Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings

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 Baker Street Letters by Michael Robertson.  The excerpts shared are from a hardcover version borrowed from the library. 

 

 

Beginning:  Prologue -- Los Angeles, 1997

 

He only wanted just one cigarette.

 

He knew he shouldn't, and not just because both of his ex-wives used to say so or because his doctor still said so.

 

**********

 

Chapter 1

"Why are you staring at me that way?" 

 

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

Page 56:  "And then he drove to Heathrow, with the address for the Los Angeles letter writer in his pocket."

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

 

My thoughts:  I am always intrigued by books that incorporate a Sherlock Holmes angle.  In this book--the start of the Baker Street Letters series--two brothers, both attorneys with law offices in a building on Baker Street, are receiving letters addressed to Sherlock Holmes, which according to their lease they are obliged to answer.  My interest is certainly piqued.

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

 

From Goodreads:  In Los Angeles, a geological surveyor maps out a proposed subway route--and then goes missing. His eight-year-old daughter, in her desperation, turns to the one person she thinks might help--she writes a letter to Sherlock Holmes.

That letter creates an uproar at 221b Baker Street, which now houses the law offices of attorney and man about town Reggie Heath and his hapless brother, Nigel. Instead of filing the letter like he’s supposed to, Nigel decides to investigate. Soon he’s flying off to Los Angeles, inconsiderately leaving a very dead body on the floor in his office. Big brother Reggie follows Nigel to California, as does Reggie’s sometime lover, Laura---a quick-witted stage actress who’s captured the hearts of both brothers.

When Nigel is arrested, Reggie must use all his wits to solve a case that Sherlock Holmes would have savored and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle fans will adore.

 

 

 

Which book are you reading now or about to start? 

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

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph

It's Tuesday . . . time for . . .

                                                      

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

Today I'm featuring Enchanted Island by Allison Amend, an upcoming read that I borrowed from the library.  

Goodreads Page

Part One

Chapter One

You're not allowed to read this -- I'm not even really allowed to write it.  But now that Ainslie is gone and I will surely follow before too long, I don't see that much is the harm.  I suppose the government will censor what it will.

A curious effect of childlessness is that your story disappears with you.  Of course, everyone's does eventually, but the suddenness with which my history will be extinguished causes me much consternation.  I am of the generation who came of age in the new century, though my formative years were spent in the last -- I am therefore pulled between the past and the present.

That my life will be of interest to readers I dare not assume.  But it is an unusual one, and for that reason alone record should be made of it.

What do you think?  Would you continue reading?

I am a big fan of historical fiction, and was drawn to this novel because it is inspired by the memoirs of Frances Conway, an independent woman from Minnesota who finds herself living in the Galapagos Islands with her husband, an undercover intelligence officer, on the eve of World War II.

 

 

This post was originally written and published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  It cannot be republished without attribution.  Retweeting and sharing on Google+ are appreciated.

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph

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 Dear Mr. M by Herman Koch, author of The Dinner and Summer House with Swimming Pool.  I borrowed this book from the library.  

 

   

Goodreads Page 

Dear Mr. M,

 

I'd like to start by telling you that I'm doing better now.  I do so because you probably have no idea that I was ever doing worse.  Much worse, in fact, but I'll get to that later on.

 

 

What do you think?  Would you continue reading?

Having read Koch's previous novels, I am eager to begin his latest work.  Koch's stories thus far have centered on flawed characters motivated by self-interest and a desire to preserve their families at all costs.  

 

 

This post was originally written and published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  It cannot be republished without attribution.  Retweeting and sharing on Google+ are appreciated.

 

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings

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 Arsenic With Austen by Katherine Bolger Hyde.  The excerpts shared are from a hardcover version borrowed from the library. 

 

Beginning:  one

 

A gentle late-spring breeze ruffled the tender leaves of the maple and cherry trees on Reed College's front lawn, flirted with the skirts of the graduates' robes and tugged at the edges of their mortarboards, then swirled up three stories to tease Emily's upswept hair as she stood at her open office window.  Of late this scene had become the favorite of her whole teaching year, because it meant the year was over.

 

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Page 56:  " Just then an elderly woman shuffled up to their table, breathless.  'Oh, Sheriff--little Timmy--come quick.  That tree--so high . . . I can hardly see him.'  She stood, wringing her hands, her features contorted."

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My thoughts:  As many of you may know, I am always thrilled to get in at the beginning of a new mystery series, and this book is the first in the Crime with the Classics series.  Beyond that, I was drawn to the cover, the title, and the academic setting in the opening paragraph.

