First Book of the Year 2018

Happy New Year!!

Welcome to my first post of the new year . . . and my first meme of 2018 . . . hosted by the amazing Sheila at Book Journey.

My first book of the year is The Little French Bistro by Nina George . . .

  

   

This is also my first book club book of the year.

The group has read and enjoyed the author's previous novel, The Little Paris Bookshop, and all but one of us took a trip to Paris together a few years ago.  It will be fun to revisit France in our reading.

I wish all of of you a new year filled with health, happiness, dreams come true and, of course, good books!

First Book of the Year 2018 was originally written and published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com and cannot be republished without attribution.  Retweeting and sharing on Google+ are appreciated.

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.

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #89

It's Tuesday . . . and I'm participating in . . .

                                                      

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 an upcoming read for one of my book clubs . . .

  

The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters 

***This excerpt is from an advance uncorrected proof***

Copyright © 2014 Sarah Waters

Part One

One

The Barbers had said they would arrive by three. It was like waiting to begin a journey, Frances thought. She and her mother had spent the morning watching the clock, unable to relax. At half-past two she had gone wistfully over the rooms for what she’d supposed was the final time; after that there had been a nerving-up, giving way to a steady deflation, and now, at almost five, here she was again, listening to the echo of her own footsteps, feeling no sort of fondness for the sparsely furnished spaces, impatient simply for the couple to arrive, move in, get it over with.

She stood at a window in the largest of the rooms—the room which, until recently, had been her mother’s bedroom, but was now to be the Barbers’ sitting-room—and stared out at the street. The afternoon was bright but powdery. Flurries of wind sent up puffs of dust from the pavement and the road. The grand houses opposite had a Sunday blankness to them—but then, they had that every day of the week. Around the corner there was a large hotel, and motor-cars and taxi-cabs occasionally came this way to and from it; sometimes people strolled up here as if to take the air. But Champion Hill, on the whole, kept itself to itself. The gardens were large, the trees leafy. You would never know, she thought, that grubby Camberwell was just down there. You’d never guess that a mile or two further north lay London, life, glamour, all that.

What do you think?  Would you continue reading?  

 

What are you reading now or planning to read soon?

 

 

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #89 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  This post cannot be republished without attribution.

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #85 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 and a teaser from a current read, The Sisterhood by Helen Bryan--a Kindle purchase that I am reading for one of my book clubs.

   

Prologue

From the Chronicle of Las Sors Santas de Jesus, Las Golondrinas Convent,

Andalusia, Spain, June 1552

It is midnight, but only the orphanage children sleep.  At sunset a messenger came from the valley to warn the Abbess.  Like wolves slinking toward the sheepfold, the Inquisition tribunal are drawing closer and will soon be upon us.  All in the order, from the youngest novice to elderly bedridden Sor Augustina, are awake, praying the queen will intervene, and for courage if she does not.  We must remember the example of our beloved Foundress in her hour of trial.

Chapter I

 Pacific Coast of South America, Spring 1983

The first signs appeared in December.  By Navidad the warm seas yielded dying fish to the fishermen's nets.  Anxious women crowded into the churches, to light candles and beseech God, the Virgin, and all the saints to stay the hand of El Nino.  The peasants clung to their superstition that naming the capricious atmospheric phenomenon after the Christ Child might appease it.  But this time El Nino came in the guise of the Devil, El Diablo, to turn the noon sky a strange color.  People looked skyward uneasily and crossed themselves, muttering prayers as midday turned black as night, the wind rose, and a hard rain began to fall.  The sky sank lower and lower and the wind gained strength, and people called on older, darker gods before abandoning prayers altogether to shout for their children and run for shelter.

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Teaser:  "It began to dawn on her that she might be in more trouble than she thought.  No one knew where she was." ~ p.66 (19% of Kindle version)

----------------------  

 

What do you think?  Would you continue reading? 

 

My thoughts:  This work of historical fiction, which spans several continents and centuries, is an engaging page turner.  From Spain during the Inquisition to contemporary times in Europe, and North and South America, the characters and storyline have me captivated.  I'm sure there's a lively book discussion in my future.

What are you reading now or planning to read soon?

 

 

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #85 and Teaser Tuesdays was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  This post cannot be republished without attribution.

