Alley Pond Park by Zachary Todd Gordon -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Happy Leap Day! It feels like we are getting an extra Book Beginnings on Fridays this Leap Year. Thank you for joining me. 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

Jake's secretary called. Her brusque "Twelve o'clock sharp" unnerved me, more command than invitation to lunch in the partner's dining room.

-- From the Prologue to Alley Pond Park by Zachary Todd Gordon.

I wanted to give a two-sentence opening this week because that very fist sentence is too short to provide any sense of the book or even the scene. That second sentence pulls you more into the setting. We know the narrator is an employee, not a customer or client of Jake's. And from her tone, it sounds like there is tension in the workplace. That opening has potential. 

Alley Pond Park is the debut novel from Zachary "Zak" Gordon. Zak turned his hand to fiction writing after retiring from a career in finance and investment. His wife Wendy Gordon is the author of the dystopian adventure, It's Always 9/11, and the domestic thriller, Wrong Highway. 

Alley Pond Park launches March 26, 2024, and is available for pre-order through Itasca Books.  

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

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

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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 Alley Pond Park:

After he left, I tried to get back to work but couldn't concentrate. I paced about the library, my sanctuary, and dear Mrs. Nichols the librarian, busy at the front desk ensuring everything was as it should be, updating index cards, alphabetizing everything by author and subject, noted my distress, approached me and asked if everything was ok.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

Seth Matthews was sixteen when his older brother Jonah sped away on his motorcycle and never returned. Seth blames himself, but does he know the whole truth as he sets off on a journey to find Jonah and beg his forgiveness? He yearns to be a good person but his inner demons keep tripping him up. Neither success nor a loving marriage can satisfy the emptiness at his core as he navigates secrets, guilt, and obsessions through two tumultuous decades.

A Thank You Windfall -- BOOK HAUL

BOOK HAUL

A Thank You Windfall

A lawyer colleague sent me an Amazon gift card as a thank you for referring a client to him. That was very nice of him! I used it to buy this stack of books I’ve had my eye on. Apparently I was hungry when I ordered, since all but one of these is a food book. 

See any here that catch your eye?

• Greenfeast: Spring, Summer and Autumn, Winter by Nigel Slater. I've had in mind for a while to find a new vegetarian cookbook (or two). I only have two on my shelves, The Greens Cookbook from the famous vegetarian restaurant in San Francisco, and The Moosewood Cookbook from the famous vegetarian restaurant in Ithaca. Both are classics and I bought both at the restaurants, after eating in them. But I need some new ideas!

• Elizabeth David’s Christmas, edited by Jill Norman, with a Foreword by Alice Waters. David pulled together a collection of articles she wrote about Christmas cooking and traditions, along with related recipes, planning to publish it all as a book, but died before she completed the project. Her literary executor Jill Norman completed the book after David died in 1992. This edition is edited for American readers. I am currently reading and completely enjoying David’s essay collection, An Omelette and a Glass of Wine. It makes me want to read more of her work, although I plan to save this one until Christmastime. I added it to my stack of Christmas-themed books.

• The Ha-Ha by Jennifer Dawson (1961) is my only non-food book in this stack. Dawson won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for this autobiographical debut novel. I’m working my way through the list of winners. I haven't been able to find a used copy of this one.  

• Bedside Companion for Food Lovers: An Anthology of Food Delights for Every Night of the Year, edited by Jane McMoreland Hunter. I’m a sucker for a day-by-day anthology, especially one as pretty as this. Now I want to get the other two books in the series, Bedside Companion for Book Lovers and Bedside Companion for Gardeners (even though I don't garden!). 

I almost never buy new books, almost always used. How about you? A stack of spiffy new books is a real treat for me.

It’s my turn to host book club tonight. Which explains why my dining room table is all gussied up, with flowers and everything. The book is Lost for Words by Edward St. Aubyn, a very funny book by the author of the very serious Patrick Melrose books. Apparently St. Aubyn wrote Lost for Words, a comic satire about literary prizes, after he was passed over for a Booker Prize for one of his Patrick Melrose novels. Lost for Words deservedly won the P.G. Wodehouse Prize for best comic novel.  

New-to-Me Mystery Series -- 10 ON MY TBR

 

10 ON MY TBR

New-to-Me Mystery Series

When it comes to mysteries, do you reach for standalones or do you prefer series?

I love a good mystery series because I like to spend time with the same characters from book to book. But like most mystery readers, I find series easier to start than to finish. I made a big effort over the last couple of years to finish several series before I start any more new ones. I wrapped up: Lee Child’s Jack Reacher (up to when his brother started writing them), Dorothy L. Sayers’s Lord Peter Wimsey, Louise Penny’s Three Pines (until she writes another), P. D. James’s Adam Dalgleish, Benjamin Black/John Banville's Quirke, and G. K. Chesterton’s Father Brown.

