Teaser Tuesdays -- The White House Doctor

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly book meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two  “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page along with the title & author so other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers!

From The White House Doctor by Dr. Connie Mariano:

page 116 - Thousands of Moroccan mourners lined the serpentine streets as our motorcade arrived at the Royal Palace. President and Mrs. Clinton, along with former President George H. W. Bush and former Secretaries of State James Baker and Warren Christopher, exited their limousines surrounded by a heavy cover of Secret Service protection.

 What are YOU reading?



Succinctly Yours – Week 14

 

Missing the off ramp, Duane headed for the stairway and a tight left turn so he could back track, a tribute to his quick thinking. Beep beep.

Visit Succinctly Yours for more fun captions. You can add your own!

Friday Fibers

 

While I continue to forge ahead on the feather and fan wrap that has been on my needles since March (I think!), I did stock up on some colorful I Love This Yarn from Hobby Lobby. Youngest Granddaughter requested a "swirly rainbow" colored afghan. After duly searching and viewing all matter of rainbow ghans, I decided that I would crochet rather than knit it and that I do not want to use bright primary colors. Since I'm working with the yarn, I am choosing to tone it down a bit. This is a bright combination, I think, and seven-year-old K will be happy with it. She also wants her name and a dolphin on it! It seems there is one other item she wants on it, so I need to find her drawing that I asked her to make. Right now I plan to knit or crochet those separately and applique them to the ghan. And, no, I am not putting her name in gigantic letters across the width of the ghan as she drew them. Something slightly more understated is in order!

Plymouth Encore WW is my go-to afghan yarn, but I decided to use a less expensive yarn for this. I hope it holds up well! She's a lively girl!

Teaser Tuesdays The Summer Kitchen

Click on the image to visit "Teaser Tuesdays" to read about more books.
You might want to add your own teaser to the list!

I've just begun reading The Summer Kitchen by Karen Weinreb. Here is a teaser that explains the book's title:
 

page 13 "Her summer kitchen played no small part in the women considering her affinity for baking an adorable hobby. There were not many still standing of these kitchens once designed for the privileged to keep the heat of preserving in the summer away from the main house."

Note: After typing the second sentence, I realized that it has awkward construction. Does it seem awkward to you?

What are you reading?

The Bolter by Frances Osborne

The Bolter by Frances Osborne

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


The story is well-written with a comfortable flow. However, I cannot say that I "liked it" because it is a biography of a hedonistic, self-centered woman at the turn of the 20th century. The author is Lady Idina Sackville's great grandaughter who seems to be quite smitten with the subject as being a wealthy adventuress for whom there are no rules. While the problems of fidelity, promiscuity, drugs, and alcohol abuse are included, they are viewed through rose-colored glasses and lightly acknowledged while rushing on to Idina's next grand adventure.

This deeply researched book brings life to Edwardian England, the carefree '20s, and two great wars as experienced by Lady Idina whose scandalous life ultimately ends in loneliness and sorrow. Despite the vivid accounts about lovers, wealth, family, glamour and extensive travels, this is indeed a sad, sad life story. I look forward to reading this author's work in a book where she does not have a personal connection with the subject.

View all my reviews

What are you reading?

Succinctly Yours: Microfiction

 

Harold considered the many comments made to him. Grabbing a hand mirror, he agreed that even at a right angle, he is a most handsome man.

Visit Succinctly Yours for microfiction and add your own!

Yarn Along - The Bolter

Our deck is an enchanting place to knit. The table sets under a vine covered pergola with pots of flowers all around. I also enjoy knitting on our swing at the other end of deck with a slight breeze from the motion of the swing and a different view of our lawn. I've always been a swinger!

 The Bolter by Frances Osborne is an engaging biography of the author's flamboyant great-grandmother at the beginning of the 20th century in England. The author develops a strong sense of place so that I feel I am right there in the stream of the story.

While I'm reading, I have been knitting a strip of 1x1 twisted ribbing which will become a part of my crazy quilt - inspired ghan. This is a random project with so many sources of inspiration that I truly wonder how it will morph next! Sometimes I'm not sure about this whole idea while other times I think this is the most creative knitting that I've done a very long time.

 

View more books and knitting by clicking the above picture.



What are you reading and knitting?



Tuesday Teaser -- Let's Read!

Visit Teaser Tuesday to for more book quotes. Perhaps you'll find a book that you'd enjoy! You can add your teaser, too!Here's my teaser for this week from a biography, The Bolter by Frances Osborne:

"Honeymoons usually lasted a month or more.

It was long enough to ride around the pyramids

and float down the Nile to the temple of Karnak."

Gentle readers of a certain age, like me, are you thinking of Johnny Carson right now?

Succinctly Yours

 

You go in first.
No, you go first.
I went first the last time!
SPLASH!
Goosed again?

Visit Succinctly Yours and try your hand at microfiction!

Wednesday Yarn Along -- Join in!

 Do visit small things at http://www.gsheller.com/ and join the Yarn Along!

 

My long term knitting continues for my crazy quilt in a variety of yarns and stitches. I have crocheted a few pieces together, some are pinned together, and others are loose so I can move them around. One thing I noticed is that it was screaming for lighter color here and there, so that's what I am knitting now: pieces and strips to insert here and there..and, over there...and, well, maybe a bit here.... Fortunately, I am a process knitter so I am greatly enjoying this  except when people ask if I've finished it YET. I foolishly try to explain why it will take some time and may never be finished because of continuous embroidery. I really don't think they understand. :)

The book, The Capitol Game by Brian Haig, is much easier to set aside after 91 pages in because I simply cannot engage in the story line. I've really, really, really tried. Maybe I am not in the mood for this book right now or, more likely, the story is familiar and oft-used. I'll be moving on to another gripping read.