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #57

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 my next read, which one of my book clubs will discuss at our meeting next Friday night:

 

  

Beginning:  Moments of great import are often tinged with darkness because perversely we yearn to be let down.  And so it was that I found myself in late September 2002 at my first solo show in Paris feeling neither proud nor encouraged by the crowds of people who had come out to support my paintings, but saddened.  Disappointed.

 

******************** 
Page 56:  "I found Julien in the gallery's storage closet, standing on his head.  The watercooler next to him belched out a bubbly glug."

*********************   

 

My thoughts -- It was only a matter of time before I would get to this book.  It first piqued my interest at a publisher preview earlier this year.  It remained on my radar screen, and I featured it in an April Waiting on Wednesday post.  The book was on my list for September, but time got away from me.  So, when I suggested it to one of my book clubs at our August meeting, they were agreeable.  In addition to its appeal as an end-of-summer read, all but one of us were planning a mid-September trip to London and Paris together.  The trip has come and gone, and I'm looking forward to an interesting (and likely nostalgic) discussion, as the story is set in those cities.

Which book are you reading now or about to start?
 

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #57 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.    

 

 

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #64 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--from their current reads to try to entice others to seek out these books.

Today I'm featuring the opening paragraph from Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, a library book that I'm reading for an upcoming book club meeting.  It's been a while since I participated in Teaser Tuesdays, and now seems like a good time to return to this meme.   

 

England, late 1990s

Part One

Chapter One

My name is Kathy H.  I'm thirty-one years old, and I've been a carer now for over eleven years.  That sounds long enough, I know, but actually they want me to go on for another eight months, until the end of this year.  That'll make it almost exactly twelve years.  Now I know my being a carer so long isn't necessarily because they think I'm fantastic at what I do.  There are some really good carers who've been told to stop after just two or three years.  And I can think of one carer at least who went on for all of fourteen years, despite being a complete waste of space.  So I'm not trying to boast.  But then I do know for a fact they've been pleased with my work, and by and large, I have too.  My donors have always tended to do much better than expected.  Their recovery times have been impressive, and hardly any of them have been classified as "agitated," even before fourth donation.  Okay, maybe I am boasting now.  But it means a lot to me, being able to do my work well, especially that bit about my donors staying "calm."  I've developed a kind of instinct around donors.  I know when to hang around and comfort them, when to leave them to themselves; when to listen to everything they have to say, and when just to shrug and tell them to snap out of it.

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Teaser:  I tried to bring it up once myself, in the dorm after lights-out.  In the Seniors, we were down to six per dorm, so it was just our little group, and we often had our most intimate conversations lying in the dark before we fell asleep.  ~ p. 15

What do you think?  Would you continue reading? 

The opening paragraph is very wordy, and it has me trying to decide whether the narrator likes to speak about herself, or is just anxious to relate her story and be heard.  The only way to find out is to read on.  

What are you reading now or planning to read soon?

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #64 and Teaser Tuesdays was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  This post cannot be republished without attribution.

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #16

 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.

This week's selection:

 

 

Beginning:  I remember, in no particular order:

 

--a shiny inner wrist;

 

--steam rising from a wet sink as a hot frying pan is laughingly tossed into it;

 

--gouts of sperm circling a plughole, before being sluiced down the full length of a tall house;

 

--a river rushing nonsensically upstream, its wave and wash lit by half a dozen chasing torchbeams;

 

--another river, broad and grey, the direction of its flow disguised by a stiff wind exciting the surface;

 

--bathwater long gone cold behind a locked door.

 

This last isn't something I actually saw, but what you end up remembering isn't always the same as what you have witnessed.

 

My thoughts:  I find the opening somewhat mysterious.  It has me wondering who the narrator is and where the story is headed.  This book, which won the 2011 Man Booker prize, has been on my TBR list for some time now.  The reason I am reading it now is because one of my book clubs selected it for our October meeting.

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Page 56:  "For most of us, the first experience of love, even if it doesn't work out--perhaps especially when it doesn't work out--promises that here is the thing that validates, that vindicates life."

--------------------

 

Overview from barnesandnoble.com: A novel so compelling that it begs to be read in a single setting, The Sense of an Ending has the psychological and emotional depth and sophistication of Henry James at his best, and is a stunning new chapter in Julian Barnes's oeuvre.

