# 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:** 166
### Author:  [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2025, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3311 "2025-04-06T07:37:22Z")
You may not believe this but I just came here to have that line.
---
### Author:  [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2025, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3312 "2025-04-07T13:00:52Z")
First line of the book I just finished, and first line of the book I just started.
“There are a number of smells one expects to encounter in a dungeon.”
_Clockwork Boys_, T. Kingfisher
“The first thing they saw when they got into Anuket City was a corpse.”
_The Wonder Engine_, T. Kingfisher
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2025, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3313 "2025-04-11T16:50:48Z")
“Nearly every American above a certain age remembers precisely where they were on September 11, 2001.”
_The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of September 11, 2001_ by Garrett M. Graff
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2025, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3314 "2025-04-12T13:59:17Z")
“The river flowing sluggishly under Pont de la Concorde was flat and grey, like worn-out linoleum.”
_Century Rain_ by Alastair Reynolds
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### Author:  [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2025, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3315 "2025-04-15T21:43:48Z")
The single engaged engine of the empty spherical ore carrier thrummed hollowly through the hull.
_The Death of Sleep_, by Anne McCaffrey and Jody Lynn Nye
The tall noncom could have stepped straight out of a recruiting poster.
_Hell’s Gate_, by David Weber and Linda Evans
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2025, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3316 "2025-04-15T21:52:18Z")
“These days, you’ve got a lot of options when communicating with teens.”
_What Time Is Noon: Hilarious Texts, Ridiculous Feedback, and Not-So-Subtle Advice from Teenagers_, edited by Chip Leighton
“She rides out of the forest alone.”
_Matrix_, a historical novel by Lauren Groff
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### Author:  [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2025, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3317 "2025-04-17T10:31:26Z")
“John Prine may well be one of the greatest songwriters to ever live.”
_Prine on Prine - Interviews and Encounters with John Prine_ by Holly Gleason
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2025, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3318 "2025-04-18T18:13:09Z")
“If one’s reputation is a possession, then of all my possessions, my reputation means most to me.”
_Days of Grace_, a memoir by Arthur Ashe with Arnold Rampersad
“Lana Baker was the finest scribe in Aldgate, but it won her little praise.”
_High Times in the Low Parliament_, a fantasy by Kelly Robson
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2025, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3319 "2025-04-21T04:51:21Z")
“On the forty-eighth floor of a glistening tower on the southern tip of Manhattan, Mitch McDeere stood alone in his office and gazed out the window at Battery Park and the busy waters beyond.”
– _The Exchange_, by John Grisham
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2025, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3320 "2025-04-21T22:34:53Z")
“Wall Street is the world’s money market.”
_Banking on Death_ by Emma Lathen
“Depending on which entrance you choose, the American Museum of Natural History looks like a castle the color of dried strawberries, a sun-bleached Roman temple or a spaceship ready to launch out of a glass box.”
_The Monster’s Bones: The Discovery of T. Rex and How It Shook Our World_, by David K. Randall
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### Author:  [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2025, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3321 "2025-04-21T23:09:47Z")
“Nine o’clock, a dazzling moon outside the window, a shrill whistle for a werewolf.”
_Lethal Prey_ by John Sandford
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2025, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3322 "2025-04-21T23:14:14Z")
“When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.”
_To Kill a Mockingbird_ - Harper Lee
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### Author:  [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2025, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3323 "2025-04-22T04:19:55Z")
I once played a game in which you picked ten books was all you could have. Yours was one of them.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2025, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3324 "2025-04-22T13:04:24Z")
For some reason, I’ve never read this book. Seen the movie a couple of times.
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### Author:  [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2025, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3325 "2025-04-23T02:33:09Z")
It was one of those films that was just like the book. Somewhat condensed but still felt the same. I always like that glimpse of Robert Duvall at the end.
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### Author:  [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2025, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3326 "2025-04-24T08:50:51Z")
> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> For some reason, I’ve never read this book. Seen the movie a couple of times.
Neither read nor seen it.
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### Author:  [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2025, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3327 "2025-04-24T20:45:30Z")
The vertical cut in the cliff face only looked razor-thin.
_Hell Hath No Fury_, by David Weber and Linda Evans
“How much for that pretty kittycat you got there, young lady?”
_Catalyst_, by Anne MCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough
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### Author:  [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2025, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3328 "2025-04-24T20:50:57Z")
> [@SCAdian](#):
>
> > [@Chefguy](#):
> >
> > For some reason, I’ve never read this book. Seen the movie a couple of times.
>
> Neither read nor seen it.
I saw the movie, read the book, and attended a theater performance all within a 5-day-span.
mmm
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### Author:  [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2025, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3329 "2025-04-24T20:54:34Z")
“In August 1947, John. F. Kennedy traveled to Ireland.”
_An Unfinished Life - John F. Kennedy 1917-1963_ by Robert Dallek
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2025, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3330 "2025-04-26T14:48:39Z")
“I am sitting in front of a bowl, a spoon, a box, and a bottle, and I’m beginning to break out in just a wee bit of a cold sweat.”
_Food for Thought: Essays and Ruminations_, by Alton Brown
“Frank Santora, suited up and sweating in the heat, sits behind his wide, expensive wooden desk, looking up at Ulysses Perez standing in front of him.”
_Solar Flare: Solarpunk Stories_, edited by Patricia Bray and Joshua Palmatier.
(Note that this sentence is from “Dustbowl Detective”, by David Keener.)
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