July 2026 Monthly Wrap Up -- BOOK THOUGHTS

BOOK THOUGHTS

July 2026 Monthly Wrap Up

July was a good reading month for me. How about you? 

Here's a list of the books I read in July, in the order I read them, not as shown in the photo. Those not in the photo were audiobooks I read with my ears. 

• The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien. Not a favorite but I’m happy to get it off my shelf, thanks to the TBR 26 in '26 Challenge. 

• Social Justice Fallacies by Thomas Sowell, an economics book. It was a little repetitive of other books I've read by him, but his ideas bear repeating so I didn't mind. 

• Seeing Calvin Coolidge in a Dream by John Derbyshire. I didn't know what to expect from this one and finally got to it because it was on my TBR 26 in '26 list. I'm so glad I finally read it because it is a delightful novel about Chinese immigrants and marriage.

• Troubles by J.G. Farrell, one of the books in his Empire Trilogy. The three books share common themes related to the end of the British Empire, but do not have to be read in order. I read The Siege of Krishnapur (Indian Uprising of 1857) a while back and The Singapore Grip also in July. This one is about a group of English people living in a dilapidated seaside hotel in Ireland at the beginning of the Irish War of Independence (1919–1921).  It is funny, sad, short, and excellent. Troubles was published in 1970 and awarded The Lost Booker Prize in 2010.

• Learning to Heal: One Woman’s Journey Through Medicine by Liz Casper records her experiences in medical school, practice, and as a cancer patient. She illustrates each step in her career with a story about a particular patient, which makes her memoir feel immediate and human. Excellent!

• Here One Moment by Lianne Moriarty. Her books always give full entertainment value. I prefer the audiobooks because the Australian accents give the stories a real sense of place. 

• Doctor Fischer of Geneva or the Bomb Party by Graham Greene is a short book that will linger for a long time. I read it with a group of Bookstagrammers working our way through all his novels, one every other month. 

• Dunbar by Edward St. Aubyn, a  retelling of King Lear. This was a highlight of the month. Every Hogarth Shakespeare I've read had knocked my socks off. Interestingly, Dunbar reimagines King Lear as the battle between an aging media mogul and his offspring over who will control his empire. Sound familiar? The book came out only months before Succession aired, which told King Lear through the same plot. Sometimes ideas get plucked from the universe at the same time. 

• Harm Done by Ruth Rendell. Book 18 in her Inspector Wexford Series, this one involves domestic violence and the victims seeking protection at the local women's shelter. 

• A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler. I’m an Anne Tyler completist so am reading all of them. They all involve families but this one didn't have much plot beyond following a particular family in Baltimore (of course) through several generations in one house. 

• Risk Management by Reid Winslow, a dual storyline thriller that built to an exciting ending. Read my review here. 

• The Singapore Grip by J.G. Farrell, also in his Empire Trilogy, which I read out of order but it didn't matter. This is the story of the British community in Singapore when the Japanese invade in 1941. It is a long, shaggy story highlighting the disparities between the British and Asian inhabitants. It is definitely one of the top books of my reading year.

• A History of the World in 10½ Chapters by Julian Barnes, linked short stories. The opening story retold Noah's Ark from the perspective of a bug stowaway and was hilarious. The rest of the stories had a link -- strong or weak -- to Noah's Ark. All in all, a mixed bag, but I think that of all story collections.

• Discovering Main Street: Travel Adventures in Small Towns of the Pacific Northwest by Foster Church. The third TBR 26 in ‘26 for me in July. While a lot of the specific information was outdated (my fault for waiting so long to read this 2010 book), there was still plenty here to inspire a long list of road trip ideas. 

• The Summons by Peter Lovesey, his 3d Peter Diamond mystery. I was happy to find that this one brought Diamond back to Bath, the setting of the first book. 

The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett and Mona's Eyes by Thomas Schlesser -- BOOK REVIEW(S)

 

The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett and Mona's Eyes by Thomas Schlesser

BOOK REVIEW(S)

I recently read The Calamity Club and Mona's Eyes, both new, popular books, and they hit me entirely differently. Can you guess which of these I loved and which I didn’t finish? 

The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett:

Well -- suspense over -- I loved this one. Absolutely loved it. I almost didn’t start it, despite getting a review copy from the publisher Spiegel & Grau. The description on the back about three misfit women bonding together to “claim what’s rightfully theirs” gave transgressive vibes that didn’t appeal to me. I just wasn’t in the mood for Thelma & Louise set in Depression-era Mississippi. But I gave it a go and could not have been more wrong in my interpretation of the cover description!

