Book Beginning: Little Book of Self-Care by Della Rae

THANKS FOR JOINING ME ON FRIDAYS IN 2014 FOR BOOK BEGINNING FUN!

Please join me every Friday to 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.

FACEBOOK: Rose City Reader has a Facebook page where I post about new and favorite books, book events, and other bookish tidbits, as well as link to blog posts. I'd love a “Like" on the page! You can go to the page here to Like it. I am happy to Like you back if you have a blog or professional Facebook page, so please leave a comment with a link and I will find you.

TWITTER, ETC: If you are on Twitter, Google+, 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.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING



Sorry for the late Linky!
MY BOOK BEGINNING

How do you define "self-care"? To me, self-care is finding out who you are and what is important to you, regardless of what that is, and being at peace with yourself.

-- Little Book of Self-Care by Della Rae.  Della is a radio host, lecturer, and author who has been actively involved with several non-profit organizations, including World Pulse, a global network connecting women through digital media.

Della believes we must take the very best care of ourselves all of the time and everywhere we go. Her Little Book of Self-Care offers refreshingly honest advice and personal insight to help achieve a healthy self.

Review: Cold by Stella Cameron

In Cold, Stella Cameron introduces amateur sleuth Alex Duggins in what will hopefully be a long series.  Alex has returned to Folly-on-Weir, the Cotswold village of her youth, after her high-flying London marriage fell apart.  She bought the local pub and a big stone house in the hills.  But when she finds a dead body in the snowy woods, her little village doesn't seem quite so cozy.

Cameron knows how to spin a tale, with an authentic setting and plenty of village characters, including a pair of bookish spinster sisters with a tea shop, a handsome childhood buddy now all grown up, horsey rich manor owners, wandering monks, and a pub-full of possible suspects. Add a blizzard, a sharp-eyed detective, and a galloping plot and Cold is a great way to spend a winter weekend. 

OTHER REVIEWS

If you would like your review of Cold listed here, please leave a comment with a link and I will add it.

Teaser Tuesday: Ten Lords A-Leaping by C. C. Benison

There was a perceptible intake of breath around the table, followed by a short, sharp laugh -- Lucinda's -- quelled by a warning glare from Hector.  Coming as it did from a child and voiced for the first time, the word murdered seemed to fall like cold rain upon the adults of the room.

-- Ten Lords A-Leaping by C. C. Benison. This chunky cozy is the third book in the Father Tom Christmas series, set in the English village of Thornford Regis. It has everything a country house mystery needs -- 100% satisfying!

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event. 

Review: Things We Set on Fire by Deborah Reed

Things We Set on Fire is a detail-rich family story by up-and-comer Deborah Reed that will suck you in from the first pages. 

When marital misfortune and physical collapse bring sisters Elin and Kate back to their mother, three generations of tough but damaged women finally come together to deal with a 30-year old tragedy that had splintered the family.  Reed never sugar-coats the story, but her evocative prose brings out every nuanced emotion as these women learn the truth and learn to forgive.   

With a strong Southern Gothic vibe, believably flawed characters, and a heart-tugging plot, Things We Set on Fire will linger long after the cover is closed.

  

NOTES

Things We Set on Fire is Deborah Reed's first literary novel.

Carry Yourself Back to Me (reviewed here), shares the lyric voice and hardscrabble Florida setting of Things We Set on Fire.  She is also the author of two sassy thrillers, A Small Fortune (reviewed here) and Fortune's Deadly Descent (reviewed here), both published under her pen name, Audrey Braun.

Book Beginning: Ten Lords A-Leaping by C. C. Benison

THANKS FOR JOINING ME ON FRIDAYS FOR BOOK BEGINNING FUN!

Please join me every Friday to 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.

FACEBOOK: Rose City Reader has a Facebook page where I post about new and favorite books, book events, and other bookish tidbits, as well as link to blog posts. I'd love a “Like" on the page! You can go to the page here to Like it. I am happy to Like you back if you have a blog or professional Facebook page, so please leave a comment with a link and I will find you.

TWITTER, ETC: If you are on Twitter, Google+, 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.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING



 MY BOOK BEGINNING

"The things I do for the Church of England," Tom murmured, thinking he might as well have shouted it aloud.

-- Ten Lords A-Leaping by C. C. Benison. Just what is he up to on behalf of the church?

This is the third book in Benison's Father Tom Christmas series.  I haven't read the first two, but this one looks terrific and now I want to start from the beginning of the series.

