Thursday, March 31, 2016

Book Beginning: Payment in Blood



THANKS FOR JOINING ME ON FRIDAYS FOR BOOK BEGINNING FUN!

Please join me every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author’s name.

EARLY BIRDS & SLOWPOKES: This weekly post goes up Thursday evening for those who like to get their posts up and linked early on. But feel free to add a link all week.

FACEBOOK: Rose City Reader has a Facebook page where I post about new and favorite books, book events, and other bookish tidbits, as well as link to blog posts. I'd love a "Like" on the page! You can go to the page here to Like it. I am happy to Like you back if you have a blog or professional Facebook page, so please leave a comment with a link and I will find you.

TWITTER, ETC: If you are on Twitter, Google+, or other social media, please post using the hash tag #BookBeginnings. I try to follow all Book  Beginnings participants on whatever interweb sites you are on, so please let me know if I have missed any and I will catch up.

TIE IN: The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice is a natural tie in with this event and there is a lot of cross over, so many people combine the two. The idea is to post a teaser from page 56 of the book you are reading and share a link to your post. Find details and the Linky for your Friday 56 post on Freda’s Voice.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING



MY BOOK BEGINNING



Gowan Kilbride, aged sixteen, had never been much for early rising.

-- Payment in Blood by Elizabeth George. That's not much of a first sentence. It picks up from there.

This is the second book in her Inspector Lynley series. I'm reading it for the Vintage Mystery Challenge.

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Teaser Tuesday: The Bell by Iris Murdoch



Looking a little to her left she made out what seemed to be a low causeways raised upon a series of arches which ran across the nearer reach of the lake toward the wall. Then, with a shock of alarm, she saw that there was a dark figure standing quite near on the edge of the water, very still.

The Bell by Iris Murdoch. A lay community attached to a nunnery struggles with faith, sex, good, evil, and other philosophical fundamentals. Typical -- and typically wonderful -- Murdoch.

This counts as one of my books for my TBR challenges this year. Murdoch is a favorite of mine. The Bell is one of her particularly readable early novels.


Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by MizB at Books and a Beat, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event.



Thursday, March 24, 2016

Book Beginning: My Brilliant Friend



THANKS FOR JOINING ME ON FRIDAYS FOR BOOK BEGINNING FUN!

Please join me every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author’s name.

EARLY BIRDS & SLOWPOKES: This weekly post goes up Thursday evening for those who like to get their posts up and linked early on. But feel free to add a link all week.

FACEBOOK: Rose City Reader has a Facebook page where I post about new and favorite books, book events, and other bookish tidbits, as well as link to blog posts. I'd love a "Like" on the page! You can go to the page here to Like it. I am happy to Like you back if you have a blog or professional Facebook page, so please leave a comment with a link and I will find you.

TWITTER, ETC: If you are on Twitter, Google+, or other social media, please post using the hash tag #BookBeginnings. I try to follow all Book  Beginnings participants on whatever interweb sites you are on, so please let me know if I have missed any and I will catch up.

TIE IN: The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice is a natural tie in with this event and there is a lot of cross over, so many people combine the two. The idea is to post a teaser from page 56 of the book you are reading and share a link to your post. Find details and the Linky for your Friday 56 post on Freda’s Voice.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING



MY BOOK BEGINNING



My friendship with Lila began the day we decided to go up the dark stairs that led, step after step, flight after flight, to the door of Don Achille's apartment.

-- My Brilliant Friend: Neapolitan Novels, Book One by Elena Ferrante (Author), Ann Goldstein (Translator). This was my pick for book club this time. I'm a little over halfway through and love it. I understand why the series is enormously popular. I can't wait to read them all!

Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Author Interview: Stephen Kurkjian


Stephen Kurkjian is an acclaimed investigative reporter who wrote for The Boston Globe for 40 years. He was a founding member of the Globe's Spotlight Team that covered the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal, the blockbuster subject of the 2016 Best Picture Oscar-winner Spotlight.

He has now written a non-fiction book on the still unsolved art theft from the the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Master Thieves: The Boston Gangsters Who Pulled Off the World's Greatest Art Heist


Steve recently took time from his busy book tour to answer questions for Rose City Reader:

How did you come to write Master Thieves?

