If We Still Lived Where I was Born by Maria Giura -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

If We Still Lived Where I was Born by Maria Giura

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

we'd be in the apartment above the pastry shoppe
where downstairs my father made cannoli and eclairs and rum baba

and my mother made trays of butter cookies and rang up customers
and balanced the books.

-- from the first, title poem in If We Still Lived Where I was Born by Maria Giura.

Maria Giura's new book of poetry, If We Still Lived Where I was Born, launches on November 4. Maria was kind enough to send me a review copy and I am greatly enjoying these engaging poems. 

I first "met" Maria in 2019 when she published Celibate, a memoir about falling in love with a Catholic priest. Read my review of Celibate here and my 2019 interview with Maria here. 

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 "In Praise of Silence" in If We Still Lived Where I was Born:

It used to terrify me
especially on three-day weekends.
Afraid God would speak,
that I would hear,
I'd drown Him out with plans, activity,
motion.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

In Maria Giura's If We Still Lived Where I was Born, the narrator unlocks the meaning she's made of her childhood and heritage, spirituality and lost loves and draws the reader in to retrieve their own. The collection begins in the apartment above her parents' Brooklyn pastry shoppe where she imagines them still fighting, still making us, still together, then shifts to adulthood where she learns to stay still long enough to listen for the story, and then returns to childhood where her mother and aunts teach their kids to spread out their blankets and live. Moving between New York and Italy, between family and "stranger," these poems show longing and vulnerability, but also the thrill of being young and part of something larger than oneself, of making peace, and pursuing the path you were meant to. They brim with the people and places that have taught her the most and ring with pathos and celebration, from her immigrant father waiting for her on the corner . . . bread in his hand to the sister who pulled the music out of her, helped her make her own song. Beginning with a journey to a literal birth place and extending outward to many figurative places of self-discovery, this collection explores what lasts when all else passes away.

Spin No. 42 -- CLASSICS CLUB

 

CLASSICS CLUB SPIN

Spin Number 42

UPDATE: Spin Pick = No. 17!

I'm working on my second Classics Club list, with 28 of my 50 picks still to read by the end of 2028. Although I love the Classics Club, I usually miss the CC Spins they host every so often! I'm glad I caught this one in time to participate because it always inpires me to work on my CC list.

The Classics Club is an online "Community of Classics Lovers" started in 2012 to “unite those of us who like to blog about classic literature, as well as to inspire people to make the classics an integral part of life.” To join, you create your own list of 50 "classics" (loosely defined) and read them in five years. Details are on the Classics Club website.

UPDATE: No. 17 was the spin pick, which means I'll be reading The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov. Great! Chekhov plays have been on my TBR shelves forever. I needed a push to finally read them. 

Every now and again, the Classics Club organizes a CC Spin. The idea is to pick books from your CC list, on a certain date the organizers pick a random number (October 19 for this one), and you read that books by a specific date (in this case, December 21).

You can find more details here, but these are the basics:

• Pick twenty books from your Classics Club list that you still want to read.
• Post that list, numbered 1-20, on your blog before Sunday, 20th October.
• Classics Club will randomly pick a number and announce it on their website on October 20.
• Read that book by the 18th of December and share your review (if you write one) on the Classics Club website. 

My CC Spin #42 list:

1. The Elected Member by Bernice Rubens, Booker Prize
   
2. The Secret City by Hugh Walpole, James Tait Black
   
3. Without My Cloak by Kate O'Brien, James Tait Black
4. England, Their England by A. G. Macdonell, James Tait Black
5. Eustace and Hilda by L. P. Hartley, James Tait Black
6. The Devil's Advocate by Morris West, James Tait Black
7. Langrishe, Go Down by Aidan Higgins, James Tait Black
8. Jerusalem the Golden by Margaret Drabble, James Tait Black
9. Eva Trout by Elizabeth Bowen, James Tait Black
10. The Black Prince by Iris Murdoch, James Tait Black
11. The Field of Vision by Wright Morris, National Book Award
    
