20 Days to Christmas!

 

21 Days to Christmas!

 

22 Days to Christmas!

 

23 Days to Christmas!

 

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.

Mister Linky's Magical Widgets -- Thumb-Linky widget will appear right here!
This preview will disappear when the widget is displayed on your site.
If this widget does not appear, click here to display it.

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 Innocent Blood:

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.

24 Days to Christmas! An Advent Calendar Tradition!

ADVENT: COUNTDOWN TO CHRISTMAS

One of my favorite blog traditions is counting down the days to Christmas with vintage holiday cards. This has nothing to do with books, but a love for books goes hand in hand with a love for ephemera, like vintage cards. This is the 15th year I've posted an advent calendar here on Rose City Reader. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

If you also like vintage cards and want to see more, click on the "Advent" or "vintage postcard" tags at the bottom of these posts (or bottom of the page) to find hundreds of images from past years. You will find trees, nativity scenes, Santas, elves, cats, birds, dogs, deer, ornaments, gifts, candles, bells, and lots more!

THIS YEAR'S THEME

Usually my advent countdowns are a hodgepodge, but sometimes there is a theme. In past years, I've done all cats, all houses, all animals, all Santas. This year I'm going for all bells. Bells seem very cheerful to me. 

Next task will be to tackle my real Christmas cards. Do you send them? I enjoy seeing all the new-fashioned cards with pictures, so I can see my friends and family. But I always end up sending a traditional boxed card, usually with a snapshot or sticker picture of me and my husband. 

I did order printed cards from Zazzle for my law firm. 2023 is the tenth year my law partner and I have practiced together. That's quite a milestone! 

DECEMBER BLOGGING

Do you have special holiday-themed blogging you do in December? I always plan to but never do more than this advent calendar. I always hope to read holiday, Christmas, wintery, snowy books in December. But I always end up racing to finish the books I picked out at the beginning of the year and I don't have time for any Decemberish books. 

This time of year is also when I get excited to plan next year's challenges. Although with so much else going on, it is hard to get all the posts up before the end of the year. I usually end up planning in December and posting in January.

I am hosting the European Reading Challenge again in 2024 and a TBR 24 in '24 challenge. I will get those posts before the end of the year, I promise!

What are your blogging plans for December? Do they include planning or posting any 2024 reading challenges?

Please join me tomorrow when the Rose City Reader advent calendar continues!

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. 

Mister Linky's Magical Widgets -- Thumb-Linky widget will appear right here!
This preview will disappear when the widget is displayed on your site.
If this widget does not appear, click here to display it.

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 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."

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

 

Best wishes for a Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends!

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. 

Mister Linky's Magical Widgets -- Thumb-Linky widget will appear right here!
This preview will disappear when the widget is displayed on your site.
If this widget does not appear, click here to display it.

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 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.  

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.

Mister Linky's Magical Widgets -- Thumb-Linky widget will appear right here!
This preview will disappear when the widget is displayed on your site.
If this widget does not appear, click here to display it.

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.

Dr. Wong by Don Engebretson -- BOOK REVIEW

BOOK REVIEW

Dr. Wong by Don Engebretson (2023)

Billed as Volume 1 in what will be a series of Cole Ember spy thrillers, Dr. Wong is an irreverent romp through the world of international espionage. The adventure follows special operative Cole Ember and Canadian Intelligence Officer Olivia Laidlaw as they race to stop archvillain Dr. Wing Duck Wong from executing his destructive plans.

Engebretson is a seasoned magazine and short story writer. His debut novel, Welcome to Kamini, followed a man in a failed marriage and professional tailspin to the Canadian woods of northern Ontario. Dr. Wong has the same strong plotting, memorable characters, and captivating writing, but with non-stop action and laughs on every page.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

Cole Ember is an operative for CASPER, a black ops force so black it’s rumored only in CIA bathroom stalls. Unbeatable in a fistfight, deadly with a gun, and dense as a paving stone, Ember’s laughable IQ test score was grossly inflated by a bitter, underpaid CIA behavioral scientist as a “screw you” to his employer before retiring. Crossing paths with famed genetic scientist Dr. Wing Duk Wong, Ember slowly—very slowly—discovers that Wong has created a ruthless army of genetically modified humans to aid in his heinous plot to acquire vast wealth via the boldest, and most peculiar, terrorism attack in history.

