Good morning! What sparks your enthusiasm, creativity, and motivation today? I hope you’ll join in for our Friday events: Book Beginnings is hosted by A Few More Pages, and The Friday 56 is led by Freda’s Voice.
In these memes, we excerpt opening lines and something from p. 56.
My featured book today is an oldie but goodie, published in 1962…so it’s from way back in the day. I read it then, but since that was pre-pre-blogging, I have no review to help remind me of the details. Hey, there was no Internet then, either!
I saw this one over at Bibliophile by the Sea, which reminded me of how much I’d loved it back then, so I ordered it.
The Pumpkin Eater, by Penelope Mortimer, will be a wonderful walk down memory lane for me.
“A strange, fresh, gripping book. One of the the many achievements of The Pumpkin Eater is that it somehow manages to find universal truths in what was hardly an archetypal situation: Mortimer peels several layers of skin off the subjects of motherhood, marriage, and monogamy, so that what we’re asked to look at is frequently red-raw and painful without being remotely self-dramatizing. In fact, there’s a dreaminess to some of the prose that is particularly impressive, considering the tumult that the book describes.” —Nick Hornby, The Believer
Beginning:
“Well, I said, “I will try. I honestly will try to be honest with you, although I suppose really what you’re more interested in is my not being honest, if you see what I mean.”
This is a scene between doctor and patient, and I think it’s obvious that the patient is struggling with honesty issues…LOL
56: I felt ashamed, and found her in a brightly lit little cabin with her child. “I’m sorry I laughed,” I said. She burst into tears and threw something at me, something soft, a cushion or a scarf. I caught it and gave it back to her and walked away.
***
Now I have no idea what this one is about, but I’m intrigued.
What about the rest of you? I hope you will stop by and share some tidbits. And have a great weekend!
SNOW SPARKS 
Definitely a lot going on that you’ll need to find out about!
Here’s mine: http://myreadersblock.blogspot.com/2011/06/book-beginnings-on-friday.html
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Definitely! Thanks for stopping by, Bev.
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So descriptive and wonderfully woven together. Makes me want to know more, especially when truth is being spoken and how it is received. Thanks so much for stopping by.
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Yes, as I recall, this book was definitely good literature…so I’m eager to dive in (again). Thanks for stopping by, Lady D.
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And my Friday 56…(not quite organized enough to combine the posts): http://myreadersblock.blogspot.com/2011/06/friday-56.html
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No worries…I used to put them on separate blogs! LOL
Thanks for sharing….
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That’s an interesting beginning… honestly!! 😉
Great endorsement by Nick Hornby – sounds like a great book.
http://thebookgatherer.blogspot.com/2011/06/book-beginningson-friday.html
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Ha-Ha…I thought so, too. Thanks for stopping by, Book Gatherer.
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Wonderful 56! Very alluring!
Thanks for participating!
Freda
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Thanks, Freda…I did like this one, too. Glad you could stop by.
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This book sounds fascinating, thanks for sharing.
Here’s mine:
http://a-long-the-way.blogspot.com/2011/06/friday-56-my-foolish-heart.html
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I think so, too, Janet Ruth. Thanks for stopping by.
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Every time I see this line:
“if you see what I mean”
It reminds me of that old TV Show Whose Line is it anyway? Ryan Styers had a hilarious comedy routine using that line.
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Ha-Ha, that is a funny line, when you think of it…if you see what I mean! LOL
Thanks for stopping by, Anne.
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This sounds so interesting. TFS.
Here’s mine.
http://cindyhall.blogspot.com/2011/06/friday-56.html
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Thanks for stopping by, Cindy.
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Sounds like a good one!
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Thanks, Yvonne…hope you have a great weekend.
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I am so late to this today, probably because it’s my first day of summer vacation! It’s difficult to tell what this book is about from the opening. I hope you enjoy it!
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Yes, I agree, Helen…and woo-hoo! Summer vacation…thanks for stopping by.
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