# 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:** 9
**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:** [July 19, 2017, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/161 "2017-07-19T12:31:44Z")
There are only so many ways to get a good look at a dead body. - Nothing Left to Lose, by Dan Wells ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2017, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/162 "2017-07-19T12:33:21Z")
> [@](#): > > I am a hero worshiper; an insatiable devourer of biographies; and I say that no man in all the splendid list ever equaled Edmund Stonewall. ``` ---- *A Columbus of Space* by Garrett P. Serviss ``` The narrator sure as hell is – Edmund Stonewall is the inventor of an atomic-powered spaceship (in 1908!) and has a Scotty-esque ability to pull tech solutions out of his hat, but it really takes more to be a hero. I’d characterize this more as _Frat Boys in Space_. Stonewall’s blasé disregard for the well-being and the wants of others, especially the non-human natives of Venus, results in unnecessary death and danger ---
**Author:** ![Blurt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Blurt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blurt)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2017, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/163 "2017-07-19T13:30:58Z")
“The ground yielded easily under her blade, unlocking a black smell of earth.” _The City of Mirrors_ (_The Passage_, Book 3) -Justin Cronin ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2017, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/164 "2017-07-19T17:22:31Z")
_In the city of Chammur, on the eastern border of Stotat:_ For centuries it had been called “fabled Chammur”, “Chammur of the Flaming Heights”, and “Mighty Chammur”. The Circle Opens #2: Street Magic-- Tamora Pierce. About that first sentence, I’m not sure if that’s not the first two sentences. In the book the italicized part is, in fact, italicized. It also ends in that colon and is it’s own paragraph. But it doesn’t pretend to be a complete sentence either. So. . . not sure if I did this right. ---
**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:** [July 19, 2017, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/165 "2017-07-19T17:58:23Z")
_“In the early years of the twenty-first century, when it seemed like all the exploring had been done so long ago, and every conceivable piece of information was now available on a pocket phone, I heard about a river in Africa that no one had ever gone down in a boat before, or “explored” in the old-fashioned sense of the word.”_ – **Crazy River** by Richard Grant ---
**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 21, 2017, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/166 "2017-07-21T12:27:19Z")
William Wheatley, the manager of Niblo’s Garden, has a problem. **Broadway Babies Say Goodnight: Musicals Then and Now** , by Mark Steyn. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/167 "2017-07-21T12:41:48Z")
I knew at once that the screamer was Susannah. _Too Many Crooks Spoil the Broth_, by Tamar Myers. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/168 "2017-07-21T17:24:29Z")
You must have stopped wondering what happened to me a long time ago; I know it has been many years. **The Wizard Knight** by Gene Wolfe ---
**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 22, 2017, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/169 "2017-07-22T05:48:38Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > We had a similar thread years ago, but it quietly died. I always liked it. > > “Brian Engle rolled the American Pride L1011 to a stop at Gate 22 and flicked off the FASTEN SEATBELT light at exactly 10:14 P.M.” > > – _The Langoliers_, by Stephen King, the first novella in his collection _Four Past Midnight_. > [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Since these are novellas, I’ll fudge a bit and give the first sentence from the second in the collection: > > " ‘You stole my story,’ the man on the doorstep said." > > – _Secret Window, Secret Garden_ > [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > And now the third novella in _Four Past Midnight_: > > “Everything, Sam Peebles decided later, was the fault of the goddamned acrobat.” > > _The Library Policeman_, by Stephen King And finally: “September 15th was Kevin’s birthday, and he got exactly what he wanted: a Sun.” – _The Sun Dog_, the fourth and final novella in Stephen King’s collection, _Four Past Midnight_ ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2017, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/170 "2017-07-22T21:29:09Z")
The ones from what I’m reading now: > [@](#): > > The man walks through his Thousandyear Eve in the House of the Dead. - Creatures of Light and Darkness. Roger Zelazney > [@](#): > > I hadn’t seen Uncle Jim in months. - The Man Who Folded Himself. David Gerrold > [@](#): > > Gobekli Tepe is the oldest work of monumental architecture so far found anywhere in the world, or at any rate the oldest accepted as such by archaeologists. - Magicians of the Gods Graham Hancock. ---
**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 29, 2017, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/171 "2017-07-29T19:10:38Z")
“The crowded career of George Washington afforded him little leisure to indulge his vanity or gratify his curiosity by conducting genealogical research into his family.” – _Washington: A Life,_ by Ron Chernow ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2017, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/172 "2017-07-29T23:03:29Z")
“There were five of us – Carruthers and the new recruit and myself, and Mr. Spivens and the verger.” “To Say Nothing of the Dog”, which I’m reading for the third time. One of my favorite books. It’s amazing how funny Connie Willis can be in this and how devastatingly sad and soul-shaking she can be in her other works. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2017, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/173 "2017-07-29T23:08:39Z")
> [@](#): > > Creatures of Light and Darkness. Roger Zelazney Epic ---
**Author:** ![movingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2017, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/174 "2017-07-30T05:54:04Z")
“By the spring of 1776 British and American troops had been killing each other at a robust rate for a full year.”–Revolutionary Summer, Joseph Ellis ---
**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:** [July 30, 2017, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/175 "2017-07-30T11:27:29Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > “The crowded career of George Washington afforded him little leisure to indulge his vanity or gratify his curiosity by conducting genealogical research into his family.” > > – _Washington: A Life,_ by Ron Chernow Outstanding book about a real hero. mmm ---
**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:** [September 9, 2017, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/176 "2017-09-09T06:19:49Z")
“Ballard and Jenkins rolled up on the house on El Centro shortly before midnight.” – _The Late Show_, by Michael Connelly ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/177 "2017-09-09T06:56:15Z")
“The dollar became America’s currency by historical happenstance. And then the murders began.” - _Greenback Planet: How the Dollar Conquered the World and Threatened Civilization as We Know It_ by H.W. Brands ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/178 "2017-09-09T15:39:36Z")
Thomas Hill was not much of a drinking man—half a bottle of claret or a couple of pots of ale might last him an hour or more—but two or three times a week he would close his bookshop and stroll down to the Romsey Arms. _The King’s Spy_, by Andrew Swanston. ---
**Author:** ![SuperNelson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@SuperNelson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuperNelson)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/179 "2017-09-09T17:12:55Z")
“Dear friend, I am writing to you because she said you listen and understand and didn’t try to sleep with that person at that party even though you could have.” - Chbosky, Stephen. _The Perks of Being a Wallflower_ ---
**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:** [September 9, 2017, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/180 "2017-09-09T18:14:04Z")
“This is a book about writing.” – _You’re Not Fooling Anyone When You Take Your Laptop to a Coffee Shop: Scalzi on Writing_ (John Scalzi) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858.md?page=10)