Stockett’s story is plot-driven historical fiction at its best. The POV switches between 10-year-old Meg, stuck in an orphanage with a cruel superintendent, and 25-year-old Birdie who is stuck solving the dire financial problems of her extended family. Their stories connect through Charlie, a woman whose tragic past drives her to an audacious plan to save all three of them. The characters are compelling, the setting authentic, and the plotting steadily builds to a satisfying conclusion. It’s exactly the sort of shaggy adventure I love.

Mona’s Eyes by Thomas Schlesser:

I made it through the first third then gave up. I only wish I hit the DNF button earlier! Mona's Eyes is the contemporary story of 10-year-old Mona who may or may not go blind following a medical scare. Her grandfather decides to teach her about art, so if she goes blind, she will have good images in her mind. Under the pretense of taking her to a child shrink, he takes her once a week to a museum to study one piece of art and discuss it with him. Every chapter is their viewing and discussing one work of art.

It’s like sitting through Art History 101, but without the slides and the laser pointer. Reading about someone else looking at art is as boring as it sounds. Unlike plot-dense Calamity Club, Mona’s Eyes has no plot, at least not in the first third that I read. There are little scenes interspersed between art lessons – Mona at school or with her friends, mom worrying about Mona’s health, dad drinking and running his vintage collectibles business into the ground. But those are just scenes, not story. Maybe they will tie together to suggest a plot at some point. There's a glimmer of something involving Mona finding a secret stash of valuable figurines in her father's storeroom -- maybe he can sell them and save his business. But that is two short scenes out of 150 pages. Otherwise, I feel like I’m sitting in class.

NOTES: 

Have you read either of these? What did you think?

My book club is reading Mona's Eyes for our next meeting. I am dying to know what the other ladies think, although I won't be surprised if they loved it. Several of them are really into art and may love it just because it is a book about art. I like art as much as the next person, but if I want to learn about art, I'll read an art book or watch an art appreciation class on YouTube. I want my fiction to tell a story, not educate me. 

Falstaff by Robert Nye -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Falstaff by Robert Nye

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 was begotten on the giant of Cerne Abbas.

-- from Falstaff by Robert Nye. Interesting first line. The story he goes on to tell is quite funny.

Robert Nye's 1975 novel, Falstaff, is the ficitonal memoir of Shakespeare's beloved comic character. It's rollicking, bawdy historical fiction at its best. The book has been on my TBR shelf for a long time, ever since I read about it in Anthony Burgess's book, 99 Novels: The Best in English Since 1939, a Personal Choice. I've loved many books that I read because they are on Burgess's list and, only a few chapters into this one, I can tell it will be another favorite. 

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 Falstaff:

Being made page in a great household was supposed to prepare you for entry to court circles later on. I dare say the preparation lay in listening to the conversation of 1's betters, and in learning what to lick and where to crawl.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

The most beloved comic figure in English literature decides that history hasn’t done him justice—it’s time for him to tell the whole unbuttoned story, his way. Irascible and still lecherous at eighty-one, Falstaff spins out these outrageously bawdy memoirs as an antidote to legend, and in the process manages to recreate his own. This splendidly written novel is a feast, opening wide the look and feel of another age and bringing Shakespeare’s Falstaff to life in a totally new way. Like Jack Falstaff himself, it’s sprawling, vivid, oversized—big as life. We return in an instant to an England that was ribald, violent, superstitious, coursing with high spirits and a fresh sense of national purpose. We see what history and the Bard of Avon overlooked or avoided: what really happened that celebrated night at the windmill when Falstaff and Justice Shallow heard the chimes at midnight; who really killed Hotspur; how many men fell at the Battle of Agincourt; what actually transpired at the coronation of Henry V ("Harry the Prig"); and just what it was that made the wives of Windsor so very merry.

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

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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.

Transcription by Kate Atkinson -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Transcription by Kate Atkinson

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

"Miss Armstrong! Miss Armstrong! Can you hear me?".

-- from Transcription by Kate Atkinson.

Transcription came out in 2019 and sat unread on my shelf until last week. I regret not reading it immediately because I loved it. 

It is the story of a young woman who gets recruited during WWII to work for MI5. After the war, she goes to work for the BBC, but her past intrudes on her new life. Atkinson tells the exciting, comlpicated story with her usual charm and subtle humor. 

