Book Beginnings: Barry Lyndon

Barry Lyndon, by William Makepeace Thackeray (first published 1844). Also sometimes called The Luck of Barry Lyndon, or The Memoirs of Barry Lyndon. These are the book's opening lines:

CHAPTER I.  MY PEDIGREE AND FAMILY—UNDERGO THE INFLUENCE OF THE TENDER PASSION

Since the days of Adam, there has been hardly a mischief done in this world but a woman has been at the bottom of it.

About the Book:

"Barry Lyndon" is the fictional autobiography of an adventurer and rogue. Born into the petty Irish gentry, and outmaneuvered in his first love affair, a ruined Barry volunteers for the British army. After seeing service in Germany he deserts and pursues the career of a gambler in the dissolute clubs and courts of Europe. In a determined effort to enter fashionable society, he marries a titled heiress but only to find himself easily outwitted.

Initial Thoughts:

Well, that's certainly a very non-PC way of looking at things, isn't it?

I've been looking around for a 19th Century classic to read for the Back to the Classics Reading Challenge, and this might be it. Barry Lyndon has been on my "must read" list for decades. Loved the Kubrick movie, but somehow I've never gotten around to reading the book. Maybe this could be the year.

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.

Book Beginnings: The Last Romantics

The Last Romantics, by Tara Conklin (William Morrow, February 2019). These are the book's first lines:

Year 2079
At first I believed the girl to be an apparition. A ghost. She rose from the crowd in the auditorium and walked to the microphone.

About the Book:

When the renowned poet Fiona Skinner is asked about the inspiration behind her iconic work, The Love Poem, she tells her audience a story about her family and a betrayal that reverberates through time. 

It begins in a big yellow house with a funeral, an iron poker, and a brief variation forever known as the Pause: a free and feral summer in a middle-class Connecticut town. Caught between the predictable life they once led and an uncertain future that stretches before them, the Skinner siblings—fierce Renee, sensitive Caroline, golden boy Joe and watchful Fiona—emerge from the Pause staunchly loyal and deeply connected. Two decades later, the siblings find themselves once again confronted with a family crisis that tests the strength of these bonds and forces them to question the life choices they’ve made and ask what, exactly, they will do for love.  (—Publisher's website)

Initial Thoughts:

Haven't started this one yet, so I don't really know what I think of it. But it's an Early Reviewer book from Library Thing, and I've had it for several weeks now — so it's next on my to-read list. I've been in a bit of a reading slump lately, and I'm hoping this one will help nudge me out of it.

We'll see how that goes.

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.

Book Beginnings: O Pioneers!

O Pioneers! by Willa Cather (first published 1913). These are the first lines of Chapter One:

One January day, thirty years ago, the little town of Hanover, anchored on a windy Nebraska tableland, was trying not to be blown away.  A mist of fine snowflakes was curling and eddying about the cluster of low drab buildings huddled on the gray prairie, under a gray sky. 

About the Book:

Alexandra Bergson inherits the family farm when her father dies early. In spite of her brothers’ doubts, her ambitious vision for the land comes to fruition, but the price of success appears to be a small, quiet life. Then the equilibrium of country life is jeopardized by the return of Alexandra’s brother Emil and her childhood confidant, Carl Linstrum. 

O Pioneers! is at once a love letter to Nebraska and the tale of a remarkable heroine who remains resilient in the face of tragedy. (-- Penguin Books website)

Initial Thoughts:

I've tried to read Cather's O Pioneers! many times, but never got much farther than the opening paragraphs. I always found it just a little too — well, slow. Maybe depressing. Just take a look at those first sentences. See what I mean?

But I'm thinking of giving it one more chance this year, for the Back to the Classics Reading Challenge. It's a short book — I should be able to stick with it for the sake of the challenge. Maybe. We'll see....

Even though I've never managed to get all the way through the book, over the years I've bought several copies. The covers can be very seductive.

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.

Top Ten Tuesday: To-Read List, Latest Additions

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish, now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. To read all the rules and link up, just head on over to her blog.

This week's topic is "Latest Additions to My To-Read List" and it's another one that makes me feel a little guilty. Or maybe just overwhelmed. My "To-Read" list is so enormous, it's impossible even to imagine that I could ever read all the books on it. But that's OK — I love making the list almost as much as I love reading the books. (Sometimes maybe more.) So let's take a look and see what we come up with....

Actually, there are a dozen books that have been added to my list pretty recently. Mostly fiction, but starting off with an interesting nonfiction title I found the other day.