Review: Worthy Brown's Daughter by Phillip Margolin

When Oregon became the 33rd US state on February 14, 1859, it entered the Union as a free state, prohibiting slavery.  But the new state's Constitution also included a racial exclusion clause banning black people from emigrating to Oregon, owning land, entering into contracts, or filing lawsuits.

Philip Margolin's new novel, Worthy Brown's Daughter, is set against this backdrop of Western expansion and racial conflict.  Worthy Brown is a freed slave accused of murder in the attempt to rescue his captive 15-year-old daughter.  Struggling lawyer Matthew Penney is torn between his client's innocence and his own self-interest.  A crooked judge, a dangerous gold digger, and a crowded cast of frontier socialites and ne'er-do-wells keep the many-branched plot twisting and turning to the exciting finale.   

Loosely based on a true story, Worthy Brown's Daughter is an exciting Wild West adventure with serious themes.

OTHER REVIEWS

The Oregonian

If you would like your review of this or any other Phillip Margolin book listed here, please leave a comment with a link and I will add it.

NOTES

Phillip Margolin writes fast-paced contemporary thrillers like his hugely popular Gone, But Not Forgotten and the recent best seller, Capitol Murder.

Teaser Tuesday: The Art of Selling Real Estate by Patricia Cliff

And then came the Lehman crisis of 2008, the subsequent bust of the real estate bubble, and the beginning of a whole different value system. . . .  Clients needed knowledgeable, efficient workhorses to effectuate sales in a very different marketplace, and under the most trying conditions.

-- from the author's Introduction to The Art of Selling Real Estate by Patricia Cliff.

Cliff has worked for over 35 years selling luxury Manhattan real estate.  Her advice to realtors will kick start a new career or boost an established one. This is a must-read for anyone in the real estate business.  And anyone in sales would benefit from her practical insight and guidance.

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event. 

Mailbox Monday: The Difficult Sister

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday!  MM was created by Marcia, who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring event.  Mailbox Monday has now returned to its permanent home where you can link to your MM post.

Only one book came into my home last week, but it's a good one!



The Difficult Sister by Judy Nedry.  This is the second book in Nedry's Emma Golden mystery series, following the series debut, An Unholy Alliance. I already love the heroine -- a 50-something wine writer turned amateur sleuth.

PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

Set on the southern Oregon coast, The Difficult Sister follows amateur sleuth Emma and her friend Melody Wyatt as they search for Melody’s missing sister Aurora. Known as “the Bolter”, Aurora has burned her way through a plethora of husbands and lovers. At age 50, freshly reinvented by modern science, the she meets a man on-line and falls in love. She moves with him from Portland to the remote fictional town of Radnor. Within a few weeks, her emails and phone calls cease. Melody becomes further alarmed when her sister’s cell phone is answered by the man, who claims Aurora left him. She and Emma drive to Bandon, Oregon to look for her. In a novel where place emerges as a key character, the two women are swept into the miasma that is the southern Oregon coast—where the “haves” live in homes overlooking the Pacific Ocean on coastal side of Highway 101 and the “have-nots” live in 50-year-old single-wide trailers on the dark side of the highway. It is a place some folks go to cook meth, disappear into poverty, or just disappear.

THE AUTHOR

Judy Nedry earned a BA in Journalism from the University of Oregon and worked for two decades documenting the growth of the Northwest wine industry. She is the author of two nonfiction books about Northwest wine and co-founded Northwest Palate magazine. She lives in Portland, Oregon.

2014 European Reading Challenge, Wrap Up Page

The European Reading Challenge
January 1, 2014 to January 31, 2015

THIS IS THE PAGE FOR WRAP UP POSTS.

TO LIST YOUR REVIEWS, GO TO THIS PAGE.

TO SIGN UP, GO TO THE MAIN CHALLENGE PAGE, HERE,

OR CLICK THE BUTTON ABOVE.

If you have finished the challenge at whatever level you signed up for, and if you did a wrap up post, please enter a link to your wrap up post here.  Please link to your wrap up post, NOT the main page of your blog.

LINK YOUR WRAP UP POST HERE:

2014 European Reading Challenge, Review Page

The European Reading Challenge
January 1, 2014 to January 31, 2015

THIS IS THE PAGE TO LIST YOUR REVIEWS.

IF YOU HAVE FINISHED, WRAP UP POSTS GO HERE.

TO SIGN UP, GO TO THE MAIN CHALLENGE PAGE, HERE,

OR CLICK THE BUTTON ABOVE.

When you review a book for the 2014 European Reading Challenge, please add it to this list using the linky widget below.  Please link to your review post, NOT the main page of your blog.

