The Friday 56 (With Book Beginnings): The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett + 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 Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett.  I decided I needed a bit of a change of pace from my usual fare, so I decided to go with this classic mystery to break things up.  I love the funny crime mystery movie series starring William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora Charles, so I'm really looking forward to checking out the source material!

Beginning:

I was leaning against the bar in a speakeasy on Fifty-second Street, waiting for Nora to finish her Christmas shopping, when a girl got up from the table where she had been sitting with three other people and came over to me.  She was small and blonde, and whether you looked at her face or at her body in powder-blue sports clothes, the result was satisfactory.  "Aren't you Nick Charles?" she asked.

56:

"Did you know she'd done a jail sentence in Cleveland on a badger-game charge?"

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 Best/ Worst Book Read In February.

Best: Both of these graphic novel series continue to keep me hooked!  I can't believe I'm actually caught up on Saga.

Saga, Volume 5 by Fiona Staples and Brian K. Vaughan

Saga, Volume 6 by Fiona Staples and Brian K. Vaughan

Chew, Volume 9: Chicken Tendersby John Layman and Rob Guillory

Worst:

The Apartment by S.L. Grey - This was billed as horror, but after listening to the audiobook I definitely wouldn't call it that at all.  It's extremely slow building suspense with a few eerie bits and some mystery elements.  The story never delivers and I couldn't get into any of the characters.