This intense novel follows Tony Webster, a middle-aged man, as he contends with a past he never thought much about—until his closest childhood friends return with a vengeance: one of them from the grave, another maddeningly present. Tony thought he left this all behind as he built a life for himself, and his career has provided him with a secure retirement and an amicable relationship with his ex-wife and daughter, who now has a family of her own. But when he is presented with a mysterious legacy, he is forced to revise his estimation of his own nature and place in the world.

 

 

Enjoy life with books...

Catherine

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Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #16 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.  

 

 

 

 

Waiting on Wednesday: Nancy Thayer's Island Girls

 

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature of the Breaking the Spine blog.  It's a great way to share information about a forthcoming book with other readers.

This week's anticipated book:

 

 Island Girls by Nancy Thayer

Publication Date: June 18, 2013

Publisher: Random House Publishing Group

Preorder now from online and bricks and mortar bookstores 

From barnesandnoble.com:

New York Times bestselling author Nancy Thayer returns to her beloved Nantucket in a highly emotional, wholly entertaining tale of three sisters forced to confront the past over one event-filled summer on the island.

Charming ladies’ man Rory Randall dies with one last trick up his sleeve: His will includes a calculating clause mandating a summer-long reunion for his daughters, all from different marriages—that is, if they hope to inherit his posh Nantucket house. Relations among the three sisters are sour thanks to long-festering jealousies, resentments, and misunderstandings. Arden, a successful television host in Boston, hasn’t been back to the island since her teenage years, when accusations of serious misbehavior led to her banishment. College professor Meg hopes to use her summer to finish a literary biography and avoid an amorous colleague. And secretive Jenny, an IT specialist, faces troubling questions about her identity while longing for her sisters’ acceptance.

To their surprise, the three young women find their newfound sisterhood easier to trust than the men who show up to complicate their lives. And if that weren’t problematic enough, their mothers descend on the island. When yet another visitor drops by the house with shocking news, the past comes screaming back with a vengeance. Having all the women from his life under his seaside roof—and overseeing the subsequent drama of that perfect storm—Rory Randall might just be enjoying a hearty laugh from above.

Nancy Thayer’s novel insightfully illustrates how the push and pull of family altercations make us whole. It’s how the Randall sisters come to forgive, and learn to open their hearts to love.

My thoughts: I am intrigued by the description of family dynamics and complexities in this novel.  Its beach setting and interesting characters make it a perfect beach read.

Enjoy life with books...

Catherine

Follow me on Twitter: @bookclubreader

Waiting on Wednesday: Nancy Thayer's Island Girls was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.

Waiting on Wednesday: TransAtlantic

 

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature of the Breaking the Spine blog.  It's a great way to share information about a forthcoming book with other readers.

This week's anticipated book:

 

TransAtlantic by Colum McCann

Publication Date: June 4, 2013

Publisher: Random House Publishing Group

Preorder now from online and bricks and mortar bookstores

From barnesandnoble.com:

In the National Book Award–winning Let the Great World Spin, Colum McCann thrilled readers with a marvelous high-wire act of fiction that The New York Times Book Review called "an emotional tour de force." Now McCann demonstrates once again why he is one of the most acclaimed and essential authors of his generation with a soaring novel that spans continents, leaps centuries, and unites a cast of deftly rendered characters, both real and imagined.

Newfoundland, 1919. Two aviators—Jack Alcock and Arthur Brown—set course for Ireland as they attempt the first nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean, placing their trust in a modified bomber to heal the wounds of the Great War.

Dublin, 1845 and '46. On an international lecture tour in support of his subversive autobiography, Frederick Douglass finds the Irish people sympathetic to the abolitionist cause—despite the fact that, as famine ravages the countryside, the poor suffer from hardships that are astonishing even to an American slave.

New York, 1998. Leaving behind a young wife and newborn child, Senator George Mitchell departs for Belfast, where it has fallen to him, the son of an Irish-American father and a Lebanese mother, to shepherd Northern Ireland's notoriously bitter and volatile peace talks to an uncertain conclusion.

