Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #68

It's Friday . . . time to share excerpts from a current or upcoming read 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 Distance by Helen Giltrow, a debut thriller that I borrowed from the library.  It's the start of a new series.  

 

 

 

Beginning:  (Prologue)  Day 25:  Saturday

Karla

There's blood in my hair.  Twelve hours and I've still got blood in my hair.

 

(Part 1) Day 1: Wednesday-Day 2: Thursday

Karla

I've always known the past might hunt me down--despite all my precautions, the false trails and the forged histories and everything else I've done to distance myself from it.

 

But not like this.

 

******************** 
Page 56:  "He has a choice now: follow, or wait.  Or even run, though running only does you any good if you have somewhere to run to."

*********************   

My thoughts: I love a good thriller, and the narrator intrigues me with the mention of a mysterious past.

 

 

Which book are you reading now or about to start?
 

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #68 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.    

 

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #90

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 recently borrowed from the library . . .

 

Saving Grace  by Jane Green 

One

There are only so many hours Grace can stay away from home.  Her husband's car is still in the driveway when she pulls in, her heart sinking at the sight.  As if she should be surprised.   Where did she think he'd be going at six o'clock in the evening?  It was the triumph of hope over experience, she thought to herself.

Luck was not on her side today.  It wasn't on her side this morning when she woke up to hear a door slamming downstairs and her husband bellowing her name, and it isn't on her side now.

 

What do you think?  Would you continue reading?  

 

What are you reading now or planning to read soon?

 

 

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #90 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  This post cannot be republished without attribution.

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #83 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--to try to entice others to seek out these books.

Today I'm featuring the opening paragraph and a teaser from one of my next reads, Goodbye Piccadilly, the first book in the War at Home Series by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles, a book I recently borrowed from the library:

 

Chapter One

July 1914

It was another beautiful summer day, clear and hot.  The distant wooded hills were brushed with shadows of mauve and indigo, the dusty road shimmered, and behind the hawthorn hedges to either side, the hayfields, long cut, were beginning to flush again with flowers.  Swallows were skimming back and forth above them; their shrilling and the faint rustle of the hedgerow were the only sounds in Sadie's world, aside from Arthur's steady hoofbeats.  One motor-car had passed them since they had left the forge; and they had passed a cart loaded with straw coming the other way, scattering golden chaff in its wake.

 

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Teaser:  "In summary, she was his beloved sister and a constant worry to him.  He came round the desk to greet her, noting that she was particularly bright-eyed that morning." ~ p. 50


What do you think?  Would you continue reading? 

 

What are you reading now or planning to read soon?

 

 

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #83 and Teaser Tuesdays was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  This post cannot be republished without attribution.

Waiting on Wednesday: Fiercombe Manor

 

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 new novel from Kate Riordan, author of Birdcage Walk, and other novels. 

 

 

Publisher:  HarperCollins Publishers

Publication Date:  February 17, 2015

 

From goodreads.com:  In this haunting and richly imagined dual-narrative tale that echoes the eerie mystery of Rebecca and The Little Stranger, two women of very different eras are united by the secrets hidden within the walls of an English manor house.

In 1933, naive twenty-two year-old Alice—pregnant and unmarried—is in disgrace. Her mother banishes her from London to secluded Fiercombe Manor in rural Gloucestershire, where she can hide under the watchful eye of her mother’s old friend, the housekeeper Mrs. Jelphs. The manor’s owners, the Stantons, live abroad, and with her cover story of a recently-deceased husband Alice can have her baby there before giving it up for adoption and returning home. But as Alice endures the long, hot summer at Fiercombe awaiting the baby’s birth, she senses that something is amiss with the house and its absentee owners.

Thirty years earlier, pregnant Lady Elizabeth Stanton desperately hopes for the heir her husband desires. Tormented by the memory of what happened after the birth of her first child, a daughter, she grows increasingly terrified that history will repeat itself, with devastating consequences.

After meeting Tom, the young scion of the Stanton family, Alice becomes determined to uncover the clan’s tragic past and exorcise the ghosts of this idyllic, isolated house. But nothing can prepare Alice for what she uncovers. Soon it is her turn to fear: can she escape the tragic fate of the other women who have lived in the Fiercombe valley . . .