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

From Goodreads:  When Emily Cavanaugh inherits a fortune from her great aunt, she expects her life to change. She doesn't expect to embark on a murder investigation, confront the man who broke her heart 35 years before, and nearly lose her own life.

Emily travels to the sleepy coastal village of Stony Beach, Oregon, to claim her inheritance, centered in a beautiful Victorian estate called Windy Corner but also including a substantial portion of the real estate of the whole town. As she gets to know the town's eccentric inhabitants--including her own once-and-possibly-future love, Sheriff Luke Richards--she learns of a covert plan to develop Stony Beach into a major resort. She also hears hints that her aunt may have been murdered. Soon another suspicious death confirms this, and before long Emily herself experiences a near-fatal accident.

Meanwhile, Emily reads Persuasion, hoping to find belated happiness with her first love as Anne Elliot did with Captain Wentworth. She notices a similarity between her not-quite-cousin Brock Runcible, heir to a smaller portion of her aunt's property, and Mr. Elliot in Persuasion, and her suspicions of Brock crystallize. But as she and Luke continue to investigate and events speed toward a climax, Emily realizes that underneath the innocent-looking rocks of Stony Beach lurk festering jealousies that would have shocked even the worst of Jane Austen's charming reprobates.

Which book are you reading now or about to start? 

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

WWW Wednesday

It's time for WWW Wednesdays hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words 

   

This mid-weekly meme consists of answering The Three Ws:

What are you currently reading?

 What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

I'm reading . . .

The story is a first-rate thriller that keeps your attention as you learn more about the main characters and a terrible incident that plays out over the course of a weekend in an isolated house deep in the woods.  More from Goodreads.

I finished reading . . .

 

This first book in a new mystery series has writer Rachel Goldman racing against the clock to catch a serial killer, who has kidnapped and murdered other mystery writers, before she becomes the next victim.  She is assisted in her quest by a mysterious investigator who claims to be the main character in her mystery series.  The unusual elements of the story guarantee an interesting sequel.  More from Goodreads.

I'm reading next . . . 

Next up in the reading queue is this story of travel, friendship, and love.  More from Goodreads.

I'm waiting for . . . 

Publisher:  Flatiron Books

Publication Date:  October 4, 2016

From barnesandnoble.com:  To four girls who have nothing, their friendship is everything: they are each other’s confidants, teachers, and family. The girls are all named Guinevere—Vere, Gwen, Ginny, and Win—and it is the surprise of finding another Guinevere in their midst that first brings them together. They come to The Sisters of the Supreme Adoration convent by different paths, delivered by their families, each with her own complicated, heartbreaking story that she safeguards. Gwen is all Hollywood glamour and swagger; Ginny is a budding artiste with a sentiment to match; Win’s tough bravado isn’t even skin deep; and Vere is the only one who seems to be a believer, trying to hold onto her faith that her mother will one day return for her. However, the girls are more than the sum of their parts and together they form the all powerful and confident The Guineveres, bound by the extraordinary coincidence of their names and girded against the indignities of their plain, sequestered lives.

The nuns who raise them teach the Guineveres that faith is about waiting: waiting for the mail, for weekly wash day, for a miracle, or for the day they turn eighteen and are allowed to leave the convent. But the Guineveres grow tired of waiting. And so when four comatose soldiers from the War looming outside arrive at the convent, the girls realize that these men may hold their ticket out.

In prose shot through with beauty, Sarah Domet weaves together the Guineveres’ past, present, and future, as well as the stories of the female saints they were raised on, to capture the wonder and tumult of girlhood and the magical thinking of young women as they cross over to adulthood.

What are your Wednesday updates?

WWW Wednesdays was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  This post cannot be republished without attribution. Retweeting and sharing on Google+ are appreciated.  

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph

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 In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware, which I received at a publisher's event.  

 

  

Goodreads Page

 

I am running.

 

I am running through moonlit woods, with branches ripping at my clothes and my feet catching in the snow-bowed bracken.

 

Brambles slash at my hands.  My breath tears in my throat.  It hurts.  Everything hurts.

 

 

 

 

What do you think?  Would you continue reading?

This book has been on my radar--and in my bookcase--for quite some time.  I have finally gotten to it, and I am totally in its grip.  It's a first-rate thriller that keeps your interest as you learn more about the main characters and a terrible incident that plays out over the course of a weekend in an isolated house in the woods.

This post was originally written and published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  It cannot be republished without attribution.  Retweeting and sharing on Google+ are appreciated.