Rose City Reader: Book Beginnings

Showing posts with label Book Beginnings. Show all posts

Thursday, January 18, 2024

Book Beginnings on Fridays on Rose City Reader

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Thanks for joining me for Book Beginnings on Fridays, where participants share the first sentences (or so) of the books they are reading this week. You can also share from a book that caught your eye, even if you are not reading it this week.

The day got away from me, so I have just enough time to put up this week's post. I will have to come back tomorrow to add my own book beginning. In the meantime, please share yours in the Linky box below. If you share on social media, please use the hashtag #bookbegninnings.

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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.

Thursday, January 11, 2024

Quentins by Maeve Binchy -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Thank you for joining me on Book Beginnings on Fridays. Please share the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are reading this week. Feel free to share from a book that captured your fancy, even if you are not reading it right now.

MY BOOK BEGINNING

When Ella Brady was six she went to Quentins.

-- from Quentins by Maeve Binchy.

Years back, I went on a Maeve Binchy tear and read a lot of her books, including several involving many of the same characters in Quentins, including Tara Road and The Scarlet Feather.

Quentins focuses on the fictional Dublin restaurant of that name, tying together the characters with the history of the restaurant. I love being back in Binchy World. All her novels involve many characters facing ordinary problems that all get resolved in a tidy way. They are the emotional equivalent of cleaning out a messy closet and leave me with the same sense of satisfaction.

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 hashtag #bookbeginnings so we can find each other.

THE FRIDAY 56

In their first year at the university, Ella and Deirdre had made a new friend, Nuala, who was from the country and had her own flat. Right in the center of the city.

Friday, January 5, 2024

The Loved One by Evelyn Waugh -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Welcome to the first Book Beginnings of the new year! Please share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, or just a book that caught your fancy.

Hopefully my late post this week does not set the course for the rest of the year! My New Year's resolution is to get Book Beginnings up and running by Thursday at 5:00 pm Pacific Time. Let's see if I can keep it.

MY BOOK BEGINNING

All day the heat had been barely supportable but at evening a breeze arose in the west, blowing from the heart of the setting sun and from the ocean, which lay unseen, unheard behind the scrubby foothills.

-- from The Loved One by Evelyn Waugh.

Evelyn Waugh went to Hollywood in the 1940s to consult with movie studios about a movie version of his famous novel, Brideshead Revisited. The movie deal fell through, but the trip inspired his novel, The Loved One (1948), a satire about Hollywood and the funeral business in America.

The Loved One is very funny, in a dark and often harsh way. Waugh is one of my favorite authors because he is so snarky and irreverent. I just finished this book and thought it was hilarious, but it is not for the faint of heart. I think I would have enjoyed it even more if I had not recently read After Many a Summer Dies the Swan (1939) by Aldous Huxley, which also pillories the funeral industry and is even more outrageous.

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 hashtag #bookbeginnings so we can find each other.

THE FRIDAY 56

A young lady rose from a group of her fellows to welcome him, one of that new race of exquisite, amiable, efficient young ladies whom he had met everywhere in the United States. She wore a white smock and over her sharply supported left breast was embroidered the words, Mortuary Hostess.

Thursday, December 28, 2023

Can You Forgive Her? by Anthony Trollope -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Welcome to the last Book Beginnings of the year! Please share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, or just a book that caught your fancy.

MY BOOK BEGINNING

Whether or no, she, whom you are to forgive, if you can, did or did not belong to the Upper Ten Thousand of this our English world, I am not prepared to say with any strength of affirmation. By blood she was connected with big people,—distantly connected with some very big people indeed, people who belonged to the Upper Ten Hundred if there be any such division; but of these very big relations she had known and seen little, and they had cared as little for her.

-- from Can You Forgive Her? by Anthony Trollope.

