Book Beginning: The Man Who Wasn't There by Judy Nedry

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.

TIE IN: The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice is a natural tie in with this event and there is a lot of cross over, so many people combine the two. The idea is to post a teaser from page 56 of the book you are reading and share a link to your post. Find details and the Linky for your Friday 56 post on Freda’s Voice.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING

MY BOOK BEGINNING

It's difficult to enjoy oneself or anything else when it's 102 degrees, but I was giving it my best shot.

-- The Man Who Wasn’t There by Judy Nedry. A perfect summer read, available in paperback and kindle. That's an opening sentence any Oregonian can relate to!

The Man Who Wasn't There is the latest in Judy Nedry's Emma Golden mystery series, featuring an Oregon wine country amateur sleuth. Here, when one of Oregon's founding winemakers mysteriously dies at the International Pinot Noir Celebration he established, Emma is pulled into the mystery. What fun!

Read my review of The Difficult Sister, the second book in the series, here. Read Judy Nedry's author interview, here.

TBT Review: Angler Management by Jack Ohman

Throw Back Thursday

This review was first posted on July 7, 2010

Congratulations to Jack for winning a 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning!

Angler Management: The Day I Died While Fly Fishing and Other Essays by Jack Ohman.

Angler Management is cartoonist Jack Ohman’s first book of essays and shows that Ohman is as funny with words as he is with pictures.

In this collection, Ohman discusses the obsession that is fly fishing, writing about the compulsive collecting of gear, the frustration of trying to talk to a fly fisherman (even if you are one yourself), the secrecy of fishing spots, the aggravating hobby of tying your own flies (or even more loony, building your own rods), and other crazy-making aspects of what Tom Brokaw calls the “high church” of fishing.

Most of the essays cover general fly fishing topics. However, as Ohman is a self-described “delusional humorist with a fatal streak of nostalgia,” the best pieces are those involving his own experiences and memories, including his reminiscences on his boyhood stream, the Kinnikinnick in Wisconsin, and his story of “the day I died while fly fishing” on Kelly Creek in Idaho. Even little asides such as this one in an essay on high-tech fishing equipment bring personality to the book:

I was raised by a PhD research scientist, and I can tell you firsthand that he viewed liberal arts majors as ethereal slacker stoners with no real understanding of how the world works, let alone how to turn on a Bunsen burner or create penicillin in a petri dish (when I was a child, my dad once gave me some penicillin that he personally created -- I can't even make a Manhattan without consulting the Internet). One way that we've figured out how to make ourselves feel, well, more scientific, is to inject science into art -- specifically, the art of fly fishing.

Anglers and non-anglers alike will get a chuckle out of Angler Management, but it is definitely aimed at fellow enthusiasts and their co-dependents. It is too late to recommend it for Father’s Day this year, but it would be worth stashing away a few copies for the fly fishermen on your Christmas list.

Teaser Tuesday: Listen by Francesca G. Varela

It was a still day, without much wind. The forest stood before us, and if it weren't for the dusty, sculpted path, it would have seemed infinite.

Listen by Francesca G. Varela, published by Homebound Publications. Listen is a new young adult novel about the romance between two college musicians who learn about themselves as they explore music and the natural world together.

Listen  is Francesca G. Varela's second novel of what she describes as "ecological fiction" in which she hopes to use stories to describe the beauty of nature and bring awareness to environmental issues. Varela was recently interviewed in The Oregonian and her books have been reviewed in several other publications.

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by MizB at Books and a Beat, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event.

Book Beginning: Listen by Francesca G. Varela

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.

TIE IN: The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice is a natural tie in with this event and there is a lot of cross over, so many people combine the two. The idea is to post a teaser from page 56 of the book you are reading and share a link to your post. Find details and the Linky for your Friday 56 post on Freda’s Voice.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING



MY BOOK BEGINNING

"Haven't you had enough of this yet?"

Listen by Francesca G. Varela, published by Homebound Publications. Listen is a compelling YA novel that uses the blossoming romance between two college musicians to explore the connection between the natural world, art, and our inner wild spirit.

Francesca G. Varela considers herself an author of "ecological fiction" and is already getting a lot of attention for Listen, her second novel, which has been written up in The Oregonian and several other publications.

Teaser Tuesday: Lost Kin by Steve Anderson

As Harry left his mansion Irina ran up to him shouting, arms flailing, her hair in her eyes wet with tears.

Harry's first thought -- my brother is dead.

-- Lost Kin by Steve Anderson. Max and Harry Kaspar reunite in 1946 occupied Munich in Anderson's third Karpar Brothers novel. American Harry wants to find his German brother Max still alive. Max wants Harry to help rescue a clan of Cossack refugees being hunted by Soviet death squads.

This exciting third book follows, The Losing Role, and Liberated. Lost Kin got a great advanced review on Kirkus Reviews, that called it "classic noir" and "a haunting tale" and said, "Anderson deserves a standing ovation for his gritty sketch of postwar, rubble-laden Munich."

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by MizB at Books and a Beat, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event.