The Friday 56 (212) & Book Beginnings: Washington Square by Henry James

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice where every Friday you pick a book and turn to page 56 or 56%, and select a sentence or a few, as long as it's not a spoiler. For the full rules, visit the the page HERE

Book Beginnings is a weekly meme hosted by Rose City Reader that asks you to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you're reading.

Synopsis from Goodreads...

Back when New York was still young, so was heiress Catherine Sloper. A simple, plain girl, she grew up in opulence with a disappointed father and a fluttery aunt in a grand house on Washington Square. Enter Morris Townsend, a handsome charmer who assures Catherine he loves her for herself and not for her money. But Catherine’s revered father sees in Townsend what she cannot. Now, with her tearful aunt Penniman as his amusingly melodramatic ally, Townsend will present Catherine with the hardest choice of her young life.…

With a New Introduction and an Afterword by Michael Cunningham, Author of The Hours

Beginning: "During a portion of the first half of the present century, and more particularly during the latter part of it, there flourished and practiced in the city of New York a physician who enjoyed perhaps an exceptional share of consideration which, in the United States, has always been bestowed upon distinguished members of the medical profession."

56: "It will probably seem to the reader, however, that the doctor's vigilance was by no means excessive, and that these two young people had an open field."

Comments: I read Washington Square by Henry James. I enjoyed this one. Note: It wasn't until I was picking the quotes that I realized how long the first sentence of chapter one actually was. What are you reading this week?