Also on Wong’s tail is Canadian Intelligence Officer Olivia Laidlaw. She’s skilled, clever, beautiful, and deadly, albeit armed only with a combat knife and bear spray, per restrictions imposed by the Canadian government. Can this hapless pair find and defeat Wong before the world’s financial centers collapse, and thousands of innocent people die? Are you kidding?

FROM THE AUTHOR

My new novel is Dr. Wong—A Cole Ember Spy Thriller. First in a series. We had all the great Ian Fleming James Bond novels at the cabin, and I devoured them in my teens. Regurgitated decades later, naturally it was spewed across the page as a spy spoof. Too many people have told me that it’s spit-your-coffee funny for me not to tell you that it’s spit-your-coffee funny.

 

A Round-Up of Reviews -- 7 New-ish and Noteworthy Books

BOOK REVIEWS

A round-up of reviews of seven new-ish and noteworthy books. 

Crybaby: Infertility, Illness, and other Things That Were Not the End of the World by Cheryl E. Klein (2022, Brown Paper Press)

Cheryl E. Klein is a "failed perfectionist and successful hypochondriac" who had a hard time accepting that the world would not end when she was unable to have a baby. She writes with humor about things that would leave most people a sobbing puddle. But her self-deprecating, raw honesty is the beauty of the book. If all we saw were her tears, the book would be too impossibly maudlin to struggle through. As a reader, I felt like I understood what she went through as she navigated a series of disasters that brought her to consider the adventure of open adoption.

Plums for Months: Memories of a Wonder-Filled, Neurodivergent Childhood by Zaji Cox (2023, Forest Avenue Press)

Zaji Cox's new memoir is a collection of impressionistic essays about her childhood, living in a 100-year-old house with her single mother and sister. It is intimate, beautiful, and moving.

The Promise of a Normal Life by Rebecca Kaiser Gibson (2023, Arcade Publishing)

This debut novel finds a young Jewish-American woman trying to find her way in 1960s America and Israel. It is a quiet story and the author’s skill as a poet are clear in the lyrical writing. The unnamed narrator describes her slow awakening through a series of vignettes that bounce around in time. From a mismatch of a marriage and other romantic relationship problems, through her struggles with an emotionally distant but domineering mother, the narrator finally comes into her own in the end.

A Story Interrupted by Connie Soper (2022, Airlie Press)

This is Soper's first book of poetry. It is a collection of poems about actual places and experiences, not abstract ideas. Soper writes about Oregon, where she lives, her travels in far flung places, and the feelings and memories these locations inspire.

These are exactly the kind of poems I am drawn to. I like something I can latch onto and relate to when I read poetry, I don't like to feel like the whole thing is going over my head. Soper’s poems hit me just right.

No God Like the Mother by Kesha Ajọsẹ-Fisher (2023, Forest Avenue Press)

The nine stories collected in No God Like the Mother follow the characters from Legos to Paris to the Pacific Northwest. Ajọsẹ-Fisher's emotionally rich stories deal with people in transition, facing hardships and joys. The theme of motherhood -- mothering and being mothered -- runs throughout and pulls the stories together into a beautiful and emotionally satisfying whole.

No God Like the Mother won the Ken Kesey Award For Best Fiction at the Oregon Book Awards.



Prisons Have a Long Memory: Life Inside Oregon's Oldest Prison, edited by Tracy D. Schlapp and Daniel J. Wilson (2022, Bridgeworks Oregon)

Prisons Have a Long Memory is a collection of essays, poems, and memoir written by prisoners at the Oregon State Penitentiary. Editors Schlapp and Wilson started and led a "storytelling" group inside the prison and then worked with an editorial board of adults in custody to compile this collection. The writings were prompted by questions from middle school and high school students affected by the incarceration of their family members. They reflect the difficult internal struggle to atone, find peace, and create community.



Blood and Iron: The Rise and Fall of the German Empire, 1871-1918 by Katja Hoyer, new from Pegasus Books.

Prior to 1871, Germany was not a unified nation but 39 separate states, including Prussia, Bavaria, and the Rhineland. In her new book, Blood and Iron, German-British historian Katja Hoyer tells the story of how a German Empire, united under Otto von Bismarck, rose to power only to face crippling defeat in the First World War. It is a thoroughly researched, lively written account of five decades that changed the course of modern history.

Painting Through the Dark by Gemma Whelan -- BOOK REVIEW

BOOK REVIEW

Painting Through the Dark by Gemma Whelan (2022, Shangana Press)

Painting Through the Dark is the story of a young woman, Ashling O'Leary, who is determined to leave Ireland and her demons behind and make a life for herself as an artist in San Francisco. In writing this engaging novel, Irish-born author Gemma Whelan drew on her own experiences from when she arrived in the U.S. several decades ago at the age of 21, with no contacts and little money.

