Bread and Salt: Stories by Valerie Miner - Book Beginning

 

Bread and Salt: Stories by Valerie Miner, September 5, 2020, Whitepoint Press

The characters in these stories live and travel in Tunisia, India, Indonesia, Italy, Turkey, France, and the United States and consider their individual agency in both local and global contexts. (publisher)

Book beginning:

Il Piccolo Tesoro 

I'm stepping into an expresso bar, fragrant with strong coffee and sweet cornetti, when my attention is drawn uphill by a weathered pink and green sign offering a vacancy at Il Piccolo Tesoro. The small treasure. I'm not greedy. The adjective appeals as much as the noun promises. 

I chose this Ligurian village in the sensible way, by spreading a map of Italy across my kitchen table in Toronto, closing my eyes and pushing a pushpin into destiny.

Page 56:

But when he got transferred up the coast, she couldn't bear commuting 100 miles down to the city, cutting him out of her days like that. ("Quiet as the Moon")

Memes: The Friday 56. Grab a book, turn to page 56 or 56% of your eReader. Find any sentence that grabs you. Add your URL post in Linky at Freda's Voice. Also visit Book Beginning at Rose City Reader

Top Ten Tuesday: Valentine's Day

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. 

Each Tuesday she assigns a topic and then posts a top ten list that fits that topic. Freebie days: you may choose your own topic.

February 9: Valentine’s Day/Love 

Title: A Passionate Love Affair with a Total Stranger by Lucy Robinson

Lucky Suit by Lauren Blakely

Falling by Jane Green

Wedding Girl by Stacey Ballis

Timeless Desire by Gwyn Cready

A Groovy Kind of Love

A Groovy Kind of Love (The Bibliophiles #3) by Karen Wojcik Berner

 Wedding Night by Sophie Kinsella

Title: The Great Escape by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

The Tapestry of Love by Rosy Thornton

The Dark Rose:A Novel by Erin Kelly

These are my Top Ten books for Valentine's Day! What are yours? 

Sunday Salon: The Searcher by Tana French

 New thriller I'm currently reading:

The Searcher by Tana French, October 6, 2020, Viking

Setting: Ireland

Genre: thriller, mystery

Source: library ebook

A retired Chicago cop decides to live in Ireland, where he thinks there is little or no crime, but soon gets caught up in his little village's rural life. He is persuaded by a young teen to search for the teen's missing brother. and there are two unexplained violent attacks on a sheep of two different farmers. These situations are interesting enough to pull him back into detective mode, albeit on his own and not officially. 

I'm looking forward to see what he uncovers. 

Other news: 

It has been snowing in earnest, although we have gotten only about 4 inches so far, but we have an arctic freeze this weekend and into next week. The temps are in the teens right now and we have another incentive besides self-isolation from the virus to stay in. So, I can get some more reading in!

I've been having fun posting pictures of the various winter socks I'm wearing to keep warm even indoors! 

What are you reading this week? 

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also,  It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and Sunday Salon

Sunday Salon: The Punjab and Charleston

 What are you reading this week? 

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also,  It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and Sunday Salon

The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters by Balli Kaur Jaswal

Published April 30, 2019, William Morrow

Genre and setting: England and India; family drama, travel novel, women's fiction

Source: ARC

The Shergill sisters - Rajni, Jezmeen, and Shirina - are on a journey or pilgrimage to the Punjab, fulfilling the dying wishes of their now deceased mother, Sita. Born in England, they are westernized to a large degree, but know about their heritage and culture from their mother.

The eldest sister Rajni and the youngest, Shirina, both have secrets they carry on their trip. As they travel to the Sikh shrines and holy places outlined by their mother as places they must visit in the Punjab, the three very different sisters clash and reconcile in turn and finally help each other. 

This is family drama as well as a travel novel, rich in detail of places and people, with unexpected stories behind each of their lives. 

I am three-quarters of the way through and enjoying the book more than I had expected at the beginning. 

Haunted Hibiscus (A Tea Shop Mystery) by Laura Childs

Publication: March 2, 2021, Berkley

Genre and setting: Charleston, cozy mystery

Source: ARC, ebook

Theodosia Browning, proprietor of the Indigo Tea Shop, and her tea sommelier, Drayton, solve another mystery in fashionable Charleston, while serving tea, scones, and other goodies in their elegant tea shop. 

I am looking forward to reading this one, lighter fare in between heavier books. 

What books do you plan to read ? 

Review, Intro: Clever Girl by Tessa Hadley

 First Chapter/Intros, hosted by Yvonne @ Socrates Book Reviews.

 Every Tuesday, readers post the first paragraph of a book they are currently reading or plan to read.

Clever Girl by Tessa Haley, published March 2014, by Harper.

Setting: England

Genre: women's fiction, family drama, character-driven novel

First paragraph:

My mother and I lived alone. My father was supposed to be dead, and I only found out years later that he'd left, walked out when I was eighteen months old. I should have guessed this -should have seen the signs or the absence of them. Why hadn't we kept any of his things to treasure? Why whenever he came up in conversation, which he hardly ever did, did my mother's face tighten, not in grief or regret but disapproval - the same expression she had if she tasted some food or drink she didn't like....

I only now realize I have read this book before, in 2014 just before it was published in March that year.  Here is the short review I wrote on goodreads:

More character driven than plot driven. This is the story of Tessa Hadley, from a young girl to a rebellious teen, single mother, wife, and middle aged woman. Well written, poetic in parts.

The novel is narrated by the main character, Stella, a "clever girl" who only realizes her full potential later, after "going off track" during the rocky stages of her teen years and single motherhood. I enjoyed reading it again and got much more from it the second time around!