Teaser Tuesday: Bleak House by Charles Dickens

“A good deal is doing, sir. We have put our shoulders to the wheel, Mr. Carstone, and the wheel is going round.”

-- Bleak House by Charles Dickens.

This is a lawyer's response to his client's demand to know what is happening in the expensive, long drawn out probate lawsuit in which he is involved. The lawyer's answer is less than candid – pushing a wheel around doesn't move anything forward.

I used this and many other quotes from Bleak House when I gave a presentation last week on Ethical Lessons from Charles Dickens Bleak House. It was a Continuing Legal Education seminar for lawyers, who all got one ethics CLE credit.  I had a lot of fun doing it and met many other literature-loving lawyers.

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

Mailbox Monday

I'M HOSTING IN DECEMBER
PLEASE COME BACK NEXT WEEK TO JOIN IN!

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 (details here).

Crystal at I Totally Paused is hosting in November.  Crystal reviews books from a variety of genres including mysteries, YA, historical fiction, and classics, and also blogs about pop culture and life as she sees it.  Please visit her blog and say hello.

Two books came into my house last week.  While they couldn't be more different, they both look really interesting.



Sinful Folk by Ned Hayes.  The book is due out in January, but it looks like you can get the kindle edition now.

Sinful Folk is a "novel of the Middle Ages" based on real events in England in 1377.  When five children died in a house fire, a group of villagers set out to travel over 200 miles in midwinter to seek justice from the King in London.  It's part mystery, part survival story, part pilgrimage.  Maybe a cross between Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and Game of Thrones?

Watch the trailer for Sinful Folk.



Report from the Interior by Paul Auster.  This is a new memoir from the author of The New York Trilogy and, more recently, another memoir, Winter Journal.

The Boston Glob reviewed Report from the Interior here; The Seattle PI's review is here. 

Book Beginnings: The Complaints by Ian Rankin

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 Beginning 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

 

There was a smattering of applause as Malcolm Fox entered the room.

-- The Complaints by Ian Rankin.

I have been reading his John Rebus series.  The Complaints is the first book in a different series featuring another Edinburgh police detective, Malcom Fox.  Good stuff. 

Teaser Tuesday: Things We Set on Fire by Deborah Reed

The cardboard boxes stacked against the wall were decades old and soft as suede to the touch.  Vivvie carefully shoved as many as she could lift up onto the closet shelf while balancing atop a stepladder in the spare bedroom.

-- Things We Set on Fire by Deborah Reed.  This latest novel from Deborah Reed is a detail-rich family story that will suck you in from the first pages.  Start it when you have a few hours to devote because you will get lost in it.

Reed's debut literary novel, Carry Yourself Back to Me (reviewed here), shares the evocative prose 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, Audry Braun.

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 (details here).

Crystal at I Totally Paused is hosting in November.  Crystal reviews books from a variety of genres including mysteries, YA, historical fiction, and classics, and also blogs about pop culture and life as she sees it.  Please visit her blog and say hello.

One book came into my house last week:



The Light and the Dark by C. P. Snow

I've been reading Snow's Strangers & Brothers series for a while now.  This 11-volume series, published between 1940 and 1974, follows several characters through careers in British academia and government.

The Light and the Dark is the fourth book in the story's chronology, but the second published.   I just finished reading the third book, The Conscience of the Rich, and while I am not ready to dive into the next one, I like having it on the shelf for when the mood next strikes.