Friday Book Beginnings

How to participate: Share the first line (or two) of the book you are currently reading on your blog or in the comments. Include the title and the author so we know what you're reading. Then, if you would like, let us know what your first impressions were based on that first line, and let us know if you liked or did not like the sentence. The link-up will be at A Few More Pages every Friday and will be open for the entire week.


I am currently reading 3 books. The first is To the Lighthouse, a read-a-long with Unputdownables.net, the second is The Sheltering Sky, which I am reading for my monthly library book club, and the third book is The Secret History of the Pink Carnation by Lauren Willig, which I found perusing the shelves of my local library.   I chose this book for a few reasons.  First for the setting: England. The main character is headed there in order to finish her dissertation on the dashing pair of spies, The Scarlet Pimpernel, and the Purple Gentian. The Scarlet Pimpernel would be the main reason I chose this read as The Scarlet Pimpernel was one of my all-time favorite books in high school.
"What she discovers is something the finest historians have missed: the secret history of the Pink Carnation-the most elusive spy of all time, who saved England itself from Napoleon's invasion."


Here is the first line of the story.




"The city of your birth awaits your return".


I'm hoping the book turns out to be good. Especially because I believe it's the first in a series.
Check back soon for a review.

To the Lighthouse by Virgina Woolf

John Adams was certainly an easier read than To the Lighthouse, at least in my opinion. It is so darn cerebral I find my brain aching just trying to follow all the wandering, meandering thoughts, and inferences.
For example, the glove stuffed into the corner of the sofa, 'known from it's twisted finger'.
An interesting way of pondering what was the essential spirit of Mrs Ramsay; what makes her recognizable as the glove is recognizable by it's twisted finger when found in the sofa.
I had to reread that when I came back to the glove reference on the following page(50) to be sure I had understood where she was going with that. But that is simply one of many paragraph sentences that I went back to reread.
The table in the tree, anyone? Pg.23

I found it amusing that on page 17, we are in the thoughts of Mrs Ramsay when she remembers that Lily is painting her from the lawn and that she must keep her head in the same position for the picture, but then we discover that Lily has painted her and James but they are simply a triangular shape.
And Mrs Ramsay who 'smiles at thought of Lily'. Would Lily never marry because of her 'little Chinese eyes and puckered-up face' or because she took her painting and thus her independence too seriously?

My favorite part of this chapter-as I found it really amusing and so perfectly described this character for me- was the silly self-centered Charles Tansley with his visions of grandeur. How he imagined himself 'gowned and hooded, walking in a procession. A professorship, a fellowship'- with Mrs Ramsay looking on. (pg.11)

I'm enjoying the book so far, except for the fact that I feel I am just outside of it, just missing something. I feel I need to be there with them in order to get the full picture. Although at times I do feel I am there with them. See page 8 and the description of the house. Perfect.

To the Lighthouse Read-a-long with Unputdownables

Since I thoroughly enjoyed the John Adams read-a-long hosted by Wallace at Unputdownables, I am going to join in the next one which is To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf.

To join this read-a-long, go to unputdownables.net (there's also a link in the margin to the right) for interesting biographical info on the author and for the reading schedule.

John Adams- Final Post

I did not post faithfully every week because I often fell behind with the reading but I am very happy to say that I did finish in time to join in the last discussion!

Most everyone doing the Read-Along has agreed that this is a fantastic book, McCullough is masterful and that this should be required reading. I am in complete agreement. I not only learned so much from reading this, I felt as though I went back in time. I now find myself looking around my small town and noticing when government buildings went up and thinking about what was going on at the time, how long was it before the First Continental Congress, where was Adams at the time? London, Paris, Amsterdam?

The last chapter wrapped things up for us. As it came to a conclusion we see Adams the grandfather, presiding over his family from his farm in Quincy,keeping abreast of the times but no longer getting too fired up. I was happy he lived to see John Quincy become president, Incredibily shocked that he and Jefferson died on the same day and it was the 4th of July!

