Friday Book Memes, 27-March-2015

Welcome to the busiest week of my life 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. It’s likely that I’m on a plane as you read this. 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,

Which books have you read in the past month that still have you thinking back to the storyline and the characters?

Looking up what books I read this past month I had the rude realization I’ve only read two. Yikes! I guess that means I’m going with The Girls of Atomic City by Denise Kiernan. This book tells the story of the woman who worked to enrich uranium for the Manhattan Project. What I’m still thinking about is what I would do if I were in the shoes of the characters in this book. They didn’t know that what they were working on would be the most deadly weapon of the age and kill innocent civilian Japanese. The question became, do the ends justify the means? If it ends the war and saves American soldiers, is it worth the casualties? This is sticking with me because I just saw American Sniper as well and I have the same question about that story as well.

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My book turn-over is pathetic right now so I’ve yet again returned to my bookshelf to pick up a title to share. In memory of Terry Pratchett and his passing recently, I decided to pick up Good Omens which Pratchett co-wrote with Neil Gaiman.

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

It was a nice day. All the days had been nice. There had been rather more than seven of them so far, and rain hadn’t been invented yet. But clouds massing east of Eden suggested that the first thunderstorm was on its way, and it was going to be a big one.

I had to post a few sentences for this one. The first two sentences are pretty much a ‘writing no-no’ because describing the weather is very high up on the list of ‘ways not to start your novel.’ But the direction that Gaiman and Pratchett go with it is awesome. You realize very quickly that we’re talking about the beginning of time when God created the world. Bravo Gaiman and Pratchett.

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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.

Page 56 brings us a conversation between and angel and a demon. Their drunken conversation goes like this:

“Heaven has no taste.”
“Now–”
“And not one single sushi restaurant.”
A look of pain crossed the angel’s suddenly very serious face.

I remember this book being funny and enjoyable, but you can’t take it too seriously. It’s a comedy about the apocalypse, after all. If you like a comedy of the type this conversation shows, this is a solid read. A good laugh between more serious dramas.

Until next time, write on.

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