Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #41

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:

 

Beginning:  Autumn 1268 

Mists spiraled up from the water like breath as Eamon rowed the little boat.  The sun shed pale, cool light as it woke from the night's rest and set morning birds to their chorus.

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Page 56:  "'Oh, you'll enjoy that as well, I wager.'  Connor led them inside at an unhurried pace.""

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From Goodreads:  With the legends and lore of Ireland running through his blood, falconer Connor O’Dwyer is proud to call County Mayo home. It’s where his sister, Branna, lives and works, where his cousin, Iona, has found true love, and where his childhood friends form a circle that can’t be broken…

A circle that is about to be stretched out of shape—by a long-awaited kiss.

Meara Quinn is Branna’s best friend, a sister in all but blood. Her and Connor’s paths cross almost daily, as Connor takes tourists on hawk walks and Meara guides them on horseback across the lush countryside. She has the eyes of a gypsy and the body of a goddess…things Connor has always taken for granted—until his brush with death propels them into a quick, hot tangle.

Plenty of women have found their way to Connor’s bed, but none to his heart until now. Frustratingly, Meara is okay with just the heat, afraid to lose herself—and their friendship—to something more. But soon, Connor will see the full force and fury of what runs in his blood. And he will need his family and friends around him when his past rolls in like the fog, threatening an end to all he loves…

Enjoy life with books . . .

 

Catherine

 

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #41 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.    
 

Waiting on Wednesday: New Jodi Picoult 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.
 

 This week's anticipated book:

    

Publisher: Random House Publishing Group 

Publication date: October 14, 2014

 

From barnesandnoble.com:  Throughout her blockbuster career, #1 New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult has seamlessly blended nuanced characters, riveting plots, and rich prose, brilliantly creating stories that “not only provoke the mind but touch the flawed souls in all of us” (The Boston Globe). Now, in her highly anticipated new book, she has delivered her most affecting novel yet—and one unlike anything she’s written before.

For more than a decade, Jenna Metcalf has never stopped thinking about her mother, Alice, who mysteriously disappeared in the wake of a tragic accident. Refusing to believe that she would be abandoned as a young child, Jenna searches for her mother regularly online and pores over the pages of Alice’s old journals. A scientist who studied grief among elephants, Alice wrote mostly of her research among the animals she loved, yet Jenna hopes the entries will provide a clue to her mother’s whereabouts.

Desperate to find the truth, Jenna enlists two unlikely allies in her quest. The first is Serenity Jones, a psychic who rose to fame finding missing persons—only to later doubt her gifts. The second is Virgil Stanhope, a jaded private detective who originally investigated Alice’s case along with the strange, possibly linked death of one of her colleagues. As the three work together to uncover what happened to Alice, they realize that in asking hard questions, they’ll have to face even harder answers.

As Jenna’s memories dovetail with the events in her mother’s journals, the story races to a mesmerizing finish. A deeply moving, gripping, and intelligent page-turner, Leaving Time is Jodi Picoult at the height of her powers.

 

 

Which book are you waiting for?

 

Enjoy life with books . . .

 

 

Catherine

 

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

 

 

Weekly Book Recap #65

Spring was briefly interrupted by a mid-week monsoon.  The weather appears to be back on track and we've managed to dry off, so all is well.  It was a good reading week--in addition to finishing two books I attended a librarian preview at Macmillan Publishing in New York City's famed landmark, the Flat Iron Building.  The bulk of the books presented were children's titles, but there are also some exciting new YA series on the horizon, and I snagged an ARC of the first book in Josephine Angelini's forthcoming Worldwalker Trilogy, which will be published in September.

With Sunday and Monday greetings to all, here are the books I've finished reading, am currently reading, and bought, downloaded, or picked up from the library during the week, along with what I plan to read next. I'm sharing my reading updates on the following blogs:

 

 Sunday Post hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer  

Showcase Sunday hosted by Vicky at  Books, Biscuits, and Tea
It's Monday! What Are You Reading? hosted by Sheila at Book Journey 

Finished reading . . .

  The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches by Alan Bradley

   I've Got You Under My Skin by Mary Higgins Clark

Currently reading . . .

    Shadow Spell by Nora Roberts
 

Downloaded . . .

    The Normans: From Raiders to Kings by Lars Brownworth

    The Housewife Assassin's Handbook by Josie Brown

From Macmillan/Feiwel and Friends Imprint . . .

  Trial by Fire by Josephine Angelini 
 

Reading next . . .

  The Silent Wife by A.S.A. Harrison
  Murder at the Breakers by Alyssa Maxwell

Which books did you finish, start, or add to your shelves this week?

Enjoy life with books . . .

Catherine
 

Weekly Book Recap #65 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  This post cannot be republished without attribution.