Can You Forgive Her? is the first book in Anthony Trollope's Palliser Series of six novels, also known as the Parliamentary Novels. It was first published in serial form in 1864 - 1865. The book follows three women through courtship and marriage: Alice Vavasor, her cousin Glencora Palliser, and her aunt Arabella Greenow. Early on, Alice asks, "What should a woman do with her life?" This theme repeats itself in the dilemmas faced by the other women in the novel.

This series has some character crossover with Trollope's Barchester Chronicles series, which I read a few years back. This series has been on my mind since I found a boxed set of paperbacks at a library friends store last spring. There is a year-long group read on Instagram that is just the inspiration I needed to dive in.

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 hashtag #bookbeginnings so we can find each other.

THE FRIDAY 56

MY FRIDAY 56

From Can You Forgive Her?:

They were sitting at Basle one evening in the balcony of the big hotel which overlooks the Rhine. The balcony runs the length of the house, and is open to all the company; but it is spacious, and little parties can be formed there with perfect privacy.

Thursday, December 21, 2023

The Christmas Chronicles: Notes, Stories & 100 Essential Recipes for Winter by Nigel Slater -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Wow! I had Christmas brain last week and totally forgot to post Book Beginnings on Fridays until Saturday morning! What a crazy lady. Sorry about that!

Thank you for joining me this week for Book Beginnings, where participants share the first sentence (or so) of the book they are reading this week. Please share yours! You can also share from a book that caught your fancy, even if you are not reading it at the moment.

It's the week before Christmas, and while I am not reading Christmassy books in general, I did want to dip into Nigel Slater's Christmas book to get me in the mood. I also want to remind myself to remember to read this book next year!

What books are you hoping to get from Santa?

MY BOOK BEGINNING

The icy prickle across your face as you walk out into the freezing air.

-- from the Introduction to The Christmas Chronicles: Notes, Stories & 100 Essential Recipes for Winter
by Nigel Slater. Normally I do not like sentence fragments as the opening to a book. But with Nigel Slater, I don't care.

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 hashtag #bookbeginnings.

THE FRIDAY 56

MY FRIDAY 56

From The Christmas Chronicles:

We have been lighting fires around this time for centuries. Since ancient times Celtic people have gathered around bonfires on October 31 and November 1 to celebrate Samhain, the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter.

In America, we generally don't start celebrating Christmas until after Thanksgiving at the end of November. Slater is in England and starts his book about Christmas and winter on November 1. This is the thing I want to remember next year so I start the book in November and read through the days.

Thursday, December 7, 2023

Pocketful of Poseys by Thomas Reed -- 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

Grace Tingley always struggled letting herself into her mother's cottage, especially when her arms were full.

-- from Pocketful of Poseys by Thomas Reed (new from Beaufort Books).

It's hard to know where this story will go, based on this first sentence. But it makes me interested to know more. Grace and her mom must get along, because Grace is going to her mom's house and has a key. But why does her mom not let her in? Is her mom there? And what does she have in her arms? Groceries? Is she her mother's caretaker? Or is something completely different going on?

I like a book beginning that gets me asking all kinds of questions.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

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

THE FRIDAY 56

Their appointment with Bradford Tuttle, the stereotypically oleaginous funeral director, had struck Grace and Brian as easily lasting longer than the average college final exam — lengthened even more by the fact that almost every utterance the man voiced involved increasingly wearing references to your dear departed loved one. Grace didn't feel the least bit guilty about forgetting a detail or two.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

Grace Tingley and Brian Posey are forty-something twins whose lives have gone in very different directions. . . .

When their widowed mother Cinny, a charter member of Woodstock Nation, is diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, Grace and Brian are there for her last days in hospice care. This is where Cinny reveals her staggering plan for the siblings: They're to sprinkle her ashes, mixed with their father's, at a series of exotic locations around the globe--some remote, some challengingly public, all known and loved by the Poseys.

Joined by their own immediate families, Grace and Brian set off on a funereal odyssey that uncovers more about their parents' relationship, and themselves, than the twins find it easy to admit.

