The Book Club Hotel by Sarah Morgan -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

The Book Club Hotel by Sarah Morgan

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

"Maple Sugar Inn, how may I help you?"

-- from The Book Club Hotel by Sarah Morgan.

I've never read any books by Sarah Morgan, but I saw this one at a library friends store the other day and it looks perfect for this holiday weekend. I'm ready to curl up with a cozy read! 

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

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

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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 The Book Club Hotel:

She almost wished she hadn't had twins. If there had been a gap between her children at least then she could have let go of them one at a time and gradually eased herself into a child-free life, instead of losing both at the same time.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

With its historic charm and picture-perfect library, the Maple Sugar Inn is considered the ultimate vacation destination. But widowed far too young, and exhausted from juggling the hotel with being a dedicated single mom, Hattie Coleman dreams only of making it through each day.

When Erica, Claudia and Anna—lifelong friends who seem to have it all—check in for a girlfriends’ book club holiday, it changes everything. Their close friendship and shared love of books have carried them through life's ups and downs. But Hattie can see they're also packing some major emotional baggage, and nothing prepares her for how deeply her own story is about to become entwined in theirs.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Wishing you a warm and wonderful Thanksgiving! I hope you have time to enjoy some good books this holiday weekend. 

Thankfulness -- BOOK NOTES

 

BOOK NOTES

A Thankfulness Stack

It’s Thanksgiving week, so I’ve put together a thankfulness stack to remind me to focus on my blessings, be content, give thanks, and show gratitude. I love Thanksgiving and the entire Thanksgiving holiday weekend. It's is a time of reflection for me, and filled with nostalgia. Thanksgiving is also the gateway to Christmas, which I really love. 

🦃 The Blessing by Nancy Mitford

🦃 A Little Book of Japanese Contentments by Erin Niimi Longhurst

🦃 Thank You for Smoking* by Christopher Buckley

🦃 Gratitude: Reflections on What We Owe to Our Country by William F. Buckley

I haven't read The Blessing yet. I picked this one for the title. I love Nancy Mitford, though, so I look forward to this one, which is described as her most autobiographical novel.

A Little Book of Japanese Contentments is one I really enjoyed. The author looks to Japanese traditions like "forest bathing" and wabi-sabi to gently advise on how to be more grounded and live in the present. The modernist, Japanese-style illustrations make the book beautiful and a good gift idea.

Thank You for Smoking may seem like dark satire for a post about thankfulness, but it’s actually right on point. My husband, also a lawyer, spent a big chunk of his career litigating cases for Philip Morris. Around our house, there’s more truth to that title than we care to acknowledge. 

The William Buckley book, Gratitude, is still on my TBR shelf but one I'd very much like to read. I think I might read it over Thanksgiving weekend. 

For my fellow Thanksgiving celebrants, what are your plans? My husband and I are on our own this year and plan to have a very laidback holiday. We certainly are not cooking a turkey dinner for the two of us! We are going to get lobsters from the tank at the Chinese grocery store. And I will be avoiding Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and all the rest of it, like I do every year. 

Also, as is the tradition around our house, I'll go to the tree lot and get our Christmas tree on Saturday or Sunday. I no longer make my husband crawl around in the Oregon mud to cut our own tree, but I still insist on a fresh tree. 

Death and Croissants by Ian Moore -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Death and Croissants by Ian Moore

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

Is there anything in this world quite as joyless a muesli?

-- from Death and Croissants by Ian Moore. Good question! I'd answer no. For reasons lost in time, the word muesli makes my sister and I laugh every time we hear it. So this opening sentence grabbed me immediately.

Death and Croissants is the first book in a series of cozy and funny mysteries set in the Loire Valley of France. The protagonist is an Englishman running a B&B outside a French village who gets caught up in a potential murder investigation. His sidekick is a beautiful woman with an overdeveloped sense of adventure. Just what Richard needs to take his mind off his failing marriage and absent wife. 

