Book Beginning: Life Without a Recipe by Diana Abu-Jaber

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

The air was shaking. That's what it felt like – enormous, roaring machinery, prowling over the street.

-- Life Without a Recipe: A Memoir of Food and Family by Diana Abu-Jaber. The opening scene describes a six-year-old's vivid memory pretty clearly.

Diana Abu-Jaber's new memoir embraces the mess and struggle of growing up and learning to live your own life, not according to the "recipes" you learned as a child.

Teaser Tuesday: Wrong Highway by Wendy Gordon

Everything was darkness and light, black and white, random dots. She could make out the difference between the white lines and the black road and recognize the circles of light that represented cars in front of her, and she navigated her heavy metal vehicle laden with children by instinct.

Wrong Highway by Wendy Gordon. This debut novel looks to the not-too-distant past to give fresh energy to the story of a frazzled suburban mom trying to meet her obligations and what happens when she takes that first wrong turn.

Wrong Highway is available for pre-order until its June 10 release. Wendy Gordon will launch the book at Powell's Books in Portland on June 15, 2016 at 7:30. She is also having a reading and book signing at Book Revue in Huntington, Long Island on June 21 at 7:00.

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

Mailbox Monday: Memorial Day

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.

A short stack of wonderful books came into my house last week, harbingers of summer reading pleasure:



Life Without a Recipe: A Memoir of Food and Family by Diana Abu-Jaber. This exuberant new memoir celebrates the author's cross-cultural heritage -- raised by a German grandma and an Arab father -- and how she came to build her life as a wife, mother, and writer on her own terms, as we all must.



The Light of Paris by Eleanor Brown. This new novel by the author of The Weird Sisters is a story of Jazz Age Paris drawn in part from Brown's own family story.



The Book That Matters Most by Ann Hood, author of The Knitting Circle. Divorce after 25 years, a new book club, long-buried family tragedy, an adult daughter in trouble in Paris -- this has all the makings of the perfect summer book.



Miss Jane by Brad Watson. This new novel is inspired by the true story of the author's great aunt, a woman in rural, early 20th century Mississippi, who never married because of a birth defect, but lived a rich life nonetheless.

Happy Memorial Day!

Book Beginnings: Makeshift Edition

THANKS FOR JOINING ME ON FRIDAYS FOR BOOK BEGINNING FUN!

This day got away from me!  Please leave your link in a comment. I can't get Mr. Linky to. Work on my phone because I can't remember my password. 😝

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: please leave your post link in a comment this week. Thanks!

No book beginning for me this week!