The Anglophile's Notebook by Sunday Taylor - BOOK BEGINNINGS

 BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

I'm very late with my Book Beginnings post this Friday! I forgot to post last evening because I went to visit my mom and sister for an overdue celebration of my birthday. The festivities made me forget my blogging duties!

Snow and ice pushed back our celebration by over a week, so it was nice to finally get together out at their house. After lunch, we visited Tony's Garden Center, where this blanket of primroses made our eyes pop.

So, better very late than never, please share the first sentence or so of the book your are reading this week. Share the link to your blog post or social media post in the linky box below. If you link or share on social media, please use the hashtag #bookbeginnings. 

MY BOOK BEGINNING

My Book Beginning is from The Anglophile's Notebook by Sunday Taylor:

Claire Easton awoke suddenly rom a deep sleep, her mind in a tangled fog.

This new novel follows Claire Easton, a magazine editor from LA on assignment in England to research a book about Charlotte Brontë. It's part literary travelogue, part romantic adventure, and all wonderful entertainment.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING

Please link to your Book Beginning post:

 Mister Linky's Magical Widgets -- Thumb-Linky widget will appear right here!

This preview will disappear when the widget is displayed on your site.
If this widget does not appear, click here to display it.

THE FRIDAY 56

Another fun Friday event is The Friday 56. Share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of your book, or 56% of the way through your e-book or audiobook, on this weekly event hosted by Freda at Freda's Voice.

MY FRIDAY 56

From The Anglophile's Notebook:

Though today Carlyle is far from a fashionable figure, in the 1830s and ‘40s he was one of Victorian London’s foremost men of letters. A Scottish writer and historian, Thomas lived with his wife, Jane, a prominent essayist and famous wit, in a little house at 25 Cheyne Row, one of London’s best-preserved Georgian streets.

Suzzy Roche: Writer, Singer, Songwriter -- AUTHOR INTERVIEW

AUTHOR INTERVIEW WITH SUZZY ROCHE

Suzzy Roche has had a successful career as a singer/songwriter, recording numerous CDs with her band The Roches, as a solo artist, and with her daughter Lucy Wainwright Roche. She turned to prose writing with two earlier books, a novel Wayward Saints, and a children's book Want To Be in a Band?

Suzzy's second novel, The Town Crazy, is out now from Gibson House Press. Find my review on this post.

Suzzy talked with Rose City Reader about her new book, new music, and authors who inspire her: 

How did your new book, The Town Crazy, come about?

I don’t know! Unlike my first book, which came out of a short story I had written, this one seemed to appear out of thin air. I simply sat down at the computer and started to write from a deeply unconscious place, much like dreaming.

The story is set in suburban Pennsylvania in 1961, in a Catholic community. What drew you to this time and place for the setting of your novel?

The novel takes place during a time when I was a young child. I don’t remember much of my childhood, just fleeting images. I was interested in exploring those shards of memory. Though all the characters are fictional, and the plot does not bear specific resemblance to my life, there is something of the mood in the book that reminds me of my early childhood. 1961 seems like another era these days. I was also often thinking of the poet Anne Sexton as I wrote the book.

What themes do you hope readers will find in your novel?

Themes of motherhood and marriage. Childhood terrors and cruelty. Religion, as it is used to control and shame people. Small town power struggles. And how art can flourish or be destroyed.

You have had a successful career as a singer and songwriter. How did that career lead to fiction writing?  

I’ve always been drawn to the idea of making something out of nothing. As an artist, you are always coming up against the very hard truth that no one is waiting for your work. You just have to sit down and do it. Writing is a solitary endeavor, and therefore can save an artist’s creative life.

What did you learn from writing your book – either about the subject of the book or the writing process – that most surprised you? 

What I’ve learned over the years about creating anything is to keep going, never quit, but don’t push. Creations have a way of taking their time. They are like living organisms that need shepherding. You have to listen deeply to the thing you are creating.

Did you know right away, or have an idea, how you were going to end the story? Or did it come to you as you were in the process of writing?  

In this case, I had no idea what was going to happen any chapter. I let the story play out in my mind like a movie.

Were books an important part of your household when you were growing up? 

My mother instituted a tradition called “Reading Hour.” Typically, it occurred while she made dinner. She’d put on classical music and we all had to sit in the living room and read. We moaned and groaned all the way through it. We were also busy writing our own stories.

Who are your three (or four or five) favorite authors? Is your own writing influenced by the authors you read? 

