Book Beginnings on Friday -- Trial Edition

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

I'm tied up in the Boy Scouts' bankruptcy confirmation trial (by zoom). I forgot all about Book Beginnings! I have to cross examine a witness in a few minutes, but just remembered I forgot to post anything here. 

Here's the Linky box. That's all I've got this week. Have fun!

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PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction Winners -- BOOK LIST

PEN/FAULKNER AWARD FOR FICTION

The PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction honors the "best published works of fiction by American permanent residents in a calendar year." 

National Book Award winner Mary Lee Settle, with help from her friends, organized the award in 1980 as a peer-reviewed competitor of the National Book Award. They allied themselves with the Ineternational PEN organization (Poets, Editors, and Novelists) and named the award after William Faulkner who donated his Nobel Prize money to fund the award.

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.

Here is the list of all the winners, with notes if I've read the book, it is on my TBR shelf, or if it is available as an audiobook on Overdrive from my library. So far, I've only read 14 of the winners.

2021 The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw ON OVERDRIVE

2020 Sea Monsters by Chloe Aridjis ON OVERDRIVE

2019 Call Me Zebra by Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi ON OVERDRIVE

2018 Improvement by Joan Silber ON OVERDRIVE

2017 Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue ON OVERDRIVE

2016 Delicious Foods by James Hannaham ON OVERDRIVE

2015 Preparation for the Next Life by Atticus Lish

2014 We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler FINISHED

2013 Everything Begins and Ends at the Kentucky Club by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

2012 The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka ON OVERDRIVE

2011 The Collected Stories by Deborah Eisenberg

2010 War Dances by Sherman Alexie ON OVERDRIVE

2009 Netherland by Joseph O'Neill ON OVERDRIVE

2008 The Great Man by Kate Christensen TBR SHELF

2007 Everyman by Philip Roth FINISHED

2006 The March by E. L. Doctorow ON OVERDRIVE

2005 War Trash by Ha Jin TBR SHELF

2004 The Early Stories: 1953-1975 by John Updike TBR SHELF

2003 The Caprices by Sabina Murray TBR SHELF

2002 Bel Canto by Ann Patchett (reviewed here) FINISHED

2001 The Human Stain by Philip Roth (reviewed here) FINISHED

2000 Waiting by Ha Jin FINISHED

1999 The Hours by Michael Cunningham FINISHED

1998 The Bear Comes Home by Rafi Zabor FINISHED

1997 Women in Their Beds: New and Selected Stories by Gina Berriault TBR SHELF

1996 Independence Day by Richard Ford FINISHED

1995 Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson FINISHED

1994 Operation Shylock: A Confession by Philip Roth FINISHED

1993 Postcards by E. Annie Proulx FINISHED

1992 Mao II by Don Delillo FINISHED

1991 Philadelphia Fire by John Edgar Wideman

1990 Billy Bathgate by E. L. Doctorow FINISHED

1989 Dusk and Other Stories by James Salter FINISHED

1988 World's End by T. Coraghessan Boyle

1987 Soldiers in Hiding by Richard Wiley TBR SHELF

1986 The Old Forest and Other Stories by Peter Taylor

1985 The Barracks Thief by Tobias Wolff

1984 Sent for You Yesterday by John Edgar Wideman

1983 Seaview by Toby Olson TBR SHELF

1982 The Chaneysville Incident by David Bradley

1981 How German Is It = Wie Deutsch Ist Es by Walter Abish TBR SHELF



NOTES

Updated July 3, 2025. 

This is a redo of the list I first posted in 2010. The links needed a refresh! 

 

National Book Critics Circle Fiction Award Winners -- BOOK LIST

The National Book Critics Circle presents annual awards for books published in English in six categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Biography, Autobiography, Poetry, and Criticism. The NBCC Awards started in 1975.

I confess I bear a grudge against the NBCC fiction Award for inflicting some of my least favorite novels on me, including Being Dead, All the Pretty Horses, and Song of Solomon. On the other hand, I only read Americanah and Motherless Brooklyn because they are on list and I love both of them.

I decided to not 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.

This is the list of the NBCC fiction Award winners through 2021, with notes about whether I've finished the book or not. So far, I've read 33 of the winners. I've also noted it a book is on my TBR shelf or available as an audiobook from my library. Those notes help me keep track. 

