Book Beginning: Glow

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.

Leave a link to your post.  If you don't have a blog, but want to participate, please leave a comment with your Book Beginning.



MY BOOK BEGINNING

No matter what trouble he stirs up, what law he breaks, Obidiah Bounds will always be her cool sip of hyssop nectar on a sunny day.

-- Glow by Jessica Maria Tuccelli. That's laying it on a bit thick, but it looks like this is going to be a great read.

This is my first book for the Southern Literature Reading Challenge.

Thanks go to intrepid book publicist, Mary Bisbee-Beek, for getting me an early copy of Glow.


Thanks go to Becky at Page Turners for starting this weekly event, and to Katy at A Few More Pages, who graciously hosted for a year and a half.

2012 Challenge: Southern Literature Reading Challenge

INCOMPLETE

I signed up late for the Southern Reading Challenge, hosted by The Introverted Reader, but it is one that definitely has captured my fancy.   Click the picture or the link for more details or to sign up.

This is my first year participating, so I am starting slow, at the two-book, "pull up a seat and stay a while" level.

BOOKS, REVIEWS, & POSSIBILITIES

UPDATE: I only finished one book for this challenge and didn't even review that one. I read The General's Daughter by Nelson DeMille, which was set on a military base in Georgia. It was a book that made the most of its Southern setting, so was a good choice for the challenge. But I wish I had read more qualifying books.

My other possibilities were these:

Glow by Jessica Maria Tuccelli

Swan Peak by James Lee Burke (which I read but realized didn't count because, unlike his other Dave Robicheaux books, this one was set in Montana!)

Lie Down in Darkness by William Styron

Teaser Tuesday: Wading for Bugs

In all my Okanagan River dike walking, I've found only three olive clubtail adults.  The first one I'd ever seen was camouflaged like a grey-green and black twig, perched flat on the dusty trail at Osoyoos Lake, almost at the U.S.-Canada border. 

Wading for Bugs: Exploring Streams with the Experts by Judith L. Li and Michael T. Barbour, Illustrations by Boonsatien Boonsoong, published by OSU Press. 

I'm not much of a bug person, but this would be a great book for a junior etymologist. 


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 at A girl and her books (fka The Printed Page), who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring meme (details here)

Diary of an Eccentric is hosting in March.  Please stop by her terrific blog to see what this "eccentric bookworm" is reading lately.

I got one book in the mail last week, from a young Portland author:

 100 Poems to Bestill Your Young Heart by Kenneth Woods.



I plan to get a review up soon. It looks like a great graduation gift for creative types.

State of the Blog: Part Three, The Challenges

Spring has finally come to Portland, after weeks of freaky cold and snow.  So it is time to take a look at the books I've read this year and see what kind of progress I've made on my book lists and reading projects.

2012 is still in its early days, so I haven't made much progress yet.  But with all the challenges I joined this year, I have made some.

This is the last of three quarterly blog assessment posts.  The first part addressed the book lists.  Part Two dealt with my favorite authors. 

The list of all the challenges I've joined (so far) this year is here.  There are some I haven't even started on yet, including for reasons I can't imagine, my favorite Foodie's Reading Challenge, hosted by Margot at Joyfully Retired.

Those I have made progress on are listed below.

First, the three challenges I am hosting here at Rose City Reader.  There is still plenty of time to sign up! Click on the title to go to the main challenge page.

EUROPEAN READING CHALLENGE

• High Stakes by Dick Francis (UK; reviewed here)
• Serenissima by Erica Jong (Italy; reviewed here) 
• People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks (Bosnia; reviewed here)

BATTLE OF THE PRIZES, AMERICAN VERSION

• Tinkers by Paul Harding (National; finished but not reviewed yet)
• A Bell for Adano by John Hersey (Pulitzer; reviewed here)

BATTLE OF THE PRIZES, BRITISH VERSION

I haven't read any of these yet, but plan to get to my first Booker choice, Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey, very soon.

Second, the challenges I've joined:

AUDIO BOOK CHALLENGE

I've read a lot of book with my ears, but haven't reviewed very many.

• The Coffee Trader by David Liss   
• High Stakes by Dick Francis (reviewed here) 
• The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie (reviewed here) 
• Dracula by Bram Stoker (reviewed here) 
• My Grandfather's Son by Clarence Thomas 
• Shroud for a Nightingale by P. D. James
• Blood Sport  by Dick Francis (reviewed here) 
• Mysteries of the Middle Ages: The Rise of Feminism, Science, and Art from the Cults of Catholic Europe by Thomas Cahill  (reviewed here)
• Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie  
• Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie 
• What's So Great About Christianity by Dinesh D'Souza 
• The Black Tower by P. D. James

BACK TO THE CLASSICS and the CLASSICS CHALLENGE

• The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain (19th Century; reviewed here)
• Dracula by Bram Stoker (horror; reviewed here)
• A Bell for Adano by John Hersey (award winner -- Pulitzer; reviewed here)

EASTERN EUROPE READING CHALLENGE

• People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks (Bosnia; reviewed here)

HENRY GREEN WEEK (finished)

•  Living (reviewed here)

I LOVE ITALY READING CHALLENGE

• Serenissima by Erica Jong (reviewed here) 
• The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain (reviewed here)
• A Bell for Adano by John Hersey (reviewed here)

MEMORABLE MEMOIRS CHALLENGE

• My Grandfather's Son by Clarence Thomas

MT. TBR, OFF THE SHELF, and the TBR PILE CHALLENGES

• The Mandelbaum Gate by Muriel Spark (reviewed here)
• A Case of Need by Michael Crichton
• Living by Henry Green (reviewed here)
• Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré (reviewed here)
• Mysteries of the Middle Ages: The Rise of Feminism, Science, and Art from the Cults of Catholic Europe. by Thomas Cahill (reviewed here)
• People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks (reviewed here)
• A Bell for Adano by John Hersey (reviewed here)

NON-FICTION, NON-MEMOIRS CHALLENGE

• Mysteries of the Middle Ages: The Rise of Feminism, Science, and Art from the Cults of Catholic Europe by Thomas Cahill  (reviewed here)
• The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain (19th Century; reviewed here)
• What's So Great About Christianity by Dinesh D'Souza

VENICE IN FEBRUARY CHALLENGE (finished)

• Serenissima by Erica Jong (reviewed here)

VINTAGE MYSTERY CHALLENGE

• Dracula by Bram Stoker (reviewed here);
• The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie (reviewed here);
• Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie

WHAT'S IN A NAME CHALLENGE

• People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks (reviewed here)