You Can't Catch Us by Shannon McKenna Schmidt -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

You Can't Catch Us by Shannon McKenna Schmidt

Thank you for joining me for Book Beginnings on Fridays. Please share the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are reading this week. You can also share from a book that caught your fancy, even if you are not reading it right now.

MY BOOK BEGINNING

An unexpected sight stopped travelers in their tracks at Union Station in Washington, DC, on October 4, 1964: a brightly bedecked, ninety-foot-long train car.

-- from You Can't Catch Us: Lady Bird Johnson's Trailblazing 1964 Campaign Train and the Women Who Rode with Her by Shannon McKenna Schmidt.

Shannon McKenna Schmidt's new book is the nonfiction story of Lady Bird Johnson's historic whistle stop tour through eight souther states in support of her husband Lyndon B. Johnson's election campaign in 1964. Abourd the "Lady Bird Special," the First Lady and her team of women supporters traveled from Washington, D.C. to New Orleans, making 47 stops in four days. 

See the Publisher's Description below for more details. And read about McKenna Schmidt's earlier book, The First Lady of World War II: Eleanor Roosevelt's Daring Journey to the Frontlines and Back on this Book Beginnings post from 2023. 

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Please add the link to your Book Beginnings post in the box below. If you share on social media, please use the #bookbeginnings hashtag.

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THE FRIDAY 56

The Friday 56 is a natural tie-in with Book Beginnings. The idea is to share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of your featured book. If you are reading an ebook or audiobook, find your teaser from the 56% mark.

Freda at Freda's Voice started and hosted The Friday 56 for a long, long time. She is taking a break and Anne at My Head is Full of Books has taken on hosting duties in her absence. Please visit Anne's blog and link to your Friday 56 post.

MY FRIDAY 56

-- from You Can't Catch Us:

City police and federal agents staged a tight security operation in the area around the train station. Spectators were kept behind closely supervised lines.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

At a time when political candidates' wives were expected to be seen and not heard, Lady Bird Johnson made history as the first presidential spouse to take a leading role on the campaign trail. Her mission: to aid her husband, Lyndon B. Johnson, in his reelection bid.
Proud of her southern heritage and of what her husband had done for civil rights, Lady Bird undertook an eight-state whistle-stop tour in October 1964, both to garner votes for Lyndon and to help ease the animosity that arose from the signing of the Civil Rights Act three months earlier.

From First Breath to Last by Dede Montgomery -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

From First Breath to Last by Dede Montgomery

Thank you for joining me this week for Book Beginnings on Fridays where participants share the opening sentence (or two) from the book they are reading. You can also share from a book you want to feature, even if you are not reading it at the moment. 

MY BOOK BEGINNING

It made no sense to me when I first learned Mom ate sugar sandwiches as a child.

-- from From First Breath to Last: A Story About Love, Womanhood, and Aging by Dede Montgomery.

From First Breath to Last is an entwined memoir about Dede Montgomery and her remarkable mother Patty Montgomery. Using her mother's unpublished memoir and other writings, Dede weaves in her own story, including life lessons she learned from growing up with an independent and self-assured mom. 

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING

Please add the link to your book beginning post in the linky box below. If you participate or share on social media, please use the hashtag #bookbeginnings so other people can find your post.

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THE FRIDAY 56

The Friday 56 asks participants to share a two-sentence teaser from their book of the week. If your book is an ebook or audiobook, pick a teaser from the 56% point. 

Anna at My Head is Full of Books hosts The Friday 56, a natural tie-in with Book Beginnings on Fridays. Please visit My Head is Full of Books to leave the link to your post. 

MY FRIDAY 56

-- from From First Breath to Last:

This was where the seed began to shape for Patty's idea of offering seminars for women in transition after her graduation. She felt she had found her calling.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

Dede Montgomery returns to her own roots in From First Breath to Last, and skillfully weaves her life with her mother's in a touching tribute to family and what matters most in their lives. She meshes passages from her mother's memoir, journals, published book, and dissertation with her own memories and how her mother's journey influenced her own in a celebration of womanhood.

Patty Montgomery was born between the World Wars and was reborn in the 1960s and 1970s during the time women pushed through the barriers to independence and equality. She followed what she believed was the expected path for other women like her who were privileged by whiteness, education, and middle-class income. Until she couldn't, and broke loose with support from some and criticism by others, while raising her only daughter to be self-confident and self-assured.

So Much Serendipity in Two Recently Read Novels -- STORYLINE SERENDIPITY

SO MUCH SERENDIPITY

IN TWO RECENTLY READ NOVELS

Have you had the experience of something coming up in a book -- an event, place, idea, historical character, or even an unusual word -- and then shortly after, the same thing comes up in a different book completely by coincidence? I call this Storyline Serendipity.

