Mount TBR Reading Challenge 2018

Host: Bev @ My Reader's Block
Dates: January 1 - December 31, 2018

Click HERE for guidelines and sign-ups.

I'm trying to be a little more selective about the reading challenges I sign up for next year. During the past year, I think I spent more time working on the bookkeeping for all my challenges than I did actually reading. Not good.

But one of my goals for 2018 is to read more of the books I already own and to try to get to some of those titles I've been intending to read for decades. So I'm signing up for Bev's Mount TBR Challenge. I'll be going for Pike's Peak (12 books) -- I'd really like to do better than that, but twelve sounds like a fairly realistic figure to aim for.

During the year, I'll be tracking my progress and keeping all my lists over on my challenge blog.

2018 European Reading Challenge

Host: Rose City Reader
Dates: January 1, 2018 - January 31, 2019

Click HERE for guidelines and sign-ups.

Another of my favorite challenges. I didn't do so well with the 2017 edition, so I'm scaling back a bit for 2018 -- signing up at the Three Star ("Business Traveler") level, which means I'll be committing to three books. During the year, I'll be tracking my progress over on my challenge blog.

2018 Nonfiction Reading Challenge

Host: Doing Dewey
Dates: January - December 2018

Click HERE for guidelines and sign-ups.

I used to read quite a lot of nonfiction, but haven't really read much in recent years. I'd like to remedy that, and this challenge is perfect for me -- no set numbers or categories to read. I'm not going to commit to any definite number of books, but I'd like to try for at least four or five.

Some I'm hoping to read in 2018:

• Blue Nights. Joan Didion (autobiography/memoir)
• Books. Larry McMurtry (memoir)
• Just Kids. Patti Smith (memoir) 
• The Pattern in the Carpet: A Personal History with Jigsaws. Margaret Drabble (autobiography/memoir)
• South and West: From a Notebook. Joan Didion (essays, notes)
• The Year of Magical Thinking. Joan Didion (autobio/memoir)

And I have a longer list of possibilities over on my challenge blog, where I'll be tracking my progress.

2018 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

Host: Amy @ Passages to the Past 

Dates: January 1 - December 31, 2018

Click HERE for guidelines and sign-ups.

My Goal: "Victorian Reader" (5 books)

I usually read quite a bit of historical fiction, and this is always one of my favorite challenges. Didn't really do all that well with it this year, but I'm hoping for better results in 2018. During the year, I'll be tracking my progress over on my challenge blog.

2018 Cloak and Dagger Reading Challenge

Hosted by: Stormi @ Books, Movies, Reviews! Oh My!
 and Barb @ Booker T's Farm

Dates: January 1 - December 31, 2018

Click here for all the guidelines and sign-ups.

I'm just getting over the flu. It's been mean and nasty, and it's hanging around much longer than I had hoped. And I assume it's clouding my judgment — which, I'm pretty sure is why I'm thinking about signing up for reading challenges when I've still got Christmas stuff to do.

And as I've said before, I did such a poor job with my 2017 challenges, I suppose I really shouldn't be signing up for any at all in 2018. But I really do want to try to get more reading done next year (this year will be my lowest number of books read in recent memory), and I think the reading challenges do help me keep that goal in mind.

I just need to find the right challenges.

And the Cloak and Dagger Challenge is really pretty perfect for me. I did the challenge in 2015 and didn't have any trouble meeting my goal. I consume an awful lot of mysteries and thrillers anyway, so it's not exactly a stretch — but I think that's OK. If it keeps me turning pages, it's what I need.

I'm signing up at the Amateur Sleuth level (5-15 books), but of course hope to do a little better than that. And during the year, I'll be tracking my progress over on my challenge blog (My Reading Challenges).

Book Beginnings: The Mistletoe Murder

The Mistletoe Murder and Other Stories, by P.D. James (2016). This is the first sentence of the book's first story:

One of the minor hazards of being a bestselling crime novelist is the ubiquitous question, "And have you ever been personally involved with a real-life murder investigation?"; a question occasionally asked with a look and tone which suggest that the Murder Squad of the Metropolitan Police might with advantage dig up my back garden.

