# 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:** 187
### Author:  [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2026, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3731 "2026-05-20T01:01:10Z")
“Name and cabin number, please?” the efficient-looking porter asked, reaching for the large green suitcase sitting on the dock beside me.
_Curse of the_ Arctic Star, by “Carolyn Keene”
The ticking of the conference room’s antique clock was deafening as the Hereditary President of the People’s Republic of Haven stared at his military cabinet.
_On Basilisk Station_, by David Weber
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### Author:  [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2026, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3732 "2026-05-20T09:42:37Z")
“I knew when I married Bob, I would divorce him one day, because men are like lawyers. They can’t be trusted.”
_The Perfect Divorce_ by Jeneva Rose.
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2026, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3733 "2026-05-20T23:42:06Z")
“Heroes can be found in the most unlikely of places.”
_Doctor Who: Time Lord Fairy Tales_, by Justin Richards (From “Jak and the Wormhole”.)
“I am always surprised by the strange misconceptions that most urban dwellers seem to have about cows.”
_How Soon Can You Get Here, Doc?_; by David Wynia
“Man has conquered Space before.”
_Northwest Smith_, by C. L. Moore (Note: This is a collection of SF short stories, and the quote is from “Shambleau”.)
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2026, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3734 "2026-05-24T03:52:38Z")
“She was squinting at the thermometer in the white light coming through the window.”
-- _The Running Man_, by Stephen King, writing as Richard Bachman
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### Author:  [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2026, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3735 "2026-05-24T13:33:32Z")
“Come on. Hurry up and let’s go!”
_Once Upon a Thriller_, by Carolyn Keene
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2026, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3736 "2026-05-25T13:39:57Z")
“Blood is a liquid filled with various cell types, one type being the red blood cells.”
_Forensics and Fiction: Clever, Intriguing, and Downright Odd Questions from Crime Writers_, by D. P. Lyle, M.D.
“Once there was a poor peasant girl named Andrea who lived in a little cottage at the edge of the forest.”
_Gather Round_, by John R. Aurelio (Note: This is a collection of fantasy stories. The quote is from “The Patient Princess”.)
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### Author:  [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2026, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3737 "2026-05-26T20:30:42Z")
“Disciples came in flocks that sun-bake May afternoon in 1957, packing the pews at St. Mary’s and spilling onto the streets outside the Irish parish in Appleton, Wisconsi, where Joseph Raymond McCarthy had been baptized and now, just forty-eight years later, he was being eulogized.”
_Bobby Kennedy - The Making of a Liberal Icon,_ by Larry Tye
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2026, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3738 "2026-05-26T23:03:51Z")
“My grandchildren surge through our kitchen door like a tumbling stream, laughing and calling excitedly, as though visiting Amma’s house is the best thing in the world.”
_Toad Cottages & Shooting Stars: A Grandma’s Bag of Tricks_, by Sharon Lovejoy
“We didn’t always live on Mango Street.”
_The House on Mango Street_, by Sandra Cisneros.
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2026, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3739 "2026-05-29T21:17:00Z")
“Austen’s canonical status is so unassailable that she’s not just included in the list of great novelists: she tops it.”
_Jane Austen’s Bookshelf: A Rare Book Collector’s Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend_, by Rebecca Romney
“I didn’t know best friends could die.”
_All the Blues in the Sky_, by Renee Watson
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### Author:  [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2026, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3740 "2026-05-30T01:21:26Z")
“Is that her?” I asked, shading my eyes against the glare of the afternoon sun.
_Mystery of the Midnight Rider_, by Carolyn Keene
Dame Honor Harrington dropped her long, rolled bundle and removed a hat someone on Old Earth of two millennia past would have called a fedora.
_The Short Victorious War_, by David Weber
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### Author:  [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2026, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3741 "2026-05-31T20:02:27Z")
“He was healthy yesterday,” said Maude.
_Three Bags Full_, by Leonie Swann, translated by Anthea Bell. This is the book _The Sheep Detectives_ was based on.
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2026, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3742 "2026-06-02T14:01:40Z")
“‘This is the life,’ Iris Rafferty exclaimed, taking a long pull on her glass.”
_For Duck’s Sake_, by Donna Andrews
“‘Quite simply, the answer is–because they are there!’”
_The Ballad of Beta 2_, by Samuel R. Delany.
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2026, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3743 "2026-06-03T04:02:39Z")
“Fifty miles down a dirt road in Wyoming one time, the old bus suffered two flat tires, which was one flat tire too many.”
-- _On the Road with Charles Kuralt_, by Charles Kuralt
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2026, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3744 "2026-06-03T20:02:19Z")
“Late one Thursday morning at the beginning of July 1914, a young woman with dark wet hair strode long-legged from the Serpentine in Hyde Park along Oxford Street towards Marylebone.”
_Precipice_ by Robert Harris
“The child had been trained well - not by her family, but by life.”
_Mate_ by Ali Hazelwood
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### Author:  [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)
#### Post date: [June 4, 2026, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3745 "2026-06-04T21:39:54Z")
“The poignant lyrics of “Desperado” filtered through the cobwebs crocheted across the scratchy speaker in the ceiling.”
_Blood Moon_ by Sandra Brown
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2026, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3746 "2026-06-05T23:21:42Z")
“I was born in the winter of 1898 at Belfast, the son of a solicitor and of a clergyman’s daughter.”
_Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life_, by C. S. Lewis
“On a mild autumn morning in September, 1837, two friends, Charles Lewis Tiffany, age 25, and John Burnett Young, age 22, opened the doors of their small stationery and ‘fancy goods’ store at 259 Broadway in lower Manhattan, New York, for the first time.”
_Little Book of Tiffany and Co.: The Story of the Iconic Brand_, by Tamara Sturtz-Filby.
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### Author:  [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2026, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3747 "2026-06-06T01:57:19Z")
Admiral of the Green Hamish Alexander, Thirteenth Earl of White Haven, sat on HMS _Queen Caitrin_’s flag deck and gazed into his display.
_Flag in Exile_, by David Weber
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### Author:  [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2026, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3748 "2026-06-07T20:21:15Z")
They didn’t say anything about this in the books, I thought, as the snow blew in through the gaping doorway and settled on my naked back.
_All Creatures Great and Small_ by James Herriot.
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### Author:  [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2026, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3749 "2026-06-07T21:40:17Z")
Good stuff! I need to re-read those books.
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2026, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/3750 "2026-06-08T17:24:19Z")
“The Morris dance is common to all inhabited worlds in the multiverse.”
_Reaper Man_, by Terry Pratchett
“To see a World in a grain of sand…”
_Imagination’s Other Place: Poems of Science and Mathematics_, edited by Helen Plotz. (This is the first line of “Auguries of Innocence” by William Blake.)
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