Book Beginnings: Old Baggage

Old Baggage: A Novel, by Lissa Evans (Harper Perennial, 2018). These are the book's opening lines:

Part I

1928

Mattie always carried a club in her handbag — just a small one, of polished ash. That was the most infuriating aspect of the whole episode: she'd actually been armed when it happened.

************

About the Book:

Matilda "Mattie" Simpkin is a woman with a thrilling past and a chafingly uneventful present. During the Women’s Suffrage Campaign she was a militant. Jailed five times, she marched, sang, gave speeches, smashed windows and heckled Winston Churchill, and nothing – nothing – since then has had the same depth, the same excitement. 

Now in middle age, she is still looking for a fresh mold into which to pour her energies. But what starts as a brilliantly idealistic plan is derailed by a connection with Mattie’s militant past, one which begins to threaten every principle that she stands for. (--excerpted from publisher's description)

Initial Thoughts:

I love a woman who can take care of herself! And Mattie Simpkin certainly seems to fit that description.

Lissa Evans is a new author for me, and so far I'm really loving her novel. Hoping to finish it up later on tonight.

Happy Friday and happy reading, everyone! And have a lovely weekend.

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?

Didn't finish any books last week. I was involved in a poetry-reading get together this weekend, and I ended up spending a great deal of last week tracking down some poems to read. It was fun, but unfortunately cut into my overall reading time a bit more than I'd expected. By the way, if you're looking for poetry to read aloud, a couple of good online resources are:

• The Poetry Foundation
• Poetry Out Loud

So this week I'm pretty much still reading what I had going last week....mainly:

Recursion, by Blake Crouch

The Patience of a Dead Man, by Michael Clark

The Last Romantics, by Tara Conklin

Three very different books — a nice variety. That's probably more than I'll likely get through, but it's good to have goals. Right?

Happy reading, everyone! And have a lovely week.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is 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.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

So here we are at the beginning of another month. June!!!  2019 is almost half over, and I'm nowhere near halfway through all the books I'm hoping to read this year. Which is pretty normal around here, actually.

May wasn't a terrible month for me, reading-wise — but it wasn't stellar. I managed to finish three books....

Light from Other Stars, by Erika Swyler

Little Darlings, by Melanie Golding

The Invited, by Jennifer McMahon

and almost finish one more:

The Vicious Vet (Agatha Raisin #2), by M.C. Beaton

My goal for this week is to get those reviewed, and then start on my June list which includes all of these:

We Were Killers Once (Brigid Quinn #4), by Becky Masterman

The Patience of a Dead Man, by Michael Clark

Mrs. Everything, by Jennifer Weiner

Recursion, by Blake Crouch

So I've definitely got enough to keep me busy for a while. And now I'm gonna go see what everybody else is reading — and probably add a few more books to my already ridiculously-huge "MUST READ" list.

Happy reading, everyone! And have a lovely week.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is 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.

Summer Reading Events

I really should not be looking at new reading challenges, since I haven't been doing all that well with the ones I've already signed up for this year. But a few interesting challenges/events have shown up on my radar recently. Don't know if I'll be joining in, but these look like fun....

The Sci-Fi Summer Readathon is hosted by Michelle @ Seasons of Reading, and runs from June 1st (hey, that's today!) through the 14th. Two whole weeks of reading devoted to sci-fi or fantasy. Click here for guidelines and sign-ups.

20 Books of Summer, 2019 edition — hosted by Cathy @ 746Books — runs from June 3rd to September 3rd. This sounds like a great way to knock off some of those books you've been meaning to get to all year, but just haven't managed yet. And it doesn't have to be 20 books — could be 15 or even 10, and you can change your target list at any time. Click here to read all about it.

Then there's also a summer version of the COYER challenge — the COYER Summer Hunt, hosted by Michelle @ Because Reading is Better Than Real Life. The regular COYER challenges are usually a little more structured than I like, but this one is much looser, as Michelle says: "Normally you’re only allowed to read eBooks that were less than $5 for COYER, but since this is Summer Vacation you can read whatever you want!"

Summer COYER begins June 1st and runs until August 31st, and sign-ups will be open until Saturday, July 6th. Click here for more guidelines and sign-ups.