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 Transcription:

Nor did they have any idea that Godfrey Toby worked for MI5 and was not the Gestapo agent to whom they thought they were bringing traitorous information. And they would have been very surprised to know that the following day a girl sat at a big Imperial typewriter in the flat next door and transcribed those traitorous conversations, one top copy and two carbons at a time.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

In 1940, eighteen-year old Juliet Armstrong is reluctantly recruited into the world of espionage. Sent to an obscure department of MI5 tasked with monitoring the comings and goings of British Fascist sympathizers, she discovers the work to be by turns both tedious and terrifying. But after the war has ended, she presumes the events of those years have been relegated to the past forever.

Ten years later, now a radio producer at the BBC, Juliet is unexpectedly confronted by figures from her past. A different war is being fought now, on a different battleground, but Juliet finds herself once more under threat. A bill of reckoning is due, and she finally begins to realize that there is no action without consequence.

A Paris Apartment by Michelle Gable -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

A Paris Apartment by Michelle Gable

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

She only waned to get out of town.

-- from A Paris Apartment by Michelle Gable.

That's an appropriate Book Beginning for me because I took this book out of town with me. It is about an art appraiser (specializing in antique furniture) sent to Paris to value an apartment full of old furniture and art. The apartment had been locked up for 70 years, owned by someone who didn't live in Paris. When she died, her heir called in the appraisers to prepare the contents for auction. This was a good pick for my trip because I'm in Washington, DC, visiting a lot of museums, and seeing a lot of art.

 

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 Paris Apartment:

Marthe's flat was so thick with museum-quality furnishings one could hardly walk through without stumbling. April's flat was so sparse she wondered if there were enough places to rest both her backside and her computer simultaneously.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

April Vogt, Sotheby's continental furniture specialist, is speechless when a Paris apartment shuttered for seventy years is discovered in the ninth arrondissement. Beneath the cobwebs and stale perfumed air is a goldmine, and not because of the actual gold (or painted ostrich eggs or mounted rhinoceros horns or bronze bathtub). First, there's a portrait by one of the masters of the Belle Epoque, Giovanni Boldini. And then there are letters and journals written by the very woman in the painting, Marthe de Florian. These documents reveal that she was more than a renowned courtesan with enviable decolletage. Suddenly April's quest is no longer about the bureaux plats and Louis-style armchairs that will fetch millions at auction. It's about discovering the story behind this charismatic woman.

Mary Anne by Daphne du Maurier -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

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

MY BOOK BEGINNING

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

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

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS 

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

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THE FRIDAY 56

The Friday 56 is a natural tie-in with Book Beginnings. The idea is to share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of your featured book. If you are reading an ebook or audiobook, find your teaser from the 56% mark.

Freda at Freda's Voice started and hosted The Friday 56 for a long, long time. She is taking a break and Anne at My Head is Full of Books has taken on hosting duties in her absence. Please visit Anne's blog and link to your Friday 56 post.

MY FRIDAY 56

-- from Mary Anne:

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

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

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

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

Lines of Deception by Steve Anderson -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Please join me every Friday for Book Beginnings! Share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author’s name.

EARLY BIRDS & SLOWPOKES: This weekly post goes up Thursday evening for those who like to get their posts up and linked early on. But feel free to add a link all week.

SOCIAL MEDIA: If you are on Instagram, Twitter, or other social media, please post using the hash tag #BookBeginnings. I try to follow all Book Beginnings participants on whatever interweb sites you are on, so please let me know if I have missed any and I will catch up. Find me on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

MY BOOK BEGINNING

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

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

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

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

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

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

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THE FRIDAY 56

The Friday 56 is a natural tie-in with Book Beginnings. The idea is to share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of your featured book. If you are reading an ebook or audiobook, find your teaser from the 56% mark.

Freda at Freda's Voice started and hosted The Friday 56 for a long, long time. She is taking a break and Anne at My Head if Full of Books has taken on hosting duties in her absence. Please visit Anne's blog and link to your Friday 56 post.

MY FRIDAY 56

From Lines of Deception:

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

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

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

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

Unsettled by Patricia Reis -- BOOK REVIEW

BOOK REVIEW

Unsettled by Patricia Reis (2023 by Sibylline Press)

Unsettled is Patricia Reis's debut novel of historical fiction. She uses a braided narrative to take the reader back and forth between present day and the 1870s world of German immigrants in Iowa.

Like other stories involving a modern and historic timeline, something has to trigger the modern-day protagonist to delve into the past. Here, Van Reinhardt is sent off on her historic quest when she finds message for her in her dead father’s desk. She sets out to fulfill her father's dying wish by tracking their ancestors' history. She searches through official records but only finds the key to her family’s secret when she discovers her Tante Kate’s diary.

