Book Expo 2016

I'm off to the Windy City to attend the event I affectionately call Book Heaven . . .

 

I'll check in with you all when I return.

 

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 One Moment, One Morning by Sarah Rayner, which I borrowed from the library.  

 

 

 

Monday

07:58

 

Lou is pretending to be asleep, but out of the corner of her eye she is watching the woman opposite put on her make-up.  She always finds it fascinating, watching other women do this, constructing themselves, on the train.  Lou never wears make-up, really, other than for very special occasions, and although she can understand it saves time, she finds it odd -- choosing to make the transformation from private to public persona whilst commuting.  It takes away the mystery, covering the blemishes, thickening the lashes, widening the eyes, plumping the cheeks, surrounded by people.  And on the seven forty-four to Victoria, Lou is surrounded by people:  most of them silent; many of them asleep, or at least dozing; some of them reading, and a few, a minority, chatting. 

 

  

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

 

Page 56:  "The hospital is a maze of corridors and wards, annexes and Portakabins, and neither Karen nor Anna is in the right frame of mind to work out the signs."

 

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

 

My thoughts:  The opening paragraph is very familiar to anyone who travels regularly to a job by public transportation.  Yet, in this case, what starts out as an ordinary morning train commute changes the lives of three women and their families.

 

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

 

 From Goodreads: The Brighton to London line. The 07:44 train. Carriages packed with commuters. A woman applies her make-up. Another occupies her time observing the people around her. A husband and wife share an affectionate gesture. Further along, a woman flicks through a glossy magazine. Then, abruptly, everything changes: a man has a heart attack, and can't be resuscitated; the train is stopped, an ambulance called. For at least three passengers on the 07:44 on that particular morning, life will never be the same again. Lou witnesses the man's final moments. Anna and Lou share a cab when they realise the train is going nowhere fast. Anna is Karen's best friend. And Karen? Karen's husband is the man who dies. Telling the story of the week following that fateful train journey, One Moment, One Morning is a stunning novel about love and loss, about family and - above all - friendship. A stark reminder that, sometimes, one moment is all it takes, it also reminds us that somehow, and despite everything, life can and does go on.

 

 

 

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.

Waiting on Wednesday: Don't You Cry

    

 

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 Don't You Cry, the new psychological thriller from Mary Kubica.

  

Publisher:  Mira

Publication Date:  May 17, 2016

 Frombarnesandnoble.com:  New York Times bestselling author of The Good Girl and Pretty Baby, Mary Kubica returns with an electrifying and addictive tale of deceit and obsession.

In downtown Chicago, a young woman named Esther Vaughan disappears from her apartment without a trace. A haunting letter addressed to My Dearest is found among her possessions, leaving her friend and roommate Quinn Collins to wonder where Esther is and whether or not she's the person Quinn thought she knew.

Meanwhile, in a small Michigan harbor town an hour outside Chicago, a mysterious woman appears in the quiet coffee shop where eighteen-year-old Alex Gallo works as a dishwasher. He is immediately drawn to her charm and beauty, but what starts as an innocent crush quickly spirals into something far more dark and sinister than he ever expected.

As Quinn searches for answers about Esther, and Alex is drawn further under the stranger's spell, master of suspense Mary Kubica takes readers on a taut and twisted thrill ride that builds to a stunning conclusion and shows that no matter how fast and far we run, the past always catches up with us in the end.

Which book are you waiting for?

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

Waiting on Wednesday: Don't You Cry was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  This post cannot be republished without attribution.  (Retweeting and sharing on Google+ are appreciated.)

First Paragraph ~ First Chapter

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, By Book or By Crook by Eva Gates, which I borrowed from the library.  It's the first book in the Lighthouse Library Mystery Series.

 

Goodreads Page 

Chapter One

Only in the very back of my mind, in my most secret dreams, did I ever dare hope I'd have such a moment.

Too bad it was being ruined by the cacophony of false compliments and long-held grievances going on behind me.

The party was a private affair, a viewing of the new collection for staff and board members of the Bodie Island Lighthouse Library, as well as local dignitaries and community supporters, before the official opening tomorrow.  We were celebrating the arrival of a complete set of Jane Austen first editions, on loan for three months.

Jane Austen.  My literary idol.  So close.

What do you think?  Would you continue reading?   

It has taken me longer than anticipated to start this series.  I didn't realize quite how long until I learned that the third book was recently released.  I'm glad to be reading it now, and am enjoying the setting (an Outer Banks library within a lighthouse) and quirky characters.  The series is off to a good start, with an intrepid group of librarians caught up in a murder investigation and book theft. 