Friday, December 1, 2023

Innocent Blood by P. D. James -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Rabbit! Rabbit! Rabbit! It's December! And it looks like I'm kicking off the holidays by posting my first Book Beginnings late. Sorry!

Thank you for joining me for another month of 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.

Do you read any kind of themed book in December, like Christmas, holidays, winter, snowy, whatever? I always think I'm going to, then end up racing to finish the books I wanted to read this year before the end of the year.

MY BOOK BEGINNING

The social worker was older than she had expected; perhaps the nameless official who arranged these matters thought that graying hair and menopausal plumpness might induce confidence in the adopted adults who came for their compulsory counseling.

-- from Innocent Blood by P. D. James.

I definitely did not pick a holiday-themed book this week! This one caught my eye as an audiobook so I thought it would be fun to listen to while I'm decorating the house. It's a 1979 stand alone by one of my favorite authors. It has strong Ruth Rendell vibes -- more a novel of suspense than a straightforward mystery.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

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

THE FRIDAY 56

I know that my mother is dead so I can’t trace her, and I may never find my father. But at least if I can find out who my mother was I may get a lead to him.

Thursday, November 23, 2023

Lord Peter: The Complete Lord Peter Wimsey Stories by Dorothy L. Sayers -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends! I hope you are enjoying this long holiday weekend. I love Thanksgiving because it is such an American tradition and it is the gateway to Christmas!

I am particularly thankful this Thanksgiving because I just finished by final appellate brief in the Boy Scouts sex abuse bankruptcy. I've been working on Boy Scout sex abuse cases for 17 years, these particular cases for 13 years, and this bankruptcy for almost four years. It has been a long, hard slog. It is not over yet, but getting this last brief done is a huge step.

What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving?

Thank you also for joining me for Book Beginnings on Fridays this holiday weekend. Please share the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, or just a book that caught your eye.

MY BOOK BEGINNING

The Egoists’ Club is one of the most genial places in London. It is a place to which you may go when you want to tell that odd dream you had last night, or to announce what a good dentist you have discovered.

- from "The Abominable History of the Man with Copper Fingers," the first story in Lord Peter: The Complete Lord Peter Wimsey Stories by Dorothy L. Sayers.

I love Sayers's Lord Peter mysteries. I finished the novels a couple of years back but the short stories still sit on my TBR shelf. I am never drawn to short stories, so often find myself with a favorite author's collection of stories left to read after I've finished the novels I was drawn to. I often just skip them. But Sayers is such a favorite of mine that I want to read these. The long Thanksgiving weekend is the perfect opportunity to get cracking.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

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

THE FRIDAY 56

-- from Lord Peter:

"Bless you, child, I didn’t send out the invitations, but I suppose your brother and that tiresome wife of his will be there. Do come, of course, if you want to."

-- from the story, "The Interesting Episode of the Article in Question."

Thursday, November 16, 2023

Black Mischief by Evelyn Waugh -- 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, or just a book that caught your fancy.

MY BOOK BEGINNING

We, Seth, Emperor of Azania, Chief of the chiefs of Sakuyu, Lord of Wanda and Tyrant of the Seas, Bachelor of the Arts of Oxford University, being in this the twenty fourth year of our life, summoned by the wisdom of Almighty God and the unanimous voice of our people to the throne of our ancestors, do hereby proclaim . . .

-- from Black Mischief by Evelyn Waugh (ellipses in original).

For the last several months, I've been reading Evelyn Waugh books as part of a buddy read group on Instagram. Our book this month is Black Mischief. I have two copies to chose from. One is an omnibus edition that also includes Vile Bodies, one of our earlier reads. (Some of the same characters appear in both.) The other is a Penguin edition with a Peter Bently cover. The print is a smidge bigger in the Penguin book, so I’m going with that one.