Larry McMurtry for his empathy, Elizabeth Strout for her biting wit, John Coetzee for his heartbreaking clarity, Meg Wolitzer for her vulnerability, Toni Morrison for her wild fearlessness. Just to name a few. Reading has so much to do with the frame of mind of the reader. Sometimes I revisit a book, and it hits me in a totally different way.

What kind of books do you like to read? What are you reading now? 

Right now I am reading Ronnie Gilbert’s autobiography because I am going to record it for Audible. She was a member of the folk group The Weavers.

What is the most valuable advice you’ve been given as an author? 

You can start with 10 or 15 minutes a day. Also, keep the adjectives and adverbs to a minimum and try not to overuse the words was or is. REWRITE.

What is the best thing about being a writer? 

You can live in an alternate universe.

You have a great website and are also active on Twitter and Facebook. From an author's perspective, how important are social networking sites and other internet resources to promote your book? 

I am very active on Facebook and I do have a website. Because my book is published by Gibson House Press, an independent press, I doubt anyone would have noticed it was there if I didn’t have a fan base. I am very interested in my readers and listeners. They have kept me alive when the rest of the world ignores me. But it’s a relationship that requires care and respect, like any other relationship.

What’s next? Are you working on anything new right now? 

I just released a CD with my daughter Lucy Wainwright Roche. It’s called I Can Still Hear You. It’s a beautiful recording. Between that and The Town Crazy I pretty drained right now. I don’t have an idea in my head. Always an unsettling part of the creative process. But the field must lie fallow. I hope I’ll be lucky enough to get lost in another project, but who knows.

THANK YOU, SUZZY!

THE TOWN CRAZY IS AVAILABLE ONLINE IN PAPERBACK AND EBOOK.

 

New Books and Birthday Books for MAILBOX MONDAY

 

It's Mailbox Monday and an icy Presidents' Day weekend here in Portland. Three-day weekends, snow days -- these concepts don't mean much when you are working from home anyway! So my office officially declared today a bon bon day and we are doing no real work. Which means I have time to catch up on my book blogging!

What new books have come into your house lately? A few have come my way since I last posted for Mailbox Monday:

-- The Anglophile's Notebook by Sunday Taylor, a novel about a magazine editor who travels to England to research a book about Charlotte Brontë. I've flipped through it and it is overflowing with literary tidbits and British coziness. This one has gone straight to the top of my TBR stack.

-- The First Lady of Underfashions by Christina Erteszek (available for pre-order now). This is the story of Erteszek’s parents Jan and Olga escaping WWII Poland, immigrating to America, and starting the Olga “underfashion” company. I love real-life stories of family businesses. 

Hubby knows how much I love coffee table books and got me two for my birthday he knew would be right up my alley:

-- Winston Churchill: Painting on the French Riviera by Paul Rafferty. Rafferty tracked down the location of many of the 120 or so paintings Churchill made in the South of France. The book features 35 of the paintings juxtaposed with a photograph of the scene from the same angle, taken in the same light. Rafferty also provides the story behind the paintings and locations, along with dozens of photographs of Churchill, his friends and family, the places he visited, and historic artifacts. It’s gorgeous and fascinating!

-- The English Country House by James Peill, photographs by James Fennell, forward by Julian Fellowes. Can’t wait to snuggle up with this coffee table queen on this snowy weekend!

MAILBOX MONDAY 

Join other book lovers on Mailbox Monday to share the books that came into your house last week. 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 hosted by Leslie of Under My Apple Tree, Serena of Savvy Verse & Wit, and Martha of Reviews by Martha's Bookshelf.

Fear of Fifty by Erica Jong -- A Birthday BOOK BEGINNING

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Hello 55! It's my double nickel birthday this week! 

I'm celebrating all week with cozy at-home festivities, since restaurants aren't open in Portland anyway and on top of corona lockdown we are gearing up for a big snowstorm. They predict five to ten inches of snow and the last time we had real snow like that, Portland shut down for two weeks! We stocked up on groceries and are ready to hibernate until it melts. 

So let's share some book beginnings. Please share the opening sentence or so of the book you are featuring this week. Share your link below. If you post on social media, please use the #bookbeginnigns hashtag. 

MY BOOK BEGINNING

As part of the celebration of my 55th birthday, I'm finally reading Fear of Fifty, Erica Jong's "Midlife Memoir," published in 1994.  

So there I am at the spa with Molly, facing my fiftieth birthday, and feeling hideously depressed. I am no longer the youngest person in the room, nor the cutest.

My mom gave me Fear of Fifty when I turned 50 -- makes sense -- but I forgot to read it then. Just as good now! So candid, warm, enthusiastic, and honest. I love, love, love this book.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING

Please add the link to your Book Beginning post and not your blog home page or social media profile. 

