# What is the first sentence from the book you are currently reading? **URL:** \ **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:** 20
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2018, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/381 "2018-05-01T05:11:24Z")
“Late in the night, high above the Atlantic Ocean in the long, open stretch between Brazil and Africa, an airliner encountered rough weather.” It’s about robots. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2018, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/382 "2018-05-01T21:18:31Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > “Late in the night, high above the Atlantic Ocean in the long, open stretch between Brazil and Africa, an airliner encountered rough weather.” > > It’s about robots. Is this _The Wild Robot_, by Peter Brown? “The man from Earth came to a decision.” T_he Currents of Space_ by Isaac Asimov ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2018, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/383 "2018-05-01T21:28:36Z")
“It was dawn, and the zombies were stumbling through the parking lot, streaming toward the massive beige box at the far end.” – **Horrorstör** by Grady Hendrix. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2018, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/384 "2018-05-01T21:36:25Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > “Late in the night, high above the Atlantic Ocean in the long, open stretch between Brazil and Africa, an airliner encountered rough weather.” > > It’s about robots. > [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > Is this _The Wild Robot_, by Peter Brown? [Our Robots, Ourselves: Robotics and the Myths of Autonomy](https://www.amazon.com/Our-Robots-Ourselves-Robotics-Autonomy-ebook/dp/B00SI02AWK), by David A. Mindell. I just started it and I was inspired to find this thread because the first sentence is so evocative for a non-fiction book. And because I’m actually, finally reading about robots. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2018, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/385 "2018-05-01T21:38:16Z")
I asked because the opening sentence of The Wild Robot is also about a storm at sea. Although I believe The Wild Robot starts on a ship, not an airplane. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/386 "2018-05-02T12:24:35Z")
_Anything can happen_, Will Dando thought. - The Oracle Year, by Charles Soule A dull first sentence for what is so far a very interesting book. ---
**Author:** ![DZedNConfused](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dzednconfused/32/15991_2.png) [@DZedNConfused](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DZedNConfused)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/387 "2018-05-02T15:45:15Z")
Sharks swirled around me, waiting only for the scent of blood to attack. ----Bloodline by Jordan L Hawk ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/388 "2018-05-02T21:37:49Z")
Alfred Russel Wallace stood on the quarterdeck of a burning ship, seven hundred miles off the coast of Bermuda, the planks heating beneath his feet, yellow smoke curling up through the cracks. _The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession , and The Natural History Heist of the Century_ By Kirk Wallace Johnson. ---
**Author:** ![Bayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bayaker/32/3454_2.png) [@Bayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2018, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/389 "2018-05-03T00:49:14Z")
" Major Piquart to see the Minister of War…" , _An Officer and a Spy_, by Robert Harris. An historical novel about the Dreyfus affaire. _Archangel_ wasn’t available, and I read a couple of mystery novels in between the Harris offerings. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2018, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/390 "2018-05-04T23:33:23Z")
“I tossed my backpack in a corner of the studio and high-fived Rodney on his way out.” _Kitty and the Midnight Hour_ by Carrie Vaughn ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2018, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/391 "2018-05-07T13:06:25Z")
Even when I’m doing something enjoyable, it seems death and destruction lurk nearby. - _Jackrabbit Smile_, by Joe R. Lansdale ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2018, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/392 "2018-05-07T13:10:54Z")
“I could have become a mass murderer after I hacked my governor module, but then I realized I could access the combined feed of entertainment channels carried on the company satellites.” _All Systems Red_, by Martha Wells ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/393 "2018-05-09T14:11:06Z")
“When the city of Ember was just built and not yet inhabited, the chief builder and the assistant builder, both of them weary, sat down to speak of the future.” _The City of Ember_, by Jeanne DuPrau ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2018, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/394 "2018-05-10T11:17:17Z")
" At the southern tip of Fifth Avenue in the heart of Greenwich Village since the leafy oasis known as Washington Square. " _Bellevue_, by David Oshinsky. A non-fiction historical accounting of the infamous New York Hospital going back to the 1700s. Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2018, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/395 "2018-05-10T12:24:33Z")
“Morning, Jeeves”, I said. - The Inimitable Jeeves, P.G. Wodehouse ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2018, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/396 "2018-05-11T00:46:20Z")
“Our story begins in a city, with buildings and streets and bridges and parks.” _The Wild Robot Escapes_, by Peter Brown ---
**Author:** ![Sveltington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ab097/32.png) [@Sveltington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sveltington)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2018, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/397 "2018-05-11T01:02:24Z")
“Chances are, if you are reading this, your heart is broken.” _Grieving a beginner’s guide, by Jerusha Hull McCormack_ ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2018, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/398 "2018-05-12T05:26:38Z")
“Brenda was six when she fell out of the apple tree.” – _The Executioner’s Song_, by Norman Mailer ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2018, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/399 "2018-05-13T21:10:11Z")
“God was rising in the west, and this time the sun was down–only lately, a few clouds were still red above the eastern treetops, against purple dusk; but over the hours the light had waned, until it was little more than an echo of what now swung above Lake Silence–so that His pale glory stood clear to be adored.” _World Without Stars_, by Poul Anderson ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2018, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/400 "2018-05-14T12:25:13Z")
“This is a story about a wise man named Milo.” - Reincarnation Blues, by Michael Poore [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858.md?page=19) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858.md?page=21)