Whelan describes San Francisco in such detail the city is like a character in the story. The bay, the hills, the cable cars, the architecture, and the neighborhoods all create a living background to Ashling’s coming-of-age story. Set in the 1980s, the city represents the freedom and artistic outlook Ashling seeks.

Although her living situation is difficult and exploitive, Ashling is tough. Rebelling against the secrecy and silence of her upbringing in Ireland, Ashling uses art to express herself emotionally through color and texture. And Whelan uses Ashling’s story to explore themes of resilience, independence, and creativity.

The book is a page-turner, filled with vividly visual scenes and dialog that make the story speed along. I read it straight through to find out what happened to Ashling!

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

Fleeing from the emotional shackles of her family in Ireland and the convent where she was training to be a nun, the feisty 21-year-old Ashling O’Leary arrives in San Francisco in 1982 with a backpack, a judo outfit, her artist’s portfolio, a three-month visa, and a determination to find a way to speak up about the abuse of girls and women in Catholic Ireland. As she becomes embroiled in a whirlwind of love, art, and deception, Ashling learns that her success as an artist and a human being depends on dealing with the ghosts of her past and speaking out on behalf of others.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gemma Whelan is an award-winning director, screenwriter, and educator. As an Irish immigrant to the U.S., her perspective crosses the boundaries between cultures, and as an artist, she gives expression to stories that have been suppressed. Gemma was the founding Artistic Director of Wilde Irish Productions in the San Francisco Bay Area and of Corrib Theatre in Portland, Oregon. She has been directing and teaching at universities and conservatories in the U.S, Ireland, and Asia for over 35 years. Her novels are Fiona: Stolen Child and Painting Through the Dark. She lives in Portland, Oregon.

Read my interview of Gemma here. 

 

Book Beginnings on Fridays on Rose City Reader

Oh, good grief! I had a work emergency come up yesterday and just now realized I never posted Book Beginnings on Fridays! 

If you stop by late, 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, even if you are not reading it right now. 

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. 

Mister Linky's Magical Widgets -- Thumb-Linky widget will appear right here!
This preview will disappear when the widget is displayed on your site.
If this widget does not appear, click here to display it.

I am still up to my eyeballs with this work thing. So no Book Beginning from me this week. I will see you back here next week -- on time -- for another Book Beginnings post. 

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.

Exploring Wine Regions - California Central Coast: Discovering Great Wines, Phenomenal Foods and Amazing Tourism by Michael Higgins -- BOOK REVIEW

 

BOOK REVIEW

Exploring Wine Regions - California Central Coast: Discovering Great Wines, Phenomenal Foods and Amazing Tourism by Michael Higgins (2023)

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. Higgins is familiar with all the wine regions of California. He focused on the Central Coast region because, as he says:

Every type of wine is made here. Terroir is incredibly diverse, allowing for the optimum growing of just about any wine grape. Central Coast wine makers tend to be less rigid, more creative, and inventive. The tourism is better than you can imagine. Restaurants and accommodations at wineries are becoming common here.

Like the other books in his series, Higgins has packed his California book with detailed information about the geography, wines, wine makers, and wineries of each appellation and sub-appellation of the region. He also includes all the information you need to travel to and through the Central Coast's wine country. The book is also gorgeous, filled with amazing photographs. It is a beautiful coffee table book for armchair travel as well as an indispensable guide to a fascinating wine region. 

NOTES

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.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

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.

Need Blind Ambition by Kevin Meyers -- BOOK REVIEW

BOOK REVIEW

Need Blind Ambition by Kevin Meyers (2023, 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 the whole college noir atmosphere of the book.

As with his first novel, Hidden Falls, this story deftly balances action, ideas, tension, and humor. The protagonist Peter Cook, having landed a public relations job at a prestigious private college, finds himself torn between protecting the college and exposing its illegal activity. Peter is a sympathetic hero who also wrestles with his own past trauma. Woven into the story are reflections on the state of college education, its cost, admission policies, and the fallout from the pressure created by our higher education system.

I love campus novels and I love mysteries, so a novel of suspense set on a college campus is my cup of tea on any day. That this one is set in my town of Portland, Oregon, made it even more tantalizing. With a complex plot, realistic characters, and exploration of relevant issues, Need Blind Ambition is an excellent read.