NOTE: There is overlap in January 2014 between the last month of the 2013 challenge and the first month of the 2014 challenge. If you participated both years, only count books read in January in one of the years, not both.

Please put your name or the name of your blog, the name of the book you reviewed, and the country of the book or author. For example: Rose City Reader, Doctor Zhivago, Russia.

LIST YOUR REVIEW HERE:

Book Beginning: The Art of Selling Real Estate by Patricia Cliff

THANKS FOR JOINING ME ON FRIDAYS IN 2014 FOR BOOK BEGINNING FUN!

Please join me every Friday to 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.

FACEBOOK: Rose City Reader has a Facebook page where I post about new and favorite books, book events, and other bookish tidbits, as well as link to blog posts. I'd love a “Like" on the page! You can go to the page here to Like it. I am happy to Like you back if you have a blog or professional Facebook page, so please leave a comment with a link and I will find you.

TWITTER, ETC: If you are on Twitter, Google+, 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.

MR. LINKY



MY BOOK BEGINNING 

When I ventured into the real estate business in the dark ages of the 1970s in Manhattan, the industry was very rudimentary.

-- from the author's Introduction to The Art of Selling Real Estate by Patricia Cliff.

Many people dream in a rather unfocussed way about how very interesting it would be to become a real estate agent.

-- from Chapter 1, "Getting Started."

Written for realtors working after the housing bubble burst, Cliff offers timely, practical advice for real estate professionals -- whether seasoned veterans or newcomers.

Cliff's book is a must-read for realtors, but is also a good guide for anyone in sales. Her goal is to show sellers how to make themselves indispensable to any transaction by being a consistent, authentic, remarkable deliverer of a high level of personalized service.

Teaser Tuesday: The Last Dead Girl by Harry Dolan

It didn't put him on the ground as she had hoped, but it knocked him back.  It gave her a chance to break free and rush along the rear wall of the trailer, around the corner, toward the road.

-- The Last Dead Girl by Harry Dolan.  The story starts off fast and gets complicated from there, with plenty of twists and turns, a crowded cast, and terrific writing. This series can't be beat.

The Last Dead Girl is the third book in Dolan's David Loogan series.  In the narrative chronology, it is a prequel to the first two books, Bad Things Happen (reviewed here) and Very Bad Men (reviewed here). 

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event. 

Book Beginning: The Last Dead Girl by Harry Dolan

THANKS FOR JOINING ME ON FRIDAYS IN 2014 FOR BOOK BEGINNING FUN!

Please join me every Friday to 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.

FACEBOOK: Rose City Reader has a Facebook page where I post about new and favorite books, book events, and other bookish tidbits, as well as link to blog posts. I'd love a “Like" on the page! You can go to the page here to Like it. I am happy to Like you back if you have a blog or professional Facebook page, so please leave a comment with a link and I will find you.

TWITTER, ETC: If you are on Twitter, Google+, 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.

MR. LINKY



MY BOOK BEGINNING

They put me in a room with white tiles on the walls and a pair of long fluorescent lights glaring down from the ceiling.

-- The Last Dead Girl by Harry Dolan. 

The Last Dead Girl is the third book in Dolan's David Loogan series.  In the narrative chronology, it is a prequel to the first two books, Bad Things Happen (reviewed here) and Very Bad Men (reviewed here).  This is a terrific series!

Teaser Tuesday: Worthy Brown's Daughter by Phillip Margolin

Matthew pulled back on the reins and stared openmouthed as the naked girl streaked into the woods. He almost had his horse under control when the front door slammed open and Caleb Barbour, half dressed and looking like a wild man, leaped off the porch and pounded after Roxanne.

-- Worthy Brown's Daughter by Phillip Margolin.  This exciting new novel is available now for pre-order and will be released January 21.

Margolin is the popular author of 17 best-selling contemporary thrillers inspired by his own career as a criminal defense attorney.  His prior hits include Supreme Justice, Executive Privilege, and The Last Innocent Man.

In Worthy Brown's Daughter, Margolin takes a break from Washingon, D. C. drama and serial killers to go back to 1860 Oregon for a story involving  a freed slave accused of murder and the rescue of his captive 15-year-old daughter.

Based on a true story (see Breaking Chain: Slavery on Trial in the Oregon Territory by Gregory R. Nokes),  Worthy Brown's Daughter is an exciting Wild West adventure with serious themes.

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event. 

Mailbox Monday

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday!  MM was created by Marcia, who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring event.  Mailbox Monday has now returned to its permanent home where you can link to your MM post.