2021 The Love Songs of W.E.B DuBois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers ON OVERDRIVE

2020 Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell FINISHED

2019 Everything Inside by Edwidge Danticat ON OVERDRIVE

2018 Milkman by Anna Burns FINISHED

2017 Improvement by Joan Silber ON OVERDRIVE

2016 LaRose by Louise Erdrich FINISHED

2015 The Sellout by Paul Beatty FINISHED

2014 Lila by Marilynne Robinson FINISHED

2013 Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie FINISHED

2012 Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain FINISHED

2011 Binocular Vision: New & Selected Stories by Edith Pearlman

2010 A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan FINISHED

2009 Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (reviewed here) FINISHED

2008 2666 by Robert Bolano TBR SHELF

2007 The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz FINISHED

2006 The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai FINISHED

2005 The March by E.L. Doctorow ON OVERDRIVE

2004 Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (reviewed here) FINISHED

2003 The Known World by Edward P. Jones FINISHED

2002 Atonement by Ian McEwan FINISHED

2001 Austerlitz by Winfried Georg Sebald FINISHED

2000 Being Dead by Jim Crace FINISHED

1999 Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem FINISHED

1998 The Love of a Good Woman by Alice Munro TBR SHELF

1997 The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald FINISHED

1996 Women in Their Beds by Gina Berriault TBR SHELF

1995 Mrs. Ted Bliss by Stanley Elkin FINISHED

1994 The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields FINISHED

1993 A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines TBR SHELF

1992 All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy (reviewed here) FINISHED

1991 A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley FINISHED

1990 Rabbit at Rest by John Updike FINISHED

1989 Billy Bathgate by E. L. Doctorow FINISHED

1988 The Middleman and Other Stories by Bharati Mukherjee TBR SHELF

1987 The Counterlife by Philip Roth FINISHED

1986 Kate Vaiden by Reynolds Price FINISHED

1985 The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler FINISHED

1984 Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich TBR SHELF

1983 Ironweed by William Kennedy FINISHED

1982 George Mills by Stanley Elkin TBR SHELF

1981 Rabbit is Rich by John Updike FINISHED

1980 The Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard TBR SHELF

1979 The Year of the French by Thomas Flanagan FINISHED

1978 The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever (reviewed here) FINISHED

1977 Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison FINISHED

1976 October Light by John C Gardner TBR SHELF

1975 Ragtime by E. L. Doctorow FINISHED

NOTES

Updated March 20, 2024. This is a refresh of the list I first posted in 2012. 

On Night, New York by Lara Thompson -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

It has been an exciting week around here! I was in Omaha with my sister last week, house hunting. After five days of looking, seeing a few houses, but being frustrated by the minimal available inventory, we found a perfect house for her on our way to the airport Monday morning! It was a pocket listing, so she really lucked out. She made an offer Tuesday that was accepted Wednesday and her house here in Oregon is for sale today with people looking at it already. Things are moving fast!

In the meantime, trial on the Boy Scouts proposed bankruptcy plan starts this coming Monday. My law partner and I represent 65 sexual abuse survivors with claims in the bankruptcy. They all voted against the plan and object to confirmation. So I'm pulling together exhibits and preparing my witness questions. Whatever the outcome, there is no question this is the biggest trial I've ever been a part of. 

I probably won't have much time to read in the next few weeks. But I always like to stop by your Book Beginnings posts to see what you are all reading, even when I don't have time to leave comments. Thanks for participating and sharing the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, or just a book you want to highlight. 

MY BOOK BEGINNING

Her initial shock at the height had faded, but if Frances moved closer to the edge, if she tipped her head over the waist-height balustrade, the hysterical sensation returned.

-- from One Night, New York by Lara Thompson. 

I got a copy of Lara Thompson’s debut novel, One Night, New York, from Pegasus Books and it looks terrific! The story takes place on one December night in 1932, when two young women plot to get revenge on a man who has wronged them by pushing him off the top of the Empire State Building.

Buzz about the book uses words like glitter, glamour, noir, bizarre twists, a story of old New York, bohemian, enthralling, and with an unexpected ending.

Sounds perfect!

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Please add the link to your Book Beginnings posts in the Linky box below. If you post on social media, please use the #bookbeginnings hashtag.

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THE FRIDAY 56

Freda at Freda's Voice hosts another teaser event on Fridays. Participants share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of the book they are reading -- or from 56% of the way through the audiobook or ebook. Please visit Freda's Voice for details and to leave a link to your post.