While the framework may be familiar, Reis handles the story well. We feel like we are right there with Van, in a hot, humid Iowa summer, going through dusty archives. And Kate’s life as a new immigrant keep us glued to the page, especially when we begin to understand how her choices carried over to later generations.

A well-executed and highly readable debut.    

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

As Van Reinhardt clears out her father’s belongings, she comes across a request penned by her father prior to his death. Examining the family portrait of her German immigrant ancestors that he has left her, Van’s curiosity grows about one of the children portrayed there.

Meanwhile in the 1870s, Kate is a German immigrant newly arrived in America with only her brother as family. When she and her brother split, she eventually finds her way back to him, but with a secret.

Van revisits the town and the farm of her ancestors to discover calamitous events in probate records, farm auction lists, asylum records and lurid obituaries, hinting at a history far more complex and tumultuous than she had expected. But the mystery remains, until she chances upon a small book—sized for a pocket—that holds Tante Kate’s secret and provides the missing piece.

Three Fires by Denise Mina -- BOOK REVIEW

BOOK REVIEW

Three Fires by Denise Mina (2023, Pegasus Books)

With Three Fires, Denise Mina returns to the novella form she used so masterfully in Rizzio, her earlier book of historical fiction. Three Fires is the story of Girolamo Savonarola, a Dominican frier in 15th Century Florence. Savonarola rose as a puritanical leader of Florence after his preaching against the greed and vice of the ruling Medici family led to their loss of power.

Savonarola’s hellfire preaching inspired a series of fires around Florence lit to publicly burn books, fancy clothes, art, playing cards, musical instruments, and other symbols of immorality. These fires became known as the Bonfire of the Vanities.

While Three Fires is a quick and entertaining read, Mina packs a lot of information and ideas into this short book of 138 pages. She, as the omniscient narrator, uses modern language and modern similes to describe the historical details in a way that makes them immediately understandable. For example, when she describes a civil war between rival aristocratic families in the wealthy city of Ferrara, she says, “It’s the Vietnam War taking place in Monte Carlo.” These historical anomalies could feel like stylistic gimmicks, but in Mina’s hands, they work to convey complex ideas in an efficient and engaging way.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

From the award-winning master of crime fiction, Denise Mina re-imagines the "Bonfire of the Vanities,” a series of fires lit throughout Florence at the end of the fifteenth century—inspired by the fanatical Girolamo Savonarola.

* * *

Railing against the vice and avarice of the ruling Medici family, [Savonarola] was instrumental in their removal from power—and for a short time became the puritanical leader of the city. After turning his attention to corruption within the Catholic Church, he was first excommunicated and then executed by a combination of hanging and being burned at the stake.

Just as in Rizzio—her latest novel with Pegasus Crime—Denise Mina brings a modern take to this fascinating historical story, drawing parallels between the febrile atmosphere of medieval Florence and the culture wars of the present day. In dramatizing the life and last days of Savonarola, she explores the downfall of the original architect of cancel culture and, in the process, explores the never-ending tensions between wealth, inequality, and freedom of speech that so dominate our modern world.

Unsettled by Patricia Reis -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Thank you for joining me here on Rose City Reader for Book Beginnings on Fridays. Share the opening sentence (or so) from the book you are reading this week, or just a book that caught your fancy. 

MY BOOK BEGINNING

The real estate agent's message was curt.

-- From Unsettled by Patricia Reis, out October 10, 2023 by Sibylline Press.

Unsettled is Patricia Ries's debut novel. It is historical fiction with a braided narrative that takes the reader from present day to the 1870s world of German immigrants in Iowa. Our present day protagonist seeks to fulfill her father's dying wish by tracking their ancestor's history and discovering a family secret. Yes, please!

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

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

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THE FRIDAY 56

TIE IN: The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice is a natural tie in with this event and there is a lot of cross over, so many people combine the two. The idea is to post a teaser from page 56 of the book you are reading and share a link to your post. Find details and the linky for your Friday 56 post on Freda’s Voice.

MY FRIDAY 56

From Unsettled:

I had heard of mechanical milking machines but could not imagine a cow putting up with a new-fangled thing like that. I placed my cheek against the cow's flank and spoke softly to her in German while I milked.

There's nothing that says "Iowa farm in 1870" like hand milking a cow!

