Friday Book Memes, 6-March-2015

Welcome to the ‘frigid cold’ edition of Book Blogger Hop, Book Beginnings and The Friday 56 hosted by Coffee Addicted Writer, Rose City Reader and Freda on Freda’s Voice. Head on over there and check out the other participating blogs.

This is my first Book Blogger Hop and I plan to make this a recurring thing (as long as I like the questions!). This week’s question is,

Do you think a book’s title is important?

Yes! Even more so than the cover, I think a title is what gets me to pick up a book. It’s how we tell our friends about books, how we share them. When a friend tells me about a book, she doesn’t describe the plot or the cover first, she tells me the title! It’s like the importance of a name for a character; it tells us all we need to know about the book in a quick summary.

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I haven’t grabbed a new book since last week, so I’ll be featuring a book I read a long time ago, The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. I listened to this book originally on audio so when I saw a copy for $1 at the library used book sale, I snagged it!

Book Beginnings is all about that very important opening sentence (or two) that us writers are always worrying about! Green introduces us to Hazel with this,

Late in the winter of y seventeenth year, my mother decided I was depressed, presumably because I rarely left the house, spent quite a lot of time in bed, read the same book over and over, ate infrequently, and devoted quite a bit of my free time to thinking about death.

This is a great summary of Hazel. It doesn’t tell us about her illness because it doesn’t define her and Green doesn’t want us to think of her that way right off the bat. It also gives us a glimmer of a preview into An Imperial Affliction which fans know will become a pivotal plot element soon after. Bravo, Mr. Green.

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The way this meme works is pretty simple. If you want to join in, head over to Freda’s blog and add your link.

Rules:
*Grab a book, any book (I grab the one I’m currently reading)
*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader
*Find any sentence, (or few, just don’t spoil it) that grab you.
*Post it.

Flipping through this book makes me want to sit down and read the whole thing! Here’s a winning quote from page 56:

Girls think they’re only allowed to wear dresses on formal occasions, but I like a woman who says, you know, I’m going over to see a boy who is having a nervous breakdown, a boy whose connection to the sense of sight itself is tenuous, and gosh dang it, I am going to wear a dress for him.

This wonderful quote comes to us from the eloquent Gus. Like many things he says, he’s complimenting Hazel in some way while also trying to cheer up Isaac. I love Green’s characters for the things they say and this is a great example. If you haven’t read this book, I highly recommend picking up a copy!

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

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