Teaser Tuesday: The River and the Sea

The forgiveness had opened the door to healing. It was not only forgiveness of him; I had to forgive myself too.

The River and the Sea: A Story of Forgiveness by Julia Laughlin.

When Julia Laughlin was 21, she was raped and tortured by a man she knew and had trusted. In this memoir, written over 30 years later, Julia writes with candor and honesty about how the attack affected her as a woman and mother, and the legacy it left on her daughter. She hopes her story will help others whose lives have been marred by sexual violence find a way to heal.

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

Mailbox Monday: Secondhand Smoke

I got my first book from Audible last week. What books came into your house last week?



Secondhand Smoke by M. Louis. This is the second in a mystery series featuring Portland private eye Jake Brand. I just started it but it takes right off into an organized crime story right here in my home town.

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday, a weekly "show & tell" blog event where participants share the books they acquired the week before. Visit the Mailbox Monday website to find links to all the participants' posts and read more about Books that Caught our Eye.

Mailbox Monday is graciously hosted by Leslie of Under My Apple Tree, Serena of Savvy Verse & Wit, and Vicki of I'd Rather Be at the Beach.

2017 EUROPEAN READING CHALLENGE: WRAP UP PAGE

The European Reading Challenge
January 1, 2017 to January 31, 2018

THIS IS THE PAGE FOR WRAP UP POSTS.

TO LIST YOUR REVIEWS, GO TO THIS PAGE.

TO SIGN UP, GO TO THE MAIN CHALLENGE PAGE, HERE,

OR CLICK THE BUTTON ABOVE.

If you have finished the challenge at whatever level you signed up for, please do a wrap up post and enter a link to your post here. Please link to your wrap up post, NOT the main page of your blog.

If you do not have a blog, please leave a wrap up post in a comment on this page. Tell us the books you read and, if you reviewed them in comments on the review page, tell us that so we can go find your reviews.

LINK YOUR WRAP UP POST HERE:

2017 EUROPEAN READING CHALLENGE: REVIEW PAGE

The European Reading Challenge

January 1, 2017 to January 31, 2018

THIS IS THE PAGE TO LIST YOUR REVIEWS.

IF YOU HAVE FINISHED, WRAP UP POSTS GO ON THIS PAGE.

TO SIGN UP, GO TO THE MAIN CHALLENGE PAGE, HERE,

OR CLICK THE BUTTON ABOVE.

When you review a book for the 2017 European Reading Challenge, please add it to this list using the Linky widget below. Please link to your review post, NOT the main page of your blog.

If you don't have a blog or other place where you post reviews, so don't have a way to link your review below, just post your review in a comment on this page.

NOTE: There is overlap in January 2017 between the last month of the 2016 challenge and the first month of the 2017 challenge. If you participated both years, only count books read in January in one of the years, not both.

Please put your name or the name of your blog, the name of the book you reviewed, and the country of the book or author. For example: Rose City Reader, Doctor Zhivago, Russia.

LIST YOUR REVIEW HERE:

The 2017 European Reading Challenge is Available for Sign Ups Now!

The European Reading Challenge
January 1, 2017 to January 31, 2018

The 2017 European Reading Challenge is ready now! Find the challenge page with information and the sign up list in the bar above. Or click the picture or here.

Tour Europe through books. And have a chance to win a prize. Please join us for the Grand Tour!

THE GIST: The idea is to read books by European authors or books set in European countries (no matter where the author comes from). The books can be anything – novels, short stories, memoirs, travel guides, cookbooks, biography, poetry, or any other genre. You can participate at different levels, but each book must be by a different author and set in a different country – it's supposed to be a tour.

Book Beginning: The River and the Sea

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

I lay back in bed recovering from knee surgery with my knee hooked up to a cooling pad. I leaned back on the pillows, Missy Higgins singing oon the player, and closed my eyes as the music carried me back to the beach of the Tasman Sea in Punakaiki, New Zealand . . .

The River and the Sea: A Story of Forgiveness by Julia Laughlin

When Julia Laughlin was 21, she was brutally raped, beaten, and tortured by a man she had known and trusted. Now, over 30 years later, she has published the story of that attack, the criminal trial of her assailant, and the enduring trauma in her life.

She wrote this book to share what she discovered about sexual violence, how it affects a person, and how to find a way to live with and heal from from trauma so that others whose lives has been marred by sexual violence might also find a way to heal.

Teaser Tuesday: Babe in the Woods

Never one to dote on my looks or femininity, I see myself now, rough around the edges and more at home in myself in the wild than packaged and polished back in the city. The soles of my feet are as tough as the soles of my moccasins. 

Babe in the Woods: Building a Life One Log at a Time by Yvonne Wakefield. When she was 18, Wakerfield took the inheritance intended to pay for her college, bought 80 acres in the Oregon mountains, and built her own log cabin home.

