First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #11 and Tuesday Teaser

 

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph Tuesday Intros is a weekly meme hosted by Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea. It's an opportunity to share the first paragraphs of a book I am currently reading or planning to read sometime soon.

This week I'm featuring the opening paragraphs of The Christie Curse by Victoria Abbott, a book I recently purchased. 

Read on after the intro for my Tuesday Teaser.

 

Published by Penguin Group (USA), Berkley Prime Crime

March 2013

 First in the new A Book Collector Mystery Series 

 CHAPTER ONE

"IF I HADN'T been desperate for a job and a new place to live, I might have made a run for it as soon as I got a good look at that sour face.  But I was feeling the pinch, and in a sea of want ads seeking waitstaff, topless dancers, and telemarketers, this job description was clearly written for me.

RESEARCHER REQUIRED

Discreet, flexible and educated individual required to research documents and artifacts.  Must be free to travel, and possess valid driver's license and reliable vehicle.  The successful applicant must be willing to relocate to Harrison Falls, New York.  Accommodation will be provided.  Do not bother to reply unless you have an excellent grasp of the English language.  Knowledge of Latin will be considered a distinct asset.  Good personal hygiene and formal wardrobe required.  Should be able to cope with irregular schedule.  Must appreciate cats.  No allergies please.  Three references, official transcripts and other documentation to be produced at interview.

The inscription on my master's degree was barely dry, much like the red ink on my student loans.  My former mooching boyfriend had maxed out my credit card before I'd managed to catch on and dump him.  The only thing healthy was my run of bad luck.  I could feel my PhD possibilities receding.  There wasn't much call in our area for an enthusiastic graduate in English with a minor in languages and a fondness for Jane Austen and the Brontes.  I had all the qualifications, and my family is nothing if not discreet, for reasons that are nobody's business but our own.  Plus my references were solid.  I was already back in Harrison Falls, and I figured I could always fake the cat thing.  There was no clue as to who was offering this position, but I figured I had nowhere to go but up."

What do you think?  Would you continue reading? 

 

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Teaser Tuesdays, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading, is a weekly event where bloggers open to a random page of their current reads and share a teaser from somewhere on that page--no spoilers allowed.

 

Here's my teaser from The Christie Curse by Victoria Abbott:

"The temperature in the room dropped by ten degrees.  The soft, sweet pallid people seemed to develop sharp edges.  They stared at me with narrowed eyes.  Mr. Fine crossed his arms.  Mrs. Fine moved the Pirouette Wafers out of my reach.

'So you're saying you didn't go to school with Alex and you work for that horrible woman?' Mrs. Fine said."

~ p. 74

 

 

Enjoy life with books . . .

Catherine

Follow me on Twitter: @bookclubreader

 

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #11 and Tuesday Teaser was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.

 

Sunday's Weekly Book Recap #15

Here's my recap of books that I'm reading or have acquired this week, which I am sharing on the following blogs:
    hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer
   hosted by the team at Tynga's Reviews

    hosted by Vicky at  Books, Biscuits, and Tea  

My Week in Books . . . April 21-27, 2013

Started reading...
    The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls by Anton DiSclafani 

Finished reading...
    Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

Downloaded on my Kindle iPad app...

The Summer of France by Paulita Kincer; Conundrum by Susan Cory; The Last American Martyr by Tom Winton

Which books did you get this week?

 Enjoy life with books...
 

Catherine

Follow me on Twitter: @bookclubreader

Sunday's Weekly Book Recap #15 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.

Saturday Shorts: Weekend Words

"You can't get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me."

C.S. Lewis, British author (1898-1963)

 Read this and other C.S. Lewis quotes online at BrainyQuote.

Catherine

Follow me on Twitter: @bookclubreader

Saturday Shorts: Weekend Words was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.

Thursday Thoughts

 

Amazon.com announced its third annual list of the most well-read cities in the U.S. yesterday, which according to Amazon's press release is based on "sales data of all book, magazine and newspaper sales in both print and Kindle format since June 1, 2012, on a per capita basis in cities with more than 100,000 residents."