MY FRIDAY 56

From One Night, New York:

Two of Mrs. Bianchi's three sons were sitting at the table by the open window, muttering in their own language, playing cards. They'd eaten her with their eyes when she first arrived, then gone back to their game without a greeting.

Blood and Iron: The Rise and Fall of the German Empire, 1871-1918 by Katja Hoyer -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

 BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Greeting from Omaha! My sis and I are in Omaha, Nebraska this week, our hometown. So I am doing my Book Beginnings post from the road. It seems appropriate to feature a book about German history because some of my favorite childhood memories are of the German American Society in Omaha, where we took German language lessons on Saturday mornings.

Please join me to share the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are reading this week. Or you can share the first line of a book you want to highlight. 

MY BOOK BEGINNING

From Blood and Iron:

"To My People" was the title of the dramatic and passionate plea of the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm III in 1813 to all his subjects to help liberate the German lands from French occupation.

-- from chapter I, "Rise 1815 - 71" in Blood and Iron: The Rise and Fall of the German Empire, 1871-1918 by Katja Hoyer, new from Pegasus Books. 

Prior to 1871, Germany was not a unified nation but 39 separate states, including Prussia, Bavaria, and the Rhineland. In her new book, Blood and Iron, German-British historian Katja Hoyer tells the story of how a German Empire, united under Otto von Bismarck, rose to power only to face crippling defeat in the First World War. 

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Please leave the link to your Book Beginnings post in the Linky box below. Use the hashtag #bookbeginnings if you share on social media.

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THE FRIDAY 56

Freda at Freda's Voice hosts another teaser event on Fridays. Participants share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of the book they are reading -- or from 56% of the way through the audiobook or ebook. Please visit Freda's Voice for details and to leave a link to your post.

MY FRIDAY 56

From Blood and Iron:

After Sedan* and successive military victories from September 1870, an intoxicating wave of nationalist sentiment swept through the German lands. Bismarck used this temporary goodwill to bring the leaders of the states together for negotiations about a federal German nation state.

* The Battle of Sedan was a decisive battle during the Franco-Prussian War.

TBR 22 in '22 Challenge -- WRAP UP POSTS

WRAP UP PAGE

TBR 22 IN '22 CHALLENGE

January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022

THIS IS THE PAGE TO LINK YOUR WRAP UP POSTS

TO LINK A REVIEW, GO TO THIS PAGE

TO SIGN UP FOR THE CHALLENGE, GO TO THIS PAGE OR CLICK THE CHALLENGE BUTTON ABOVE

LINK YOUR WRAP UP POSTS HERE

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WRAP UP LINKS

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

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!

REVIEWS

If you review a book for the TBR 22 in '22 Challenge, please add the link to your review on the review page. Please link to your review post, not the main page of your blog or social media account.

You do not have to have a blog to participate in this challenge. If you review books on Instagram, goodreads, or some other social media, use the link from your social media review post in the Linky 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.

BOOKS AND REVIEWS

The only point of the challenge is to clear 22 book off your TBR shelf in 2022. You can pick them ahead of time but you don't have to. If you pick them, you can change your mind later and switch books. The only "rule" is that you must own the book before January 1, 2022. 

Your TBR shelf can include a virtual shelf of ebooks or audiobooks, as long as you owned them prior to January 1, 2022. It does not include library books. 

You do not have to review books to complete the TBR 22 in '22 Challenge.  

This is supposed to be fun!

TBR 22 in '22 Challenge -- REVIEW PAGE

REVIEW PAGE

FOR THE TBR 22 IN '22 CHALLENGE

January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022

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.

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LINKS

If you review a book for the TBR 22 in '22 Challenge, please add the link to your review in the Linky box above. Please link to your review post, not the main page of your blog or social media account.

You do not have to have a blog to participate in this challenge. If you review books on Instagram, goodreads, or some other social media, use the link from your social media review post in the Linky 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 only point of the challenge is to clear 22 book off your TBR shelf in 2022. You can pick them ahead of time but you don't have to. If you pick them, you can change your mind later and switch books. The only "rule" is that you must own the book before January 1, 2022. 

Your TBR shelf can include a virtual shelf of ebooks or audiobooks, as long as you owned them prior to January 1, 2022. It does not include library books. 

You do not have to review books to complete the TBR 22 in '22 Challenge.  

This is supposed to be fun!

