Friday Focus: Bookish Memes to Start the Weekend

 

 

 

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.
• First Line Friday hosted by Reading Is My SuperPower
  

 

Today I'm featuring a recent read, Zero Days by Ruth Ware. The excerpts shared are from a hardcover version borrowed from the library.

 

 

Book Beginning/First Line:  Saturday, February 4 -- Minus Eight Days

The wall around the perimeter was child's play.

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Page 56:  I felt my rage deflate inside me like a pricked balloon, leaving only an intense weariness, close to despair. I felt my shoulders droop.

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My thoughts: I've read most of Ruth Ware's novels and she continues to surprise me with her originality. Her ability to create each new story with settings and characters that are so vastly different from her previous novels is amazing and what keeps me coming back for more.

Zero Days takes readers into the world of computer hacking and security monitoring, where the stakes can be incredibly breathtaking. Secrets and information are highly prized and dangerous in the wrong hands, as Jack learns when her husband is murdered. Who killed Gabe and why? 

When Jack becomes the main murder suspect, she must rely on her wits and steely grit as she descends into a high stakes game of cat and mouse with the police and the real murderer. With the odds stacked against her, will Jack bring Gabe's murderer to justice, or die trying? 

This fast-paced, thrilling novel has unexpected twists and turns, demonstrating that Ruth Ware is one of the best writers of contemporary suspense.

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From GoodReads: Ruth Ware returns with this adrenaline-fueled thriller about a woman in a race against time to clear her name and find her husband’s murderer.

Hired by companies to break into buildings and hack security systems, Jack and her husband, Gabe, are the best penetration specialists in the business. But after a routine assignment goes horribly wrong, Jack arrives home to find her husband dead. To add to her horror, the police are closing in on their suspect—her.

 

 

 

 

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This Friday Focus: Bookish Memes to Start the Weekend post was originally composed and/or compiled and published by Catherine for the blog, bookclublibrarian.com. It cannot be republished without attribution.

 

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph

It's Tuesday . . . time for . . . 

                                                      

 

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, now hosted by Vicki at I'd Rather Be At The Beach, 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 Death of Mrs. Westaway.  The excerpt shared is from the hardcover version I received at Book Expo this year.  It was my good fortune to meet the author and have her sign my copy.

  

29th November, 1994

The magpies are back.  It's strange to think how much I used to hate them, when I first came to the house.  I remember coming up the drive in the taxi from the station, seeing them lined up along the garden wall like that, preening their feathers.

Today there was one perched on the frost-rimed branch of yew right outside my window, and I remembered what my mother used to say when I was little and whispered "Hello, Mr. Magpie" under my breath, to turn away the bad luck.

What do you think?  Would you continue reading?

The book jacket and opening lines paint an ominous picture.  Having read two of the author's previous novels, I am eager to begin this one, which I am reading for a book group.

This First Chapter ~ First Paragraph post was originally composed and/or compiled and published by Catherine for the blog, bookclublibrarian.com.  It cannot be republished without attribution. Sharing this original post on Twitter, Google+ and/or other blogs with appropriate recognition is appreciated.

Can't-Wait Wednesday

 

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Tessa at Wishful Endings which spotlights and discusses forthcoming books that bloggers are looking forward to reading. Generally it's about books that haven't been released yet. This meme is based on Waiting on Wednesday, formerly hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.  

There are so many exciting new books on the horizon, so without further ado, this week's Can't Wait For book is . . .

 

Publisher:  Gallery/Scout Press

Publication Date:  May 29, 2018

From Goodreads:  From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of In a Dark, Dark Wood, The Woman in Cabin 10, and The Lying Game comes Ruth Ware’s highly anticipated fourth novel.

On a day that begins like any other, Hal receives a mysterious letter bequeathing her a substantial inheritance. She realizes very quickly that the letter was sent to the wrong person—but also that the cold-reading skills she’s honed as a tarot card reader might help her claim the money.

Soon, Hal finds herself at the funeral of the deceased…where it dawns on her that there is something very, very wrong about this strange situation and the inheritance at the center of it.

Full of spellbinding menace and told in Ruth Ware’s signature suspenseful style, this is an unputdownable thriller from the Agatha Christie of our time.

My thoughts:  I was totally consumed by the author's first two novels, In a Dark, Dark Wood and The Woman in Cabin 10.  Ware is a captivating storyteller, and my plan is to read The Lying Game before this latest novel is published and then dive into the new release.

This Can't-Wait Wednesday post was originally composed and/or compiled and published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  It cannot be republished without attribution.  Retweeting and sharing this original post 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 my current read, The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware.  My copy is an ARC received from the publisher, Scout Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.

 

- chapter 1 -

 friday, september18

The first inkling that something was wrong was waking in darkness to find the cat pawing at my face. I must have forgotten to shut the kitchen door last night. Punishment for coming home drunk.

What do you think?  Would you continue reading?

The opening instantly piques my curiosity, and having read In a Dark, Dark Wood, I am bracing myself for another chilling tale from Ms. Ware.  I can't believe it has taken me so long to get around to this novel, but in some ways my timing is perfect given that the author's next novel, The Lying Game will be published on July 25, 2017.

This First Chapter ~ First Paragraph post was originally written and published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  It 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.