The Circuit by Francisco Jiménez: Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

Today's Featured Book: 

The Circuit

by Francisco Jiménez

Genre: Graphic Novel; Memoir; Children's Book

Published: 2024

Page Count: 233 pages

Summary: 

An honest and evocative account of a family’s journey from Mexico to the fields of California—and to a life of backbreaking work and constant household moves—as seen through the eyes of a boy who longs for education and the right to call one place home.

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY is hosted by Rose City Reader. What book are you happy about reading this week? Please share the opening sentence (or so) on BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY! Add the link to your blog or social media post and visit other blogs to see what others are reading.

Happy Friday and welcome to the FIRST LINE FRIDAY, hosted by Reading is My Superpower! It’s time to grab the book nearest to you and leave a comment with the first line.

THE FRIDAY 56 is hosted by Anne of Head Full of Books. To play, open a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% on your e-reader). Find a sentence or two and post them, along with the book title and author. Then link up on Head Full of Books and visit others in the linky. 

The Circuit is a graphic novel made from a book of short stories about the life of the author, Francisco Jiménez. When he was a boy, his parents decided to come to the United States for a better life. The family worked as day laborers on farms in California, moving from cotton fields to strawberry fields to fields of grapes, moving from tents to shacks to tenant houses, moving from school to school.

I've wanted to read this book for years, and what better time than now to learn about the life of an immigrant?

Now that I have read the graphic novel of this memoir, I plan to go ahead and read the author's original book and the sequels.

Jennifer of Introverted Jen is sponsoring the 2026 Immigration Reading Challenge. Jennifer notes, 'I firmly believe that a little empathy and understanding can help us put aside our differences, stop seeing people as “other” or “less than,” and find common ground and ways to live together peacefully.' You can find a list of books you might consider reading for the challenge here, and you can join in the challenge yourself here.

#2026immigrationreading

The purpose of THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, and befriend other bloggers. THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is hosted by Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer.    

Do you struggle to start a new read after finishing a truly amazing one? (submitted by Elizabeth @ Silver's Reviews)

Yes! Do you?

Rental Person Who Does Nothing: A Memoir by Shoji Morimoto: Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

 

Today's Featured Book: 

Rental Person Who Does Nothing: A Memoir

by Shoji Morimoto

Genre: Memoir

Published: January 9, 2024

Page Count: 158 pages

Summary: 

Shoji Morimoto was constantly being told by his boss, "It makes no difference whether you’re here or not," and that his presence contributed nothing to the company. Morimoto began to wonder whether a person who "does nothing" could still have actual value and a place in the world. Perhaps he could turn "doing nothing" into a service? With one tweet, Rental Person was born.

Thank you, Jinjer (The Intrepid Angleano).

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY is hosted by Rose City Reader. What book are you happy about reading this week? Please share the opening sentence (or so) on BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY! Add the link to your blog or social media post and visit other blogs to see what others are reading.

Happy Friday and welcome to the FIRST LINE FRIDAY, hosted by Reading is My Superpower! It’s time to grab the book nearest to you and leave a comment with the first line.

@morimotoshoji I’m starting a service called Do-nothing Rental. It’s available for any situation in which all you want is a person to be there. Maybe there’s a restaurant you want to go to, but you feel awkward going on your own. Maybe a game you want to play, but you’re one person short. Or perhaps you’d like someone to keep a space in the park for your cherry blossom viewing party... I only charge transport (from Kokubunji Station) and cost of food/drink (if applicable). I can’t do anything except give very simple responses. 

With this tweet, I became “Rental Person,” a Rental Person Who Does Nothing. At the time, I had 300 followers. Ten months later, I had 100,000. The number of requests has grown too, and now I get a steady flow of about three a day. I find it utterly amazing. Why on earth has it happened? When I started the service, I thought it might be interesting, but I never imagined it would result in a book, a manga or TV programs. And when I try to hide my surprise, people started talking about my “aura,” as though I’m some kind of star.

Morimoto, Shoji. Rental Person Who Does Nothing: A Memoir, p. 1. Kindle Edition. 

THE FRIDAY 56 is hosted by Anne of Head Full of Books. To play, open a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% on your e-reader). Find a sentence or two and post them, along with the book title and author. Then link up on Head Full of Books and visit others in the linky. 