12. Them by Joyce Carol Oates, National Book Award
13. Laughing Boy by Oliver Lafarge, Pulitzer Prize
    
14. The Store by T. S. Stribling, Pulitzer Prize
15. The Aerodrome by Rex Warner, Burgess Top 99
16. The Fox in the Attic by Richard Hughes, Burgess Top 99
17. The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov, The College Board
    
18. The Jungle Books by Rudyard Kipling, Easton Press Greatest
    
19. Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw, Easton Press Greatest
20. The Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov, Easton Press Greatest 

You can tell from this list -- and my Classic Club II list in general -- that I picked my CC books because they are on the prize winners and must read lists I'm working on. The Classics Club helps me buckle down on the lists I'd like to finish.

A Map of Her Own by Dede Montgomery -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

A Map of Her Own by Dede Montgomery

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 she looked out to sea, Celia felt the past and future collide in a shock that excited and frightened her.

-- from A Map of Her Own by Dede Montgomery.

Mongomery's new novel is a braided story of two women in the Pacific Northwest. Celia's story takes place inAstoria, Oregon in 2024; Emma's in Camas, Washington in 1912. Both are stories of women finding their own identities despite despite others' expectations. 

See the Publisher's Description below for more details. If you like historical fiction about strong women, this one is for you! 

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 A Map of Her Own:

The rescue diver was in the wheelhouse. it felt like hours, although perhaps only minutes, when the rescue basket with Ed, wrapped in his blanket, floated its way to the copter.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

It's 2024 in Astoria, Oregon. Celia's return to another crabbing season is over before it begins when the boat captain suffers a heart attack, hastening her decision that this would have been her final season anyway. Now all she has to do is figure out what to do next. Simple. Right.

It's 1912 In Camas, Washington. Emma is proud of her job making paper bags at the Columbia River Paper Company, but resents her family's expectations for her to also take care of her younger siblings and help with the household chores after her shift is over.

Celia and Emma are both searching for their true selves in a world where women either give in to society's and family's expectations or have the courage to create their own destiny. 

A Map of Her Own navigates the lives of two women separated by generations and brought together by their strong connection to the Columbia River.

Indian Summer by William Dean Howells -- BOOK REVIEW

 

BOOK REVIEW

Indian Summer by William Dean Howells

In Indian Summer, American author William Dean Howells explores lost love, middle age, friendship, and ex-patriot life in late 19th Century Italy.

Published in 1886, the novel follows 41-year-old Theodore Colville from Des Vaches, Indiana to Florence, Italy. It was in Florence 17 years earlier that Colville fell in love with a young woman who jilted him, leaving him to nurse a broken heart ever since. By a coincidence best glossed over, back in Florence, he meets up with Lina Bowen, the mutual friend of Colville and his former lover. Bowen, widowed and with a young daughter, is living in Florence and watching out for Imogene Graham, a 20-year-old American beauty.

What follows is part an Austen-like comedy of manners, part a Henry James parlor drama. Howells is often compared (rather unfavorably) with his American contemporary. Like James, Howells can talk around a subject without getting to the heart of it. But while James goes on endlessly, with little relief, Howells breaks up the navel gazing with more action and a lot of humor. It took me a while to adapt to the slow rhythm of his writing, but once I did, the book flowed right along. Colville is a quick wit, both clown and charmer, sometimes to his own detriment as he looks for the clever thing to say instead of what should be said.

As can be imagined, the triangle of Colville, Bowen, and Graham is at the center of the story as we watch the unsurprising fallout of Coville’s desire to have his cake and eat it too. The leitmotif running through the story is age and aging. Howells subtly compares the youth and inexperience of Graham with the maturity of Bowen, both played off Colville’s mid-life crises antics. An elderly, retired minister, Mr. Waters, often drifts in to offer a more dispassionate view that comes with the wisdom of age.

Like an Indian summer, Howell’s novel is a warm spot in what can be the grey and chilly literary season of late 19th Century novels. Nothing too grim. Minimum melodrama. And no tragic ending. All in all, a pleasant holiday in Florence.