These three iconic crossings are connected by a series of remarkable women whose personal stories are caught up in the swells of history. Beginning with Irish housemaid Lily Duggan, who crosses paths with Frederick Douglass, the novel follows her daughter and granddaughter, Emily and Lottie, and culminates in the present-day story of Hannah Carson, in whom all the hopes and failures of previous generations live on. From the loughs of Ireland to the flatlands of Missouri and the windswept coast of Newfoundland, their journeys mirror the progress and shape of history. They each learn that even the most unassuming moments of grace have a way of rippling through time, space, and memory.

The most mature work yet from an incomparable storyteller, TransAtlantic is a profound meditation on identity and history in a wide world that grows somehow smaller and more wondrous with each passing year.

My thoughts:  McCann spoke about his new novel last month at a Random House Open House event and captivated the audience.  I came away with an advanced reader copy and am looking forward to immersing myself in this author's lyrical prose and creative storytelling. 

Enjoy life with books...

Catherine

Follow me on Twitter: @bookclubreader

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

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #15 and Tuesday Teaser

 

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph Tuesday Intros is a weekly meme hosted by Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea. It's an opportunity to share the first paragraphs of a book I am currently reading or planning to read sometime soon.

This week I'm featuring the opening paragraphs of Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler, a book I recently received as a gift, which I'll start reading soon.

Read on after the intro for my Tuesday Teaser.

   

Published by St. Martin's Press

Publication date: 3/26/2013

PROLOGUE

------------------------------------------

Montgomery, Alabama

                                                                                                      December 20, 1940

Dear Scott,

    

     The Love of the Last Tycoon is a great title for your novel.  What does Max say?

     I've been thinking that maybe I'll brave an airplane ride and come to see you for New Year's.  Wire me the money, if you can.  Won't we be quite the pair?--you with your bad heart, me with my bad head.  Together, though, we might have something worthwhile.  I'll bring you some of those cheese biscuits you always loved, and you can read me what you've written so far.  I know it's going to be a wonderful novel, Scott, your best one yet.

     This is short so I can send it before the post office closes today.  Write me soon.

                                                                                                       Devotedly,

                                                                                                                   Z- 

     If I could fit myself into this mail slot, here, I'd follow my letter all the way to Hollywood, all the way to Scott, right up to the door of our next future.  We have always had a next one, after all, and there's no good reason we shouldn't have one now.  If only people could travel as easily as words.  Wouldn't that be something?  If only we could be so easily revised.

What do you think?  Would you continue reading? 

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Teaser Tuesdays, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading, is a weekly event where bloggers open to a random page and share a teaser from somewhere on that page--no spoilers allowed.

 

Here's my teaser from Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler:

"'Really, Baby, if you go out with no corset, men will think you're--'

 'Immoral?'

 'Yes.'

 'Maybe I don't care,' I said."

~ p. 11

Enjoy life with books . . .

Catherine

Follow me on Twitter: @bookclubreader

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #15 and Tuesday Teaser was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.

Waiting on Wednesday: The Bookman's Tale

 

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature of the Breaking the Spine blog.  It's a great way to share information about a forthcoming book with other readers.

 

This week's anticipated book:

 

  The Bookman's Tale: A Novel of Obsession

 by Charlie Lovett

Publication Date:  May 28, 2013

Publisher:  Penguin Group (USA)

 Preorder now from online and bricks and mortar bookstores

 

From barnesandnoble.com:

A mysterious portrait ignites an antiquarian bookseller’s search through time and the works of Shakespeare for his lost love...

Guaranteed to capture the hearts of everyone who truly loves books, The Bookman’s Tale is a former bookseller’s sparkling novel and a delightful exploration of one of literature’s most tantalizing mysteries with echoes of Shadow of the Wind and A.S. Byatt's Possession.

Hay-on-Wye, 1995. Peter Byerly isn’t sure what drew him into this particular bookshop. Nine months earlier, the death of his beloved wife, Amanda, had left him shattered. The young antiquarian bookseller relocated from North Carolina to the English countryside, hoping to rediscover the joy he once took in collecting and restoring rare books. But upon opening an eighteenth-century study of Shakespeare forgeries, Peter is shocked when a portrait of Amanda tumbles out of its pages. Of course, it isn’t really her. The watercolor is clearly Victorian. Yet the resemblance is uncanny, and Peter becomes obsessed with learning the picture’s origins.

As he follows the trail back first to the Victorian era and then to Shakespeare’s time, Peter communes with Amanda’s spirit, learns the truth about his own past, and discovers a book that might definitively prove Shakespeare was, indeed, the author of all his plays.

