# 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:** 83
**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, 2021, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1649 "2021-06-30T20:44:43Z")
“Gertrude Berg entered a room like the prow of a ship, commanding attention to match her ambition.” _When Women Invented Television: The Untold Story of the Female Powerhouses Who Pioneered the Way We Watch Today_ , by Jennifer Keishin Armstrong. ---
**Author:** ![knavette57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knavette57/32/3871_2.png) [@knavette57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/knavette57)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2021, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1650 "2021-07-01T17:14:05Z")
In early 1937, when film producer David O. Selznick was putting the finishing touches on his classic Hollywood Cinderella story, _A Star is Born_ , his secretary was writing her own version of the film business. Allen, Jane. _I Lost My Girlish Laughter_ ---
**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:** [July 2, 2021, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1651 "2021-07-02T04:39:48Z")
“Jack Berman wrapped his arms around his girlfriend, Krista Morales, and watched his breath fog in the cold desert air.” – _Taken_, 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:** [July 2, 2021, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1652 "2021-07-02T22:08:34Z")
“The last glow of the last sunset would linger almost until midwinter.” _The Queen of Air and Darkness and Other Stories_, by Poul Anderson. (The above sentence is from the title story.) ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2021, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1653 "2021-07-03T22:47:01Z")
“Prince Felix Youssoupov stood at the tall drawing-room windows of the Golovine Mansion, staring out across the thawing ice which choked the Winter Canal in St. Petersburg.” –_The Man Who Killed Rasputin: Prince Felix Youssoupov and the Murder That Helped Bring Down the Russian Empire_ by Greg King ---
**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:** [July 4, 2021, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1654 "2021-07-04T15:23:19Z")
“In 1776, when twenty-two-year-old William Bligh joined James Cook’s third voyage to the Pacific as Master of the Resolution, the world was still young.” _Captain Bligh’s Portable Nightmare: From the Bounty to Safety–4,162 Miles across the Pacific in a Rowing Boat_ , by John Toohey. ---
**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:** [July 5, 2021, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1655 "2021-07-05T14:24:35Z")
“Many and varied are the interpretations dealing with the teachings and the life of Jesus of Nazareth.” _Jesus and the Disinherited_ by Howard Thurman ---
**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:** [July 5, 2021, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1656 "2021-07-05T18:39:17Z")
“No one noticed the rock. And for a very good reason.” _The Ghost Brigades_ by John Scalzi ---
**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:** [July 5, 2021, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1657 "2021-07-05T18:41:52Z")
“Well, _someone_ has to marry the man,” the Emperor said. ---
**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:** [July 5, 2021, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1658 "2021-07-05T19:44:43Z")
^ Book and author? ---
**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:** [July 5, 2021, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1659 "2021-07-05T20:38:31Z")
Whoops. Sorry. “Well, someone has to marry the man,” the Emperor said. _Winter’s Orbit_, by Everina Maxwell ---
**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:** [July 6, 2021, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1660 "2021-07-06T01:52:14Z")
Thanks! ---
**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:** [July 6, 2021, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1661 "2021-07-06T19:37:18Z")
“Maggie stared at Pete with rapt, undivided focus.” – _Suspect_, by Robert Crais ---
**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:** [July 8, 2021, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1662 "2021-07-08T00:36:33Z")
“The batter flowed in undulating ribbons and melted into a smooth, creamy lake.” _The Quiet Girl_ by S. F. Kosa ---
**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:** [July 8, 2021, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1663 "2021-07-08T16:03:05Z")
“Standing at the frigate’s taffrail, and indeed leaning upon it, Jack Aubrey considered her wake, stretching away neither very far nor emphatically over the smooth pure green-blue sea: a creditable furrow, however, in these light airs. She had just come about, with her larboard tacks aboard, and as he expected her wake showed that curious nick where, when the sheets were hauled aft, tallied and belayed, she made a little wanton gripe whatever the helmsman might do.” _The Truelove_ by Patrick O’Brian ---
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2021, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1664 "2021-07-08T18:26:35Z")
“I first found out about the Traveler because I was playing at Nuts with The Runt.” _The Traveler_ by Stephen R. Wilk, aka @CalMeacham. I’m only about 1/3 of the way through, but I am seriously enjoying 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:** [July 9, 2021, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1665 "2021-07-09T15:53:47Z")
“You might as well know that you do not frighten me.” _To Be Young, Gifted and Black: An Informal Autobiography of Lorraine Hansberry_ ---
**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:** [July 11, 2021, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1666 "2021-07-11T13:19:13Z")
" ‘No one knows how Ezra Pound came to be born in Idaho.’ That’s something an English professor at the giant magnolia-shaded southern university I attended announced one day during my freshman year." _The Comfort Food Diaries: My Quest for the Perfect Dish to Mend a Broken Heart_, by Emily Nunn ---
**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:** [July 12, 2021, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1667 "2021-07-12T17:29:52Z")
“Late in May 1984 a group of retired intelligence officers gathered in the drawing room of the Special Forces Club in London to be reunited with a spy reported dead in 1959.” – _Operation Garbo: The Personal Story of the Most Successful Spy of World War II_, by Juan Pujol Garcia and Nigel West ---
**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2021, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1668 "2021-07-12T17:54:07Z")
" On a moonless night in January 1991 a dozen aircraft appeared in the skies over Baghdad. Or rather, didn’t appear." - _Stealth: The Secret Contest To Invent Invisible Aircraft_, by Peter Westwick. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858.md?page=82) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858.md?page=84)