Waiting on Wednesday: New Novel by Elizabeth Strout

   

 

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 My Name is Lucy Barton, the anticipated novel from Elizabeth Strout, author of Olive Kitteridge and The Burgess Boys.

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 Publisher:  Random House Publishing Group

Publication Date: January 5, 2016

From barnesandnoble.com: A new book by Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout is cause for celebration. Her bestselling novels, including Olive Kitteridge and The Burgess Boys, have illuminated our most tender relationships. Now, in My Name Is Lucy Barton, this extraordinary writer shows how a simple hospital visit becomes a portal to the most tender relationship of all—the one between mother and daughter.

Lucy Barton is recovering slowly from what should have been a simple operation. Her mother, to whom she hasn’t spoken for many years, comes to see her. Gentle gossip about people from Lucy’s childhood in Amgash, Illinois, seems to reconnect them, but just below the surface lie the tension and longing that have informed every aspect of Lucy’s life: her escape from her troubled family, her desire to become a writer, her marriage, her love for her two daughters. Knitting this powerful narrative together is the brilliant storytelling voice of Lucy herself: keenly observant, deeply human, and truly unforgettable.  

Which book are you waiting for?

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

Waiting on Wednesday: New Novel by Elizabeth Strout 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 #123

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 an upcoming read, All the Summer Girls by Meg Donohue, borrowed from the library.

   

Goodreads Page 

1

Kate

In Philadelphia, Katherine Harrington stands in front of the bathroom mirror, waiting to see if her life is about to change.  It has been a while since she stopped and really looked at herself--not to smooth the frazzled antennae of find brown hair along her part or to brush away the taste of her morning coffee or to apply the mascara she swipes on each and every day before work, but to just stand completely still and look.  The parenthetical creases on either side of her mouth have deepened, and she worries they make everything she says seem inconsequential, unnecessary.  (Not ideal for a litigator), she mouths to herself.  (Must buy wrinkle cream.)  She is studying her own wry smile when the sound of the door buzzer cuts into the apartment.

What do you think?  Would you continue reading?

With the days getting shorter, but the weather still relatively mild, I am trying to extend my summer state of mind as long as possible.  The cover and title of this book certainly help.

 

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #123 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  This post cannot be republished without attribution. Retweeting and sharing on Google+ encouraged.

Waiting on Wednesday: New Novel by Helen Simonson

   

 

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 The Summer Before the War, the anticipated novel from Helen Simonson, author of Major Pettigrew's Last Stand.

  

Publisher:  Random House

Publication Date:  March 22, 2016

Frombarnesandnoble.com:  Helen Simonson’s beloved, New York Times bestselling debut, Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand, instantly established her reputation as an uncommonly gifted storyteller, with humor, wit, and a sharp eye for character. Now she returns with an equally compelling work of fiction, one that reaches far beyond the small English village in which it is set.
 
East Sussex, 1914. It is the end of England’s brief Edwardian summer, and everyone agrees that the weather has never been so beautiful. Hugh Grange, down from his medical studies, is visiting his Aunt Agatha, who lives with her husband in the small, idyllic coastal town of Rye. Agatha’s husband works in the Foreign Office, and she is certain he will ensure that the recent saber rattling over the Balkans won’t come to anything. And Agatha has more immediate concerns; she has just risked her carefully built reputation by pushing for the appointment of a woman to replace the Latin master.

When Beatrice Nash arrives with one trunk and several large crates of books, it is clear she is significantly more freethinking—and attractive—than anyone believes a Latin teacher should be. For her part, mourning the death of her beloved father, who has left her penniless, Beatrice simply wants to be left alone to pursue her teaching and writing.

But just as Beatrice comes alive to the beauty of the Sussex landscape and the colorful characters who populate Rye, the perfect summer is about to end. For despite Agatha’s reassurances, the unimaginable is coming. Soon the limits of progress, and the old ways, will be tested as this small Sussex town and its inhabitants go to war.

Which book are you waiting for?

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

Waiting on Wednesday: New Novel by Helen Simonson 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 #122

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 an upcoming read, The Man in the Wooden Hat by Jane Gardam, borrowed from the library.