Here are the results:

1. Alexandria, Va.
2. Knoxville, Tenn.
3. Miami, Fla.
4. Cambridge, Mass.
5. Orlando, Fla.
6. Ann Arbor, Mich.
7. Berkeley, Calif.
8. Cincinnati, Ohio
9. Columbia, S.C.
10. Pittsburgh, Penn.
11. St. Louis, Mo.
12. Salt Lake City, Utah
13. Seattle, Wash.
14. Vancouver, Wash.
15. Gainesville, Fla.
16. Atlanta, Ga.
17. Dayton, Ohio
18. Richmond, Va.
19. Clearwater, Fla.
20. Tallahassee, Fla.  

The amazon.com press release.

Lists like this are fun to see, even though this particular one captures only Amazon customers.  Avid and voracious readers live in cities and towns all around the country and purchase books from many sources--and borrow reading material from libraries and friends as well.

Enjoy life with books...

Catherine

Follow me on Twitter: @bookclubreader

Thursday Thoughts was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.

Waiting on Wednesday--New Deanna Raybourn Novel

 

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature of the Breaking the Spine blog.  It's a great way to share information about a forthcoming book with other readers.

 

This week's anticipated book:

A Spear of Summer Grass by Deanna Raybourn

Publication Date:  April 30 2013

Publisher: Harlequin

 Preorder now from online and bricks and mortar bookstores

From barnesandnoble.com:

Paris, 1923

The daughter of a scandalous mother, Delilah Drummond is already notorious, even among Paris society. But her latest scandal is big enough to make even her oft-married mother blanch. Delilah is exiled to Kenya and her favorite stepfather's savanna manor house until gossip subsides.

Fairlight is the crumbling, sun-bleached skeleton of a faded African dream, a world where dissolute expats are bolstered by gin and jazz records, cigarettes and safaris. As mistress of this wasted estate, Delilah falls into the decadent pleasures of society.

Against the frivolity of her peers, Ryder White stands in sharp contrast. As foreign to Delilah as Africa, Ryder becomes her guide to the complex beauty of this unknown world. Giraffes, buffalo, lions and elephants roam the shores of Lake Wanyama amid swirls of red dust. Here, life is lush and teeming—yet fleeting and often cheap.

Amidst the wonders—and dangers—of Africa, Delilah awakes to a land out of all proportion: extremes of heat, darkness, beauty and joy that cut to her very heart. Only when this sacred place is profaned by bloodshed does Delilah discover what is truly worth fighting for—and what she can no longer live without.

My thoughts:   I had the pleasure of meeting Deanna Raybourn a few years ago in New York City at a Romance Writers of America Librarians Day, where she was a panelist.  I was impressed by the author's warm personable nature and independent streak--qualities which come across in the wonderfully engaging female characters she creates.  I've been reading and enjoying Raybourn's Lady Julia Grey Series, and am looking forward to her new stand-alone novel.

Enjoy life with books...

Catherine

Follow me on Twitter: @bookclubreader

Waiting on Wednesday--New Deanna Raybourn Novel was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #10 and Tuesday Teaser

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph Tuesday Intros is a weekly meme hosted by Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea. It's an opportunity to share the first paragraphs of a book I am currently reading or planning to read sometime soon.

This week I'm featuring the opening paragraphs of Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys, a book I recently borrowed from my local public library.

Read on after the intro for my Tuesday Teaser.

 Published by Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated

April 2012 (Paperback Edition)

 

thieves and prostitutes

1

THEY TOOK ME IN MY NIGHTGOWN.

Thinking back, the signs were there--family photos burned in the fireplace, Mother sewing her best silver and jewelry into the lining of her coat late at night, and Papa not returning from work.  My younger brother, Jonas, was asking questions.  I asked questions, too, but perhaps I refused to acknowledge the signs.  Only later did I realize that Mother and Father intended we escape.  We did not escape.

We were taken.

What do you think?  Would you continue reading?

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Teaser Tuesdays, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading, is a weekly event where bloggers open to a random page of their current reads and share a teaser from somewhere on that page--no spoilers allowed.

 

Here's my teaser from Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys:

     "Elena, what are they saying?" asked Mrs. Rimas.

      Mother didn't answer.

     "Elena?"

     "They're . . ."  She stopped.

     "What?" said Mrs. Rimas

     "They're selling us," she whispered.  --p. 84

 

Enjoy life with books . . .

Catherine

Follow me on Twitter: @bookclubreader

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #10 and Tuesday Teaser was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.