Which book are you waiting for?

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

 

 

Waiting on Wednesday: Fiercombe Manor 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. 

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 From Jojo Moyes

 

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.  The wait is almost over for my current selection, from one of my favorite authors.

 

 

 This week's anticipated book:

 

 Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books 

Publication date: July 1, 2014

 

From barnesandnoble.com:  Bestselling British author Moyes (Me Before You) blends a sobering commentary on the widening gap between haves and have-nots into this quirky tale of lopsided families finding the courage to love. Jess, barely able to make ends meet as a house cleaner after her husband, Marty, walks out, enlists the help of rich client Ed to drive her math-genius daughter Tanzie to a competition. If Tanzie wins, the prize will be enough to pay for her to attend a top-notch school. Along with Jess’s Goth stepson, Nicky, who is Marty’s son, and the slobbering family dog, Norman, the misfits cram into Ed’s car for an alternately hilarious and heartbreaking adventure. With side trips to visit Ed’s dying father and Jess’s now-estranged husband, the travelers learn to reconcile with pasts they can’t change and futures they’re afraid to imagine. “Good things happen to good people,” Jess insists. “You just have to keep faith.” There’s never anything predictable about stubbornly optimistic and protective Jess and her oddball kids, or the distracted Ed and his disjointed work-family relationships. It’s exactly that quality that makes this offbeat journey so satisfying, and Moyes’s irrepressible flaws-and-all characters so memorable.

Which book are you waiting for?

 

 

Enjoy life with books . . .

Catherine

Waiting on Wednesday:  New From Jojo Moyes was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  This post cannot be republished without attribution.

Waiting on Wednesday: Bridget Jones is Back!

 

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.

This week's anticipated book:

 

 Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group 

Publication date: October 15, 2013

 

From barnesandnoble.com:  Bridget Jones—one of the most beloved characters in modern literature (v.g.)—is back! In Helen Fielding's wildly funny, hotly-anticipated new novel, Bridget faces a few rather pressing questions:   

 

What do you do when your girlfriend’s sixtieth birthday party is the same day as your boyfriend’s thirtieth?

Is it better to die of Botox or die of loneliness because you’re so wrinkly?

Is it wrong to lie about your age when online dating?

Is it morally wrong to have a blow-dry when one of your children has head lice?

Is it normal to be too vain to put on your reading glasses when checking your toy boy for head lice?

Does the Dalai Lama actually tweet or is it his assistant?

Is it normal to get fewer followers the more you tweet?

Is technology now the fifth element? Or is that wood?

If you put lip plumper on your hands do you get plump hands?

Is sleeping with someone after two dates and six weeks of texting the same as getting married after two meetings and six months of letter writing in Jane Austen’s day?

Pondering these and other modern dilemmas, Bridget Jones stumbles through the challenges of loss, single motherhood, tweeting, texting, technology, and rediscovering her sexuality in—Warning! Bad, outdated phrase approaching!—middle age.

In a triumphant return after fourteen years of silence, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy is timely, tender, touching, page-turning, witty, wise, outrageous, and bloody hilarious.

 

 

My Thoughts:  I've enjoyed Bridget Jones on the page and on the screen and am happy to see her return.  I anticipate each humorous calamity as Bridget embraces the latest technology and new life experiences.  Bridget's unique take on the world is a glorious treat! 

Enjoy life with books . . .

 

Catherine
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Waiting on Wednesday: Bridget Jones is Back! was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.  

Waiting on Wednesday: For Jane Austen Fans and Others

 

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.

This week's anticipated book:

 

Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

Publication Date: October 8, 2013

From barnesandnoble.com:  Pride and Prejudice was only half the story •  If Elizabeth Bennet had the washing of her own petticoats, Sarah often thought, she’d most likely be a sight more careful with them.
 
In this irresistibly imagined belowstairs answer to Pride and Prejudice, the servants take center stage. Sarah, the orphaned housemaid, spends her days scrubbing the laundry, polishing the floors, and emptying the chamber pots for the Bennet household. But there is just as much romance, heartbreak, and intrigue downstairs at Longbourn as there is upstairs. When a mysterious new footman arrives, the orderly realm of the servants’ hall threatens to be completely, perhaps irrevocably, upended.