My thoughts:  This book combines history, mystery, romance, and travel in one interesting plot.  It's the newest entry on my to be read list.

 Enjoy life with books...

Catherine

Follow me on Twitter: @bookclubreader

Waiting on Wednesday: The Bookman's Tale was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #14 and Tuesday Teaser

 

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph Tuesday Intros is a weekly meme hosted by Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea. It's an opportunity to share the first paragraphs of a book I am currently reading or planning to read sometime soon.

This week I'm featuring the opening paragraphs of The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult, a book I recently borrowed from the library which I'll start reading soon.

Read on after the intro for my Tuesday Teaser.

 

 From Atria/Emily Bestler Books

Publication date: 2/26/2013

"My father trusted me with the details of his death.  'Ania,' he would say, 'no whiskey at my funeral.  I want the finest blackberry wine.  No weeping, mind you.  Just dancing.  And when they lower me into the ground, I want a fanfare of trumpets, and white butterflies.'  A character, that was my father.  He was the village baker, and every day, in addition to the loaves he would make for the town, he would create a single roll for me that was as unique as it was delicious: a twist like a princess's crown, dough mixed with sweet cinnamon and the richest chocolate.  The secret ingredient, he said, was his love for me, and this made it taste better than anything else I had ever eaten.

We lived on the outskirts of a village so small that everyone knew everyone else by name.  Our home was made of river stone, with a thatched roof; the hearth where my father baked heated the entire cottage.  I would sit at the kitchen table, shelling peas that I grew in the small garden out back, as my father opened the door of the brick oven and slid the peel inside to take out crusty, round loaves of bread.  The red embers glowed, outlining the strong muscles of his back as he sweated through his tunic. 'I don't want a summer funeral, Ania,' he would say.  'Make sure instead I die on a cool day, when there's a nice breeze.  Before the birds fly south, so that they can sing for me.'"

What do you think?  Would you continue reading? 

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Teaser Tuesdays, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading, is a weekly event where bloggers open to a random page and share a teaser from somewhere on that page--no spoilers allowed.

Here's my teaser from The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult: 

"Baruch Beiler turned, as if noticing for the first time that I was even present.  His eyes raked over me, from my dark hair in its single braid to the leather boots on my feet, whose holes had been repaired with thick patches of flannel.  His gaze made me shiver, not in the same way that I felt when Damian, the captain of the guard, watched me walk away in the village square--as if I were cream and he was the cat.  No, this was more mercenary."

~ p.3

Enjoy life with books . . .

Catherine

Follow me on Twitter: @bookclubreader

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #14 and Tuesday Teaser was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.

Waiting on Wednesday: All the Summer Girls

 

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature of the Breaking the Spine blog.  It's a great way to share information about a forthcoming book with other readers.

 

This week's anticipated book:

 

 All the Summer Girls by Meg Donohue

Publication Date:  May 21, 2013

Publisher:  HarperCollins Publishers

Preorder now from online and bricks and mortar bookstores

 

From barnesandnoble.com:

In Philadelphia, good girl Kate is dumped by her fiancé the day she learns she is pregnant with his child. In New York City, beautiful stay-at-home mom Vanessa finds herself obsessively searching the Internet for news of an old flame. And in San Francisco, Dani, an aspiring writer who can't seem to put down a book—or a cocktail—long enough to open her laptop, has just been fired . . . again.

In an effort to regroup, Kate, Vanessa, and Dani retreat to the New Jersey beach town where they once spent their summers. Emboldened by the seductive cadences of the shore, the women begin to realize just how much their lives, and friendships, have been shaped by the choices they made one fateful night on the beach eight years earlier—and the secrets that now threaten to surface.

My thoughts:  I enjoy a book with strong bonds of female friendship and shared experiences.  Adding a beach setting and a few deep, dark secrets sweetens the deal.

Enjoy life with books...

Catherine

Follow me on Twitter: @bookclubreader

Waiting on Wednesday: All the Summer Girls was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #13 and Tuesday Teaser

 

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph Tuesday Intros is a weekly meme hosted by Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea. It's an opportunity to share the first paragraphs of a book I am currently reading or planning to read sometime soon.