      

NOTES

I read this because I am trying to read more of my pretty NYRB editions and the title fit the season. Also, while I can't count it as a book for Victober because Howells is an American author, not technically a Victorian, I think of it as Victober-adjacent. 

London Holiday by Richard Peck -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

London Holiday by Richard Peck

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

Mrs. Smith-Porter stood at the front window of her best bedroom fingering a strand of artificial pearls.

-- from London Holiday by Richard Peck.

London Holiday was published in 1998 and tells the story of three women, friends since childhood, who travel to London to rekindle their friendship and reimagine their lives. Sounds like just my cup of tea! I love a good coming-of-certain-age novel. 

I found a used copy when I stopped by one of my favorite friends of the library shops this week. I admit I waivered on buying it because Peck is a male author. Hen lit is usually written by women. Sexist of me, but there you have 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 London Holiday:

Horrified, Julia saw there was a tent with folding chairs for family. Her heel dug spongy earth.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

Lesley Hockaday is a St. Louis society woman, Margo Mayhew a Chicago schoolteacher and the mother of a teenage daughter, and Julia Steadman a single, successful Manhattan interior designer. Best friends during their Missouri childhood, the passage of time, the thousands of miles between them, and the demands of family and careers have taken a toll on their friendship. When a shocking act of violence reminds them how precious life really is, the three friends decide it’s time for a reunion and embark on a long-awaited trip to London.

From the cozy confines of Mrs. Smith-Porter’s bed-and-breakfast, Lesley, Margo, and Julia enter a gracious world of high tea in the garden, antique markets, picture-perfect countryside, and unexpected romance. The London holiday presents them with more than a few surprises, becomes a journey of self-discovery and a chance to renew the bonds of friendship, and holds the promise of three new lives awaiting them.

September 2025 Reading Wrap Up -- BOOK THOUGHTS

BOOK THOUGHTS

September 2025 Monthly Wrap Up 

I read a lot in September because I was stressed out about work. When I get really busy with work, I don't read much. But when I have time to finish all my work but am stressed out about it, I read a lot to take my mind off my jitters. Do you know what I mean?

Here is the list of the 21 books I read in September, in the order they appear in the stack in the picture. Have you read any of these?

PICTURED  

French Country Cooking by Elizabeth David. David is like an English Julia Child and this book is probably her most famous. It's a classic, but took me forever to read because it is so dense. 500 pages with only a handful of pen and ink illustrations, mostly for chapter headings, and the ingredients incorporated into the text instead of listed at the beginning. I'm glad I read it but don't think I'll cook much from it. This was the last book in my TBR 25 in '25 stack. Woo hoo!

Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis. I remember the movie playing on tv when I was a kid so I've had it in my head to read for decades and the book has been on my shelf for years. It was an exuberant, bittersweet story and I'm glad I read it, but it isn't a favorite. It counts as my Greece book for the 2025 European Reading Challenge. 

Miss Mole by E.H. Young. I read this one for Spinster September and loved it. The title character has a subversive sense of humor and it was a lot more fun than I anticipated. I'd like to find and read more "Furrowed Middlebrow" books from Dean Street Press. 

No Fond Return of Love by Barbara Pym, another spinster book. Her books have such a Jane Austen vibe. I love them.

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk. This one is really popular and the author won the Nobel Prize for literature, but it was not for me. I didn't like the idea of a crime spree with no consequences. I read it the week after Charlie Kirk was killed so a story about killing people you don’t agree with didn’t feel good. Even if you throw in the John Wick-like motive. Still, it counts as a Poland book for the ERC. 

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. I had to read something by the ur-spinster for Spinster September! Alos, I'm rereading her six main novels to celebrate the semiquincentennial of her birth. Only one left!

Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner. I loved this book when I read it in 1992, right after I finished law school. The story of two couples who become best friends shortly after grad school hit me hard as I was starting down that same path. I reread it last month, this time as an audiobook. This time around, the story hit me from the other side, now that I am about the same age as the two couples at the end of their time as friends. It's such a wonderful novel.