Jo Baker dares to take us beyond the drawing rooms of Jane Austen’s classic—into the often overlooked domain of the stern housekeeper and the starry-eyed kitchen maid, into the gritty daily particulars faced by the lower classes in Regency England during the Napoleonic Wars—and, in doing so, creates a vivid, fascinating, fully realized world that is wholly her own. 

My Thoughts: This sounds like the perfect read for those of us who are fans of Jane Austen novels, as well as anyone who enjoys the drama of Upstairs Downstairs, and/or Downton Abbey.  I am looking forward to curling up with this book in the cool autumn weather.

Enjoy life with books . . .

 

Catherine
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Follow me on Twitter: @bookclubreader

Waiting on Wednesday: For Jane Austen Fans and Others was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.  

Reading Election Day

   November 6, 2012--Election Day in these United States.  I hope everyone has the chance to exercise their right to vote for the candidates who represent their values.  Poll results for the presidential, senate, and other races will trickle in later tonight and Wednesday as votes are tallied after what has been an exceptionally long campaign.  Given the constant media coverage leading up to Election Day, it's not surprising that campaign issues and tactics were on my mind as I read The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling.

Rowling's novel centers around a vacant council seat in the tiny English village of Pagford.  Who will be elected?  Whose agenda will be advanced?   What information will be disseminated about the candidates, and will it be accurate?  As the plot unfolded, I couldn't help but draw parallels between this fictional scenario and our current political state of affairs.  Special interests; haves versus have nots; empowered versus disenfranchised; and misrepresentations, scare tactics, and spin are all well illustrated in The Casual Vacancy, proving that regardless of outcome, in fiction as in real life, politics is not for the faint of heart.

Catherine

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Reading Election Day was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.blogspot.com. This post cannot be republished without express written consent.

Thursday Thoughts--British Popular Fiction

Reading J.K. Rowling's The Casual Vacancy reminded me of Helen Simonson's novel, Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, a book I read, enjoyed, and discussed in two book clubs in the fall of 2010.  While the plot lines are different, the settings are similar--each story is set in a seemingly idyllic English village with a sizeable cast of diverse, memorable characters of different generations and social strata. 

Here is an excerpt of my review of Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, which appeared online in the September 2010 issue of Sound Commentary:

Major Ernest Pettigrew is a self-described dusty old relic, comfortably settled in Edgecombe St. Mary, a small, sleepy village of thatched cottages in the English countryside that is on the verge of change. A retired military man who places vast importance on tradition, honor, and duty, Pettigrew is often confounded by modern manners, his ambitious son, and multicultural society. Although born in Lahore, there is no question that he is British to the core. Mrs. Jasmina Ali, the village’s shopkeeper of Pakistani descent, is a woman of great understanding and quiet strength. Despite being British born and raised, her heritage and occupation have prevented her from being embraced by the villagers as one of their own. 

At first glance, the major and the shopkeeper have little in common—other than having each lost a spouse—given their 10 year age difference and dissimilar life experiences, personalities, and ethnic and religious backgrounds. Yet appearances can be deceiving, as is the case in this humorous, charming story.

Friendship grows as the Major and Mrs. Ali discover their mutual love of classic literature, a proper cup of tea, and the civilized rituals of their younger years. As they attempt to live peaceful, uneventful lives, each is regularly subjected to the manipulations of their families, particularly from the younger generation—he by his condescending, social climbing son Roger; she by her intense, brooding nephew Abdul Wahid.  Each responds to these well-meaning, misguided youth in their own manipulative way.

Irony and dry British wit abound as the Major and Mrs. Ali interact with family and village inhabitants who freely speak their minds on all matters and act accordingly. The resulting clashes of culture, class, generations, and ideas provide unusual twists and turns as the characters explore moving beyond the practicality of compromise to find love, happiness, and fulfillment. Will they have the courage to take a stand against convention and act from the heart? 

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand is a good choice for book club reading.  The novel's themes of changing traditions, family relations, aging, and multiculturalism provide much food for thought and discussion.

Catherine

Disclaimer:  An audiobook of Major Pettigrew's Last Stand was provided without cost by Sound Commentary.  No other remuneration was received for this review. 

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Thursday Thoughts--British Popular Fiction was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.blogspot.com. This post cannot be republished without express written consent.