# 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:** 64
**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:** [October 26, 2020, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1267 "2020-10-26T14:47:03Z")
“Impossible! The word resonated throughout the large lecture hall.” _The Second Kind of Impossible: The Extraordinary Quest for a New Form of Matter_, by Paul J. Steinhardt. ---
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2020, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1268 "2020-10-26T15:25:47Z")
“The world was full of wild things then.” _Hocus Pocus and the All-New Sequel_ by A. W. Jantha ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2020, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1269 "2020-10-29T01:28:05Z")
Since the boy had died, she didn’t sleep and many nights she prowled around the house, searching. _Poor Tom Is Cold_, mystery (Murdoch #3) by Maureen Jennings ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2020, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1270 "2020-10-30T05:33:20Z")
‘‘The Ford station wagon topped a hill before disappearing into the darkness.’’ _Race Against Time_–Jerry Mitchell ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2020, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1271 "2020-10-30T11:59:09Z")
“Imp froze as he rounded the corner onto Regent Street, and saw four elven warriors shackling a Santa to a stainless-steel cross outside Hamleys Toy Shop.” **Dead Lies Dreaming** by Charles Stross ---
**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:** [October 30, 2020, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1272 "2020-10-30T18:42:29Z")
“I was surprised to see a white man walk into Joppy’s bar.” _Devil in a Blue Dress_, by Walter Mosley ---
**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:** [November 1, 2020, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1273 "2020-11-01T19:49:37Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > “Shortly before the Thanksgiving holiday of 2016, retired Marine General James Mattis saw a call from an unknown Indiana number flash on his cell phone screen.” > > – _Rage_ , by Bob Woodward I think the last sentence of the book is noteworthy too (and no spoiler alert necessary): "“When his performance as president is taken in its entirety, I can only reach one conclusion: Trump is the wrong man for the job.” Now, as for my next book to read: “He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish.” – _The Old Man and the Sea_, by Ernest Hemingway ---
**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:** [November 2, 2020, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1274 "2020-11-02T00:10:47Z")
“She was a soft-spoken, dark-haired, small-boned woman, not even coming up to their shoulders, like a kind of dwarf–but that was normal enough for a Mediterranean Greek of nearly four millennia ago, before super-diets and hybridization from seventy colonized planets had turned all humanity (so she had been told) into Scandinavian giants.” _Picnic on Paradise_ by Joanna Russ ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1275 "2020-11-02T15:40:00Z")
“When ranch owner Opal Scarlett vanished, no one mourned except her three grown sons, Arlen, Hank, and Wyatt, who expressed their loss by getting into a fight with shovels.” _In Plain Sight_, by C.J. Box. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2020, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1276 "2020-11-03T14:14:04Z")
“Sally.” _The Stand_, by Stephen King. Been meaning to read it for years, but never got around to it before. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2020, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1277 "2020-11-03T14:55:41Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > _The Stand_ , by Stephen King. Been meaning to read it for years, but never got around to it before. I started it about 35 years ago and never made it to the end. It’s very dense. Maybe I’d do better if I tried again now, but I’m not really inclined to. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2020, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1278 "2020-11-03T15:05:36Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > > [@mhendo](#): > > > > _The Stand_ , by Stephen King. Been meaning to read it for years, but never got around to it before. > > I started it about 35 years ago and never made it to the end. It’s very dense. Maybe I’d do better if I tried again now, but I’m not really inclined to Hmm. I’ve read _The Stand_ at least a half-dozen times. One of my all-time favorite books. As an aside, CBS All Access is releasing its miniseries version on December 17, 2020. Carry on. ---
**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:** [November 3, 2020, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1279 "2020-11-03T19:06:54Z")
“I was eight years old when I first found the magazine, sitting on the dusty wooden floor of a used-book store.” _Save Me the Plums: My Gourmet Memoir_, by Ruth Reichl. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1280 "2020-11-04T02:38:44Z")
“Apocalypses always kick off at the witching hour.” _Battle Ground_ (Dresden #17), by Jim Butcher ---
**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:** [November 6, 2020, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1281 "2020-11-06T19:28:54Z")
“It was my mother’s lie that brought me home that July day.” _The Wedding Thief_, by Mary Simses ---
**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:** [November 8, 2020, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1282 "2020-11-08T04:49:50Z")
“The cold Alaskan water pulled at the fishing boats that lined the dock, the boats straining against their moorings to run free with the tide.” – _The Last Detective_, by Robert Crais ---
**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:** [November 8, 2020, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1283 "2020-11-08T16:09:51Z")
“Henry Stimson was agitated.” _The Pentagon: A History_, by Steve Vogel ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2020, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1284 "2020-11-09T15:00:16Z")
“The intense interest aroused in the public by what was known at the time as the ‘Styles Case’ has now somewhat subsided.” _The Mysterious Affair at Styles_, by **Agatha Christie** ---
**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:** [November 9, 2020, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1285 "2020-11-09T17:50:07Z")
> [@Railer13](#): > > > [@Wheelz](#): > > > > > [@mhendo](#): > > > > > > _The Stand_ , by Stephen King. Been meaning to read it for years, but never got around to it before. > > > > I started it about 35 years ago and never made it to the end. It’s very dense. Maybe I’d do better if I tried again now, but I’m not really inclined to > > Hmm. I’ve read _The Stand_ at least a half-dozen times. One of my all-time favorite books. As an aside, CBS All Access is releasing its miniseries version on December 17, 2020… Three times for me. Very good stuff. “The naked man who lay splayed out on his face beside the swimming pool might have been dead. He might have been drowned and fished out of the pool and laid out on the grass to dry while the police or the next-of-kin were summoned.” _From Russia With Love_ by Ian Fleming ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2020, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1286 "2020-11-09T20:54:16Z")
‘It’s a Welsh accent, ye see.’ _By Hook or by Crook: A Journey in Search of English_, by David Crystal (The preface has a much more impressive first sentence: The inspiration for this book came from reading W.G. Sebald’s _The Rings of Saturn_, an atmospheric semi-fictional account of a walking tour through East Anglia, in which personal reflections, historical allusions, and traveller observations randomly combine into a mesmerizing novel about change, memory, oblivion, and survival.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858.md?page=63) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858.md?page=65)