I had covered the Gardner investigation for The Globe for nearly a decade before my retirement in 2007, and I decided at some point in the next year or two to write a book on the theft. For a city that has had multiple political and criminal major stories, including the clergy abuse scandal and notorious criminal Whitey Bulger’s secret ties to the FBI, it remains Boston’s best secret - what happened to the masterpieces stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990.

What is your professional background and how did it lead you to writing a book about art theft? 

I was an investigative reporter and editor for The Boston Globe for much of my 40-career at the paper. I have a legal background, having graduated from Suffolk University Law School and passed the Massachusetts Bar examination in 1971.

The 1990 art theft from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston is the most infamous unsolved art crime in the world. How did you first become involved in this story? 

I was in Washington as the chief of The Globe’s Washington Bureau when the theft took place in 1990 so I was not directly involved in the coverage until I returned a year later. Like everyone else, I thought that the FBI would quickly solve the crime and gain a recovery of the artwork, especially after the museum announced the offer of a $1 million reward. But after several years of no breakthrough, I began asking questions and when The Boston Herald began reporting in 1997 that it had a source who had given them access to the stolen Rembrandt seascape - Storm on the Sea of Galilee - The Globe assigned me to the case. I finally convinced the museum to assist in my investigative work and that assistance propelled me to write piece for The Boston Sunday Globe in 2005, on the 15th anniversary of the theft, about how the heist had taken place.



This crime has been the subject of at least two documentaries, as well as several non-fiction and fiction books. What new information or fresh perspective do you bring to the material? 

My book provides a comprehensive examination - and in-depth analysis - of those whom the FBI believe were involved in the theft and the stashing of the artwork. It interviews several of the key figures including the principal whom the FBI believes wound up with the artwork - and provides in compelling detail the pieces of information that support the FBI’s attention as well as those pieces that contradict it. In its review The New York Times praised the book as an “impressive attempt to solve the crime by reconsidering the evidence.” Beyond showing who within Boston’s gangs knew of the vulnerability of the museum to a heist, my reporting provides what is sorely-missing from the FBI’s view of the crime: a motive.

What is it about this story that so captivates people? 

I think the size of the robbery - the largest in world history and that it involves artistic masterpieces, which can be regarded as mankind’s most brilliant achievements. Also, that it has remained a mystery for so long - 26 years and counting on March 22, 2016, and that nothing has been recovered, no one arrested and, as the FBI told me, not a single “proof of life” sighting of any of the 13 stolen pieces since the robbery, all add to its allure.

You’ve been a journalist for years, even winning several Pulitzer Prizes, including one for your work on The Boston Globe’s Spotlight team’s coverage of the Boston Archdiocese sex abuse scandal. How was writing a book different from writing articles? 

I knew that this story needed a final chapter which was going to be impossible for me to write - a definitive account with proof of what had happened to the paintings. Short of a recovery, I knew I had to provide a convincing narrative account of who was involved in the theft, how had they been able to carry it off and why did the crime remain unsolved and masterpieces unrecovered. I knew the book had to be interesting as well as revelatory and I think that high goal has been met by both the quality of the new detail that I reveal as well as the richness of the characters - both rogue and heroic - whom I introduce in Master Thieves.

What did you learn from writing your book – either about the subject of the book or the writing process – that most surprised you? 

It’s not enough to shock/surprise the reader to gain their attention as can be done with a newspaper article. A book needs to be “interesting,” which demands the actions/factual material be woven with motivation, perspective, analysis and good writing.

Who are your three (or four or five) favorite authors? 

William Saroyan, Chris Bohjalian, Nick Hornby, William Kennedy, John Updike, and Alice McDermott.

What kind of books do you like to read? What are you reading now? 

Mostly historical non-fiction. I am currently reading 33 Men - a terrific book on the Chilean mine disaster.

You have a terrific website and facebook page and are also on twitter. But your book is getting terrific buzz from traditional sources like write-ups in The New York Times and The Boston Globe, and you have a calendar full of upcoming events. For promoting your first book, do you find you prefer the computerized interaction of social media, or the old-style book reviews and book tours?