About the Book:

Four previously uncollected stories from one of the great mystery writers of our time--swift, cunning murder mysteries (two of which feature the young Adam Dalgliesh) that together, to borrow the author's own word, add up to a delightful "entertainment." 

Initial Thoughts:

P.D. James was one of my favorite writers — I loved all her books, but especially her Adam Dalgliesh mysteries. When she died back in 2014, the thought of never having another Dalgliesh to read was a little depressing. So I was very excited to discover this book of stories, and I'm looking forward to getting started on it. Perfect for the season.

Rose City Reader hosts Book Beginnings on Friday.  As she says, the idea is to post the first sentence (or so) of the book you're currently reading, along with any first impressions or thoughts you have about the book, the author, etc.  It's a wonderful way of adding new books to your must-read list, and a chance to connect with other readers and bloggers.

Reading Report: The Roanoke Girls

Amy Engel
Crown, 2017; 288 pages

Publisher's Description:

Following her mother’s suicide, fifteen-year-old Lane Roanoke comes to live with her maternal grandparents and cousin, Allegra, at the Roanoke family estate in rural Osage Flats, Kansas, a labyrinthine farmhouse which Lane describes as, “equal parts horrifying and mesmerizing.” She knows little of her mother’s family, other than the fact that her mother ran away years before and cut off all contact with her parents. Allegra, abandoned by her own mother at birth and raised by her grandparents, introduces Lane to small-town life and the benefits of being one of the rich and beautiful Roanoke girls. But there is darkness at the heart of the Roanoke family and when Lane discovers its insidious pull she has no choice but to run, as far and as fast as she can.

Eleven years later, Lane is scraping by in Los Angeles when her grandfather calls with the news that Allegra has gone missing. “Come home,” he beckons. Unable to resist the pull, Lane returns, determined to find her cousin and assuage her own guilt at having left Allegra behind all those years ago. Her homecoming might mean a second chance with Cooper, the boyfriend whom she loved and destroyed that fateful summer. But it also means facing the terrible secret that made her flee, one she may not be strong enough to run from again.

My Thoughts:

This was a VERY dark tale. The publisher calls it "boundary-pushing and provocative" and claims it will keep readers "turning pages even when you want to look away."

Well, it's certainly provocative. I read an advance copy of the book, from NetGalley, and felt obligated to finish it. If it weren't for that, I'm not sure I could have plowed through the whole mess. There were things I liked about it, but they were overshadowed by the subject matter and the way it was presented. Don't want to say too much more — the book's impact really depends on its twists and turns and shocking revelations. But I will say that this one is definitely not an easy read.

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(Note: I received my copy of this book from the publisher, free of charge, through the NetGalley website. No other compensation was received, and no one tried to influence my opinion of the book.)

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Qualifies for the following reading challenges: eBook Challenge; New Authors Challenge; New to Me Challenge.

Reading Report: The Vanishment

Jonathan Aycliffe
Harper Collins, 1994; 227 pages

Publisher's Description:

It promises to be an idyllic vacation — a lovely old house on the Cornish coast where Peter Clare can finish writing a collection of short stories and where his wife Sarah can paint — a place where they can try to rebuild what is left of their troubled marriage. The spectacular cliff overlooking the sea, the wild gardens and woodlands — everything is perfect, or is it?

From the moment they enter Petherick House, Sarah feels the dark menace surround them and knows they should leave at once. But Peter thinks it's just nerves and dismisses Sarah's fears — until she disappears without a trace. Suddenly Peter can see the shadowy figures in the night and hear a child's desperate weeping, but the nightmare has only begun.

With its chilling undertones of mounting fear and raging vengeance, The Vanishment is a classic tale of terror that reaches into the dark recesses of the imagination.

My Thoughts:

Another book I read earlier this year but never reviewed. I actually started reading this one last year, but put it aside when I was having trouble keeping up with all the advance copies I needed to read. Didn't really remember all I'd read, so I started over and managed to finish in just a couple of days.

Overall, I enjoyed this book very much. Have to admit, though — the main character seemed so totally self-involved and oblivious to the feelings of others, it was hard to develop any real sympathy for him. And some of the action was more than slightly disturbing — as other readers have pointed out, the theme of child endangerment is always unpleasant even though it is traditionally a staple of "supernatural" lit.

