Friday Book Memes, 13-March-2015

Welcome to the second Friday the 13th 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,

What is more important to you when you are deciding to read a book?

There are a handful of things. One is why it’s on my shelf. Is it there because of a book club? Then there’s a time in which I should read the book and I’ll plan my reading around that. Is it part of a reading challenge? That comes into consideration and I’ll skip around my pile when that becomes an issue. Is it on loan from the library or a friend? Then it skips to the top of the list. Is it an audiobook? The books I want to read that have audio versions available to me move up the list faster because I can listen to them while I’m reading a book club selection. Same with eBook formats. Is it an ARC? I try to pull these ahead when I can and if I haven’t read an ARC in a while.

If none of these apply, the biggest thing is how long I’ve been wanting to read it. Goodreads is a huge help here. If a book is on the top of my ‘to read’ list, it gets first priority. There are some on there from when I started using Goodreads that I haven’t gotten to yet. The list grew quickly and I’m afraid I’ll never see the end of it!

Also, shouldn’t it be ‘most important?’ Just grammar-nerding.

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I haven’t grabbed a new book since last week, so yet again I’ll be featuring an old favorite. I recently bought a copy of Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. I read this book before I started blogging and my book club read it a few months ago. But I bought it because I have tickets to go meet Ishiguro on the 26th as a part of his book tour for his first book in a decade, The Buried Giant. I’m beyond excited.

Book Beginnings is all about that very important opening sentence (or two) that us writers are always worrying about!

My name is Kathy H. I’m thirty-one years old and I’ve been a carer now for over eleven years.

As far as book beginnings go, this isn’t one of my favorites. It’s a little blase in my opinion. You don’t get a hint of what’s going on in Kathy’s world. But to be honest, Ishiguro doesn’t give you a good idea of it at all until you’re well into the book. It fits with the style, but still is a bit lacking. I guess you can start a book any way you want after you win the Man Booker!

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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.

Nothing overly grabbing from page 56, but this quote gives us a great characterization of Ruth.

Finally she said very deliberately: “Let’s just agree. Let’s agree I got it in the Sale.” Then she gave us all a knowing smile.

Ruth and her darned secrets! She always seemed to be keeping something just out of Kathy’s reach. This sentence refers to the pencil-case Ruth suddenly had and shows how much of an attention seeker she is. That darn Ruth.

I’m going to watch the movie of this book tonight and I’ll have a book to movie review up soon! I hope I remember it well enough to make this a good review.

Until next time, write on.

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