I believe it takes both. I have given more than 100 talks in the past year - a friend says my tour has been longer than Bob Dylan’s - but I augment each one with an announcement on my Facebook page plus photos afterwards.

What is the most valuable advice you’ve been given as a journalist? 

Approach every person you are trying to interview with respect but firmness. If they are reluctant to be interviewed, knock on their doors at home and their office. Approach them with civility, and try as directly as possible to explain to them why the information they have is relevant/vital to the article you are researching. And even if they are going to cast as negatively in your article, tell them you are willing to provide them with the documentation on which you are basing your judgement. Never depend on blind quotes to take away a person’s reputation. As my maternal grandmother long ago told her grandkids, lose you arm before you lose you name.

What is the most valuable advice you’ve been given as a book author? 

Hemingway wrote that being a reporter can make a person a better writer - if they quit in time! I spent 40 years in the newspaper business before writing a book, and I found I had a lot of relearning to do! Write every day, both creatively and factually. I give people who believe reporting to be a glamorous career this assignment - cover five different local events in a week’s time (no sports or music stories - court hearings, business announcements, municipal events etc. - research the topic beforehand so you can ask questions of the speakers presenting the information, and then go home every night and write 800 words on the event. It’s a dive in the deep end of the pool to determine if you’ve got the basic intelligence, interest, curiosity and writing skills to work as a general assignment reporter.

What is the best thing about being a writer? 

You get up close and get to ask questions of those who believe they have all the answers. You are expected to question authority every day yet still be viewed as a valued member of the community. You can choose issues to write about the impact so many people in their core interests - health, environment, public safety, jobs and good government. Dig in and be committed to making a difference - for your community, for your newspaper, for yourself.

What’s next? What are you working on now? 

I came to understand and value my Armenian heritage late in my life - on a trek with my father back to his birthplace in eastern Turkey, which he had to flee as a three-year old in the midst of the Armenian Genocide. I would like to write something memorable that would convey the horrific sadness of that event which took the lives of my grandfather and more than a million other Armenians as well as the heroic story of the survivors.

THANKS STEVE!

MASTER THIEVES IS AVAILABLE ON-LINE, OR ASK YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE TO ORDER IT!

Want to know more? I recently interviewed Steve on my work blog about the Boston Archdiocese sex abuse scandal, the news coverage of the story, and working on The Boston Globe's Spotlight team.

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Teaser Tuesday: Loitering with Intent




The wages he offered were of the 1936 vintage, and this was 1949, modern times. But I pushed up the starting price a little, and took the job for its promise of a totally new experience.

-- Loitering with Intent by Muriel Spark. That is my favorite kind of opening sentence -- one that sets a vivid and particular scene, but also hints at bigger world events with its "not yet been demolished." It gets my brain revved up for a good story because I know she is going to cram a lot in.

I'm a big fan of Muriel Spark, ever since I read The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie because it was on the Modern Library's list of Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century. But I haven't read any lately and was inspired to download the audio edition this one when I read about Nick Hornby's enthusiasm for Spark in More Baths Less Talking: Notes from the Reading Life of a Celebrated Author Locked in Battle with Football, Family, and Time Itself.





Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by MizB at Books and a Beat, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event.

Monday, March 21, 2016

Mailbox Monday


Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday! MM was created by Marcia, who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring event. Mailbox Monday has now returned to its permanent home where you can link to your MM post.

Two books came into my house last week and both look very interesting:



Listen by Francesca G. Varela, published by Homebound Publications. This YA novel is a coming of age story with an environmental theme, centered around the romance between to budding musicians.

This talented young author -- only 23 herself -- is getting a lot of buzz for Listen, her second novel, which has already been written up in The Oregonian and several other publications.



Grandma Says: Wake Up, World! by Taowhywee, Agnes Baker Pilgrim, published by Blackstone Publishing. This is a collection of the "wisdom, wit, advice, and stories of 'Grandma Aggie'" the oldest living member of the Takelma Tribe.

Hearing "Grandma Aggie" read the book in her own voice would be the way to go! But it is available in paperback, and also in a Kindle edition.

Sunday, March 20, 2016

Happy 8th Blogiversary!


Rose City Reader is EIGHT years old! Hard to imagine.

After an introductory post to figure out what I was doing, this blog really started with this post about the Modern Library's list of Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century.

