# 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:** 74
**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:** [March 7, 2021, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1467 "2021-03-07T07:17:25Z")
đŸ€š ---
**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:** [March 7, 2021, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1468 "2021-03-07T15:29:31Z")
“I was born in Harlem thirty-one years ago.” _Notes of a Native Son_, by James Baldwin ---
**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:** [March 7, 2021, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1469 "2021-03-07T16:25:47Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > > > Title and author, **Jack**? > > I recognize his as from _Moby-Dick_, by Herman Melville. You deleted my 😉 emoji. I did, in fact, recognize the reference (and it ain’t from a toupee artisan’s autobiography). ---
**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:** [March 7, 2021, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1470 "2021-03-07T18:26:52Z")
It was a good day on the military transfer station orbiting the planet Sergyar. _Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen_, by Lois McMaster Bujold ---
**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:** [March 7, 2021, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1471 "2021-03-07T23:12:17Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I did, in fact, recognize the reference (and it ain’t from a toupee artisan’s autobiography). Well, _now_ you tell me, right after I ordered the autobiography on Amazon. ---
**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:** [March 8, 2021, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1472 "2021-03-08T00:29:38Z")
There, there. I’m sure it’ll be an enjoyably hair-raising read, **Siam\_Sam**. “In the spring of 1957, my father was offered a job in America. Since we lived in England, driving to work would have been something of a challenge unless we first crossed the Atlantic Ocean.” _Crossing on Time_ by David Macaulay ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2021, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1473 "2021-03-08T00:44:00Z")
For me it’s “Duke Maximilian of Bavaria kneeled by the side of the bier upon which his late wife’s body lay in state.” 1634: The Bavarian Crisis.By Eric Flint and Virginia De Marce ---
**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:** [March 8, 2021, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1474 "2021-03-08T21:40:34Z")
“At seven, Regan Lewis was perfectly normal according to every measurement she knew, which meant she was normal in every way that counted.” _Across the Green Grass Fields_, by Seanan McGuire ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2021, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1475 "2021-03-09T00:51:19Z")
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. 
 It was the age of bad toupĂ©es, it was the age of Ishmael Liebowitz’s toupĂ©es
 ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2021, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1476 "2021-03-09T02:54:34Z")
My beard is a wonder. _(Antkind,_ Charlie Kaufman) 
 _Oh, did you want more? . . . (it **is** a wonderful book):_ It is the beard of Whitman, of Rasputin, of Darwin, yet it is uniquely mine. It’s a salt-and-pepper, steel-wool, cotton-candy confection, much too long, wispy, and unruly to be fashionable. And it is this, its very unfashionability, that makes the strongest statement. It says, I don’t care a whit (a Whit, man!) about fashion. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2021, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1477 "2021-03-09T08:21:06Z")
Did you like the book? I haven’t really been following this thread, but I worked for a very small (four person, typically) business owned by Barry Sonnenfeld’s father for 15 years and he was my professional mentor as well as one of my best friends. It was interesting reading so many of the stories I’d heard from his father’s perspective told from his. ---
**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:** [March 9, 2021, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1478 "2021-03-09T15:44:25Z")
Yes, I did enjoy the Sonnenfeld autobiography. He actually told me _more_ about his parents and his messed-up childhood than I wanted to know, but once he got to NYU Film School and embarked on his showbiz career the story really got interesting - by turns funny, disturbing, touching, disgusting and even heartwarming. Quite a ride! ---
**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:** [March 9, 2021, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1479 "2021-03-09T15:48:20Z")
“I’m sorry about my parents, Mike.” _1632_, by Eric Flint ---
**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:** [March 9, 2021, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1480 "2021-03-09T22:28:26Z")
“We four Fosters owned the Whole Shebang.” _Something to Shout About_, by Patricia Beatty ---
**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:** [March 10, 2021, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1481 "2021-03-10T15:13:23Z")
“When it came to family, Mary Ball Washington, George Washington’s mother, was always unlucky.” _You Never Forget Your First_ by Alexis Coe ---
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2021, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1482 "2021-03-11T01:55:47Z")
This is how River Cartwright slipped off the fast track and joined the slow horses. _Slow Horses_ - Mick Herron ---
**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:** [March 11, 2021, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1483 "2021-03-11T15:05:20Z")
“How utterly delightful!” exclaimed Richelieu. _1633_ , by David Weber and Eric Flint ---
**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:** [March 11, 2021, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1484 "2021-03-11T18:46:30Z")
“How do you reconstruct a lost life?” _The Light Ages: The Surprising Story of Medieval Science_, by Seb Falk ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2021, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1485 "2021-03-12T01:34:45Z")
It was a totally bizarre read for me, and I found much of it disturbing. Barry’s dad was in his late ‘60’s when I met him and started working for him, so I missed a lot of the early stuff but I never saw a hint of the financial difficulties he described - he was actually an extremely generous employer. I was well-paid and got lots of perks, including a car. And he gave me an interest-free loan when I left to start my own business, During the time I knew him he was spending a lot of time with his long time mistress, the woman he eventually married, but I’m pretty sure he didn’t have any other affairs. He actually _was_ at business dinners most nights, although his girlfriend frequently joined him and his clients. His family thought he was sleeping with everyone though, including me and the other women he worked with. We laughed about how his wife assumed all these attractive women forty years younger than him would be remotely interested ( we weren’t). And I was at the party described at the end and he nailed that part accurately. ---
**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:** [March 12, 2021, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1486 "2021-03-12T03:58:44Z")
Thanks, **AH** - good to know. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858.md?page=73) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858.md?page=75)