A Short Break

I'm taking the rest of the month of June off from blogging . . .

  

and I'll return in July . . .

Until then, happy reading.

Waiting on Wednesday: A Window Opens

  

 

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 Window Opens by Elisabeth Egan, a novel that will be released this summer.

   

Publisher: Simon & Schuster 

Publication date: August 25, 2015

From barnesandnoble.com:  In A Window Opens, beloved books editor at Glamour magazine Elisabeth Egan brings us Alice Pearse, a compulsively honest, longing-to-have-it-all, sandwich generation heroine for our social-media-obsessed, lean in (or opt out) age. Like her fictional forebears Kate Reddy and Bridget Jones, Alice plays many roles (which she never refers to as “wearing many hats” and wishes you wouldn’t, either). She is a mostly-happily married mother of three, an attentive daughter, an ambivalent dog-owner, a part-time editor, a loyal neighbor and a Zen commuter. She is not: a cook, a craftswoman, a decorator, an active PTA member, a natural caretaker or the breadwinner. But when her husband makes a radical career change, Alice is ready to lean in—and she knows exactly how lucky she is to land a job at Scroll, a hip young start-up which promises to be the future of reading, with its chain of chic literary lounges and dedication to beloved classics. The Holy Grail of working mothers―an intellectually satisfying job and a happy personal life―seems suddenly within reach.

Despite the disapproval of her best friend, who owns the local bookstore, Alice is proud of her new “balancing act” (which is more like a three-ring circus) until her dad gets sick, her marriage flounders, her babysitter gets fed up, her kids start to grow up and her work takes an unexpected turn. Readers will cheer as Alice realizes the question is not whether it’s possible to have it all, but what does she―Alice Pearse―really want?

Which book are you waiting for?

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

Waiting on Wednesday: A Window Opens 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 #110

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 got at BEA and will be reading for one of my book clubs . . .

  

Goodreads Page 

In 1938, the year I was twelve, my hometown of Macedonia, West Virginia, celebrated its sesquicentennial, a word I thought had to do with fruit for the longest time.  In school, we commemorated the occasion as we commemorated most occasions, with tableaux, one for each of the major events in Macedonia's history.  There weren't many, hardly enough to stretch out across eight grades, but the teachers eked them out the best they could.  If it hadn't been for the War Between the States, I don't know what they would have done.  When Virginia seceded from the Union, western Virginia got mad and seceded right back into it, all except four little counties, one of them ours, that stuck out their tongues at West Virginia and declared themselves part of the Confederacy, a piece of sass with long consequences in the way of road paving and school desks.

What do you think?  Would you continue reading?

The first paragraph isn't particularly engaging, but I'm excited to start reading this book because I loved The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, as did everyone in the two book clubs I read it with.  The book synopsis is promising.

 

 

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #110 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  This post cannot be republished without attribution. Retweeting and sharing on Google+ encouraged.

Weekly Book Recap #107

 

Judging by the weather in these parts, summer has made an early appearance.  We've had mostly hot, hazy, humid days during the week, and the first 90+ degree day of the year.  It's hard to acclimate to warmer temperatures when things accelerate so fast, and I'm still hoping there will be a few more spring-like days on the horizon.  Uh oh . . . it sounds like I'm complaining, much like I did earlier this year when the weather was very cold and snowy.   All right, I am complaining, because I'm not a fan of weather extremes.

Enough of that.  On to today's post, where I'm recapping my books from Book Expo.  This post is being shared with the Sunday Post hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

 
The Marriage of Opposites, Nine Lives, Everything She Forgot


The Beautiful Bureaucrat, Crooked Heart, Thin Air


What Doesn't Kill Her, Infinite Home, Jade Dragon Mountain


The Girl from the Train, Girl in the Moonlight, Trust No One


The Drowning, The Song of Hartgrove Hall, We That Are Left


Secret Sisters, The Last Summer at Chelsea Beach, Last Words


Girl Waits With Gun, Still Time, Underneath Everything


Pretty Baby, The Swans of Fifth Avenue, City Love

  Bloody Royal Prints, Calf

The Scribe, Entry Island 

It was a thrill to meet each of these authors, and I look forward to reading their newest books.

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 #107 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: A Good Family

  

 

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 Good Family by Erik Fassnacht, a debut novel that will be released in August.

  

Publisher:  St. Martin's Press

Publication Date:  August 25, 2015

From barnesandnoble.com:  Meet the Brunsons of Downers Grove, Illinois. Henry is the once-magical father, whose fear of aging and endangered career lead him to the nightclubs of Chicago's Viagra Triangle. His wife Julie struggles to reclaim her life with a bottle of Zoloft and dreams of her youthful independence. Charlie, the golden-boy son, leaves the lucrative job his father arranged to serve in Afghanistan--and returns angry, damaged and uncertain of his place in the world. And Barkley, the bumbling youngest, is an aspiring writer of geeky science fiction stories now interviewing for his first job at a forbidding Catholic high school.

