Book Beginning: Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

THANKS FOR JOINING ME ON FRIDAYS FOR BOOK BEGINNING FUN!

MY BOOK BEGINNING

When people ask me what I do – taxi drivers, hairdressers – I tell them I work in an office. In almost nine years, no one’s ever asked what kind of office, or what sort of job I do there.

-- Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. This is hugely popular, but I had missed it until one of my book buddies recommended it to me a couple of months ago.  Since then, I've been seeing it everywhere, of course. It finally made it to the top of my hold list for the audio download at my library.

Who's read it? What did you think?

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.

EARLY BIRDS & SLOWPOKES: This weekly post goes up Thursday evening for those who like to get their posts up and linked early on. But feel free to add a link all week.

FACEBOOK: Rose City Reader has a Facebook page where I post about new and favorite books, book events, and other bookish tidbits, as well as link to blog posts. I'd love a "Like" on the page! You can go to the page here to Like it. I am happy to Like you back if you have a blog or professional Facebook page, so please leave a comment with a link and I will find you.

TWITTER, ETC: If you are on Twitter, Instagram, Google+, or other social media, please post using the hash tag #BookBeginnings. I try to follow all Book  Beginnings participants on whatever interweb sites you are on, so please let me know if I have missed any and I will catch up.

TIE IN: The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice is a natural tie in with this event and there is a lot of cross over, so many people combine the two. The idea is to post a teaser from page 56 of the book you are reading and share a link to your post. Find details and the Linky for your Friday 56 post on Freda’s Voice.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING

Mailbox Monday: Two New Books About Holocaust Survivors and How to Tell Their Stories

What books came into your house last week? I got two books about Holocaust survivors that look fascinating.



Shores Beyond Shores: From Holocaust to Hope, My True Story by Irene Butter. Butter was Anne Frank's neighbor in Amsterdam before her family was shipped to a concentration camp. It was decades before she told her story outside a close circle of family and friends.



Ghost Writer: A Story About Telling a Holocaust Story by Beth Benedix. After Benedix ghost wrote a memoir for a holocaust survivor, he urged her to write her own story about what it was like to confront the challenge of telling someone else's history when it "swelled beyond its own boundaries."

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday, a weekly "show & tell" blog event where participants share the books they acquired the week before. Visit the Mailbox Monday website to find links to all the participants' posts and read more about Books that Caught our Eye.

Mailbox Monday is graciously hosted by Leslie of Under My Apple Tree, Serena of Savvy Verse & Wit, and Vicki of I'd Rather Be at the Beach.

Book Beginning: The Lesser Bohemians

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

THANKS FOR JOINING ME ON FRIDAYS FOR BOOK BEGINNING FUN!

MY BOOK BEGINNING

I move. Cars move.

-- Lesser Bohemians by Eimear McBride, author of A Girl is a Half Formed Thing, which won the Baileys Women's Prize in 2013. Lesser Bohemians won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 2016.

This isn't my favorite type of beginning, short and choppy. The first chapter starts with a stream of conscience scene of the protagonist, an 18-year-old Irish girl in London for drama school, at an audition.

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.

EARLY BIRDS & SLOWPOKES: This weekly post goes up Thursday evening for those who like to get their posts up and linked early on. But feel free to add a link all week.

FACEBOOK: Rose City Reader has a Facebook page where I post about new and favorite books, book events, and other bookish tidbits, as well as link to blog posts. I'd love a "Like" on the page! You can go to the page here to Like it. I am happy to Like you back if you have a blog or professional Facebook page, so please leave a comment with a link and I will find you.

TWITTER, ETC: If you are on Twitter, Instagram, Google+, or other social media, please post using the hash tag #BookBeginnings. I try to follow all Book  Beginnings participants on whatever interweb sites you are on, so please let me know if I have missed any and I will catch up.

TIE IN: The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice is a natural tie in with this event and there is a lot of cross over, so many people combine the two. The idea is to post a teaser from page 56 of the book you are reading and share a link to your post. Find details and the Linky for your Friday 56 post on Freda’s Voice.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING

Teaser Tuesday: Larry's Party by Carol Shields

He hums his thoughts out on the air like music; they’ve got a disco beat: My name is Larry Weller. I’m a floral designer, twenty-six years old, and I’m walking down Notre Dame Avenue, in the city of Winnipeg, in the country of Canada, in the month of April, in the year 1977, and I’m thinking hard.

-- Larry's Party by Carol Shields. Larry’s Party won the Orange Prize for Fiction in 1998, now called the Baileys Women’s Prize. The story follows Larry from his mid-20s to late 40s, through two marriages, fatherhood, and a successful career making garden mazes. Yes, garden mazes.

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by The Purple Booker, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event.

Mailbox Monday: The Spirit Level by Seamus Heaney

In 1996, Seamus Heaney's The Spirit Level won the Costa Book of the Year Award (fka the Whitbread Award). I'm working my way through the winners, particularly slowly the poetry winners, so finally ordered a copy.



What new books came into your house last week?

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday, a weekly "show & tell" blog event where participants share the books they acquired the week before. Visit the Mailbox Monday website to find links to all the participants' posts and read more about Books that Caught our Eye.

Mailbox Monday is graciously hosted by Leslie of Under My Apple Tree, Serena of Savvy Verse & Wit, and Vicki of I'd Rather Be at the Beach.