The purpose of THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, and befriend other bloggers. THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is hosted by Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer.    

Which book pairs perfectly with a certain snack in your opinion? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee-Addicted Writer)

All books pair perfectly with coffee. In my very humble opinion.

Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America by Robert B. Reich: Book Beginnings; Friday 56; and Book Blogger Hop

 

Today's Featured Book: 

Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America

by Robert B. Reich

Genre: Memoir

Published: August 5, 2025

Page Count: 571 pages

Summary: 

Nine months after World War II, Robert Reich was born into a united America with a bright future—which went unrealized for so many as big money took over our democracy. His encounter with school bullies on account of his height—4'11" as an adult—set him on a determined path to spend his life fighting American bullies of every sort. He recounts the death of a friend in the civil rights movement; his political coming of age witnessing the Berkeley free speech movement; working for Bobby Kennedy and Senator Eugene McCarthy; experiencing a country torn apart by the Vietnam War; meeting Hillary Rodham in college, Bill Clinton at Oxford, and Clarence Thomas at Yale Law. He details his friendship with John Kenneth Galbraith during his time teaching at Harvard, and subsequent friendships with Bernie Sanders and Ted Kennedy; and his efforts as labor secretary for Clinton and economic advisor to Barack Obama. Ultimately, Reich asks: What did his generation accomplish? Did they make America better, more inclusive, more tolerant? Did they strengthen democracy? Or did they come up short?

Reich hardly abandons us to despair over a doomed democracy. With characteristic spirit and humor, he lays out how we can reclaim a sense of community and a democratic capitalism based on the American ideals we still have the power to salvage.

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY is hosted by Rose City Reader. What book are you happy about reading this week? Please share the opening sentence (or so) on BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY! Add the link to your blog or social media post and visit other blogs to see what others are reading.

Happy Friday and welcome to the FIRST LINE FRIDAY, hosted by Reading is My Superpower! It’s time to grab the book nearest to you and leave a comment with the first line.

I was born on June 24, 1946, ten days after the birth of Donald John Trump, twelve days before the birth of George Walker Bush, and fifty-six days before the birth of William Jefferson Blyth III, whose name was later changed to Bill Clinton. I did not become president but among my earliest memories is my grandmother Minnie Reich telling me that I would become president. I think she was trying to reassure herself that despite my being a runt, fully a head shorter than other little boys, I'd make her proud. (p. 1)

THE FRIDAY 56 is hosted by Anne of Head Full of Books. To play, open a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% on your e-reader). Find a sentence or two and post them, along with the book title and author. Then link up on Head Full of Books and visit others in the linky. 

Let me give you a simple way to test for a good workplace. I came up with it years ago when as secretary of labor I visited them all over America. I call it the "we-they" test: Ask a frontline worker a general question like "How is it to work here?" Then listen for the pronoun. If the workers describe the company as "they" or "them," it's a tip-off that workers regard the company and its executives as being on a different team. If workers describe the company as "we" or "us," the company instills a sense of pride and ownership in its workers. (56%)

I went to hear Robert B. Reich speak last night at The Progressive Forum in Houston, and now I'm on fire for democracy. I took pages and pages of notes at the event, and I am eager to dive into this memoir. His interviewer at the event introduced him and his book, saying this book is "not just a memoir---it's a book on how to live."

Reich spoke about how, after the economic debacle of 2008, he talked with people and they continually told him their two favorite candidates for president were Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders. This mystified him, and he questioned them further, but the people were serious---they wanted someone who would speak out against the system they felt was against them, no matter whether the person was on the far left or the far right. He found it unfortunate that the Democratic Party did not choose Bernie as its candidate.

Reich finds a lot of hope in the future. Everywhere he goes, he hears people asking the same question: How can we save democracy? He feels like there are a lot of young people who are going into politics with a populist vision, and that gives him hope. He hears regular people talking seriously about due process and the Constitution and gerrymandering for the first time, and that gives him hope. He looks back in America's past and sees how the American people, when they see what is at stake, do the right thing, and that gives him hope.

