Waiting on Wednesday: Margot

 

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:

 

 Margot by Jillian Cantor

Publication Date: September 3, 2013

Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)

Preorder now from online and bricks and mortar bookstores 

 

From barnesandnoble.com:

Anne Frank has long been a symbol of bravery and hope, but there were two sisters hidden in the annex, two young Jewish girls, one a cultural icon made famous by her published diary and the other, nearly forgotten.

In the spring of 1959, The Diary of Anne Frank has just come to the silver screen to great acclaim, and a young woman named Margie Franklin is working in Philadelphia as a secretary at a Jewish law firm. On the surface she lives a quiet life, but Margie has a secret: a life she once lived, a past and a religion she has denied, and a family and a country she left behind.

Margie Franklin is really Margot Frank, older sister of Anne, who did not die in Bergen-Belsen as reported, but who instead escaped the Nazis for America. But now, as her sister becomes a global icon, Margie’s carefully constructed American life begins to fall apart. A new relationship threatens to overtake the young love that sustained her during the war, and her past and present begin to collide. Margie is forced to come to terms with Margot, with the people she loved, and with a life swept up into the course of history.

Enjoy life with books . . .

Catherine
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Waiting on Wednesday: Margot was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.  

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #24 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 from a book I purchased, Changing Lanes by Kathleen Long, which I hope to read soon.

Read on after the intro for my Tuesday Teaser.

 

Publisher:  Amazon Publishing

Publication Date:  May 14, 2013

CHAPTER ONE

There are times in life when a woman thinks to herself, My plans are working beautifully.

I pulled into the gravel drive of my parents' home, looked in the rearview mirror to the suitcase and boxes of personal belongings piled on the rear seat of my car, and sighed.

This was not one of those times.

What do you think?  Would you continue reading?  The barnesandnoble.com overview drew me in:  Abby Halladay has the perfect life. Or, rather, she will…as long as everything goes exactly according to plan. Abby never leaves anything to chance — not her job as a syndicated columnist, not her engagement to her fiancé, Fred, and certainly not her impending wedding in Paris (New Jersey, that is). 

Unfortunately for Abby, even the best-laid plans often go awry — like when Fred runs away to Paris (France, that is), her column is canned, and her dream home is diagnosed with termites. Forced to move back in with her parents and drive her dad’s cab, Abby’s perfect life has now officially become the perfect disaster.

Then a funny thing happens. Slowly but surely, Abby begins letting go of her dreams of perfection. As she does, the messy, imperfect life she thought she never wanted starts to feel exactly like the one she needs.

Poignant and heartfelt, Changing Lanes celebrates the unexpected joys of everyday life — and the enduring promise of second chances.

 

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

 

Here's my teaser from Changing Lanes by Kathleen Long:

"My insides spiraled into a knot.  I set down my fork with a loud clank, unable to take the silence for another moment.  'Are we going to talk about this?  Any of it?'" ~p.15

 

Enjoy life with books . . .

Catherine

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First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #24 and Tuesday Teaser was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.

Sunday's Weekly Book Recap #28

Here's my recap of books that I'm reading or have acquired this week, which I am sharing on the following blogs:

        

                                   

                       
Sunday Post hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer / Stacking the Shelves hosted by the team at Tynga's Reviews / Showcase Sunday hosted by Vicky at  Books, Biscuits, and Tea . . .

My Week in Books, July 21-27, 2013

Currently reading . . .
               
The Art Forger by B.A. Shapiro and Revenge Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger

Books from the library . . .
      
Fifty Shames of Earl Grey by Fanny Merkin (aka Andrew Shaffer), Revenge Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger, and Restrike by Reba White Williams

From Simon & Schuster/Atria Books . . .
           The Lavender Garden by Lucinda Riley

Ebooks downloaded . . .

Livin' Lahaina Loca by JoAnn Bassett and Dirty Martini by J.A. Konrath

Which books did you get this week?
   

Catherine
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Sunday's Weekly Book Recap #28 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.

