# 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:** 48
**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:** [January 14, 2020, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/943 "2020-01-14T15:52:29Z")
“I’ll be seein’ ya.” _Good Words to You_, by John Ciardi. ---
**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:** [January 14, 2020, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/944 "2020-01-14T17:18:58Z")
“Don’t you hate it when you have perfected a magnificent schedule and and then suddenly you get interrupted by an enormous brain tumor?” _[When Life Gives You Pears.](https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/44064563-when-life-gives-you-pears)_ Jeannie Gaffigan. Odd that she didn’t do the late night talk show circuit promoting this. Did just a few morning shows. Not afraid of the _milieu_. She co-hosted Craig Ferguson for a week with her husband a few years back. ---
**Author:** ![Casparlatete](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/casparlatete/32/3377_2.png) [@Casparlatete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casparlatete)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2020, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/945 "2020-01-17T12:41:39Z")
Sing, goddess, of the anger of Achillius, son of Peleus, the accursed anger which brought uncounted anguish on the Achaians and hurled down to Hades many mighty souls of heroes, making their bodies prey to dogs and the birds’ feasting: and this was the work of Zeus’ will. \*The Iliad. Homer\* ---
**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:** [January 18, 2020, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/946 "2020-01-18T22:49:31Z")
“I peeked in the rearview mirror of my car, touched up my lip gloss, and ran my hands through my hair.” _Fed Up_, by Jessica Conant-Park and Susan Conant ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2020, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/947 "2020-01-18T23:21:59Z")
“She didn’t want to be a beauty queen, but as luck would have it, she was about to become one.” — _Funny Girl_ by Nick Hornby ---
**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:** [January 20, 2020, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/948 "2020-01-20T04:46:01Z")
> [@Casparlatete](#): > > Sing, goddess, of the anger of Achillius, son of Peleus, the accursed anger which brought uncounted anguish on the Achaians and hurled down to Hades many mighty souls of heroes, making their bodies prey to dogs and the birds’ feasting: and this was the work of Zeus’ will. > > \*The Iliad. > > Homer\* Thanks! See post 940. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2020, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/949 "2020-01-20T12:37:29Z")
“As the captain of the Yale swimming team stood beside the pool, still dripping after his laps, and listened to Bob Moses, the team’s second-best freestyler, he didn’t know what shocked him more - the suggestion or the fact that it was Moses who was making it.” **The Power Broker - Robert Moses and the Fall of New York** Also, the quote that appears at the beginning of the tale: “One must wait until the evening To see how splendid the day has been.” -Sophocles ---
**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:** [January 20, 2020, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/950 "2020-01-20T14:07:20Z")
“Music was my refuge.” _Singin’ and Swingin’ and Gettin’ Merry Like Christmas_, by Maya Angelou. ---
**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:** [January 22, 2020, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/951 "2020-01-22T00:26:35Z")
“The king stood in a pool of blue light, unmoored.” _Station Eleven_, by Emily St. John Mandel. ---
**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:** [January 24, 2020, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/952 "2020-01-24T14:21:15Z")
“Since she was eleven years old, even if all she had to work with was neck bones, pepper-grass, or poke salad, she put good food on the table.” \* The Best Cook in the World: Tales from My Momma’s Table\*, by Rick Bragg. ---
**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:** [January 27, 2020, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/953 "2020-01-27T00:43:11Z")
“The West Indies squadron lay off Bridgetown, sheltered from the north-east tradewind and basking in the brilliant sun.” _The Reverse of the Medal_ by Patrick O’Brian (1986) “Let me guess. You want to know why I tried to kill myself.” _For One More Day_ by Mitch Albom (2006) ---
**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:** [January 28, 2020, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/954 "2020-01-28T14:05:01Z")
“Sally was looking out of the train window, her face to the glass.” _Swampfire_, by Patricia Cecil Haas. ---
**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:** [January 29, 2020, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/955 "2020-01-29T14:11:06Z")
“The following anecdote stems from the late 1980’s, with the world on the brink of crisis, when it seemed that the Berlin Wall would stand for at least another hundred years, and West Berlin’s Zoo and East Berlin’s Tierpark were not only their respective countries’ most popular recreational facilities, but also symbols of their systems of government.” _The Zookeepers’ War: An Incredible True Story from the Cold War_, by J. W. Mohnhaupt, translated by Shelley Frisch. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2020, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/956 "2020-01-29T17:30:13Z")
When the sun finally returned to the Arctic Circle and stained the gray sky with blazing streaks of pink, Augustine was outside, waiting. —Lily Brooks-Dalton, _Good Morning, Midnight_ ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2020, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/957 "2020-01-30T13:09:08Z")
“It was the year when they finally immanentized the Eschaton.” \* -The Illuminati Trilogy\*, by Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea, a re-read ---
**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:** [January 31, 2020, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/958 "2020-01-31T14:31:12Z")
“Elmore Leonard said it’s bad style to open a novel with the weather.” _This Body’s Not Big Enough for Both of Us_, by Edgar Cantero ---
**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:** [January 31, 2020, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/959 "2020-01-31T21:15:31Z")
“THEY LAY IN the dark, guarding.” _Making Money_, Pratchett. If only the “THEY” was capitalized it would seem more ominous. Why the first 3 words? IT’s A PATTERN AS it turns out. Well, unless there’s an article in which case it’s the first four. ---
**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:** [February 1, 2020, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/960 "2020-02-01T02:13:12Z")
“The cab turned off U.S. 101 in the direction of the sea.” _The Moving Target_ by Ross Macdonald (1949) ---
**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:** [February 2, 2020, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/961 "2020-02-02T21:16:14Z")
“The basket. The body. The canoe. The page. Each of these vessels has a form, a shape to which its purpose is intimately related.” _Shapes of Native Nonfiction: Collected Essays by Contemporary Writers_, by Elissa Washuta and Theresa Warburton. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2020, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/962 "2020-02-03T00:28:35Z")
“So gorgeous was the spectacle on the May morning of 1910 when nine kings rode in the funeral of Edward VII of England that the crowd waiting in hushed and black-clad awe could not keep back gasps of admiration.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858.md?page=47) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858.md?page=49)