He encourages us to use the power of economic and political boycotts against those who are folding under Trump's bullying. He urges us to speak up to those who are making decisions and to let them know we will vote people out who are doing the wrong thing. He says the only way to deal with a tyrant is not to appease the tyrant, but to get together with others and stand up to the tyrant. We cannot fall into despair or cynicism. We must keep hoping. "This," he says, "is the fight of our lives, and it is critical that we keep going for future generations." And, he ends with, "We can't wait for others to take the lead. We are the leaders we have been waiting for."

Two other books I've read by Reich, both of which I rated five-star reads:

The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It

The Common Good

The purpose of THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, and befriend other bloggers. THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is hosted by Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer.    

 Have you ever read a book with a character with the same name as you? 

- submitted by Snapdragon @ Snapdragon Alcove

There are a lot of Debbies and Deborahs and Debras and Debs in my Baby Boomer-filled world, but finding them in books has been a rare experience. I do like the Deborah from the Old Testament. She was a wise judge.

Mark Twain by Ron Chernow: Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

 

Today's Featured Book: 

Mark Twain

by Ron Chernow

Genre: Biography

Published: May 13, 2025

Page Count: 1196 pages

Summary: 

In this richly nuanced portrait of Mark Twain, acclaimed biographer Ron Chernow brings his considerable powers to bear on a man who shamelessly sought fame and fortune, and crafted his persona with meticulous care. After establishing himself as a journalist, satirist, and lecturer, he eventually settled in Hartford with his wife and three daughters, where he went on to write The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. He threw himself into the hurly-burly of American culture, and emerged as the nation’s most notable political pundit. At the same time, his madcap business ventures eventually bankrupted him; to economize, Twain and his family spent nine eventful years in exile in Europe. He suffered the death of his wife and two daughters, and the last stage of his life was marked by heartache, political crusades, and eccentric behavior that sometimes obscured darker forces at play.

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY is hosted by Rose City Reader. What book are you happy about reading this week? Please share the opening sentence (or so) on BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY! Add the link to your blog or social media post and visit other blogs to see what others are reading.

Happy Friday and welcome to the FIRST LINE FRIDAY, hosted by Reading is My Superpower! It’s time to grab the book nearest to you and leave a comment with the first line.

From the time he was a small boy in Hannibal, Missouri, the Mississippi River had signified freedom for Samuel Langhorne Clemens (later known as Mark Twain), a place where he could toss aside worldly cares, indulge in high spirits, and find sanctuary from society’s restraints.

Chernow, Ron. Mark Twain, p. xiii.  Kindle Edition. 

THE FRIDAY 56 is hosted by Anne of Head Full of Books. To play, open a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% on your e-reader). Find a sentence or two and post them, along with the book title and author. Then link up on Head Full of Books and visit others in the linky. 

In the immediate aftermath of his brother’s death, Sam, exhausted from his harrowing vigil, slept for hours. Then he rose and went to view Henry’s remains. Touched by his youthful beauty, some Memphis ladies had chipped in for a metal casket for Henry instead of the standard wooden model. Sam was startled to enter the room and see Henry just as he had pictured him in the dream, minus one detail: there were no white flowers on his chest.

Chernow, Ron. Mark Twain, p. 56. Kindle Edition. 

It took biographer Ron Chernow 1196 pages to tell the story of the man who was Mark Twain. It seems unlikely that I can sum up this book in a couple of paragraphs.

Still, I shall try.

Mark Twain was an enigma. He loved deeply. He hated deeply. And often these were the same people or places or objects. Over and over, Twain found himself initially swooning over a man or a city or a new idea only to suddenly find that the man or city or new idea appalled him.

Mark Twain was able to see deeply and freshly, and it is his aphorisms I enjoyed reading the most, full of the wisdom, the paradoxes, and above all, the humor, he found in life.

I also enjoyed reading about Mark Twain's moral shifts, from that of a young man who accepted Black enslavement as a given to a man who supported Blacks in their quest to become full equals with white folk in America; from a man who rah-rahed the imperialists to a man who railed against them; from a man who stood squarely in the middle of the beliefs of the American South to a man who could speak with the greatest minds in the world.

Would I recommend this book? Whew. It's long, and detailed, and it covers everything about Twain. Do you want to know everything about this man? Then, I say, yes. He's definitely a fascinating character, and if he had his moments of amazing brilliance, he also had his moments where he let all of us down. Still, I'm happy I got to know him in these pages.