The Fortnight in September by R.C. Sherriff. I read this because of the title and am glad I did. It was a wonderful, bittersweet family story about so much more than their annual vacation at the beach.

A Guilty Thing Surprised, Murder Being Once Done, and No More Dying Then by Ruth Rendell are books 5, 6, and 7 in her Inspector Wexford series. I am really enjoying my tear through this series. Wexford is such an interesting character!

Something Old, Something New: Classic Recipes Revisited by Tamar Adler. Adler wrote The Everlasting Meal, one of my favorite food books. This cookbook interprets older recipes for contemporary home cooks. It is excellent and the perfect antidote to Elizabeth David. Unlike the David book, I will cook with this one.

The Elements by John Boyne is labeled a novel but is really an omnibus edition of four previously published novellas (with far superior covers), Water, Earth, Fire, and Air. All are quick reads and they kept me entertained, but such unlikeable characters! I had the same problem with the one other Boyne book I read, A Ladder to the Sky. It's the same problem I had with Drive Your Plow. I like the bad guys to get their just desserts.

English Country House Style: Traditions, Secrets, and Unwritten Rules by Milo and Katy Campbell. I am trying to get back to reading my coffee table books and have a whole collection of books about English country houses and decorating. This one was fabulous.

NOT PICTURED

The Country Girls by Edna O’Brien is a gem, even if I forgot to put it in the picture. The Country Girls is the first novel in the trilogy of the same name. I look forward to reading the other two.

Art, Love, and Other Miracles by Kiki Astor was a fun romance book set in Mexico City. I added it to the kindle app on my phone, which I rarely use, but like to have in case of emergency. I was traveling a lot in September, so had many opportunities to read a few pages here and there while waiting around.

A Horse Walks into a Bar by David Grossman won the International Booker Prize in 2017. I read this one with my ears. An Israeli friend recommended it and it is very good.

A Chateau Under Siege by Martin Walker is book 16 in his Bruno, Chief of Police series. I love the series but the stories are starting to blur in my mind. Martin has created a huge cast of supporting characters and getting them all crammed into every story means the stories are going to be similar. It's not like Bruno goes off by himself and solves a mystery in Thailand or something. He's there in his French village, with his two ex-lovers, assorted friends, the same co-workers, and a gaggle of neighbors. Only two more books to go, at least before he writes another one.

What were your September favorites?

Marble Hall Murders by Anthony Horowitz -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Marble Hall Murders by Anthony Horowitz

Thank you for joining me this week for Book Beginnings on Fridays where participants share the opening sentence (or two) from the book they are reading. You can also share from a book you want to feature, even if you are not reading it at the moment. 

MY BOOK BEGINNING

Is there really such a thing as a happy ending?

-- from Marble Hall Murders by Anthony Horowitz.

Marble Hall Murders is the third book in the Susan Ryeland series, preceeded by Magpie Murders and Moonflower Murders. I love this series because Ryeland is a woman of a certain age who works in publishing. My idea of a perfect amatuer slueth! 

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING

Please add the link to your book beginning post in the linky box below. If you participate or share on social media, please use the hashtag #bookbeginnings so other people can find your post.

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THE FRIDAY 56

The Friday 56 asks participants to share a two-sentence teaser from their book of the week. If your book is an ebook or audiobook, pick a teaser from the 56% point. 

Anna at My Head is Full of Books hosts The Friday 56, a natural tie-in with Book Beginnings on Fridays. Please visit My Head is Full of Books to leave the link to your post. 

MY FRIDAY 56

-- from Marble Hall Murders:

He usually wore a jacket and tie, but for all I knew he could have been naked below the waist when we spoke online. I didn't even know if he had legs. 

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

Editor Susan Ryeland has left her Greek island, her hotel and her Greek boyfriend, Andreas, in search of a new life back in England.

Freelancing for a London publisher, she's given the last job she wants: working on an Atticus Pünd continuation novel called Pünd’s Last Case. Worse still, she knows the new writer. Eliot Crace is the troubled grandson of legendary children’s author Miriam Crace who died twenty years ago. Eliot is convinced she was murdered—by poison.

