Every Friday Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Gillion at Rose City
Reader where you can share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires.
My opening this week is from Our Spoons Came From Woolworths by Barbara Comyns.
I told Helen my story and she went home and cried. In the evening her husband came to see me and brought some strawberries; he mended my bicycle, too, and was kind, but he needn’t have been, because it all happened eight years ago, and I’m not unhappy now.
Also every Friday there is The Friday 56, hosted by Freda at Freda’s Voice.
These are the rules:
- Grab a book, any book.
- Turn to page 56, or 56% on your eReader.
- Find any sentence (or a few, just don’t spoil it) that grabs you.
- Post it.
- Add the URL to your post in the link on Freda’s most recent Friday 56 post.
From Page 56:
Charles said he had borrowed some money to send telegrams to his relations saying we had a boy of six ounces. I told him it was six pounds not ounces, but he said a few pounds either way wouldn’t make any difference. But Charles’s telegrams caused a huge sensation, and his family was most disappointed when in due course they discovered we had had quite a normal baby.
Description from the back cover:
Pretty, unworldly Sophia is twenty-one years old and hastily married to a young painter called Charles. An artist’s model with an eccentric collection of pets, she is ill-equipped to cope with the bohemian London of the 1930s, where poverty, babies (however much loved) and husband conspire to torment her.
Hoping to add some spice to her life, Sophia takes up with Peregrine, a dismal, ageing critic, and comes to regret her marriage – and her affair. But in this case virtue is more than its own reward, for repentance brings an abrupt end to the cycle of unsold pictures, unpaid bills and unwashed dishes . . .
I’m only a few chapters into this book which at first seems to be a comic novel, written in a chatty, relaxed style, but going by the blurb it may not end that way.
Hi Margaret!
Oh, yes, it seems that something bad has happened to her – that’s intriguing. I want to know what, now.
Hope you continue to enjoy it.
Here is my choice for this week. Have a great weekend!
Sassy x
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http://bit.ly/2svLUMQ (Forgot the link! lol)
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This looks like a pretty interesting book. Thanks for mentioning it. 🙂
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This does sound intriguing, Margaret. And I have to say, I like that title; there’s something about it… I’l be interested in your thoughts when you’ve finished it.
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Sounds interesting but is not something I would usually pick up. I hope you enjoy it. I have a historical mystery with ghosts from my TBR mountain this week – Delia’s Shadow by Jaime Lynn Moyer. Happy reading!
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I’m curious about this one. I wonder just what the story is that everyone is acting so strongly too. I need to add it to my TBR. The cover and title have caught my eye too.
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Woolworth’s, now that’s a store that takes me back!! LOL
Happy weekend!
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I remember getting milkshakes and fries at their lunch counter!
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It seems very funny and entertaining, but I now I am dying to know what happened to her! Thanks for sharing this book and have a great weekend 🙂
Here’s my Friday Post Inspiration Pie
Jo-Ann
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That is quite a difference–six pounds and six ounces! I can see why that would cause quite a stir. This sounds like a fun book. I hope you enjoy it!
Have a great weekend, and thank you for sharing.
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I enjoyed that one.
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I remembered the Woolworth stores. I bet this is a blast from the past to read.
My Friday 56 from The Nutting Girl
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Probably not my sort of read, but the title made me smile.
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I love the look of that cover! Thanks for sharing!
Lauren @ Always Me
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Hi Margaret,
Long time, no speak.
I hope that all is well with you 🙂
I am not totally convinced that this is a book I would enjoy, although there have been many reviews and ratings, most of which seem to be quite positive.
I did quite like and appreciate the excerpts you shared though and I do like the new and updated cover art version you have.
‘Happy Reading’
Yvonne
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Thanks everyone for your comments. I’ve read further on and am enjoying it a good picture of life in the 1930s and makes me very grateful for the NHS!
Yvonne, I’m fine, thanks for asking!
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I’ve been meaning to read this book for years! I love the quotes, now I have to get a copy and put it on my TBR table.
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