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

In this lyrical historical fiction with alternating points of view, a repressed woman begins an ancestral quest through the prairies of Iowa, awakening family secrets and herself, while in the late 1800s, a repressed ancestor, Tante Kate, creates those secrets.

Sibylline Press was started in 2023 by four women in the publishing industry to celebrate women authors over 50. 

Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Welcome to Book Beginnings on Fridays, where participants share the opening sentence (or so) of the books 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 this week.

MY BOOK BEGINNING

“Is it a hanging?” an eager newspaper delivery boy asked to no one in particular.

-- from Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson. 

I'm a huge Kate Atkinson fan. Shrines of Gaiety is her most recent book, a novel about nightclub life in 1920s London. I just started the audiobook today and am already completely sucked in. Atkinson really knows how to spin a yarn.

Shrines is the perfect follow up to Evelyn Waugh's Vile Bodies that I finished last week. Both are about post-WWI, 1920s, London party life. The characters in Shrines even talk about the "Bright Young Things" in the society pages, which is exactly the framing for Waugh's book. 

 

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

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

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THE FRIDAY 56

Freda at Freda's Voice hosts another teaser event on Fridays. Participants share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of the book they are reading -- or from 56% of the way through the audiobook or ebook. Please visit Freda's Voice for details and to leave a link to your post.

MY FRIDAY 56

From Shrines of Gaiety:

When younger, Frobisher had imagined many qualities in his future wife, but he had not anticipated hysterical amnesia. Lottie’s story was tragic and complicated — again, something he had not predicted in his future wife.

A police officer with a mentally ill French wife, a librarian willing to go undercover as a nightclub hostess, missing girls, damaged war veterans, a nightclub queen looking to hand over her empire to her six children -- I'm only a quarter of the way through the book and am entranced. 

Three Fires, by Denise Mina -- 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: The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice is a natural tie in with this event and there is a lot of cross over, so many people combine the two. The idea is to post a teaser from page 56 of the book you are reading and share a link to your post. Find details and the Linky for your Friday 56 post on Freda’s Voice.

MY BOOK BEGINNING

It's late afternoon as a Fra Girolamo Savonarola shuffles onto the raised stage at the front of the Hall of the Five Hundred.

-- from Three Fires, by Denise Mina, out August 1 from Pegasus Books. This is the story of Girolama Savonarola, a Dominican frier in 15th Century Florence. Savonarola rose as a puritanical leader of Florence after his preaching against the greed and vice of the ruling Medici family led to their loss of power.

Savonarola’s hellfire preaching inspired a series of fires around Florence lit to publicly burn books, fancy clothes, art, playing cards, musical instruments, and other symbols of immorality. These fires became known as the Bonfire of the Vanities.

I’m excited to get my hands on this advanced copy of Three Fires. I plan to enjoy it with a cool adult beverage out on my porch.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

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MY FRIDAY 56

From Three Fires:

Savonarola appears at the palazzo door and the crowd outside cheer enthusiastically, touch his cassock as he comes past. They part to let him through.

One More Seat at the Round Table by Susan Dormady Eisenberg -- 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: The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice is a natural tie in with this event and there is a lot of cross over, so many people combine the two. The idea is to post a teaser from page 56 of the book you are reading and share a link to your post. Find details and the Linky for your Friday 56 post on Freda’s Voice.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

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MY BOOK BEGGINING

No doubt about it, success has been an answered prayer that's causing tears for my friends Alan Lerner and Fritz Loewe.

-- from the Prologue, "Brock Remsen's Journal[,] August 29, 1958," in One More Seat at the Round Table: A Novel of Broadway's Camelot by Susan Dormady Eisenberg.

I don't have psychic powers, but at various times in my life, I've felt a prickle along my neck when something big was about to happen.

-- from chapter 1, "Two Big Breaks[,] Jane."

I like everything about the opening of this new book. I like that the chapters have titles, we know already when the story is set and that there will be multiple points of view, and both of these sentences offer the little details that hint at the story to come. 

And while it isn't immediately obvious to anyone not a big fan of classic Broadway shows, Alan Lerner and Fritz Loewe are the real life writers of the music for the real Camelot musical. I like that the first sentence refers to them, so we know the story is based on historical events.

One More Seat looks like a highly entertaining story offering a glimpse backstage at a major production.  My only question is whether I read it right away or save it for once the weather turns chilly. It looks like it fits the bill for either a breezy summer read or a cozy fireside read. What do you think?

