Book Beginnings on Fridays

Book Beginnings on Fridays is a meme hosted at Rose City Reader where you share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author’s name.

This was first brought to my attention by http://inspirationpie.com/.

The books I am presently reading:

First paragraph: 

Oracus sat on his hard, wooden bed with a sword in one hand and a whetstone in the other, sharpening the edges ready for sword practise. The sword was dazzling, as if new; the silver blade sparkled and the patterned, golden hilt held a beautiful, green emerald that glistened in the light. The sword belonged to his father, but Oracus was permitted to use it for practise. He brushed the whetstone lightly against the blade whilst thinking about his combinations and movement.

Easy, young adult fantasy series that I have begun.

First paragraph: 

E. W. Kenyon began his book “The Wonderful Name of Jesus” with this personal account:

” One afternoon, while giving an address on “The Name of Jesus” a lawyer interrupted me, asking:

“Do you mean to say that Jesus gave us the ‘Power of Attorney’ the Legal Right to use His Name?”

He said, “If language means anything, then Jesus gave to the Church (ed. note * body of Christ, not a denomination) the Power of Attorney.”

Then I asked him, “What is the value of this Power of Attorney?”

He answered, “It depends upon how much there is back of it, how much authority, how much power this Name represents.”

Then I began the search to find how much power and authority Jesus had.

I am also reading:

which has been an ongoing thing (about 3 chapters a day), so I won’t publish the first paragraph of that. This copy is a bit different than mine… the one I have is dated 1911, but it is the closest I could find.

which is a devotional, so I read a page a day, or thereabouts, thus I won’t publish it’s first paragraph,

and:

which I am enjoying, but this version is an audiobook, so I can’t really print its first paragraph. : )

The Friday 56

The Friday 56 is a meme hosted at Freda’s voice.

Rules:
*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader
(If you have to improvise, that’s ok.)
*Find any sentence, (or few, just don’t spoil it)
*Post it.
*Add your (url) post below in Linky. Add the post url, not your blog url.
*It’s that simple.

Here’s a blurb from page 56:

“I watched the flight of the ball for an instant,” Hank recalls. “I thought the ball had bounced over the fence for a game- winning ground rule double. I touched second base, and then cut toward the clubhouse to celebrate.” Mantilla scoring automatically won the game. But the ball had gone over the fence on the fly, so it was a home run. To be awarded a homer, Adcock had to touch every base and the plate. Running with his head down, as he always did, Adcock didn’t realize that I had cut back to the dugout. So when Adcock reached third base, he was called out for passing me. We still won the game, but I had cost Joe a home run.” Joe Adcock had some of the longest home runs ever hit, but in this game he was awarded only one RBI and a single. “We can laugh about it now,” Hank says, “but it wasn’t too funny then.”

Since I don’t want to spoil any book I am planning on reading myself, I decided to start doing page 56, or 56% on Kindle of one that I have already read and own. I am starting alphabetically on my bookshelf, and this bit above is from:

Published in 1974 by Chilton Book Company. It is fascinating to read career highlights and memories in the baseball legend’s Hank Aaron’s own words. The book starts from how he got started as an unknown, and documents his rise to stardom as one of unbeatable icons of baseballdom. His accounts are so down to earth and humble, reading his story gave me much more respect for the man than I had had before. Growing up with a baseball loving father, Hank Aaron was a hero, but the book allowed me to see him in a whole new light. Has many pictures from his illustrious career… I am keeping this one. : )