Book Beginnings on Fridays/Friday 56: Julie, and Book Blogger Hop

  

    Hey! Here's my Book Beginnings on Fridays/Friday 56/Book Blogger Hop combo post, the last of my 2021 February Week of Book Memes. (To view all of the Week of Book Memes posts I've done in the past, click HERE.) As well as reviewing a Russian historical fiction pick yesterday, I've also participated in my fifth #IMWAYR and blogged about my Top Ten Non-Romantic Relationships in honor of Valentine's Day. If you're interested in what I said about those, feel free to click on the links. If you've already read and/or commented on any of my posts this week, thanks again for doing that!

    For this Friday post, I'm going to feature another great Christian fiction read, which I also posted about on this week's #IMWAYR. I think it's funny that I share a name with the main character, and wonder if she'll be anything like me. I guess we'll have to see! This book is also a companion to a well-known bestseller by the same author. It'll be interesting to compare both stories and see if there are any parallels.

Title: Julie

Author: Catherine Marshall

Genre: Christian Fiction

Synopsis: Julie Wallace has always wanted to write. Trying to escape the Great Depression, Julie’s father buys the Alderton Sentinel, a small-town newspaper in flood-prone Alderton, Pennsylvania, and moves his family there. As flash floods ominously increase, Julie’s investigative reporting uncovers secrets that could endanger the entire community.

Julie, the newspaper, and her family are thrown into a perilous standoff with the owners of the steel mills as they investigate the conditions of the immigrant laborers. As the Alderton Sentinel and Julie take on a more aggressive role to reform these conditions, seething tensions come to a head.

When a devastating tragedy follows a shocking revelation, Julie’s courage and strength are tested. Will truth and justice win, or will Julie lose everything she holds dear?

First Line: As I stood out on Lookout Point and viewed Alderton seven miles below, I wonder what changes I would find. 

My Thoughts: You can figure out a lot from this first sentence! This is obviously a first person book, and from what the character is talking about it seems like she or he is either Julie or another main or supporting person. Lookout Point (wherever it is) also appears like a safe or life-changing spot for whoever's speaking, and Alderton a place for an important series of events. You can also tell that this character has been through some sort of internal change as well as the town itself. I also liked the irony in Marshall's other bestseller, Christy, starting in a similar way. This first line was really interesting and I can't wait to find out more!

    The scene on page 56 looked especially moving to me. I haven't started the book and am not to that part yet, but hope that it'll be as emotional and thought-provoking as it seems to be!

From Julie: Two or three of the men present, I gathered, looked decidedly uncomfortable. But as my father studied the faces of the others, he saw only a sudden and inexplicable hardness of heart in men whose basic nature was generous and loving. He told us later that his faith in the ability of the Christian church to change men's hearts began to drain away at that point.

    And now for this week's Book Blogger Hop question...

This Week's Question: What book or series can you see getting made into a movie and not being horribly re-written?

My Answer: Hmm, that's a tough one. I think as books are adapted to the big screen, I think the directors and screenwriters will always want to make changes, so I wouldn't say that any book-turned-movie would be entirely unscathed. But choosing between which would suffer rewrites the least I think I'd have to go with Dusti Bowling's Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus. In my opinion the book already feels Netflix-series worthy and a story that would be very adaptable to an onscreen format.

    Thanks for taking a look at this post! I always love putting my Friday memes together. 

    What about you? After reading the two snippets, would you consider checking out the book? Does the synopsis draw you in? What would be your answer to the Book Blogger Hop question? If you also had a Friday post, please link to it so I can check it out.

    Next week, join me for another book review!