# 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:** 176
### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2025, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3511 "2025-11-12T13:19:13Z")
“I stood with my arms folded, glaring down at Nero Wolfe, who had his 278 pounds planted in a massive armchair which was made of heavy pine slats, with thick striped rugs draped over the back and on the seat for a cushion.”
_Ellery Queen’s Murder–in Spades!_, edited by Ellery Queen (Note that this is an anthology, and the first sentence is from “Immune to Murder”, by Rex Stout.)
“A tree house is an escape to nature, a haven from the elements that is made within the elements.”
_Tree Houses Within Reach: 30 Lofty Cabins, Playhouses, and Getaways You Can Actually Build_, by Derek Diedricksen
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### Author:  [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2025, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3512 "2025-11-12T13:28:47Z")
“When Mr. Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton.”
I don’t expect I need to identify the book title. I read this trilogy annually but have reduced it to about every three or four years as I’ve begun my seventh decade. I doubt seriously I’ll make it to my eleventy first birthday.
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### Author:  [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2025, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3513 "2025-11-14T20:34:03Z")
From _For Whom the Belle Tolls_ by Jaysea Lynn:
> Lily knew the cancer was going to kill her when her car wouldn’t start.
Lily dies at the end of Chapter Two, and then the story begins.
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### Author:  [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2025, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3514 "2025-11-14T21:54:27Z")
“This is the life,” Iris Rafferty exclaimed, taking a long pull on her glass.
_For Duck’s Sake_, the 37th Meg Langslow mystery by Donna Andrews
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### Author:  [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2025, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3515 "2025-11-14T21:58:51Z")
> [@Cardigan](#):
>
> I don’t expect I need to identify the book title
Hmmm. It seems vaguely similar to _Bored of the Rings_, but…
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2025, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3516 "2025-11-14T22:26:27Z")
“Books have always been some of my most powerful and influential teachers.”
_Forever Free: A True Story of Hope in the Fight for Child Literacy_, by Tracy Swinton Bailey, PhD
“Hello? Who’s this?”
_The Sunshine Boys_, by Neil Simon
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### Author:  [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2025, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3517 "2025-11-14T23:59:31Z")
“The man looked across the room at his son, who lay shivering on the hard couch.”
_The Children of Jocasta_ by Natalie Haynes
“Early on in the process of writing my first book about axe murder, I took a job working in an after-school program.”
_Whack Job: A History of Axe Murder_ by Rachel McCarthy James
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### Author:  [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Winston_OBoogie)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2025, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3518 "2025-11-15T18:15:36Z")
If it was _Bored of the Rings_, the character would be named Dildo Bugger. Try again.
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### Author:  [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2025, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3519 "2025-11-15T23:50:02Z")
> [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](#):
>
> If it was _Bored of the Rings_, the character would be named Dildo Bugger.
That’s why I said _vaguely_ similar.
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2025, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3520 "2025-11-16T23:01:46Z")
“The name stopped me cold.”
_Living and Dying in Brick City: An E.R. Doctor Returns Home_, by Sampson Davis
“The great problem is at length solved!”
_Wonder-Makers: An Anthology of Classic Science Fiction_, edited by Robert Hoskins
(Note that the above quote is from “The Baloon-Hoax” by Edgar Allan Poe.)
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### Author:  [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2025, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3521 "2025-11-17T00:17:24Z")
The first day of term has a flavour that is all its own.
_Farewell to Fairacre_, by Miss Read
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### Author:  [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2025, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3522 "2025-11-17T13:00:56Z")
_“In his hand he carried an ancient and trustworthy weapon, called by the elves a Browning semi-automatic.”_
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2025, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3523 "2025-11-19T09:31:30Z")
“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.”
– _1984_, by George Orwell
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### Author:  [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2025, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3524 "2025-11-19T20:08:22Z")
It is snowing again.
_Mrs Pringle of Fairacre_, by Miss Read
The breeze rustled gently through the palm fronds overhead.
_Five Golden Wings_, the 38th Meg Langslow mystery by Donna Andrews
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### Author:  [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2025, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3525 "2025-11-19T20:57:59Z")
There is no doubt that, of all the tales, the first is the most difficult for the casual reader.
_City_, by Clifford D. Simak
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### Author:  [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2025, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3526 "2025-11-19T21:57:00Z")
“We introduced ourselves over Oreos around the catering table.”
_Anthem: An American Road Story_ by Shainee Gabel & Kristin Hahn
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2025, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3527 "2025-11-21T22:16:13Z")
“The monk heard that a ship had arrived carrying one of the dog-headed people whom travelers speak of when the tell tall tales of the one-eyed and the winged, and he went out to the docks to see if it was true.”
