Friday Focus: The Friday 56 and 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 Strange Flowers by Irish writer Donal Ryan. The excerpts shared are from a hardcover version of the book I recently purchased from Book Depository.

Beginning:  All the light left Paddy Gladney's eyes when his daughter disappeared; all the gladness went from his heart.

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Page 56:  I never felt right inside, Mam. From when I was about ten or eleven. There was something wrong with me. Something I couldn't put a name on.

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My thoughts:  The plot, writing style, and excerpts draw me in immediately. I get a compelling sense of wanting to know more about the story and its characters.

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From GoodReads:  In 1973 Moll Gladney goes missing from the Tipperary hillside where she was born. Slowly her parents, Paddy and Kit, begin to accept that she’s gone forever. But she returns, changed, and with a few surprises for her family and neighbours.

Nothing is ever the same again for the Gladneys, who learn that fate cares little for duty, that life rarely conforms to expectation, that God can’t be relied upon to heed any prayer.

A story of exile and return, of loss and discovery, of retreat from grief and the saving power of love.

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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. 

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First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #133

It's Tuesday . . . time for . . .

                                                      

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros hosted by Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea, where bloggers post the first paragraph(s) of a book they are currently reading or planning to read sometime soon.

Today I'm featuring my current read, The Thing About December by Donal Ryan, which I purchased on a recent trip to Dublin.

 

Goodreads Page 

January

Mother always said January is a lovely month.  Everything starts over again in the New Year.  The visitors are all finished with and you won't see sight nor hear sound of them until next Christmas with the help of God.  Before you know it you'll see a stretch in the evenings.  The calving starts in January and as each new life wobbles into the slatted house your wealth grows a little bit.  It'd want to -- you have to try and claw back what was squandered in December on rubbish that no one really wanted.  The bit of frost kills any lingering badness.  That's the thing about January: it makes the world fresh. That's what Mother used to say anyway, back when she used to have a lot more to say for herself. 

What do you think?  Would you continue reading?

The narrator makes some spot on comments about the month of January in the opening paragraph.  I really relate to the idea of a fresh start, quieter moments, and the need to put one's earnings toward paying for those Christmas gifts.

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #133 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  This post cannot be republished without attribution. Retweeting and sharing on Google+ encouraged.