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 just update your original post and do not do a wrap up post separate from your sign up post that's fine! Please still add the link to the updated post on the wrap up page.

Champagne Widows by Rebecca Rosenberg - BOOK BEGINNINGS

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Brrrr! It's a cold week here in the Pacific Northwest! How about where you are? Settling in with a good book and a cuddly blanket sounds like a good way to spend this chilly weekend.

It is time again for Book Beginnings on Fridays, where we share the opening sentence (or so) of the books we are reading this week. You can also share the first line from a book that has caught your fancy and you feel like highlighting. 

MY BOOK BEGINNING

My Book Beginning this week comes from a new historical fiction book that launches in paperback next week, on March 1, called Champagne Widows.

Grand-mère sways over the edge of the stone stairs into the cavern, and I step between her and eternity, dizzy from the bloody tang of her head bandage.

-- from chapter 1, "Le Nez, The Nose" in Champagne Widows by Rebecca Rosenberg. Chapter 1 notes that it is set in Reims, Champagne, France in 1797. 

That opening sentence sets quite a scene! Why does the narrator's grandmother have a bloody bandage on her head? 

Champagne Widows is the fictionalized account of Barbe-Nicole Clicquot who, after the death of her husband became Veuve (Widow) Clicquot, of champagne fame. It is a story of love, tragedy, war, entrepreneurship, romance, and bravery. 

I got an early copy and cannot wait to read it! It is available on kindle now and in paperback next week. 

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Add the link to your Book Beginnings post in the Linky box below. If you share on social media, please use the hashtag #bookbeginnings, with an s on the end. 

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THE FRIDAY 56

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 Champagne Widows:

"He doesn't expect you to love him now, after what he's experienced. He's a broken man."

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Twenty-year-old Barbe-Nicole inherited Le Nez (an uncanny sense of smell) from her great-grandfather, a renowned champagne maker. Determined to use Le Nez to make great champagne, she learns her childhood sweetheart, François Clicquot, wants to start a winery and marries him despite his mental illness.

Her husband's tragic death forces her to become Veuve (Widow) Clicquot and grapple with a domineering partner, the complexities of making champagne, and six Napoleon wars, which cripple her ability to sell champagne. When she falls in love with her sales manager, Louis Bohne, who asks her to marry, she must choose between losing her winery to her husband, as dictated by Napoleon Code, or losing Louis.

In the ultimate showdown, Veuve Clicquot risks imprisonment and even death, defying Napoleon himself.

Book Beginning on Fridays - FINALLY!

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

It's time for Book Beginnings on Fridays, where participants share the opening sentence (or so) of the books they are reading this week. 

I am ridiculously late getting the post up this week. I've been in a weeklong mediation in a private school sex abuse case and my brain is scrambled. We represent 20 former students of the Catlin Gabel private school in Portland who were all abused between 1970 to 2001. It's been a long and exhausting week. 

Please share your Book Beginning post in the Linky box below. I don't have a Book Beginning of my own because I'm trapped in a conference room in a skyscraper in downtown Portland without a book.

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2022 European Reading Challenge -- WRAP UP PAGE

WRAP UP PAGE

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

LINK YOUR POST

When you complete the 2022 European Reading 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 or social media profile.

A wrap up post can be very simple. If you participate in the challenge on your blog and just update your original post without doing a separate wrap up post, that's OK. Just post a link to your updated post here. If you participate on social media, please do some kind of wrap up post listing the books you read and link it here.

OR LEAVE A COMMENT

If you want, you can also simply leave a comment below listing the books you read. Please include your name, the name of the books, the authors of the books, and the countries of the books.

WANT THE PRIZE? WRAP IT UP!

Without some kind of wrap up post, I don't have any way to know if you finished the challenge. I like to know so I can visit everyone. But it is more important if you are competing for the Jet Setter Prize. If you want to compete for the prize, you have to leave a wrap up post or I will have no way to know if you visited more countries than the other people competing with you.

When I announce the prize winner, Honorable Mention will go to the participants who visited the most countries, with links to their wrap up posts. If you don't link a wrap up post, I won't be able to find you.

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NOTE ABOUT DATES

One change in 2022 is that we no longer extend the challenge into January as in years past. You now have to read all books by December 31, 2022. You have until January 31, 2023 to finish your reviews and your wrap up post. I will announce the winner as soon as possible after January 31, 2023.