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.

The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury -- 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.

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.

Mister Linky's Magical Widgets -- Thumb-Linky widget will appear right here!
This preview will disappear when the widget is displayed on your site.
If this widget does not appear, click here to display it.

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?

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.

Blood From a Stone: A Memoir of How Wine Brought Me Back from the Dead by Adam McHugh -- BOOK REVIEW

 

BOOK REVIEW

Blood From a Stone: A Memoir of How Wine Brought Me Back from the Dead by Adam McHugh (2022, InterVarsity Press)

Blood From a Stone is an excellent memoir by a regular guy struggling with finding his true calling. McHugh was a hospice chaplain, burnt out at work and going through a rough patch in his marriage, when a trip to France taught him to appreciate wine in a new way. Eventually, he takes the big step of giving up his calling to work in the wine industry. It wasn't a smooth transition, and his story takes several detours before McHugh finds his place and peace.

McHugh has a self-deprecating tone and lively sense of humor, which makes the book a joy to read. Like all engaging memoirs, it is thoroughly entertaining and also makes you think. I plan to give this one to several people I know will love it as much as I do.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

"This is the story of how wine brought me back from the dead."

Thus begins Adam McHugh's transition through the ending of one career—as a hospice chaplain and grief counselor—into the discovery of a new life in wine among the grapevines of the Santa Ynez Valley of California.

"This is the corkscrewing tale of how I got to Santa Ynez, eventually, and the questions that came up along the way," he continues. "You and I are going to take a long wine tour together on our way there, and we will make plenty of stops for a glass and some local wine history. As you will see, I reached into the old, old story of wine in order to find my new story, which begins, as so many wine love stories do, in the French countryside."

With warmth and wit, Adam tells the story of what happens when things fall apart and when where you live no longer feels like home. From the south of France to Champagne to the California central coast, the trail winds toward new life and healing through the good gifts of wine, friendship, and a sense of place. Pour a glass and join the adventure.

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. 

Mister Linky's Magical Widgets -- Thumb-Linky widget will appear right here!
This preview will disappear when the widget is displayed on your site.
If this widget does not appear, click here to display it.

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!

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. 

Mister Linky's Magical Widgets -- Thumb-Linky widget will appear right here!
This preview will disappear when the widget is displayed on your site.
If this widget does not appear, click here to display it.

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.

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.

Mister Linky's Magical Widgets -- Thumb-Linky widget will appear right here!
This preview will disappear when the widget is displayed on your site.
If this widget does not appear, click here to display it.

 

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.

Victober is here!

 

VICTOBER IS HERE!

One of my favorite things about the bookstagram corner if Instagram is that it introduced me to the idea of reading Victorian literature in October. What a cozy delight! Now I look forward to this tradition all year. It is a fun way to remember to read more classic books and it kicks off the holiday season for me. 

The picture above is a messy pile of Victorian-era books, mostly novels and one small book of nonfiction – Thomas Carlyle’s Essay on Burns. That one is also the only one of this bunch I haven’t read yet. Can you spot the anomaly in the picture? Leave a comment with your answer.

Do you participate in Victober? You can join in whether you are on Instagram or not. (If you are, please find me @gilioncdumas so we can connect.) If you are a fellow bookstagrammer, there are official Victober hosts and prompts for book ideas. But you can take part on any platform, simply by reading a Victorian-era book in October. Even better if you use the #victober hashtag. 

NOTE: The "Victorian era" is the span of years that Queen Victoria ruled England. She came to the throne in 1837 and died in 1901. Victorian literature is considered to be books by British authors published during her reign. Arguably, authors from other countries wrote in what could be thought of as a "Victorian style" during those years. For example, American authors like Nathaniel Hawthorne published his first collection of short stories in 1937 and died in 1864. French author Alexandre Dumas published most of his books, including The Three Musketeers, during Victoria's reign. Both these authors wrote books similar in style to Charles Dickens or Robert Louis Stevenson, luminaries of the Victorian era. But officially, Victorian literature is limited to authors under Victoria's reign. 

MY VICTOBER BOOKS

This year will be the fifth year I've participated in Victober. My main book will be The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Ann Bronte. I already finished a short novella to kick off the Victober season. Here's my Victober list:

2023

Liza of Lambeth by W. Somerset Maugham (1897)

2022

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell (1855)


2021

The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot (1860)

2020

Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell (1853)
The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens (1841)

2019

The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy (1878)