There are several other mystery series I'm actively chipping away at, including Elizabeth George's Peter Lynley, Cara Black's Aimée Leduc, Ian Rankin's John Rebus, and Donna Leon's Commissario Brunetti. There are probably a dozen or more I've dabbled in or at least started. 

But now that I've finished off so many, I have a little more mental capacity to start at least one more new series. This week I started Mick Herron's Slow Hoses series because I want to read the books before I watch the show.

As further inspiration for me to finish up some more series, I pulled this stack of ten mysteries from my TBR shelves. These are all published by Soho Crime, an imprint of Soho Press. I love collecting these in their original candy-colored editions. 

I plan to tackle all these series at some point. The ones in the picture and listed below are the first books in each series:

🔍 The Last Kashmiri Rose by Barbara Cleverly, featuring Scotland Yard detective Joe Sandilands, set in 1920s India. There are 13 books in the series and the last was published in 2017, so it looks like that's it.

🔍 The Pericles Commission by Gary Corby, an “Athenian Mystery” set in ancient Greece. There are seven in the series and, likewise, the last was in 2017.

🔍 The Coroner’s Lunch by Colin Cotterill, featuring Dr. Siri Paiboun, set in 1970s Laos. There are 15 in the series, the last in 2020. 

🔍 Jack of Spies by David Downing, featuring Jack McColl, a WWI-era Scottish car salesman turned British spy. There are four in the series although he has lots of other books. 

🔍 Slow Horses by Mick Herron, set in the present day and featuring a team of washed-up MI5 spies. There are 13 so far, including five novellas. 

🔍 Jade Lady Burning by Martin Limón, featuring Sergeants George Sueño and Ernie Bascom, set in 1970s South Korea. There are 16 so far, the last in 2021. 

🔍 The Last Detective by Peter Lovesey, the 1991 debut of a long series featuring Detective Superintendent Peter Diamond. There are 21 books, the last in 2022.

🔍 Death in the Off-Season by Francine Mathews, set on Nantucket Island in current times, featuring police detective Merry Folger. There are 7 so far, the last in 2023. 

🔍 The Ghosts of Belfast by Stuart Neville, set in contemporary Northern Ireland, featuring several recurring characters. There are six books in the series, the last in 2017.

🔍 Death of a Red Heroine by Qiu Xiaolong, set in present-day China, featuring Inspector Chen Cao of the Shanghai Police. There are 13 books so far, the last in 2023. 

Have you read any of these series? Do any look good to you?

An Omelette and a Glass of Wine by Elizabeth David -- BOOK BEGINNIGNS

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

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

In thirty five years of writing about food and cookery I have contributed articles to a very various collection of publications.

-- from An Omelette and a Glass of Wine by Elizabeth David. I admit that opening sentence doesn’t grab me!

I love food writing. My favorites are the classic American food writers, like M.F.K. Fisher, Julia Child, James Beard, and Ruth Reichl. Elizabeth David is the English version of these favorite authors, but I’ve never read any of her books. I have her famous books, including A Book of Mediterranean Food and French Provincial Cooking, on my TBR shelf. But I’ve never tried any of her books.

I decided to start with this one, An Omelette and a Glass of Wine. It is a collection of her newspaper columns and other articles. I love the cover on my American edition.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

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

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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 An Omelette and a Glass of Wine:

All this seems to be typical of the uneasy phase which English cooking is going through. As soon as any dish with a vaguely romantic sounding name (you may well ask why anyone should associate Vichy with romance) becomes known you find it’s got befogged by the solemn mystique which can elevate a routine leak and potato soup into what the heroine of a recent upper-class-larks novel refers to as “my perfected Vichyssoise.”

This is from a November 5, 1961, article in Punch. Elizabeth David wrote during the bad old days of British cooking, when post-war rationing was still in place or cooks were still acting like it was. She writes often, and with scorn, about canned (“tinned”) food, skimpy supplies, and generally bad cooking.

2023 European Reading Challenge -- WINNER!

 

2023 EUROPEAN READING CHALLENGE

THIS IS THE WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT POST FOR 2023

TO FIND THE 2023 REVIEWS, GO TO THIS PAGE

TO FIND THE 2023 WRAP UP POSTS, GO TO THIS PAGE

THE 2024 EUROPEAN READING CHALLENGE SIGN UP IS AT THIS PAGE

2023 was the 11th of the European Reading Challenge! The challenge involves reading books set in different European countries or written by authors from different European countries.