MY FRIDAY 56

Crossing Fifth Avenue, I glanced up the block, thronged with people toting shopping bags, and saw the stone façade of St Patrick's with its neo-Gothic steeples looming over midtown. The cathedral had opened in 1879, a fact I learned at age twelve when my Girl Scout trooped toured the city.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

Set backstage during the out-of-town chaos of Lerner and Loewe's now-classic 1960 musical, One More Seat at the Round Table portrays the struggles of feisty drama school grad Jane Conroy, who lands a plum Gal Friday job, and Bryce Christmas, a gifted, if insecure, actor on the verge of his big break. When Jane and Bryce fall helplessly in love during Toronto tryouts, their relationship is tested by mistakes they make and endless work woes . . . .

As Lerner, composer Loewe, and their stars, Richard Burton and Julie Andrews, trudge on to Boston, doubts besiege Jane who hopes to buck convention and skip marriage and Bryce who wants a wife. . . .

Horse by Geraldine Brooks -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Thank you for joining my on Book Beginnings on Fridays! Please share the opening sentence (or so) from the book you are reading this week. You can also share from a book that caught your fancy or you otherwise want to highlight.

MY BOOK BEGINNING

The deceptively reductive forms of the artist’s work belie the density of meaning forged by a bifurcated existence. These glyphs and ideograms signal to us from the crossroads: freedom and slavery, White and Black, rural and urban.

-- from Horse by Geraldine Brooks.

Those two opening sentences are as pompous and unwieldy as they sound! But they are the character's attempt to write a magazine article about a painting. He rejects them immediately, saying to himself: "No. Nup. That wouldn’t do. It reeked of PhD. This was meant to be read by normal people." 

So have no fear, Horse is completely engaging, with no reek of PhD. I really enjoyed Geraldine Brooks' People of the Book, which my book club read a while back. So when one of my book club friends gave me a copy of Horse for Christmas, it went straight to my nightstand to be read ASAP. 

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 #bookbeginnings hashtag.

  

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THE FRIDAY 56

Another fun Friday event is The Friday 56. Share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of your book, or 56% of the way through your e-book or audiobook, on this weekly event hosted by Freda at Freda's Voice.

MY FRIDAY 56

From Horse:

He watched her, a slight white shape in the dark, running up the rise to the house. Instead of taking the shallow stone steps to the grand front entrance, she slipped around the side porch.

Horse is historical fiction with a "braided narrative" going from 1850 to 1954 to 2019. The story is based on a real racehorse in the 1950s named Lexington. 

The Promise of a Normal Life by Rebecca Kaiser Gibson -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Thank you for joining me each week on Friday to share the opening sentence (or so) from the book you are reading. Feel free to share instead from a book that caught your fancy or you feel like highlighting. Please hop around and visit the other participants!

MY BOOK BEGINNING

There's a picture of me, at eighteen, on the boat to Israel.

-- from The Promise of a Normal Life by Rebecca Kaiser Gibson. This debut novel finds a young Jewish-American woman trying to find her way in 1960s America and Israel. It launched this week from Skyhorse Publishing and I look forward to reading it!

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Please add a link to your Book Beginning post in the box below and use the hashtag #bookbeginnigns if you share on social media. 

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

Freda at Freda's Voice hosts another teaser event on Fridays. Participants share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of the book they are reading -- or from 56% of the way through the audiobook or ebook. Please visit Freda's Voice for details and to leave a link to your post.

MY FRIDAY 56

From The Promise of a Normal Heart:

Polina had gorgeous high heels, also white, that showed under the dress. In the photograph, which was a formal picture from Brooks Portraits, Polina was seated, gazing, so her neck was long, over her right shoulder at the camera.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

For readers of Marilynne Robinson, Elizabeth Strout, and Katie Kitamura, the indelible journey of a quiet young woman—the “silent person” in the Seder—finding her way.

Hailed as “radiant and transporting” (Margot Livesey), The Promise of a Normal Life is a poet’s debut novel, so evocative of life as lived that it transports you to a time and place you can practically see, touch, and feel. The unnamed narrator is a fiercely observant, introverted Jewish-American girl who seems to exist in a private and separate realm. . . . 

 
Along the way, she meets a glamorous hairdresser on a cruise ship to Israel, loopy tarot-card-reading passengers, and Alice-in-Wonderland lawyers in Haifa. There’s a blue-eyed all-American college boyfriend, a mystified tourist agent in the Lofoten Islands, a handsome eligible rabbi in LA, a righteous and self-absorbed MIT professor, and a clandestine, calculating lover in Boston. Eventually, she finds her own compass, but only after being swept to several distant shores by many winds.