Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #52

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.

Today I'm featuring:

   

The Painter 

Beginning:  BOOK ONE

Mayhem

OIL ON LINEN

40 x 50 INCHES

COLLECTION OF THE ARTIST

 

I never imagined I would shoot a man.  Or be a father.  Or live so far from the sea.

 

As a child, you imagine your life sometimes, how it will be.

 

I never thought I would be a painter.  That I might make a world and walk into it and forget myself.  That art would be something I would not have any way of not doing.

 

 

********************* 
Page 56: A dollar fifty, Pop, if you keep swearing you'll go broke.

 

Silence.

*********************   

Which book are you reading now or about to start?
 

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #52 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.    

Waiting on Wednesday: New Ian McEwan Novel

 

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature of the Breaking the Spine blog.  It's a great way to share information about forthcoming books with other readers.  Since I've enjoyed previous books by Ian McEwan, today I'm featuring his new novel, which will be available soon.  

   

Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group 

Publication date: September 9, 2014 

From barnesandnoble.com:  A brilliant, emotionally wrenching new novel from the author of Atonement and Amsterdam.

Fiona Maye is a High Court judge in London presiding over cases in family court. She is fiercely intelligent, well respected, and deeply immersed in the nuances of her particular field of law. Often the outcome of a case seems simple from the outside, the course of action to ensure a child's welfare obvious. But the law requires more rigor than mere pragmatism, and Fiona is expert in considering the sensitivities of culture and religion when handing down her verdicts. 

 

But Fiona's professional success belies domestic strife. Her husband, Jack, asks her to consider an open marriage and, after an argument, moves out of their house. His departure leaves her adrift, wondering whether it was not love she had lost so much as a modern form of respectability; whether it was not contempt and ostracism she really fears. She decides to throw herself into her work, especially a complex case involving a seventeen-year-old boy whose parents will not permit a lifesaving blood transfusion because it conflicts with their beliefs as Jehovah's Witnesses. But Jack doesn't leave her thoughts, and the pressure to resolve the case—as well as her crumbling marriage—tests Fiona in ways that will keep readers thoroughly enthralled until the last stunning page.

 

Which book are you waiting for?

 

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

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #70 and Teaser Tuesdays

 
It's Tuesday . . . time to share book excerpts with: 

• First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros hosted by Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea, where bloggers post the first paragraph(s) of a book they are currently reading or planning to read sometime soon.

• Teaser Tuesdays hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading, where bloggers post two (2) random “teaser” sentences--no spoilers allowed--from their current reads to try to entice others to seek out these books.

Today I'm featuring the opening paragraph and a teaser from First Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones.

  

Chapter One

I'd been having the same dream for the past month--the one where a dark stranger materialized out of smoke and shadows to play doctor with me.  I was starting to wonder if repetitive exposure to nightly hallucinations resulting in earth-shattering climaxes could have any long-term side effects.  Death via extreme pleasure was a serious concern.  The prospect led to the following dilemma:  Do I seek help or buy drinks all around?

---------------------------------------------------------------

Teaser:  "I couldn't loiter all evening. I had a stakeout to attend, which sadly involved neither steaks nor vampires." ~ p. 114


What do you think?  Would you continue reading? 
This is a different kind of book for me, and the opening paragraph is a definite attention grabber.  It's a quick read with humorous lines generously sprinkled throughout.

What are you reading now or planning to read soon?

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #70 and Teaser Tuesdays was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  This post cannot be republished without attribution.

  

Weekly Book Recap #76

This has been another slow reading week.  Lots of family commitments took priority, as they should.  I'm still hoping to keep my summer reading on track and finish strong  Here's my weekly book update, which I'm sharing on the following blogs:

 

 Sunday Post hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer  

Showcase Sunday hosted by Vicky at  Books, Biscuits, and Tea
It's Monday! What Are You Reading? hosted by Sheila at Book Journey 

 

I purposely avoided the library this week.  I'm still reading several books that I've mentioned in my Sunday posts over the past few weeks . . .