Mister Linky's Magical Widgets -- Thumb-Linky widget will appear right here!
This preview will disappear when the widget is displayed on your site.
If this widget does not appear, click here to display it.

THE FRIDAY 56

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.

MY FRIDAY 56

From Fear of Fifty:

Now, you have to know that my father is the kind of guy who never has lunch with me alone because he thinks my mother might be jealous. If we meet during the week – which may happen every seventeen years or so – we snatch lunch at a greasy spoon like rushed adulterers.

I look forward to finish reading Fear of Fifty in front of the fireplace this weekend, with a warm beverage and a snuggly blanket. What are your weekend plans?

My other birthday week activities included:

• Watching that lawyer cat filter video about 5,500 times!

• Recording an episode of the Great Trials podcast about our BSA sex abuse cases, particularly a big trial here in Portland that resulted in the public release of the BSA’s “Perversion Files” on child molesters. I believe transparency about child sexual abuse is important, so I am always glad for the opportunity to talk about this tough subject..

• Texted and FaceTimed with friends and family wishing me happy birthday. Definitely the highlight of my week!

The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers - BOOK BEGINNING

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Back again for another Book Beginnings on Fridays. I don't know what it's like where you are, but here in Portland, it is cold! Cold and damp and the rain is coming back tomorrow. This is exactly the kind of winter weekend that calls for an old-fashioned murder mystery.

Which is why I'm hunkering down with The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers. This is the ninth novel in Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey series and was published in 1934. It is my first read for the 2021 Vintage Mystery Challenge hosted by Bev at My Reader's Block. It counts as my "Murder by the Numbers" entry in the Golden Era category (mysteries published before 1960).

Please share your book beginning here by sharing a link to the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are highlighting this week. Share a link to your blog post or social media post if you play along on Instagram, Facebook, or some other social media that generates a link. If you just want to leave your opening sentence in a comment below, that's fine too! Make sure to tell us the name of the book and th author!

If you link to social media or post on social media, please use the hashtag #bookbeginnings.

MY BOOK BEGINNING

From The Nine Tailors:

"That's torn it!" said Lord Peter Wimsey.

That first line doesn't tell you much, but the opening scene is a good one. Lord Peter and his butler Bunter have driven into a ditch in a snowstorm on New Year's Eve. They take refuge with the parson of the local church and become embroiled in a local murder that may be linked to the theft of an emerald necklace 15 years earlier. 

The title has nothing to do with sewing clothes. Nine Tailors refers to the tradition of tolling nine church bells when a man dies. 

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING

Mister Linky's Magical Widgets -- Thumb-Linky widget will appear right here!
This preview will disappear when the widget is displayed on your site.
If this widget does not appear, click here to display it.

THE FRIDAY 56 

Another weekly teaser event is The Friday 56, hosted by Freda at Freda's Voice, where you can find details and add a link to your post. The idea is to share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of the book you are featuring. You can also find a teaser from 56% of the way through your ebook or audiobook.

MY FRIDAY 56

Fenchurch St. Paul is the smallest village, and has neither river nor railway; it is, however, the oldest; its church is by far the largest and the noblest, and its bells beyond question the finest. This is due to the fact that St. Paul is the original abbey foundation.

There is a lot about bells, the old church, and village life in this one. It is right up my alley!

Any other Dorothy L. Sayers fans? It's one of my favorite series. I hope to finish all the novels this year -- I only have two more to go after this. I haven't read the short stories yet and will save them for another day.

Announcing the 2020 European Reading Challenge Winner!

2020 EUROPEAN READING CHALLENGE

ENDED

ANNOUNCING THE 2020 EUROPEAN READING CHALLENGE WINNER!

TO FIND THE 2020 REVIEWS, GO TO THIS PAGE

TO FIND THE 2020 WRAP UP POSTS, GO TO THIS PAGE

THE 2021 EUROPEAN READING CHALLENGE SIGN UP PAGE IS AT THIS PAGE

The European Reading Challenge started in 2012. Participants tour Europe in books by reading books set in different European countries or written by authors from different European countries.

Big thanks to all the participants who joined Grand Tour in 2020! The European Reading Challenge may have been more fun in 2020 because we didn't do much in real life traveling last year!

JET SETTER GRAND PRIZE WINNER

Each year, the Jet Setter Prize goes to the European Reading Challenge participant who reads and reviews the most books from different countries. There are a total of 50 European countries so the maximum number of books for this challenge is 50. So far, no one has come close to reading 50 books.

