Book Beginnings & The Friday 56: Maid

 

Happy Friday! I'm back with Book Beginnings and The Friday 56! I plan to start reading Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive, by Stephanie Land, in the next week or so. A couple years ago, I read Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, by Barbara Ehrenreich, and she mentions Maid in her book (you might notice on the cover that she actually wrote the foreword!). I really enjoyed Nickel and Dimed, so I'm excited to start reading this memoir by Stephanie Land. 

Here's part of the blurb from Goodreads: "At 28, Stephanie Land’s plans of breaking free from the roots of her hometown in the Pacific Northwest to chase her dreams of attending a university and becoming a writer, were cut short when a summer fling turned into an unexpected pregnancy. She turned to housekeeping to make ends meet, and with a tenacious grip on her dream to provide her daughter the very best life possible, Stephanie worked days and took classes online to earn a college degree, and began to write relentlessly. Maid explores the underbelly of upper-middle class America and the reality of what it’s like to be in service to them. 'I’d become a nameless ghost,' Stephanie writes about her relationship with her clients, many of whom do not know her from any other cleaner, but who she learns plenty about. As she begins to discover more about her clients’ lives-their sadness and love, too-she begins to find hope in her own path."

The misplaced comma in the first sentence gives me pause, but I'm still hopeful for this book! Let's dive into the tags, shall we?

Books Beginnings

Book Beginnings is a tag hosted by Gilion at Rose City Reader every Friday. Basically, you just share the first sentence of a book you're currently reading (or a book you want to read but haven't gotten around to yet). Here's the first sentence of Maid:

"My daughter learned to walk in a homeless shelter."

The Friday 56

The Friday 56, originally hosted by Freda at Freda's Voice, is now being hosted by Anne at My Head is Full of Books. Here are the rules from Anne's blog:

RULES:

• Grab a book, any book
• Turn to page 56 (or 56% in your e-reader)
• Find a snippet, but no spoilers!
• Post it to your blog. Don't forget to add the URL of your post to the Linky on Anne's blog!

Here's a snippet from page 56 of Maid:

"'What?' Travis asked, looking annoyed and like he'd heard only half of what I'd said. He had on the same outfit that he'd worn when we first met. I tried to remember what it had felt like to hug him that first time. A year ago, I'd felt safe, comforted in his arms. Now they were too full of resentment to embrace me."

I can already tell that the writing probably won't be my favorite, but I think the book will be easy to read and I'm still excited for this memoir!

Are you enjoying your current read? Is there a book you're excited to start soon? I'd love to hear from you in the comments!