Teaser Tuesdays: Live to Tell

This week my teaser lines come from Live to Tell, the new Detective D.D. Warren novel by Lisa Gardner. The quote here comes from an ARC of the book, so you have to remember that the finished work may differ.

This is a new series for me, so I'm just getting to know the central character, D.D. Warren. And so far, what I know is that she's a female police detective, and a pretty tough cookie. Even so, she obviously still has all the same feminine worries about the old biological clock, as this excerpt demonstrates:

She was not getting married. She was not having children. . . . So she might as well read the ***** case reports, because this was her life. This was what she had left. Five dead in Dorchester and no one alive to tell the tale. [p.109]

I took out a little questionable language there (this blog tries to maintain its PG-rating), but I did say Sergeant Warren is a tough one. And, yes, it's a bit more than two lines (as usual).

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by mizB at Should Be Reading. If you'd like to read more teasers, or take part yourself, just head on over to her blog.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. If you want to let the world know what books you're going to be reading this week, head on over to her blog and leave your link.

Well, after all the record-breaking heat here on the east coast last week, I guess we can definitely say summer is here to stay. And all that hot weather has made me really lazy when it comes to reading and blogging. Not getting much done. Only finished one book last week, and didn't get any reviews posted. But I did get all the rest of my summer clothing out of storage, so I don't feel too absolutely slothful (storage problems – one of the nagging issues of apartment living).

So, here's how things stack up this week:

• Finished last week:
  Noah's Compass, by Anne Tyler (I really enjoyed this one, and hope to get my review up today or tomorrow.)
  
  
  
• Reviews posted:
  None (that's none)
  
  
• Reading this week:
  The Good Psychologist, by Noam Shpancer (This is an Early Reviewer book from Library Thing. A little strange, but I'm enjoying it so far.)
  
  
  The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, by Alan Bradley (I'm loving this one. Started it last week, and intend to get back to it as soon as I get the Shpancer book out of the way.)
  
  
• Next up:
  Haven't decided yet. We'll be heading to the beach at the end of the week, and I usually read whodunits on vacation. So I'm thinking maybe another Mrs. Murphy mystery (by Rita Mae Brown), or something with a seaside theme. Any suggestions?
  
  

Spring Reading Thing 2010: The Wrap-Up

Well, it's been summer for quite a while now – spring is just a fading memory. And speaking of memories, mine seems to be getting fuzzier all the time. I completely forgot about wrapping up the Spring Reading Thing 2010 Challenge, which ended June 20th.

I want to say thanks to Katrina of Callapidder Days for hosting. It was a fun challenge because it didn't put any limits on genre or number of books. I read fourteen books, the same number I read in last year's 2009 Spring Reading Thing (I might not be a fast reader, but at least I'm consistent). And of those fourteen, only one (Fair Maiden by Joyce Carol Oates) was on my original list of possible reads (OK, I'm consistent, but fickle).

Here's what I read (with links to reviews):

1. Heresy. S.J. Parris
2. A Stitch in Time. Monica Ferris
   
3. A Fair Maiden. Joyce Carol Oates
   
4. The Swimming Pool. Holly LeCraw
   
5. An American Type. Henry Roth
   
6. A River in the Sky. Elizabeth Peters
   
7. Live To Tell. Lisa Gardner
   
8. The Map of True Places. Brunonia Barry
   
9. Tinkers. Paul Harding
   
10. The Last Child. John Hart
    
11. Innocent. Scott Turow
    
12. The Hypnotist. M.J. Rose
    
13. The Forgotten Garden. Kate Morton
    
14. The Magicians. Lev Grossman
    

As you can see, I still have quite a few reviews to get written (what else is new?) – working on that now.

A-Z Wednesday: "V"

A-Z Wednesday is hosted by Vicki at Reading At The Beach. To join in, just visit her blog for the guidelines and leave your link in a comment.

This week's letter is "V." So I went to my shelves, and this is what I pulled out.

Village School
Written by "Miss Read"
First published 1955

Publisher's Description:

The first novel in the beloved Fairacre series, Village School introduces the remarkable schoolmistress Miss Read and her lovable group of children, who, with a mixture of skinned knees and smiles, are just as likely to lose themselves as their mittens. This is the English village of Fairacre: a handful of thatch-roofed cottages, a church, the school, the promise of fair weather, friendly faces, and good cheer -- at least most of the time. Here everyone knows everyone else's business, and the villagers like each other anyway (even Miss Pringle, the irascible, gloomy cleaner of Fairacre School). With a wise heart and a discerning eye, Miss Read guides us through one crisp, glistening autumn in her village and introduces us to a cast of unforgettable characters and a world of drama, romance, and humor, all within a stone's throw of the school. By the time winter comes, you'll be nestled snugly into the warmth and wit of Fairacre and won't want to leave.