I turned to this one because I am so enjoying Martin Walker's Bruno, Chief of Police series, also set in a remote French village. While I wait for my library hold to come in on the next Bruno book, I turned to Ian Moore. I just finished the audiobook -- read by the author -- and loved it. 

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

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

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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 Death and Croissants:

Her reply came dismissively in English, like a haughty Parisian waiter, bringing both annoyance and relief in equal measure. But with it came a friendly shrug, too, and all in an accent that in just one sentence veered from parody to femme fatale and back again.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION 

Meet Richard Ainsworth: an almost divorced part time B&B owner, part time film historian, full time self-deprecator. Hoping to continue running his B&B in the quiet Val de Follet, he has no idea of its hidden intrigue, from the mafia to swingers, to the peddling of (il)legal grape seeds. His quiet has flown the coop on a fateful afternoon with a bloody handprint, a missing guest, and one dead Ava Gardner (beloved hen).

Death and Croissants is an unputdownable, hilarious mystery perfect for fans of Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club.

Unconditional Surrender by Evelyn Waugh -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Unconditional Surrender by Evelyn Waugh

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

When Guy Crouchback returned to his regiment in the autumn of 1941 his position was in many ways anomalous. 

-- from Unconditional Surrender by Evelyn Waugh.

Unconditional Surrender is the third novel in Waugh's Sword of Honour trilogy, an fictional examination of WWII inspired by Waugh's own wartime experiences. Guy Crouchback is the often-humorous protagonist. I'm reading the trilogy with a group on Instagram, as we work our way through all of Waugh's books. 

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

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

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This preview will disappear when the widget is displayed on your site.
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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 Unconditional Surrender:

Jumbo Trotter would have devised a dozen perfectly regular means of absenting himself. He would, if all else failed, have posted himself to a senior officers' "refresher" course.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

By 1941, after serving in North Africa and Crete, Guy Crouchback has lost his Halberdier idealism. A desk job in London gives him the chance of reconciliation with his former wife. Then, in Yugoslavia, as a liaison officer with the partisans, Crouch becomes finally and fully aware of the futility of a war he once saw in terms of honor.

Unconditional Surrender is the third novel in Waugh's brilliant Sword of Honor trilogy recording the tumultuous wartime adventures of Guy Crouchback ("the finest work of fiction in English to emerge from World War II"-Atlantic Monthly), which also comprises Men at Arms and Officers and Gentlemen.

The Duke's Children by Anthony Trollope -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

The Duke's Children by Anthony Trollope

Yikes! I forgot to post yesterday because I was in Philadelphia for work all week and got home very late last night. Sorry for the delay and 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

No one, probably, ever felt himself to be more alone in the world than our old friend, the Duke of Omnium, when the Duchess died.

-- from The Duke's Children by Anthony Trollope.

The Duke's Children is the sixth and final novel in Trollope's Palliser series, also known as the Parliamentary Novels. I've been reading the series all year with a readalong group on Instagram. I love them, although maybe not quite so much as I enjoyed the Barchester Chronicles. 

See the Publisher's Description below for more details.  

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

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

Mister Linky's Magical Widgets -- Thumb-Linky widget will appear right here!
This preview will disappear when the widget is displayed on your site.
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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 The Duke's Children:

But all this was now at an end. He told himself that he did not care how the elections might go;—that he did not care much how anything might go.

That seems like an appropriate teaser for this election week.  

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

After the sudden death of his wife, two years after he has left office as Prime Minister, the Duke of Omnium must become deeply involved with his children for the first time. They vex him enormously: with school expulsions, vast gambling debts, and what he considers to be calamitous romantic attachments. He tries to compel them to do what he wants, but they are not so easy to manage.

Even when his eldest child and heir, Lord Silverbridge, makes him proud by embarking upon a political career, the Duke grapples with heartache. For Silverbridge becomes a Conservative rather than a Liberal, flouting the family tradition. The relationship between father and son is drawn with remarkable subtlety, and the book as a whole becomes a piercing, yet often humorous, exploration of change: how both the young and the old resist, tolerate, or embrace it.