2025-03-12T02:41:33Z")
Call me Ishmael
May be the hardest book I’ve ever read in terms of language and shear wordiness. I think at one point Melville took 15 pages to describe the color white
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2025, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3284 "2025-03-12T03:26:58Z")
Welcome, **Morinput**! If you’d like to discuss books at greater length, check out this thread (there’s a new one every month): [Khadaji’s Whatcha Reading Thread - March 2025 edition](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-march-2025-edition/1014943)
“The story begins before the reporters and the television correspondents flocked to interview the team.”
_The Boys of Riverside_ by Thomas Fuller
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### Author:  [@DZedNConfused](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DZedNConfused)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2025, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3285 "2025-03-12T14:14:21Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#):
>
> (there’s a new one every month): [Khadaji’s Whatcha Reading Thread - March 2025 edition](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-march-2025-edition/1014943)
When I can find the right tab in my brain… 😆
Since I am here: “I watched from the porch of The Source as Jake Hillebrand’s Subaru stated to turn onto Jefferson Street.”
_Familial Haunts_ by Madeline Kirby
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### Author:  [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2025, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3286 "2025-03-12T16:25:19Z")
[Prologue]
A long journey brought us to the first Mongol encampment, after a week in a cramped compartment on the Trans-Siberian Express from Moscow to Ulan Bator, followed by hours of motoring over rugged, roadless terrain in a Toyota Land Cruiser that had known many owners.
[Chapter 1]
The genus _Equus_, before entering human history with a bang, almost disappeared from prehistory with a whimper.
Two sentences for the price of one! 😃
_Raiders, Rulers, and Traders: The Horse and the Rise of Empires_, by David Chaffetz
When he walked away from the small private room and the press conference, moved through the crowded Café Kranzler rrestaurant, and emerged onto the sun-drenched Kurfürstendamm, he felt highly elated.
_The Seventh Secret_, by Irving Wallace
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### Author:  [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2025, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3287 "2025-03-13T22:48:33Z")
“The foot would not fit in my briefcase, so I wrapped it in cloth and wrestled it into an old knapsack I sometimes carry with me on expeditions.”
_Map of the Otherlands_ by Heather Fawcett
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### Author:  [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)
#### Post date: [March 14, 2025, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3288 "2025-03-14T00:42:50Z")
I have a foolish question. When a book has a prologue, what is considered the first sentence? Main text or prologue?
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### Author:  [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)
#### Post date: [March 14, 2025, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3289 "2025-03-14T01:00:21Z")
> [@Baker](#):
>
> When a book has a prologue, what is considered the first sentence?
ISTM we had this discussion a while back, and there were two different opinions. I generally use the prologue, while others use the main text starting with Chapter 1.
But I really don’t think it makes a whole hell of a lot of difference!
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### Author:  [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)
#### Post date: [March 14, 2025, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3290 "2025-03-14T17:32:09Z")
> [@Railer13](#):
>
> ISTM we had this discussion a while back, and there were two different opinions. I generally use the prologue, while others use the main text starting with Chapter 1.
I generally use the more interesting of the two. Sometimes I use them both, as I did yesterday.
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