The 2020 Jet Setter Prize goes to repeat champion Maphead who visited 20 different European countries and reviewed the books he read. His wrap up post has links to all his reviews. He visited big countries like Russia and Germany, little countries like Switzerland, and even the tiny, independent territory of the Vatican City.

Maphead has been an enthusiastic participant over the years and has won several times, but not every time. Will someone beat him in 2021?

Honorary Mention (but no prizes) go to seven other participants who read and reviewed books from 10 or more unique countries:

The [Blank] Garden (15)

Typings (15)

Bitter Tea & Mystery (13)

Canadian Bookworm (13)

Books & Chocolate ((11)

Quattro passi sulle nuvole (11)

Kitty Furious (10) (who participated in Instagram)

My own wrap-up post is here. I read books from 10 different European countries, but only reviewed a couple of them. I read many more books set in or written by European authors in 2020 than in years past, but for the 2021 European reading Challenge I am going to try to visit different countries. I need ideas for Eastern Europe and Balkan countries in particular. Any suggestions?

Congratulations to all the readers who completed the challenge! Thank you for posting wrap up posts as it makes it much easier for me to find you. There is still plenty of time to join us in 2021.

JOIN THE 2021 EUROPEAN READING CHALLENGE! SIGN UP HERE.

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.

You do not need a blog to participate in the European Reading Challenge. You can participate on social media like Instagram, Facebook, goodreads, whatever. Use the links to your social media posts. Or participate in the comments on the Challenge pages.

Sign up HERE for the 2021 Challenge.

January Wrap Up - My January Books

JANUARY WRAP UP

One of my bookish New Year's resolutions was to try to post monthly wrap ups of the books I read each month. I haven't done this in the past because I read so many books with my ears that I don't have book books to photograph. I also often give books away right when I finish reading them so don't have a complete stack to take a picture of at the end of the month. 

Because I made this resolution -- let's call it an intention, it's less than a resolution -- I did two things. First, I remembered to keep the books I finished reading until the end of the month so I could take a picture of them. Important. 

Second, I concentrated my audiobook selection on books that were already on my TBR shelves. This might sound silly to you. Why chose an audiobook when the perfectly good paper book is sitting right there, waiting to be read? I'll tell you. Because some of those books have been sitting on my TBR shelves for years - years! According to LibraryThing, there are over 1,700 physical books on my groaning TBR shelves. It could be many more years before I get to any particular book. So I decided to start reading some of them with my ears and clearing off those shelves just a tiny bit faster.

The result is that I managed to knock nine books off my TBR shelves, reread an old favorite, read one new one for book club, and still get in two audiobooks not otherwise on my shelves. 

MY JANUARY BOOKS

My January books, in the order I read them, not the order in this picture, were:

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy. A friend gave this to me and I read it on New Year's Day. It is charming and I understand its popularity. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

Lucky Jim by Kinglsey Amis made me appreciate this old favorite even more than when I first read it in college. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

The Red and the Black by Stendhal. This was a clunker for me. I found the hero, Julien Sorel, unbearable. 🌹🌹

Billy Bathgate by E. L. Doctorow. I'm not much of a Doctorow fan and was surprised how much I enjoyed this one. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

Now Now, But NOW by M. F. K. Fisher. This is Fisher's only novel. I read it for book club. It's an odd book, really four short stories about the same character, set in four different times and places, so connected by time travel. It was like Orlando, written by Colette, commissioned by Gourmet magazine. I'm glad I read it but I prefer her nonfiction. 🌹🌹🌹

Ship of Fools by Katherine Anne Porter. This is on the Erica Jong list of Top 100 20th Century Novels by Women and on my Classics Club list. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

The Great Divorce by C. S. Lewis. This is one of the audiobooks I read that isn't pictured. Another bookish resolution of mine is to read several C. S. Lewis books this year. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

The Abolition of Man by C. S. Lewis. Another audiobook. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

Pale Morning Light with Violet Swan by Deborah Reed. I loved this book! See my review here. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman by Elizabeth Buchan. This was a nice surprise. It was much better, with a lot more heft to it, than the cover and description led me to expect. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

The Time Machine by H. G. Wells. I've been meaning to read this classic sci-fi forever and am glad I finally did. I didn't love it like I loved War of the Worlds, but it was still very good. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

The Laughing Policeman by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö. This early police procedural didn’t engage me, even though it won the Edgar Award for best mystery. It felt like a prototype compared to more recent versions of Nordic Noir like Jo Nesbo’s books. And the female characters were absurd – “nymphomaniacs,” shrews, or dipsos. 🌹🌹

On All Fronts: The Education of a Journalist by Clarissa Ward. I just finished this gripping memoir about being a war correspondent. Can’t wait to discuss it at book club! 🌹🌹🌹🌹

I usually only read eight, maybe nine, books in a month. I don't know why I finished 13 in January. We will see what February has in store. 