To her surprise, Susan enjoys reading the manuscript which is set in the South of France and revolves around the mysterious death of Lady Margaret Chalfont, days before she was about to change her will. But when it is revealed that Lady Margaret was also poisoned, alarm bells begin to ring.

Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis

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

I first met him in Piraeus. I wanted to take the boat for Crete and had gone down to the port.

-- from Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis.

Zorba is an earthy and boisterous Greek man from Crete with a huge appetite for life. Sometimes, his energy is so fierce he can only express himself through spontaneous dancing and music making. He befriends the unnamed narrator, a bookworm who prefers studying Buddhism over engaging in the rough and tumble of life. The two, for reasons too vague for me to catch, travel together to Crete to open a lignite mine. 

The movie version with Anthony Quinn came out in 1964 and was often played on tv when I was a kid in the 1970s. So the notion of Zorba the Greek has been in the back of my mind for as long as I can remember. The book has been sitting on my TBR shelf for about as long. I was in Crete this summer and it reminded me to finally read this modern classic.   

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 Zorba the Greek:

"Would you believe it, boss! That day was the first time I knew what a woman was."

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

First published in 1946, Zorba the Greek, is, on one hand, the story of a Greek working man named Zorba, a passionate lover of life, the unnamed narrator who he accompanies to Crete to work in a lignite mine, and the men and women of the town where they settle. On the other hand it is the story of God and man, The Devil and the Saints; the struggle of men to find their souls and purpose in life and it is about love, courage and faith.

Miss Mole by E. H. Young -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Miss Mole by E. H. Young

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

The voice of her new friend, bidding her good night, followed Miss Hannah Mole as she went down the garden path, and the laurel bushes, as she brushed by them, repeated in a whisper, yet with a strange assurance, the persuasive invitation of Mrs. Gibson to come back soon.

-- from Miss Mole by E. H. Young.

E. H. Young won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 1930 for Miss Mole, a novel about a seemingly meek and retiring woman making her way as a paid helper -- governess, companion, and housekeeper. But Miss Mole has a secret that could disrupt her placid life. 

I'm working my way through the James Tait Black winners, so was excited to find a Dean Street Press edition of Miss Mole.  I was inspired to read it now as one of my Spinster September 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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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.

Anne at My Head is Full of Books now hosts The Friday 56. Please visit Anne's blog and link to your Friday 56 post.

MY FRIDAY 56

-- from Miss Mole:

For Mrs. Gibson, the next few days had a noble sadness in them. She was to lose Miss Mole but could not grudge her to the exalted state of being housekeeper to Mr. Corder, and Miss Mole knew she would be welcome at any time if she liked to drop in for a cup of tea.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

Miss Hannah Mole has for twenty years earned her living precariously as a governess or companion to a succession of difficult old women. Now, aged forty, a thin and shabby figure, she returns to Radstowe, the lovely city of her youth. Here she is, if not exactly welcomed, at least employed as housekeeper by the pompous Reverend Robert Corder, whose daughters are sorely in need of guidance. But even the dreariest situation can be transformed into an adventure by the indomitable Miss Mole. Blessed with imagination, wit and intelligence, she wins the affection of Ethel and her nervous sister Ruth. But her past holds a secret that, if brought to life, would jeopardise everything.

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

Thank you for joining me this week for Book Beginnings on Fridays where participants share the opening sentence (or two) from the book they are reading. You can also share from a book you want to feature, even if you are not reading it at the moment. 

MY BOOK BEGINNING

No one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her infancy would have supposed her born to be an heroine.

-- from Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. Everyone knows the opening sentence from Pride & Prejudice ("It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife."), but I think all her opening sentences are excellent, especially this one. 

I just finished reading Northanger Abbey as part of my project to reread all six of Austen's major novels to celebrate her 250th birthday. I had forgotten how funny it is! All her books have humor in them, but this one is a satire of the popular Gothic novels of the day, and is particularly funny. I loved it. 

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING

Please add the link to your book beginning post in the linky box below. If you participate or share on social media, please use the hashtag #bookbeginnings so other people can find your post.

