The Silkworm

"Someone bloody famous," said the hoarse voice on the end of the line, "better've died, Strike."

The large unshaven man tramping through the darkness of predawn, with his telephone clamped to his ear, grinned.

"It's in that ballpark."

"It's six o'clock in the (expletive) morning!"

"It's half past, but if you want what I've got, you'll need to come and get it," said Cormoran Strike. "I'm not far away from your place. There's a —"

"How'd you know where I live?" demanded the voice.

"You told me," said Strike, stifling a yawn. "You're selling your flat."

"Oh," said the other, mollified. "Good memory."

"There's a twenty-four-hour caff—"

"(Expletive) that. Come into the office later—"

"Culpepper, I've got another client this morning, he pays better than you do and I've been up all night. You need this now if you're going to use it."

A groan. Strike could hear the rustling of sheets.

"It had better be (expletive)-hot."

"Smithfield Café on Long Lane," said Strike and rang off.
― Robert Galbraith, The Silkworm

I haven't read Harry Potter, but I certainly enjoy J. K. Rowling writing as Robert Galbraith. The Cuckoo's Calling is the first in this series, a book that completely absorbed me. The reviews about this second book in the series are even more glowing. Books to enjoy!

 

“Hard to remember these days that there was a time you had to wait for the ink and paper reviews to see your work excoriated. With the invention of the internet, any subliterate cretin can be Michiko Kakutani.”
― Robert Galbraith, The Silkworm

 



The Vacationers

The Vacationers by Emma Straub
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"She’d read all of Jane Austen that year—Austen was good, but when you told people you liked Pride and Prejudice, they expected you to be all sunshine and wedding veils, and Sylvia preferred the rainy moors. The Brontës weren’t afraid to let someone die of consumption, which Sylvia respected."

Despite the topics of adultery, unsettled young adult children, and relationship woes, this book is charming, witty, and engaging. I chuckled. I laughed out loud and think the story is clever and delightful.

Family and friends load up their baggage, in various forms, and fly off to Majorca for a two-week vacation. It's all about people sorting things out in their lives. From the teen heading off to college to the gay couple who are madly, deeply in love--the characters are fully drawn and supply a wealth of angst as well as amusement.

This quick read will bring a smile to your face. The title tells you---perfect summer read! Enjoy!

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Flight Behavior

When I heard Barbara Kingsolver discuss her book Flight Behavior, I was immediately drawn to her ideas surrounding this book. The whole notion of shifting patterns and behaviors in nature is a fascinating premise for a novel.

Have you read Flight Behavior? What are your thoughts about it?

 "...It was about thirty of them up here the Friday after Thanksgiving. I want to tell you! That's not normal, for the day after Thanksgiving. 'No, it isn't,' Valia agreed. 'People should be at the mall.' "

"A certain feeling comes from throwing your good life away, and it is one part rapture. Or so it seemed for now, to a woman with flame-colored hair who marched uphill to meet her demise. Innocence was no part of this. She knew her own recklessness and marveled, really, at how one hard little flint of thrill could outweigh the pillowy, suffocating aftermath of a long disgrace."

 These are the opening sentences of a very long first paragraph.

What are you reading?

Sisterland

 

Chapter 1
September 2009
St. Louis, Missouri

" 'The shaking started around three in the morning, and it happened that I was already awake because I'd nursed Owen at two and then, instead of going back to sleep, I'd lain there brooding about the fight I'd had at lunch with my sister, Vi. I'd driven with Owen and Rosie in the backseat to pick up Vi, and the four of us had gone to Hacienda. We'd finished eating and I was collecting Rosie's stray food from the tabletop--once I had imagined I wouldn't be the kind of mother who ordered chicken tenders for her child off the menu at a Mexican restaurant--when Vi said, 'So I have a date tomorrow.' "


I have just begun reading Sisterland by Curtis Sittenfeld and am interested thus far. The protagonist is a woman whose twin sister's personality is the diametrically opposite of the main character. My guess: Therein lies the story.

 

" 'I was being baited, but I tried to match Vi's casual tone as I said, 

"Did you meet online?' "

Does this book interest you?

Summer in Tuscany

 It's all about the setting for me. I love Tuscany and can feel the warm glow of the Tuscan atmosphere as I read this book. The writing is comfortable;the story is sweetly predictable. This is definitely is a comfort read that I am enjoying immensely.

 "Let me tell you right from the start, you wouldn't want to know me. Especially on a Saturday night. Why? Because that's when it's toughest here in the emergency room, and the only reason you would ever get to meet me is if you were wheeled in here on a guerney. Then it would be my face looking down at you in the glow of a white light saying, What's your name?...Where does it hurt?...Who did it?"