Still, with Aycliffe you know going in that the tale isn't going to be a pretty one. It was spooky and kept me up late, reading — and that's mainly what I look for in a ghost story.

Reading Report: The Fifth Petal

Brunonia Barry
Crown, 2017; 432 pages

Publisher's Description:

When a teenage boy dies suspiciously on Halloween night, Salem’s chief of police, John Rafferty, wonders if there is a connection between his death and Salem’s most notorious cold case, a triple homicide dubbed “The Goddess Murders,” in which three young women, all descended from accused Salem witches, were slashed on Halloween night in 1989. He finds unexpected help in Callie Cahill, the daughter of one of the victims newly returned to town. Neither believes that the main suspect, Rose Whelan, respected local historian, is guilty of murder or witchcraft. 

But exonerating Rose might mean crossing paths with a dangerous force. Were the women victims of an all-too-human vengeance, or was the devil raised in Salem that night? And if they cannot discover what truly happened, will evil rise again?

My Thoughts:

Brunonia Barry is a very talented writer, and for the most part I enjoyed The Fifth Petal. I loved her earlier book, The Lace Reader, but felt the sequel (The Map of True Places) represented something of a falling off. I'm happy to say, Barry is back on track with the third book in the sequence.

Almost all the characters in the book (and there are a lot of them) are interesting and well drawn, and there was enough suspense to keep me intrigued right up to the final pages. Can't really ask for more than that, right? The story did tend to ramble a bit in the middle section, and could have used some tightening up. Otherwise, this was a fine read.

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(Note: I received my copy of this book from the publisher, free of charge, through Library Thing's Early Reviewer program. No other compensation was received, and no one tried to influence my opinion of the book.)

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Qualifies for the following reading challenge: eBook Reading Challenge.

Reading Report: An Echo of Murder

Anne Perry
Ballantine Books, 2017; 320 pages

Publisher's Description:

In the course of his tenure with the Thames River Police, Commander William Monk has yet to see a more gruesome crime scene: a Hungarian warehouse owner lies in the middle of his blood-sodden office, pierced through the chest with a bayonet and eerily surrounded by seventeen candles, their wicks dipped in blood. Suspecting the murder may be rooted in ethnic prejudice, Monk turns to London’s Hungarian community in search of clues but finds his inquiries stymied by its wary citizens and a language he doesn’t speak. Only with the help of a local pharmacist acting as translator can Monk hope to penetrate this tightly knit enclave, even as more of its members fall victim to identical brutal murders. But whoever the killer, or killers, may be—a secret society practicing ritual sacrifice, a madman on a spree, a British native targeting foreigners—they are well hidden among the city’s ever-growing populace.

With the able assistance of his wife—former battlefield nurse Hester, who herself is dealing with a traumatized war veteran who may be tangled up in the murders—Monk must combat distrust, hostility, and threats from the very people he seeks to protect. 

My Thoughts:

Number 23 in this popular series. I've read other books by Anne Perry, but this was my introduction to the William Monk novels. It definitely won't be my last. It was a thoroughly enjoyable read with a good blend of historical detail and suspense. A little dark, but not overwhelmingly so. And I really enjoyed getting to know Commander Monk, Hester and young Scruff, the orphan taken in by the Monks.

My only (slight) complaint is that the killer was a little too easy to spot, almost from the beginning — I would have been happier with just a bit more mystery. Still, this is one I'd recommend to anyone looking for a good historical detective tale, and I'm looking forward to reading some of the earlier books in the series.

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(Note: I received my copy of this book from the publisher, free of charge, through Library Thing's Early Reviewer program. No other compensation was received, and no one tried to influence my opinion of the book.)

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Qualifies for the following reading challenge: Historical Fiction Challenge.