Waiting on Wednesday: The Girls at the Kingfisher Club

 

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: June 3, 2014

 

From barnesandnoble.com:  From award-winning author Genevieve Valentine, a "gorgeous and bewitching" (Scott Westerfeld) reimagining of the fairytale of the Twelve Dancing Princesses as flappers during the Roaring Twenties in Manhattan.

Jo, the firstborn, "The General" to her eleven sisters, is the only thing the Hamilton girls have in place of a mother. She is the one who taught them how to dance, the one who gives the signal each night, as they slip out of the confines of their father’s townhouse to await the cabs that will take them to the speakeasy. Together they elude their distant and controlling father, until the day he decides to marry them all off.

The girls, meanwhile, continue to dance, from Salon Renaud to the Swan and, finally, the Kingfisher, the club they come to call home. They dance until one night when they are caught in a raid, separated, and Jo is thrust face-to-face with someone from her past: a bootlegger named Tom whom she hasn’t seen in almost ten years. Suddenly Jo must weigh in the balance not only the demands of her father and eleven sisters, but those she must make of herself.

With The Girls at the Kingfisher Club, award-winning writer Genevieve Valentine takes her superb storytelling gifts to new heights, joining the leagues of such Jazz Age depicters as Amor Towles and Paula McClain, and penning a dazzling tale about love, sisterhood, and freedom.

Which book are you waiting for?

Enjoy life with books . . .

Catherine

Waiting on Wednesday: The Girls at the Kingfisher Club was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  This post cannot be republished without attribution.

  

 

 

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #59

 

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.

Today I'm featuring the opening from I've Got You Under My Skin by Mary Higgins Clark, which I borrowed from the library.

   

Prologue

Dr. Greg Moran was pushing three-year-old Timmy on the swing in the playground on East Fifteenth Street in Manhattan, not far from the apartment.

1

Laurie Moran looked out the window of her office on the twenty-fifth floor of 15 Rockefeller Center.  Her view was of the skating rink in the middle of that famous Manhattan complex.  It was a sunny but cold March day, and from her vantage point she could see beginners there, wobbling unsteadily on their skates, and in sharp contrast others who moved across the ice with the grace of ballet dancers.

Timmy, her eight-year-old son, loved ice hockey and planned to be good enough to play with the New York Rangers by the time he was twenty-one.  Laurie smiled as her mind filled with the image of Timmy's face, his expressive brown eyes sparkling with delight as he imagined himself in the position of goalie in future Rangers games.  He'll be the image of Greg by then, Laurie thought, but quickly gave herself a mental shake and turned her attention to the file on her desk.

What do you think?  Would you continue reading?

What are you reading now or planning to read soon?

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #59 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  This post cannot be republished without attribution.

Weekly Book Recap #64

I'm happy to report that Spring has returned and it looks and feels like it's here to stay.  It was a productive reading week for me, and I managed to finish three books, two of which were for book club meetings this week.  Hope you are all enjoying pleasant weather and many good books.

With Sunday and Monday greetings to all, here's a look at the books I've finished reading, am currently reading, and bought, downloaded, or picked up from the library this week, along with what I plan to read next. I'm sharing my reading updates on the following blogs:

 

 Sunday Post hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer  

Showcase Sunday hosted by Vicky at  Books, Biscuits, and Tea
It's Monday! What Are You Reading? hosted by Sheila at Book Journey 

Finished reading . . .

  My thoughts on Visible City by Tova Mirvis

   The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud

Members of my book club were less than thrilled with this book and its characters.

   The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
Members of another of my book clubs had positive feelings about the story and its characters, although the post-modern writing style was not appealing.

Currently reading . . .

  The Dead and Their Vaulted Arches by Alan Bradley

Purchased . . .

  Where'd You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple

Downloaded . . .

    The Heartbreak Cafe by Melissa Hill

     Never Too Late by Amara Royce

     The Strange Death of a Romantic by Jim Williams 

  Blackdown by D.M. Mitchell

Reading next . . .
  The Accident by Chris Pavone 

Which books did you finish, start, or add to your shelves this week?

Enjoy life with books . . .

Catherine

Weekly Book Recap #64 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.  

 

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #40

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:

   

Beginning:  When they write my obituary.  Tomorrow.  Or the next day.  It will say, LEO GURSKY IS SURVIVED BY AN APARTMENT FULL OF S**T.  I'm surprised I haven't been buried alive.

 

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Page 56:  "At the end of the letter I would add something about my mother being single."

 

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From Goodreads:  Leo Gursky taps his radiator each evening to let his upstairs neighbor know he's still alive. But it wasn t always like this: in the Polish village of his youth, he fell in love and wrote a book. . . . Sixty years later and half a world away, fourteen-year-old Alma, who was named after a character in that book, undertakes an adventure to find her namesake and save her family. With virtuosic skill and soaring imaginative power, Nicole Krauss gradually draws these stories together toward a climax of extraordinary depth and beauty (Newsday)."

 

Enjoy life with books . . .

Catherine

 

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #40 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.