Book Beginning: The Other Side of Paradise by Julia Cooke

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

There's a bar in downtown Havana, a backroom bar next to an outpost of the government-run Sylvain bakery chain where foreigners by 65-cent bottles of water.

-- The Other Side of Paradise: Life in the New Cuba by Julia Cooke.

Journalist Julia Cooke spent five years "embedded" in Cuba after Fidel Castro gave up his position as President.  Her intimate in in-depth observations are collected in her new book, in which she examines modern Cuba through the eyes of the country's young adults.

Teaser Tuesday: Night in Shanghai by Nicole Mones

Each night Thomas listened closely to the jazz in the basement, especially the piano work of Julian Henson, which was tightly controlled even when he improvised. There was restraint to it, it kind of glassy hardness.

-- Night in Shanghai by Nicole Mones.

Thomas Greene, the hero of Nicole Mones's new novel, is a black American pianist who emigrated to Shanghai in the 1930s to lead a jazz orchestra.  Greene is fictional, but many of the other characters are real jazz musicians who created China's Jazz Age.      

The book is already generating a lot of buzz. Alan Cheuse, of NPR's All Things Considered, says "Night in Shanghai, an intelligent historical romance, shows off with forceful insight, terrific characters, and a telling sense of detail. And, folks, it swings." Read his full review here.

Night in Shanghai is the fourth novel by Nicole Mones, following Lost in Translation (reviewed here), A Cup of Light, and The Last Chinese Chef (reviewed here).

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

NON-BOOKISH NEWS -- NEW JOB!

It’s official! The Dumas Law Group will open its doors for business on March 31, 2014.  (April 1 would have been more logical, but I didn’t want anyone thinking it was an April Fools prank!)  My new contact information is below. The website isn’t up yet, but soon, we hope.  We are based in Portland, but handle cases across the country.

After seven years of working with Kelly Clark on sex abuse cases – starting with his very first case against the Boy Scouts that we took to trial and won a $20 million verdict – it is time for me to move on to my next challenge.  When Kelly passed away rather unexpectedly before Christmas, the loss of him as my partner made me really think about the work I wanted to do and how I wanted to do it.

The answer was a smaller firm, focusing only on litigation.  My associate attorney, Ashley Vaughn, and I will continue to represent survivors of child abuse – those who are now adults as well as those who are still under 18 – in cases against the perpetrators and the trusted institutions that allowed the abuse to happen.  We will continue to work on cases across the country, working closely with our network of skilled attorneys in other states.

Drawing on my 22 years of experience with commercial litigation, we also will continue to represent small businesses and individuals with civil lawsuits, employment claims, real estate matters, and other business disputes.  We also have the flexibility to handle certain personal injury and professional malpractice claims.

Both Ashley and I will be marketing like crazy to get this enterprise off the ground.  We appreciate your referrals and are open to associating with other attorneys on cases.

Gilion C. Dumas

Dumas Law Group, LLC

Weatherly Building, Suite 309

516 SE Morrison Street

Portland, OR  97214

www.DumasLawGroup.com

503-952-6789

Rose City Reader

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Book Beginning: Night in Shanghai by Nicole Mones

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 years before the war forced everyone in Shanghai to choose: Nationalists or Communists? Resist the Japanese invaders or collaborate with them?

-- Night in Shanghai by Nicole Mones.  Great beginning for setting the scene in pre-WWII Shanghai. But it doesn't hint at the terrific premise, which is how black American jazz musicians expatriated to Shanghai in the 1930s to avoid prejudice in the US.

Mones put meticulous research into this sliver of fascinating history.  But the historical details never bog down the exciting, sexy story of an American pianist falling in love with a Chinese spy. Great stuff!

Night in Shanghai is the fourth novel by Nicole Mones, following Lost in Translation, A Cup of Light, and The Last Chinese Chef.

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.

Last week was a banner book week for me. Four books came into my house. They are as different as can be but all look great!



Night in Shanghai by Nicole Mones. I love her books! This one is a romantic adventure set in 1930s Shanghai. The hero is a black American jazz musician; the heroine is a young Chinese woman bonded into servitude to pay her father's gambling debts.  Their lives collide when the Japanese invade Shanghai.



 The Other Side of Paradise: Life in the New Cuba by Julia Cooke.  Cooke is a journalist who spent five years "embedded" in Cuba after Fidel Castro stepped down as President.  By focusing on the lives of young adults -- the "last generation of Cubans raised under Fidel Castro" -- Cooke offers a fresh and timely look at real life in Cuba.



 Small Town Trouble by Jean Erhardt.  This is the first in a new mystery series featuring Kim Claypoole, a restaurateur and amateur sleuth with her home base in the Smokey Mountains.



The Next Tsunami: Living on a Restless Coast by Bonnie Henderson, published by OSU Press.  Henderson mixes science, history, and first-hand accounts to explain how the next mega-quake under the Pacific Ocean will generate a tsunami "likely to be the most devastating natural disaster in the history of the United States."