# 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:** 184
### Author:  [@brachyrhynchos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brachyrhynchos)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2026, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3671 "2026-03-19T02:29:31Z")
“At no time in the history of America has the awareness of the frame’s significance been so great, both as an art object and as a vehicle for aesthetically and historically enhancing a work of art.” A quote by Larry Shar in _The Secret Lives of Frames: One hundred Years of Art and Artistry_ by Deborah Davis 2007.
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2026, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3672 "2026-03-21T03:49:37Z")
“There was a thin robin’s-egg-blue dawn coming up over Tel Aviv when the intelligence analyst finished typing his report.”
_The ODESSA File_ by Frederick Forsyth
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### Author:  [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2026, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3673 "2026-03-21T19:26:21Z")
Charles H. Barnard, captain of the American sealing brig _Nanina_, had only the best of intentions.
_Left for Dead: Shipwreck, Treachery and Survival at the Edge of the World_, by Eric Jay Dolin
The floral fragrances – a symphony of subtle sweetness – swirled with the earthier scants of mist-damp leaves and the nutrient-rich soil
_Murder at the Royal Botanic Gardens_, by Andrea Penrose
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### Author:  [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2026, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3674 "2026-03-21T21:15:24Z")
Rían, wife of Huor, dwelt with the people of the House of Hador; but when rumour came to Dor-lómin of the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, and yet she could hear no news of her lord, she became distraught and wandered forth into the wild alone.
J.R.R. Tolkien, _Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-Earth_
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2026, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3675 "2026-03-21T23:40:34Z")
“How long, dear friend–how long?”
_Kolymsky Heights_, by Lionel Davidson
“It is a sepia photo, oval-shaped, glued inside a yellowed cardboard folder, showing a baby posed in three-quarter profile on a heap of scalloped cushions.”
_The Other Girl_, by Annie Ernaux, translated by Alison L. Strayer
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2026, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3676 "2026-03-22T05:01:05Z")
“My first impression was that the stranger’s eyes were of an unusually light blue.”
– _Mr Norris Changes Trains_, by Christopher Isherwood
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2026, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3677 "2026-03-24T12:27:13Z")
“Listen, all of you people lying lazy on the beach, is this what you imagine is the meaning of the sea?”
_The Eyes of the Amaryllis_, by Natalie Babbitt
“Grab your magnifying glass, because this is a mystery story.”
_Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her,_ by Melanie Rehak
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### Author:  [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2026, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3678 "2026-03-24T18:52:16Z")
December 2016
Waltham, Massachusetts
In a tiny Catholic church, a large Jewish family comes in from out of town and files into a modest funeral service that will honor a local man, an Italian American, a hometown fixture who once ran the Monarch Diner on Main Street.
_The Boys in the Light: An Extraordinary World War II Story of Survival, Faith, and Brotherhood_, by Nina Willner
Through the doorway which led from her receptionist-secretary’s office into her own, Catherine Morris Perry instantly noticed the box on her desk.
_Talking God_, by Tony Hillerman
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### Author:  [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2026, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3679 "2026-03-26T14:54:27Z")
She would come at daybreak – the woman whose letter I held in my hands, the woman whose name I did not yet know.
_The Lost Apothecary_ by Sarah Penner
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2026, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3680 "2026-03-27T08:34:27Z")
“At nine o’clock in the morning, towards the end of November, the Warsaw train was approaching Petersburg at full speed.”
– _The Idiot_, by Fyodor Dostoevsky
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2026, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3681 "2026-03-27T20:11:29Z")
“Sometime between May and November, 1876, Colonel Albert Augustus Pope took a trip that changed American life forever.”
_Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (With a Few Flat Tires Along the Way)_, by Sue Macy
“Kay Lynne wandered up and down the aisles of the seed library dug out beneath the county extension office.”
_Telling the Map_, by Christopher Rowe (This is a story collection; the sentence is from “The Contrary Gardener”.)
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### Author:  [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2026, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3682 "2026-03-27T22:44:11Z")
A graceful melody wafted through the air, the low, sonorous sounds of the violoncello deepened by the curling plumes of spice-scented cheroot smoke.
_Murder at Kensington Palace_, by Andrea Penrose
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### Author:  [@DZedNConfused](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DZedNConfused)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2026, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3683 "2026-03-30T01:12:45Z")
The three women stood in the sky above London and waited for the Blitz to come.
_Blitz_ by Daniel O’-lets make this tangent 40 pages long- Malley
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### Author:  [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2026, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3684 "2026-03-30T17:07:25Z")
She was floating, arms outspread, water lapping her body, breathing in a summery fragrance of salt and coconut.
_What Alice Forgot_, by Liane Moriarty
Officer Jim Chee was thinking that either his right front tire was a little low or there was something wrong with the shock on that side.
_Coyote Waits_, by Tony Hillerman
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2026, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3685 "2026-03-30T23:39:08Z")
“‘Come on, love, push now!’ coaxed the midwife.”
_Midwife on Call: Tales of Tiny Miracles_, by Agnes Light
“Frank Burly is my name.”
_The Time Machine Did It,_ by John Swartzwelder
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### Author:  [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2026, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3686 "2026-03-31T00:55:37Z")
“To some it’s a stage.”
_The Proving Ground_ by Michael Connelly
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### Author:  [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2026, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3687 "2026-03-31T14:09:26Z")
It was all because of the Berlin Wall.
_The Husband’s Secret_, by Liane Moriarty
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2026, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3688 "2026-04-02T22:43:18Z")
“The Victorian upper crust excelled at taking apart dinner.”
_Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy_, by Mary Roach
“A squat grey building of only thirty-four stories.”
_Brave New World_, by Aldous Huxley
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### Author:  [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2026, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3689 "2026-04-02T22:48:44Z")
The crawfish knew it was coming.
_A Furious Sky: The Five-Hundred-Year History of America’s Hurricanes_, by Eric Jay Dolin
Darkness had settled over the city, and yet the night was quite pleasant, the first hints of summer warmth softening the breeze.
_Murder at the Serpentine Bridge_, by Andrea Penrose
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### Author:  [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)
#### Post date: [April 3, 2026, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3690 "2026-04-03T00:19:36Z")
Dellaria Wells had misplaced her mother.
_The Ruthless Lady’s Guide to Wizardry_ by C.M. Waggoner
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