Thursday, January 20, 2022

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 and Book Beginnings

 

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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 an upcoming read, The Sentence by Louise Erdrich. The excerpts shared are from a hardcover version borrowed from the library.




Beginning:  While in prison, I received a dictionary. It was sent to me with a note. This is the book I would take to a deserted island. Other books were to arrive from my teacher. But as she had known, this one proved of endless use.

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Page 56:  "Do you believe in ghosts?" I asked.

"You know I don't. Or you know what I think, anyway."

"I was hoping you'd changed your mind."

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My thoughts:  It's a curious beginning that has me wondering who the narrator is; why this person is in prison; who the teacher is; and about the title, which could relate to jail time as well as the mentioned dictionary. I'm eager to begin reading to satisfy my curiosity.

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From GoodReads:  In this stunning and timely novel, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning author Louise Erdrich creates a wickedly funny ghost story, a tale of passion, of a complex marriage, and of a woman's relentless errors.

Louise Erdrich's latest novel, The Sentence, asks what we owe to the living, the dead, to the reader and to the book. A small independent bookstore in Minneapolis is haunted from November 2019 to November 2020 by the store's most annoying customer. Flora dies on All Souls' Day, but she simply won't leave the store. Tookie, who has landed a job selling books after years of incarceration that she survived by reading with murderous attention, must solve the mystery of this haunting while at the same time trying to understand all that occurs in Minneapolis during a year of grief, astonishment, isolation, and furious reckoning.

The Sentence begins on All Souls' Day 2019 and ends on All Souls' Day 2020. Its mystery and proliferating ghost stories during this one year propel a narrative as rich, emotional, and profound as anything Louise Erdrich has written.




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This Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings post was originally composed and/or compiled and published by Catherine for the blog, bookclublibrarian.com.  It cannot be republished without attribution. 


11 comments:

  1. I'm trying to picture a dictionary being a great deserted island book. Sorry, not seeing it. I want something I can get lost in, and a dictionary just isn't it for me. Like you said, however, the opening does set up many questions I want answer to.

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  2. The opening does set many questions that make me very curious, and I am curious to know why she would want a dictionary on a deserted island. It probably wouldn't have been my first choice, so a little more perspective would be great on that! I've put this on my TBR now. I hope that you end up thoroughly enjoying this book!

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  3. I have had my eye on this one, and now I am even more intrigued. I'll be watching for your review!

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  4. Very alluring beginning!!! Happy weekend!

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  5. I have only read one Louise Erdrich book and it was amazing. I keep meaning to read more by her. I really like the sound of The Sentence and from the excerpts you shared, I am even more eager to read it. I hope you have a great weekend, Catherine!

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  6. I hope you enjoy this one! Have a great weekend! https://cindysbookcorner.blogspot.com/2022/01/first-line-friday-song-of-silence.html

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  7. I'm curious about this one. I would want to know more.

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  8. I've really enjoyed this author's work in the past and I need to read this.

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  9. Seriously it was an great idea to gather all the book lover under the one shelter, I missed a chance to attend this event but I hope next time I'll be there with my favorite book.
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  10. I've heard really great things about this book and I adore the author. I am moving it up my TBR thanks to this reminder. My Friday Quotes are here

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