Last month, I read two books that have so many similarities, it's uncanny. 

First I read The Severed Wasp by Madeleine L'Engle, famous for her children’s classic A Wrinkle in Time. The Severed Wasp is a novel for adults. It is the story of a woman in her 70s who recently retired from a career as a concert pianist. While she has a quiet demeanor, she is strong willed and can be prickly. As the story unfolds, we learn of her personal history going back to when she was a young bride of 19 living in Europe on the brink of WWII. She had a long but unconventional marriage, her son died in an accident when he was seven years old, and she has a difficult relationship with her daughter. 

Then I read the current buzz book, The Correspondent by Virginia Evans. It is the story of a woman in her 70s who recently retired from a career as a lawyer. She also has a quiet demeanor but is strong willed and definitely prickly. Through a series of letters spanning several years, we learn her history going back to when she was a young wife and mother focused on her career. She had a long marriage that ended in divorce after her son died in an accident when he was eight years old. She has a difficult relationship with her daughter. 

Both books explore themes of grief and guilt, aging, mother/daughter relationships, and friendship. 

How crazy is all that overlap? 

I highly recommend both The Correspondent and A Severed Wasp. The writing in both is first rate, the stories engaging. As I approach my 60th birthday, I greatly appreciate novels that center older women. These books are a reminder that old ladies don't have to solve mysteries to be interesting. 

WHAT IS STORYLINE SERENDIPITY?

A ONCE-IN-A-WHILE BLOG EVENT

Storyline Serendipity is more than simply reading two similar books. I don't mean like when you take a class in Russian history and read two books about the Tsar. Or when you read two mysteries and there are dead bodies in each.

I mean random coincidence between two books. I like it when this happens because it makes me slow down and pay more attention to how the event or idea, place or character was treated in each book. I get a little more out of each book than I would have if the universe hadn't paired them on my reading list.

If you experience Storyline Serendipity, feel free to grab the button and play along. If you want to, please leave the link to your post in a comment. Or leave the link to your post on the Rose City Reader facebook page. If you want to participate but don't have a blog or don't feel like posting, please share your serendipity in a comment.

This is a once-in-a-while blog event that I'll post as I come across Storyline Serendipity. If you want to participate, post whenever you want and leave a comment back here on my latest Storyline Serendipity post. If it ever catches on, we can make it a monthly event.

Book Beginnings on Friday — January 29, 2026

BOOK BEGINNINGS 

Thanks for joining me for Book Beginnings on Fridays. I forgot to put my post up Thursday evening, so please forgive this slapdash version. I had to do it on my phone. 🙈

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Afterward by Brisol Vaudrin -- BOOK REVIEW

 

BOOK REVIEW

Afterward by Brisol Vaudrin

Imagine you’re fairly young, living in a cool city, with a tedious starter job, but plenty of good friends, a serious boyfriend, fun times, and big plans. What happens if tragedy strikes? How would you handle it? That’s the premise of Afterward, Bristol Vaudrin’s debut novel. Lauren is living the life she wanted when she comes home to her new apartment and a medical emergency that turns her plans on their head.

While we don’t know exactly what went wrong until the end, hints about the events of that day roll out early, when Lauren’s boyfriend Kyle is still in the hospital, and steadily build to the finale. We watch as Lauren navigates the situation, sometimes making good decisions, often foundering in indecision. Her next months are filled with trying to get back to normal, even if that involves avoiding work, ignoring her mother, bristling at Kyle’s mother, honing her passive-aggressive anger at Kyle, and more than a little day drinking. Would any of us do better under the same circumstances?

Vaudrin writes well, with a light touch, and her pacing is impeccable. I found myself routing for Lauren, laughing with her and brooding with her, even when I wanted to take her aside and shake her. She is an engaging modern heroine, right down to the final revealing, surprising, and satisfying ending. I highly recommend Afterward for anyone looking for fresh storytelling and entertaining literary fiction.

NOTES

Read my Book Beginnings on Friday Post about Afterward here for more information and teasers from Bristol Vaudrin's new book. 

I was fortunate to get a review copy of Afterward. Have you read it? What did you think? Please leave a comment with a link to your review if you posted one. You can find more reviews online where books are sold and on Bristol’s website.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR (FROM HER WEBSITE)

Bristol was born in Alaska, and named after Bristol Bay, where her parents fished commercially. Later, she was raised in Southcentral Alaska, splitting time between her family’s off-the-grid homestead at Flat Horn Lake, and attending school in Anchorage.

She now lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband, dog, and way too many books.