Friday 56 & Book Beginnings: The Warmest December

Now and then I forget things, small things that would not otherwise alter my life. Things like milk in my coffee, setting my alarm clock, or Oprah at four. Tiny things.

- Book Beginnings, The Warmest December by Bernice L. McFadden

What I needed was to get to the meeting and share the pain; distribute it among the others, thinning it until it disappeared. What I wanted was a drink. I could pour the liquid down my throat and let it filter into the hole and extinguish the pain that lived there.

- p. 56 (The Friday 56), The Warmest December by Bernice L. McFadden

It's Spring already and I won this book at Librarything Early Reviewers but haven't yet gotten around to reading it. Just those two snippets, and she hooked me in. Now, read the story behind the book, straight from the author, Bernice L. McFadden. She says:

I suppose, The Warmest December came out of my need to understand and forgive. It was probably the most difficult and most freeing thing I've ever written. If bloodletting could be translated into words - for me The Warmest December would be just that.

Here's a quick synopsis:

The Warmest December is the incredibly moving story of one Brooklyn family and the alcoholism that determined years of their lives. Narrated by Kenzie Lowe, a young woman reminiscent of Jamaica Kincaid's Annie John, as she visits her dying father and finds that choices she once thought beyond her control are very much hers to make.

I think I need to bump this up in my TBR. So, what are you reading?