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Book Beginning: Loitering with Intent



THANKS FOR JOINING ME ON FRIDAYS FOR BOOK BEGINNING FUN!

Please join me every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author’s name.

EARLY BIRDS & SLOWPOKES: This weekly post goes up Thursday evening for those who like to get their posts up and linked early on. But feel free to add a link all week.

FACEBOOK: Rose City Reader has a Facebook page where I post about new and favorite books, book events, and other bookish tidbits, as well as link to blog posts. I'd love a "Like" on the page! You can go to the page here to Like it. I am happy to Like you back if you have a blog or professional Facebook page, so please leave a comment with a link and I will find you.

TWITTER, ETC: If you are on Twitter, Google+, or other social media, please post using the hash tag #BookBeginnings. I try to follow all Book  Beginnings participants on whatever interweb sites you are on, so please let me know if I have missed any and I will catch up.

TIE IN: The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice is a natural tie in with this event and there is a lot of cross over, so many people combine the two. The idea is to post a teaser from page 56 of the book you are reading and share a link to your post. Find details and the Linky for your Friday 56 post on Freda’s Voice.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING



MY BOOK BEGINNING



One day in the middle of the twentieth century I sat in an old graveyard which had not yet been demolished, in the Kensington area of London, when a young policeman stepped off the path and came over to me.

-- Loitering with Intent by Muriel Spark. That is my favorite kind of opening sentence -- one that sets a vivid and particular scene, but also hints at bigger world events with its "not yet been demolished." It gets my brain revved up for a good story because I know she is going to cram a lot in.

I'm a Muriel Spark fan, starting with The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie because it was on the Modern Library's list of Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century. But I really got hooked with The Mandelbaum Gate (reviewed here).

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Teaser Tuesday: Master Thieves



During the mob's heyday in Boston, between 1970 and 1985, just about every criminal in the city believed that the return of a valuable stolen artwork could shorten a prison sentence or even make it go away. Even though the authorities delivered far less, that's what mobsters believed.

--  Master Thieves: The Boston Gangsters Who Pulled Off the World's Greatest Art Heist by Stephen Kurkjian.

In 1990, 13 works of art worth as much as $500,000 were stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston and the crime is still unsolved. Now Pulitzer-winner journalist, Steve Kurkjian analyzes over 20 years of investigative reporting and FBI materials to provide the definitive account of this tantalizing mystery.

Kurkjian is former member of Spotlight team that covered the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal for the Boston Globe, which was the subject of the 2016 Best Picture Oscar-winner Spotlight. I recently interviewed Steve on my work blog about the his work on the Spotlight team and reporting on the Church scandal.


Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by MizB at Books and a Beat, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event.

Thursday, March 10, 2016

Book Beginning: Master Thieves



THANKS FOR JOINING ME ON FRIDAYS FOR BOOK BEGINNING FUN!

Please join me every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author’s name.

EARLY BIRDS & SLOWPOKES: This weekly post goes up Thursday evening for those who like to get their posts up and linked early on. But feel free to add a link all week.

FACEBOOK: Rose City Reader has a Facebook page where I post about new and favorite books, book events, and other bookish tidbits, as well as link to blog posts. I'd love a "Like" on the page! You can go to the page here to Like it. I am happy to Like you back if you have a blog or professional Facebook page, so please leave a comment with a link and I will find you.

TWITTER, ETC: If you are on Twitter, Google+, or other social media, please post using the hash tag #BookBeginnings. I try to follow all Book  Beginnings participants on whatever interweb sites you are on, so please let me know if I have missed any and I will catch up.

TIE IN: The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice is a natural tie in with this event and there is a lot of cross over, so many people combine the two. The idea is to post a teaser from page 56 of the book you are reading and share a link to your post. Find details and the Linky for your Friday 56 post on Freda’s Voice.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING



MY BOOK BEGINNING



On March 18, 1990, the city of Boston -- and the world -- suffered a profound loss when two men dressed as police officers commandeered the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and pulled off the greatest art theft in world history.

-- from the author's Introduction to Master Thieves: The Boston Gangsters Who Pulled Off the World's Greatest Art Heist by Stephen Kurkjian.

