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Diane at Bibliophile By the Sea hosts this weekly meme. The idea is that you post the opening paragraph (sometimes maybe a few ) of a book you decided to read based on the opening paragraph (s).
I am posting the opening paragraph of The Columbus Affair by Steve Berry.
Tom Sagan gripped the gun. He'd thought about this moment for the past year, debating the pros and cons, finally deciding that one pro outweighed all cons.
He simply did not want to live any longer.
He'd once been an investigative reporter for the Los Angeles Times, knocking down a solid six figure salary, his marquee by-line generating one front page, above-the-fold story after another. He'd worked all over the world-Sarajevo, Beijing, Johannesburg, Belgrade, and Moscow. But the Middle East became his specialty, a place he came to know intimately, where his reputation had been forged. His confidential files were once filled with hundreds of willing sources, people who knew he'd protect them at all costs. He'd proved that when he spent eleven days in a D.C. jail for failing to reveal his source on a story about a corrupt Pennsylvania congressman.
That man had gone to prison.
Tom had received his third Pulitzer nomination.
There were twenty-one awarded categories. One was for 'distinguished investigative reporting by an individual or team, reported as a single newspaper article or a series.' Winners received a certificate, $10,000, and the ability to add three precious words-Pulitzer Prize winner-to their name.
He won his.
But they took it back.
Which seemed the story of his life.
Everything had been taken back.
"Beth was beset by disturbing dreams; rapid firing images flashed before her eyes – a car screeching down a country road, a yellow duck, her father’s face. She awoke with a start. Why am I dreaming about my father after all of these years?”
Title: Firefly Beach
Author: Meira Pentermann
ISBN: 978-0982417089
Publisher: Lyrical Press/2009
Pages: 316
Beth moves into a small town in the coast of Maine. She rents out a house and sets up a deal with the local antique store to sell her paintings. She is preparing for a new start to her life. She needs to escape the demons in her life. And then she meets a "firefly’ who is seemingly is awaiting her arrival. The Firefly leads her to a diary of a girl Katherine, who was the daughter of her landlord and had disappeared 36 years ago. No one knows what happened to Katherine.
Beth sets about to find the mystery behind Katherine's disappearance. With a unique plot, a bit of supernatural element and good writing, one gets engrossed in the story.
Mary and Abigail, are another two characters which are typical ladies from a small community running the only inn in the town. Then there is this jeweller Kenny, who is an enigma. The novel is not as simple as it seems. It has a complicated plot, weird and interesting characters and a firefly which is the thick of things.
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted over at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week, we get a theme to list our top tens.
Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia at A Girl and Her Books. 5 Minutes For Books hosting MM for the month of August.
My mailbox was empty last week. Hope I get a few in the coming week. However, I downloaded a few galleys from Netgalley.
1) Thrall by Natasha Trethewey (poetry)
2) The Reunion by Dan Walsh
3) How to Mend a Broken Heart by Amy Andrews
4) The Rancher's Secret Wife by Brenda Minton
5) Lakeside Family by Lisa Jordan
6) When the Duke Found Love by Isabella Bradford
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila of Book
I finished reading:
Her Wicked Ways by Darcy Burke
Chasing Rainbow by Victoria Lynne
Secret Vow by Susan R. Hughes
Her Proper Scoundrel by A. M. Westerling
Winter's Heat by Denise Domning
I am in the midst of reading:
Varied Novels!
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The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer ~ It's a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead.
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| Rakhi tied to Krishna |
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| Rakhis for my brother, SIL, and nephew |
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| Tying on my nephews' wrist |
Overall, what factor most influences your choice of your next read?
Many a times, it is not I but a particular book decides for me. I stand in front of one of my bookshelves, and wait for a book to call out to me. It can be anything. The genre I have been reading or something entirely different. I have never been disappointed.
What is it that makes you want to read a book by an author you have never read before?
Recommendations from people I know or book bloggers I trust do influence me in reading a new author. But then the genre I like is also a deciding factor. There can never be any hard and fast rule!
From the Review Pile is a meme hosted by Stepping Out of the Page every Thursday. The aim of this meme is to showcase books that you've received for review. (or any book that you own and really want to read/review) but haven't yet got around to reading, in order to give the book some extra publicity.
I am showcasing The Islands by Carlos Gamerro, which I received from the publicist
Buenos Aires, 1992. Hacker Felipe Felix is summoned to the vertiginous twin towers of magnate Fausto Tamerlan and charged with finding the witnesses to a very public crime. Rejecting the mission is not an option. After a decade spent immersed in drugs and virtual realities, trying to forget the freezing trench in which he passed the Falklands War, Felix is forced to confront the city around him - and realises to his shock that the war never really ended.
A detective novel, a cyber-thriller, an inner-city road trip and a war memoir, The Islands is a hilarious, devastating and dizzyingly surreal account of a history that remains all too raw.
Paperback: 545
Publisher: And Other Stories/2012
ISBN-10: 1908276088
ISBN-13: 978-1908276087
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted over at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week, we get a theme to list our top tens.
I watched my father closely and at one point saw something that did not surprise me. With Joe flat on his back, unconscious, seriously injured and convulsing, I saw my father smile.
Title: Calico Joe
Author: John Grisham
ISBN: 9780385536073
Publisher: Doubleday/2012
Pages: 208
Calico Joe is unlike any other novel written by John Grisham. It is novel based on baseball and what happens off the field touches the heart. So much different from his legal thrillers, Calico Joe makes a moral statement, speaking of good versus evil.
It is told in the voice of Paul Tracey, son of Warren Tracy who is a Mets baseball player. Warren is not a role model for anyone. He is abusive towards his family. No one seems to like him,not even his children. Whenever Paul watches his father playing, he feels good and proud but Warren does not give a damn. The Mets and Cubs are locked in a mid-season pennant race. Paul is a huge Mets fan for obvious reasons, and always roots for his father.
The clubs call Joe Castle to replace one of their regular players who has been injured. Castle becomes a sensation overnight and Paul is torn between his loyalty towards his dad and admiration for Joe Castle. Warren feels threatened by Castle and what happens in the field between him and Castle has tragic consequences. Castle's career ends as abruptly as it had started. Paul's relationship with his dad takes a nose drive. Warren goes away from their lives.
Thirty odd years later, Warren has cancer and Paul wants him to face what he did to Castle. Joe has disappeared from public life and now leads a quiet life, fiercely protected by his brothers. The novel epitomizes the rise and fall of an upcoming baseball player. The forgiveness of a person to the one who did him wrong. I do not know baseball but that did not deter me from reading it. It is as interesting as his legal thrillers.