"A rabbit had darted out in front of her wheels and she had squealed to a halt, backed up, gotten out, inspected the dead creature, picked it up by its tail, and flung it into the back seat.

The next day her so-called majordomo came by....bearing a ceramic terrine and a little note saying, 'I do hope you'll enjoy this rabbit pate'. It's fresh.'"

Does this book interest you?

Miss Buncle

 

 

The following selections are from Miss Buncle's Book by D. E. Stevenson. This clever book within a book is very different from my typical reading fare. The multi-level stories and word play are so delightful that I find myself smiling as I read. Set in a small village in the British country-side, the story is a latter day "Seinfeld" tale of a place where "nothing" happens...in the 1930s.

 

 

"One fine summer's morning the sun peeped over the hills and looked down upon the valley of Silverstream. It was so early that there was really very little for him to see except the cows belonging to Twelve=Trees Farm in the meadows by the river. They were going slowly up to the farm to be milked.their shadows were quite black, weird, and ungainly, like pictures of prehistoric monsters moving over the lush grass. The farm stirred and a slow spiral of smoke rose from the kitchen chimney."

"Mrs. Featherstone Hogg was less like a busy bee than anybody Barbara could think of. She was tall and willowy and tired, so tired that you could not help feeling it was good of her to trouble to speak to you at all."

What do you think? What are you reading?

Mrs. Q ~ A Teaser

Mrs. Queen Takes the Train by William Kuhn

" 'Is this all there is?' The Queen thought to herself. She'd begun her adventure in such high spirits and now she sat next to a sign directing visitors to the gift shop on her decommissioned yacht where once had stood an ebonized side table."

 

What would happen if the Queen of England, in a whimsical mood, left the castle without fan fare and wandered about London by herself...in a hoodie jacket? Whimsy indeed!

 



The House in Amalfi

I've just begun this book which I'm reading mostly for the setting and the atmosphere. Elizabeth Adler evokes the sense of place so invitingly that I can feel  the breeze and smell the lemon trees.

 





'For two years I have lived alone, not allowing even a dog or a cat to intrude on my solitude. My friend Jammy Mortimer, who I’ve known since we were little kids, says I’m getting creepy. “All this loneliness is not good for you,” she says in her usual forthright manner. “You’ll end up a fat, eccentric recluse, refusing to open the door even to me.” '

 'I didn’t know it on that sunny morning in Rome, but I had yet to experience true happiness. The “real thing” would not come until the following year, when Jon-Boy took me to live in the house in Amalfi. The place where, ten years later, he would die so mysteriously.'

The Beautiful Amalfi Coast, Italy 

Victoria's Daughters --- A Tease

I have been wanting to read Victoria's Daughters by Jerrold M. Packard for a couple of years, so tonight I finally loaded it on to my Nook! Yaaay!! Here's the opening paragraph:

"Prologue:  Windsor Castle: Friday, November 3, 1944

Death had come as gently as sleep to Victoria and Albert's last child, Princess Beatrice, ninth born and fifth daughter, had always been 'the baby' to her august mother but now her name recalled only the haziest of memories for most. The world she symbolized was buried beyond recall, first in Flanders mud, more lately in a Europe being laid waste a second time. Yet at her passing, a distinguished company of Beatrice's countrymen broke off from their urgent wartime duties to gather and to remember what this woman had once been to their kingdom."

 

 And now, a little tease for you---

"Both parents were determined to give their kingdom a male heir, such production representing the most fundamental duty of a sovereign mother and consort father."

What are you reading?

The Photograph Teaser

http://shouldbereading.wordpress.com/

  "He sits holding the photo and the sheet of paper, looking from one to the other. Kath is everywhere now, the landing is full of her, and the staircase, and the big brimming treacherous cupboard; there are dozens of her, from different times and different places, all talking at once, it seems."

http://bibliophilebythesea.blogspot.com/

"Kath.

Kath steps from the landing cupboard, where she should not  be." 

The teaser and intro are from The Photograph by Penelope Lively, a good story that I am continuing  to read with the hope that it will soon become a page turner!

What do you think? Would you continue reading?

Teaser Tuesday

Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan

"Nor did I tell Tony about his former student. Everyone knew as much as they needed to know in order to be happy."

That strikes me as very good advice! 

I'm having trouble get into this story. Has anyone read this or had the same problem?

Hemingway's Suitcase

 Visit Rose City Reader to see the opening lines of books and post yours! Mine is from Hemingway's Suitcase by MacDonald Harris.

"1: The Trouble With People

There was a crowd at the Rotonde but they found a table inside looking out through the windows at the terasse and the boulevard. It was five o'clock and already dark."