What was your favorite January read? What books are you looking forward to in February? 

Pale Morning Light with Violet Swan by Deborah Reed -- BOOK REVIEW

 

Pale Morning Light with Violet Swan by Deborah Reed (2020, Mariner Books) 

🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

Violet Swan is an artist, a famous artist. At 93, museums and collectors around the world buy her paintings, while all but nothing is known about Violet herself. She lives a secluded life in the tiny Oregon coastal town of Nestucca Beach. She hopes to complete one last painting before telling her family of her diagnosis, but when an earthquake shakes her house and town, her plans are shaken up as well.

So begins Pale Morning Light with Violet Swan, Deborah Reed's new, completely absorbing novel. Violet Swan lives in the house she built with her husband Richard. She lives and works upstairs and her son Francisco and his wife Penny live downstairs. Francisco, called Frank by everyone but Violet, manages Violet's business affairs. Frank and Penny have been grinding away at the same low-level argument for decades. The earthquake may finally bring matters to a head between them.

In the meantime, their son Daniel arrives from Los Angeles. He wants to make a documentary of Violet's life while she's still around to tell her own story. She's put him off for years but is finally ready to share her secrets. Daniel also has a surprise of his own to spring on the family.

All this is just the set up for Reed's fabulously rich family drama. As the present-day story plays out, the story of Violet's past unfolds through her memories and then her interviews with Daniel. Violet had a hard life, starting with childhood tragedy in Georgia and including her solo trek to Oregon, sexual assault, manual labor, mental illness, and other trauma. She also found friendship and love along the way and taught herself how to paint, channeling her experiences into her art, where she found happiness and joy.

Reed's writing is lovely but not obtrusive. You can picture each character and scene, but she but lets the story do the heavy lifting. She packs a lot into 302 pages. None of the characters are all good or all bad, including Violet, who is admirable but not entirely lovable. The conflict between Frank and Penny, and some of Daniel's struggles, make sense only as the details of Violet's life become clear.  

Pale Morning Light with Violet Swan is a wonderful book. It could have been twice as long and I would have enjoyed it twice as much – I didn't want it to end. This was the first book I read in 2021 and it may end up being my favorite book of the year. 

NOTES

Deborah Reed is the author of four other novels: The Days When Birds Come Back (reviewed here), Olivay, Things We Set On Fire, and Carry Yourself Back to Me (reviewed here). She also wrote two thrillers under the pen name Audrey Braun: A Small Fortune and Fortune's Deadly Descent. She owns the Cloud & Leaf Bookstore in Manzanita, Oregon, the real-life version of Nestucca Beach.

Read my earlier interview with Deborah Reed here. 

TBR 21 in '21 Challenge - REVIEW PAGE

REVIEW PAGE

FOR THE TBR 21 IN '21 CHALLENGE

January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021

THIS IS THE PAGE TO LIST YOUR REVIEWS

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

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

OR CLICK THE BUTTON ABOVE

LINK YOUR REVIEWS HERE

Please put your name and/or the name of your blog or social media handle and the name of the book you reviewed. Please link to your review post and not your blog home page or main social media profile page.

Mister Linky's Magical Widgets -- Easy-Linky widget will appear right here!
This preview will disappear when the widget is displayed on your site.
If this widget does not appear, click here to display it.

LINKS

When you review a book for the TBR 21 in '21 Challenge, please add it to this list using the Linky widget above. Please link to your review post, not the main page of your blog or social media account.

You can participate in this challenge even if you do not have a blog. If you review books on social media, use the link from your social media review post in the Link box above. Please link to the review, not your profile page. If you have questions about how to find the URL for a social media review post, leave a comment or email me at gilion at dumasandvaughn dot com. 

If you have trouble adding your link, leave it in a comment and I will add it or email me your link at gilion at dumasandvaughn dot com and I will add it for you. Please put your name and the name of the book you reviewed in the comment or email. Thanks!

BOOKS AND REVIEWS

The idea of the challenge is to pick 21 books off your TBR shelf and read them in 2021. But it's supposed to be fun! If you change your mind, switch books! 

You do not have to review books to complete the TBR 21 in '21 Challenge. 

