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The Friday 56 (With Book Beginnings): My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix + 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, My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix.  I loved his previous release Horrorstör - in fact it was one of my favorite reads of 2016.  I'm about a third of the way through this now and I'm really enjoying it so far.  It's set in the 80's and is something like a combination of the movies The Exorcist and Beaches, plus it has a decent sense of humor to boot.  Did I mention that it's designed to look like a high school year book, similar to the way that Horrorstör is made to look like a catalog?  There are even inscriptions and signatures from fellow classmates on the front and back endpapers!


Beginning:

The exorcist is dead.

56:

The water oozed around the floating dock, rocking it up and down.

"What if she hit her head?" Abby asked.

"Are there really alligators?" Glee asked.

Something moved in the marsh grass and Abby jerked.  Was it an alligator?  What did an alligator sound like?  Were alligators nocturnal?  She didn't know.  Why didn't school teach them anything useful?


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 Character most/ least changed by their hero's journey.  I'm having a difficult time thinking of which character's have changed the most over the course of their journey, so I'm choosing a hero and an anti-hero instead that have both changed pretty dramatically by the end of their story.


Frodo Baggins from The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien - Goes from an average hobbit living in the Shire to the savior of Middle-Earth destroying The One Ring and defeating Sauron once and for all.


Lucifer from Paradise Lost by John Milton - Goes from God's favorite angel to, you know, Satan after falling from grace and leading an unsuccessful rebellion against God.

Comments

  1. Oh-oh. Not a good sign. The exorcist is dead. Bummer. My Friday Quotes

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, it's not quite what you think - but yeah, bummer!

      Delete
  2. Sounds like this book could be funny ... or weird ... or scary. I hope you enjoy it.
    My Friday post features An Innocent Client.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pretty much all three - thanks for sharing, Sandra! :)

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  3. Hi Lauren,

    The cover and the video clip you shared to represent the book certainly don't tell the same story. Grady Hendrix has taken a great approach with the year-book style cover art and it works for me, even though this isn't really my type of read.

    You cover a great collection of memes in an interesting post, thanks for sharing :)

    Yvonne

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, I know - Hendrix definitely has a distinct style. :)

      Thanks for coming over, Yvonne.

      Delete
  4. I've heard a lot of good things about Horrorstör. This one seems interesting too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was awesome! :) I'm really enjoying this one, as well.

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  5. Wow, this one sounds different and fun! I'd love for you and your readers to check out my blog... http://tinyurl.com/LisaKsBookReviewsAMOM

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  6. I started this and then had to set it aside. Thanks for reminding me about it. I need to pick it back up.

    MY Friday 56 from The Ashes

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  7. I really enjoyed Horrorstor too, but it took me longer to get into My Best Friend's Exorcism. Once I got going it was worth it, though. Hope you enjoy the rest of it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's definitely a bit different, but it's really excellent so far. :)

      Delete
  8. Sounds creepy good to me. :-)
    sherry @ fundinmental Friday Memes

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  9. As much as I don't usually enjoy horror, I find myself curious and drawn in to this one. Thanks for sharing...and for visiting my blog.

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  10. A humorous Exorcist, I can get behind that. I actually have this one as well but haven't found time to read!

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  11. Woah! Horror is not my genre preference but I am glad that you're enjoying it! :)
    My Friday 56 features Bloodlines by Richelle Mead

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  12. I have been curious about My Best Friends Exorcism, glad you are liking it! :)

    Stormi
    Friday Meme

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  13. This sounds awesome! I'm looking forward to your review. I just might pick it up. :D Great pick!

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  14. Another book I need to add to my October TBR! I look forward to your thoughts on this one because I'm so intrigued by it. Happy weekend!

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  15. I love the twist you did on this week's 50/50 Friday. I too was having a hard time coming up with something and your idea worked out so well.

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  16. Frodo for sure! It's been so long since I've read LOTR or even watched the movies. I definitely want to rewatch/reread them soon!

    Laura @BlueEyeBooks

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yay! I really need to reread it too - I haven't done that in quite a while either. :)

      Delete
  17. I really want to read My Best Friends Exorcism. It's on my TBR wishlist. Here is my Friday 56: https://coffeeandcatsblog.wordpress.com/2017/02/10/friday-56-24/

    ReplyDelete

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