# 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:** 98
**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:** [March 4, 2022, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1950 "2022-03-04T21:56:31Z")
“Owen used to like to tease me about how I lose everything, about how, in my own way, I have raised losing things to an art form.” _The Last Thing He Told Me_ by Laura Dave. ---
**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 5, 2022, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1951 "2022-03-05T21:19:34Z")
“In 1913, when Anthony Patch was twenty-five, two years were already gone since irony, the Holy Ghost of this later day, had, theoretically at least, descended upon him.” – _The Beautiful and Damned_, by F Scott Fitzgerald ---
**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 5, 2022, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1952 "2022-03-05T21:37:31Z")
“The dead waitress had beautiful eyes.” _Hearse of a Different Color_, by Tim Cockey ---
**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, 2022, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1953 "2022-03-08T20:21:58Z")
“As far as I am concerned, I feel complete, calm, and happy only when I am writing a poem.” _Moonlight Rests on My Left Palm: Poems and Essays_, by Yu Xiuhua ---
**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, 2022, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1954 "2022-03-09T19:30:21Z")
“I know, I know–it seemed crazy that the alien had come to Toronto.” _Calculating God_, by Robert J. Sawyer ---
**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:** [March 9, 2022, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1955 "2022-03-09T20:55:25Z")
“Even as other Civil War generals rushed to publish their memoirs, flaunting their conquests and cashing in on their celebrity, Ulysses S. Grant refused to trumpet his accomplishments in print.” _ **Grant** _, by Ron Chernow ---
**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, 2022, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1956 "2022-03-11T18:57:58Z")
“On June 17, 2001, three New York City firemen were killed while fighting a Sunday afternoon fire in a hardware store in Astoria, Queens.” _What About the Baby? Some Thoughts on the Art of Fiction_, by Alice McDermott ---
**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 11, 2022, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1957 "2022-03-11T21:50:58Z")
“‘Ambassador Sarek, it is an honor to receive you,’ the Andorian said as he bowed his head and spread his arms in a gesture of respectful greeting, which the Vulcan diplomat returned in kind.” _Star Trek: Myriad Universes: Echoes and Refractions_, by Geoff Trowbridge, Keith R.A. DeCandido and Chris Roberson (from the first of three novellas in the collection, _The Chimes at Midnight_ by Geoff Trowbridge) ---
**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 13, 2022, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1958 "2022-03-13T14:30:43Z")
“The tourists crashed through the sheriff’s blockade so they wouldn’t miss the rumrunner special at a popular tiki bar.” _Mermaid Confidential_, by Tim Dorsey ---
**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 15, 2022, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1959 "2022-03-15T16:29:43Z")
“It is cool in the tunnels, not cold as it was outside.” _Islands of Abandonment: Nature Rebounding in the Post-Human Landscape_, by Cal Flyn ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2022, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1960 "2022-03-15T18:30:56Z")
**SCAdian** , it seems to me like you have the whole Ring of Fire series. I do too. I recently read Flint’s wonderful tribute to Rick Boatright in one of his latest and was so touched, as I had known Rick in high school. ---
**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 15, 2022, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1961 "2022-03-15T20:32:57Z")
“Cleveland, Ohio, was a city transformed by the American Civil War.” _Cleveland and the Civil War_ by W. Dennis Keating “When the Moon rose in the Third Northern Hall I went to the Ninth Vestibule to witness the joining of three Tides.” _Piranesi_ by Susanna Clarke “If, by the grace of God, I should live three years longer, I will be one hundred years old.” _All Sail Set_ by Armstrong Sperry ---
**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 18, 2022, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1962 "2022-03-18T13:35:34Z")
“Sixty-three miles of road streamed out before her like a black snake.” _Glorious_, by Bernice L. McFadden ---
**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 18, 2022, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1963 "2022-03-18T13:44:38Z")
“The eyes behind the wide black rubber goggles were cold as flint.” _For Your Eyes Only_ by Ian Fleming (from the short story “From a View to a Kill”) ---
**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 19, 2022, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1964 "2022-03-19T14:10:08Z")
“To the uninitiated pedestrian, Diwan was just one of several shops behind the Baehler mansions’ ornate exterior.” _Shelf Life: Chronicles of a Cairo Bookseller_, by Nadia Wassef ---
**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 20, 2022, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1965 "2022-03-20T19:28:38Z")
“When the Moon rose in the Third Northern Hall I went to the Ninth Vestibule to witness the joining of three Tides.” _Piranesi_ by Susanna Clarke ---
**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 22, 2022, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1966 "2022-03-22T19:24:51Z")
“Click. The radio came on.” This is the first sentence from the story “The Very Pulse of the Machine”, the first story in _Tales of Old Earth_ by Michael Swanwick. ---
**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 24, 2022, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1967 "2022-03-24T20:04:16Z")
"Dear Harlowe, Hi, my name is Juliet Palante." _Juliet Takes a Breath_ by Gabby Rivera ---
**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:** [March 24, 2022, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1968 "2022-03-24T23:11:42Z")
"IAC HEAD WARNS ABOUT CUTS IN BUDGET By JOHN W. FINNEY Special to The National Times Aug. 16, 1961—Horace Clemons, head of the International Aerospace Coalition, warned the United Nations today that any cuts in the “minimal” space budget would make a manned Mars landing in this decade impossible." _The Fated Sky_ by Mary Robinette Kowal ---
**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 25, 2022, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858/1969 "2022-03-25T19:49:18Z")
“Cooperation is the crucial ingredient in cooking up life as we know it.” _The Social Instinct: How Cooperation Shaped the World_, by Nichola Raihani [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858.md?page=97) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-first-sentence-from-the-book-you-are-currently-reading/784858.md?page=99)