Wakefield's new memoir looks at her "relationship with woodsy things" and how she built a life for herself after becoming an orphan at 14.

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

Mailbox Monday: True Faith and Allegience

Alberto Gonzales spoke at a book signing event in Portland last week and I got a copy of his new book:

 

True Faith and Allegiance: A Story of Service and Sacrifice in War and Peace. Although he was a controversial figure as George W. Bush's Attorney General, his story of growing up in poverty in Texas, going to Harvard Law, and working his way to a seat on the Texas Supreme Court before joining the Bush administration is inspiring. I look forward to reading his story in his own words.

He was a thoughtful and articulate speaker and it was interesting to get his big picture view of our recent election.


What books came into your house last week?

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday, a weekly "show & tell" blog event where participants share the books they acquired the week before. Visit the Mailbox Monday website to find links to all the participants' posts and read more about Books that Caught our Eye.

Mailbox Monday is graciously hosted by Leslie of Under My Apple Tree, Serena of Savvy Verse & Wit, and Vicki of I'd Rather Be at the Beach.

Book Beginning: Babe in the Woods

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

On the lower berth of the maple bunk bed, my younger sister sobs in bursts and spurts. 

Babe in the Woods: Building a Life One Log at a Time by Yvonne Wakefield. At age 14, Wakefield became an orphan. At age 18, she headed off to the Oregon mountains to singlehandedly build a log cabin on 80 acres, using her college money to buy the land.

Wakefield's new memoir, which includes her original artwork, is the first of three volumes about her "relationship with woodsy things."

Teaser Tuesday: The Hot Climate of Promise and Grace

One there was a woman who, through strange and random circumstances, jost her job. She took it hard, as might be expected, for she was down on her luck anyway.

-- From "The Panhandler" one of 64 very short stories about women in The Hot Climate of Promise and Grace by Steven Nightingale, published by Counterpoint Press.

The stories in Nightingale's book really were collected, not made up out of his head. He provides a note before each one explaining where the story came from, usually something about who told it to him and the circumstances of the telling, or that it is a biography of a woman he met or loved. He packs 64 stories into 220 pages, so none are more than a few pages, some are only one page long, all celebrate the remarkable women Nightingale has encountered throughout his life.

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

Mailbox Monday: Al Capone

A new biography showed up in my mailbox last week. What books came into your house?



Al Capone: His Life, Legacy, and Legend by Deirdre Bair. Al Capone's story in Boardwalk Empire was riveting. It made me want to learn more about America's legendary gangster. I'm looking forward to this brand-new biography from Deirdre Bair, who won the National Book Award for her biography of Samuel Becket.

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday, a weekly "show & tell" blog event where participants share the books they acquired the week before. Visit the Mailbox Monday website to find links to all the participants' posts and read more about Books that Caught our Eye.

Mailbox Monday is graciously hosted by Leslie of Under My Apple Tree, Serena of Savvy Verse & Wit, and Vicki of I'd Rather Be at the Beach.

Book Beginning: The Hot Climate of Promise and Grace

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

Once upon a time there was a cat-burglar who worked assiduously to improve her technique of robbing houses and apartments.

-- From "The Cat Giver," the first story in The Hot Climate of Promise and Grace by Steven Nightingale. This is a new collection of 64 very short stories published by Counterpoint Press.

Teaser Tuesday: Fill the Sky

She thought back to the cold, the water, and tried to remember what had happened. An image began to poke its way through the cotton balls clogging her brain.

Fill the Sky by Katherine Sherbrooke. Three friends travel to Ecuador so one can seek cancer treatment from traditional healers. Their friendship is tested and each faces her own demons, in this sophisticated debut novel that is already getting a lot of attention.

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

Mailbox Monday: Babe in the Woods by Yvonne Wakefield

What books came into your house last week? One fun new book arrived in my mailbox:



Babe in the Woods: Building a Life One Log at a Time by Yvonne Wakefield. This new memoir kicks off an upcoming trilogy, starting here with the story of how Wakefield build a log cabin be herself, for herself when she was 18.

PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

At age eighteen, in 1974, Yvonne sets out to build a home from trees on eighty acres she’s bought on an Oregon mountainside. Log by log she creates a cabin and heals from an orphaned past, finding a new family in the forest and with people in a valley named John Day. This true story of one woman’s survival in the wilderness puts an honest and gritty face on the fantasy of living alone in the forest. Readers of My Side of the Mountain and Wild—and fans of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek and Walden alike—will eagerly follow along on the journey through this candid, revealing account. Babe in the Woods includes original artwork and ledgers, further authenticating the construction of this three-story log cabin built by hand from trees on land Yvonne still owns today. It is the first in a three-book series about her relationship with woodsy things in a place of risk and isolation but also peace, quiet beauty, and repose.

