Chaos Theory?

I turned to a cozy mystery after finishing a completely absorbing historical fiction.
These selections are from  Dolly Departed by Deb Baker.

 'The Scottsdale cop asked me if I believed in the chaos theory,' Gretchen said to her aunt from a stool at her work-table.

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Gretchen Birch was still several blocks from the doll shop when Charlene Maize, better known to her friends as Charlie, failed to suck enough air in to feed her panicking brain and various other vital organs. She keeled over in the center of her miniature doll shop, Mini Maize, amid the clutter from a tipped display case. Charlie took the dive in full view of a group of Prada del Sol spectators gathered in front of her shop's window to watch Old Scottsdale's largest western parade.

Would you continue reading?

The Good House

http://bibliophilebythesea.blogspot.com/

  This is the first paragraph from The Good House by Ann Leary:

I can walk through a house once and know more about its occupants than psychiatrist could after a year of sessions. I remember joking about this one evening with Peter Newbold, the shrink who rents the office upstairs from mine. 

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The Good House by Ann Leary
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is an absorbing story of salvaging the broken in its many forms, a horse, a house, a boat, a person. Enthralling subplots mesh together in this story of purpose and value and humanity as a realtor conducts her business in a small town on the Massachusetts coast. Her retinue of clients, family, and long-time friends populate a story about facing harsh realities, then learning to cope and move on. It is a quiet celebration of humanity that leaves the reader with a hopeful spirit.

This is an engrossing story, well-crafted, and absolutely engaging.

View all my reviews

Royal Flush by Rhys Bowen

This is the first chapter from Royal Flush by Rhys Bowen. I must admit that it alone would not enamor me of this book. However, I hope the wit is enough to catch your interest beyond  the metaphor of the final sentence. :)

It is my opinion that there is no place on earth more uncomfortable than London during a heat wave. I should probably qualify this by confessing that I have that I have never gone up the Congo River into the heart of darkness with Conrad, nor have I crossed the Sahara by camel. But at least people venturing to those parts are prepared to be uncomfortable. London is so seldom even vaguely warm that we are always caught completely unprepared. The tube turns into a good imitation of the Black Hole of Calcutta, and smell of unwashed armpits, strap-hanging inches from one's face, is overwhelming.

What are you reading?

 

South Bay Shawlette

Just returned from taking this South Bay Shawlette to church for our Prayer Shawl Ministry. It is larger than the pattern to make a shawl rather than shawlette. :)

This cotton/linen blend from Interlacements Yarn has been knitted and ripped a couple of times. It has lived in our house for a few years just waiting for the right pattern.

And this is it, not knit but crochet! The lovely South Bay Shawlette beautifully fits these colors and weight. My prayers go with it to comfort its wearer.

What have you been making?

http://tamisamis.blogspot.com/2013/06/fo-friday-141.html

Sunday Post: The Witch of Little Italy

The Witch of Little Italy by Suzanne Palmieri
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The story has ended. I am not ready to leave the world of this enchanting book: the abundant garden thick with hardy vines and flowers, the magical family of loving sisters and brothers, the powers of magic and secret spells, the familiar Italian references, bittersweet memories of childhood, of anticipated birth and acceptance of death, and powers of love and continuity. A book of life and wisdom, a book about women.

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"Life gets heavy."
"Everyone is entitled to a redo."

Paraphrase or quote?? Love can be warm and gentle and comfortable rather than a Tasmanian Devil of emotions and insecurities.

The personalities in this book are so like those of my mother's Italian family.

View all my reviews

http://www.caffeinatedbookreviewer.com/

I have read six books in May: 1 fiction, 1 fantasy, 2 mysteries, and 3 historical fiction.

This week:

Finished Reading

The Witch of Little Italy by Suzanne Palmieri

The Quiche of Death by M. C. Beaton
The Baker Street Letters by Michael Robertson

Currently Reading
Astor Place Vintage by Stephanie Lehman  ARC

The Vicious Vet by M. C. Beaton

To Arrive This Week

Remains To Be Scene by Richard Tyler Jordan

What's happening with your reading?

A Few Green Leaves

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer 

A Few Green Leaves by Barbara Pym
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Brilliant! I think of Louise Penny and wonder if she's influenced by Barbara Pym's writing since there is a strong similarity in style and wry wit.

A favorite description: He was "...a sometime chaplain on the Riviera." It makes me smile.

Enchanting story of a quiet English village and "slow living", gentle, ordinary, and engaging. An anthropologist comes to stay in her mother's cottage and collects observations and experience with the people in all their individuality and complexities. This book is very charming and relaxing. I feel as though I have visited this lovely village through the author's words.

I plan to read more books by Barbara Pym. Have you read her books?