I got a crazy mix of books last week:



Little Book of Self-Care by Della Rae.  Della is a radio host, lecturer, and author who believes that we must take the very best care of ourselves all of the time and everywhere we go. Her Little Book of Self-Care offers refreshingly honest advice and personal insight help achieve a healthy self.



Heist and High by Anthony Curcio and Dane Batty. This is the author's true story of how he went from being a high school football star to a prescription drug addict who robbed an armored truck and almost got away with over $400,000.



Ten Lords A-Leaping by C. C. Benison. This is the third book in his Father Tom Christmas series.  I haven't read the first two, but this one looks terrific and I think I will be sucked into starting from the beginning.




Saving Justice: Watergate, the Saturday Night Massacre, and Other Adventures of a Solicitor General by Robert H. Bork. This is Bork's first-hand account of life inside the Nixon administration in the most intense months of the Watergate scandal.

Books Read in 2013

This is the list of the 102 books I read in 2013, in the order that I read them, with links to the reviews I wrote.

There is not much rhyme or reason to whether I review a book or not. Some of my favorite books go without a review.

I rate books 1 to 5.  I rate a book a 3 if I liked it but wouldn't think of recommending it and a 4 if I would recommend it to anyone. Most books get 3.5, which means that I liked it and would recommend it to people who like that genre or type of book.  For a full explanation of my rating system, see here.

If you have reviewed any of the books I reviewed, and you would like your review listed on mine, please leave a comment on my review post for that book with a link to your review and I will add it.

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese (3.5/5)

What a Piece of Work I Am by Eric Kraft (2.5/5; reviewed here)

The Prestige by Christopher Priest (4/5)

Personal History by Katharine Graham (5/5; reviewed here)

The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera (4/5; reviewed here)

Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri (4/5; Pulitzer Prize winner; reviewed here)

She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb (4/5; reviewed here)

Framley Parsonage by Anthony Trollope (4/5)

The Tuesday Club Murders by Agatha Christie (3.5/5)

Just Enough Liebling: Classic Work by the Legendary New Yorker Writer by A. J. Liebling (reviewed here) (3.5/5)

The Perfect Martini Book by Bob Herzbrun  (3/5)

The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes (4/5; Booker Prize winner)

 Dismanteling America by Thomas Sowell (3.5/5)

A Prefect's Uncle by P. G. Wodehouse (3/5; reviewed here)

Mortal Causes by Ian Rankin (3.5/5)

From Doon with Death by Ruth Rendell (3/5)

Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Landvik (3/5; reviewed here)

Shopgirl by Steve Martin (3.5/5)

Childhood by Anthony Burgess (3/5)

The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie (3.5/5; reviewed here)

The Founding Fish by John McPhee (3.5/5)

Hot Money by Dick Friancis (3.5/5)

Death in the Truffle Wood by Pierre Madnan (3.5/5)

The Hour: A Cocktail Manifesto by Bernard DeVoto (3.5/5; reviewed here)

Independent People by Halldor Laxness (3.5/5; Nobel winner; reviewed here)

Good to Great by Jim Collins (3.5/5)

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain (3.5/5)

The Gathering by Anne Enright (4/5; Booker Prize winner; reviewed here)

Murder at the Washington Tribune by Margaret Truman (3/5)

Lavinia by Ursula Le Guin (3/5; reviewed here)

Quite Honestly by John Mortimer (3/5)

Word Up! How to Write Powerful Sentences and Paragraphs (And Everything You Build from Them) by Marcia Riefer Johnston (3.5/5)

A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold (3.5/5; reviewed here)

Moonlight Mile by Dennis Lehane (3.5/5; reviewed here)

Blood From a Stone by Donna Leon (3.5/5)

Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason by Nancy Pearl (3/5)

The Tin Drum by Günter Grass (4/5; reviewed here)

Maximum Bob by Elmore Leonard (3/5)

The Road Home by Rose Tremain (3.5/5)

The Infinities by John Banville (3.5/5)

Cat Nips by Ray Shaw (3/5)

Beast in View by Margaret Millar (3.5/5; reviewed here)

Son of Holmes by John Lescroart (3/5)

Double-Edged Sword by Steve Anderson (4/5)

The Art  of Fiction by David Lodge (4/5)

Prince of Fire by Daniel Silva (3.5/5)

Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis (3/5; Pulitzer Prize winner)

The Groves of Academe by Mary McCarthy (5/5; reviewed here)

The Autobiography of Mark Twain, Vol. I by Mark Twain (3.5/5)

The Soldier's Wife by Joanne Trollope (3/5)