My big thanks go to all the participants who joined me for the Grand Tour last year!

JET SETTER GRAND PRIZE WINNER

The 2023 Jet Setter prize goes to Sabine at sabines.literary.world who participated on Instagram. 2023 is the third year in a row that Sabine has won the challenge. But she slowed down a bit last year. In 2021, Sabine visited all 50 European states -- TWICE! In 2022, she hit another grand slam, but only one time around the continent. In 2023, she visited 35 of the 50 European states and reviewed the books she read. Her wrap up post discusses her reading journey. At this rate, she might actually face competition next year!

Honorary Mention (but no prizes) go to the ten other participants who completed the challenge and posted wrap up posts about the countries they visited and the books they read:

Avid Series Reader (11)

Alexis Drake on Goodreads (7)

Cinzia at Quattro passi sulle nuvole (21)

Mark at Carstairs Considers (6)

Kym at Just a Second (7)

Maphead's Book Blog (26)

Will Work for Books (8)

Reese at Typings (17)

Yvonne at A Darn Good Read (4)

Me, Myself, I Read (and Write) (7)

My own wrap-up post is here. I read 12 books from different European countries, and four were translations, which is better than the year before. I didn't even try to review the books I read, which is more than I can handle as long as I am running my own law firm.

Congratulations to all the readers who completed the 2023 challenge!

There is still plenty of time to join us in 2024.

JOIN THE 2024 CHALLENGE! SIGN UP HERE!

The gist: The idea is to read books by European authors or books set in European countries (no matter where the author comes from). The books can be anything – novels, short stories, memoirs, travel guides, cookbooks, biography, poetry, or any other genre. You can participate at different levels, but each book must be by a different author and set in a different country – it's supposed to be a tour.

Sign up HERE for the 2024 Challenge.

Tom Jones by Henry Fielding -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

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 author ought to consider himself, not as a gentleman who gives a private or eleemosynary treat, but rather as one who keeps a public ordinary, at which all persons are welcome for their money.

-- from Tom Jones (aka The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling) by Henry Fielding, Book I -- "Containing as Much of the Birth of the Foundling as is Necessary or Proper to Acquaint the Reader with in the Beginning of this History," Chapter i -- "The introduction to the work, or bill of fare to the feast."

Well, any book that sends me to the dictionary in the first sentence is going to be a doozy! The Cambridge Dictionary defines "eleemosynary" as "relating to or depending on charity (= help given freely to people who are in need, and organizations that provide this help)."  I can't find a definition for "public ordinary," but I did see the term used to describe a "public" school, in the British sense of meaning a school with paid pupils. In my brain, I thought of it as an "ordinary pub," which is wrong but makes sense. 

Despite this odd beginning, Tom Jones is a rollicking good yarn! It was first published in 1749 and I don't read many books written in the 18th Century. It is pretty racy, even raunchy. It's all about the adventures of Tom Jones, an orphan raised by a wealthy quire. Many of these adventures involve sex with most of the women he meets, highwaymen, gypsies, lots of fights, ghost stories -- everything you need for a page-turner. It is also very funny. I'm reading it with my ears and have laughed out loud several times. 

Finally reading Tom Jones makes me want to tackle other classics that have languished on my shelves. This one is on my new Classics Club list. 

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

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

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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 Tom Jones:

Jones immediately interposing, a fierce contention arose, which soon proceeded to blows on both sides. And now Mrs. Waters (for we must confess she was in the same bed), being, I suppose, awakened from her sleep, and seeing two men fighting in her bedchamber, began to scream in the most violent manner, crying out murder! robbery! and more frequently rape! which last, some, perhaps, may wonder she should mention, who do not consider that these words of exclamation are used by ladies in a fright, as fa, la, la, ra, da, &c., are in music, only as the vehicles of sound, and without any fixed ideas.

It's not a quick read, but entertaining. I always find it easier to read these dense classics as audiobooks because a good narrator parses all the long sentences for me.

Mary Anne by Daphne du Maurier -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

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

Years later, when she had gone and was no longer part of their lives, the thing they remembered about her was her smile.

-- from Mary Anne by Daphne du Maurier. This is the latest buddy read for the Du Maurier Deep Dive  group I'm in on Instagram. It is a historical fiction novel about Mary Anne Clarke, a wife, mother, and mistress of the Duke of York in the early 1800s. She was also du Maurier's great-great-great grandmother. I am racing through it. 