This week I'm featuring the opening paragraphs of Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight, a book I recently borrowed from the library which I have selected as my next read.

Read on after the intro for my Tuesday Teaser.

 

  From HarperCollins Publishers

Publication date: 4/2/2013

"gRaCeFULLY

SEPTEMBER 5TH

______________________________________________________

Because there are 176 definitions for the word loser on urbandictionary.com.

Don't Be a Statistic

_________________________________________________

Hey bitches!

Ah, the beginning of another school year.  And I'm back with all the shit that's not fit to print . . .

 

So while you've all been whiling away the summer in Southampton, or on Nantucket or in the South of France, perfecting your tennis game or your pas de deux, or training for your first marathon, or basking in your latest chess championship, I've spent the summer keeping track of the back and forth of our dear faculty members.  Mr. Zaritski went out to UC Berkeley to teach at a science camp for crazy-smart kids.  Word has it the parents had him fired week two because he SMELLED.  Mrs. Pearl took a Latin lover and learned to pole dance in Miami.  Kidding.  She didn't actually have a lover, of course.  Who would ever want to sleep with her?

Ah, and sweet delicious Mr. Woodhouse.  Who wouldn't have wanted to see him in a Speedo somewhere?  Alas, his whereabouts lo these sultry months is unknown, though I have it on good authority that he spent at least one long weekend snuggled up with our beloved English prof Liv.  To which I say, bravo."

 

What do you think?  Would you continue reading?  The opening page (partially quoted above) is a blog post, which is quickly followed by several text and Facebook messages.  Regular chapters come next, introducing readers to attorney and single mom Kate and her teenage daughter Amelia, the main characters in this debut legal thriller. There is a lot of buzz about this book, and it looks like a page-turner.

  

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Teaser Tuesdays, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading, is a weekly event where bloggers open to a random page and share a teaser from somewhere on that page--no spoilers allowed.

 

Here's my teaser from Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight:

""Listen, Amelia, I know we don't know each other very well, and there's a reason for that.  I looked through your file before you got down here, and it's basically flawless--outstanding grades, two varsity letters, head of the French club, four honors classes.  You've never even been marked late.  And now this? Why?'"

~ p. 100

Enjoy life with books . . .

Catherine

Follow me on Twitter: @bookclubreader

 

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #13 and Tuesday Teaser was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.

Waiting on Wednesday: Changing Lanes

 

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature of the Breaking the Spine blog.  It's a great way to share information about a forthcoming book with other readers.

 

This week's anticipated book:

 

  Changing Lanes by Kathleen Long

Publication Date:  May 14, 2013

Publisher:  Amazon Publishing

Preorder now from online and bricks and mortar bookstores

 

From amazon.com:

Abby Halladay has the perfect life. Or, rather, she will…as long as everything goes exactly according to plan. Abby never leaves anything to chance—not her job as a syndicated columnist, not her engagement to her fiancé, Fred, and certainly not her impending wedding in Paris (New Jersey, that is).

Unfortunately for Abby, even the best-laid plans often go awry—like when Fred runs away to Paris (France, that is), her column is canned, and her dream home is diagnosed with termites. Forced to move back in with her parents and drive her dad’s cab, Abby’s perfect life has now officially become the perfect disaster.

Then a funny thing happens. Slowly but surely, Abby begins letting go of her dreams of perfection. As she does, the messy, imperfect life she thought she never wanted starts to feel exactly like the one she needs.

Poignant and heartfelt, Changing Lanes celebrates the unexpected joys of everyday life—and the enduring promise of second chances.

 

My thoughts: This sounds like another perfect late spring/early summer novel where fate intervenes to change the experiences of a controlling personality into amusing and unexpectedly joyful moments.

Enjoy life with books...

Catherine

Follow me on Twitter: @bookclubreader

Waiting on Wednesday: Changing Lanes was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.

 

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #12 and Tuesday Teaser

 

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph Tuesday Intros is a weekly meme hosted by Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea. It's an opportunity to share the first paragraphs of a book I am currently reading or planning to read sometime soon.

This week I'm featuring the opening paragraphs of The Aviator's Wife by Melanie Benjamin, a book I recently purchased and am currently reading for an upcoming book club meeting. 

Read on after the intro for my Tuesday Teaser.