WRAP UP

If you complete the challenge, please link some kind of wrap up post on the wrap up page. That way, I know who finished the challenge. If you do not do a wrap up post separate from your sign up post -- you just update your original post -- that's fine! Please still link to the updated post. 

The Laughing Policeman by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö - BOOK BEGINNINGS

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

This week I'm reading a 1968 classic Swedish mystery, The Laughing Policeman by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö. I wanted to get a jump on all the 2021 reading challenges I signed up for and this one counts for several:

• The Vintage Mystery Challenge: This one counts for my pick in the Killed in Translation category for my Silver Age challenge. Bev at My Reader's Block, the host of the challenge, defines "Silver Age" mysteries as those published between 1960 and 1989.

• The Mt. TBR Challenge because this has been on my TBR shelf for eight years. 

• The Back to the Classics Challenge: Again, I'm counting this one in the translation category. It shows up on several classic crime lists and is over 50 years old so meets the general definition used by Karen at Books and Chocolate, the host of this challenge.

• The European Reading Challenge: I host this one myself. It used to be difficult for me to find Scandinavian books for the challenge but not so since I started reading "Nordic Noir" mystery books. 

I like giving myself that big jolt of accomplishment of getting a book done for all the challenges. It makes me want to keep reading!

What are you reading this week? Any books for challenges you signed up for?

Please share the opening sentence (or so) of your book you are enjoying this week. Add the link to your blog or social media post in the linky box below. As always, if you post or share on social media, please use the hashtag #bookbeginnings so we can find each other. 

MY BOOK BEGINNING

From The Laughing Policeman: 

On the evening of the thirteenth of November it was pouring in Stockholm.

Maj Sjöwall and her husband Per Wahlöö wrote ten crime novels featuring Stockholm police detective Martin Beck. The Laughing Policeman is the fourth book in the series.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Mister Linky's Magical Widgets -- Thumb-Linky widget will appear right here!
This preview will disappear when the widget is displayed on your site.
If this widget does not appear, click here to display it.

THE FRIDAY 56

Another fun Friday event is The Friday 56. Share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of your book, or 56% of the way through your e-book or audiobook, on this weekly event hosted by Freda at Freda's Voice.

MY FRIDAY 56

Martin Beck should, therefore, know most of what there was to know about him. 

Oddly enough, he didn't know very much.

Enjoy your book and enjoy your weekend! See you next week for another Book Beginning on Friday!

The Women's Prize for Fiction -- BOOK LIST

THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION

The Women's Prize for Fiction is awarded each year for the best eligible, full-length novel in English. The prize started in 1996 as the Orange Prize for Fiction (because it was sponsored by the Orange telecommunications company). In 2014, Bailey's became the sponsor and the name changed to the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction. Since 2018, multiple sponsors support the prize, now called simply the Women's Prize for Fiction.

I am not going to keep updating the winners after 2021. My enthusiasm for prize-winners is waning with the 2020s. I may focus my efforts on reading the winners up to 2020 then declare victory and move on to other bookish projects.

So far, I've read 17 of the winners. The list is below with notes about whether I read it, it is on my TBR shelf, or if it is available as an audiobook from my library.

Several of my favorite books are on this list and I only read them because they won this prize. See any favorites of your own?

2021 Susanna Clarke, Piranesi

2020 Maggie O'Farrell, Hamnet FINISHED

2019 Tayari Jones, An American Marriage ON OVERDRIVE

2018 Kamila Shamsie, Home Fire FINISHED

2017 Naomi Alderman, The Power FINISHED

2016 Lisa McInerne, The Glorious Heresies FINISHED

2015 Ali Smith, How to be Both ON OVERDRIVE

2014 Eimear McBride, A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing ON OVERDRIVE

2013 A.M. Homes, May We Be Forgiven FINISHED

2012 Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles FINISHED

2011 Téa Obreht, The Tiger's Wife FINISHED

2010 Barbara Kingsolver, The Lacuna ON OVERDRIVE

2009 Marilynne Robinson, Home FINISHED

2008 Rose Tremain, The Road Home FINISHED

2007 Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Half of a Yellow Sun FINISHED

2006 Zadie Smith, On Beauty (reviewed here) FINISHED

2005 Lionel Shriver, We Need to Talk About Kevin FINISHED

2004 Andrea Levy, Small Island (reviewed here) FINISHED

2003 Valerie Martin, Property

2002 Ann Patchett, Bel Canto (reviewed here) FINISHED

2001 Kate Grenville, The Idea of Perfection (reviewed here) FINISHED

2000 Linda Grant, When I Lived in Modern Times TBR SHELF

1999 Suzanne Berne, A Crime in the Neighborhood TBR SHELF

1998 Carol Shields, Larry's Party  FINISHED

1997 Anne Michaels, Fugitive Pieces TBR SHELF

1996 Helen Dunmore, A Spell of Winter TBR SHELF


NOTES

Updated July 3, 2025. 

