First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #100

  It's Tuesday . . . time for . . .

                                                      

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.

Today I'm featuring the opening from a book I borrowed from the library . . .

 

Lacy Eye  

Are You Looking at Me or Not?

The detective was waiting for me when I arrived home from work.  He sat in his own Civic, rather than an official police car, on the side of the driveway where Joe used to park.  He might have been doing a crossword; I saw him lay down a folded section of the newspaper when I pulled in beside him.

I swore, not at the sight of Thornburgh, but because reporters from TV news vans were also waiting for me, on the street in front of the house.  They ran up the driveway with cameras as I parked in the garage and stepped out of my car, but when I held my hand over my face and said that I was sorry but I couldn't talk to them, the detective moved forward and told them in his reasonable but no-nonsense voice that they needed to get off my property.

 

What do you think?  Would you continue reading?
 

What are you reading now or planning to read soon?


 

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #100 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  This post cannot be republished without attribution. Retweeting and sharing on Google+ encouraged.

Weekly Book Recap #104

  

It's been a quiet week, and I find it hard to believe we've reached the final days of March.  I'm looking forward to the new seasons of Call the Midwife and Mr. Selfridge, which start tonight.

This past week's posts:
Tuesday:  First Chapter Intro
Wednesday:   Waiting on . . .
Friday:  Friday 56 & Book Beginning

Now, the latest book recap, which is being shared on these blogs:
           
                          
                          Week of March 22-28, 2015

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 . . .

A Murder of Magpies has the ingredients you expect in a first-rate mystery: an intelligent protagonist turned sleuth, a quirky cast of supporting characters, and a liberal amount of red herrings. An insider look at the publishing industry and humorous scenarios add to the reader's enjoyment of this debut mystery.

 

 Cavendon Hall  is an engrossing family saga chronicling the lives of two British families--the noble Inghams and their faithful Swanns, the clan who has served them for generations. The intertwined histories of these British families are revealed against the backdrop of the years leading up to World War I, and ends just after the war, as class and society in Great Britain are changing.

The story's conclusion left me wanting to know more about the characters and how their lives are affected by social change. I'm looking forward to reading the sequel, Cavendon Women, which will undoubtedly provide more detail about the strong female characters Barbara Taylor Bradford has created in this new series. 

 

 Reading now . . .

                                         
                                 

My Man Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse and The Vanishing Thief by Kate Parker

Borrowed from the library . . .

        

A Dangerous Place by Jacqueline Winspear, The Witch of Painted Sorrows by M.J. Rose, and Lacy Eye by Jessica Treadway

 

                               

The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths and The Edge of Normal by Carla Norton

                                   

A Share in Death by Deborah Crombie and Still Life by Louise Penny

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 #104 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  This post cannot be republished without attribution. (Retweeeting and sharing on Google+ encouraged and appreciated.)

 

 

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #75

It's Friday . . . time to share excerpts book excerpts 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:

 

 

Where the Light Falls 

 

Beginning:  Chapter One   Vassar College, February 1878

"Surely, there is nothing dishonorable about marriage!"  protested Jeanette Palmer.

 

********************* 
Page 56:  "In the soft semidarkness of the cluttered room, lit only by the fire and a small lamp, strong feeling ebbed away."

*********************   

Which book are you reading now or about to start?

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #75 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.  Retweeting and sharing on Google+ encouraged and appreciated.   

Waiting on Wednesday: The Book of Speculation

 

 

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.  Today I'm featuring a debut novel, The Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler.

Publisher:  St. Martin's Press

Publication Date:  June 23, 2015

From barnesandnoble.com:  "I came across this book at auction as part of a larger lot I purchased on speculation. The damage renders it useless to me, but a name inside it led me to believe it might be of interest to or your family...."

Simon Watson, a young librarian, lives alone in a house that is slowly crumbling toward the Long Island Sound. His parents are long dead.

His mother, a circus mermaid who made her living by holding her breath, drowned in the very water his house overlooks. His younger sister, Enola, ran off to join the circus six years ago.

One June day, an old book arrives on Simon's doorstep. Fragile and water damaged, the book is a log from the owner of a traveling carnival in the 1700s, who reports strange and magical things-including the drowning death of a circus mermaid. Since then, generations of "mermaids" in Simon's family have drowned-always on July 24, which is only weeks away.

