12 Days to Christmas!

Book Beginning: Leave It to Psmith by P. G. Wodehouse

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 Beginnings 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

At the open window of the great library of Blandings Castle, drooping like a wet sock, as was his habit when he had nothing to prop his spine against, the Earl of Emsworth, that amiable and boneheaded peer, stood gazing out over his domain.

-- Leave It to Psmith by P. G. Wodehouse, from Chapter 1, "Dark Plottings at Blandings Castle."

I love P. G. Wodehouse! I've read several of his books, including most of the Bertie Wooster novels and short stories, but I never read his Psmith books. The "P" is silent, like in ptarmigan or psychology or, as Psmith once explains, Pshrimp.

My library recently got several new audio editions available for instant download. They are particularly good to listen to. I have also recently gone back and started reading his books in chronological order because many of the earlier books are available in free Kindle additions.

13 Days to Christmas!

Five Faves: Campus Novels

There are times when a full-sized book list is just too much; when the Top 100, a Big Read, or all the Prize winners seem like too daunting an effort. That's when a short little list of books grouped by theme may be just the ticket.

Inspired by Nancy Pearl's "Companion Reads" chapter in Book Lust – themed clusters of books on subjects as diverse as Bigfoot and Vietnam – I decided to start occasionally posting lists of five books grouped by topic or theme. I call these posts my Five Faves.

Feel free to grab the button and play along.  Use today's theme or come up with your own.  If you post about it, please link back to here and leave the link to your post in a comment.  If you want to participate but don't have a blog or don't feel like posting, please share your list in a comment.

 

FIVE FAVE CAMPUS NOVELS

 

Ivory Tower novels are big favorites of mine.  I don't think I could name five absolute favorites, but here is a list of five I really liked.  There are many other possibilities on my Campus Novel list.

• Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis 

• The Groves of Academe by Mary McCarthy (reviewed here)

•  Pnin by Vladimir Nabokov

• The Human Stain by Philip Roth (reviewed here)

• The Hair of Harold Roux by Thomas Williams (reviewed here)

14 Days to Christmas!

15 Days to Christmas!

Teaser Tuesday: Put an Egg on It by Lara Ferroni

Still, it was many years before I thought adding an egg to sandwiches or pizza was a good idea. I don't quite remember what prompted it, but I do recall vividly that I was sitting in a plaza in Rome when I finally decided I should try an egg on a pizza and discovered what I been missing all those years.

-- from the author's Introduction to Put an Egg on It: 70 Delicious Dishes That Deserve a Sunny Topping by Lara Ferroni, published by Sasquatch Books. 

I have the same fond food memory of ordering a pizza in Italy and having it arrive with an egg on it. It was a mind-bending experience for a 19-year-old. 

This is a terrific cookbook! Full of simple but delicious recipes and lots of gorgeous, mouth-watering pictures. Perfect gift!

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

16 Days to Christmas!

Mailbox Monday

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday!  I am so pleased to host in December because it just adds to my general giddiness this festive time of year.

MM was created by Marcia, who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring event (details here).  Marcia is looking for someone to take over tour organizing duties.  Many people have volunteered, but I don't know that there is a final plan for 2014.

MY THEME THIS WEEK: BOOKS AS GIFTS (GIVING)

Will you give books as gifts this year? Which ones? Please share!

MY GIFT BOOKS: My gift book of choice this year is Things We Set on Fire by Deborah Reed.  This latest novel from Deborah Reed is an aching but beautiful  family story that you can get lost in.  Perfect for anyone who likes mother/daughter themes or books by Anne Taylor, Barbara Kingsolver, Anita Shreve or other popular but substantive women authors.  

Of course, there are plenty of men and a few women on my list who wouldn't read a mother/daughter story, no matter how excellent, on pain of death.  They'll get a lump of coal.  And a copy of Harry Dolan's new mystery, The Last Dead Girl.

MY BOOKS: I did get a couple of new books for myself this week.  They are completely different from each other, but both look very good:



Worthy Brown's Daughter by Phillip Margolin. Available now for pre-order; released January 21.