See the book's page at Amazon.com here.

And the cover of another edition:


There are dozens of “Miss Read” books, and I’ve only read the first three – Village School, Village Diary and Storm in the Village. These three have been published as one volume, Chronicles of Fairacre:


“Miss Read” is the pseudonym of Dora Jessie Saint (born 1913), an English schoolmistress who began her writing career as a journalist after World War II. Beginning with Village School in 1955, she wrote a series of novels centered on two fictional English villages, Fairacre and Thrush Green. The main character in the Fairacre books, also called “Miss Read,” is an unmarried teacher in the small village school. Through Miss Read’s eyes, we get to take part in all the comedy and drama of village life. The books are very appealing social comedies, filled with a gentle, bucolic humor. Dora Saint is often compared to Jane Austen and Barbara Pym, and there are similarities; but I think her humor is milder and her worldview a bit less acerbic.

I read the first three Fairacre books about twenty years ago, and thoroughly enjoyed them (especially Village School). Might be time for another visit.

Teaser Tuesdays: Noah's Compass

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Wow, already July 6th! Time flies, huh? Hope everyone had a great 4th of July – didn't eat too many hot dogs, didn't collapse from heat stroke or get singed by errant fireworks sparks. Hope you got some reading done, too!

This week my teaser lines come from Noah's Compass by Anne Tyler. It's only the second book by Tyler I've read. I read The Accidental Tourist back in the '80s, but don't have much memory of it. However, I'm enjoying this one enormously. This quote comes from page 112, and has the book's protagonist Liam Pennywell thinking about his new friend (and potential love interest) Eunice:

People like Eunice just never had quite figured out how to get along in the world. They might be perfectly intelligent, but they were subject to speckles and flushes; their purses resembled wastepaper baskets; they stepped on their own skirts.

I can totally identify with Eunice.


How about you? Got a great teaser from a book you're reading right now? Want to play along? Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by mizB at Should Be Reading. If you'd like to read more teasers, or take part yourself, just head on over to her blog.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. If you want to let the world know what books you're going to be reading this week, head on over to her blog and leave your link.

Wow, Monday again. And already the 5th of July! This summer is zipping right by, isn't it? Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend.

Once again, I didn't get quite as much reading done last week as I'd hoped to, but at least I did manage to finish one book and get one review posted. Hoping to do a little better than that this week, but I guess we'll just have to see how it goes.

• Finished last week:
  The Three Weissmanns of Westport, by Cathleen Schine
  
  
  
• Reviews posted:
  An American Type, by Henry Roth
  
  
  
• Reading this week:
  Damaged, by Alex Kava (should be able to finish this one up tonight)
  
  
  Noah's Compass, by Anne Tyler
  
  
• Next up:
  Probably one of the books I picked up at the library last week. Either The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, by Alan Bradley,
  
  
  or The Inheritance, by Simon Tolkien.
  
  
  

Booking Through Thursday: Disappointment

It's been a while since I've checked in to see what's up with the Booking Through Thursday meme. Don't know why. Just summertime laziness, I guess. But this week's topic caught my attention right away: "Name a book or author that you truly wanted to love but left you disappointed. (And, of course, explain why.)"

And I guess the reason it popped out at me is that I've actually been having that very problem a lot lately. Probably a result of not being quite as careful as I used to be about which books I choose to read. I could give you a whole list of books I've read in the last few months that didn't live up to my hopes or expectations. But that would take much too long, and probably be really, really boring for both of us. So I'll just stick to one example.

And that would be (please, no drum roll) – The Map of True Places, the second novel by the wonderful writer, Brunonia Barry. Yes, I know everyone else loved it to pieces, but I was just completely let down by it. For many reasons – I had problems with the story itself, with character development, with the writing in general. As I said in my review, I think it might just have been a case of my expectations being too high, after having fallen deeply in love with Barry's first book, The Lace Reader. I suppose following up that little masterpiece was going to be tricky, no matter how talented the author might be.

On the other hand, the book I'm reading right at the moment – The Three Weissmanns of Westport by Cathleen Schine – is turning out to be even better than I expected it to be. So I guess you win some, you lose some, right?