 

 From Random House Publishing Group 

Publication date: 1/15/2013

 1974

"HE IS FLYING.

Is this how I will remember him?  As I watch him lying vanquished, defeated by the one thing even he could not outmaneuver, I understand that I will have to choose my memories carefully now.  There are simply too many.  Faded newspaper articles, more medals and trophies than I know what to do with; personal letters from presidents, kings, dictators.  Books, movies, plays about him and and his accomplishments; schools and institutions proudly bearing his name.

Tearstained photographs of a child with blond curls, blue eyes, and a deep cleft in his chin.  Smudged copies of letters to other women, tucked away in my purse.

I stir in my seat, trying not to disturb him; I need him to sleep, to restore, because of all the things I have to say to him later, and we're running out of time.  I feel it in my very bones, this ebbing of our tide, and there's nothing I can do about it and I'm no longer content simply to watch it, watch him rush away from me, leaving me alone, not knowing, never knowing.  My hands clenched, my jaw so rigid it aches, I lean forward as if I could will the plane to fly faster."

What do you think?  Would you continue reading?  I am half-way through this historically-researched fictional account of the marriage of Anne Morrow and Charles Lindbergh, and find it to be an engrossing story.  This bestselling novel is beautifully written, and offers an insightful look into the Lindbergh relationship, family life, and major events of their time.

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Teaser Tuesdays, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading, is a weekly event where bloggers open to a random page of their current reads and share a teaser from somewhere on that page--no spoilers allowed.

Here's my teaser from The Aviator's Wife by Melanie Benjamin:

"Still the unanswered questions, so many I can't gather them to me in any order, in any list, oh, his damned, disciplined lists!  Now, finally, I have need for one and I can't even pick which question with which to start.  So many demand answers.  Why them?  Why all of them?  Did he love them?  Has he ever loved me?"

~ p.4

Enjoy life with books . . .

Catherine

Follow me on Twitter: @bookclubreader

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #12 and Tuesday Teaser was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.

 

Waiting on Wednesday: The Week Before the Wedding

 

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature of the Breaking the Spine blog.  It's a great way to share information about a forthcoming book with other readers.

 

This week's anticipated book:

 

 The Week Before the Wedding by Beth Kendrick

Publication Date:  May 7, 2013

Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)

 Preorder now from online and bricks and mortar bookstores

 

From barnesandnoble.com:

Beth Kendrick sweeps you off your feet with a captivating tale of how even the best-laid plans can falter at the altar.

After enduring a chaotic childhood, Emily McKellips yearns for a drama-free life, complete with a white picket fence. Her dreams are about to come true: She has a stellar career, a gorgeous house, and a fiancé any woman would die for. But as friends and family arrive in picturesque Valentine, Vermont, for her wedding, an uninvited guest shows up.

Ryan is Emily’s first husband from a disastrous starter marriage. They wed on a whim, only to discover that combustible chemistry couldn’t ensure a happily ever after. But Ryan is no longer the headstrong boy she left behind. He’s now a successful film producer who just happens to be scouting a resort in Valentine with his adorable retriever in tow.

As the bridesmaids revolt and the mothers of the bride and groom do battle, Emily is surprised to discover new sides of both her ex and her fiancé. She thought she had life and love all figured out, but the next seven days might change her mind—and her heart.

My thoughts: This sounds like an entertaining novel to lead readers into the spring and summer wedding season.

Enjoy life with books...

Catherine

Follow me on Twitter: @bookclubreader

Waiting on Wednesday: The Week Before the Wedding was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.

Waiting on Wednesday--New Deanna Raybourn Novel

 

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature of the Breaking the Spine blog.  It's a great way to share information about a forthcoming book with other readers.

 

This week's anticipated book:

A Spear of Summer Grass by Deanna Raybourn

Publication Date:  April 30 2013

Publisher: Harlequin

 Preorder now from online and bricks and mortar bookstores

From barnesandnoble.com:

Paris, 1923

The daughter of a scandalous mother, Delilah Drummond is already notorious, even among Paris society. But her latest scandal is big enough to make even her oft-married mother blanch. Delilah is exiled to Kenya and her favorite stepfather's savanna manor house until gossip subsides.

Fairlight is the crumbling, sun-bleached skeleton of a faded African dream, a world where dissolute expats are bolstered by gin and jazz records, cigarettes and safaris. As mistress of this wasted estate, Delilah falls into the decadent pleasures of society.