The Pursuit of Alice Thrift by Elinor Lipman (3/5)

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter (3.5/5)

Smiley's People by John Le Carre (3/5)

Care of the Soul by Thomas Moore (3.5/5; reviewed here)

Perfect Happiness by Penelope Lively (3.5/5)

Medium Raw by Anthony Bourdain (3.5/5)

Antic Hay by Aldous Huxely (3/5)

Small World by David Lodge (4/5)

Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel (4.5/5; Booker Prize winner)

Fundraising Realities Every Board Member Must Face by David Lansdown (3/5)

Broken Windows, Broken Business by Michael Levine (3/5)

Death at the Chateau Bremont by M. L. Longworth (3.5/5)

Flying Finish by Dick Francis (4/5)

On the Edge by Peter Lovesey (3/5)

Letting Go by Philip Roth (3/5)

The Wandering Goose by Heather Earnhardt (3.5/5)

Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers (3.5/5)

What's Bred in the Bone by Robertson Davies (4.5/5; reviewed here)

The Affair by Lee Child (3.5/5)

A Glass of Blessings by Barbara Pym (3/5)

Bootlegger's Daughter by Margaret Maron (3.5/5; Edgar winner)

The Rector's Wife by Joanna Trollope (3/5)

Forfeit by Dick Francis (3.5/5; Edgar winner)

Parachutes & Kisses by Erica Jong (3/5; reviewed here) 

The Child in Time by Ian McEwan (3.5/5)

Death in a White Tie by Ngaio Marsh (3.5/5)

The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement by David Brooks (3.5/5)

The Great Leader by Jim Harrison (3.5/5)

The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald (3/5)

Because He Could by Dick Morrison (3/5)

Tales of St. Austin's by P. G. Wodehouse (3/5)

Cold by Stella Cameron (3.5/5)

Elegy for April by Benjamin Black (4/5)

The Sandcastle by Iris Murdoch (4/5)

Enduring Love by Ian McEwan (3.5/5)

Where'd You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple (3.5/5)

Jamaica Inn by Daphne Du Maurier (3/5)

Jar City by Arnaldur Indridason (3/5)

The Conscience of the Rich by C. P. Snow (3/5)

The Complaints by Ian Rankin (3.5/5)

Things We Set on Fire by Deborah Reed (4/5)

 Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh (3/5)

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown (3/5)

A Taste for Death by P. D. James (3.5/5)

Leave it to Psmith by P. G. Wodehouse (4/5)

The Christmas Pearl by  Dorthea Benton Frank (3/5)

The CEO of the Sofa by P. J. O'Roarke (3/5)

The Vicar of Nibbleswicke by Roald Dahl (3/5)

The Dean's December by Saul Bellow (3/5)

Worthy Brown's Daughter by Philip Margolin (3.5/5)

Book Beginning: Worthy Brown's Daughter by Phillip Margolin

Please join me every Friday to 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.

FACEBOOK: Rose City Reader now has a Facebook page. I plan to post about new and favorite books, book events, and other bookish tidbits, as well as link to blog posts. I'd love a "Like" on the page! You can go to the page here to Like it, or click the button over there in the right hand column.  I am happy to Like you back if you have a blog or professional Facebook page, so please leave a comment with a link and I will find you.

TWITTER, ETC: If you are on Twitter, Google+, or other social media, please post using the hash tag #BookBeginnings. I am trying 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.

MR. LINKY



MY BOOK BEGINNING

The river was insane.  It boiled and surged between its banks, panicking the horses, terrifying the women and children, and forcing the men to hide their fear, which was considerable.

-- Worthy Brown's Daughter by Phillip Margolin, available now for pre-order; released January 21.

Margolin writes fast-paced contemporary thrillers like his hugely popular Gone, But Not Forgotten and the recent best seller,  Capitol Murder.

Worthy Brown's Daughter is a departure for Margolin -- it's a historical drama set in 19th-Century Oregon involving a freed slave trying to rescue his 15-year-old daughter.  There is still a murder, a complicated plot, and all the exciting twists and turns readers expect from a Margolin thriller.

It sure starts off in the middle of the adventure.

2014 Challenge: The Vintage Mystery Challenge

COMPLETED!

Every year I sign up for the Vintage Mystery Challenge hosted by Bev at My Reader's Block.  I haven't had much success over the years, always falling a book or two (or four) short of finishing.  But I've always had fun and the challenge introduces me to authors I haven't read before (Ngaio Marsh and Micheal Innes, for example) and inspires me to read the old mysteries I love but never seem to get around to (Agatha Christie and Rex Stout, for example).

