Sunday's Weekly Book Recap #45

Welcome, December...and the holiday season.  I didn't get the chance to post my weekly recap last week because I was en route to Dublin for a family visit.  So, today's recap includes books I've read or acquired before I left New York, as well as my recent purchases from Reads on Nassau Street in Dublin, which features an irresistible 3 for 2 offer.  This post will link to the following blogs:


                         

Sunday Post hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer /  Showcase Sunday hosted by Vicky at  Books, Biscuits, and Tea . . .

 My book activity from November 17 - 30, 2013

Finished reading . . .
   The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty

Ebooks downloaded . . .

  

Kindle:  Perfect by Autumn Jordon; Gastien: The Cost of the Dream by Caddy Rowland

Nook:  A Darcy Christmas by Amanda Grange

Purchased in Dublin . . .

                                  
                                  

Philomena by Martin Sixsmith, A Gift to Remember by Melissa Hill, Six Postcards Home by Michelle Jackson, Mount Merrion by Justin Quinn, The Herbalist by Niamh Boyce, and The Thing About December by Donal Ryan

The five novels pictured above were written by Irish authors, and the Melissa Hill book is a signed copy.  The non-fiction title, Philomena, was written  by British author Martin Sixsmith.

Which books did you get this week?
   

Catherine
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Sunday's Weekly Book Recap #45 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.

Waiting on Wednesday: The Fall of Saints

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: Atria Books 

Publication date: February 25, 2014

Preorder from online and books and mortar bookstores

From barnesandnoble.com:  In this stunning debut novel, a Kenyan expat is living the American Dream until she uncovers her husband’s secrets and opens a Pandora’s box of good versus evil.

You can escape from a place…but not from your past.

Mugure and Zack seem to have the picture-perfect family: a young, healthy son, a beautiful home in Riverdale, New York, and a bright future. But one night, as Mugure is rummaging through an old drawer, she comes across a piece of paper with a note scrawled on it—a note that calls into question everything she’s ever believed about her husband…

Mugure heads down a dangerous road that takes her back to Kenya, where new discoveries threaten to undo her idyllic life. She wonders if she ever really knew the man she married and begins to piece together the signs that were there since the beginning. Who was that suspicious man who trailed Zack and Mugure on their first date at a New York nightclub? What about the closing of the agency that facilitated the adoption of their son? Who made a threat against her husband’s life? Soon, Zack must pay the price for his greed, and Mugure finds herself wielding a gun, fighting for her life.

Inspired by true news stories of human trafficking and international adoptions, The Fall of Saints tackles real-life political and ethical issues through a striking, beautifully rendered story. This extraordinary novel will tug at your heart and keep it racing until the end.

My thoughts:  This debut novel's description strikes at the very core of a family's foundation, raising serious moral and ethical concerns.  How well does one truly know a spouse and what actions he or she is capable of?  The Fall of Saints will undoubtedly draw readers into a dilemma of heart-wrenching proportions.

 

Enjoy life with books . . .

 

Catherine
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Google Friend Connect is a thing of the past.  If you are a new follower or previous GFC follower, please sign up to follow the Book Club Librarian Blog via Bloglovin' or by email.  Let me know if you're a new follower and leave me a link to your blog so I can follow you back.  Thanks!
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Waiting on Wednesday: The Fall of Saints was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.  
 

 

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #23

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:  Chapter 1 Material Witness

 

It started at one thirty on a cold Tuesday morning in January when Martin Turner, street performer and, in his own words, apprentice gigolo, tripped over a body in front of the West Portico of St. Paul's at Covent Garden.

 

There are quite a few curiosities in this first sentence:  Who is Martin Turner?  How does one sign on to become an apprentice gigolo?  Does Martin Turner think of this as a career advancement?  Whose body is in front of St. Paul's?

 

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Page 56:  "I took a pull from my pint and waited.  Nightingale smiled again and sipped his own drink.  'Once you cross this particular Rubicon there will be no going back,' he said."

