Sunday Salon: Rain in January

Welcome to the Sunday Salon where bloggers share their reading each week. Visit The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also visit It's Monday, What Are You Reading? hosted by Book Date

It's been raining the past few days. Not that I'm complaining about the lack of snow.

 
 I'm reading Krazy: The Black and White World of George Herriman by Michael Tisserand, December 6, 2016, Harper in slow stages, reading carefully. 

An interesting biography of the creator of the Krazy Kat comic strip. I recommend it. 

I'm also half-way through Beasts and Children: Stories by Amy Parker, February 2, 2016, Mariner Books.
 
Excellent short stories of children with absent, neglectful, dysfunctional, or preoccupied parents, and the animals the children love or come in contact with.

Two new books arrived, one for a tour coming up.

Abby's Journey by Steena Holmes, February 14, 2017. A young woman's travels in search for answers.

Saving Abby by Steena Holmes is the book that precludes Abby's Journey. They can be read separately.

What are you reading this week?
 

Book Beginning: Beasts and Children by Amy Parker

Beasts and Children: Stories by Amy Parker, February 2, 2016, Mariner Books
Source: library

First story beginning: "The White Elephant"

Carline and I sat at the breakfast table dressed as the dancing ostriches from Fantasia. It was Halloween morning, 1967 - the last year of my family's unbroken life - and my older sister and I were having a fight with our mother. She had made these outfits for our schools' costume parade.

There are ten stories in the book.

Page 56 from the story, " Rainy Season."

Maizie gets away with familiarity because she's young and cute.

About the author: Amy Parker is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop and was a Michener Fellow at the University of Texas, Austin. She spent her childhood overseas among the diplomatic corps and is ordained in the Soto Zen monastic lineage. She lives in Wichita, Kansas.

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

Choosing a Cozy by its First Lines

I have several cozy mysteries and I must choose which to read first. How to do this? By the cover, the title, the author, the series? I often choose by reading the first line. The one that grabs me quickest gets the first read. Here are a few first lines of some cozies. Which would you choose? 

Blown Away: A Kite Shop Mystery #1 by Clover Tate
The first rule about flying kites is that when the wind lifts them skyward, you give them line, not reel them in.

War and Peach: A Georgia Peach Mystery #3
by Susan Furlong

"I do say this election business has folks as divided as the states during Mr. Lincoln's war," one of the Crawford sisters was saying.
 

Mission Impawsible: Paws and Claws Mystery #4
by Krista Davis

By six o'clock on Thursday afternoon, one Gustav Vogel had failed to check into his room at the Sugar Maple Inn.
 

No Cats Alowed: A Cat in the Stacks Mystery #7
by Miranda James

"He's out there again, Charlie." Melba Gilley made the announcement as she strode hurriedly into my office at the Athena College Library. "Do you think we should call the campus police?"



A Wee Homicide in the Hotel: ScotShop Mystery #3
by Fran Stewart

Nobody expected to die attending Hamelin's third annual four-day Highland Festival.
 

Bookman Dead Style: A Dangerous Type Mystery
 by Paige Shelton

"It's my good luck you're here. I saw your shop last year but didn't have time to stop in. You have the best selection of this kind of stuff I've ever seen...." 

 

Which opening lines appeal to you?  

 

Krazy: The Black and White World of George Herriman by Michael Tisserand: First Chapter

Krazy: The Black and White World of George Herriman by Michael Tisserand, December 6, 2016, Harper

First paragraph, first chapter:
The San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle landed on doorsteps on August 22, 1971, on what would have been George Herriman's ninety-first birthday. Inside the paper was a story by San Francisco State University professor, Arthur Asa Berger, detailing his attempt to write an entry on Herriman for the Dictionary of American Biography. In his research, Berger had obtained information from the New Orleans health department about a child of that name born in 1880. But, Berger decided, the child had to be a different George Herriman. The reason? The birth certificate was marked "col." for "colored." The cartoonist George Herriman, Berger believed, was white.

Krazy is the biography of the cartoonist George Herriman (1880-1944), creator of the successful comic strip, Krazy Kat. "Michael Tisserand brings this little-understood figure to vivid life, paying homage to a visionary artist who helped shape modern culture."

The book reveals that the cartoonist did not disclose his African-American ancestry in order to be able to continue his art and his work for a newspaper syndicate in the early 20th century.

A timely post to honor Martin Luther King Jr. Day, yesterday.

Meme: Every Tuesday First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros are hosted by Bibliophile By the Sea. 
 

It's Monday: What I'm Reading and Watching

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? hosted by Book Date Also, visit Mailbox Monday.

I'm reading a new arrival,

The Sun King Conspiracy by Yves Jego and Denis Lepee, a novel in translation from the French, April 4, 2016, sent by a publicist for Gallic Books.

The book became more vibrant and interesting after I had watched several episodes in the Versailles TV series, which features the Sun King Louis IV of France and the intrigue surrounding building his beloved palace in Versailles, 17th century.

Another book arrival:

Dragon Springs Road by Janie Chang, January 10, 2016, courtesy of William Morrow. In early 20th century Shanghai—a story of friendship, heartbreak, and history that follows a young Eurasian orphan’s search for her long-lost mother.

I also am reading a library borrow,

Sarong Party Girls, a novel by Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan, July 12, 2016 by William Morrow, about three girls in Singapore who hatch a plan to catch a foreign husband before they become too old, in Singapore terms, to be deemed eligible for marriage. 

The book is culturally revealing as well as entertaining so far.

First Chapter: Find Her by LIsa Gardner

Find Her,  novel by Lisa Gardner, February 9, 2016
Genre: thriller
Source: library

First chapter:
These are the things I didn't know.
When you first wake up in a dark wooden box, you'll tell yourself this isn't happening. You will push against the lid, of course. No surprise there. You'll beat at the sides with your fists, pummel your heels against the bottom. You'll bang your head again and again, even though it hurts. And you'll scream. Snot will run down your nose. Tears will rain from your eyes....

It's hard to read the rest....and you will wonder if you want to read the book!
What do you think? Would you read on?

Every Tuesday Bibliophile by the Sea hosts First Chapter First Paragraph, Tuesday Intros sharing the first paragraph or two, from a book you are reading or will be reading soon.

It's Monday: My New Reads

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? hosted by Book Date Also, visit Mailbox Monday.

My current read is another library borrow,

First Star I See Tonight by Susan Elizabeth Phillips, August 23, 2016.
A star quarterback and a feisty detective play for keeps in this long-awaited new entry in the Chicago Stars football series. (publisher)

"Piper Dove is a woman with a dream—to become the best detective in the city of Chicago. First job? Trail former Chicago Stars quarterback, Cooper Graham. Problem? Graham’s spotted her, and he’s not happy." Sounds promising.

In my mailbox a week or two ago:

The Joy of Love by Pope Francis, May 4, 2016, came from a friend encouraging my speedy recovery after surgery.

The Road ot Ithaca by Ben Pastor by Bitter Lemon Press, March 2017.
The fifth in the Martin Bora WWII mystery series. In May 1941, Wehrmacht officer Bora is sent to Crete, recently occupied by the German army, and must investigate the brutal murder of a Red Cross representative befriended by SS-Chief Himmler. (publisher)

Sounds intriguing, especially since it's fifth in the series.

What are you reading this week?
I've just finished The Waters of Eternal Youth by Donna Leon, a mystery set in Venice, and gave it 5 stars in Goodreads.