OTHERS READING THE WINNERS

If you are reading the winners of the Women's Prize for Fiction and would like your post listed here, please leave comments with links to related posts and I will list them.

Book List: Books Read in 2017

 

Somehow, 2017 was the year in books that almost never was. Every year in January, I make a book list of the book I read the prior year. But I forgot to do that in January 2018. A look at my work calendar tells me I wasn't gearing up for a trial (which is my usual attention-sucker), but my law partner and I were up to our eyeballs in a couple of Boy Scout sex abuse cases in Idaho and Montana. I spent most of January 2018 in regional PNW airports waiting for cancelled flights to get to depositions and court hearings.

I only realized the 2017 list was missing when I went to post the 2020 list. Better late then never. We want to remember all the books of Auld Lang Sine!

BOOKS READ IN 2017

• The Panther by Nelson DeMille 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Bech at Bay by John Updike 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• How to Hepburn: Lessons on Living from Kate the Great by Karen Karbo 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion 🌹🌹🌹🌹1/2

• A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Friday the Rabbi Slept Late by Harry Kemelman 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹 (Women's Prize winner)

• Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J. D. Vance 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Amarcord: Marcella Remembers by Marcella Hazan 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Unicorn by Iris Murdoch 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Poetic Justice by Amanda Cross 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Jam Today Too: The Revolution Will Not Be Catered by Tod Davies 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Life and Loves of a She Devil by Fay Weldon 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• The Redbreast by Jo Nesbo 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• The Whole Fromage: Adventures in the Delectable World of French Cheese by Kathe Lison 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Drowning Pool by Ross Macdonald 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Biographer's Moustache by Kingsley Amis 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• No Way to Treat a First Lady by Christopher Buckley 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise by Ruth Reichl 🌹🌹🌹🌹1/2

• The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living by Meik Wiking 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Roseanna by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö 🌹🌹🌹

• Astoria: Astor and Jefferson's Lost Pacific Empire: A Tale of Ambition and Survival on the Early American Frontier by Peter Stark 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Fifth Business by Robertson Davies 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Manticore by Robertson Davies 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Original Sin by P. D. James 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Heartburn by Nora Ephron 🌹🌹🌹🌹1/2

• World of Wonders by Robertson Davis 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• When You Lunch With the Emperor by Ludwig Bemelmans 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Books: A Memoir by Larry McMurtry 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• Girls of Slender Means by Muriel Spark 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Make Me by Lee Child 🌹🌹🌹

• All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• Ultimate Prizes by Susan Howatch 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• Spotted Dick S'il Vous Plait: An English Restaurant in France by Tom Higgins 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• The Little Nugget by P. G. Wodehouse 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• But Enough About You by Christopher Buckley 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• Schindler's List by Thomas Keneally 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹 (Booker Prize winner)

• Gods and Beasts by Denise Mina 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Heat of the Day by Elizabeth Bowen 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Architecture Pack : A Unique, Three-Dimensional Tour of Architecture over the Centuries : What Architects Do, How They Do It by Ron Van Der Meer 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Browsings: A Year of Reading, Collecting, and Living with Books by Michael Dirda 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• Let It Bleed by Ian Rankin 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Comfort of Strangers by Ian McEwan 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• Earthly Possessions by Anne Tyler 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Slay Ride by Dick Francis 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny 🌹🌹🌹🌹1/2

• The Road to Burgundy: The Unlikely Story of an American Making Wine and a New Life in France by Ray Walker 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• Call the Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times by Jennifer Worth 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• An Oxford Tragedy by J. C. Masterman 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• The Story of a New Name by Elana Ferrante 🌹🌹

• Black and Blue by Ian Rankin 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Black Rednecks and White Liberals by Thomas Sowell 🌹🌹🌹🌹1/2

• The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Hanging Garden by Ian Rankin 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Free to Choose: A Personal Statement by Milton Friedman 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Handmaid's Tail by Margaret Atwood 🌹🌹🌹🌹1/2

• Wait for Me!: Memoirs by Deborah Mitford 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Death by Water by Kenzaburo Oe 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Nix by Nathan Hill 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• On Rue Tatin: Living and Cooking in a French Town By Susan Herrmann Loomis 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• Blue Angel by Francine Prose 🌹🌹🌹🌹 (my Campus Novels list)

