# 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:** 36
**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 12, 2019, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/702 "2019-06-12T20:33:56Z")
“I’m sure my husband would prefer you not to cycle so much, Dr. Wilkinson.” _From a Surgeon’s Diary_ by Clifford Ashdown ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2019, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/703 "2019-06-13T02:45:49Z")
“The mailman walked towards my office door, half an hour earlier than usual.” _Storm Front_ by Jim Butcher, the first of the ‘Dresden Files’ novels. ---
**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 14, 2019, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/704 "2019-06-14T17:07:18Z")
“If the peoples of Earth were not prepared for the coming of the Martians, it was their own fault.” _Martians, Go Home!_ by Fredric Brown. ---
**Author:** ![NeeCD](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/neecd/32/386_2.png) [@NeeCD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NeeCD)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2019, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/705 "2019-06-14T17:26:25Z")
I’m reading several books right now; a couple of eBooks from the library, and one paperback. As it happens, the paperback is \*\*Storm Front \*\*by Jim Butcher, so post #704 has that one covered. I’m starting a 3rd (or 4th?) read through of the whole series in order (including the comics and short stories) in anticipation of the new book coming out sometime around Christmas (fingers crossed). Overdrive: “The Consort was coming to dinner.” **Cast in Oblivion** by Michelle Sagara Cloud Library: “The genius of apartheid was convincing people who were the overwhelming majority to turn on each other.” **Born a Crime** by Trevor Noah. It’s a pretty interesting read, and I might even check out the children’s version of the book to see how he made it a story for both adults and kids. ---
**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 15, 2019, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/706 "2019-06-15T16:07:11Z")
“I did two things on my seventy-fifth birthday. I visited my wife’s grave. Then I joined the army.” \*Old Man’s War \*by John Scalzi (2005) ---
**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 16, 2019, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/707 "2019-06-16T20:59:49Z")
" ‘This is CNN breaking news …’ " – _The Enemy of the People: A Dangerous Time to Tell the Truth in America_, by CNN chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta ---
**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 17, 2019, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/708 "2019-06-17T02:06:58Z")
Every man had his own special moment when he first knew that something was wrong. _The Miracle of Dunkirk: The True Story of Operation Dynamo_ – Walter Lord ---
**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 17, 2019, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/709 "2019-06-17T15:29:12Z")
“They give me free drinks if I keep my tray table down.” _The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest Book: The Winners, the Losers, and Everybody In Between_, edited by Robert Mankoff. ---
**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 18, 2019, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/710 "2019-06-18T03:56:08Z")
“There are moments of great luxury in the life of a secret agent.” _Live and Let Die_ by Ian Fleming (1954) ---
**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 19, 2019, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/711 "2019-06-19T15:40:08Z")
“Every presidency begins in a fog of uncertainty.” _Camelot’s Court: Inside the Kennedy White House_ by Robert Dallek (2013) ---
**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 19, 2019, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/712 "2019-06-19T20:23:31Z")
“Although Wan-To wasn’t at all human, he (or one might prefer to refer to him as “it,”, but “he” was not an inappropriate pronoun) would have put that statement in a very different way.” _The World at the End of Time_ by Frederik Pohl. ---
**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 22, 2019, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/713 "2019-06-22T17:46:41Z")
“The tantalizing odor of pumpkin spice scented the air as Danielle Sloan watched her neighbor Ivy Drake stuff leftover Halloween cookies into her mouth.” _Tart of Darkness_ by Denise Swanson ---
**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 23, 2019, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/714 "2019-06-23T02:06:36Z")
“I rode a streetcar to the edge of the city limits, then I started to walk, swinging the old thumb whenever I saw a car coming.” _After Dark, My Sweet_ by Jim Thompson (1955) ---
**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 23, 2019, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/715 "2019-06-23T20:39:21Z")
“Even in Los Angeles, where there is no shortage of remarkable hairdos, Harry Peak attracted attention.” _The Library Book_, by Susan Orlean ---
**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 27, 2019, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/716 "2019-06-27T13:42:16Z")
“It was bitter cold, the air electric with all that had not happened yet.” _A Reliable Wife_ by Robert Goolrick (2010) ---
**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 28, 2019, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/717 "2019-06-28T17:44:19Z")
“The problem with monsters,” Monica (5’10") liked to say, “is that monsters _win_.” _XL_ by Scott Brown ---
**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 29, 2019, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/718 "2019-06-29T01:53:03Z")
“There have been countless books written on the attack on Pearl Harbor over the last 75 years.” _Raising the Fleet: The Pearl Harbor Salvage Operation, 1941-1944_ by Ernest Arroyo and Stan Cohen ---
**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 30, 2019, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/719 "2019-06-30T13:46:21Z")
“Nobody knew where she came from.” _Applied Minds: How Engineers Think_, by Guru Madhavan. ---
**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 30, 2019, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/720 "2019-06-30T21:49:21Z")
“_umber whunnnn yerrrnnn umber whunnnn fayunnnn_ These sounds: even in the haze.” – _Misery_, by Stephen King ---
**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:** [July 1, 2019, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/721 "2019-07-01T12:56:23Z")
Oh, **Sam** , I love that book! I hope you will too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858.md?page=35) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858.md?page=37)