I love Evelyn Waugh books. But this one sat on my TBR shelf for a long time. It is farcical satire about Seth, the Oxford-educated emperor of Azania, a fictional African nation. Seth brings in his college chum Basil Seal to head up Azania’s new Ministry of Modernization.

I’ve dragged my feet over reading it because, given the premise, I feared it wouldn’t have aged well. Apparently, while contemporary readers struggle with Waugh’s depiction of race, his contemporary readers complained the book was anti-Catholic. I decided to read it it with the idea of learning from past cultural mistakes – racial and religious – not glorifying them. That’s always my approach to older books that don’t match our current standards.

But it isn't as dated as I feared. It is really hilariously funny and mostly a send up of soft colonization. I say soft because Azania is an independent nation. But the island is overrun with western diplomatic legations, missionaries from half a dozen churches, European mercenaries, and an international set of adventurers and tradespeople. The humor is extremely dry and situational, not based on witty comments people make.

Have you read Black Mischief? Would you?

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

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

THE FRIDAY 56

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 Black Mischief:

"I wonder if you know anything about this cable. Can't make head or tail of it. Isn't in any of the usual codes. Kt to QR% CH."

That's longer than two sentences, but it only makes sense this way. This statement from the head of the British legation sets up a comic scene later. The "code" he can't figure out is a chess move one of the young people is playing by correspondence. Later, the British butler copies the "code" because he is spying for the head of the French legation. The French guy thinks it is a clue to proving that the British are plotting a takeover of the country. When, in reality, the British guy is a dolt who shirks his job and plots nothing more sinister than how to grow asparagus so he doesn't have to eat it from a can.

Thursday, November 9, 2023

Hanging the Devil by Tim Maleeny -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Thank you for joining me for Book Beginnings on Fridays! 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. You can also share from a book you want to highlight, even if you are not reading it right now.

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.

TIE IN: Freda at Freda's Voice is taking a break from hosting her weekly blog event, The Friday 56, a natural tie in with this event. The idea is to share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of your book, or 56% of the way through an e-book or audiobook. Many people, including me, are still posting Friday 56 teasers while Freda takes a break. Please visit her Freda’s Voice blog even if there currently is no place to link your post.

MY BOOK BEGINNING

Grace stared at the Buddha, but the Buddha didn't blink.

-- from Hanging the Devil: A Cape Weathers Mystery by Tim Maleeny.

This art heist caper sounds like a roller coaster of fun. It is set in San Francisco, which I always love because I lived there for a while, and starts when a helicopter crashes into the Asian Art Museum. It is the fifth book in Maleeny's series featuring private detective Cape Weathers. I have a feeling I'm going to want to read the whole series.

Hanging the Devil launches November 14 (next week) from Poisoned Pen Press. It is available for pre-order.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

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

MY FRIDAY 26

From Hanging the Devil:

He wanted to ask Maria if that was a compliment or an insult, but his mouth was full. He'd ordered a lot of pancakes.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

When a helicopter crashes through the skylight of the Asian Art Museum, an audacious heist turns into a tragedy. The only witness to the crash is eleven-year-old Grace, who watches in horror as her uncle is killed and a priceless statue stolen by two men and a--ghost? At least that's how the eerie, smoke-like figure with parchment skin and floating hair appears to Grace. Scared almost to death, she flees into the night and seeks refuge in the back alleys of San Francisco's Chinatown.

Grace is found by Sally Mei, self-appointed guardian of Chinatown. While Sally trains Grace in basic survival skills, her erstwhile partner Cape Weathers, private detective and public nuisance, searches for the mysterious crew behind the robbery before they strike the museum a second time. As the clock winds down, Cape enlists aid from some unlikely allies to lay a trap for a ghost who has no intention of being caught--nor of leaving any witnesses alive to tell the tale.