 

Sunday's Weekly Book Recap #14

Here's my recap of books that I'm reading or have acquired this week, which I am sharing on the following blogs:
    hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer
   hosted by the team at Tynga's Reviews

    hosted by Vicky at  Books, Biscuits, and Tea  

My Week in Books . . . April 14-20, 2013

Started reading...
    Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

Finished reading...
       The Dinner by Herman Koch

Downloaded on my Nook...
 
The Breath of God by Jeffrey Small; Maid for Love: McCarthys of Gansett Island by Marie Force

Downloaded on my Kindle iPad app...



The Lorimer Line, The Lorimer Legacy, and Lorimers At War by Anne Melville; Contact by AFN Clarke; The Duke's Undoing by G.G. Vandagriff

Which books did you get over the past week?

 Enjoy life with books...
 

Catherine

Follow me on Twitter: @bookclubreader

Sunday's Weekly Book Recap #14 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.

Saturday Shorts: Weekend Words

The celebration of National Poetry Month continues . . .

"A poem begins in delight and ends in wisdom."

~ Robert Frost, American poet and educator (1874-1963) 

 

Read this and other Robert Frost quotes online at BrainyQuote.

Learn more about Robert Frost from biography.com.

 

 

Catherine

Follow me on Twitter: @bookclubreader

Saturday Shorts: Weekend Words was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.

Thursday Thoughts: Fonduing Fathers

Fonduing Fathers by Julie Hyzy

The sixth book in the White House Chef Mystery Series immerses readers in the latest exploits of executive chef Olivia "Ollie" Paras.  As fans of the series already know, trouble has a way of finding Ollie, and her inquisitive nature and political surroundings serve to further complicate matters, embroiling her in hotter situations than the average chef encounters.

In Fonduing Fathers, the mystery that unfolds is more personal than usual, as Ollie investigates the circumstances which led to her father's death when she was a mere child.  Ollie is shocked to learn that Anthony Paras was murdered, and appalled that he was considered a disgraced veteran and corporate spy.  Surely that couldn't be true--especially given the fact that Ollie's dad was laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery despite receiving a dishonorable discharge from the army.  She just can't believe such things about the man she remembers as a loving father and devoted husband. 

Although warned away from probing further, Ollie is determined to clear her father's name.  As she gets closer to uncovering the truth, Ollie puts herself and those close to her in grave danger.  Will she discover who murdered her father and why, and uncover her father's true character? Can friends in high places manage to intervene and save Ollie from imminent harm?    

Author Julie Hyzy treats readers to more of Ollie's personal life and background in this latest installment, making her an even more endearing heroine.  Moreover, the positive developments in her blossoming relationships with members of the first family and special agent Leonard "Gav" Gavin nicely counterbalance the daily diplomacy Ollie must practice to successfully navigate her White House workplace and difficult co-workers.  This reader eagerly awaits the next book in the series, along with its recipes and clever title.

The series so far:
 
 
State of the Onion
Hail to the Chef
Eggsecutive Orders
Buffalo West Wing
Affairs of Steak
Fonduing Fathers

Enjoy life with books...
 

Catherine

Follow me on Twitter: @bookclubreader

Thursday Thoughts: Fonduing Fathers was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.

 

Waiting on Wednesday--A Suspenseful New Novel

 

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature of the Breaking the Spine blog.  It's a great way to share information about a forthcoming book with other readers.

This week's anticipated book:

 

He's Gone by Deb Caletti

Publication Date:  May 14, 2013

Publisher: Random House Publishing Group

 Preorder now from online and bricks and mortar bookstores

From barnesandnoble.com:

“What do you think happened to your husband, Mrs. Keller?”
 
The Sunday morning starts like any other, aside from the slight hangover. Dani Keller wakes up on her Seattle houseboat, a headache building behind her eyes from the wine she drank at a party the night before. But on this particular Sunday morning, she’s surprised to see that her husband, Ian, is not home. As the hours pass, Dani fills her day with small things. But still, Ian does not return. Irritation shifts to worry, worry slides almost imperceptibly into panic. And then, like a relentless blackness, the terrible realization hits Dani: He’s gone.

As the police work methodically through all the logical explanations—he’s hurt, he’s run off, he’s been killed—Dani searches frantically for a clue as to whether Ian is in fact dead or alive. And, slowly, she unpacks their relationship, holding each moment up to the light: from its intense, adulterous beginning, to the grandeur of their new love, to the difficulties of forever. She examines all the sins she can—and cannot—remember. As the days pass, Dani will plumb the depths of her conscience, turning over and revealing the darkest of her secrets in order to discover the hard truth—about herself, her husband, and their lives together.

