Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Tuesday Memes: The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion


Every Tuesday Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, where you can share the first paragraph, or a few, of a book you are reading or thinking about reading soon.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along!

Today I am spotlighting The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg


The one and only Fannie Flagg, beloved author of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, Can't Wait to Get to Heaven, and I Still Dream About You, is at her hilarious and superb best in this new comic mystery novel about two women who are forced to reimagine who they are.
Mrs. Sookie Poole of Point Clear, Alabama, has just married off the last of her daughters and is looking forward to relaxing and perhaps traveling with her husband, Earle. The only thing left to contend with is her mother, the formidable Lenore Simmons Krackenberry. Lenore may be a lot of fun for other people, but is, for the most part, an overbearing presence for her daughter. Then one day, quite by accident, Sookie discovers a secret about her mother's past that knocks her for a loop and suddenly calls into question everything she ever thought she knew about herself, her family, and her future.
Sookie begins a search for answers that takes her to California, the Midwest, and back in time, to the 1940s, when an irrepressible woman named Fritzi takes on the job of running her family's filling station. Soon truck drivers are changing their routes to fill up at the All-Girl Filling Station. Then, Fritzi sees an opportunity for an even more groundbreaking adventure. As Sookie learns about the adventures of the girls at the All-Girl Filling Station, she finds herself with new inspiration for her own life.
Fabulous, fun-filled, spanning decades and generations, and centered on a little-known aspect of America's twentieth-century story, The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion is another irresistible novel by the remarkable Fannie Flagg.

Opening Paragraph

    From the prologue:
    In the year 1908 Stanislw Ludic Jurdabralinkski, a tall, rawboned boy of fourteen, was facing a future of uncertainty. Life in Poland under Russian rule was bleak and dangerous. Polish men and boys were being conscripted to serve in the czar’s army, and in an attempt to destroy Polish unity, Catholics and priests had been jailed for anti-Russian sentiments. Churches were shut down and Stanislaw’s father and three uncles had been sent to prison camps for speaking out.
    But with encouragement from his older brother Wencent, who had escaped Poland five years earlier, Stanislaw arrived in New York with nothing but the ill-fitting plaid woolen suit he was wearing, a photograph of his mother and sisters, and the promise of a job. With the help of a Polish stevedore who he had befriended on the ship, he managed to hop a freight train.


My Teaser

    She ran out on the back porch and started waving her arms and yelling at the top of her lungs, “Go to the front, little birds -- go around to the front! Hurry up, little birds!” But how do you communicate with birds?
page 36

So...what do you think? Is this one you would pick up? Leave a comment below!

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23 comments:

  1. This sounds wonderful, an author I really want to read more by, I would definitely read on!

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  2. Sounds like an interesting story. I have never read anything by that author though. My teasers this week are from Caged Warrior by Alan Sitomer and Midnight Crossroad by Charlaine Harris. Happy reading!

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  3. I tried a Fannie Flagg awhile back and ended up not finishing it, so I probably would skip this one.

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  4. I'm not sure whether this is the one for me, the names are just too funny! Thanks for sharing :) I hope you enjoy the rest of the book!
    My Tuesday posts
    Juli @ Universe in Words

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  5. I've been wanting to read all of Fannie Flagg's books. They are on my TBR list.I loved her as a comedienne and I really want to read her books. I will watch for your review.

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  6. The opening paragraphs don't grab me, but the description sounds interesting and the teaser is kind of funny.

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  7. Have to luv Fannie Flagg. I luv the character's name, Sookie Poole. My favorite book by F. Flagg is Welcome To The World, Baby Girl. There is a real big surprise in that one near the ending.

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  8. I like the sound of it already just from the blurb
    Gill x

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  9. I loved this book...couldn't stop reading. Thanks for sharing, and enjoy. And thanks for visiting my blog.

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  10. I'd keep reading, I've been meaning to read Fannie Flagg. Thanks so much for stopping by. kelley—the road goes ever ever on

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  11. Interesting teaser! Happy reading!!

    Here is my teaser post!

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  12. great fun and terrific cover !
    enjoy TT =)
    historic suspense at FHC...

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  13. I adored the Fannie Flagg novel I read years ago. I need to read this one. It sounds so good!

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  14. I'm eager to read this book since I've loved everything else the author has written. I have it on reserve at the library but there are lots of people ahead of me. Hope it's a good one for you.

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  15. I've read all of Fanny Flagg's books except this one. It's near the top of my TBR list.
    My Teaser is from PATTY JANE'S HOUSE OF CURL.

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  16. Ahh... this sounds like a lovely read from an author I haven't tried! Here is my TT http://cleopatralovesbooks.wordpress.com/2014/05/06/teaser-tuesday-may-6/

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  17. Fannie Flagg's books are always good. I haven't read this one.

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  18. Love to read this story, I haven't read her before, but do know the movie.
    My post is here

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  19. This sounds like a really good book! ~ Dani

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  20. This sounds like a really good book! ~ Dani

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  21. This intro sounds like a fun start (that is a real Polish name....LOL)
    Thanks for joining us Kim

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  22. Interesting tease.... Hope you enjoyed it.

    Thanx for visiting my TT
    Naomi @ Nomi’s Paranormal Palace

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  23. That's a good teaser... definetly makes me want to know what's going on with those birds! :)

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