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From barnesandnoble.com:  Probationary Constable Peter Grant dreams of being a detective in London’s Metropolitan Police. Too bad his superior plans to assign him to the Case Progression Unit, where the biggest threat he’ll face is a paper cut. But Peter’s prospects change in the aftermath of a puzzling murder, when he gains exclusive information from an eyewitness who happens to be a ghost. Peter’s ability to speak with the lingering dead brings him to the attention of Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, who investigates crimes involving magic and other manifestations of the uncanny. Now, as a wave of brutal and bizarre murders engulfs the city, Peter is plunged into a world where gods and goddesses mingle with mortals and a long-dead evil is making a comeback on a rising tide of magic. 

 

Enjoy life with books . . .

 

Catherine
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Google Friend Connect is a thing of the past.  If you are a new follower or previous GFC follower, please sign up to follow the Book Club Librarian Blog via Bloglovin' or by email.  Let me know if you're a new follower and leave me a link to your blog so that I can follow you back.  Thanks!
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Follow me on Twitter: @bookclubreader

 

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #23 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.  

 

Waiting on Wednesday: Not Without You

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: Gallery Books 

Publication date: February 11, 2014
 Preorder from online and books and mortar bookstores
 

From barnesandnoble.com:  From internationally bestselling author Harriet Evans comes an intriguing and fresh new novel about a famous modern-day actress whose fate becomes intertwined with a glamorous movie star from the 1950s who vanished many years earlier. 

Sophie Leigh’s real name is Sophie Sykes. But she hasn’t been called that for years, not since she became an A-list movie star. Living in Hollywood, she can forget all about her old life in England and the tragedy she left behind. But in the process, she’s lost something of herself, too.

Eve Noel didn’t choose her name. A Hollywood producer did. In fact, he makes all the decisions for her—what to wear, when to smile, who to love. A product of the 1950s, Eve has none of Sophie’s modern self-confidence, but she knows she must follow her heart. One day, she simply vanishes: no one knows where she went, or why…

As Sophie’s perfect-on-the-outside world begins to crumble, it seems her life might be linked to Eve’s. And when past and present collide, Sophie must unravel the mystery around Eve’s disappearance to save them both—but is she already too late?

Blending her trademark wit, emotional insight, and gift for characterization this is Harriet Evans at her best.

My thoughts:  Mystery, glamour, and Hollywood are the perfect blend for an enjoyable read.  I'm really looking forward to the release of this novel.

Enjoy life with books . . .

Catherine
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Google Friend Connect is a thing of the past.  If you are a new follower or previous GFC follower, please sign up to follow the Book Club Librarian Blog via Bloglovin' or by email.  Let me know if you're a new follower and leave me a link to your blog so I can follow you back.  Thanks!
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Waiting on Wednesday: Not Without You was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.  

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #40

 

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 paragraph(s) of a book I am currently reading or planning to read sometime soon.

This week I'm featuring the opening paragraphs from Instructions for a Heatwave by Maggie O'Farrell, which I recently borrowed from the library.

   

Instructions for a Heatwave

Thursday

15 July 1976

Highbury, London

The heat, the heat.  It wakes Gretta just after dawn, propelling her from the bed and down the stairs.  It inhabits the house like a guest who has outstayed his welcome: it lies along corridors, it circles around curtains, it lolls heavily on sofas and chairs.  The air in the kitchen is like a solid entity filling the space, pushing Gretta down into the floor, against the side of the table.

Only she would choose to bake bread in such weather.

What do you think?  Would you continue reading?   This book came highly recommended by other bloggers and I had quite a long wait for a copy from the library.  Now that I have started it, my first impression is that this is one of those addictive reads. The story opens in London during a drought, and what starts out as a fairly routine day for Gretta Riordan turns out to to be anything but ordinary as the chapters unfold. 

What are you reading?