Saturday Shorts/Weekend Words

 

"A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells

us the truth about its author."

~ Gilbert K. Chesterton, English author (1874-1936)

Read this and other G.K. Chesterton quotes online at The Quotations Page.

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

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 and Book Beginnings #7

It's Friday . . . time to share excerpts from one of my current reads with:

• Book Beginnings on Fridays hosted by Rose City Reader, where bloggers share the first sentence or more of a current read, as well as initial thoughts about the sentence(s), impressions of the book, or anything else that the opening inspires. 
• The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice, where you grab a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% of an ebook), find one or more interesting sentences (no spoilers), and post them.

  

This week's selection:

Fifty Shames of Earl Grey

by Fanny Merkin (aka Andrew Shaffer)

Beginning: Chapter One

I growl with frustration at my reflection in the mirror.  My hair is fifty shades of messed up.  Why is it so kinky and out of control? I need to stop sleeping with it wet.  As I brush my long brown hair, the girl in the mirror with brown eyes too big for her head stares back at me.  Wait . . . my eyes are blue!  It dawns on me that I haven't been looking into the mirror--I've been staring at a poster of Kristen Stewart for five minutes.  My own hair is fine.

I stumbled upon this book, which is described as a parody of Fifty Shades of Grey and Twilight, quite by accident, and was intrigued by the chance to explore this (male) author's creative and funny take on the novels of E.L. James and Stephanie Meyer.  It sounds like a fun vacation read.

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Page 56:  "I peer up at him, and he's got that wickedly wicked look on his handsomely handsome face again. 'Are you hitting on me, Mr. Grey?' I tease, lightly drizzling balsamic vinaigrette on my spinach salad."

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Overview from barnesandnoble.com: 

Young, arrogant tycoon Earl Grey seduces the naïve coed Anna Steal with his overpowering good looks and staggering amounts of money, but will she be able to get past his fifty shames, including shopping at Walmart on Saturdays, bondage with handcuffs, and his love of BDSM (Bards, Dragons, Sorcery, and Magick)? Or will his dark secrets and constant smirking drive her over the edge?

 

Enjoy life with books...

Catherine

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Friday Focus: The Friday 56 and Book Beginnings #7 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution. 

Waiting on Wednesday: The Thinking Woman's Guide...

 

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:

 

The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic

by Emily Croy Barker 

Publisher:  Pamela Dorman Books/Viking

Publication Date:  August 1, 2013

Preorder now from online and bricks and mortar bookstores 

From barnesandnoble.com:

An imaginative story of a woman caught in an alternate world—where she will need to learn the skills of magic to survive.

Nora Fischer’s dissertation is stalled and her boyfriend is about to marry another woman.  During a miserable weekend at a friend’s wedding, Nora wanders off and walks through a portal into a different world where she’s transformed from a drab grad student into a stunning beauty.  Before long, she has a set of glamorous new friends and her romance with gorgeous, masterful Raclin is heating up. It’s almost too good to be true.

Then the elegant veneer shatters. Nora’s new fantasy world turns darker, a fairy tale gone incredibly wrong. Making it here will take skills Nora never learned in graduate school. Her only real ally—and a reluctant one at that—is the magician Aruendiel, a grim, reclusive figure with a biting tongue and a shrouded past. And it will take her becoming Aruendiel’s student—and learning magic herself—to survive. When a passage home finally opens, Nora must weigh her “real life” against the dangerous power of love and magic.

For lovers of Lev Grossman's The Magicians series (The Magicians and The Magician King) and Deborah Harkness's All Souls Trilogy (A Discovery of Witches and Shadow of Night).

Enjoy life with books...

Catherine 

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If you are already a GFC follower, or if you are a new follower, please sign up to follow the Book Club Librarian Blog via Bloglovin'.  Let me know if you're a follower and leave me a link to your blog so that I can follow you back.  Thanks!
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Waiting on Wednesday: The Thinking Woman's Guide... was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution. 

