The Trespasser by Tana French -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

The Trespasser by Tana French

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.

I blew it again last week, completely forgetting to post Book Beginnings until Sunday. I figured it was too late by then. I visited my mom over Easter weekend and came back Thursday with such an airplane cold that I was completely out of it. I slept through posting on Thursday or even a late post on Friday. Sorry! And thanks for sticking with me.  

MY BOOK BEGINNING

My ma used to tell me stories about my da.

-- from the prologue to The Trespasser by Tana French.

The case comes in, or any way it comes in to us, on a frozen dawn in the kind of closed-down January that makes you think the sun’s never going to drag itself back above the horizon. 

-- from Chapter 1of The Trespasser.

The Trespasser  the sixth and final book in Tana French's Dublin Murder Squad series. Unlike other mystery series, most of the books feature a different detective or pair of detectives from the homicide department, with some overlap to connect the stories.

I'm ambivalent about the series. I think the writing is magnificent (that opening sentence!) and the atmosphere is heavy and thick, which I love. I also like that the stories are tense, but not gory or sexually creepy. 

On the other hand, there is always some fundamental flaw (for me) that makes the books almost unbearable. In a couple, the detective personally knew the victim but never disclosed that fact during the entire investigation. In one, the detective looked so much like the victim that she was able to move in with the victims roommates without them realizing she was a cop, not their roommate. Really? I almost gave up when book four delivered two flaws. First, the detective's sister was involved, but he covered it up. Second, the detective did no basic crime scene work throughout the case, only to solve the case through basic crime scene work. Don't drag me through 450 pages for a mystery that could have been solved by page 100. I persevered through book five, even though the story took place in a boarding school and 90% of the characters were teenagers. This is a personal flaw of my own, but I don't like stories about teenagers.

But I am a completist, so I want to finish the series. I'm about halfway through The Trespasser and, so far, there is no major flaw! I like this one. Unreservedly, so far. No ambiguity. Go figure.    

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 Trespasser:

The first few games, you have a blast, get your guy panting along after you like a puppy chasing his chew toy. Then you play one game too many, and you’ve got a house full of Murder Ds.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

[B]eing on the Murder Squad is nothing like Detective Antoinette Conway dreamed it would be. Her partner, Stephen Moran, is the only person who seems glad she’s there. The rest of her working life is a stream of thankless cases, vicious pranks, and harassment. Antoinette is savagely tough, but she’s getting close to the breaking point.

Their new case looks like yet another by-the-numbers lovers’ quarrel gone bad. Aislinn Murray is blond, pretty, groomed-to-a-shine, and dead in her catalog-perfect living room, next to a table set for a romantic dinner. There’s nothing unusual about her—except that Antoinette’s seen her somewhere before.

Tiny Vices by Linda Dahl -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Tiny Vices by Linda Dahl

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

Spring break in Mexico at Rincón Bay began predictably enough.

-- from the prologue, "Sometime in the Spring of 1986," to Tiny Vices by Linda Dahl.

The call, the kind Kathy had learned to dread, came that morning when, for once, she had a chunk of time free to paint or just putter. 

-- from Chapter 1, "Spring 2016."

Tiny Vices is a family drama about four siblings facing middle age and all its challenges. The four decide to go on a beach vacation together, not appreciating how such a trip would stir up memories and their shared history. The book has drawn comparisons to Anne Tyler, the queen of the family drama and a favorite of mine, so I am all in for this one. 

Tiny Vices launches July 22 and is available for pre-order. I was lucky to get an early review copy and plan to read it right away. 

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 Tiny Vices:

Just two years apart, Carina and Kathy shared everything about each other growing up —until boys came into the picture. Kathy couldn't understand what she called Carina's “taste" in men and vice versa.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

The Talley siblings are planning a family beach vacation—all four of them together for the first time in years. They suspect it will be their last. And God knows they all need a vacation. But wait, is it really such a good idea? Corina, with her recently diagnosed Alzheimer’s, can hardly manage to get through a day without a debacle. Pete is a just-barely-walking catalog of medical calamities stemming from his longtime addictions. Becca is reeling from her teenage son’s latest misadventure. And then there is Kathy, the eldest. After firmly avoiding going back to Rincón Bay, the beach town just a few hours south of the Arizona–Mexico border that has haunted her since a college spring break trip three decades ago, she’s determined to go back and face her ghosts—though she might be better off facing the fact that her marriage is in serious trouble.