Reading Report: Tell Me How This Ends Well

David Samuel Levinson 
Hogarth Press, 2017; 416 pages

Publisher's Description:
In 2022, American Jews face an increasingly unsafe and anti-Semitic landscape at home. Against this backdrop, the Jacobson family gathers for Passover in Los Angeles. But their immediate problems are more personal than political, with the three adult children, Mo, Edith, and Jacob, in various states of crisis, the result, each claims, of a lifetime of mistreatment by their father, Julian. The siblings have begun to suspect that Julian is hastening their mother Roz’s demise, and years of resentment boil over as they debate whether to go through with the real reason for their reunion: an ill-considered plot to end their father’s iron rule for good. That is, if they can put their bickering, grudges, festering relationships, and distrust of one another aside long enough to act. 

My Thoughts:

I received my copy of Tell Me How This Ends Well free of charge from the publisher through Library Thing's Early Reviewer program. And when I requested the book, I honestly thought it sounded like something I'd enjoy. Turns out, I was not completely right about that.

I had trouble sticking with this one, and after reading it earlier this year I didn't really know what to say about it — which is why it's taken me so long to get any sort of review written. I still don't know exactly what to say about it, because I think there's a glimmer of a really good novel here; but it needs a lot more work. I think a couple of rewrites and a lot of trimming would certainly help. And while I'm a fan of dark humor, I didn't care for the way this book sort of hits you over the head with it — Levinson keeps pointing it out for you, just in case you've missed what he's trying to do.

I did enjoy some things about the book — loved the character of Diet and the relationship between him and Jacob, youngest son in the Jacobson Family; and the dying mother Roz was well-written and nicely developed (the section of the story seen from her point of view is some of the book's best writing). So it's not a terrible work, but it's very scattered, takes too much time to develop into anything interesting, and is much, much too long. I just think what it really needs is another draft.

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Qualifies for the following reading challenges: New Authors Challenge; New to Me Challenge.

Family Tree Reading Challenge

I did such a dismal job on all my reading challenges during 2017 that I really have no business thinking about challenges for 2018. But you know how it is — with all those shiny new challenges being rolled out right now, there's no way I can just ignore them.

And the Family Tree Reading Challenge, hosted by Becky @ Becky's Book Reviews, is (I think) new this year (at least new to me) and pleasingly different. The goal of the challenge is to read books from the birth years of your family members — at least three books, and at least three family members (you can include yourself in the mix). You can read more about the challenge over on the announcement page.

So what will I read? Well, on my mother's side of the family, I have four cousins, born in 1949, 1950, 1952 and 1960. On my father's side, I have thirteen cousins, so I'm going with Mom's branch of the tree. That means I'll be reading at least one book from each of those four years. I haven't settled on specific books yet, but I've got a list of some possibilities over on my challenge blog, and that's where I'll be tracking my progress.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Wow, almost Christmas. Almost 2018. What's going on here? It's been a really long time since I posted a reading update. Months. Actually, I haven't been doing much blogging at all, recently. Real life getting in the way of my bookish pursuits. Hate it when that happens!

Haven't posted much lately because of a few medical issues that have been taking up some time. Hope to have that all dealt with very soon. But at the moment, everything is calm enough for me to do a little catching up. And even though I haven't been blogging or doing any reviews, I have been doing some reading.

• In the past few weeks, I've finished several books:

Anything Is Possible. Elizabeth Strout (2017)

The Body in the Library (Miss Marple #3). Agatha Christie (1942)

The Girl with Kaleidoscope Eyes (Stewart Hoag #9). David Handler (2017)

The Graveyard Apartment. Mariko Koike,
trans. by Deborah Boliver Boehm (2016/1988)

Over My Dead Body (Nero Wolfe #7). Rex Stout (1940)

See What I Have Done. Sarah Schmidt (2017)

• This week, if all goes well, I hope to finish up a couple more I've got going right now:

A Murder Is Announced (Miss Marple #5). Agatha Christie (1950)

Intruder in the Dark (Inspector Littlejohn #43). George Bellairs (1966)

That might be just about as much reading as I'll be able to get done this year, since the holidays are now upon us. But if I have any extra reading time, I'll probably be dipping into this:

The Mistletoe Murder and Other Stories. P.D. James (2016)

So, how about you? More books this year? Or have you already started looking ahead to next year's reads?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is now hosted by Kathryn at Book Date. If you want to let the world know what you're going to be reading this week, head on over to her blog and leave your link. It's also a great way to discover new books and new blogs.