Thursday, October 26, 2023

The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

MY BOOK BEGINNING

One minute it was Ohio winter, with doors closed, windows locked, the panes blind with frost, icicles fringing every roof, children skiing on slopes, housewives lumbering like great black bears in their furs along the icy streets.

-- from The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury, a sci-fi classic published in 1950.

Do you read sci-fi? I don't, as a general rule. But there are a few sci-fi classics lurking on my TBR shelves. The Martian Chronicles is one of them. Have you read it?

This is the year I finish my Classic Club list. The Classics Club invites readers to create their own list of 50 "classic books" (defined for the project as any book older than 50 years that has some lasting literary merit) and read them all in five years. I'm on track to wrap up my first Classics Club list by December 31, 2023. I am already of thinking of what books to include on my second Classics Club list and The Martian Chronicles would be a good pick.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

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

THE FRIDAY 56

The Friday 56, a natural tie in with Book Beginnings. The idea is to share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of your book, or 56% of the way through an e-book or audiobook. Freda at Freda's Voice is taking a break from hosting her weekly blog event, but many people are still posting Friday 56 teasers. Please visit her Freda’s Voice blog even if there currently is no place to link your post.

MY FIRDAY 56

-- from The Martian Chronicles:

He wondered where the people had gone, and what they had been, and who their kings were, and how they had died. And he wondered, quietly aloud, how they had built this city to last the ages through, and had they ever come to Earth?

Friday, October 20, 2023

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Where is my head? I sat in front of my computer yesterday afternoon with a To Do list in front of me that included, "Post Book Beginnings." But I walked away and forgot to come back. Too much on my mind, apparently! Some weeks are like that.

Thank you for joining me for this late edition of Book Beginnings on Fridays. Please share the opening sentence or so from the book you are reading this week, or from a book that caught your fancy.

MY BOOK BEGINNINGS

You must go back with me to the autumn of 1827.

My father, as you know, was a sort of gentleman farmer in ——shire; and I, by his express desire, succeeded him in the same quiet occupation, not very willingly, for ambition urged me to higher aims, and self-conceit assured me that, in disregarding its voice, I was burying my talent in the earth, and hiding my light under a bushel.

-- from The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë.

I went with two sentences to give the flavor of this Victorian classic. The narrator at the beginning of the book is the male protagonist, Gilbert Markham. The middle part of the book is narrated -- through diaries and letters -- by the heroine, Helen Graham.

I am reading Tenant for Victober, the bookish tradition of reading Victorian books in October. This one is very good, with all then melodrama I love in a Victorian novel. It is considered one of the first feminist novels because Helen flees her bad husband and sets up house for herself as a single mother and artist, making a living by selling her paintings.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

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

THE FRIDAY 56

Freda at Freda's Voice is taking a break from her weekly blog event, The Friday 56, a natural tie in with Book Beginnings. The idea is to share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of your book, or 56% of the way through an e-book or audiobook. Many people are still posting Friday 56 teasers, even while Freda takes a break, and I will do the same. Please visit her Freda’s Voice blog even if there currently is no place to link your post.

MY FRIDAY 56

From The Tenant of Wildfell Hall:

“I should be proud to do it, Helen!—most happy—delighted beyond expression!—and if that be all the obstacle to our union, it is demolished, and you must—you shall be mine!”

And starting from my seat in a frenzy of ardour, I seized her hand and would have pressed it to my lips, but she as suddenly caught it away, exclaiming in the bitterness of intense affliction,—“No, no, it is not all!”

See what I mean about melodrama!

Thursday, October 12, 2023

The Seven Dials Mystery by Agatha Christie -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Thank you for joining me for Book Beginnings on Fridays! 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. You can also share from a book you want to highlight, even if you are not reading it right now.

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.

TIE IN: Sadly, Freda at Freda's Voice is taking a break from her weekly blog event, The Friday 56, a natural tie in with this event. The idea is to share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of your book, or 56% of the way through an e-book or audiobook. Many people, including me, are still posting Friday 56 teasers, even while Freda takes a break. Please visit her Freda’s Voice blog even if there currently is no place to link your post.