When the Talley siblings and their entourage (two spouses, added on at the last minute, and Corina’s Mexican housekeeper/caregiver) finally land in Rincón Bay, they all encounter unexpected consequences from the wounds inflicted by careless loving—but maybe, too, the seeds of healing and hope.

México: Exploring México’s Quality Wines and Phenomenal Cuisine by Michael C. Higgins -- BOOK REVIEW

 

BOOK REVIEW

Exploring Wine Regions -- México: Exploring México’s Quality Wines and Phenomenal Cuisine by Michael C. Higgins, PhD.

Michael Higgins continues his winning streak with México, the fourth book in his Exploring Wine Regions series. México: Exploring México’s Quality Wines and Phenomenal Cuisine, follows his books on Bordeaux, Argentina, and California's Central Coast, matching their high quality and enticing content.

I know that I (and maybe most people) think of tequila and beer, not wine, when considering México’s alcoholic offerings. Higgins is out to change that perception with his insiders’ guide to México’s wineries, vineyards, and wine-related restaurants and accommodations. In a beautiful, coffee-table book format, Higgins provides all the information you need to explore México’s wine regions, enjoying incredible food, specialty lodging, and side adventures along the way.

Higgins concentrates on the three main wine regions in México – Valle de Guadalupe, Guanajuato, and Queretaro – and their sub-regions. He features wineries that are open to the public, make excellent wines, and offer tourism experiences beyond what he calls “step-up-to-the-bar-to-taste.” These experiences are primarily food-related (everyone has to eat and food and wine go together), from restaurants to food and wine parings to cooking classes, but extend to wine-making lessons, horseback riding, water sports, whale watching, shopping, museums, and more. Even teetotalers can appreciate the incredible descriptions of the food and luxury accommodations the book offers.

Like the other books in his series, Higgin’s México book is crammed with gorgeous photographs, tidbits, and asides, making it a perfect armchair travel book for any wine lover as well as an indispensable resource for planning a wine tour of the region. I can't imagine visiting México’s wine country without Higgins's book!


NOTES

You can read my review of Higgins's France and Argentina books here and his California book here. Go to the Exploring Wine Regions website for more information about this book, the series, and Michael Higgins.

 

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

Tourism in México is outstanding, we all know it. And the Méxican wine regions are no exception. Wine regions are always very beautiful places. Here, the mountains and valleys are ever so enchanting. The wineries are engaging, have lots of tourism activities available, and are especially inviting and friendly with their warm Méxican hospitality. Both connoisseurs and novices turn to this book series for insider information and inspiration. It is a must-have book for expanding your knowledge of México and its wines. With 340 full-color pages and over 600 photographic images, this fourth edition explores México's regions of Valle de Guadalupe (including Ensenada), Guanajuato (including San Miguel de Allende) and Querétaro (with its rich history).

Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller

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 morning sky lightens, and snow falls on the cottage.

-- from Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller.

That is a peaceful opening sentence for what quickly becomes a dark story. Claire Fuller won the Costa Novel of the Year award in 2021 for Unsettled Ground. File that away as a future trivia answer because 2021 was the last year for the Costa Book Awards.   

I'm reading this for book club, am only about a quarter of the way into it, and like it a lot. Slow build, but it is already making me tense. I recently read another of her books, Bitter Orange, and it had the same, deceptively sleepy pace.

See the Publisher's Description below for more details. If you go for a rural gothic vibe, this one is right up your alley! 