Book Beginnings: The Rules of Magic

The Rules of Magic, by Alice Hoffman (Simon & Schuster, October 2017). These are the book's first sentences:

Once upon a time, before the whole world changed, it was possible to run away from home, disguise who you were, and fit into polite society. The children's mother had done exactly that.

About the Book:

"For the Owens family, love is a curse that began in 1620, when Maria Owens was charged with witchery for loving the wrong man. 

Hundreds of years later, in New York City at the cusp of the sixties, when the whole world is about to change, Susanna Owens knows that her three children are dangerously unique.  

From the start Susanna sets down rules for her children: No walking in the moonlight, no red shoes, no wearing black, no cats, no crows, no candles, no books about magic. And most importantly, never, ever, fall in love. But when her children visit their Aunt Isabelle, in the small Massachusetts town where the Owens family has been blamed for everything that has ever gone wrong, they uncover family secrets and begin to understand the truth of who they are. Back in New York City each begins a risky journey as they try to escape the family curse."

Initial Thoughts:

I read Hoffman's Practical Magic a few years back and loved it. The Rules of Magic is the second book about Franny and Jet, the Owens sisters, and their very unique family -- actually a prequel to that earlier book. I've been looking forward to this one, and hoping it turns out to be as good as its predecessor. I'm about a third of the way through now, and so far I'm enjoying it almost as much as I'd hoped. Enough to go on reading, anyway.

Rose City Reader hosts Book Beginnings on Friday.  As she says, the idea is to post the first sentence (or so) of the book you're currently reading, along with any first impressions or thoughts you have about the book, the author, etc.  It's a wonderful way of adding new books to your must-read list, and a chance to connect with other readers and bloggers.

Book Beginnings: My Sister's Bones

My Sister's Bones, by Nuala Ellwood (William Morrow, July 2017). These are the first lines from the book's Prologue:

She is safe now. Free from her demons. Her final resting place is still and tranquil, a little watery pocket of calm.

About the Book:

"Kate Rafter is a high-flying war reporter. She's the strong one. The one who escaped their father. Her sister Sally didn't. Instead, she drinks. 

But when their mother dies, Kate is forced to return to the old family home. And on her very first night she is woken by a terrifying scream. At first she tells herself it's just a nightmare, a legacy of her time in Syria. 

But then she hears it again. And this time she knows she's not imagining it... 

What secret is lurking in her mother's garden? And can Kate get to the truth... before she loses her mind?"

Initial Thoughts:

Well, my first thought is that it's a bit of a depressing beginning. Not exactly frightening, just sort of unsettling. But I think I like that. And I think this should be a good read for this time of year. It was actually supposed to be a summer read, since I've had this book (from Library Thing) for several months now. I have really, really fallen behind in my reading for this year. Gotta get back on track, and I'm hoping this one will help me do that.

Rose City Reader hosts Book Beginnings on Friday.  As she says, the idea is to post the first sentence (or so) of the book you're currently reading, along with any first impressions or thoughts you have about the book, the author, etc.  It's a wonderful way of adding new books to your must-read list, and a chance to connect with other readers and bloggers.

FrightFall Readathon 2017

This will be my first go-round with the FrightFall Readathon. Autumn is the perfect time of year to be reading spooky stuff and mysterious matter. And this readathon allows you to read other genres as well, doesn't require a huge number of books (just ONE, really), and even has prizes! How could I pass this one up?

FrightFall (#FrightFall for social media) runs through the month of October, and has a dedicated blog (Seasons of Reading) where you can read all the guidelines and sign up.

I don't have a set goal for the event, but I'm hoping to read at least one horror novel this month — possibly...

or...

as well as a couple of mysteries/thrillers. This is one I'm finishing up right now...

And I'll be posting a wrap-up around Halloween to report on what I read.

So that's the plan. Now I just need to get reading.

Book Beginnings: An Echo of Murder

An Echo of Murder: A William Monk Novel, by Anne Perry (Ballantine Books, September 2017). These are the book's first lines:

"It's a bad one, sir." The policeman shook his head as he stepped back on the wharf, allowing Commander Monk of the Thames River Police to reach the top of the stone stairs up from the water.