_Nicked_, by M. T. Anderson
“Leon Leonwood Bean was born on October 13, 1872, in Greenwood, Oxford County, Maine.”
_In Search of L.L. Bean_, by M. R. Montgomery.
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### Author:  [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2025, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3528 "2025-11-22T10:32:54Z")
“To mankind at Large the time is Com at Last the grat day of Regoising what is that why I will tell you thous three kings is Rased Rased you meane should know Rased on the first Royal Arch in the world olmost Not quite but very hiw up upon so thay are good mark to be scene so the womans Lik to see the frount and all people Loves to see them as the quakers will Com and peape slyly and feele glad and say houe the doue frind father Jorge washeton is in the senter king Addoms is at the Rite hand the present king at the Left hand father gorge with his hat on the other hats of the middel king with his sword king Addoms with his Cane in a grand poster Adtetoude turning his fass towards the first king as if they was on sum politicks king our present king he is stands hearing being younger and very deafe in short being one grat felosfer Looks well East & west and North & south deafe & very deafe the god of Natur has dun very much for our present king and all our former ones they are all good I want them to Live for Ever and I beleave thay will it is hard work to be A king—I say it is hardar than tilling the ground I know it is for I find it is hard work to be A Lord I dont desier the sound but to pleas the peopel at Large Let it gou to brak the way it dus for Asort ment to help a good Lafe to Cour the sick spleney goutey dul frames Lik my selfe with the goute and so on make merry a Chealy Christen is for me only be onnest No matter what they worshep son moune or stars or there wife or miss if onnest Live forever money wont gitt thous figers so fast as I wish I have sent to Leg horn for many mr bourr is one Amonks others I sent in the grand Crecham thous 3 kings Are plane white colow at present the Royal Arch & figers cost 39 pound wate silver the hiest Councaton order in the world so it is sade by the knowing one I have only 4 Lions & 1 Lam up the spred Eagel has bin up 3 years upon the Coupelay I have 13 billors front in strat Row for 13 states when we begun 3 in the Rear 15 foot hie 4 more on the grass see 2 the same hath at the Rite of the grand Arch 2 at the left wing 15 foot hie the Arch 17 foot hie the my hous is 3 sorey upwards of 290 feet round the hous Nater has formed the ground Eaquel to what you would wish for the Art by man Eaquel to a Solomun the onerabel Jonathan Jackson one of the first in this Country for tast borne A grat man by Nater then the best Lurning what sot me fored for my plan having so gran spot the hool of the world Cant Excead this to thous that dont know would think I was Like halfe the world A Lier I have traveled good deale but old steady men sayeth it is the first that it is the first best in this Contry & others Contrey I tell you this the trouth that None of you grat men wodent be A frunted at my preseadens & I spare Now Cost in the work I have the tempel of Reason in my garding 3 years past with a toume under it on the Eage of the grass see it cost 98 gineys besides the Coffen panted whit in side and out side tuched with green Nobel trimings uncommon Lock so I can tak the kee in side and haye fier works in the toume pipes and tobacker & A speaking trumpet and & bibel to Read & sum good songs What is a presedent answer A king bonne partey the grate has as much power as A king and ort to have & it is a massey he has for the good of mankind he has as much power as Any king for grat ways back there must be A head sum whare or the peopel is Lost Lik wild gees when thay Lous the gander two Leged want A head if fore Leged both & 2 Leged fouls the Name of presedent is to pleas the peopel at Large the sound souts best Now in the south give way to the North the North give way to the south or by & by you will brake what falers be wise on keep the Links to gether and if you cant A gree Consoalated to A kingly power for you must keep together at the wost hear it Labers ye les see there is so many men wants be the all offesers & Now sogers poor king Every day wants A bone sum more then others the king cant Live without the feald wee have had our turne grat good father Addoms turne & turne About Rest Easey you all will be pleased with the present king give time all did I say Now but the magor part fore fifths at least.”
-_A Pickle For the Knowing Ones_, Timothy Dexter, 1802
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### Author:  [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2025, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3529 "2025-11-22T14:51:04Z")
The children first showed me the lucky hole when we were out for a nature walk.
“The Lucky Hole”, first story in _Tales from a Village School_, by Miss Read
He opened his eyes and saw a grey wall where a red light gleamed balefully in the gloom.
_A Trace of Memory_, by Keith Laumer
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### Author:  [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2025, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3530 "2025-11-23T23:18:30Z")
“When I woke up, my roommate, Johanna, was dead.”
_The Library at Hellebore,_ by Cassandra Khaw
“They would have said it wasn’t possible: the chaos and the mayhem she caused.”
_The Poisoned King,_ by Katherine Rundell
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