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday, a weekly "show & tell" blog event where participants share the books they acquired the week before. Visit the Mailbox Monday website to find links to all the participants' posts and read more about Books that Caught our Eye.

Mailbox Monday is graciously hosted by Leslie of Under My Apple Tree, Serena of Savvy Verse & Wit, and Vicki of I'd Rather Be at the Beach.

Book Beginning: Fill the Sky by Katherine Sherbrooke

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

Tess hung up the phone and fought against an overwhelming sense of powerlessness. She wasn't willing to accept her inability to help, to do something.

Fill the Sky by Katherine Sherbrooke. Tess is in turmoil because her friend is diagnosed with cancer and wants to go to Ecuador to seek treatment from traditional healers.

Fill the Sky came out last week and has received a great deal of attention.

Teaser Tuesday: City of Weird

They're at the bottom, inspecting Aisha's body. They're definitely not human.

-- from "Alder Underground" by Jonah Barrett in City of Weird: 30 Otherworldly Portland Tales, Edited by Gigi Little, published by Forest Avenue Press.

Set in Portland, Oregon, the 30 stories in City of Weird explores the dark, scary, funny side of America's favorite eccentric city. So of course there has to be a zombie story!

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

Mailbox Monday: Fill the Sky by Katherine Sherbrooke

What books came into your house last week? I got a new novel that looks terrific!



Fill the Sky by Katherine Sherbrooke. It's the story of three women who travel to Ecuador, hoping to find cancer treatment for one, but all must face deep truths about themselves and their friendship. It has Book Club writ large all over it.

Fill the Sky releases this week, on October 20, and has already generated a lot of buzz from the likes of Anita Shreve and others.

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday, a weekly "show & tell" blog event where participants share the books they acquired the week before. Visit the Mailbox Monday website to find links to all the participants' posts and read more about Books that Caught our Eye.

Mailbox Monday is graciously hosted by Leslie of Under My Apple Tree, Serena of Savvy Verse & Wit, and Vicki of I'd Rather Be at the Beach.

Book Beginning: City of Weird

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

There was this one time I sold my soul to the devil.

-- from the Editor's Foreword to City of Weird: 30 Otherworldly Portland Tales, Edited by Gigi Little, published by Forest Avenue Press.

City of Weird is a collection of 30 imaginative stories honoring Portland's dark, creepy, funny, weirdness, from the gothic to the sublime. Perfect for this cold and drippy Halloween season!

Mailbox Monday

What books came into your house last week? Three fun new releases came to my house:



City of Weird: 30 Otherworldly Portland Tales, Edited by Gigi Little, published by Forest Avenue Press. Perfect for this Halloween season!



The Hot Climate of Promise and Grace by Steven Nightingale. A collection of 64 very short stories published by Counterpoint Press.



Through a Green Lens: Fifty Years of Writing for Nature by Robert Michael Pyle, published by OSU Press.

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday, a weekly "show & tell" blog event where participants share the books they acquired the week before. Visit the Mailbox Monday website to find links to all the participants' posts and read more about Books that Caught our Eye.

Mailbox Monday is graciously hosted by Leslie of Under My Apple Tree, Serena of Savvy Verse & Wit, and Vicki of I'd Rather Be at the Beach.

Book Beginning: Bloody Marys: Sanguine Solutions for a Slew of Situations by Judy Bennett

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

After a couple Bloody Marys, you're almost cute.

-- Bloody Marys: Sanguine Solutions for a Slew of Situations by Judy Bennett. This is a very funny book, filled with reminiscences, girlfriendly advice, and recipes for every kind of Bloody Mary you can think of. It's a lot of fun.

Teaser Tuesday: The Drake Equation by Bart King

And at that moment the school shook again. Suddenly, I found myself on the floor as a series of groans and crashes came from up and down the hallway.

The Drake Equation by Bart King, author of the wildly popular nonfiction book, The Big Book of Boy Stuff.

The Drake Equation is King's first novel. With a middle school audience in mind, it's a funny science fiction adventure about Noah Grow, who  is drawn into galactic intrigue when he finds a mysterious disc while out pursuing his favorite hobby -- birdwatching.

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

Mailbox Monday

What books came into your house last week? I got a memoir and a mystery:



A Monk Swimming by Malachy McCourt. This could bookend his brother Frank's memoir, Angela's Ashes.



A Banquet of Consequences, by Elizabeth George. This is her 19th Inspector Lynley novel. I've only read the first two and have many more on my TBR shelf, but wonder if I'll get to them all.

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday, a weekly "show & tell" blog event where participants share the books they acquired the week before. Visit the Mailbox Monday website to find links to all the participants' posts and read more about Books that Caught our Eye.

Mailbox Monday is graciously hosted by Leslie of Under My Apple Tree, Serena of Savvy Verse & Wit, and Vicki of I'd Rather Be at the Beach.