2022 European Reading Challenge -- REVIEW PAGE

REVIEW PAGE

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.

LINK YOUR REVIEWS HERE

Please put your name and/or the name of your blog or social media handle, the name of the book you reviewed, and the country of the book or author. For example: Gilion at Rose City Reader, Anna Karenina, Russia.

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LINKS

When you review a book for the 2022 European Reading 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 do not need a blog to participate. If you review books on Instagram, Facebook, goodreads, or some other platform that generates a URL, you can add link to the review in the Mr. Linky box above the same as a link to a blog post. 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 to ask me or email me at gilion at dumasandvaughn dot com.

REVIEWS

You do not have to review books to complete the European Reading Challenge. You can complete the challenge simply by reading one to five books (or more), each set in a different European country or written by an author from a different European country. But if you do review books, please link your reviews here so other people can find them.

Also, if you want to win the Jet Setter Prize, you have to review the books. Only books reviewed count for the prize. If you are competing for the prize, definitely link your reviews here. You can link all your reviews, but only one book per country counts towards the prize.

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! But please, please, please link to the updated post after you finish the challenge. It is too hard for me to count all your reviews to figure out if you finished the challenge or not.

NOTE ABOUT DATES

One change in 2022 is that we no longer extend the challenge into January as in years past. You now have to read all books by December 31, 2022. You have until January 31, 2023 to finish your reviews and your wrap up post. I will announce the winner as soon as possible after January 31, 2023. 

The Last Professional by Ed Davis -- BOOK REVIEW

 BOOK REVIEW

The Last Professional by Ed Davis (2022 Artemesia Publishing)

The Last Professional is a novel about the last days of jumping trains and living on the road. It is the well-told story of Lynden Hoover, a young man fleeing his past who teams up with an old loner called The Duke. An enemy from The Duke’s past pursues them, things turn deadly, and the story rolls out against an American landscape bounded by railroad tracks.

 
Set in the late 1970s, driven by plenty of dialog and action, The Last Professional is a nostalgia-tinged, old-fashioned page turner, sure to please any reader who enjoys a good yarn.

NOTES

Read the opening sentence and a teaser from The Last Professional here. 

Read more about Ed Davis and his books, including other reviews of The Last Professional, on his Ed Davis website.

The Radical Potter: The Life and Times of Josiah Wedgwood by Tristram Hunt -- BOOK REVIEW

BOOK REVIEW

The Radical Potter: The Life and Times of Josiah Wedgwood by Tristram Hunt (2021, Metropolitan Books)

You probably recognize the iconic chalky blue background with white frosting decorations of Wedgwood’s most famous pottery. But who knew that Josiah Wedgwood himself was an iconoclast of 18^th Century marketing and manufacture? In Tristram Hunt’s new biography, The Radical Potter, he looks deep into The Life and Times of Josiah Wedgwood and it is a fascinating story.

The 1700s was an exciting era for ideas and industry and Wedgwood was in the center of both. He was a leader of the Industrial Revolution, advocating a system of canals for shipping and using advances in chemistry to grow his small, artisan pottery business into the first major English pottery factory. He was a marketing innovator, introducing ideas such as direct mail and illustrated catalogues, money back guarantees, and promotions like free delivery and buy one get one free. Hunt also explores how Wedgwood’s business advancements fit with the economic and political ideas of the times, particularly the ideas of Adam Smith and David Hume.

Probably the most interesting chapter in the book is the one titled “The Subject of Freedom” in which Hunt examines Wedgwood’s support of the American Revolution, the influence of the French Revolution on his thinking, and his strong stance in favor of the abolition of slavery. His factory mass-produced and distributed an anti-slavery medallion with the slogan, “Am I Not a Man and a Brother?” that brought great awareness to the abolitionist cause in Britain and America.

Hunt relies on Wedgwood archive materials, including business records and correspondence, to tell the story of Josiah Wedgwood. For readers with an interest in the Industrial Revolution or the history of pottery, The Radical Potter is a must-read biography of the man who profoundly changed how we work and live.

NOTES

Author Tristram Hunt is a historian and the director of the Victoria and Albert Museum. His “Epilogue” in The Radical Potter covers the sad decline of the Wedgwood company in the 21^st Century and the faint glimmer of hope for the future.

I got my ARC copy of The Radical Potter from the Early Reviewer program at LibraryThing.