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #23 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 paragraph from Revenge Wears Prada: The Devil Returns by Lauren Weisberger, which I borrowed from the library.

Read on after the intro for my Tuesday Teaser.

 

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Publication Date: June 4, 2013

 

Chapter 1

 as long as she lived

 

The rain fell in sideways sheets, cold and relentless, the winds whipping it in every direction, making an umbrella, slicker, and rain boots nearly useless.  Not that Andy had any of those things.  Her two-hundred-dollar Burberry umbrella had refused to open and finally snapped when she tried to force it; the cropped rabbit jacket with the oversize collar and no hood cinched fabulously around her waist but did nothing to stop the bone-chilling cold; and the brand-new stacked suede Prada pumps cheered her with their poppy fuchsia color but left the better part of her foot exposed.  Even her skinny leggings left her legs feeling naked, the wind making the leather feel as protective as a pair of silk stockings.  Already the fifteen inches that had blanketed New York were beginning to melt into a slushy gray mess, and Andy wished for the thousandth time that she lived anywhere but here.

 

What do you think?  Would you continue reading?  For me, this book is one of those guilty pleasures that continues the enjoyment from the first book, The Devil Wears Prada and the movie.

 

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

 

Here's my teaser from Revenge Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger:

"Nevermind that Max was riding a white horse in midtown Manhattan in the middle of a blizzard--Andy was so ecstatic to see him, she didn't even think to question it." ~p. 4

Enjoy life with books . . .

Catherine

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If you are already a GFC follower, or if you are a new follower, please sign up to follow the Book Club Librarian Blog via Bloglovin'. Please let me know if you're a follower and leave me a link to your blog so that I can follow you back.  Thanks!
---------------------

Follow me on Twitter: @bookclubreader

 

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #23 and Tuesday Teaser was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.

  

Sunday's Weekly Book Recap #27

Here's my recap of books that I'm reading or have acquired this week, which I am sharing on the following blogs:

        

                                   

                       
Sunday Post hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer / Stacking the Shelves hosted by the team at Tynga's Reviews / Showcase Sunday hosted by Vicky at  Books, Biscuits, and Tea . . .

The highlight of this past week was attending Simon & Schuster's Fall 203 Preview for librarians and educators, which was the source of many ARCs, most of which will be published between September 2013 and January 2014.

My Week in Books, July 14-20, 2013

 

Currently reading . . .

     The Art Forger by B.A. Shapiro

Finished reading . . .

      

Every Contact Leaves a Trace by Elanor Dymott; 15 Seconds by Andrew Gross

From Simon & Schuster Fall 2013 Preview:

                       

                       

                       

                       

                    

                                                

First row: Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger, A Place at the Table by Susan Rebecca White, Torn by K.A. Robinson; Second row:  Bellman & Black by Diane Setterfield, Ten Tiny Breaths by K.A. Tucker, Losing Hope by Colleen Hoover; Third row:  The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion, Lost Luggage by Jordi Punti, The Game by Anders de la Motte; Fourth row:  The Heart of Everything That Is by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin, The Girl: A Life in the Shadow of Roman Polanski by Samantha Geimer (cover art unavailable), The Butler: A Witness to History by Wil Haygood; Fifth row: There's More to Life Than This by Theresa Caputo  (all ARCs, except The Butler).

Ebooks downloaded . . .

                          

               

Nook:  The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (pseudonym for J.K. Rowling)

Kindle:  A Charmed Place by Antoinette Stockenberg, Murder a la Carte by Susan Kiernan-Lewis and The Confession by Sheldon Siegel

Which books did you get this week?
   

Catherine
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If you are already a GFC follower, or if you are a new follower, please sign up to follow the Book Club Librarian Blog via Bloglovin'.  Let me know if you're a follower and leave me a link to your blog so that I can follow you back.  Thanks!
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Follow me on Twitter: @bookclubreader

Sunday's Weekly Book Recap #27 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.