 

Goodreads Page 

PART ONE

Marriage

CHAPTER ONE

There is a glorious part of England known as the Donheads.  The Donheads are a tangle of villages loosely interlinked by winding lanes and identified by the names of saints.  There is Donhead St. Mary, Donhead St. Andrew, Donhead St. James and, among yet others, Donhead St. Ague.

This communion of saints sometimes surprises newcomers if they are not religious and do not attach them to the names of village churches.  Some do, for the old families here have a strong Roman Catholic tinge.  It was Cavalier country.  Outsiders, however, call the Donheads "Thomas Hardy country" and it is so described by the estate agents who sell the old cottages of the poor to the rich.

What do you think?  Would you continue reading?

Earlier this year I read and enjoyed Old Filth, the first book in this series.  Gardam's writing style, interesting characters, and descriptions of life in service to the British crown are quite engaging.

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #122 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  This post cannot be republished without attribution. Retweeting and sharing on Google+ encouraged. 

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #93

It's Friday . . . time to share 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 Circling the Sun by Paula McLain, borrowed from the library.

 

 

 

Beginning:  Prologue

4 September 1936

Abingdon, England

 

The Vega Gull is peacock blue with silver wings, more splendid than any bird I've known, and somehow mine to fly.  She's called The Messenger, and has been designed and built with great care and skill to do what should be impossible—cross an ocean in one brave launch, thirty-six hundred miles of black chop and nothingness—and to take me with her. 

 

*********************
Page 56:  "'He smelled like hot cotton, like the sky."

*********************   

My thoughts:  Circling the Sun is the September read for one of my book clubs.  It seemed a natural choice since we enjoyed McLain's previous novel, The Paris Wife.  Over our seven-year history, we've read many fictional accounts of real-life relationships, and this genre has become one of our favorites.  Our very first book selection, Loving Frank by Nancy Horan, likely set the stage for us.

**********************

From Goodreads:  Paula McLain, author of the phenomenal bestseller The Paris Wife, now returns with her keenly anticipated new novel, transporting readers to colonial Kenya in the 1920s. Circling the Sun brings to life a fearless and captivating woman—Beryl Markham, a record-setting aviator caught up in a passionate love triangle with safari hunter Denys Finch Hatton and Karen Blixen, who as Isak Dinesen wrote the classic memoir Out of Africa.

Brought to Kenya from England as a child and then abandoned by her mother, Beryl is raised by both her father and the native Kipsigis tribe who share his estate. Her unconventional upbringing transforms Beryl into a bold young woman with a fierce love of all things wild and an inherent understanding of nature’s delicate balance. But even the wild child must grow up, and when everything Beryl knows and trusts dissolves, she is catapulted into a string of disastrous relationships.

Beryl forges her own path as a horse trainer, and her uncommon style attracts the eye of the Happy Valley set, a decadent, bohemian community of European expats who also live and love by their own set of rules. But it’s the ruggedly charismatic Denys Finch Hatton who ultimately helps Beryl navigate the uncharted territory of her own heart. The intensity of their love reveals Beryl’s truest self and her fate: to fly.

Set against the majestic landscape of early-twentieth-century Africa, McLain’s powerful tale reveals the extraordinary adventures of a woman before her time, the exhilaration of freedom and its cost, and the tenacity of the human spirit.

 

 

 

Which book are you reading now or about to start?

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #93 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.  Retweeting and sharing on Google+ are encouraged and appreciated.

 

Waiting on Wednesday: The Witches: Salem,1692

   

 

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 The Witches: Salem, 1692, the new novel from author Stacy Schiff.

 

Publisher:   Little, Brown and Company

Publication Date:  October 27, 2015

From barnesandnoble.com: The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Cleopatra, the #1 national bestseller, unpacks the mystery of the Salem Witch Trials.

It began in 1692, over an exceptionally raw Massachusetts winter, when a minister's daughter began to scream and convulse. It ended less than a year later, but not before 19 men and women had been hanged and an elderly man crushed to death. 

The panic spread quickly, involving the most educated men and prominent politicians in the colony. Neighbors accused neighbors, parents and children each other. Aside from suffrage, the Salem Witch Trials represent the only moment when women played the central role in American history. In curious ways, the trials would shape the future republic.

As psychologically thrilling as it is historically seminal, THE WITCHES is Stacy Schiff's account of this fantastical story-the first great American mystery unveiled fully for the first time by one of our most acclaimed historians.