Darrow's Nightmare by Nelson Johnson & The Image by Steven Faulkner -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

 

BOOK BEGINNING ON FRIDAYS

This is my birthday weekend so part of the festivities is a Book Beginning two-fer! These two books have been on my stack of books for a while and both of them look terrific. The lawyer one particularly appeals to me, since I am a lawyer myself. 

Do you have any special plans for this Valentine's weekend? Thanks for kicking it off with Book Beginnings on Fridays! Please share the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, or just a book you want to highlight. 

MY BOOK BEGINNINGS

From Darrow's Nightmare:

She hadn't bargained for this, yet she dealt with it as best she could: standing over a coal-burning stove 'round the clock, boiling syringes to drain an incision, and injecting codeine to ease his pain were frightful tasks she was forced to learn on the fly.

-- from the Prologue, "Labor's Lawyer," in Darrow's Nightmare: The Forgotten Story of America's Most Famous Trial Lawyer, Los Angeles 1911-1913 by Nelson Johnson. 

In 1911, Clarence Darrow went to Los Angeles to represent two union agitators arrested for bombing the LA Times newspaper office. Shortly after a plea deal was announced, Darrow was arrested for bribing a juror and faced his own criminal trial. 

This nonfiction history book reads like an exciting, fictional courtroom drama, which you would expect from the author of Boardwalk Empire.   

From The Image:

A bearded monk reclines on one elbow in the shadow of tall pine trees near the gate of an old stone Maronite monastery built on a remote ridge of the southern Lebanese mountains. 

-- The Image: A Novel in Pieces by Steven Faulkner. Three linked stories make up this short novella about a centuries-old piece of art hidden in a cave in Lebanon. 

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Please link to your book beginning post, not your blog or social media home page. If you share on SM, please use the #bookbeginnings hashtag.

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THE FRIDAY 56

Freda at Freda's Voice hosts another teaser event on Fridays. Participants share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of the book they are reading -- or from 56% of the way through the audiobook or ebook. Please visit Freda's Voice for details and to leave a link to your post.

MY FRIDAY 56

From Darrow's Nightmare:

By jumping into a fight among the federal government, a national union and the railroads, Darrow's profile skyrocketed. Though his argument to the US Supreme Court in the appeal of In Re Debs was rejected in the spring of 1895, at the age of thirty-seven, his name was now being spoken among the powerful players of both labor and capital throughout the nation.

From The Image:

Once, when Israeli jets screamed over the valley, Ibrahim had ducked under a ledge and found a cave overgrown with bushes and vines. He had torn through the vines and entered the cave.

A Narrow Door by Joanne Harris -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

How is your February shaping up? Mine is roaring out the door. February is my birthday month, so I usually like to dawdle around, doing a lot of fun, personal stuff. Not much chance of that this year! We've got a couple of big cases on the boil here at work and it doesn't look like I'll have time to dawdle until some time in March, if I'm lucky!

At least I've had some terrific looking new books come my way lately. I hope I can at least find a few minutes to spend with them here and there. 

Please share the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are spending time with this week. Share your Book Beginning link in the linky box below. 

MY BOOK BEGINNING

I often find that men like you underestimate women like me.

-- from the Preface to A Narrow Door by Joanne Harris. Well, that's just a perfect book beginning for the mood I'm in right now! Of course, I'm afraid the narrator may be a sociopath. 

I've read a few of Joanne Harris's books, like Chocolat, of course. This one looks like something different, described as a "phycological thriller," about the first woman to be the head of St. Oswald's private school. I plan to read it this weekend.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Add your Book Beginning link in the box below. If you share on social media, please use the hashtag #bookbeginnings. 

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THE FRIDAY 56

Freda at Freda's Voice hosts another teaser event on Fridays. Participants share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of the book they are reading -- or from 56% of the way through the audiobook or ebook. Please visit Freda's Voice for details and to leave a link to your post.

MY FRIDAY 56

From A Narrow Door:

I can't claim the moral high ground, or course: I too favour the [Thirsty Scholar pub], with its battered old bookcases. Some of them are allegedly even from the old St. Oswald's library, which was rebuilt and refurbished in 1834, and refurbished by Jeremiah Smarthwaite, a local mining millionaire with delusions of immortality. 