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS 

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

Mister Linky's Magical Widgets -- Thumb-Linky widget will appear right here!
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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 Mary Anne:

It was the Duke of York and his niece, the Princess Victoria. He had aged lately —he looked a great deal more than sixty-two.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

An ambitious, stunning, and seductive young woman, Mary Anne finds the single most rewarding way to rise above her miserable cockney world: she will become the mistress to a royal duke. In doing so, she provokes a scandal that rocks Regency England. Mary Anne glitters with sex, scandal, corruption, and the privileged world of high society.

Based on the true story of one of du Maurier's own distant relatives, Mary Anne's love of money and the men who spend it embroil her in risks that threaten her very existence.

January 2024 -- MONTHLY WRAP UP

 

MONTHLY WRAP UP

January 2024

I made a strong start to the reading year, finishing 13 books in January, including six TBR 24 in '24 books. I wanted to get a jump on that one and not wait until the end of the year like I did in 2023.

See any here that you’ve read or want to? 

The Loved One by Evelyn Waugh, for a bookstagram read along. This short novel satirizes Hollywood and the American funeral industry. It is dark but very funny. 

Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier, as part of a Du Maurier Deep Dive group I'm in, also through Instagram. I loved every melodramatic page. 

Can You Forgive Her? by Anthony Trollope, the first book in yet another buddy read, this one a read through of Trollope's Palliser novels. 

Rates of Exchange by Malcolm Bradbury, a TBR 24 in ’24 book about a college professor on a cultural exchange to a Soviet Bloc country in the early 1980s. Definitely a highlight of the month. 

Lost in Thought: The Hidden Pleasures of an Intellectual Life by Zena Hitz, another TBR 24 in ’24. I loved this book. Hitz examines the joys of intellectual pursuits, how “leisure” differs from “recreation,” and why our regular jobs are not (usually) intellectually fulfilling. 

Rather be the Devil by Ian Rankin, from his John Rebus series that I love but want to wrap up.

Need Blind Ambition by Kevin Myers, a fantastic new campus thriller.

My Almost Cashmere Life by Margie Adams, TBR 24 in ’24 nonfiction. I admit read this memoir about the end of a dysfunctional but long-term marriage because I know the husband. I wanted the inside scoop.

Cancel Your Own Goddam Subscription by William F. Buckley, Jr., my favorite title of the month and another TBR 24 in ’24.

Quentins by Maeve Binchy, my feel good TBR 24 in ’24. I love her Aga Sagas. 

Political Woman: The Big Little Life of Jeane Kirkpatrick by Peter Collier, more TBR 24 in ’24 nonfiction and a fascinating slice of recent history.

🎧 NOT PICTURED 🎧

Beartown by Fredrik Backman. More serious than his other books I’ve read, I thought this was a compassionate and insightful handling of teenage sexual assault and its repercussions in a small community. 

In a House of Lies by Ian Rankin, which leaves only two to go. I want to finish this series before I start any new ones. I have my eye on Mick Heron's Slow Horses series. 

There wasn’t a clunker on that list. I loved them all. Now, on to February. What book are you excited to read this month? 

Lines of Deception by Steve Anderson -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Please join me every Friday for Book Beginnings! 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.

SOCIAL MEDIA: If you are on Instagram, Twitter, 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. Find me on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

MY BOOK BEGINNING

Max Kaspar learned about his brother, Harry, from the little man who brought him the severed ear.

-- from Lines of Deception by Steve Anderson. Wow! That opening sentence sure captured my attention. How about you?

Lines of Deception is the fourth book in Steve Anderson's Kaspar Brothers series. The series started with The Losing Role, a WWII adventure thriller. This one takes place in 1949, post-war Munich where Max Kaspar now owns a nightclub. I was lucky to get my hands on an early copy. The book launches on March 12 and is available for pre-order, in paper or ebook. 

It sounds like an exciting historical thriller involving Max going behind the Iron Curtain to rescue his missing brother. I love the setting and the description of the plot and can't wait to read it. 

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

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

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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 if 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 Lines of Deception:

“But please remember one thing: I let people lead me around once, in the war, but I had no choice. I'm not doing that ever again, not even in a cold war.”

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

Former actor Max Kaspar suffered greatly in the Second World War. Now he owns a nightclub in Munich—and occasionally lends a hand to the newly formed CIA. Meanwhile, his brother Harry has ventured beyond the Iron Curtain to rescue an American scientist. When Harry is also taken captive, Max resolves to locate his brother at all costs. The last thing he expects is for Harry to go rogue.

Max’s treacherous quest takes him to Vienna and Prague to Soviet East Germany and Communist Poland. Along the way, dangerous operators from Harry’s past join the pursuit: his former lover Katarina, who’s working for the Israelis, and former Nazi Hartmut Dietz, now an agent of East German intelligence. But can anyone be trusted?