Friday 7 September 2018

Friday Books - American Wife

Welcome to BookBeginnings and Friday56 -where we share books on Fridays. It's a great way to start the weekend.

At Book Beginningshosted by Rose City Reader, you share the first line, and  a few thoughts about the book.



 Here's the beginning of the book I'm featuring today.



"A kind, bookish only child born in the 1940s, Alice Lindgren has no idea that she will one day end up in the White House, married to the president. In her small Wisconsin hometown, she learns the virtues of politeness, but a tragic accident when she is seventeen shatters her identity and changes the trajectory of her life. More than a decade later, when the charismatic son of a powerful Republican family sweeps her off her feet, she is surprised to find herself admitted into a world of privilege. When her husband unexpectedly becomes governor and then president, she discovers she is married to a man she both loves and fundamentally disagrees with--and that her private beliefs increasingly run against her public persona. As her husband’s presidency enters its second term, Alice must confront contradictions years in the making and face questions nearly impossible to answer."

Loosely based on the life of Laura Bush, there seem to be a number of readers who loved this, and also those who hated it - they found scandalous and too revealing. But it is fictional, after all. Sounds interesting, at the very least.



At Freda's Voice, you'll find the Friday56, where the excerpt comes from page 56 or 56% in your Kindle.

Here's page 56 of American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld.


Yes - this is the same Andrew from p1, but as far as I can tell, this isn't the man she marries who becomes president.

How different are those covers? I can't decide which I prefer. My book looks like the first one, which usually biases me - but this second one is also really good.

A friend has lent me this book - oh, at least a year ago. And now I need to read it. And since I've shared these excerpts, I really want to. I know what I'm doing this weekend. All 550 pages.


What are you reading this weekend? I'd love to visit your blog and check it out.

11 comments:

Yvonne @ Fiction Books Reviews said...

The first cover gets my vote, as from what little I know of the American First Ladies (me being a Brit and only spoon-fed fake news most of the time!), it really would suit the personality of Barbara Bush, if that who the story is indeed loosly based on.

They do say that "behind every great man, there is a great woman" and that I firmly believe to be the truth. As marriage is based on a partnership of ideas, how can one not be influenced by the other, even if you are the President!

Happy Reading and I hope you manage all 500+ pages this weekend :)

Yvonne
xx

Bev Bouwer said...

Thanks Yvonne, I’ll try!

fredamans said...

Both are lovely covers and those snippets, oh boy!! Sounds like a wonderful love story. Happy weekend!

Karis DeHaven said...

This sounds interesting! I think I like the first cover better; the second cover makes me think that the book is entirely about a wedding. It's pretty-just misleading.

Kathy Martin said...

This sounds good. I hope you are among the group that enjoys it. This week I am spotlighting Burning Ridge by Margaret Mizushima. Happy reading!

Laurel-Rain Snow said...

I read this book a few years ago, and loved it! It changed my view of Laura Bush, and made me have second thoughts about others I had written off without further exploration.

Thanks for sharing...and for visiting my blog.

Roberta said...

Oh, I just read and reviewed this a few weeks ago. The author is an amazing writer. She grabbed me from the start. The story of Andrew is a poignant one and has parallels in Laura Bush's life.

The wedding dress cover is also misleading because she didn't want and didn't wear a fancy wedding dress.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Catherine @ Book Club Librarian said...

I've heard good things about this book--hope you enjoy it.

Alicia @ A Kernel of Nonsense said...

What a sweet 56. I hope you enjoy your weekend!

Nicki J. Markus / Asta Idonea said...

It will be interesting to see what you think of it.

Sassy Brit @ Alternative-Read.com said...

HI! It's funny how life turns out - especially for her! Who'd have thought.

Here's my Friday post. Hope you're enjoying you're weekend! x