Against the frivolity of her peers, Ryder White stands in sharp contrast. As foreign to Delilah as Africa, Ryder becomes her guide to the complex beauty of this unknown world. Giraffes, buffalo, lions and elephants roam the shores of Lake Wanyama amid swirls of red dust. Here, life is lush and teeming—yet fleeting and often cheap.

Amidst the wonders—and dangers—of Africa, Delilah awakes to a land out of all proportion: extremes of heat, darkness, beauty and joy that cut to her very heart. Only when this sacred place is profaned by bloodshed does Delilah discover what is truly worth fighting for—and what she can no longer live without.

My thoughts:   I had the pleasure of meeting Deanna Raybourn a few years ago in New York City at a Romance Writers of America Librarians Day, where she was a panelist.  I was impressed by the author's warm personable nature and independent streak--qualities which come across in the wonderfully engaging female characters she creates.  I've been reading and enjoying Raybourn's Lady Julia Grey Series, and am looking forward to her new stand-alone novel.

Enjoy life with books...

Catherine

Follow me on Twitter: @bookclubreader

Waiting on Wednesday--New Deanna Raybourn Novel was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #10 and Tuesday Teaser

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph Tuesday Intros is a weekly meme hosted by Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea. It's an opportunity to share the first paragraphs of a book I am currently reading or planning to read sometime soon.

This week I'm featuring the opening paragraphs of Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys, a book I recently borrowed from my local public library.

Read on after the intro for my Tuesday Teaser.

 Published by Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated

April 2012 (Paperback Edition)

 

thieves and prostitutes

1

THEY TOOK ME IN MY NIGHTGOWN.

Thinking back, the signs were there--family photos burned in the fireplace, Mother sewing her best silver and jewelry into the lining of her coat late at night, and Papa not returning from work.  My younger brother, Jonas, was asking questions.  I asked questions, too, but perhaps I refused to acknowledge the signs.  Only later did I realize that Mother and Father intended we escape.  We did not escape.

We were taken.

What do you think?  Would you continue reading?

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Teaser Tuesdays, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading, is a weekly event where bloggers open to a random page of their current reads and share a teaser from somewhere on that page--no spoilers allowed.

 

Here's my teaser from Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys:

     "Elena, what are they saying?" asked Mrs. Rimas.

      Mother didn't answer.

     "Elena?"

     "They're . . ."  She stopped.

     "What?" said Mrs. Rimas

     "They're selling us," she whispered.  --p. 84

 

Enjoy life with books . . .

Catherine

Follow me on Twitter: @bookclubreader

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #10 and Tuesday Teaser was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.

 

Waiting on Wednesday--A Suspenseful New Novel

 

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature of the Breaking the Spine blog.  It's a great way to share information about a forthcoming book with other readers.

This week's anticipated book:

 

He's Gone by Deb Caletti

Publication Date:  May 14, 2013

Publisher: Random House Publishing Group

 Preorder now from online and bricks and mortar bookstores

From barnesandnoble.com:

“What do you think happened to your husband, Mrs. Keller?”
 
The Sunday morning starts like any other, aside from the slight hangover. Dani Keller wakes up on her Seattle houseboat, a headache building behind her eyes from the wine she drank at a party the night before. But on this particular Sunday morning, she’s surprised to see that her husband, Ian, is not home. As the hours pass, Dani fills her day with small things. But still, Ian does not return. Irritation shifts to worry, worry slides almost imperceptibly into panic. And then, like a relentless blackness, the terrible realization hits Dani: He’s gone.

As the police work methodically through all the logical explanations—he’s hurt, he’s run off, he’s been killed—Dani searches frantically for a clue as to whether Ian is in fact dead or alive. And, slowly, she unpacks their relationship, holding each moment up to the light: from its intense, adulterous beginning, to the grandeur of their new love, to the difficulties of forever. She examines all the sins she can—and cannot—remember. As the days pass, Dani will plumb the depths of her conscience, turning over and revealing the darkest of her secrets in order to discover the hard truth—about herself, her husband, and their lives together.

Enjoy life with books.

Catherine

Follow me on Twitter: @bookclubreader

Waiting on Wednesday--A Suspenseful New Novel was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.