This post is a part of the Book Beginnings and Friday 56 blog memes. Visit more of my All About Books posts.
Special Announcement - Books, Brews, & Sports Book Discussion
I'll be guiding a new book club starting this fall at the Woodbury (CT) Public Library. We'll meet in-person, broadcast online, and run a Facebook discussion group. IT's about sports and culture, and beer, and coffee and tea. Join us in person, if you're vaccinated, or online.
Fiction
Title: The Last Days of Ellis Island by Gaelle Josse
Quick Comment: A good story, but the first line of the book is not at all how it happens. If you've read it, or you read it, let me know what I'm missing.
Book Beginnings: Everything that follows took place at sea. On the sea, on two ships, which docked here once upon a time. For me, it was as though they never left again, it was the flesh of my flesh, the soul of my soul that they rammed with their anchors and their grapple hooks.
Friday 56: I had to log everything, including Liz's death, in my daily reports. At just twenty seven she was gone. I had never thought such a thing possible. I know that it was just one injustice among many, tragic event among so many others, but it was mine.
Nonfiction
Title: Simeon's Story by Simeon Wright with Herb Boyd
Quick Comment: I understand this was written for the younger crowd, but this account was hardly revealing. Had it not been so short, I would have given up on it.
Book Beginnings: Mississippi in the 1950s, when I was coming of age, was just like Mississippi in the 1860s, when the Ku Klux Klan and Night Riders were part of our daily lives.
Friday 56: A night in Greenwood was exhausting. I always fell asleep during the ride home. We arrived after midnight.We had not been in bed two hours when we were startled awake.