MY BOOK BEGINNING

That amiable youth, Jimmy Thesiger, came racing down the big staircase at Chimneys two steps at a time.

-- from The Seven Dials Mystery by Agatha Christie.

I always feel like reading vintage mysteries in the fall and winter -- cozy books for cozy weather! The Seven Dials Mystery is Agatha Christie's ninth book, published in 1929. In it, Christie brings back the characters from her fifth novel, The Secret of Chimneys, including Inspector Battle.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

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

MY FRIDAY 26

From The Seven Dials Mystery:

Despite Bill's knowledge of his friend's habits, she inclined to the belief that Mr. Thesiger would by now be in a fit state to receive visitors. She took a taxi to 103 Jermyn Street.

Thursday, October 5, 2023

Mating by Norman Rush -- 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.

TIE IN: Sadly, Freda at Freda's Voice is taking a break from her weekly blog event, The Friday 56, a natural tie in with this event. The idea is to share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of your book, or 56% of the way through an e-book or audiobook. Many people are still posting Friday 56 teasers, even while Freda takes a break, and I will do the same. Please visit her Freda’s Voice blog even if there currently is no place to link your post.

MY BOOK BEGINNING

In Africa, you want more, I think.

-- From Mating by Norman Rush. This book has been on my TBR shelf for so many years! It always looks good, but it is a chunkster and I never get around to reading it. It won the National Book Award in 1991 and is, apparently, having a resurgence in popularity, according to the New York Times that describes it as a cult favorite.

That opening sentence doesn't do much for me one way or the other. But the book is fascinating to me. It is a novel about a thirtysomething anthropology grad student at loose ends in Botswana who becomes enthralled with the charismatic Nelson Denoon and the matriarchal utopian commune he runs in the Kalahari desert. The female protagonist is unnamed and the story told from her point of view, looking back over her relationship with Denoon. It's nerdy, and funny, and captivating.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING

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

MY FRIDAY 56

I was wound up when I met Denoon. It was muggy, with freak intermittent blasts and lurches of hot wind, which was fine somehow when I was walking over to the reception with Z but nerve-wracking during the aeon we had to wait in a mob outside the locked gates of the house we were invited to.

Thursday, September 28, 2023

Exit Music by Ian Rankin -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Thank you for joining me here 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 girl screamed once, only the once, but it was enough.

-- from Exit Music by Ian Rankin.

Exit Music is the 17th book in Ian Rankin's mystery series featuring police detective John Rebus. It is one of my very favorite series, in part because it is set in Edinburgh, a city I've visited a couple of times and love.

As much as I enjoy the John Rebus books, I've been reading the series for a long time. There are several new series I want to start, but am making an effort to finish this one and a couple of others before I do. I've been marching though these books -- this is the fifth one I've read this year -- but it's a long series! I still have seven more to go to finish all 24. And no doubt Ian Rankin will have another one out before I finish those.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

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FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

It's late in the fall in Edinburgh and late in the career of Detective Inspector John Rebus. As he is simply trying to tie up some loose ends before his retirement, a new case lands on his desk: a dissident Russian poet has been murdered in what looks like a mugging gone wrong.

Rebus discovers that an elite delegation of Russian businessmen is in town, looking to expand its interests. And as Rebus's investigation gains ground, someone brutally assaults a local gangster with whom he has a long history.

Has Rebus overstepped his bounds for the last time? Only a few days shy of the end to his long, controversial career, will Rebus even make it that far?

Thursday, September 21, 2023

Exploring Wine Regions: The Central Coast of California by Michael Higgins -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

MY BOOK BEGINNING

It is important that we talk about terroir before we begin exploring this book.

-- from Exploring Wine Regions: The Central Coast of California by Michael Higgins.

