Posted on by rjonakait

First Sentences

“I grew up on gangster stories.” Rich Cohen, The Last Pirate of New York: A Ghost Ship, a Killer, and the Birth of a Gangster Nation (2019).

“The headquarters of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, occupies an imposing edifice of concrete and green glass on the south bank of the River Thames, in London.” Patrick Radden Keefe, London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family’s Search for Truth (2026).

“’The English language,’ observed Ralph Waldo Emerson, ‘is the sea which receives tributaries from every region under heaven.’” Robert McCrum, William Cran, and Robert MacNeill, The Story of English (1986).

“Some Buddhists might say that to write a biography of Siddhatta Gotoma is a very un-Buddhist thing to do.” Karen Armstrong, Buddha (2001).

“As a child, I had a number of strong religious beliefs but little faith in God.” Karen Armstrong, A History of God: The 4000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam (1994).

“It seemed an unlikely choice, this large establishment in the financial district, so I stood outside and checked the address, the name of the restaurant, I wondered if I had made a mistake.” Katie Kitamura, Audition (2025).

“’The Jew is being legislated out of Russia,’ Mark Twain wrote in Harper’s Magazine in 1898.” Daniel Gordis, Israel: A Concise History of a Nation Reborn (2016).

“Old Lanscombe moved totteringly from room to room pulling up the blinds.” Agatha Christie, After the Funeral (1953).

“The economy is the grandest collaborative project in human history.” Alex Mayyasi, Planet Money: A Guide to the Economic Forces That Shape Your Life (2026).

“Sometimes a flare goes up and you get to see exactly where everyone is standing.” Douglas Murray, On Democracies and Death Cults: Israel and the Future of Civilization (2025).

“Evel Knievel was never a very skilled daredevil, but that was part of his charm.” Jeffrey Toobin, The Pardon: The Politics of Presidential Mercy.

“Fascism was the major political innovation of the twentieth century, and the source of much of its pain.” Robert O. Paxton, The Anatomy of Fascism.

“They came for her in late August, on the island of Corsica.” Daniel Silva, The English Girl (2013).

“Just months after being paroled from Massachusetts state prison, where he had recently finished serving a seventeen-year sentence for kidnapping and attempted extortion, Louis Royce, now well into his seventies, walks easily through the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.” Stephen Kurkjian, Master Thieves: The Boston Gangsters Who Pulled Off the World’s Greatest Art Heist

Posted on by rjonakait

First Sentences

“For most of Richard Nixon’s tenure as president, he had an insurance policy against impeachment and removal from office. Its name was Spiro Agnew.” Jeffrey Toobin, The Pardon: The Politics of Presidential Mercy.

“All children mythologize their birth.” Diane Setterfield, The Thirteenth Tale.

“The call to adventure came in libraries, in faculty offices, at campus football games.” Elyse Graham, Book and Dagger: How Scholars and Librarians Became the Unlikely Spies of World War II.

“It’s a Saturday morning, and I’m midway through my shift at the Winter Park Public Library when I see it.” Kristin Harmel, The Book of Lost Names.

“Two things happened the year I turned eleven: my father died and I became friends with my first professional chef, a guy named Jacques. Eric Ripert, 32 Yolks: From My Mother’s Table to Working the Line.

“The staff meeting of the Metropolitan Museum’s Department of Egyptian Art was supposed to start at ten, which meant associate curator Charlotte Cross arrived at nine to prepare her colleagues for battle.” Fiona Davis, The Stolen Queen.

“If something begins when it acquires a name we can date the beginnings of fascism precisely.” Robert O. Paxton, The Anatomy of Fascism.

“You must leave as few clues as possible.” Richard Osman, We Solve Murders.

“Noon, 8 September 2021. Central Paris, Île de ka Cité, under a heavy police guard. For the first time, several hundred of us walk through the security gates which we’ll pass through every day for a year.” Emmanuel Carrère, V13: Chronicle of a Trial (Translated from the French by John Lambert).

“Secretary of War Edwin Stanton learned over the bedside of his good friend, Abraham Lincoln, and, tears spilling down his cheeks, spoke the memorable phrase: now he belongs to the angels—or the ages.” Brenda Wineapple, The Impeachers: The Trial of Andrew Johnson and the Dream of a Just Nation.

“On a hot afternoon in May 2016, five miles outside the young petro-city of Fort McMurry Alberta, a small wildfire flickered and ventilated, rapidly expanding its territory through a mixed forest that hadn’t seen fire in decades.” John Vaillant, Fire Weather: On the Front Line of a Burning World

“On July 28, 1915, Rear Admiral Willaim B. Caperton stood on the quarterdeck of the USS Washington with a pair of binoculars at his eyes and several questions running through his head.” Sean Mirski, We May Dominate the World: Ambition, Anxiety, and Rise of the American Colossus.

“When Mac was three years old and Anya was five, they watched their mother get arrested for a seatbelt violation.” Alexandra Natapoff, Punishment without Crime: How our Massive Misdemeanor System Traps the Innocent and Makes America More Unequal.