Margolin writes fast-paced contemporary thrillers like his hugely popular Gone, But Not Forgotten and the recent best seller,  Capitol Murder.

Worthy Brown's Daughter is a departure for Margolin -- it's a historical drama set in 19th-Century Oregon involving a freed slave trying to rescue his 15-year-old daughter.  There is still a murder, a complicated plot, and all the exciting twists and turns readers expect from a Margolin thriller.




The Art of Selling Real Estate by Patricia Cliff.

Cliff offers timely, practical advice for real estate sellers, whether seasoned professionals or newcomers. 

While focusing on real estate, Cliff's book is a guide for anyone in sales, with her goal to show how to make yourself indispensable to any transaction by being a consistent, authentic, remarkable deliverer of a high level of personalized service.


YOUR BOOKS

What books came into your house last week?  Leave your link below or in a comment.  If you don't have a blog but want to play along, leave a comment listing your new books.

17 Days to Christmas!

Advent-appropriate vintage postcard for a Christmas Sunday.

18 Days to Christmas!

19 Days to Christmas!

Book Beginning: Put an Egg on It by Lara Ferroni

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 Beginnings 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

It never fails.  When I look at a menu, my eyes magically zoom to any dish where an egg appears.

-- from the author's Introduction to Put an Egg on It: 70 Delicious Dishes That Deserve a Sunny Topping by Lara Ferroni. 

I absolutely LOVE this cookbook! The recipes are simple but creative and there are gorgeous pictures for almost every dish.  It would be a great gift for any cook, but the PERFECT gift for new cooks setting up house for the first time.

Put an Egg on It is another attractive and inspiring cookbook from Sasquatch Books, one of my very favorite independent publishers.

20 Days to Christmas!

21 Days to Christmas!

22 Days to Christmas!

Teaser Tuesday: A Simplified Map of the Real World by Stevan Allred

Uncle Lenny's arm rested on the open window of his car, and it was the arm with a tattoo on it, a heart with a dagger pierced through it and strange words written on the blade. There were drops of blood dripping off the tip of the dagger, and this is the arm I called the scary arm, but only to myself.

 -- from "A Simplified Map of the Real World," the title story in The Renata Stories by Stevan Allred, published by Forest Avenue Press.

The 15 linked stories in A Simplified Map of the Real World take place in the fictional town of Renata, Oregon -- a rural community Allred's wonderfully textured prose makes us remember even if we never lived in a small town.

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

23 Days to Christmas!

Mailbox Monday

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday!  I am so pleased to host in December because it just adds to my general giddiness this festive time of year.

MM was created by Marcia, who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring event (details here).  Marcia is looking for someone to take over tour organizing duties.  Many people have volunteered, but I don't know that there is a final plan for 2014.

MY THEME THIS WEEK: HOLIDAY BOOK TRADITIONS

Do you have any book-related holiday traditions? Please share!

MY TRADITION: Everyone in my immediate family loves to read, so I've developed a little Christmas tradition of filling a gift bag with books for each of them.  It is so fun to have a big stack of books to play with on Christmas day and to anticipate a new year of reading enjoyment. 

With that tradition in mind, I went to my two favorite Friends of the Library used book stores in Oregon: Booktique in Lake Oswego and Second Hand Prose in Oregon City.  My family members don't mind that the books are used and getting them from the library stores means they cost so little everyone gets a BIG bag.

MY BOOKS: I can never hit those stores without finding something for myself.  Many somethings.  Including these:



Amarcord: Marcella Remembers by Marcella Hazan. I have several of her cookbooks and her life story of growing up in Italy during WWII sounds fascinating.



The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. I know this was hugely popular, but I somehow missed it.



Lulu in Marrakech
by Diane Johnson. I like her books and am in the mood to read fun stuff.



Vintage Murder by Ngaio Marsh. I am always in the mood for a vintage mystery and adore her Inspector Roderick Allyn series.

YOUR BOOKS

What books came into your house last week?  Leave your link below or in a comment.  If you don't have a blog but want to play along, leave a comment listing your new books.

