Book Beginnings: Personal History

Please join me every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author's name.

TWITTER: If you are on Twitter, please tweet a link to your post using the has tag #BookBeginnings. My Twitter handle is @GilionDumas.

MR. LINKY: Please leave a link to your post below. If you don't have a blog, but want to participate, please leave a comment with your Book Beginning.



MY BOOK BEGINNING

My parents' paths first crossed in a museum on 23rd Street in New York.

-- Personal History by Katharine Graham.

That is a disappointingly prosaic opening line for a Pulitzer-winning autobiography of the fascinating woman who ran the Washington Post through so many turbulent years.  But her story picks up soon enough.

Gobble! Gobble!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Review: May We Borrow Your Husband?

Short stories are hard. They are, legend has it, hard to write. They are certainly hard for me to read. I generally skip a short story collection for a novel every time because I usually find short stories either pointlessly atmospheric or gimmicky.

But Graham Greene's little collection of 12 stories, May We Borrow Your Husband?, won me over. The title story about two gay men who woo away a honeymooning husband is a pitch-perfect Mid-Century period piece on closeted homosexuality. The others range from wryly comic to tragic, but all share a nerve-twinging honesty.

"Cheap in August" about a wife seeking a fling and "Two Gentle People" about star-crossed lovers are probably the best of the bunch from a literary standpoint. But my favorites were "A Shocking Accident" about a father killed by a pig, which I found delightful all around, and "The Invisible Japanese Gentlemen" about a self-absorbed young writer, which made me cringe and laugh at the same time.

May We Borrow Your Husband? made me reconsider the short story genre. And it raised Graham Greene even higher on my list of favorite authors.

OTHER REVIEWS

The New York Times (April 30, 1967)
My review of The Comedians

If you would like your review of this or any other Graham Greene book listed here, please leave a comment with a link and I will add it.

NOTES

I read this book for the Graham Greene Challenge and for the Books Written in the First Years of My Life Challenge.

Teaser Tuesday: Polite Society

  

Before turning in, she pads softly down the hall to her mother's door.  She peeks in and gazes at the sleeping figure that is such a stranger.

-- Polite Society, a charming debut novel by Colleen Sohn, illustrated by Maren Jensen. 

I think this is a great scene because the idea of a mother who is a stranger raises so many possibilities. 

There are still a few of the lovely, limited edition hardbacks left (see here for details). And, Polite Society is now available in a Kindle edition, with all the illustrations.



Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event. 

Mailbox Monday

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday! MM was created by Marcia, who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring event (details here).

Kathy from BermudaOnion's Weblog stepped up to the plate to host in November. The link for today is here.

I am excited about the one book i got last week because it is the Ian Rankin book I
need to continue reading his John Rebus series in order.



Mortal Causes by Ian Rankin

This is the sixth novel in the Rebus series, the seventh book, counting a book of short stories that slipped in there after the third novel.

Perfect for a long holiday weekend.