When Henry's health abruptly declines, he tries to return to the home and the life he had dominated. But his family, once totally dependent on his love, physical strength, and income, no longer needs him. As Julie, Charlie, and Barkley begin to find their ways forward, Henry tries desperately to bring them back together. In the end, each one will arrive at a new understanding of what family can--and cannot--be. Unusually assured and perceptive, combining narrative drive with humor, insight, and powerful family dynamics, A Good Family is a memorable debut by former high school teacher Erik Fassnacht.

Which book are you waiting for?

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

Waiting on Wednesday: A Good Family 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 #109

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 . . .

  

Folly

Note:  FOLLY was originally published August 13, 2013 as COLD in eBook format.

PROLOGUE

How long had it taken to change a life forever?  A minute, ninety seconds - while he listened, barely understanding, as two men destroyed his own young innocence, and allowed another child to die?

^^^^^^^^^^^

ONE

Privacy and peace.

Early the previous year, Alex Bailey-Jones had come home from London to the Cotswold Hills, to Folly-on-Weir, to bury herself in familiar surrounding and to become too busy to live in the past.

 
What do you think?  Would you continue reading?

I'm excited to start reading this book because the Cotswolds village setting appeals to me, and I'm always eager to begin a new mystery series.

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #109 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  This post cannot be republished without attribution. Retweeting and sharing on Google+ encouraged.

Weekly Book Recap #106

I hope that June is off to a good start for all of you, and that you've got some fun summer things to look forward to. 

It's been a mostly uneventful week for me, as I recover from Book Expo, get used to my summer work schedule, and read as much as I can (you'll see why below).  In the last weekly recap I shared the books I got from two pre-BEA events.  This post recaps new titles received at two more events:  Library Journal's Day of Dialog on May 27 and Library Reads/Association of American Publishers BEA Authors Librarian Luncheon on May 28.  Next week I'll recap the books I came across at BEA itself.

On now to this week's book recap, which is being shared on these blogs:
                                                        
           Sunday Post hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer  
           Showcase Sunday hosted by Vicky at  Books, Biscuits, and Tea

The Authors Librarian Luncheon was an oasis within the larger BEA event, and an opportunity to listen to a panel of authors while sitting down for ninety minutes over sandwiches and refreshments.  Authors on hand were Annie Barrows (The Truth According to Us), Stephanie Clifford (Everybody Rise), Tama Janowitz (Scream), Barry Moser (We Were Brothers), actress Mary-Louise Parker (Dear Mr. You), and Vu Tran (Dragonfish).  Their works are a nice mix of fiction (3 titles) and memoir (3 titles).

I walked away with these titles:

                        

Day of Dialog was a full day of programming with panels, author signings, and a lunch with key note speaker Gretchen Rubin, author of Better than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives:

More on the panels . . . 

Editors' Picks: Top Titles from Top Publishers 

Lots of information and ARCs from many publishers.

I walked away with these titles . . .

               
                 
Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal, No Baggage by Clara Bensen, Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights by Salman Rushdie, The Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler, Little Black Lies by Sharon Bolton, Best Boy by Eli Gottlieb, The Witch of Lime Street by David Jaher, Mothers, Tell Your Daughters by Bonnie Jo Campbell, Ally Hughes Has Sex Sometimes by Jules Moulin, and The Readers of the Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

First Novels
Comments from debut authors Ron Childress (And West is West), Sloan Crosley (The Clasp), Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Cranor (Welcome to Night Vale), Paige McKenzie (The Haunting of Sunshine Girl: Book One), and Claire Vaye Watkins (Gold, Fame, Citrus).

I walked away with these titles . . .
                                           

 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The Immigrant Experience
Remarks from Nadia Hashimi (When the Moon is Low), Vanessa Diffenbaugh (We Never Asked for Wings), Patricia Park (Re Jane), and Dan-El Padilla Peralta (Undocumented: A Dominican Boy's Odyssey from a Homeless Shelter to the Ivy League).

I walked away with these titles . . .
                         

 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Historical Fiction
Thoughts from Charles Belfoure (House of Thieves), Geraldine Brooks (The Secret Chord), Dolen Perkins-Valdez (Balm), Gregory Maguire (After Alice), and Adriana Trigiani (All the Stars in the Heavens).

I walked away with these titles . . .
                                          

 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Top Thrills 
Words from Jennifer McMahon (The Night Sister), Lori Roy (Let Me Die in His Footsteps), the writing team Charles Todd (A Pattern of Lies), Kathy Reichs (Speaking in Bones), and Kate White (The Wrong Man).

I walked away with these titles . . .

                                       
                                        

I enjoyed all of the speakers and programs.  Now I'm looking forward to reading each of these books in the months ahead.

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