First words

First sentences contributed so far.

First sentence	Title and Author
I planned of my death carefully; unlike my life, which meandered along from one thing to another, despite my feeble attempts to control it.	Lady Oracle Margaret Atwood
I have no reason not to answer the door so I answer the door.	What is the What David Eggers
I am not a New Yorker, and I want to go home.	Are you the boy from the Post Office? What if it’s Us Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera
I was born in the year 1632, in the city of York, of a good family, though not of that country, my father being a foreigner of Bremen, who settled first at Hull.	The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe Daniel Defoe
Louis XIV fell in love with Versailles and Louise de la Vallière at the same time; Versailles was the love of his life.	The Sun King Nancy Mitford
It was the afternoon of my eighty-first birthday, and I was in bed with my catamite when Ali announced that the Archbishop had come to see me.	Earthly Powers Anthony Burgess
I spent much of my childhood listening to the sound of striving.	Becoming Michelle Obama
Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.	Rebecca Daphne du Maurier
This is me when I was 10 years old.	Persepolis. The Story of a Childhood and The Story of a Return Marjane Satrapi
It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.	1984 George Orwell
Opening bookshop in Paris, please send money.	Shakespeare and Company A History of the Rag & Bone Shop of the Heart Edited by Krista Halverson
Miss Brooke had that kind of beauty which seems to be thrown into relief by poor dress.	Middlemarch George Eliot
For the two thieves on the 200cc Vespa scooter, it was a case of the wrong victim, in the wrong place, on the wrong Sunday morning in September.	Alex Rider Mission 5: Scorpia Anthony Horowitz
This is how death must feel.	Feet in the Clouds Richard Askwith
My objects are to be seen as stimulants for the transformation of the idea of sculpture, or of art in general.	What is Art? Joseph Beuys
They are driving out for guising when they see her.	Pine Francine Toon
The studio was filled with the rich odour of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden, there came through the open door the heavy scent of the lilac, or the more delicate perfume of the pink-flowering thorn.	The Picture of Dorian Grey Oscar Wilde
We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold.	Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Hunter S Thompson
I name you three metamorphoses of the spirit: how the spirit shall become a camel, and the camel a lion, and the lion at last a child.	Thus Spoke Zarathustra Friedrich Nietzsche
Ayoola summons me with these words – Korede, I killed him.	My Sister the Serial Killer Oyinkan Braithwaite
The cold passed reluctantly from the earth, and the retiring fogs revealed an army stretched out on the hills, resting.	The Red Badge of Courage Stephen Crane
The one opened the door with a latch-key and went in, followed by a young fellow who awkwardly removed his cap.	Martin Eden Jack London
We are the rubbish, outmoded and unrequired.	Hackney, That Rose-Red Empire Iain Sinclair
This is the story of what a woman’s patience can endure, and what a Man’s resolution can achieve.	The Woman in White Wilkie Collins
Under certain circumstances there are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony knows as afternoon tea.	The Portrait of A Lady Henry James
First there was nothing.	The Overstory Richard Powers
The night Max wore his wolf suit and made mischief of one kind and another his mother called him “WILD THING!” and Max said “I’LL EAT YOU UP!” so he was sent to bed without eating anything.	Where the Wild Things Are Maurice Sendak
When I was One, I had just begun.	Now We Are Six A. A. Milne
There was once a wizard called Very-Young.	Magical Treasury Enid Blyton
It’s hot as hell in Martirio, but the papers on the porch are icy with the news.	Vernon God Little DBC Pierre
This is the first murder that the Wells & Wong Detective Society has ever investigated, so it is a good thing Daisy bought me a new casebook.	Murder Most Unladylike Robin Stevens
Humans are fascinated with evolution, the history and timeline and scientific development of how their life on Earth began, grew, surged forward to become the sophisticated yet somewhat meaningless existence in the first decade of the third millennium, as they know it.	Carefree. The significance of a meaningful existence on Earth and on Andromeda Yensa Manor