Enjoy life with books.

Catherine

Follow me on Twitter: @bookclubreader

Waiting on Wednesday--A Suspenseful New Novel was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #9 and Tuesday Teaser

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph Tuesday Intros is a weekly meme hosted by Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea. It's an opportunity to share the first paragraphs of a book I am currently reading or planning to read sometime soon.

This week I'm featuring the opening paragraphs of my current read, The Dinner by Herman Koch, which I borrowed from my local public library.

And read on after the intro for my Tuesday Teaser.

 

Published by Crown Publishing Group 

February 2013

 A P E R I T I F

1

"We were going out to dinner.  I won't say which restaurant, because next time it might be full of people who've come to see whether we're there.  Serge made the reservation.  He's always the one who arranges it, the reservation.  This particular restaurant is one where you have to call three months in advance--or six, or eight, don't ask me.  Personally, I'd never want to know three months in advance where I'm going to eat on any given evening, but apparently some people don't mind.  A few centuries from now, when historians want to know what kind of crazies people were at the start of the twenty-first century, all they'll have to do is look at the computer files of the so-called 'top' restaurants.  That information is kept on file--I happen to know that.  If Mr. L. was prepared to wait three months for a window seat last time, then this time he'll wait for five months for a table beside the men's room--that's what restaurants call 'customer relations management.'

Serge never reserves a table three months in advance. Serge makes the reservation on the day itself--he says he thinks of it as a sport.  You have restaurants that reserve a table for people like Serge Lohman, and this restaurant happens to be one of them.  One of many, I should say.  It makes you wonder whether there isn't one restaurant in the whole country where they don't go faint right away when they hear the name Serge Lohman on the phone.  He doesn't make the call himself, of course; he lets his secretary or one of his assistants do that.  'Don't worry about it,' he told me when I talked to him a few days ago. 'They know me there; I can get us a table.'  All I'd asked was whether it wasn't a good idea to call, in case they were full, and where we would go if they were.  At the other end of the line, I thought I heard something like pity in his voice.  I could almost see him shake his head.  It was a sport."

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Teaser Tuesdays, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading, is a weekly event where bloggers open to a random page of their current reads and share a teaser from somewhere on that page--no spoilers allowed.

 

Here's my teaser from The Dinner by Herman Koch:

"I didn't feel like doing this at all, I realized.  Again, my aversion to the evening that lay ahead had become almost physical--a slight feeling of nausea, clammy hands, and the start of a headache somewhere behind my left eye--not quite enough, though, for me to actually become unwell or fall unconscious right there on the spot."  --p. 18

Enjoy life with books . . .

Catherine

Follow me on Twitter: @bookclubreader

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #9 and Tuesday Teaser was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.

Sunday's Weekly Book Recap #13

Here's my recap of books that I'm reading or have acquired this week, which I am sharing on the following blogs:
    hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer
   hosted by the team at Tynga's Reviews

    hosted by Vicky at  Books, Biscuits, and Tea  

My Week in Books . . . April 7-13, 2013

Started reading...

     The Dinner by Herman Koch 
 

Finished reading...

                    

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter and Fonduing Fathers by Julie Hyzy
 

Borrowed from the library...

 

The Dinner by Herman Koch, Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys, The Secret History by Donna Tartt

Purchased...

      The Year After by Martin Davies

Won...

    There Was an Old Woman by Hallie Ephron

 (Thanks, Halllie and Cozy Chicks!)

Downloaded on my Kindle iPad app...

 

 
 Hidden by Derick Parsons, An Embarrassment of Riches by Gerald Hansen, A Little Bit of Deja Vu by Laurie Kellogg, Night of the Purple Moon by Scott Cramer, You and No Other by Bonnie Zahn and Jane Weiss

Downloaded on my Nook...

 

 Glamorous Illusions by Lisa Tawn Bergen, Angel's Ink by Jocelynn Drake

E-Galleys downloaded...

The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau, The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud, Amity & Sorrow by Peggy Riley

Enjoy life with books...
 

Catherine

Follow me on Twitter: @bookclubreader

Sunday's Weekly Book Recap #13 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.