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THE FRIDAY 56

The Friday 56 asks participants to share a two-sentence teaser from their book of the week. If your book is an ebook or audiobook, pick a teaser from the 56% point. 

Anna at My Head is Full of Books hosts The Friday 56, a natural tie-in with Book Beginnings on Fridays. Please visit My Head is Full of Books to leave the link to your post. 

MY FRIDAY 56

-- from Northanger Abbey:

Towards the end of the morning, however, Catherine, having occasion for some indispensable yard of ribbon which must be bought without a moment’s delay, walked out into the town, and in Bond Street overtook the second Miss Thorpe as she was loitering towards Edgar’s Buildings between two of the sweetest girls in the world, who had been her dear friends all the morning. From her, she soon learned that the party to Clifton had taken place.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

During an eventful season at Bath, young, naïve Catherine Morland experiences the joys of fashionable society for the first time. She is delighted with her new acquaintances: flirtatious Isabella, who shares Catherine's love of Gothic romance and horror, and sophisticated Henry and Eleanor Tilney, who invite her to their father's mysterious house, Northanger Abbey. There, her imagination influenced by novels of sensation and intrigue, Catherine imagines terrible crimes committed by General Tilney. With its broad comedy and irrepressible heroine, this is the most youthful and and optimistic of Jane Austen's works.

Iris Chang and the Power of One by Randy Hopkins and Ying-Ying Chang -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Iris Chang and the Power of One by Randy Hopkins and Ying-Ying Chang

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

My daughter, Iris Chang, passed away on November 9, 2004. What happened on that terrible day is still so vivid in my memory.

-- from Iris Chang and the Power of One by Randy Hopkins and Ying-Ying Chang.

Iris Chang was a journalist and historian who shot to fame with her book, The Rape of Nanking. She later killed herself, in part because of depression linked to her historical research. 

Historian Randy Hopkins wrote this book with Iris's mother, Ying-Ying Chang. They wanted to write a book about Iris's life, her influence, the causes of her death, and the ability of one person to change the world.  It is an interesting format because it is not a straightforward biography. Instead, it is a compendium of materials about Iris, her life, and the impact she had. It is a collection of excerpts from other books, letters, photographs, speeches, eulogies, and other materials. Some of the key materials are reprinted in the back in Chinese and Japanese. 

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 Iris Chang and the Power of One:

No longer an unknown writer, Iris undertook a series of exhausting book tours to promote The Chinese in America. But, she could not escape The Rape of Nanking.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

This book is about Iris Chang and her world-changing influence. At age 29, Iris, a Chinese American, wrote the wildly popular and deeply controversial book The Rape of Nanking - exposing the atrocity now known as the Nanjing Massacre which followed the Japanese Imperial Army's 1937 capture of Nanking, China. She later wrote another massively researched book, The Chinese in America. At the age of 36, Iris took her own life.

The book first traces Iris' life and tragic end. Reasons leading to her death are covered, with elements that echo in today's headlines. The second part is a revelation of the positive influences Ms. Chang has had upon the world -- a highly graphic celebration of the 'ripples of light' emanating from her life's work.

Highland Fling by Nancy Mitford -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Highland Fling by Nancy Mitford

Thank you for joining me this week for Book Beginnings on Fridays where participants share the opening sentence (or two) from the book they are reading. You can also share from a book you want to feature, even if you are not reading it at the moment. 

MY BOOK BEGINNING

Albert Gates came down from Oxford feeling that his life was behind him.

-- from Highland Fling by Nancy Mitford.

I'm in the mood to read Nancy Mitford novels because I started watching Outrageous, the tv show about the Mitford sisters. I have a mild obsession with the sisters and a collection of books by them and about them. I want to do a deep dive and read all of them straight through, maybe even rereading the ones I've read before. 

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING

Please add the link to your book beginning post in the linky box below. If you participate or share on social media, please use the hashtag #bookbeginnings so other people can find your post.