Nobody knows what the future holds.	Kind words for Unkind Days Jayne Hardy
The way into the underland is through the riven trunk of an old ash tree.	Underland Robert Macfarlane
It was a pleasure to burn.	Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury
It was inevitable: the scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love.	Love in the Time of Cholera Gabriel García Marquez
What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence. *	God is not Great Christopher Hitchens
I still remember the day my father took me to the cemetery of forgotten books for the first time.	The Shadow of the Wind Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Dear Theresa, I’m lying on my bed tonight missing you, my eyes all swollen, hot tears running down my face.	Stone Butch Blues Leslie Feinberg
He should have seen it coming.	The Finkler Question Howard Jacobson
When asked what she wanted to do, she was interrupted before she could say anything.	Francis’ Wife and Others Celia Toler
One of the things that happens when you get older is that you discover lots of new ways to hurt yourself.	The Road to Little Dribbling. More Notes from a Small Island Bill Bryson
“Barrabás came to us by the sea,” the child Clara wrote in her delicate calligraphy.	The House of the Spirits Isabelle Allende
I can see by my watch, without taking my hand from the left grip of the cycle, that it’s 8:30 in the morning.	Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Robert M. Pirsig
The chanting begins in a gentle chorus and grows to an adrenaline-fueled frenzy.	Find a Way. One Untamed and Courageous Life Diana Nyad
The summer she was fifteen, Melanie discovered she was made of flesh and blood.	The Magic Toyshop Angela Carter
It was love at first sight.	Catch 22 Joseph Heller
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a socialist.	First They Came Martin Niemöller
It is freezing, an extraordinary -18°c, and it’s snowing, and in the language that is no longer mine, the snow is qanik – big, almost weightless crystals falling in stacks and covering the ground with a layer of pulverised white frost.	Miss Smilla’s Feeling for Snow Peter Høeg
If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t’ feel like going into it.	The Catcher in the Rye J. D. Salinger
The island of Gont, a single mountain that lifts its peak a mile above the storm-racked Northeast Sea, is a land famous for wizards.	Earthsea Trilogy Ursula Le Guin
The boys, as they talked to the girls from Marcia Blaine school, stood on the far side of their bicycles holding the handlebars, which established a protective fence of bicycle between the sexes, and the impression that at any moment the boys were likely to be away.	The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie Muriel Spark
124 was spiteful.	Beloved Toni Morrison
No matter what you may have heard about Macon, Georgia – the majestic magnolias, gracious antebellum homes, the bright stars it produced that went on to dazzle the world – if you were Emma Robinson, bubbling with teenage angst and lucid dreaming about silver-winged sparrows gliding over a perfumed ocean, well then, Macon felt less like the promised land and more like a noose.	The Book of Harlan Bernice L. McFadden
Today was very chilly, the sort of cold that seems to creep under your clothing regardless of how many layers you have on.	The Edible City. A Year of Wild Food John Rensten
It is a remarkable paradox that, at the pinnacle of human material and technical achievement, we find ourselves anxiety-ridden, prone to depression, worried about how others see us, unsure of our friendships, driven to consume and with a little or no community life.	The Spirit Level. Why Equality is Better for Everyone Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett
For some the nagging urge to flee your place of birth is an absolute.	Skinning Out to Sea Mick Hugo
In the olden days, when wishing still worked, there lived a king whose daughters where all beautiful; but the youngest daughter was so lovely that even the sun, who has seen many things, was struck with wonder every time he shone on her face.	Grimm Tales for Young and Old Philip Pullman
There are two epilogues to The Odyssey.	Old Age. Journey into Simplicity Helen M. Luke
They talked about it afterward, at the end of summer, after the summer folks had left and there was room to breathe again on the island.	The Bird Skinner Alice Greenway
The first time his father died he was five.	The Age of Idleness M. P. Strickland