Just months after being paroled from Massachusetts state prison, where he had reently finished serving a seventeen-year sentence for kidnapping and attempted extortion, Louis Royce, now well into his seventies, walks easily through the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

-- from Part I, "The Heist," chapter 1, "Royce."

Kurkjian draws on over 20 years of investigative reporting and FBI materials to give us the definitive account of the still-unsolved robbery of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

Kurkjian is a Pulitzer-winning journalist and former member of the Boston Globe Spotlight team that covered the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal, the blockbuster subject of the 2016 Best Picture Oscar-winner Spotlight. I recently interviewed Steve on my work blog about the Church scandal, the story, and working on the Spotlight team.

Monday, March 7, 2016

Mailbox Monday


Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday! MM was created by Marcia, who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring event. Mailbox Monday has now returned to its permanent home where you can link to your MM post.

I got some cool books I am very excited about:



Master Thieves: The Boston Gangsters Who Pulled Off the World's Greatest Art Heist by Stephen Kurkjian. This brand new account of the robbery of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum sheds new light on this still-unsolved mystery.

Kurkjian was one of the Boston Globe Spotlight team members who won a Pulitzer Prize for their coverage of the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal, as shown in the recent Best Picture Oscar-winner Spotlight. I recently interviewed Steve Kurkjian about the scandal, the story, and the Spotlight team on my work blog, here.



From the Heart: The Photographs of Brian Lanker, by Brian Lanker, with a prologue by Maya Angelou, published by OSU Press. Lanker won the Pulitzer Prize for feature photography when he was only 24. This is a gorgeous book of his amazing photographs, with captions researched and written by his friend, Mike Tharp, a war correspondent and award-winning journalist, and essays by Lanker’s colleagues and friends.



A Fifty-Year Silence: Love, War, and a Ruined House in France by Miranda Richmond Mouillot. The author's grandparents survived the Holocaust, but five years later, split up and never spoke to one another again. This family memoir is the author's attempt to figure out what happened.







Thursday, March 3, 2016

Book Beginning: Zeitoun



THANKS FOR JOINING ME ON FRIDAYS FOR BOOK BEGINNING FUN!

Please join me every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author’s name.

EARLY BIRDS & SLOWPOKES: This weekly post goes up Thursday evening for those who like to get their posts up and linked early on. But feel free to add a link all week.

FACEBOOK: Rose City Reader has a Facebook page where I post about new and favorite books, book events, and other bookish tidbits, as well as link to blog posts. I'd love a "Like" on the page! You can go to the page here to Like it. I am happy to Like you back if you have a blog or professional Facebook page, so please leave a comment with a link and I will find you.

TWITTER, ETC: If you are on Twitter, Google+, or other social media, please post using the hash tag #BookBeginnings. I try to follow all Book  Beginnings participants on whatever interweb sites you are on, so please let me know if I have missed any and I will catch up.

TIE IN: The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice is a natural tie in with this event and there is a lot of cross over, so many people combine the two. The idea is to post a teaser from page 56 of the book you are reading and share a link to your post. Find details and the Linky for your Friday 56 post on Freda’s Voice.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING



MY BOOK BEGINNING



On moonless nights the men and boys of Jableh, a dusty fishing town on the coast of Syria, would gather their lanterns and set out in their quietest boats.

-- Zeitoun by David Eggers. This is the non-fiction story about a Syrian immigrant living in New Orleans with his American wife and family when Hurricane Katrina hit. It's our Book Club book this month.

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Teaser Tuesday: Cockroaches



The air wrapped itself around her like a hot, wet towel as she left the taxi. She searched for a gap, holding her hand in from of her mouth, aware it made no difference, that there was no other air to breathe in Bangkok, but at least she was spared the smell.

-- Cockroaches: The Second Inspector Harry Hole Novel by Jo Nesbo. "When the Norwegian ambassador to Thailand is found dead in a Bangkok brothel, Inspector Harry Hole is dispatched from Oslo to help hush up the case."

I admit that, despite my love of Nordic Noir, I was late to jump on the Nesbo bandwagon, simply because I did not want to be seen carrying around any book that said "A Harry Hole Mystery" on the cover!



Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Jenn at A Daily Rhythm, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event.

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