- 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 Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney. The excerpts shared are from a hardcover edition borrowed from the library.
Beginning: A woman sat in a hotel bar, watching the door. Her appearance was neat and tidy: white blouse, fair hair tucked behind her ears. She glanced at the screen of her phone, on which was displayed a messaging interface, and then looked back at the door again.
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Page 56: He looked at her. Seriously? he said. Why?
Nothing specific. It's just how I feel. I find my life difficult.
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My thoughts: I'm curious to learn more about the lives and relationships of these characters. What does the future hold?
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From GoodReads: Alice, a novelist, meets
Felix, who works in a warehouse, and asks him if he’d like to travel to
Rome with her. In Dublin, her best friend, Eileen, is getting over a
break-up and slips back into flirting with Simon, a man she has known
since childhood. Alice, Felix, Eileen, and Simon are still young—but
life is catching up with them. They desire each other, they delude each
other, they get together, they break apart. They have sex, they worry
about sex, they worry about their friendships and the world they live
in. Are they standing in the last lighted room before the darkness,
bearing witness to something? Will they find a way to believe in a
beautiful world?
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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.
If this one has as much sex in it and the first book I read by the author last year, I'll be skipping it. I guess I'm too prudish! Ha! My Friday quotes
ReplyDeleteI've heard a lot about Sally Rooney's novels. I still haven't read any of them, but this one looks interesting.
ReplyDeleteThat opening could be describing me when I'm waiting for someone who is late. We won't talk about how often I'm late, however.
ReplyDeleteOooh I thought about featuring this one today since I still need to read it! We've got a bit of a Sally Rooney reading club going on in my house at the moment, so this is the last push I needed to get involved! Thanks for sharing and I hope you have a lovely weekend :)
ReplyDeleteJuli @ A Universe in Words
Happy reading and happy Friday!
ReplyDeleteI read the previous book by this author. I did not love it, as the writing style was off-putting (to me). I am curious about this one, however. I'll wait for your thoughts.
ReplyDeleteHere's mine: “FINLAY DONOVAN KNOCKS ‘EM DEAD”
So many have read this one. I hope you enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteMine is in French this time: https://francebooktours.com/2022/02/18/le-promeneur-sur-le-cap-friday-56-vendredi-lecture/
I have free copies and also a giveaway, so if you read French or have friends who do, please pass the information along. Have a great week-end
I would like to know the woman's name fairly soon in the story. Does the next paragraph reveal it? Could be intriguing if I knew what or who she was waiting for. My first post for Friday 56 and First Line Friday is up at http://www.lyndonperrywriter.com/2022/02/first-line-friday-naked-in-death.html
ReplyDeleteSomeone is either late or she's feeling impatient from the sounds of that opening. Maybe both. I haven't read anything by Sally Rooney, but I have heard good things about her books. Thank you for sharing! I hope you have a great weekend.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good one~! Happy weekend!
ReplyDelete