The idea of the challenge is to read mysteries from the Golden Age of mystery writing, meaning those published prior to 1960.  Bev added a "Silver" level this year for mysteries published between 1960 and 1989, but I am singing up only for the Gold category.

There is a BINGO theme this year, which mixes it up a bit.  You complete the challenge by filling in six in a row or the four corners and any other two.  You can use one Free Space as a wild card to complete the bingo.

UPDATE: As of November 28, I have completed the challenge by filling in the diagonal row above using one freebie.

 BOOKS FINISHED

The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie (counts as a book with a COLOR in the title)

What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw (aka 4:50 from Paddington) by Agatha Christie (book with a NUMBER in the title)

Death in the Air (aka Death in the Clouds) by Agatha Christie (book with an AMATEUR detective)

A Man Lay Dead by Ngaio Marsh (book with a PROFESSIONAL detective)

The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey (book set in ENGLAND)

Enter a Murder by Ngaio Marsh (FREEBIE: book set in the ENTERTAINMENT world)

BOOK POSSIBILITIES FOR 2015

I'm not sure what book I'll read for the challenge, but they will all come from my TBR shelves.  Some possibilities, in no particular order, include:

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

North from Rome by Helen McInnes

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

An Oxford Tragedy by J. C. Masterman

Vintage Murder by Ngaio Marsh

Appelby on Ararat by Michael Innes


UPDATED: November 29, 2014

Happy New Year!

Do you have any book or blog resolutions to make?

MY RESOLUTIONS: My resolution is to get this blog more integrated into social media.  In particular, I want to do more with my Rose City Reader Book Blog facebook page, because I think there is potential there to use it to post interesting short bits in addition to linking to the blog posts.

With that in mind, please "Like" my Rose City Reader Book Blog facebook page! If you have a blog-related facebook page, please leave a link to it in a comment and I will be sure to "Like" your page as well.

Teaser Tuesday: Sinful Folk by Ned Hayes

We are all huddled together around the hearth. Here, in a great cauldron above the fire, the men of the manor are making a thin stew with the carcasses of mice and hedgehogs.

-- Sinful Folk by Ned Hayes,  due out in January, but available for pre-order.  You can read the first chapter on kindle now.

In the brutal winter of 1377, a group of English peasants set out from their village on a risky trek to London to beg the king for justice.  Five village children had died in a mysterious house fire.  But is the culprit among the band of villagers on the 200-mile journey?


Part Canterbury Tales, part Game of Thrones, Sinful Folk is a terrific adventure based on a true story.  Watch the trailer for Sinful Folk.

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event. 

Mailbox Monday: Merry Hall and Cookies

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday!  I was thrilled to host in December.  Have a very happy New Year!

MM was created by Marcia, who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring event.  It looks like the idea now is to return Mailbox Monday to its permanent home, so check back there next week to make your first MM post of the New Year.

MY THEME THIS WEEK: RESOLUTIONS

Will you make any book- or blog-related new year resolutions? Please share!

MY RESOLUTIONS: My resolution is to get this blog more integrated into social media.  In particular, I want to do more with my Rose City Reader Book Blog facebook page, because I think there is potential there to use it to post interesting short bits in addition to linking to the blog posts.

With that in mind, please "Like" my Rose City Reader Book Blog facebook page! If you have a blog-related facebook page, please leave a link to it in a comment and I will be sure to "Like" your page as well.

MY BOOKS: I got some books for Christmas this week:



Merry Hall and Laughter on the Stairs -- the first two volumes of a trilogy by Beverley Nichols. I somehow ended up with the third volume, Sunlight on the Lawn, but asked Santa for the first two to complete the set.

The Merry Hall Trilogy was first published in the 1950s, but Timber Press of Portland issued this nifty facsimile edition in the late 1990s.



The Grand Central Baking Book: Breakfast Pastries, Cookies, Pies, and Satisfying Savories from the Pacific Northwest's Celebrated Bakery by Piper Davis and Ellen Jackson.

I'm not a bread baker, but Grand Central has the best cookies I have ever eaten so I have long wanted this cookbook. Yum!

YOUR BOOKS

What books came into your house last week?  Leave your link below or in a comment.  If you don't have a blog but want to play along, leave a comment listing your new books.

2014 Challenge: Chunkster Challenge

COMPLETED!

I read six books, as I had hoped to do. There is still time to reach my stretch goal of eight before the challenge ends.

