The Friday 56 (With Book Beginnings): The Call by Peadar Ó Guilín + 50/50 Friday

Welcome to The Friday 56, a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice.

These are the rules:

1. Grab a book, any book.

2. Turn to page 56, or 56% on your eReader.
3. Find any sentence (or a few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you.
4. Post it.
5. Add the URL to your post in the link on Freda's most recent Friday 56 post.

I'm also taking part in Book Beginnings, a weekly meme hosted by Rose City Reader.  The rules are pretty simple - you share the first sentence or so and your initial thoughts, impressions, or whatever else it inspires.  Don't forget to link up your post's url with Rose City Reader.

This week I'm spotlighting one of my current reads, The Call by Peadar Ó Guilín.  I stumbled upon a sampler of this book at Barnes & Noble a few months ago and I impressed by what I saw, so as soon as it became available through the library I knew I had to get my hands on a copy.  I'm not that far along in the story yet, but so far I'm going to say that you may like this if you also like The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black, The Raven Cycle by Maggie Steifvater, or The Gentleman with the Thistle Down Hair from Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke.

Beginning:

On her tenth birthday Nessa overhears an argument in her parents' bedroom.  She knows nothing about the Three Minutes yet.  How could she?  The whole of society is working to keep its children innocent.  She plays with her dolls.  She believes the lies about her brother, and when her parents tuck her into bed at night - her grinning dad, her fussy mam - they show her only love.

56:

Two and a half minutes.

Conor removes his jacket.  "He'll be cold when he return," he says confidently.  "Everybody step back from his chair."

And then the second hand of the clock on the wall passes the three-minute mark and the last four seconds seem to hang in the air.

This week I'm also taking part in a brand new linkup called 50/50 Friday, which is hosted by Carrie @ The Butterfly Reader and Laura @ Blue Eye Books.  Every week they'll have a new topic featuring two sides of the same coin - this week the topic is Book to the big screen/ Never to the big screen.

Book to the Big Screen:

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins - I just saw this movie adaptation at the theater on Wednesday (look for my upcoming review).  I liked it and Emily Blunt gives a fantastic performance as Rachel, but it wasn't quite as thrilling as I would have liked it to be.

The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware - I was really hooked by this claustrophobic mystery/ thriller and I would definitely like to see it done on the big screen some day.