# 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:** 35
**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 28, 2019, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/682 "2019-05-28T15:20:38Z")
“My birth was a sin and a crime.” - The House Children, by Heidi Daniele ---
**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:** [June 1, 2019, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/683 "2019-06-01T04:47:56Z")
“Ryan Peterson tugged at his swim cap with its bold number 2 and gave stink eye to his competitors, who flapped their arms – Michael Phelps’ style – a few yards down Honolulu’s Ala Moana Beach.” – _Freewheel: #HonoluluLaw, #FamousTriathlete, & a #Charity_, by Katharine M. Nohr. ---
**Author:** ![Stowed\_Bob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stowed_bob/32/3312_2.png) [@Stowed\_Bob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stowed_Bob)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2019, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/684 "2019-06-01T07:49:39Z")
The tower, which was not supposed to be there, plunges into the earth in a place just before the black pine forest begins to give way to the swamp and then the reeds and wind-gnarled trees of the marsh flats. Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2019, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/685 "2019-06-02T03:06:14Z")
“'Where Were _You?’_ There it was - the most universal of questions we ask one another following an epic public event.” _Top Down_ by Jim Lehrer (2013) ---
**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:** [June 3, 2019, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/686 "2019-06-03T14:15:16Z")
“Andy tattooed his left forearm with Lori’s name on a drunken night in his seventeenth year.” - _Sooner or Later Everything Falls Into the Sea_, by Sarah Pinsker ---
**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:** [June 3, 2019, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/687 "2019-06-03T20:03:54Z")
“The sad-faced, heavy man with the scar over his left eye was singing softly to himself.” _Giants of Jazz_ by Studs Turkel ---
**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:** [June 5, 2019, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/688 "2019-06-05T23:16:59Z")
“In their ruddy jackets of leather that reached to their knees the men of Erl appeared before their lord, the stately white-haired man in his long red room.” _The King of Elfland’s Daughter_, by Lord Dunsany ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2019, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/689 "2019-06-08T04:42:07Z")
“August 13, 1859, was a hot day in Council Bluffs, Iowa.” _Nothing Like It in the World: The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad 1863-1869_ by Stephen Ambrose (2000) ---
**Author:** ![eunoia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eunoia/32/97_2.png) [@eunoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eunoia)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2019, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/690 "2019-06-08T23:03:35Z")
“On a tous déja pensé se tuer.” _Paradis, clef en main_ (2009) Nelly Arcan “We’ve all thought about killing ourselves.” Paradise Turnkey published in English as _Exit_ ---
**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:** [June 9, 2019, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/691 "2019-06-09T03:59:32Z")
“Never before, as he knew, had any of his countrymen set off to accomplish anything like what he had agreed to undertake – a mission that, should he succeed, could change the course of history in innumerable ways and to the long-lasting benefit of countless Americans.” – _The Pioneers: The Historic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West_, by David McCullough ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2019, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/692 "2019-06-09T13:33:37Z")
McCullogh is one of my favorite US history writers. Spring had come to Ithica – for the second or third time that year – with mild temperatures melting the of grimy snow, snowdrops peeping through here and there, and V’s [sic] of Canada geese honking exuberantly overhead on their journey northward.-- Steven L. Sass _The Substance of Civilization: Materials and human history from the Stone Age to the Age of Silicon_ Pretty poetic for a book about materials science and engineering. ---
**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:** [June 9, 2019, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/693 "2019-06-09T13:55:38Z")
“The old stove began to go on a Saturday morning late in April, 1886.” _The Nickel-Plated Beauty_, by Patricia Beatty ---
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/694 "2019-06-10T01:07:23Z")
“Roger Bushell had just turned thirty when he reached Dulag Luft, the reception camp for Air Force prisoners.” This is the first sentence of the Prelude to “The Great Escape” by Paul Brickhill, a book I’ve read perhaps a half-dozen times in the last 50 years, and recently I picked out my dog-eared paperback copy to read once again. It was the basis for the classic 1963 movie starring Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough and James Garner, and is the true story of a brilliant escape from a German POW camp by Allied prisoners. If you’ve seen the movie and found it entertaining, read the book if you can find it. The real story is riveting, representing true courage, resiliance and cunning. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/695 "2019-06-10T02:06:03Z")
“But surely Your Excellency can’t dispute the facts of the matter!” _Sanctuary_, ed. by Robert Lynn Asprin (1981) > [@DesertDog](#): > > McCullogh is one of my favorite US history writers… Me, too! He graduated from my high school, many years before me. I introduced myself to him at two book signings maybe a decade apart, each time by name and class year, and he lit up both times. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/696 "2019-06-10T02:45:10Z")
_The only lodging in Grafton was a low-slung motel with a smashed door at the entrance._ – **Spying on the South: An Odyssey Across the American Divide** by the sadly recently-deceased Tony Horwitz, one of my favorite authors. ---
**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:** [June 11, 2019, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/697 "2019-06-11T12:40:19Z")
“No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear.” _A Grief Observed_, by C. S. Lewis ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2019, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/698 "2019-06-11T20:45:16Z")
Izzy Feldman said “Enough is enough,” took the Jericho 941 nine-millimeter pistol out from underneath his armpit, and shot Philadelphia mob boss Dominic Scarlotti between the eyes with such studied nonchalance that even Anthony “Little Anthony” Bonica - who had been expecting it - jumped and said, “Holy fuck, you didn’t even want to _talk_ to him first?” _Grand Theft_ by Timothy Watts ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2019, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/699 "2019-06-12T04:04:31Z")
Now _that_ is a opening sentence! ---
**Author:** ![Hapax\_Legomenon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8c91f0/32.png) [@Hapax\_Legomenon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hapax_Legomenon)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2019, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/700 "2019-06-12T13:06:54Z")
“There were crimson roses on the bench; they looked like splashes of blood.” _Strong Poison_, Dorothy L. Sayers ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2019, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/701 "2019-06-12T16:36:43Z")
"When I was in college, drugs were things you bought at the drugstore. Drugs from A to Z: A Dictionary by Richard R. Lingeman, copyright 1969. This book is a _trip_, man. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858.md?page=34) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858.md?page=36)