View all my reviews

Books Finished
A Few Green Leaves by Barbara Pym 5/5
Call Me Zelda by Erika Robuck 5/5
Studio Saint-Ex by Ania Szado 2/5  Won give-away by publisher

Currently Reading
Astor Place Vintage by Stephanie Lehman Advanced Uncorrected Proof from Simon and Schuster
The Witch of Little Italy by Suzanne Palmieri Downloaded from Denver Public Library

Mom & Me & Mom

Mom & Me & Mom by Maya Angelou

Love heals. Heals and liberates. I use the word love, not meaning sentimentality, but a condition so strong that it may be that which holds the stars in their heavenly positions and that which causes the blood to flow orderly in our veins.

This book has been written to examine some of the ways love heals and helps a person to climb impossible heights and rise from immeasurable depths.

Maya Angelou's lyrical writing doesn't disappoint in this memoir about her complicated relationship with her mother. As always, Miss Angelou captures the reader's emotions and most personal feelings.

Beautiful. Tender. Moving.

Clara and Mr. Tiffany

I am so happy to share this riveting book, Clara and Mr. Tiffany,by Susan Vreeland. Ms. Vreeland imparts fascinating history and details about daily life in New York City at the end of the 19th century in the most beguiling way via the protagonist, Clara Driscoll. Clara is not a fictional character, but the designer of 30+ Tiffany lamps and the director of the design department of "Tiffany girls". The author deftly combines the zeitgeist of the political and social climate addressing working conditions, immigration, and squalid tenements with the evolving role of women in American life. The boarding house, where Clara lives among artists, actors, and socialists, gives depth and richness to the stories of that time. The quality of the writing and the I-can't-put-it-down nature of the story makes this a must read for those who enjoy historical fiction.

He tugged at his beard. "It's brilliant! An entirely new product. We'll be the first on the market. And not just peacock featherth. Flowerth too!" Excitement overtook his struggle to control his lisp, which surfaced only when he spoke with passion. 

I opened the beveled-glass door under the sign announcing Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company in ornate bronze. A new sign with a new name. Fine. I felt new too. In the ground-floor showroom of the five-story building, stained-glass windows hung from the high ceiling, and large mosaic panels leaned against the walls. Despite the urgency of my business, I couldn't resist taking a quick look at the free-form vases, bronze desk sets, pendulum clocks, and art nouveau candelabras. It was the oil lamps that bothered me. Their blown-glass shades sat above squat, bulbous bases too earthbound to be elegant. Mr. Tiffany was capable of more grace than that. 

Would you keep reading? 

Garment of Shadows

http://www.rosecityreader.com/2013/04/book-beginnings-journal-of-my-broken.html

 "Share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author's name."
These are the opening lines from the Preface of Garment of Shadows by Laurie R. King:

The big man had the brains of a tortoise, but even he was beginning to look alarmed.

Sherlock Holmes drew a calming breath. Then another.

It had seemed such a simple arrangement: If Mary Russell chose to submit to the whimsy of Fflytte Films as it finished its current moving picture,that was fine and good, but there was no cause for her husband to be tied down by her eccentricities-not with an entirely new country at his feet.

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The Friday 56 is a bookish meme sponsored by Freda's Voice. It is easy to participate. Just grab a book and turn to page 56. Find a sentence that grabs you and post it.
Here's a sentence from page 56 of Garment of Shadows by Laurie R. King:

The man's face gave a little twist of chagrin, that he had been distracted into a premature revelation of the tale's denouement, but Holmes did not give him the chance to regain the floor.

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This book is one in the series about Sherlock Holmes and his wife, Mary Russell.

Lap Robe

I was asked to make some lap robes in colors suitable for men for our Prayer Shawl ministry at church. Since I had two balls of James Brett Marble in stash, I decided to crochet this simple "Spicy Delights" pattern. You can get pattern info here. I used a size K hook as specified, but now realize that I could have used a larger size for a more open look in the pattern.

My neighbor gave me some vintage Bucilla "Melody" 50-50 mohair/acrylic yarn that had been in her sister's stash. I used a bit of it to finish this lap robe with a scallop edge. While the pattern calls for fringe, I am not a fringe fan, so I substituted this edging. I pray that this small blanket will bless and comfort the recipient.

                                                                         

True Believers

                                                                                     

I have just started reading True Believers by Kurt Anderson, so I'm not very far into it. The novelty, of sorts, is that the male author is writing in first person female voice. Here's the first paragraph in the first chapter:

My publishers signed me up a year ago to write a book, but not this book. 'A candid and inspirational memoir by one of the most accomplished leaders and thinkers of our times,' their press release promised. They think they're getting a slightly irreverent fleshing out of my curriculum vitae, a plainspoken, self-congratulatory chronicle of A Worthy Life in the Law and Modern Triumph of Women, which they're publishing, ho-hum premise not withstanding, because I've written a couple of best sellers and appear on TV a lot.

Would you continue reading?