Which book are you waiting for?

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

Waiting on Wednesday: The Witches: Salem, 1692 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 #121

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 my current read, The Canterbury Sisters by Kim Wright, borrowed from the library.

  

Goodreads Page

ONE

You know that old Chinese curse that goes "May you live in interesting times"?  I've always thought the modern-day corollary was "May you have an interesting mother."  Because I was cursed the minute I was born to the impetuous, talented, politically radical, and sexually experimental Diana de Milan.

What do you think?  Would you continue reading?

I enjoy books that explore mother-daughter relationships.  This particular story creates an interesting experience for a daughter tasked with carrying out her mother's wish.

 

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #121 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  This post cannot be republished without attribution. Retweeting and sharing on Google+ encouraged.

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #92

It's Friday . . . time to share 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 The Seven Sisters by Lucinda Riley, which I borrowed from the library.

 

Beginning:  

Maia

June 2007

First Quarter

13; 16; 21

 I will always remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I heard that my father had died.

*********************
Page 56:  "'The next morning, after making my requisite cup of tea, I returned to the bedroom, tentatively pulled the envelope from under my pillow, and carried it into the sitting room.  I studied it for a while as I sipped my tea."

*********************   

My thoughts:  I am intrigued by the premise of this new series that according to the author's note, "is loosely based on the mythology of the Seven Sisters of the Pleiades, the well-known constellation next to the famous belt of Orion."

This first book in the series has completely drawn me in—introducing six very different sisters, revealing clues about their origins, and setting the stage for a family saga of grand proportions.

**********************

From Goodreads:   Maia D’Apliese and her five sisters gather together at their childhood home, “Atlantis”—a fabulous, secluded castle situated on the shores of Lake Geneva—having been told that their beloved father, who adopted them all as babies, has died. Each of them is handed a tantalizing clue to her true heritage—a clue which takes Maia across the world to a crumbling mansion in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Once there, she begins to put together the pieces of her story and its beginnings.

Eighty years earlier in Rio’s Belle Epoque of the 1920s, Izabela Bonifacio’s father has aspirations for his daughter to marry into the aristocracy. Meanwhile, architect Heitor da Silva Costa is devising plans for an enormous statue, to be called Christ the Redeemer, and will soon travel to Paris to find the right sculptor to complete his vision. Izabela—passionate and longing to see the world—convinces her father to allow her to accompany him and his family to Europe before she is married. There, at Paul Landowski’s studio and in the heady, vibrant cafes of Montparnasse, she meets ambitious young sculptor Laurent Brouilly, and knows at once that her life will never be the same again.

In this sweeping, epic tale of love and loss—the first in a unique, spellbinding series of seven novels—Lucinda Riley showcases her storytelling talent like never before.

 

Which book are you reading now or about to start?

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #92 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.  Retweeting and sharing on Google+ are encouraged and appreciated.

 

Waiting on Wednesday: New John Irving 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.  Today I'm featuring Avenue of Mysteries, the new novel from author John Irving.

  

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Publication Date: November 3, 2015

From barnesandnoble.com:  John Irving returns to the themes that established him as one of our most admired and beloved authors in this absorbing novel of fate and memory.

In Avenue of Mysteries, Juan Diego—a fourteen-year-old boy, who was born and grew up in Mexico—has a thirteen-year-old sister. Her name is Lupe, and she thinks she sees what's coming—specifically, her own future and her brother's. Lupe is a mind reader; she doesn't know what everyone is thinking, but she knows what most people are thinking. Regarding what has happened, as opposed to what will, Lupe is usually right about the past; without your telling her, she knows all the worst things that have happened to you.

Lupe doesn't know the future as accurately. But consider what a terrible burden it is, if you believe you know the future—especially your own future, or, even worse, the future of someone you love. What might a thirteen-year-old girl be driven to do, if she thought she could change the future?

As an older man, Juan Diego will take a trip to the Philippines, but what travels with him are his dreams and memories; he is most alive in his childhood and early adolescence in Mexico. As we grow older—most of all, in what we remember and what we dream—we live in the past. Sometimes, we live more vividly in the past than in the present.

Avenue of Mysteries is the story of what happens to Juan Diego in the Philippines, where what happened to him in the past—in Mexico—collides with his future.

