Flood of Fire by Amitav Ghosh: Book Beginning

The Friday 56: *Grab a book, turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader. Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you. Post it. Add your (url) post in Linky at Freda's Voice.
Also, visit Book Beginning at Rose City Reader.

Am in the middle of reading this one and learning a lot, plus enjoying the rich cast of characters, the setting, and historical plot. 

Flood of Fire (Ibis Trilogy #3) by Amitav Ghosh, published August 4th, 2015 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (U.S.edition)
Genre: historical novel, literary fiction
Source: library 

The third in the Ibis Trilogy by Amitav Ghosh. A richly detailed historical novel about the British in India and China during the time of the Opium War in the nineteenth century, told primarily from the point of view of Indians and Chinese. The first in the trilogy, Sea of Poppies, was short-listed for the Man Booker Prize. Ghosh was a finalist for the 2015 Man Booker International Prize. 

Book beginning: 

Havildar Kesri Singh was the kind of soldier who liked to take the lead, particularly on days like this one, when his battalion was marching through a territory that had already been subdued and the advance-guard's job was only to fly the paltan's colours and put on their best parade-faces for the benefit of the crowds that had gathered by the roadside.

 The villagers who lined the way were simple people and Kesri didn't need to look into their eyes to know that they were staring at him in wide-eyed wonder. East India Company sepoys were an unusual sight in this remote part of Assam: to have a full paltan of the Bengal Native Infantry's 25th Regiment - the famous 'Pacheesi' - marching through the rice-fields was probably as great a tamasha as most of them would witness in a year or even a decade. 

Page 56:  

While everyone 's attention was focused on Bhim, Kesri was busy ploughing the poppy fields. Try as he might, he could not stop thinking of his brother's forthcoming journey to Delhi, mounted on a horse, with his weapons slung behind him and a fine new turban on his head. 

Book description: It is 1839 and tension has been rapidly mounting between China and British India following the crackdown on opium smuggling by Beijing. With no resolution in sight, the colonial government declares war.

One of the vessels requisitioned for the attack, the Hind, travels eastwards from Bengal to China, sailing into the midst of the First Opium War. The turbulent voyage brings together a diverse group of travellers, each with their own agenda to pursue. Among them is Kesri Singh, a sepoy in the East India Company who leads a company of Indian sepoys; Zachary Reid, an impoverished young sailor searching for his lost love, and Shireen Modi, a determined widow en route to China to reclaim her opium-trader husband's wealth and reputation. 

Flood of Fire follows a varied cast of characters from India to China, through the outbreak of the First Opium War and China's devastating defeat, to Britain's seizure of Hong Kong. (publisher)

 What book are you showcasing this Friday? 

The Stitching Hour by Amanda Lee: Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. 

The Stitching Hour: An Embroidery Mystery by Amanda Lee, to be released November 3, 2015 by NAL

I am not an embroiderer but when a book begins with a dog, I get interested right away. 

Opening sentence:

I reached down and patted the head of my Irish wolfhound, Angus. As only two years old, he still had a lot of puppy in him, but he was mannerly and well behaved. The patrons of my embroidery shop, the Seven-Year Stitch, loved him. 

Book description: Marcy Singer's embroidery shop, the Seven-Year Stitch, is one year old this October so it’s time to party in little Tallulah Falls, Oregon. Unfortunately, an eccentric couple has opened a haunted house next door, and all that screaming will certainly scare off customers. But there’s even more to be frightened of after a local waitress is found dead on the sidewalk with mysterious markings on her neck—and one of Marcy’s key rings beneath her. Marcy must act fast  to restore the peace to Tallulah Falls…(publisher)

What book are you waiting for to be published this fall? 

Book Tour: Floral Depravity by Beverly Allen :

Floral Depravity: A Bridal Bouquet Shop Mystery by Beverly Allen, published October 6, 2015; Berkley
Florist Audrey Bloom provides period-accurate blooms for the daughter of a local historian getting married in a medieval-themed, hand-fasting ceremony. But shortly after the vows are exchanged, the father of the groom suddenly drops dead, from monkshood poisoning, and it’s a clear-cut case of murder. Faced with a suspect list that rivals the guest list, Audrey needs to root out the toxic killer.  (book description)

Page 48, excerpt:

"Aconite comes from plants," I said, as the ladies gathered their wraps. "Specifically monkshood."

"And you think someone brought one of these plants in?" Amber Lee said. "Please tell me there wasn't any in our flower arrangements."  

I really enjoy mystery novels with a flower or gardening theme, and this series certainly has it. Murder by plant poisoning is not new in crime novels, but the characters and the contemporary setting in Floral Depravity make a difference. The book cover too is gorgeous, and the colors are right for the fall season.

Thanks to the publisher for a review/feature copy of this book. 

Tails from the Booth, photographs by Lynn Terry: First Chapter

First Chapter, First Paragraph is hosted weekly by Bibliophile by the Sea. Share the first paragraph of your current read. Also visit Teaser Tuesdays meme hosted by Jenn.

