Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings

It's Friday . . . time to share book excerpts with:

• Book Beginnings on Fridays hosted by Rose City Reader, where bloggers share the first sentence or more of a current read, as well as initial thoughts about the sentence(s), impressions of the book, or anything else that the opening inspires.  
• The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice, where you grab a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% of an ebook), find one or more interesting sentences (no spoilers), and post them.

Today I'm featuring And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer by Fredrik Backman.  The excerpts shared are from the hardcover version I received from the publisher, Simon and Schuster.

 

Beginning:  There's a hospital room at the end of a life where someone, right in the middle of the floor, has pitched a green tent.  A person wakes up inside it, breathless and afraid, not knowing where he is.  A young man sitting next to him whispers:

"Don't be scared."

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Page 56 (actually, page 55 because there is no text on page 56):  "She laughs.  Old eyes, new sunlight, and he still remembers how it felt to fall in love."

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My thoughts:  Today I'm sharing my next read.  My first introduction to the author was through A Man Called Ove, which I read with two of my book clubs.  In fact, one club like Ove so much that we are now reading another of Backman's books, My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry.  Backman has quickly become one of my favorite authors for his wit, insight, strong interpersonal relationships, and unusual characters who find their way into your heart and mind.  His books are a good fit for book clubs and individual readers alike.

 

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 From Goodreads:  From the New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove, My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She’s Sorry, and Britt-Marie Was Here comes an exquisitely moving portrait of an elderly man’s struggle to hold on to his most precious memories, and his family’s efforts to care for him even as they must find a way to let go.

“Isn’t that the best of all life’s ages, an old man thinks as he looks at his grandchild, when a boy is just big enough to know how the world works but still young enough to refuse to accept it.”

Grandpa and Noah are sitting on a bench in a square that keeps getting smaller every day. The square is strange but also familiar, full of the odds and ends that have made up their lives: Grandpa’s work desk, the stuffed dragon that Grandpa once gave to Noah, the sweet-smelling hyacinths that Grandma loved to grow in her garden.

As they wait together on the bench, they tell jokes and discuss their shared love of mathematics. Grandpa recalls what it was like to fall in love with his wife, what it was like to lose her. She’s as real to him now as the first day he met her, but he dreads the day when he won’t remember her.

Sometimes Grandpa sits on the bench next to Ted, Noah’s father—Ted who never liked math, prefers writing and playing guitar, and has waited his entire life for his father to have time for him, to accept him. But in their love of Noah, they have found a common bond.

Grandpa, Grandma, Ted, and Noah all meet here, in this peculiar space that is growing dimmer and more confusing all the time. And here is where they will learn to say goodbye, the scent of hyacinths in the air, nothing to fear. This little book with a big message is certain to be treasured for generations to come.

Which book are you reading now or about to start? 

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.  Retweeting and sharing on Google+ are appreciated.