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 Unsettled Ground:

Before Maude, all she’d have asked for was another dog – the one they’d had died of old age when Jeanie was fifteen – but Dot had always refused, saying they were too much trouble, too expensive. They’d managed with very little money, and Jeanie has always assumed this was because years ago Rawson had agreed not to charge them rent for the cottage.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

At fifty-one years old, twins Jeanie and Julius still live with their mother, Dot, in rural isolation in the English countryside. The cottage they have shared their entire lives is their only protection against the modernizing world around them. Inside its walls, they make music, and in its garden, they grow everything they need to survive. To an outsider, it looks like poverty; to them, it is home.

But when Dot dies unexpectedly, the world they’ve so carefully created begins to fall apart. The cottage they love, and the security it offered, is taken back by their landlord, exposing the twins to harsh truths and even harsher realities. Seeing a new future, Julius becomes torn between the loyalty he feels towards his sister and his desire for independence, while Jeanie struggles to find work and a home for them both. And just when it seems there might be a way forward, a series of startling secrets from their mother’s past come to the surface, forcing the twins to question who they are, and everything they know of their family’s history.

49 Penguins -- BOOK THOUGHTS

 BOOK THOUGHTS

49 Penguins

Wowza! Nothing could make this bookworm’s heart pitter patter like the direct message I got last week from the Book Corner, the Beaverton Library's friends shop:

“Hi Gilion! We recently got these in and I know you are a vintage Penguin lover, so wanted to send you this in case you haven’t been in recently ☺️”

Um, yes! 

Here's the picture that accompanied this tantalizing message:

Needless to say, I raced over the very next day. They had kindly boxed them all up for me to go through. Several of the green tribands were duplicates of books I already have. (See here for more on my obsession with collecting green Penguin tribands, the "crime fiction" series.)  There were a few orange ones I either already have or really wasn't interested in, so I also set those aside. There was a nice young kid shopping for books who immediately snapped up Madame Bovary. 

All in all, I found 49 I didn’t have and wanted to add to my collection. Forty-nine! I can't believe it. 

Penguin Random House is now one of the "Big Five" mega-publishers. But Penguin Books started in 1935, in London, as a publisher of cheap, mass market paperbacks. They were usually reprints of earlier-published books. For reasons I don't remember, or never knew, most of the Penguin paperbacks from the 1930s and 1940s were not available in the US. As a result, these now-vintage books are hard to find over here. 

The earlier books had the now-iconic covers with a color band at the top and bottom and a white band in the middle with the title and author's name, no illustration. Contemporary readers may be more familiar with the coffee mugs with these color stripes than the original books. These covers became known as "tribands" for the three bands. Green was for mysteries, thrillers, espionage books, and true crime, collectively referred to as crime fiction. Orange was for general fiction, red for drama, pink for travel and adventure, blue for biographies, purple for essays, grey for current events, and yellow for miscellaneous. The standard triband was supplemented in 1949 by "vertical tribands" with the color strips on the left and right and the title, author's name, and illustration on the middle white strip. These are not as iconic, but are easier to find, so I have many of those. 

I kickstarted my collection of vintage Penguins during the pandemic lockdown when I (like so many others) sought retail therapy. I found a job lot of 425 green tribands for sale, bought them, and had them shipped over from England. I had to build new shelves in my home office to hold them all. I have only barely begun to read them. Since then, I buy the old ones when I find them, which isn't often. I have very few of the original tribands -- a handful of orange ones, a few red, one pink, and one yellow. I have never even seen a purple or grey one. I have quite a few of the orange vertical tribands. I like them because they have illustrations on the covers. Most of the illustrations are black and white line drawings, but some are color drawings. 

As the years went on, Penguin changed its cover designs and added other series. The original Penguin Classics was a big series that has continued, with different covers, until today. I have a few of those, but that's a whole different obsession. There are others, like "Marber Grid" covers originally designed by Polish emigré Romek Marber, which Penguin started using in 1961. Graham Greene books with covers illustrated by Paul Hogarth and P.G. Wodehouse book with covers illustrated by "Iconicus" are examples of smaller rabbit holes Penguin collectors can go down. 

I spend a lot of time playing with my Penguin collection. I should spend as much time reading the books as collecting and reading about them. 

I'll post more about my 49 new-to-me vintage Penguins in the next weeks. Check back!