Which book are you waiting for?

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

Waiting on Wednesday: New John Irving Novel 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 #120

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 an upcoming read, Dune Road by Jane Green, which I borrowed from the library.

  

Goodreads Page 

Chapter One

One of the unexpected bonuses of divorce, Kit Hargrove realizes, as she settles onto the porch swing, curling her feet up under her and placing a glass of chilled wine on the wicker table, is having weekends without the children, weekends when she gets to enjoy this extraordinary peace and quiet, remembers who she was before she became defined by motherhood, by the constant noise and motion that come with having a thirteen-year-old and an eight-year-old.

What do you think?  Would you continue reading?

This book fits well into my plan to hold onto that summer feeling by reading beachy novels.  I'm looking forward to reading it on my porch with a glass of chilled wine.

 

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #120 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  This post cannot be republished without attribution. Retweeting and sharing on Google+ encouraged.

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #91

It's Friday . . . time to share 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 The Rumor by Elin Hilderbrand, which I borrowed from the library.

 

 

 

Beginning:  

NANTUCKET

 

We didn't like to gossip; we loved to gossip.

 

Did you hear?

 

*********************
Page 56:  "'Sultan Nash, who had been hired to repaint the outside trim on Black-Eyed Susan's, watched Madeline King park her car in one of the three spots of the blue Victorian across the street."

*********************   

 

My thoughts:  Hot "news" travels fast on Nantucket, especially when it's juicy and speculative.  A great summer read (or way to extend that summer feeling). 

**********************

 

From Goodreads:  Madeline King and Grace Pancik are best friends and the envy of Nantucket for their perfect marriages, their beautiful kids, their Sunday night double dates with their devoted husbands. But this summer, something's changed, and if there's anything Nantucket likes better than cocktails on the beach at sunset, it's a good rumor.

And rumor has it...

...that Madeline, a novelist, is battling writer's block, with a deadline looming, bills piling up, and blank pages driving her to desperation--and a desperately bad decision;

...that Grace, hard at work to transform her backyard into a garden paradise, has been collaborating a bit more closely that necessary with her ruggedly handsome landscape architect;

...that Grace's husband, successful island real estate developer "Fast Eddie" Pancik, has embarked on quite an unusual side project;

...that the storybook romance between Madeline's son, Brick, and Grace's daughter Allegra is on the rocks, heading for disaster.

As the gossip escalates, and they face the possible loss of the happy lives they've worked so hard to create, Grace and Madeline try mightily to set the record straight--but the truth might be even worse than rumor has it.

 

 

 

Which book are you reading now or about to start?

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #91 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.  Retweeting and sharing on Google+ are encouraged and appreciated.

  

Waiting on Wednesday: New Margaret Atwood 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.  Today I'm featuring The Heart Goes Last, the new novel from author Margaret Atwood.

 

Publisher:  Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

Publication Date:  September 29, 2015

Frombarnesandnoble.com:  Living in their car, surviving on tips, Charmaine and Stan are in a desperate state. So, when they see an advertisement for Consilience, a 'social experiment' offering stable jobs and a home of their own, they sign up immediately. All they have to do in return for suburban paradise is give up their freedom every second month – swapping their home for a prison cell. At first, all is well. But then, unknown to each other, Stan and Charmaine develop passionate obsessions with their 'Alternates,' the couple that occupy their house when they are in prison. Soon the pressures of conformity, mistrust, guilt and sexual desire begin to take over.

Which book are you waiting for?

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

Waiting on Wednesday: New Margaret Atwood Novel 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 #119

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 my current read, The Blue by Lucy Clarke, which I borrowed from the library . . .

  

Goodreads Page 

PROLOGUE

A body floats, unseeing eyes fixed on the brooding sky.  A pair of cotton shorts has darkened, pockets gulping with water.  A shirt billows, then clings to the unmoving chest.  The streak of blood across the right temple has washed away now, leaving the skin clear and graying.

 

What do you think?  Would you continue reading?

This book first caught my eye when I saw it on Greg's Book Haven.  As summer comes to an end, reading this mystery set at sea is my attempt to hang on to the season. 

 

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #119 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  This post cannot be republished without attribution. Retweeting and sharing on Google+ encouraged.