This book combines fact and fiction to weave a tale about  a lost suitcase containing all of Hemingway's writing at the age of 22. The opening pages appear to be the author's imagining of one of the stories from the suitcase.

From there? I must read on!

: : : : : : :

Turning to page 56 to share at Freda's Voice, we find:

"As you got older, you were no doubt stricken with all sorts of thoughts that you were never again going to do this or that or the other thing again."

: : : : : : :

Would you read on?

Transatlantic

So I started a new book yesterday and only got to page 12. Not an auspicious beginning! The book is Transatlantic by Colum McCann with my teaser from page 12.

"They didn't want to remember the bombs that had dudded out, or the crash and burn, or the cellblocks they had been locked into, or what species of abyss they had seen in the dark."

I'm thinking the author is describing the depths before we see the heights. Hope so!

The opening paragraph is more appealing to me with the elemental power and beauty of nature:

"The cottage sat at the end of the lough. She could hear the wind and rain whipping across the expanse of open water: it hit the trees and muscled its way to the grass."

I had to consult the dictionary for the exact meaning of "lough" beyond what I surmised from the context.

lough:
1 chiefly Irish : lake

2

chiefly Irish : a bay or inlet of the sea

And there we have our vocabulary development for the day. Wonder if I'll be learning many "chiefly Irish" words in this book.

The question is: Would you continue reading?

Flora

 I plan to begin reading Flora by Gail Godwin this evening. Here is the opening paragraph:

"There are things we can't undo, but perhaps there is a kind of constructive remorse that could transform regrettable acts into something of service to life."

 Well. That sounds a bit grim to me. I hope things become bright and shiny at some point!! Would you continue reading?

:::::::

So, this is going to be a teaser for me as well as you, gentle reader, since I have not yet begun the book.

"Which would have been worse? Never to have been a favorite or to become an ex-favorite, cut in half and passed on to someone left behind?"

I think it sounds promising. Sounds like it could be an interesting read.

 What do you think?

Best Kept Secret by Jeffrey Archer

 Though I haven't read the preceding two books in this series by Jeffrey Archer, Best Kept Secret  stands on its own quite well. Admittedly, Archer is a favorite author because of his eminent gift of telling an absorbing story. While this is a light read, it is quite relaxing and interesting.

http://bibliophilebythesea.blogspot.com/2013/08/first-chapter-first-paragraph-tuesday_13.html

" 'Therefore if any man can show any just cause why these two people may not be lawfully joined together in holy matrimony, let him now speak, or else hereafter forever hold his peace.' 

Harry Clifton would never forget the first time he'd heard those words, and how moments later his whole life had been thrown into turmoil. Old Jack, who like George Washington could never tell a lie, had revealed in a hastily called meeting in the vestry that Emma Barrington, the woman that Harry adored, and who was about to become his wife, might be his half sister."

: : : : : : :

"Moments later, Emma's Father Hugo had slipped out of the back of the church, like a coward leaving the battlefield. Emma and her mother had traveled up to Scotland, while Harry, a desolate soul, remained at his college in Oxford, not knowing what to do next. Adolf Hitler had made that decision for him."

 : : : : : : :

Much of the story has an odd gossipy tone to it, however I am continuing because the narrative flows easily and the pacing is flawless.

Would you continue to read this book set in the late 1940's/early '50's ?

The Interestings ~ More than Interesting

My teaser is from this excellent book:

"...he's infuriated that his e-reader allows him to only know the percentage of a book he's read, not the number of pages. This, he thinks, is 92 percent stupid."

Have you read about this wonderful book?  The beautifully written story tells about the life-long friendships among a group of seemingly mis-matched people who meet as teens and share their lives in deep and meaningful ways. I am completely engrossed in this story.

What are you reading?

A Cold and Lonely Place

A Cold and Lonely Place by Sara J. Henry

first paragraph, first chapter

"We could feel the reverberation of the ice cutting machine through the frozen lake beneath our feet. Matt Boudoin was telling me this would be the best ice palace ever, and I was nodding because of course every year the palace seems better than the one the year before. He stopped talking and I stopped nodding because the machine had halted and the crew of men was staring down at the ice. Then in unison, like marionettes, with their strings being pulled they turned their heads to look at Matt. Their faces were blank, but we knew something was wrong, very wrong."

A Cold and Lonely Place is a riveting story of the life and death of a young man frozen under the ice in a lake near Lake Placid. Each character is singular and identifiable, advancing the plot. These strong characters and the palpable sense of place are powerful features of this excellent writing. I felt the cold and the empathy and the desperation in this cold and lonely place.

"Some people you love while they're there, and some people you love forever, whether they're there or not."

So, what do YOU think? Would you continue reading?

Dolly Departed ~ 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.

: : : : :

"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. 

: : : : : 

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.

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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.