Tails from the Booth by Lynn Terry, to be released October 20, 2015; Gallery Books
Genre: nonfiction, picture book
No. of pages: 128

If dogs could take selfies, it might look something like Tails from the Booth. For this collection of photographs, Lynn Terry draws on more than twenty years of professional photography experience to capture endearing moments between canine companions. (publisher)

First chapter,  first paragraph:

My Tale of the Booth 

One would surmise, by viewing my other photography or visiting my home, that I have an interest in history and pretty much anything dating from before 1950; I live in a 104-year-old home. I collect antiques, I enjoy shooting pinup-style photography and have an entire wardrobe and props from that era. Old photographs of all my earliest ancestors are framed on my walls, among a collection of antique photos of dogs and humans together, peppered with a collection of anthropomorphic animal art. 

In 2005, inspired by my obsession with vintage photos, I began a photo booth series of dogs for a local pit bull rescue group....

Would you open this book of almost 128 pages of pictures of dogs in a picture booth? 

Sunday Salon: Mysteries and a Cookbook

Welcome to the Sunday Salon where bloggers share their reading each week. Visit The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also visit Stacking the Shelves

Featuring several mystery novels, plus a cookbook by Amanda Freitag, whom I watch often on the TV Food Channel program, Chopped.

The Chef Next Door by Amanda Frietag, William Morrow
Depraved Heart (Kay Scarpetta #23) by Patricia Cornwell, William Morrow
The Candy Cane Cupcake Killer by Livia J. Washburn, NAL
The Chocolate Falcon Fraud  by JoAnna Carl, NAL
A Likely Story by Jenn McKinlay, NAL
Murder on St. Nicholas Avenue by Victoria Thompson; Berkley
Trimmed with Murder by Sally Goldenbaum, NAL

Currently reading:

A library book I was lucky to find, the third in the Ibis Trilogy, by Amitav Ghosh. Historical fiction about India and China, the Opium War, and the British in India during the nineteenth century. 

What are you reading at the moment? 

The Deadly Sisterhood by Leonie Frieda: Book Beginning

The Friday 56: *Grab a book, turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader. Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you. Post it. Add your (url) post in Linky at Freda's Voice.
Also, visit Book Beginning at Rose City Reader.

The Deadly Sisterhood: A Story of Women, Power, and Intrigue in the Italian Renaissance 1427-1527 by Leonie Frieda, published April 2, 2013; HarperCollins.
Genre: non-fiction, history

Book beginning, first paragraph

Even after the passage of more than five hundred years, fifteenth-century Italy, that dangerous and exhilarating place, still glitters. Its power to dazzle remains undimmed. At the time, Italy provided little more than a geographical expression for the boot-shaped peninsula divided into 250 disparate and individual states, each with their own language or dialect, laws, currency customs and idiosyncrasies. They varied greatly, not least in size. The Duchy of Milan and the Republic of Venice, both at the northern end of the peninsula, were among the largest, though, territorially, neither could rival the Kingdom of Naples, usually referred to simply as 'the Kingdom'. These lands of the Aragonese kings stretched along the entire length of the country south of Rome, down to the tip of Italy. 

Page 56:

A noted theologian of humble origins, della Rovere had impressed the College of Cardinals, who hoped for a religious man rather than an aristocrat for Peter's throne. 

Book description: A Renaissance epic, as Christendom emerged from the calamitous 14th century. The tale involves inspired and corrupt monarchs, the finest thinkers, the most brilliant artists, and the greatest beauties in Christendom. 
The story of eight of its remarkable women, all joined by birth, marriage and friendship and who ruled for a time in place of their men-
folk: 
Lucrezia Turnabuoni (Queen Mother of Florence, the power behind the Medici throne), 
Clarice Orsini (Roman princess, feudal wife), 
Beatrice d'Este (Golden Girl of the Renaissance), 
Caterina Sforza (Lioness of the Romagna), 
Isabella d'Este (the Acquisitive Marchesa), 
Giulia Farnese ('la bella', the family asset), 
Isabella d'Aragona (the Weeping Duchess) and 
Lucrezia Borgia (the Virtuous Fury). 
The men play a secondary role in this grand saga; whenever possible the action is seen through the eyes our eight heroines. (publisher)

This is on my TBR shelf. What's on your reading list this weekend? 

Depraved Heart by Patricia Cornwell :Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Depraved Heart (Kay Scarpetta #23) by Patricia Cornwell
Publication date: October 27, 2015 by William Morrow
Genre: thriller

Chief medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta is working a suspicious death scene in Cambridge, Massachusetts when a video link lands in her text messages and seems to be from her computer genius niece Lucy. But how can it be? It’s clearly a surveillance film of Lucy taken almost twenty years ago...
The diabolical presence behind what unfolds seems obvious - but strangely, not to the FBI. Certainly that’s the message they send when they raid Lucy’s estate and begin building a case that could send her to prison for the rest of her life. (publisher)

What new book are you waiting for to be published?