In the meantime, a friend gave me his copy of . . .

 The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, the September selection of one of my book clubs.

 

Downloaded . . .

   

The Registry by Shannon Stoker; The Whip by Karen Kondazian

 

Reading next . . .

I need to finish the 3-4 novels I'm reading now before I choose a new read.

 

What did you read this week?  

. . . What did you add to your shelves or wish list?  

. . . . . . What are you reading next?

Enjoy life with books . . .

Catherine

Weekly Book Recap #76 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  This post cannot be republished without attribution.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #51

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.

Today I'm featuring:

 

Elizabeth is Missing 

Beginning:  Prologue

"Maud?  Was I boring you so much that you'd rather stand outside in the dark?"

 

Chapter 1

"You know there was an old woman mugged around here?" Carla says, letting her long, black ponytail snake over one shoulder.  "Well, actually, it was Weymouth, but it could have been here.  So you see, you can't be too careful.  They found her with half her face smashed in."

 

********************* 
56% of Ebook: I waited for him to say sorry for the swearing, but he didn't.  Instead he gulped down the rest of his drink and stood up.

*********************   

Which book are you reading now or about to start?
 

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #51 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.    

 

Waiting on Wednesday: New Mary Higgins Clark Co-Authored Series

 

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature of the Breaking the Spine blog.  It's a great way to share information about forthcoming books with other readers.  Since I enjoy Mary Higgins Clark's suspense novels, today I'm featuring the first book in the new series she is releasing with author Alafair Burke. 

 

    

 Publisher: Simon & Schuster 

Publication date: November 18, 2014

 

From barnesandnoble.com:  In a first-time collaboration, “Queen of Suspense” Mary Higgins Clark partners with bestselling author Alafair Burke to deliver a brand new suspense series about a television program featuring cold case murders.

Television producer Laurie Moran is delighted when the pilot for her reality drama, Under Suspicion, is a success. Even more, the program—a cold case series that revisits unsolved crimes by recreating them with those affected—is off to a fantastic start when it helps solve an infamous murder in the very first episode.

Now Laurie has the ideal case to feature in the next episode of Under Suspicion: the Cinderella Murder. When Susan Dempsey, a beautiful and multi-talented UCLA student, was found dead, her murder raised numerous questions. Why was her car parked miles from her body? Had she ever shown up for the acting audition she was due to attend at the home of an up-and-coming director? Why does Susan’s boyfriend want to avoid questions about their relationship? Why was Susan so concerned about her roommate’s infatuation with a new-age religious sect? Was she close to her computer science professor because of her technological brilliance, or something more? And why was Susan missing one of her shoes when her body was discovered?

With the help of lawyer and Under Suspicion host Alex Buckley, Laurie knows the case will attract great ratings, especially when the former suspects include Hollywood’s elite and tech billionaires. The suspense and drama are perfect for the silver screen—but is Cinderella’s murderer ready for a close-up?

Together Mary Higgins Clark and Alafair Burke deliver an exciting publishing event: the start of a thrilling new series guaranteed to keep you guessing until the last suspenseful page. 

 

 

Which book are you waiting for?

 

 

 

Waiting on Wednesday: New Mary Higgins Clark Co-Authored Series was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  This post cannot be republished without attribution.

 

 

 

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #69 and Teaser Tuesdays

 
It's Tuesday . . . time to share book excerpts with: 

• First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros hosted by Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea, where bloggers post the first paragraph(s) of a book they are currently reading or planning to read sometime soon.

• Teaser Tuesdays hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading, where bloggers post two (2) random “teaser” sentences--no spoilers allowed--from their current reads to try to entice others to seek out these books.

Today I'm featuring the opening paragraph and a teaser from Island Beneath the Sea by Isabel Allende.