The CHUNKSTER CHALLENGE was started by Wendy at Caribousmom and is now hosted by Vasilly at 1330V. The sign-up page is here.

The basic idea is to read books with 450 pages or more. 

They have changed the rules some this year.  For the first time, apparently beaten down by the fuss, they are allowing e-books and audiobooks.  I'm a traditionalist and I understand the spirit that motivated the original "paper books only" rule, so I am going to limit myself to big fat paper tomes.

Also gone are levels at which to sign up.  This is now a self-motivating challenge.  My goal is to read six chunksters in 2014, with a stretch goal of eight.

BOOKS FINISHED

Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset. At 1168 pages, this was a massive chunk of a book.  This omnibus edition contains the three books of the trilogy that made Undset a Nobel Laureate: The Wreath, The Bride, and The Cross.  As engrossing as the story was, I think I've had my fill of medieval Norway for a while.

Murder on Board: Three Complete Mystery Novels (The Mystery of the Blue Train, Death in the Air, and What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw) by Agatha Christie.  Two of the mysteries in this omnibus edition featured Hercule Poirot; one featured Miss Marples.  All were entertaining as can be.

The Rich are Different by Susan Howatch.  My hardcover edition had exactly 800 pages.  Although some pages were longer than others, overall the story moves at a brisk clip, following the financial and romantic adventures of New York investment bankers from the free-for-all of the 1920s, through the Great Depression, to the eve of WWII.  Howatch is the master of shaggy, intergenerational sagas -- she really knows how to spin a tale.

A Pillar of Iron by Taylor Caldwell.  This 780-page novel is a fictional biography of Marcus Tullius Cicero in the story of Rome in the days of Julius Caesar. It is great history, packed with political philosophy, just don't expect a book version of HBO's Rome.

The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing.  I loved this novel about creative, strong women living in Africa during World War II and London in the 1950s, criticizing their men, questioning their careers, and quitting the Communist Party. That is, I loved it until the last 150 pages or so of my 600-page addition, when I felt it became repetitious and muddled.

A Wanted Man by Lee Child.  I love all Jack Reacher books and this was no exception.  All 600+ pages when by in a blink.

A Man of Parts by David Lodge.  This fictional biography of H. G. Wells focusses on the many love affairs in his life.  It was very good, but felt much longer than its roughly 450 pages.

MY BOOK POSSIBILITIES

There are many chunksters already sitting on my TBR shelves that may finally get my attention this year.  I am going to start with the first three because they cross over with my personal TBR challenge I call the 2X14 Challenge:

The Stories of Vladamir Nabokov (720)

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry (960)

More Matter: Essays and Criticism by John Updike (928)

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (862)

Redemption by Leon Uris (848)

The Charm School by Nelson DeMille (816)

Ancient Evening by Norman Mailer (800)

The Life of Noel Coward by Cole Lesley (608)

UPDATED: November 17, 2014

2014 Challenge: 2X14 and Mt. TBR

2X14: A PERSONAL TBR CHALLENGE

CLOSE, BUT DIDN'T FINISH

I am doing the Mt. TBR Challenge again this year, but to give it a personal spin, I decided to read 28 books, one from each of the separate shelves of my TBR bookcases.  This means reading 21 fiction books and seven non-fiction. Instead of picking any book that looked good from each shelf, I picked the 14th book on each shelf.

This formulaic selection process yielded a random assortment of books. There are a couple of prize winners on the list, a few classics, some pop fiction, and a bunch of crazy stuff that tells me I either have diverse and wide-ranging taste or I need to clean out my TBR shelves!

These are the books in alphabetical order by author.  I am planning on reading them in this order, but I might switch things up as I go.  This isn't going to be a big book review year for me because I opened my own law practice in March so my time and attention are taken.

The Society Ball Murders by Jack Albin Anderson (FINISHED)

Kate Remembered by A. Scott Berg (FINISHED)

Nights of Rain and Stars by Maeve Binchy (FINISHED; reviewed here)

A Pillar of Iron by Taylor Caldwell (FINISHED)

Murder on Board by Agatha Christie (an omnibus edition with three complete novels: The Mystery of the Blue Train, Death in the Air (aka Death in the Clouds), and What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw (aka 4:50 from Paddington)) (FINISHED)

The Life of the Party by Irvin S. Cobb (FINISHED)

1939: The Last Season by Anne De Courcy (FINISHED)

The Glassblowers by Daphne du Maurier (FINISHED)

Sister Age by M.F.K. Fisher (FINISHED)

Nickel Mountain by John Gardner (on the BOMC Well-Stocked Bookcase list) (FINISHED)

