# 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:** 94
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2021, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1869 "2021-12-26T22:06:54Z")
“Our story begins on the east coast of Italy on a sunny day sometime around the year 430 CE, when artisans entered a small chapel and turned the sky blue.” _The Bright Ages: A New History of Medieval Europe,_ by Matthew Gabriele & David M. Perry ---
**Author:** ![Skunkdog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c2a13f/32.png) [@Skunkdog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skunkdog)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2021, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1870 "2021-12-26T22:19:06Z")
In the week before their departure to Arrakis, when all the final scurrying about had reached a nearly unbearable frenzy, an old crone came to visit the mother of the boy, Paul. _Dune_ - Frank Herbert ---
**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:** [December 27, 2021, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1871 "2021-12-27T21:53:25Z")
“I shouldn’t be here.” _Glitter and Glue: A Memoir_, by Kelly Corrigan ---
**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:** [December 29, 2021, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1872 "2021-12-29T15:02:49Z")
“I, Lily Hicks, housemaid of Mr and Mrs Joseph Paxton do solemnly swear as every word I set down in this book shall be true.” _The Crystal Palace: The Diary of Lily Hicks, London 1850-1851_, by Frances Mary Hendry. ---
**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:** [December 30, 2021, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1873 "2021-12-30T19:17:32Z")
“In the fall of 1957, I began what turned out to be a two-year membership at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton.” _Quantum Leaps: How Quantum Mechanics Took Over Science_, by Jeremy Bernstein ---
**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:** [December 30, 2021, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1874 "2021-12-30T20:08:47Z")
“The first time I ever saw Ernie Lambert was on that sweltering August day when he showed up at my tiny office in the Athlete’s Club and asked if he could join my boxing team” _Time Bombs and Zahndry Others_ by Timothy Zahn ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stainless_steel_rat/32/5727_2.png) [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2021, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1875 "2021-12-31T00:58:37Z")
Twelve-year-old Phillip Theophrastus Gribbleflotz held tightly to his mother’s hand as she stopped in front of the Augsburg assay office of the Fugger banking family. _1636: The Chronicles of Dr. Gribbleflotz_ by Kerryn Offord and Rick Boatright. ---
**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:** [December 31, 2021, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1876 "2021-12-31T18:13:51Z")
“If Winston Churchill had died in his forties, which he believed was the lifespan for males in his aristocratic family, he would have gone down in history as a brilliant but maverick failure.” _Churchill: An Illustrated Life_ by Brenda Ralph Lewis “On August 20, 1917, I, Karl Heinrich, Graf von Altberg-Ehrenstein, Lieutenant-Commander in the Imperial German Navy and in charge of the submarine _U-29_, deposit this bottle and record in the Atlantic Ocean at a point to me unknown but probably about N. Latitude 20 degrees, W. Longitude 35 degrees, where my ship lies disabled on the ocean floor.” _H.P. Lovecraft’s The Hound and Other Stories_ by Gou Tanabe (from the story “The Temple”) “From its stately site on Mount St. Alban, the Cathedral Church of St. Peter and St. Paul towers above the city of Washington.” _Washington National Cathedral_ ed. by Anne-Catherine Fallen “I wear the ring. I wear the ring and I return often to the city of Charleston, South Carolina, to study the history of my becoming a man.” _The Lords of Discipline_ by Pat Conroy ---
**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 1, 2022, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1877 "2022-01-01T21:43:33Z")
“So how are the French lessons coming along?” _Metropolitan Diary: The Best Selections from_ The New York Times _Column_, edited by Ron Alexander. ---
**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 2, 2022, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1878 "2022-01-02T00:24:30Z")
“I do not propose to add anything to what has already been written concerning the loss of the _Lady Vain_.” _The Island of Doctor Moreau_, by H. G. Wells. ---
**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 2, 2022, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1879 "2022-01-02T21:34:58Z")
“In the spring of 1871, a young man picked up a book and read twenty-one words that had a profound effect on his future.” _How to Stop Worrying and Start Living: Time Tested Methods for Conquering Worry_, by Dale Carnegie. ---
**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 3, 2022, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1880 "2022-01-03T21:52:07Z")
“Noel Haviland Field spent his first eighteen years in the Swiss lakeside town of Zurich.” _True Believer_ by Kati Marton “I grew up in Ketonah, New York, a beautiful town about sixty miles north of Manhattan.” _Taste_ by Stanley Tucci ---
**Author:** ![MarcusF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/67e7ee/32.png) [@MarcusF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarcusF)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1881 "2022-01-04T14:53:32Z")
"A variety of empires, for some the vestiges or remnants of empires, the fortunes of some declining and others rising, collided in Burma in 1942. _A War of Empires_ by Robert Lyman ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2022, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1882 "2022-01-05T02:37:41Z")
“Herb Macklin always said he wanted to die in the arms of his dear second wife Nyla, the lady who helped him keep Herb’s Cafe thriving.” _The Reunion at Herb’s Cafe_ - Dan Jenkins ---
**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 5, 2022, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1883 "2022-01-05T14:28:16Z")
“Andrew Johnson of Tennessee felt shaky on the morning of March 4, 1865.” -_Impeached - The Trial of President Andrew Johnson and the Fight For Lincoln’s Legacy_, by David O. Stewart (the book actually opens with this quote from Abraham Lincoln - “This Johnson is a queer man.”) ---
**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 5, 2022, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1884 "2022-01-05T20:14:36Z")
“Richard Vier tips back his drink and looks me directly in the eye.” _Now, Then, and Every When_, by Rysa Walker ---
**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 8, 2022, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1885 "2022-01-08T21:37:20Z")
“May 19, 1932, another Thursday night at the Roxy bar in Berlin.” _Faster: How a Jewish Driver, an American Heiress, and a Legendary Car Beat Hitler’s Best_, by Neal Bascomb ---
**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:** [January 8, 2022, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1886 "2022-01-08T22:33:47Z")
“By the third decade of powered flight, when aeronautical technology had evolved to the contemplation of over-ocean travel, not one major civil airport yet possessed a long, flat paved surface to accommodate the weight of an oceangoing transport airplane.” –_China Clipper: The Age Of The Great Flying Boats_ by Robert Gandt ---
**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:** [January 10, 2022, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1887 "2022-01-10T01:21:20Z")
“It was common for American expatriates to visit the U.S. consulate in Berlin, but not in the condition exhibited by the man who arrived there on Thursday, June 29, 1933.” – _In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin_, by Erik Larson ---
**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 10, 2022, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1888 "2022-01-10T22:04:56Z")
“Only two days before the world fell in on us, she said it again at tea.” _The Queen’s Own Grove_, by Patricia Beatty [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858.md?page=93) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858.md?page=95)