About the Book:

"London, 1870: The body of a Hungarian immigrant is found dead in what appears to be a ritualistic killing, with a bayonet through his heart, his fingers broken and his body surrounded by seventeen blood-dipped candles. At first, Commander William Monk of the Thames River Police suspects the killer is from within the community, but when another murder takes place, Monk fears the immigrants are being targeted by an outsider... 

"Meanwhile, his wife Hester is reunited with a doctor who had been left for dead on a Crimean battlefield. Traumatised by his experiences, Fitz has made his way home via Hungary and is now living in the community. Hester is determined to help him and, when he is accused of the killings, she sets out to prove his innocence."

Initial Thoughts:

I was a little worried about diving into this 23rd entry in Anne Perry's William Monk mystery series, since I haven't read any of the earlier books. And I do believe I would have benefitted from a little more familiarity with the recurring characters and relationships. Still, I enjoyed the book quite a lot and intend to get a short review up very soon.

This is one of the Early Reviewer books from Library Thing I've been trying to finish up this week. I've fallen embarrassingly far behind in my reading schedule this year. Just too much real life stuff interfering. Don't you hate it when that happens?

Rose City Reader hosts Book Beginnings on Friday.  As she says, the idea is to post the first sentence (or so) of the book you're currently reading, along with any first impressions or thoughts you have about the book, the author, etc.  It's a wonderful way of adding new books to your must-read list, and a chance to connect with other readers and bloggers.

R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril XII

R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril XII is here!

It's that time again, and I almost missed it!

One of my favorite reading events started this month, and I'm hoping it's going to help me get back to the books. This year, Carl (R.I.P.'s original host) has passed the duties on to Heather and Andi at Estella's Revenge. (Check out the blog for the announcement page and sign-ups.)

The challenge/reading event continues on through October, so there's still time to get some reading done. This year I'll be going for Peril the First (read four books that fit within the challenge categories of Mystery, Suspense, Thriller, Dark Fantasy, Gothic, Horror, and Supernatural), Peril on the Screen, and possibly Peril of the Short Story.

I'll be tracking my progress over on my challenge blog. I don't have a list yet, but I've got lots of "must-read" books around here that fit those categories. So now, I just need to get reading!

Book Beginnings: See What I Have Done

See What I Have Done, by Sarah Schmidt (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2017). These are the first sentences of Chapter One:

He was still bleeding. I yelled, 'Someone's killed Father.' I breathed in kerosene air, licked the thickness from my teeth. The clock on the mantel ticked ticked.

About the Book:

When her father and step-mother are found brutally murdered on a summer morning in 1892, Lizzie Borden — thirty two years old and still living at home — immediately becomes a suspect. But after a notorious trial, she is found innocent, and no one is ever convicted of the crime. 

Meanwhile, others in the claustrophobic Borden household have their own motives and their own stories to tell: Lizzie's unmarried older sister, a put-upon Irish housemaid, and a boy hired by Lizzie's uncle to take care of a problem. 

This unforgettable debut makes you question the truth behind one of the great unsolved mysteries, as well as exploring power, violence and the harsh realities of being a woman in late nineteenth century America. (-- NetGalley)

Initial Thoughts:

I like that beginning, the way it starts right in the midst of the action. I also like that bit about the clock tick-ticking. That little refrain gets repeated further on. The Lizzie who's speaking to us here in the opening lines of Sarah Schmidt's debut novel has a way of throwing odd little thoughts out at you. She's not easy to figure out or get comfortable with.

I've read other fictional versions of the Lizzie Borden story, and seen it dramatized (and parodied) several times. Not sure why, but I've always found it an interesting subject. So far, this has been one of the best treatments I've found. Definitely disturbing and chilling — but then it would have to be, wouldn't it?

Rose City Reader hosts Book Beginnings on Friday.  As she says, the idea is to post the first sentence (or so) of the book you're currently reading, along with any first impressions or thoughts you have about the book, the author, etc.  It's a wonderful way of adding new books to your must-read list, and a chance to connect with other readers and bloggers.

