Friday, December 3, 2010

Another Friday, another book

Almost There: The Onward Journey of a Dublin Woman is a 2003 memoir by Nuala O'Faolain.  Her earlier books are her 1996 memoir, Are You Somebody? The Accidental Memoir of a Dublin Woman, and My Dream of You, a 2001 novel.  Because it's Friday and time for another Book Beginnings post, I looked over the books on my TBR shelves and chose this one based on the first lines I needed for this post.  (I put back two other books with boring beginnings.  Yes, I'm weird.)
"If I had been asked to report on middle age when I was halfway through my fifties, I would have said that it was too bleak to talk about.  Much too bleak if you believed, as I passionately did, that your life has been a failure."
For some, that bleak beginning -- in a chapter titled "The Low Point" in the second of two memoirs when I haven't read the first one -- would be enough to send them scurrying for another book.  But no, I'm interested and want to continue.
If this is the low point, then things must get better.  I became even more interested in reading about her life when I discovered she and I were both born in 1940.

If you want to play along, this meme is hosted by Katy at A Few More Pages.  Click this link to see the beginnings of other people's books.

4 comments:

Helen's Book Blog said...

Start out bleak and work your way up, it's much better than the other way around!

Bonnie Jacobs said...

I agree, Helen!

colleen said...

I'm reading it now. I recognize the same Irish angst in me. I'm enjoying the book very much.

Bonnie Jacobs said...

I'm also part Irish, Colleen. Maybe that's why I'm getting into the book so well.