# 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:** 39
**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:** [August 1, 2019, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/762 "2019-08-01T14:27:59Z")
“Nice and easy. Seems like luck’s on our side for a change.” _Serenity: No Power in the 'Verse_ by Chris Roberson and Georges Jeanty (2017) ---
**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:** [August 3, 2019, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/763 "2019-08-03T23:01:23Z")
“Seenie!” Mary stood on the back steps of the comfortable limestone farmhouse, and her voice floated across the barnyard. _Tree Wagon_, by Evelyn Sibley Lampman ---
**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:** [August 6, 2019, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/764 "2019-08-06T19:21:34Z")
“An Army chaplain is a man of the cloth, but which cloth?” _Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War_, by Mary Roach ---
**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:** [August 9, 2019, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/765 "2019-08-09T05:49:12Z")
“Theirs was a land of awesome grandeur, a land of mountains and moorlands and cherished myths.” – _Here Be Dragons_, by Sharon Kay Penman ---
**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:** [August 10, 2019, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/766 "2019-08-10T15:36:23Z")
“It was a nice day.” _Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch_, by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. ---
**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:** [August 13, 2019, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/767 "2019-08-13T19:44:24Z")
“But I put it to you, my lord, that prize-money is of essential importance to the Navy.” _HMS Surprise_ by Patrick O’Brian (1973) ---
**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:** [August 14, 2019, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/768 "2019-08-14T19:51:43Z")
“‘Think they might be moving,’ says a voice on the phone.” _You’re Not Lost if You Can Still See the Truck: The Further Adventures of America’s Everyman Outdoorsman_, by Bill Heavey. ---
**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:** [August 20, 2019, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/769 "2019-08-20T02:45:08Z")
“Heraldry, the floral border in the garden of history, is of its very nature colourful and gay.” _Simple Heraldry_ by Iain Moncreiffe and Don Pottinger (1953) ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2019, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/770 "2019-08-20T15:01:10Z")
Chrisjen Avasarala was dead. Tiamat’s Wrath (The Expanse Book 8). Spoilered because it concerns a major character from the series. ---
**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:** [August 20, 2019, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/771 "2019-08-20T15:26:00Z")
“It was the man’s ghastly expression that first drew my attention to him.” _Conned Again, Watson: Cautionary Tales of Logic, Math, and Probability_, by Colin Bruce ---
**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:** [August 23, 2019, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/772 "2019-08-23T13:25:28Z")
“In a forested bottomland of southeastern Connecticut, amid stony outcroppings and strewn granite boulders, lies an unusual cluster of nine beehive-like stone shelters.” _Bunch of Amateurs: Inside America’s Hidden World of Inventors, Tinkerers, and Job Creators_, by Jack Hitt. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2019, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/773 "2019-08-23T15:15:57Z")
Can’t do the first sentence only. Gotta quote the whole haiku. “Two tires fly. Two wail. A bamboo grove, all chopped down From it, warring songs.” Not great, but what do you expect from Bobby Shaftoe? It’s August, a good month to re-read _Cryptonomicon_. ---
**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:** [August 27, 2019, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/774 "2019-08-27T17:44:44Z")
“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_ by David McCullough (2019) ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2019, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/775 "2019-08-27T23:11:24Z")
William Donovan understood as a boy what a secure hiding place could mean to a hunted man. — _Donovan_, by Richard Dunlop (William Donovan was one of the most decorated soldiers in WWI, and went on to create and run first the OSS in WWII and then the CIA.) ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2019, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/776 "2019-08-27T23:26:47Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > William Donovan understood as a boy what a secure hiding place could mean to a hunted man. — _Donovan_, by Richard Dunlop > > (William Donovan was one of the most decorated soldiers in WWI, and went on to create and run first the OSS in WWII and then the CIA.) Correction: he helped create the CIA, mostly behind the scenes, but he never ran it. ---
**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:** [August 29, 2019, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/777 "2019-08-29T20:38:02Z")
“Some men are just born stupid.” _The Red-Hot Chili Cook-Off_, by Carolyn Brown. ---
**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:** [August 29, 2019, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/778 "2019-08-29T20:58:43Z")
“On the last day, I walked down to the harbour.” _Long Way Round: Chasing Shadows Across The World_, by Ewan McGregor & Charlie Boorman ---
**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:** [August 30, 2019, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/779 "2019-08-30T03:49:35Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > “Some men are just born stupid.” > > _The Red-Hot Chili Cook-Off_, by Carolyn Brown. Truer words have never been spoken… ---
**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:** [August 30, 2019, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/780 "2019-08-30T12:21:09Z")
“The forest had claws and teeth.” - _Final Girls_, by Riley Sager ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2019, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/781 "2019-08-30T12:26:50Z")
“We should start back”, Gared urged as the woods began to grow dark around them. Game of thrones [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858.md?page=38) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858.md?page=40)