 

Enjoy life with books . . .

Catherine
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Google Friend Connect is a thing of the past.  If you are a new follower or previous GFC follower, please sign up to follow the Book Club Librarian Blog via Bloglovin' or by email.  Let me know if you're a new follower and leave me a link to your blog so I can follow you back.  Thanks!
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First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #40 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.

Sunday's Weekly Book Recap #44

Here's my recap of books that I'm reading or have acquired this week, which I am sharing on the following blogs:

Stacking the Shelves hosted by Tynga's Reviews / Sunday Post hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer /  Showcase Sunday hosted by Vicky at  Books, Biscuits, and Tea . . .

My Week in Books, November 10 - 16, 2013

 

Finished reading . . .
   Archetype by M.D. Waters

 

Currently reading . . .
  The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty

Ebooks downloaded . . .

   

Kindle:  The Norfolk Mystery by Ian Sansom, The Perfume Collector by Kathleen Tessaro, and Scherzo by Jim Williams

Borrowed from the library . . .

                             

Instructions for a Heatwave by Maggie O'Farrell, Double Booked for Death by Ali Brandon, and Stiltsville by Susanna Daniel

Which books did you get this week?
   

Catherine
---------------------
Google Friend Connect is a thing of the past.  If you are a new follower or previous GFC follower, please sign up to follow the Book Club Librarian Blog via Bloglovin' or email.  Let me know if you're a new follower and leave me a link to your blog so that I can follow you back.  Thanks!
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Follow me on Twitter: @bookclubreader

Sunday's Weekly Book Recap #44 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.

 

 

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #22

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:  Ruth woke at four in the morning and her blurry brain said "Tiger."  That was natural; she was dreaming.  But there were noises in the house, and as she woke she heard them.  They came across the hallway from the lounge room.  Something large was rubbing against Ruth's couch and television and, she suspected, the wheat-coloured recliner disguised as a wingback chair.  Other sounds followed: the panting and breathing of a large animal; a vibrancy of breath that suggested enormity and intent; definite mammalian noises, definitely feline, as if her cats had grown in size and were sniffing for food with enormous noses.  But the sleeping cats were weighing down the sheets at the end of Ruth's bed, and this was something else.

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Page 56:  "Frida believed she had a secret, Ruth saw, and it was this: that Ruth and Richard were innocents, that they were old, older than old, and that while they might still be capable of a sweet funny romance, any physical possibility was extinguished for them both."

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From barnesandnoble.com:  A mesmerizing first novel about trust, dependence, and fear, from a major new writer.

 

Ruth is widowed, her sons are grown, and she lives in an isolated beach house outside of town. Her routines are few and small. One day a stranger arrives at her door, looking as if she has been blown in from the sea. This woman—Frida—claims to be a care worker sent by the government. Ruth lets her in.

Now that Frida is in her house, is Ruth right to fear the tiger she hears on the prowl at night, far from its jungle habitat? Why do memories of childhood in Fiji press upon her with increasing urgency? How far can she trust this mysterious woman, Frida, who seems to carry her own troubled past? And how far can Ruth trust herself?

The Night Guest, Fiona McFarlane’s hypnotic first novel, is no simple tale of a crime committed and a mystery solved. This is a tale that soars above its own suspense to tell us, with exceptional grace and beauty, about ageing, love, trust, dependence, and fear; about processes of colonization; and about things (and people) in places they shouldn’t be. Here is a new writer who comes to us fully formed, working wonders with language, renewing our faith in the power of fiction to describe the mysterious workings of our minds.

Enjoy life with books . . .

 

Catherine
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Google Friend Connect is a thing of the past.  If you are a new follower or previous GFC follower, please sign up to follow the Book Club Librarian Blog via Bloglovin' or by email.  Let me know if you're a new follower and leave me a link to your blog so that I can follow you back.  Thanks!
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Follow me on Twitter: @bookclubreader