 

Zarite

In my forty years I, Zarite Sedella, have had better luck than other slaves.  I am going to have a long life and my old age will be a time of contentment because my star--mi z'etoile--also shines when the night is cloudy. ...

Part One

Saint-Domingue

(1770-1793)

The Spanish Illness

Toulouse Valmorain arrived in Saint-Domingue in 1770, the same year the dauphin of France married the Austrian archduchess, Marie Antoinette.   Before traveling to the colony, when still he had no suspicion that his destiny was going to play a trick on him, or that he would end up in cane fields in the Antilles, he had been invited to Versailles to one of the parties in honor of the new dauphine, a young blonde of fourteen, who yawned openly in the rigid protocol of the French court.  All of that was in the past.  Saint-Domingue was another world.  The young Valmorain had a rather vague idea of the place where his father struggled to earn a livelihood for his family with the ambition of converting it into a fortune.  Valmorain had read somewhere that the original inhabitants of the island, the Arawaks, had called it Haiti before the conquistadors changed the name to La Espanola and killed off the natives.  In fewer than fifty years, not a single Arawak remained, nor sign of them; they all perished as victims of slavery, European illnesses, and suicide.  ...

---------------------------------------------------------------

Teaser:  "He confused the silences of his betrothed with modesty, in his eyes a fine feminine virtue, and it did not occur to him that she scarcely understood him." ~ p. 28

 

What do you think?  Would you continue reading?  

The opening paragraphs are lengthy and I have not included the entire text.  This is a richly described work of historical fiction that I find enthralling.   

 

What are you reading now or planning to read soon?

 

 

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #69 and Teaser Tuesdays was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  This post cannot be republished without attribution.

Weekly Book Recap #75

Weekly Book Recap #75

This past week was filled with work and other commitments not conducive to reading.  I managed to finish one book and added more library finds as I chug along, determined to keep my summer reading on track. All of the library books are titles I saw on other blogs that looked interesting to me.  Read on for my full weekly book update, which I'm sharing on the following blogs:

 

 Sunday Post hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer  

Showcase Sunday hosted by Vicky at  Books, Biscuits, and Tea
It's Monday! What Are You Reading? hosted by Sheila at Book Journey 

 

Finished reading . . .

              Missing You by Harlan Coben

Currently reading . . .

  Island Beneath the Sea by Isabel Allende

Borrowed from the library . . .

      

                       

The Chocolate Lovers' Club by Carole Matthews, The Painter by Peter Heller, My Accidental Jihad by Krista Bremer, Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey, and Fated by Benedict Jacka

Reading next . . .

          

 

 

 

What did you read this week?  

. . . What did you add to your shelves or wish list?  

. . . . . . What are you reading next?

Enjoy life with books . . .

Catherine

Weekly Book Recap #75 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  This post cannot be republished without attribution.

 

 

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #50

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.

Today I'm featuring:

 

Hedy's Folly: The Life and Breakthrough Inventions of Hedy Lamarr, 

The Most Beautiful Woman in the World

by Richard Rhodes

 

Beginning:  She was Viennese, not yet seventeen in the spring of 1931 but already a professional actress, in rehearsal for a play.  Hedwig Kiesler (pronounced HAYD-vig KEES-lur)--Hedy--had won a small role in the Berlin incarnation of The Weaker Sex, which the celebrated Austrian impresario Max Reinhardt was directing.

 

********************* 
Page 56: "This event was probably the occasion that Aaron Copland recalled 'where Antheil played, and Ezra Pound, with his striking red beard much in evidence, passionately turned pages.'"

*********************   

 

One of my book clubs will be discussing this title tonight.  I was surprised when it was selected, not because of the subject per se, but because I had no idea that Hedy Lamarr was anything other than one of the most popular film stars of her day.