24 Days to Christmas!

Every year, I count down the days to Christmas with vintage postcards. Here is the first for 2013. 

I love vintage postcards for all holidays. I am particularly fond of those with books in them, although they are not easy to find. 

Book Beginning: A Simplified Map of the Real World by Stevan Allred

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

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

This all begins when I come home from visiting Mother in the rest home last week and taking her down into the Norse Hall for the monthly dinner. 

 -- from "His Ticky Little Mind," the first story in A Simplified Map of the Real World: The Renata Stories by Stevan Allred, published by Forest Avenue Press.

Curling up with this interconnected collection of short stories set in the fictional town of Renata, Oregon is the perfect, stress-free way to enjoy a long holiday weekend.

What do you read during the holidays?

Gobble! Gobble!

Happy Thanksgiving!

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.

Book Beginning: Things We Set on Fire by Deborah Reed

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

The call came in the middle of the night, and at first Vivvie stood in the dark near her bed, trying to make sense of the hour.

-- Things We Set on Fire by Deborah Reed.

Deborah Reed is the author of the novel, Carry Yourself Back to Me (reviewed here), which followed close on the heels of her sassy thriller, A Small Fortune (reviewed here) published under her pen name, Audry Braun.

Things We Set on Fire is already generating a lot of buzz and some terrific reviews, like this one from Booklist:

In Reed’s engrossing examination of one family’s lifelong meltdown and possible resurrection, Vivien "Vivvie" Fenton’s story begins with a dark implication about the death of her husband 30 years ago in a hunting accident. Vivvie’s two adult daughters, Kate and Elin, have long since flown the coop in desperate efforts to find happiness. When Vivvie receives unexpected word that Kate is in the hospital and that her own two young daughters need someone to come get them, the past and all its wounds threaten to smash everyone’s lives yet again. Elin’s somewhat orderly life on the other side of the country is wildly upset when Vivvie calls her and begs for her help with her two nieces as Kate lingers on the precipice between life and death. The entanglements of a family burdened with dark secrets, personal motives, and an eventual implosion that still rocks each of their lives to the core quickly surface in the face of this new tragedy, propelling the story and its irresistible characters. Suggest this one to fans of Elizabeth Strout. —Julie Trevelyan

Review: Gathering Moss by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Moss is beautiful. I love hiking through a lush and peaceful forest carpeted with moss, or contemplating how different kinds of mosses complete the composition of a Japanese garden.

Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses (OSU Press) is a series of connected personal essays by scientist Robin Wall Kimmerer, who spent years studying mosses all over the world. Drawing as much on her Native American heritage and experiences as a mother as on science, Kimmerer explains how mosses live and uses the history and interconnectedness of moss with other species as a metaphor for living in the world.

Kimmerer won the John Burroughs Medal Award for Natural History Writing for Gathering Moss. It reminded me of Annie Dillard's Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, but without so many bugs.

I wanted to read Gathering Moss because I am trying to incorporate more moss in my own landscaping. Kimmerer's essays turned out to be as inspirational as they are informative. Anyone with a curiosity about natural history and our connection with nature would enjoy this book.

OTHER REVIEWS

If you would like me to list your review of Gathering Moss or any other John Burroughs Medal Award winner, please leave a comment with a link and I will add it.

Teaser Tuesday: Trophy Cupcakes & Parties

The great thing about a rustic French buffet is that it's completely kid-friendly, so there's no need to make separate food for them. Baguettes with butter and ham or cheese and crunchy cucumbers, carrots, and haricots vert are a favorite among les petits-enfants.

-- Trophy Cupcakes & Parties! Deliciously Fun Party Ideas and Recipes from Seattle's Prize-Winning Cupcake Bakery by Jennifer Shea, photographs by Rena Jordan.

This is the perfect present for the hip entertainer on your list!  Another lively and inspiring book from Sasquatch Books. 

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

Happy Anniversary! Happy Veterans' Day!

 

As well as giving thanks to our veterans, Hubby and I celebrate our (lucky) thirteenth wedding anniversary today.