Thursday, August 27, 2020

Impersonation by Heidi Pitlor and The Town Crazy by Suzzy Roche on Book Beginnings

 

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BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

It's hard to believe this is the last Friday in August! Autumn is around the corner. Who is ready for the change of seasons? 

Let's see what this final August Book Beginnings on Fridays has in store. Are you still trying to squeeze in a few summer books or heading straight for sweater weather reads? Please share the first sentence or so of the book you want to highlight this week. Leave a link to your post below. Or just leave the opening lines and name of the book in a comment. 

If you share on social media, please use the hashtag #bookbeginnings so we can find each other. 

MY BOOK BEGINNINGS

I have a two-fer this week because I got two new books that offer some end of summer fun reading. 


I once saw a woman in a library pick up a biography of Mother Teresa.

-- Impersonation by Heidi Pitlor. This is the story of a ghostwriter hired by a powerful lawyer to write her memoir. Both are single moms. Things go a bit haywire. The back cover describes it as "a timely, bitingly funny, and insightful story of ambition, motherhood, and class."

Impersonation came out last week from Algonquin Books.


On a muggy Sunday morning in late August, parishioners knelt in the pews of Immaculate Conception, fidgeting and fanning themselves with church leaflets, while Father Bruno lifted the host toward heaven and droned on in quiet prayer, “Domine, non sum dignus": Lord, I am not worthy.

-- The Town Crazy by singer/songwriter Suzzy Roche. I prefer long, shaggy opening sentences like this one to short, enigmatic first lines. 

The Town Crazy is set in a suburban Catholic community in Pennsylvania in 1961, when a single father moves to town. It comes out next week from Gibson House Press.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

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THE FRIDAY 56

Please join The Friday 56 participants on Freda's Voice to share a yw-sentence teaser from the book you are reading this week. Find details on Freda's blog. 

MY FRIDAY 56s

From Impersonation:

I would have loved to hear more about Lana's childhood, those dark days in Bucharest and her move to New York. This sort of material was gold for a memoir.

From The Town Crazy:

Jim could just hear Lil making fun of something like this, but he felt like erecting a statue to the author. Whatever happened to respect for your husband?

7 comments:

  1. Tempting books! Thanks for sharing.

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  2. The writing in The Ton Crazy seems very well-written.(Unlike my sentence here.) I would read on.

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  3. Both books seem interesting. Enjoy your current read!

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  4. Hi Gilion,

    There is a definite cooling in the weather here in the UK, a sure sign that autumn is beckoning!

    You must have noticed that I always tend to 'cheat' a little in this meme each time and end up by sharing a bit more than just the opening sentence or two - sorry!

    However, like yourself, I do enjoy a slightly longer opening sentence, to anything too short and clipped, unless it really 'says' something to me as a reader.

    I would read on with either of your featured books, but after checking them both out, it would probably be 'Impersonation' which would make it to my own list!

    Thanks for sharing and hosting. Enjoy your books :)

    Yvonne xx

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  5. They both sounds like good books. I'm sort of all over the place lately, so the off-kilter vibe of The Town Crazy sounds more suited to me today. Thanks for sharing!

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  6. Both books sound really good. Have a great weekend!

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  7. I like the sounds of both books! Happy weekend!

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