Cheyenne Summer: The Battle of Beecher Island: A History by Terry Mort -- BOOK REVIEW

 

BOOK REVIEW

Cheyenne Summer: The Battle of Beecher Island: A History by Terry Mort (2021, Pegasus Books)

In Cheyenne Summer, Terry Mort takes a close look at one battle in eastern Colorado during the Indian Wars of the late 1800s. In the Battle of Beecher Island in 1868, Cheyenne and Sioux warriors fought US Army scouts, including two battalions of Black "Buffalo Soldiers."

Although Mort describes the battle as not strategically significant, he concludes that it was culturally and historically important. He uses the battle to frame a discussion about one of the most transformative periods in America's history -- including a discussion of what motivated the white settlers, the Cheyenne, and the US soldiers, both white and Black.

I’m not a big fan of military history. So I appreciated that the bulk of Mort’s 270-page book was not spent describing the actual Battle of Beecher Island. Most of the book provides context for the battle. The first third or more is a detailed account of the Cheyenne, their history, culture, and nomadic tradition. The next third is a brief history of the U.S. Army and civilian settlers during the period of the Mexican-American War, the Civil War, and western expansion. This was a perfect introduction for a reader like me to the various players in the Indian Wars, with their conflicting desires and goals.

Having grown up at both ends of the Oregon Trail -- Nebraska as a child and Oregon from a teenager on -- I've picked up some of the sad history of how our country treated the Native Americans during the settlement of the Western frontier. But there is a lot to learn. Terry Mort’s new book was a fine place for me to start.


FROM THE PUBLISHER’S DESCRIPTION

Evoking the spirit—and danger—of the early American West, this is the story of the Battle of Beecher Island, pitting an outnumbered United States Army patrol against six hundred Native warriors, where heroism on both sides of the conflict captures the vital themes at play on the American frontier.

* * *

Although the battle of Beecher Island was a small incident in the history of western conflict, the story brings together all of the important elements of the Western frontier—most notably the political and economic factors that led to the clash with the Natives and the cultural imperatives that motivated the Cheyenne, the white settlers, and the regular soldiers, both white and black. More fundamentally, it is a story of human heroism exhibited by warriors on both sides of the dramatic conflict.

NOTES

Read the opening sentence and a teaser from Cheyenne Summer here. 

Island of Gold by Amy Maroney -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

It has been a long, busy work week for me. The best part has been tucking in at night with this new historical fiction books by Amy Maroney, Island of Gold. I loved her Miramonde Series about a female artist in 15th Century Spain. This one is gearing up to be just as good!

What are you reading this week? Please share the opening sentence (or so) with us here on Book Beginnings on Fridays. You can also share the first lines from a book you want to highlight, even if you aren't reading it right now. 

MY BOOK BEGINNING

Cédric offered the falcon a strip of rabbit meat.

-- from the Prologue, Island of Gold by Amy Maroney. The Prologue is set in Languedoc, France in 1435. Falcons are a big part of the story. At least, in the first part of the book that I've read, trade in falcons is a big part of the story and it is fascinating. 

Islands of Gold is the first in Maroney's new series called the Sea and Sand Chronicles. She knows how to weave a yarn so I am sure I will enjoy every book in this new collection!

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Leave a link to your Book Beginnings post in the linky box below. Please use the hashtag #bookbeginnings if you share on social media. 

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THE FRIDAY 56

Freda at Freda's Voice hosts another teaser event on Fridays. Participants share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of the book they are reading -- or from 56% of the way through the audiobook or ebook. Please visit Freda's Voice for details and to leave a link to your post.

MY FRIDAY 56

From Island of Gold:

Her sister had been fifteen when she was married to a corpulent, swaggering merchant of Albi two summers ago. Sophie was sixteen now, and her parents had not once broached the topic of marriage.

I hope to lose myself in this one this weekend. What are your bookish plans?

The National Book Award for Fiction -- LIST

THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION

The National Book Foundation has awarded the National Book Awards to American writers since 1950. The Awards currently honor authors in the categories of Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People's Literature. There have been other categories in the past.

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

I am working my way through the Fiction winners. So far, I've read 46 of the winners. The winners through 2021 are listed below, with notes about whether I've finished a book, it is on my TBR shelf, or it is available as an audiobook from the library on Overdrive.

How many of these have you read? See any favorites?