The purpose of THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, and befriend other bloggers. THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is hosted by Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer.    

August 15th - 21st - Do you visit and share books in Little Free Libraries in your area? (submitted by Elizabeth @ Silver's Review)

I do. I have one, #2924. 

I installed five others in my town using money from a grant my school district gave me. 

Here are a few blog posts about the joy I get from Little Free Libraries:

Little Free Libraries

Bookish Brags: Little Free Libraries

My Little Free Library: Trick-or-Book

Visitor to My Little Free Library

Riding Her Bike to the Little Library

Little Free Library #2924 is Up and Running

☂ Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life ☂ by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Today's Featured Book 

Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Genre: Memoir

Published: January 25, 2005

Page Count: 240 pages

Summary: 

How do you conjure a life? Give the truest account of what you saw, felt, learned, loved, strived for? 

For Amy Krouse Rosenthal, the surprising answer came in the form of an encyclopedia. In Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life,  she has ingeniously adapted this centuries-old format for conveying knowledge into a poignant, wise, often funny, fully realized memoir.
 
Using mostly short entries organized from A to Z, many of which are cross-referenced, Rosenthal captures in wonderful and episodic detail the moments, observations, and emotions that comprise a contemporary life. Start anywhere—preferably at the beginning—and see how one young woman’s alphabetized existence can open up and define the world in new and unexpected ways.
 
An ordinary life, perhaps, but an extraordinary book.

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY is hosted by Rose City Reader. What book are you happy about reading this week? Please share the opening sentence (or so) on BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY! Add the link to your blog or social media post and visit other blogs to see what others are reading.

Happy Friday and welcome to the FIRST LINE FRIDAY, hosted by Reading is My Superpower! It’s time to grab the book nearest to you and leave a comment with the first line.

"I was not abused, abandoned, or locked up as a child. My parents were not alcoholics, nor were they ever divorced or dead. We did not live in poverty, or in misery, or in an exotic country. I am not a misunderstood genius, a former child celebrity, or the child of a celebrity. I am not a drug addict, sex addict, food addict, or recovered anything. If I indeed had a past life, I have no recollection of who I was. 

I have not survived against all odds.

I have not lived to tell.

I have not witnessed the extraordinary.

This is my story.

                                                        ---Amy Krouse Rosenthal, age 39

                                                                                                Chicago

                                                                                             June 2004"

                                                          

THE FRIDAY 56 is hosted by Freda's Voice. To play, open a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% on your e-reader). Find a sentence or two and post them, along with the book title and author. Then link up on Freda's Voice and visit others in the linky. 

My Review of Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life

REVIEW

I've read and reviewed 6,846 books at Goodreads (as of today) and this book is probably #13 or #14 on my list of my very favorite reads ever. I'd give it ten zillion ✩✩✩✩✩✩✩s, if I could. Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life is a memoir, and it's a kind of a picture book for grownups, and it's a history book for those of us of-a-certain-age, and it's a book that is full of Very Wise Thoughts. 

Amy was actually the Goddess of Creativity...Creativity dripped out of her fingers every time she wrote and it spilled out of her mouth every time she spoke and it surged from her body every time she moved. 

"Make the most of your time here," she told us, almost as if she knew something was in route for her before the doctors did.

So, okay, this isn't much of a review, but, hey, I honestly just lead a rather ordinary life myself. Still, I'd urge you to grab a bit of that life-force that was AKR and read this book. And then watch her little TED talks and view her little videos and you might even read her picture books. And then GO...GO AND MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR TIME HERE.

 

A Little More About Amy Krouse Rosenthal...

Amy died in 2017. She was 51. She had ovarian cancer. She wrote lots of my favorite books including Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life for grownups, but she also wrote lots of my favorite books for children including Little Pea and Yes Day. She also created lots of wonderful interactive celebrations (take a look at some here). I was delighted to meet her several times at author events. Here is the last photo I took of her. She was autographing her most recent book, Textbook Amy Rosenthal:

The purpose of THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, and befriend other bloggers. THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is hosted by Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer.    

January 27th - Feb. 2nd - Do you prefer to read in a quiet or noisy setting? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer)

That's easy.....VERY, VERY, VERY QUIET. Please do not come into the room and disturb me. There should be no sounds coming from the tv or computer. QUIET. COMPLETELY QUIET.