Kimber: I hate to admit it. But it’s true. One of us just got around to reading Amy Tan’s beloved best-seller, The Joy Luck Club. One of us kept passing it up in the library, aiming to get to it “later.” Never mind that it was published back when dinosaurs roamed the earth (in 1989). One of us is a little slow. (Hi, Mom.)

So now that Her Royal Momness finally got around to reading this classic, we thought we’d feature it in today’s edition of Book Beginnings and Friday 56. Besides. We loved this book!

And Mom’s nothing if not quick. (Insert face palm here.)

Book Beginning:

“The old woman remembered a swan she had bought many years ago in Shanghai for a foolish sum. This bird, boasted the market vendor, was once a duck that stretched its neck in hopes of becoming a goose, and now look! – it is too beautiful to eat.”

Friday 56, from Page 56:

“I immediately shivered with fear. I thought a knife would appear and cut me down dead. Or the sky would open up and blow me away. But nothing happened, and when my senses came back, I walked back to my room with fast guilty steps.”

Have you read The Joy Luck Club?

Book Beginnings is a theme where readers share the first sentence (or couple of sentences) from your current read. It’s hosted by Rose City Reader every Friday.

The Friday 56 is hosted by Frida’s Voice. Share a sentence or two-ish from page 56 or 56% in to your current read.