Sunday Salon: My First Three Books of the New Year

Becoming,

I recently started reading this, my second book of the year, and am enjoying it tremendously, especially since I am familiar with the place in which Michele Obama grew up - the south side of Chicago, including Hyde Park where I lived for over 10 years.

The memoir is not just of a woman who became the First Lady of the United States, but is also the story of a middle class Black family in Chicago and children who grew up to succeed. It is also a romance, between Michelle and Barack Obama, before their lives became entrenched in the political. I can't wait to get to that part.

My first book of the year, completed, was

Killing Commendatore

Murakami's book is another of his fantasies. It drew me in, in the same way a pit in the back of the narrator's house drew him in and led him on to voyages reminiscent of  Dante's Underworld and the crossing of the river Styx.

The above two books, memoir and fantasy/magical realism, couldn't be more different, but I like them both and find them a great way to start off my reading in 2019.

My third book of the year, which I've already begun, is

In Dog We Trust

This is turning out to be a more traditional kind of romance. It's about dogs and their owner, a young woman thrust into the limelight of becoming caretaker and co-trustee of  three famous and valuable show dogs. Her job comes with a seaside mansion that only she has access to. Along the way, she seems likely to meet the man of her dreams. This is delightful light reading. My review.

What are your first books this year?

The Sunday Post  hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer,
It's Monday, What Are You Reading? by Book Date.

  

Mailbox Monday: The Last of the Year

Two books arrived in the mail, one for a book tour by the publisher.

The Feed

The Feed by Nick Clark Windo
Published March 13, 2018, William Morrow
Genre: sci-fi, fantasy
About: what could happen if technology should suddenly disappear or not be available.

In Dog We Trust

In Dog We Trust by Beth Kendrick
Publication: January 8, 2019, Berkley
Genre; fiction
Setting: Black Dog Bay, Delaware
About: "When Jocelyn Hillier is named legal guardian for the late Mr. Allardyce's pack of pedigreed Labrador retrievers, her world is flipped upside down."

Visit Mailbox Monday to see what books others have on their reading list. 
It's Monday, What Are You Reading? by Book Date

Sunday Salon: Happy New Year!

Happy New Year coming in a few days! Wishing everyone the best in 2019 and hoping it will be full of good surprises in books and reading and gardening, and, and......

I haven't been reading much over the holidays, what with decorating, visiting, sending cards and packages, and so on. I hope it was an equally festive time for you.

The library is my greatest source of  books these days, though I still welcome the galleys from publishers who wish for reviews. My TBR pile is waiting.

I bought Michele Obama's book, Becoming, and am reading it slowly but enjoying reading about her growing up in the city I lived in for so many years, south side Chicago.

Becoming,

I started the ebook of Murakami's Killing Commendatore, which I am enjoying even though it has magical elements. I don't always like these in books, but Murakami makes it work,

Killing Commendatore

Then there is Harry Potter in French from the library, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, to improve my reading in that language.

A l'ecole des sorciers

I finished The Museum of Modern Love, based on fictional characters surrounding a real life art event at MoMa, when for 75 days Marina Abramovic's The Artist is Present was presented.  It confused me a bit as it was both surreal and true to life. 

The Museum of Modern Love

I am also in the middle of  American By Day, a book whose title and author caught my attention. The novel is about a Norwegian woman who sets out to find her long lost brother in the U.S.A. and who confronts differences in culture and habits when she arrives here.

American By Day

I have more than enough reading for the rest of the year and beyond. How about you?

Memes:  
The Sunday Post  hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer,
It's Monday, What Are You Reading? by Book Date.

The Missing Years by Lexie Elliott: The Sunday Salon

The Missing Years

Borrowed from Netgalley, The Missing Years by Lexie Elliott will be published  April 2019 by Corvus.

This mystery novel involves an old Scottish manse, with strange goings on and strange visitors that suggest the house is haunted. Ailsa inherits it from her mother and returns from London to the Scottish Highlands to either live in or sell the house. But there is a problem, as half of the house is still owned by her father, who has been missing for 27 years. 

I read it and gave it 4.5 stars because of the complex characters involved. 

A book to review soon:

The Affliction

The Affliction by Beth Gutcheon, paperback published November 27, 2018, William Morrow
Genre: murder mystery
Setting: girls boarding school, New York

Currently reading:
In the Woods by Tana French, the first in the Dublin Murder Squad series
The Museum of Modern Love by Heather Rose
Last Boat Out of Shanghai by Helen Zia

The Sunday Post  hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer,
It's Monday, What Are You Reading? by Book Date.

The Gate Keeper by Charles Todd: Book Beginning

The Gate Keeper by Charles Todd,

Paperback published by William Morrow, November 2018

20th in the Inspector Ian Rutledge series! Going strong.

"Ian Rutledge narrowly misses a motorcar stopped in the middle of a desolate road. Standing beside the vehicle is a woman with blood on her hands and a dead man at her feet.

She swears she didn’t kill Stephen Wentworth."

That's the setting for this latest murder mystery and police procedural, set in Suffolk, England.

Book beginning:
Ian Rutledge drove through the night, his mind only partly on the road unwinding before him. He was north of London, and a little to the east of it as well. But he had no particular destination in mind. 

At this late hour, he should have been asleep in his flat in London. He'd gone there with that in mind, but as soon as he had crossed the threshold it had felt different. Stuffy. Claustrophobic. Almost alien - it was where he lived, but it was not his home, had never really been his home....

Page 56:
"He wanted to come home, but he waited too long. The wonderful, foolish man."

Do these excerpts grab you as a reader or not?
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

The Sunday Post: End of Year and New Year Reading

The rush to read before the end of the year and into the new year is here! Here is my list:

The Curiosities

The Wild Inside

American Duchess

When You Read This

The Hunting Party

The Enchanted Hour

The Last Romantics

Freefall

What books will you be reading this week?
Memes:  
The Sunday Post  hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer,
It's Monday, What Are You Reading? by Book Date.

It's Monday: What Are You Reading?

One book came in the mail and hope my son will enjoy it too. He loved Wicked; this book is by the same author.

Hiddensee

Hiddensee: A Tale of the Once and Future Nutcracker by Gregory Maguire
Published October 23, 2018 by William Morrow Paperbacks

Maguire takes us to the realms of the Brothers Grimm and E. T. A. Hoffmann-- the enchanted Black Forest of Bavaria and the salons of Munich. Hiddensee imagines the backstory of the Nutcracker (publisher)

I am also reading several library books, my lucky library finds, among them:

The Museum of Modern Love

And a borrow from NetGalley:

Last Boat Out of Shanghai

What books will you be reading this week?
Memes:  
The Sunday Post  hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer,
It's Monday, What Are You Reading? by Book Date.
Mailbox Monday.