• Bandits by Elmore Leonard 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• About a Boy by Nick Hornby 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Any Human Heart by William Boyd 🌹🌹🌹

• Temperance Creek: A Memoir by Pamela Royes 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Blue Heaven by C. J. Box 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹 (Edgar Award winner)

• The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan 🌹🌹🌹1/2 (Booker Prize winner)

• Cork Dork: A Wine-Fueled Adventure Among the Obsessive Sommeliers, Big Bottle Hunters, and Rogue Scientists Who Taught Me to Live for Taste by Bianca Bosker 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Through the Children's Gate: A Home in New York by Adam Gopnik 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Any Woman's Blues by Erica Jong 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Heirs by Susan Rieger 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• The Question of Max by Amanda Cross 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries by Kory Stamper 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Rocks by Peter Nichols 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck: How to Stop Spending Time You Don't Have with People You Don't Like Doing Things You Don't Want to Do by Sarah Knight 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Reptile: The 2009 Manual of the Plaintiff's Revolution by David Ball 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Group by Mary McCarthy 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson 🌹🌹🌹🌹 (Pulitzer Prize winner)

• Psmith, Journalist by P. G. Wodehouse 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Glorious Heresies by  Lisa McInerney 🌹🌹🌹🌹1/2 (Women's Prize winner)

• Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks 🌹🌹🌹 (BBC Big Read)

• I Can't Complain: (All Too) Personal Essays by Eleanor Lipman 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• The Ancient Minstrel by Jim Harrison 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Vipers' Tangle by Mauriac Francois 🌹🌹 (Nobel Laureates)

• The Journalist and the Murder by Janet Malcolm 🌹🌹🌹

• The Princess of Burundi by Kjell Eriksson 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• The Quality of Mercy by Barry Unsworth 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• A Certain Justice by P. D. James 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Remembrance of Things Paris: Sixty Years of Writing from Gourmet 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Auntie Mame: An Irreverent Escapade by Patrick Dennis 🌹🌹🌹🌹

MY RATING SYSTEM

I have a loosy goosy and always changing rating system. I used to use stars, but since my four or five stars didn't mean what four or five stars might mean on amazon or goodreads, I switched to roses, keeping with my Rose City Reader theme. I rate a book based on how much I like it, if I would recommend it to others, and what type of reader I would recommend it to.  

🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹 Books I love, recommend to most readers, or I think of as classics or must reads. 

🌹🌹🌹🌹 Books I really enjoy and/or recommend to readers of that type of book. Lots of Mysteries or food memoirs, for example, might get four roses from me instead of five because I really like them, but would only recommend them to people who read mysteries or food books.

🌹🌹🌹 Books I'm lukewarm about, liked so-so, or maybe was glad I read but wouldn't recommend to other people. 

🌹🌹 Books I didn't like, but understand that other readers do like.

🌹 Books I really don't like and am surprised to find other readers who do. I don't have many one-rose books.

I use half roses for books that fall between categories.

In years past, I used a slightly different star system. Here is a link to it. 

The Great Divorce by C. S. Lewis -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

What are you reading this week? It's time to share the opening sentence (or so) here on Book Beginnings on Fridays. 

Share the link to your blog or social media post in the linky box below. If you post or share on social media, please use the #bookbeginnings hashtag so we can find each other. 

MY BOOK BEGINNING

My Book Beginning this week is from The Great Divorce, C. S. Lewis's classic allegory about Heaven and Hell. It is a short book and I just started it today. I plan to read several C. S. Lewis books this year and The Great Divorce is the first of them. 

I seemed to be standing in a bus queue by the side of a long, mean street.

I'm already halfway through -- like I said, it's a short book -- and it is very good. It s as accessible as his Narnia books, but written for adults as a way to explain ideas of sin, grace, and judgment. 

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Please link to your Bok Beginnings post and not your main blog page or social media profile page. 

Mister Linky's Magical Widgets -- Thumb-Linky widget will appear right here!
This preview will disappear when the widget is displayed on your site.
If this widget does not appear, click here to display it.

THE FRIDAY 56 

Another weekly teaser event is The Friday 56, hosted by Freda at Freda's Voice, where you can find details and add a link to your post. The idea is to share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of the book you are featuring. You can also find a teaser from 56% of the way through your ebook or audiobook.

MY FRIDAY 56

"I have seen that kind converted," said he, "when those ye would think less deeply damned have gone back. Those that hate goodness are sometimes nearer than those that know nothing at all about it and think they have it already."

That's from 56% of the way through the audiobook. The audiobook is particularly good because the reader does all the voices differently.