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THE FRIDAY 56

The Friday 56 asks participants to share a two-sentence teaser from their book of the week. If your book is an ebook or audiobook, pick a teaser from the 56% point. 

Anna at My Head is Full of Books hosts The Friday 56, a natural tie-in with Book Beginnings on Fridays. Please visit My Head is Full of Books to leave the link to your post. 

MY FRIDAY 56

-- from Highland Fling:

Albert sat next to Lady Prague, a spinsterish woman of about forty with a fat face, thin body and the remains of a depressingly insular type of good looks. Her fuzzy brown hair was arranged in a dusty bun showing ears which were evidently intended to be hidden, but which insisted on poking their way out.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

In Highland Fling—Nancy Mitford’s first novel, published in 1931—a set of completely incompatible and hilariously eccentric characters collide in a Scottish castle, where bright young things play pranks on their stodgy elders until the frothy plot climaxes in ghost sightings and a dramatic fire.

Inspired in part by Mitford’s youthful infatuation with a Scottish aristocrat, her story follows young Jane Dacre to a shooting party at Dulloch Castle, where she tramps around a damp and chilly moor on a hunting expedition with formidable Lady Prague, xenophobic General Murgatroyd, one-eyed Admiral Wenceslaus, and an assortment of other ancient and gouty peers of the realm, while falling in love with Albert, a surrealist painter with a mischievous sense of humor. Lighthearted and sparkling with witty banter, Highland Fling was Mitford’s first foray into the delightful fictional world for which the author of The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate later became so celebrated.

The Bookman's Wake by John Dunning -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

The Bookman's Wake by John Dunning

Thank you for joining me this week for Book Beginnings on Fridays where participants share the opening sentence (or two) from the book they are reading. You can also share from a book you want to feature, even if you are not reading it at the moment. 

MY BOOK BEGINNING

The man in St. Louis died sometime during the afternoon, as near as the coroner could figure it.

-- from The Bookman's Wake by John Dunning. This is the second book in Dunning's Cliff Janeway mystery series, featuring a Denver cop turned rare book dealer. I read the third book in the series, The Bookman's Promise, years ago and remembered liking it. That was back in the happy-go-lucky days when I wasn't so hung up on reading series in order. I am trying to get back to that approach. 

The Bookman's Wake involves the theft of a rare edition of "The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe and a bail-jumping young women suspected of the theft. A mystery and a book about books -- that's a winning combination for me.  

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING

Please add the link to your book beginning post in the linky box below. If you participate or share on social media, please use the hashtag #bookbeginnings so other people can find your post.

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THE FRIDAY 56

The Friday 56 asks participants to share a two-sentence teaser from their book of the week. If your book is an ebook or audiobook, pick a teaser from the 56% point. 

Anna at My Head is Full of Books hosts The Friday 56, a natural tie-in with Book Beginnings on Fridays. Please visit My Head is Full of Books to leave the link to your post. 

MY FRIDAY 56

-- from The Bookman's Wake:

He got a stern, fatherly look on his face and said, “I think that's a pretty nice book, sweetie, I'm gonna want twenty to thirty bucks for it." ... The next day I called my friend in Seattle and he sent me a good wholesale price, four hundred dollars.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

Denver cop-turned-bookdealer Cliff Janeway is lured by an enterprising fellow ex-policeman into going to Seattle to bring back a fugitive wanted for assault, burglary, and the possible theft of a priceless edition of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven." The bail jumper turns out to be a vulnerable young woman calling herself Eleanor Rigby, who is also a gifted book finder.

Janeway is intrigued by the woman -- and by the deadly history surrounding the rare volume. Hunted by people willing to kill for the antique tome, a terrified Eleanor escapes and disappears. To find her -- and save her -- Janeway must unravel the secrets of the book's past and its mysterious maker, for only then can he stop the hand of death from turning another page....

The Summer Book by Tove Jannson -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

The Summer Book by Tove Jansson

I'm finally back from my epic adventures with Mom and Sis. Thanks for sticking with Book Beginnings while I was gone. Although I see that there were fewer people around. I think lots of folks are on vacation in August. If you went somewhere fun, drop me a comment and tell me about your trip.