As his friend Alice looks on with alarm, Simon becomes increasingly worried about his sister. Could there be a curse on Simon's family? What does it have to do with the book, and can he stop it in time to save Enola?

The Book of Speculation is Erika Swyler's gorgeous and moving debut, a wondrous novel about the power of books, family, and magic.

Which book are you waiting for?

...Will you add this one to your list of must-reads?

Waiting on Wednesday: The Book of Speculation was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  This post cannot be republished without attribution.  (Retweeting and sharing on Google+ are encouraged.)

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #99

  It's Tuesday . . . time for . . .

                                                      

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.

Today I'm featuring the opening from a book I borrowed from the library . . .

 

Wife-in-Law 

One

Somebody once asked me how I pick my friends, and I just laughed, because God usually does the picking for me, and believe me, He has a wicked sense of humor.  So when it came to my best friend in the world, never in a million years would I have chosen Kat Ellis.  And never in a trillion years would I have ever imagined that we'd both end up married to the same man--or that one of us would kill him.

What do you think?  Would you continue reading?
 

What are you reading now or planning to read soon?


 

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #99 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  This post cannot be republished without attribution. Retweeting and sharing on Google+ encouraged.

Weekly Book Recap #103

In last week's recap I said I hadn't let my weather guard down completely yet, but I still managed to be surprised.  I have one question for Mother Nature:  You call this spring?  Either she didn't get the memo, or decided to play an early April Fool's joke because on Friday - the first official day of spring - we had a storm that brought 5 inches of snow.  Just as things started to look promising and most of the lingering snow had melted revealing patches of green, we had this rude setback.  The good news is that temperatures are on the rise again, so it shouldn't be too long before the green reappears, hopefully for good.

On to my latest book activity, which includes books and advance reader copies I received from the Simon & Schuster's Summer 2015 Librarian Preview I attended earlier in March.  The forthcoming titles from S & S, Scout Press, Atria Books, Scribner, Touchstone, and Gallery Books will be published between April and September of this year.

This past week's posts:
Tuesday:  First Chapter Intro
Wednesday:   Waiting on . . .
Friday:  Friday 56 & Book Beginning

Now, the latest book recap, which is being shared on these blogs:
           
                          
                          Week of March 15-21, 2015

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 . . . 

  The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson is a first-rate, edge-of-your seat thriller on steroids.  I won't say more to avoid spoilers, but if you enjoyed Gone Girl, The Silent Wife, or The Girl on the Train, this one is for you.

 

Reading now . . .

                              

A Murder of Magpies by Judith Flanders; My Man Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse

 

Listening to . . .

   Cavendon Hall by Barbara Taylor Bradford - only 1 disc left

Downloaded . . .

   Shopping for a Billionaire #1 by Julia Kent

 

Borrowed from the library . . .

                 

An Appetite for Violets by Martine Bailey, A Memory of Violets by Hazel Gaynor,  The O. Henry Prize Stories 2014 by Laura Furman (Editor)

 

From Simon & Schuster's Summer 2015 Librarian Preview . . .

                  

Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger, Watch Me by Angelica Huston, and The Children's Crusade by Ann Packer 

The New Neighbor by Leah Stewart, The Hand that Feeds You by A.J. Rich, The Woman in the Photograph by Dana Gynther, and The Sunken Cathedral by Kate Walbert

                     

The Truth and Other Lies by Sascha Arango, The Third Wife by Lisa Jewell, and Thank You, Goodnight by Andy Abramowitz  

                                   

 Did You Ever Have a Family by Bill Clegg and In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware

 

                                  

Gonzo Girl by Cheryl Della Pietra and Eight Hundred Grapes by Laura Dave

 

 

 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 #103 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  This post cannot be republished without attribution. (Retweeeting and sharing on Google+ encouraged and appreciated.)

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #74

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:

 

  

My Man Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse

Beginning:  Leave It To Jeeves

Jeeves - my man, you know - is really a most extraordinary chap.  So capable.  Honestly, I shouldn't know what to do without him.  

 

********************* 
Page 56:  "Jeeves was standing on the horizon, looking devilish brainy."

*********************   

Which book are you reading now or about to start?

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #74 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.  Retweeting and sharing on Google+ encouraged.