The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books, by Edward Wilson-Lee

The Stranger Diaries, by Elly Griffiths

Murder Theory (The Naturalist series, #3), by Andrew Mayne

The Last Romantics, by Tara Conklin

Light from Other Stars, by Erika Swyler

Old Baggage, by Lissa Evans

The Christie Curse, by Victoria Abbott (first book in her Book Collector Mystery series)

The Editor, by Steven Rowley

The Invited, by Jennifer McMahon

Lock Every Door, by Riley Sager

The Silent Patient, by Alex Michaelides

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

So that's my "Top Ten" list of twelve books I think I'd like to read. Some old, some not yet published. Enough to keep me occupied for at least a few months if I actually get to them. See anything tempting? Or if you've read any of these, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Monday again. And the last Monday of the month. January is almost outta here. January is one of those problematic months for me: I love the energy of fresh starts and new things happening, but don't particularly relish all that goal-setting and resolution-making. And, of course (if you live in the Northern Hemisphere which I do) — it's much too COLD!!

But we've been having some pretty good January weather in these parts — nothing bad enough to make my seasonal depression kick in. Which means that instead of sitting around wrapped in a blanket, cursing the weather gods, I've actually been able to get some reading done. So far this year, I've finished three (count 'em — three!) books:

• Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death (1st book in the series), by M.C. Beaton
• Educated: A Memoir, by Tara Westover
• The Janus Stone (2nd book in the Ruth Galloway series), by Elly Griffiths

I'll be posting reviews of Educated and The Janus Stone later this week. Also hoping to get another book or two read before the end of the month. I've got several advance copies leftover from last year that I really need to get finished and reviewed before we get too much farther into 2019. Mainly...

• The Last Romantics, by Tara Conklin (coming in February, from William Morrow)
• Old Baggage, by Lissa Evans (the US paperback edition of this is due out in April)
• The Water Tower Club, by B.K. Mayo (published this month, by Fir Valley Press)

And that's definitely enough to keep me busy this week. Not much else going on right now (well, just some dental work scheduled for Thursday that I'm really looking forward to). So, it looks like my January will have been a bookish success. Nice.

How's your reading year going so far?

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.

Book Beginnings: The Janus Stone

The Janus Stone, by Elly Griffiths (first published 2010), second book in Griffiths' Ruth Galloway mystery series. These are the book's opening lines:

1st June, Festival of Carna 

The house is waiting. It knows. When I sacrificed yesterday, the entrails were black. Everything is turned to night. Outside it is spring but in the house there is a coldness, a pall of despair that covers everything.

About the Book:

Forensics expert Ruth Galloway is called in to investigate when builders, demolishing a large old house in Norwich to make way for a new development, uncover the skeleton of a child — minus the skull — beneath a doorway. Is it some ritual sacrifice or just plain straightforward murder? DCI Harry Nelson must find out. 

The house was once a children's home. Nelson meets the Catholic priest who used to run the home. He tells him that two children did go missing forty years before — a boy and a girl. They were never found. 

When carbon dating proves that the child's bones predate the children's home, Ruth is drawn more deeply into the case. But as spring turns to summer it becomes clear that someone is trying very hard to put her off the scent by frightening her half to death… (GoodReads)

Initial Thoughts:

Sacrificed? Well that's certainly not the perkiest beginning, is it? But it did get my attention — right away I'm wondering exactly what's going on and also when it's going on.

I picked this one up because I needed a book with a word starting with "J" in the title; and this one has been on my TBR list for quite a while. Of course, once again I've started a series without reading the first book in the series, and I have a feeling that might be a problem this time. But we'll see....

For now, 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.

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Meant to Read in 2018 (But Didn't)

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish, now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. To read all the rules and link up, just head on over to her blog.

This week's list topic is definitely making me feel guilty because several of the books I should have read were advance copies that I just never got around to. Shame, shame, shame. But I've made a promise to myself to DO  BETTER  THIS  YEAR. (And I really mean it this time.)

Anyway, here's my ten, in no special order:

The Great Alone, by Kristin Hannah

City of Endless Night, by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

(17th book in their series of Pendergast thrillers)

The Escape Artist, by Brad Meltzer

Educated: A Memoir, by Tara Westover

(Reading this one now.)

Virgil Wander, by Leif Enger

The Pharaoh Key, by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

(Fifth book in their Gideon Crew series)

The Rules of Magic, by Alice Hoffman

The Chalk Man, by C.J. Tudor

The Road to Lichfield, by Penelope Lively

The Ponder Heart, by Eudora Welty