Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #44

It's Friday . . . time to share excerpts from one of my current reads 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:

  

The Land of Steady Habits by Ted Thompson

Beginning:  Part One 

Chapter 1

One of the great advantages of Anders's divorce -- besides, of course, the end of the squabbling and the sudden guiltless thrill of freedom -- was that he no longer had to attend the Ashbys' holiday party.  Their party, like all of the parties he'd attended in his marriage, was his wife's domain, and he was relieved to no longer have to show up only to be a disappointment to her friends.

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Page 56: "All his life he'd been resisting what was expected of him, a habit of reaction followed by a battery of justification."

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From barnesandnoble.com:  Anders Hill, entering his early sixties and seemingly ensconced in the "land of steady habits"--a nickname for the affluent, morally strict hamlets of Connecticut that dot his commuter rail line--abandons his career and family for a new condo and a new life. Stripped of the comforts of his previous identity, Anders turns up at a holiday party full of his ex-wife's friends and is suprised to find that the very world he rejected may be one he needs. 

Thus Anders embarks on a clumsy, hilarious, and heartbreaking journey to reconcile his past with his present. Like the early work of John Updike, Ted Thompson's first novel finely observes a man in deep conflict with his community. With compassion for its characters and fresh insight into the American tradition of the "suburban narrative," THE LAND OF STEADY HABITS introduces an auspicious talent.

Which book are you reading now?

 

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #44 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.