Teaser Tuesday: The Color of Fear

This week my teaser lines come from the new Sharon McCone mystery, The Color of Fear, by Marcia Muller. This is, somewhat amazingly, the thirty-second entry in this series; but it's the first one for me. This snippet comes from Location 311 of the Kindle edition, and since it's from an advance copy of the book, please remember that the published edition might differ slightly.

I said, "They're not 'kind of' old — they're old." 

"So what do they want with each other?" 

"The same thing we all do. Wouldn't you want somebody to warm your tootsies when you're in your eighties?"

Well, definitely! Ah, youth! Was I really that smug once upon a time? Hmmm. Yeah, probably.

I started reading The Color of Fear last week, and liked it quite a lot. But the plot involves a vicious, racially-motivated attack and its aftermath — and what with the news from Virginia this past weekend, I might need to take a little break from this one.

If you'd like to see more Teaser Tuesday offerings, or do some teasing yourself, just head on over to The Purple Booker and leave your link. And please feel free to leave me a link to your Teaser Tuesday post in your comment here.

Book Beginnings: The Young Widower's Handbook

The Young Widower's Handbook: A Novel, by Tom McAllister (Algonquin Books, February 2017). From the novel:

On Monday Kaitlyn Cady went for a five-mile run, on Tuesday night she experienced severe stomach pains, by Wednesday morning she was dead, on Thursday she was burned down to ashes and poured into a stainless steel cube, and on Friday she was delivered by a stranger to her husband, Hunter. 

To describe her death as sudden is to reduce it to cliché, to not do justice to the swiftness with which she stopped existing.

About the Book:

After his wife Kait dies suddenly, 29-year-old Hunter Cady decides to take her ashes with him on a road trip so he can fulfill the promises he’d made to her that they would someday travel the country.

Initial Thoughts:

I'm cheating a little today — these lines are actually the first sentences of Chapter Two in the book, but somehow they just seem more like the book's beginning. Chapter One is short and has more of a feeling of "prologue" about it.

I was a little dubious about this one. Sounded like it could be a really depressing read. But I was encouraged by the claims that it was insightful, wry, and "laugh-out-loud" funny. And after reading the first 50 or so pages, I can say I'm enjoying it, but haven't really hit anything I'm laughing out loud about.

Rose City Reader hosts Book Beginnings on Friday.  As she says, the idea is to post the first sentence (or so) of the book you're currently reading, along with any first impressions or thoughts you have about the book, the author, etc.  It's a wonderful way of adding new books to your must-read list, and a chance to connect with other readers and bloggers.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Hard to believe the year is more than half over, isn't it? Or maybe that's just me. Summer is in full swing already, and generally I get a lot of reading done during the summer. But that hasn't been true this year.

It's been over a month since I actually finished a book, but I've started quite a few. I've got my current reading list divided up into several categories.

(1) Books I'm more than halfway through:

Anything Is Possible, by Elizabeth Strout

The Fifth Petal, by Brunonia Barry

Our Spoons Came From Woolworths,
by Barbara Comyns

(2) Books I've got started, but haven't yet reached that halfway point in:

South and West: From a Notebook,
by Joan Didion

Tell Me How This Ends Well,
by David Samuel Levinson

(3) Books I've had on my TBR list for this spring/summer, that I haven't actually started yet:

Grief Cottage, by Gail Godwin

Heartbreak Hotel, by Jonathan Kellerman

The Heirs, by Susan Rieger

How to Be Human, by Paula Cocozza

And then there are those "maybe" books I've been downloading onto my Kindle because I just can't pass up a cheap/free book from Amazon. And those books I bought at the spring sale over at our local public library. And those upcoming late summer/early autumn ARCs I really do need to get to pretty soon.

So you can see I'm not lacking for ideas about what to read next. I just need to get back to reading something right now. But first, I'm gonna visit a few other blogs and see what everyone else is reading. Maybe that'll give me the nudge I need.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is now hosted by Kathryn at Book Date. If you want to let the world know what you're going to be reading this week, head on over to her blog and leave your link. It's also a great way to discover new books and new blogs.