And thank you for joining me this week for Book Beginnings on Fridays where participants share the opening sentence (or two) from the book they are reading. You can also share from a book you want to feature, even if you are not reading it at the moment. 

MY BOOK BEGINNING

It was an early, very warm morning in July, and it had rained during the night.

-- from The Summer Book by Tove Jansson. 

Tove Jansson was born in 1914 in Finland to Swedish parents. She is best known for her Moomintroll character and related Moomin comic strip and books. But she also wrote a handful of books for adults, including The Summer Book, which I have in a pretty NYRB Classics edition. I wanted to read it in the summer to get the full experience. It is a beautiful, charming novel about a grandmother and her six-year-old granddaughter spending a summer month on a small island in the Bay of Finland.  

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING

Please add the link to your book beginning post in the linky box below. If you participate or share on social media, please use the hashtag #bookbeginnings so other people can find your post.

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THE FRIDAY 56

The Friday 56 asks participants to share a two-sentence teaser from their book of the week. If your book is an ebook or audiobook, pick a teaser from the 56% point. 

Anna at My Head is Full of Books hosts The Friday 56, a natural tie-in with Book Beginnings on Fridays. Please visit My Head is Full of Books to leave the link to your post. 

MY FRIDAY 56

-- from The Summer Book:

Grandmother walked up over the bare granite and thought about birds in general. It seemed to her no other creature had the same dramatic capacity to underline and perfect events – the shifts in the seasons and the weather, the changes that run through people themselves.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

In The Summer Book, Tove Jansson distills the essence of the summer—its sunlight and storms—into twenty-two crystalline vignettes. This brief novel tells the story of Sophia, a six-year-old girl awakening to existence, and Sophia’s grandmother, nearing the end of hers, as they spend the summer on a tiny unspoiled island in the Gulf of Finland. The grandmother is unsentimental and wise, if a little cranky; Sophia is impetuous and volatile, but she tends to her grandmother with the care of a new parent. Together they amble over coastline and forest in easy companionship, build boats from bark, create a miniature Venice, write a fanciful study of local bugs. They discuss things that matter to young and old alike: life, death, the nature of God and of love. “On an island,” thinks the grandmother, “everything is complete.” In The Summer Book, Jansson creates her own complete world, full of the varied joys and sorrows of life.

Thus Was Adonis Murdered by Sarah Caudwell -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Thus Was Adonis Murdered by Sarah Caudwell

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.

I got back from my vacation yesterday but I still pre-scheduled this post because I knew I would be jet lagged and have 1,000 to do after leaving my husband home without me for three weeks. So, again, my apologies if something goes wrong. 

MY BOOK BEGINNING

Scholarship asks, thank God, no recompense but Truth.

-- from Thus Was Adonis Murdered by Sarah Caudwell. This is the first of four legal mysteries featuring a pipe-smoking Oxford professor named Hilary Tamar. I wanted to read this one because it takes place in Venice and I read it when we were there last week. I also love mysteries with lawyers and campus novels, so this one ticked all my boxes. 

 

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 Thus Was Adonis Murdered:

The Venetians, it seems, adopted St Mark as their patron saint in the ninth century, at which time the mortal remains of the Evangelist were reposing in Alexandria. To demonstrate their piety, the Venetians set out a body-snatching expedition, which abstracted the sacred corpse from its resting-place and brought it back through Customs between two sides of pork, so discouraging investigation by the fastidious Muslims.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

Set to have a vacation away from her home life and the tax man, young barrister Julia Larwood takes a trip to Italy with her art-loving boyfriend. But when her personal copy of the current Finance Act is found a few meters away from a dead body, Julia finds herself caught up in a complex fight against the Inland Revenue.

Fortunately, she’s able to call on her fellow colleagues who enlist the help of their friend Oxford professor Hilary Tamar. However, all is not what it seems. Could Julia’s boyfriend in fact be an employee of the establishment she has been trying to escape from? And how did her romantic luxurious holiday end in murder?