The End of the Affair by Graham Greene (FINISHED)

French Women for All Seasons by Mirabelle Guiliano (FINISHED)

Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen (FINISHED)

California’s Over by Louis B. Jones (FINISHED)

Dodsworth by Sinclair Lewis (FINISHED)

A Man of Parts by David Lodge (chunkster) (FINISHED)

The Truth About Lorin Jones by Alison Lurie (FINISHED)

Saul Bellow: A Biography of the Imagination by Ruth Miller

Bad Boy Brawly Brown by Walter Mosley (FINISHED)

The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov (chunkster) (reading now)

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath (FINISHED)

Dusk and Other Stories by James Salter (PEN/Faulkner winner)

If a Pirate I Must Be…: The True Story of "Black Bart," King of the Caribbean Pirates by Richard Sanders (FINISHED)

Delicious by Mark Haskell Smith (FINISHED)

The Kitchen God’s Wife by Amy Tan (FINISHED)

Towards the End of Time by John Updike

Captain Nicholas by Hugh Walpole (FINISHED)

For Keeps: Women Tell the Truth About Their Bodies, Growing Older, and Acceptance, edited by Victoria Zackheim

WANDERINGS

I've been working diligently through the above list, but I drifted often to other books on my TBR shelves that caught my attention with more force.

Style by Kate Spade

Summer Lightening by P. G. Wodehouse

44 Scotland Street by Alexander McCall Smith

Stanley Park by Timothy Taylor

The Pearl Diver by Sujata Massey

Deadly Decisions by Kathy Reichs

Prague by Arthur Phillips

Daughters-in-Law by Joanne Trollope

Risk by Dick Francis

Bonjour, Happiness! by Jamie Cat Callan

The Principles of Uncertainty by Maria Kalman

A Man Lay Dead by Ngaio Marsh

Sinful Folk by Ned Hayes

The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing

In the Last Analysis by Amanda Cross

She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith

The Rich Are Different by Susan Howatch

The Life of the Party by Irvin S. Cobb

Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination by Helen Fielding

Snobs by Julian Fellowes

A Wanted Man by Lee Child

Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Unset

The Financial Lives of the Poets by Jess Walter

Deception by Philip Roth

The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry by Kathleen Flinn

Memento Mori by Muriel Spark

One of Ours by Willa Cather

Arthur & George by Julian Barnes

COMPLETED

I signed up at the Mt. Blanc level to read 24 books because that most closely corresponds with my personal goal, but I might make it to the Mt. Vancouver 36 book level. We'll see.

Well, as of November 17, I have more books to finish than I will get to for my personal 2X14 challenge, but I've read 50 books off my TBR shelf, which means I've already made it to the Mt. Ararat level of the Mt. TBR Challenge.  I guess I am proving to be a voracious but undisciplined reader this year.

UPDATED: December 31, 2014. I finished 23 of my 28 2X14 books and a total of 52 books off my TBR shelves.  So I fell short of my personal TBR challenge but climbed far higher on Mt. TBR than I thought I would. I plan to finish the remaining five book of my 2X14 list in 2015.

Book Beginning: Sinful Folk by Ned Hayes

THANKS FOR A GREAT YEAR OF BOOK BEGINNINGS!

PLEASE JOIN ME ON FRIDAYS IN 2014 FOR MORE BOOK BEGINNING FUN!

Please join me every Friday to 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.

FACEBOOK: Rose City Reader now has a Facebook page. I plan to post about new and favorite books, book events, and other bookish tidbits, as well as link to blog posts. I'd love a “Like" on the page! You can go to the page here to Like it, or click the button over there in the right hand column. I am happy to Like you back if you have a blog or professional Facebook page, so please leave a comment with a link and I will find you.

TWITTER, ETC: If you are on Twitter, Google+, or other social media, please post using the hash tag #BookBeginnings. I am trying 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.

MR. LINKY



MY BOOK BEGINNING

In the end, I listen to my fear. It keeps me awake, resounding through the frantic beating in my breast. It is there in the dry terror in my throat, in the pricking of the rats' nervous feet in the darkness.

-- Sinful Folk by Ned Hayes,  due out in January, but available for pre-order.  You can read the first chapter on kindle now.

Based on a true story, Sinful Folk is a mystery and adventure tale set in England in 1377.  A group of villagers, including the narrator Mear (a former nun disguised as a mute man), set out on a desperate mid-winter journey to London to seek justice for the death of five children in a suspicious house fire.

It sounds like a cross between Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and Game of Thrones. Watch the trailer for Sinful Folk.