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

Waiting on Wednesday: A Fine Imitation

    

 

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 A Fine Imitation, the debut novel from Amber Brock that will be available next week.

 

Publisher:  Crown/Archetype

Publication Date:  May 3, 2016

From barnesandnoble.com:  Set in the glamorous 1920s, A Fine Imitation is an intoxicating debut that sweeps readers into a privileged Manhattan socialite's restless life and the affair with a mysterious painter that upends her world, flashing back to her years at Vassar and the friendship that brought her to the brink of ruin.

Vera Bellington has beauty, pedigree, and a penthouse at The Angelus—the most coveted address on Park Avenue. But behind the sparkling social whirl, Vera is living a life of quiet desperation. Her days are an unbroken loop of empty, champagne-soaked socializing, while her nights are silent and cold, spent waiting alone in her cavernous apartment for a husband who seldom comes home. 

Then Emil Hallan arrives at The Angelus to paint a mural above its glittering subterranean pool. The handsome French artist moves into the building, shrouds his work in secrecy, and piques Vera's curiosity, especially when the painter keeps dodging questions about his past. Is he the man he claims to be? Even as she finds herself increasingly drawn to Hallan's warmth and passion, Vera can't suppress her suspicions. After all, she has plenty of secrets, too—and some of them involve art forgers like her bold, artistically talented former friend, Bea, who years ago, at Vassar, brought Vera to the brink of catastrophe and social exile. 

When the dangerous mysteries of Emil's past are revealed, Vera faces an impossible choice—whether to cling to her familiar world of privilege and propriety or to risk her future with the enigmatic man who has taken her heart. A Fine Imitation explores what happens when we realize that the life we've always led is not the life we want to have.

Which book are you waiting for?

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

Waiting on Wednesday: A Fine Imitation was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  This post cannot be republished without attribution.  (Retweeting and sharing on Google+ are appreciated.)

 

First Paragraph ~ First Chapter

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, As Time Goes By, the latest mystery from bestselling author Mary Higgins Clark, borrowed from the library.

 

 Goodreads Page 

Prologue

The first wail of the infant was so penetrating that the two couples outside the birthing room of midwife Cora Banks gasped in unison.  James and Jennifer Wright's eyes lit up with joy.  Relief and resignation formed the expression on the faces of Rose and Martin Ryan, whose seventeen-year-old daughter had just given birth.

The couples knew each other as the Smiths and the Joneses.  Neither one had any desire to know the true identity of the other.  A full fifteen minutes later they were still waiting anxiously to see the newborn child.

What do you think?  Would you continue reading?   

Having been a fan of hers for years, I never miss the chance to read the latest MHC mystery.  In this new novel, the search for a birth mother intersects a murder trial, with the author's trademark fast-paced plot revealing other mysteries to be solved along the way.  Clark's quirky characters Alvirah Meehan and her husband Willy are featured prominently in the story.

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

 

Waiting on Wednesday: Modern Lovers

    

 

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 Modern Lovers, the new novel from Emma Straub.

 

Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group

Publication Date:  May 31, 2016 

From barnesandnoble.com:  From the New York Times‒bestselling author of The Vacationers, a smart, highly entertaining novel about a tight-knit group of friends from college—their own kids now going to college—and what it means to finally grow up well after adulthood has set in.
 
Friends and former college bandmates Elizabeth and Andrew and Zoe have watched one another marry, buy real estate, and start businesses and families, all while trying to hold on to the identities of their youth. But nothing ages them like having to suddenly pass the torch (of sexuality, independence, and the ineffable alchemy of cool) to their own offspring.

Back in the band's heyday, Elizabeth put on a snarl over her Midwestern smile, Andrew let his unwashed hair grow past his chin, and Zoe was the lesbian all the straight women wanted to sleep with. Now nearing fifty, they all live within shouting distance in the same neighborhood deep in gentrified Brooklyn, and the trappings of the adult world seem to have arrived with ease. But the summer that their children reach maturity (and start sleeping together), the fabric of the adult lives suddenly begins to unravel, and the secrets and revelations that are finally let loose—about themselves, and about the famous fourth band member who soared and fell without them—can never be reclaimed.

Straub packs wisdom and insight and humor together in a satisfying book about neighbors and nosiness, ambition and pleasure, the excitement of youth, the shock of middle age, and the fact that our passions—be they food, or friendship, or music—never go away, they just evolve and grow along with us.

Which book are you waiting for?

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

Waiting on Wednesday: Modern Lovers was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  This post cannot be republished without attribution.  (Retweeting and sharing on Google+ are appreciated.)