A few lasting impressions and ideas:
1. I needed to know why Hamilton and Burr duelled. So I looked it up and essentially it was because Burr found out that Hamilton was going around saying he had a low opinion of Burr. Is that right? It just seems so trivial. If that were the case, then Adams should have duelled at least 1/2 of congress.
2. I feel about Jefferson as Abigail did- attached to the man but not able to esteem him. He criticized Adams, was always writing harsh things to his clique-y friend Madison, and then when called out on it, he acted all innocent. He never owned up to all of his intriguing. And I feel he owed more loyalty to Adams. He all but lived with them for awhile when first in Europe. The entire Adams family treated him like one of the family.
3. Does anyone else find it odd that Washington then directed the army under Adams? I can't imagine one of our recent presidents doing anything of the sort. I suppose they were different times.

John Adams week 6

Well, I can not begin to express the relief I feel at being caught up finally!! By some miracle, my 9 month old took a 2 1/2 hour nap this morning so I was able to finish reading the last two chapters.
Since I have no computer at home today, I am forced to write everything on my phone.

I think Abigail was one patient woman and I have to believe that she was truly the most patriotic person of all. I would probably not be quite as patient as she had I been the one taking care of everything at home, farm, family--for 4 years straight. I can understand John's ideals and his desire to make the country a better place for his children and posterity but I probably would have questioned his devotion to his children. I think I would have wondered at times if he had a French mistress. But I am getting sidetracked.

Abigail made a lot of interesting observations when she arrived in Paris and one in particular that got me thinking was one in which she speaks of this country (France)"grown old in debauchery and lewdness" where marriages are arranged and not considered holy and honorable (comparing it to the one-America-"where the wise laws and institutions of one consider it holy and honorable")
Pg.304
Speaking of debauchery, it got me thinking and I remembered that in 1999 I was travelling in France as a student and the woman ticket agent who was selling me the train ticket at the station took the opportunity of asking the American why our country was so upset about our president being unfaithful to his wife.
I suppose Abigail would have had something to say about that.

I loved getting to know Jefferson a little bit better. I'm glad that he kept such perfect accounts of what he bought as it says a lot about a person. His love of books and excitement in the bookstores of Paris was something I could relate to, but I loved how much art he purchased and in particular the green Moroccan leather he used to outfit his carriage!
Aside from his irresponsible spending--he was a serious shopaholic--and probably a hoarder as well-- and his insane "sensation" about blacks and whites,all of that aside-- he was surely a fascinating person, and one who suffered a great deal. I like that these two very different individuals, one a staunch New Englander and the other an elegant Virginian, represented in France the diversity of America even in it's first days as an independent nation.

Book Beginnings

Friday Book Beginnings
How to participate: Share the first line (or two) of the book you are currently reading on your blog or in the comments. Include the title and the author so we know what you're reading. Then, if you would like, let us know what your first impressions were based on that first line, and let us know if you liked or did not like the sentence. The link-up will be at  A Few More Pages every Friday and will be open for the entire week.

>The doctor with whom I discussed the question told me to begin my work with a historical analysis of my smoking habit.

From Zeno's Conscience

Very good first sentence.

One Good Turn

In One Good Turn Jackson returns, following his girlfriend, Julia the actress, to the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh. He manages to fall into all kinds of trouble, starting with witnessing a brutal attack by "Honda Man" on another man stuck in a traffic jam. Is this road rage or something truly sinister? Another witness is Martin Canning, better known as Alex Blake, the writer. Martin is a shy, withdrawn, timid sort who, in a moment of unlikely action, flings a satchel at the attacker and spins him around, away from his victim. Gloria Hatter, wife of Graham, a millionaire property developer who is about to have all his secrets uncovered, is standing in a nearby queue with a friend when the attack takes place. There is nastiness afoot, and everyone is involved. Nothing is coincidental.

from Amazon.

I enjoyed this mystery set in Edinburgh, Scotland.  It's a quick read with a cliffhanger at the end of nearly every chapter. And every chapter switches back and forth between the main characters of the story.   

I read this for my library book group, and while I found it an enjoyable read, the others felt just so-so about it.  They found the change of POV at every chapter confusing, and they weren't happy with it as a book club choice, which got us talking about coming up with some criteria for choosing future books.  Did we want to focus on a certain time period, writing style, or topic?  In the end, we didn't come up with anything.  They decided for this month to read a book that another book club was reading and which I and another member of the group have already read.  This gives us some time to come up with some guidelines.  I'm going to do a little research of my own and find some tips on choosing for a rather diverse group, well, age group anyway.
If anyone would like to share how your book club chooses, please post your ideas. I would love your feedback.
Now, it's time to catch up on my John Adams reading.