From the book flap:  What do legendary film siren Hedy Lamarr, avant-garde composer George Antheil, and your cell phone have in common?  The answer is spread-spectrum radio: a revolutionary invention based on the rapid switching of communications signals among a range of different frequencies.  Without it, we would not have the digital comforts that we take for granted today.  Wireless phones, Bluetooth networks, GPS devices, and most military communications rely on Lamarr and Antheil's breakthrough.

 

Which book are you reading now or about to start?
 

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #50 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.    

 

Waiting on Wednesday: New John Grisham Novel

 

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature of the Breaking the Spine blog.  It's a great way to share information about forthcoming books with other readers.  Since I enjoy John Grisham's legal thrillers, today I'm featuring his next novel, which is coming out in the fall.  

 

  

Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

 Publication date: October 21, 2014

 

From barnesandnoble.com:  The Great Recession of 2008 left many young professionals out of work. Promising careers were suddenly ended as banks, hedge funds, and law firms engaged in mass lay-offs and brutal belt tightening. Samantha Kofer was a third year associate at Scully & Pershing, New York City's largest law firm. Two weeks after Lehman Brothers collapsed, she lost her job, her security, and her future. A week later she was working as an unpaid intern in a legal aid clinic deep in small town Appalachia. There, for the first time in her career, she was confronted with real clients with real problems. She also stumbled across secrets that should have remained buried deep in the mountains forever.

 

Which book are you waiting for?

 

 

 

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

 

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #68 and Teaser Tuesdays

 
It's Tuesday . . . time to share book excerpts with: 

• First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros hosted by Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea, where bloggers post the first paragraph(s) of a book they are currently reading or planning to read sometime soon.

• Teaser Tuesdays hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading, where bloggers post two (2) random “teaser” sentences--no spoilers allowed--from their current reads to try to entice others to seek out these books.

Today I'm featuring the opening paragraph and a teaser from The Visitors by Patrick O'Keeffe.

  

Part One

1.

Seven years ago, near the end of July 2000, was the first time he appeared at the screen door.  Two weeks earlier I passed him on a sidewalk three streets over, and the week before, he was sitting beside the homeless on their bench outside the post office, and two nights before, I saw him on Main Street.  A street festival was ending.  I was out for a walk.  He was staring into a brimming trash can, and his face was closed to its mouth.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Teaser: "--You'll get us all into trouble.  That's what you'll do, Hannah used to say."  ~ p.57

 

 

What do you think?  Would you continue reading?  

The opening lines make me curious about the narrator and the person he is describing.  I'll definitely be reading on to satisfy my curiosity.   

 

What are you reading now or planning to read soon?

 

 

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #68 and Teaser Tuesdays was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  This post cannot be republished without attribution.

 

Weekly Book Recap #74

July is in full swing, bringing summer activities and the 4th of July celebration.  I'm aiming to keep my reading momentum going over the next two months, hoping to get through the pile of library books I have and some of my BEA books.  There weren't too many new books added this week, which should help me relative to my goal. Read on for my weekly book update, which I'm sharing on the following blogs:

 

 Sunday Post hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer  

Showcase Sunday hosted by Vicky at  Books, Biscuits, and Tea
It's Monday! What Are You Reading? hosted by Sheila at Book Journey 

Finished reading . . .

  

Ten Beach Road by Wendy Wax; The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide

Currently reading . . .

Summer House With Swimming Pool by Herman Koch, The Forgotten Girl by David Bell, and Chestnut Street by Maeve Binchy

Currently listening to . . .

 A Week in Winter by Maeve Binchy

Downloaded . . .

  Six Months in Montana by Pamela Kelley

Reading next . . .

    Hedy's Folly: The Life and Breakthrough Inventions of Hedy Lamarr, the Most Beautiful Woman in the World by Richard Rhodes

What did you read this week?  

. . . What did you add to your shelves or wish list?  

. . . . . . What are you reading next?

Enjoy life with books . . .

Catherine

Weekly Book Recap #74 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  This post cannot be republished without attribution.