This book about the wines of California's Central Coast is the third book in Michael Higgins's Exploring Wine Regions series. The first two books covered Bordeaux country in France and the wines of Argentina. Like the first two, this California book is a meticulously researched, insider account of wineries and vineyards, as well as a travel guide to the food, special lodging, sights, and history you will find.

This book focusses on the Central Coast of California, specifically Monterey, San Louis Obispo, and Santa Barbara Counties. This coastal area stretches from south of San Francisco to Santa Barbara, just north of Los Angeles.

I'm familiar with some of the wineries of the Central Coast, mostly those around Paso Robles, from when I lived in San Francisco. But we never did a deep dive into wines of this area. California is close to me here in Oregon and we have family in the Bay Area and Central Coast, so I plan to use this book to plan several wine-centered road trips.

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

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.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

Exploring Wine Regions – California Central Coast is the third book in the series exploring a lesser-known area of the wine regions in California. Most everyone knows of Napa Valley and Sonoma County; however, the Central Coast Wine Regions are producing top-level, high-quality wines, and the tourism is extraordinary.

Twenty million years ago, the Pacific Plate arose from the Pacific Ocean hitting the North American Plate (Canada, United States and Mexico) leaving a sliver of land above the water along California’s coast south of San Francisco. This sliver of land has its own very special terroir highly conducive to making high-quality wines. This book takes you on a journey to discover these amazing wines.

Also, the tourism along the central coast of California is unmatched. The beaches, mountains and valleys are ever so enchanting. The wineries are engaging, have lots of tourism activities available, and are especially inviting and friendly, unlike other wine regions. It’s not uncommon to find the vintner or winemaker at the tasting room wanting to share their stories and their love of wine with you.

Thursday, September 14, 2023

Need Blind Admission by Kevin Myers -- BOOK BEGINNING

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.

TIE IN: Sadly, Freda at Freda's Voice is taking a break from her weekly blog event, The Friday 56, Her event was a natural tie in with this event and there was a lot of cross over, so many people combined the two. Freda needs a break, but I hope she is back soon. Please visit her Freda’s Voice blog even if the Friday 56 is on hold indefinitely.

MY BOOK BEGINNING

William James was beyond saving when the Parker College security guards discovered his body sprawled near the community garden by the border of the affluent South Parker neighborhood.

-- from Need Blind Ambition by Kevin Meyers, out now from Beaufort Books.

Need Blind Ambition is the second novel from Kevin Meyers, a former journalist turned college administrator. I love the play on words in the title, the moody cover, and that first sentence. Wow! It really grabs you, doesn't it?

I only just got my copy and haven't started it yet. I can't wait! A novel of suspense set on a college campus is my cup of tea on any day. (I'm adding it to my list of campus novels right now.) But that this one is set in my town of Portland, Oregon makes it even more tantalizing.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

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

It feels so strange to post my Book Beginning without a Friday 56 teaser! Here is more informaiton about Need Blind Ambition:

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

The desire for relevance--and to save his marriage--is ultimately what pushed Peter Cook to leave his beloved Alaska for the prestigious Parker College. Lured by the chance to work with his childhood political idol turned college president, Peter moves his family to Portland, Oregon to help promote his hero's fundraising initiative that would eliminate financial status from the college's admissions process.

Peter arrives on campus as the Great Recession looms, the stock market is trending toward disaster, and the opioid crisis has breached the walls of the privileged college. He quickly learns the reality of Parker College strays far from its professed idealistic mission after discovering a plot to cover-up felonious drug activity in return for a seven-figure payday to the Need Blind Campaign.

While plumbing the depths of his conscience for the conviction to do the right thing, Peter's untreated childhood trauma resurfaces, threatening to cloud his perception when it needs to be at its sharpest. Peter must stabilize his mental health while also trying to parse competing versions of "the truth" as law enforcement investigates the criminal conspiracy.

Need Blind Ambition asks: how far will a college stray to protect its reputation?

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