2021 Hell of a Book by Jason Mott FINISHED

2020 Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu FINISHED

2019 Trust Exercise by Susan Choi ON OVERDRIVE

2018 The Friend by Sigrid Nunez FINISHED

2017 Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward FINISHED

2016 The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead FINISHED

2015 Fortune Smiles by Adam Johnson ON OVERDRIVE

2014 Redeployment by Phil Klay ON OVERDRIVE

2013 The Good Lord Bird by James McBride ON OVERDRIVE

2012 The Round House by Louise Erdrich ON OVERDRIVE

2011 Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward FINISHED

2010 Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon (reviewed here) FINISHED

2009 Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann (reviewed here) FINISHED

2008 Shadow Country by Peter Matthiessen TBR SHELF

2007 Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson FINISHED

2006 The Echo Maker by Richard Powers FINISHED

2005 Europe Central by William T. Vollmann TBR SHELF

2004 The News from Paraguay by Lily Tuck TBR SHELF

2003 The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard FINISHED

2002 Three Junes by Julia Glass FINISHED

2001 The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen FINISHED

2000 In America by Susan Sontag TBR SHELF

1999 Waiting by Ha Jin FINISHED

1998 Charming Billy by Alice McDermott FINISHED

1997 Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier (reviewed here) FINISHED

1996 Ship Fever and Other Stories by Andrea Barrett FINISHED

1995 Sabbath's Theater by Philip Roth FINISHED

1994 A Frolic of His Own by William Gaddis

1993 The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx FINISHED

1992 All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy (reviewed here) FINISHED

1991 Mating by Norman Rush FINISHED

1990 Middle Passage by Charles Johnson (reviewed here) FINISHED

1989 Spartina by John Casey FINISHED

1988 Paris Trout by Pete Dexter FINISHED

1987 Paco's Story by Larry Heinemann ON OVERDRIVE

1986 World's Fair by E.L. Doctorow TBR SHELF

1985 White Noise by Don Delillo ON OVERDRIVE

1984 Victory Over Japan by Ellen Gilchrist TBR SHELF

1983 The Color Purple by Alice Walker FINISHED

1982 Rabbit is Rich by John Updike FINISHED

1981 Plains Song by Wright Morris TBR SHELF

1980 Sophie's Choice by William Styron (reviewed here) FINISHED

1979 Going After Cacciato by Tim O'Brien FINISHED

1978 Blood Tie by Mary Lee Settle FINISHED

1977 The Spectator Bird by Wallace Stegner (reviewed here) FINISHED

1976 JR by William Gaddis

1975 The Hair of Harold Roux by Thomas Williams (reviewed here) FINISHED

1975 Dog Soldiers by Robert Stone FINISHED

1974 Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon ON OVERDRIVE

1974 A Crown of Feathers and Other Stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer TBR SHELF

1973 Augustus by John Williams ON OVERDRIVE

1973 Chimera by John Barth TBR SHELF

1972 The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor TBR SHELF

1971 Mr. Sammler's Planet by Saul Bellow (reviewed here) FINISHED

1970 Them by Joyce Carol Oates TBR SHELF

1969 Steps by Jerzy Kosinski

1968 The Eighth Day by Thornton Wilder ON OVERDRIVE

1967 The Fixer by Bernard Malamud (reviewed here) FINISHED

1966 The Collected Stories by Katherine Anne Porter TBR SHELF

1965 Herzog by Saul Bellow FINISHED

1964 The Centaur by John Updike (reviewed here) FINISHED

1963 Morte d'Urban by J.F. Powers FINISHED

1962 The Moviegoer by Walker Percy FINISHED

1961 The Waters of Kronos by Conrad Richter

1960 Goodbye Columbus by Philip Roth (reviewed here) FINISHED

1959 The Magic Barrel by Bernard Malamud FINISHED

1958 Wapshot Chronicle by John Cheever FINISHED

1957 The Field of Vision by Wright Morris TBR SHELF

1956 Ten North Frederick by John O'Hara FINISHED

1955 A Fable by William Faulkner

1954 The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow (reviewed here) FINISHED

1953 Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison FINISHED

1952 From Here to Eternity by James Jones FINISHED

1951 The Collected Stories by William Faulkner ON OVERDRIVE

1950 The Man with the Golden Arm by Nelson Algren (reviewed here) FINISHED


NOTES

Updated October 26, 2023. This is a redo of the list I first posted in 2009. 

Hidden gems for me are Lord of Misrule, The Hair of Harold Roux, and Blood Tie.

RELATED POSTS

If you would like your related posts to be listed here, please leave a comment with links to your reviews of these books or the like and I will add them here.