Every Friday Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Gillion at Rose City Readerwhere you can share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading. You can also share from a book you want to highlight just because it caught your fancy.
I’m featuring Archangel by Robert Harris, one of my TBRs, a book I bought five years ago. It is a thriller set in late 20th century Russia.
Book Beginning:
Late one night a long time ago – before you were even born, boy – a bodyguard stood on the verandah at the back of a big house in Moscow, smoking a cigarette.
Also every Friday there is The Friday 56, hosted by Freda at Freda’s Voice, but she is taking a break and Anne at My Head is Full of Books has taken on hosting duties in her absence. You grab a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% of an eBook), find one or more interesting sentences (no spoilers), and post them.
Page 56:
Stalin had suffered a catastrophic haemorrhage in the left cerebral hemisphere some time when he was alone in his room between 4 am and 10 pm on Sunday March 1 1953. Academician Vinogradov, who examined the brain after death, found serious hardening of the cerebral arteries which suggested Stalin had probably been half-crazy for a long while, maybe even years.
Synopsis from Amazon:
When historian Fluke Kelso learns of the existence of a secret notebook belonging to Josef Stalin he is determined to track it down, whatever the consequences. From the violent political intrigue and decadence of modern Moscow he heads north – to the vast forests surrounding the White Sea port of Archangel, and a terrifying encounter with Russia’s unburied past.
~~~
What do you think, does it appeal to you? What are you currently reading?
Cathy over at 746Books is hosting her 20 Books of Summer challenge for the tenth year. You can choose to read 20, 15 or 10 books from your TBR shelves and the challenge begins on Saturday 1 June and finishes on Sunday 1 September. You can find the rules and sign up details for this year here.
I first took part in 2015 and I have done it most years since then although not last year as I wasn’t well. Part of the pleasure in taking on this challenge is compiling the list of books I’d like to read and looking through my unread books.
And here are the books I may read – because the ‘rules’ of this challenge allow you to swap any book if you want to, change your list half way through, or decide to drop your goal from 20 to 15 or 10! And I expect I’ll be doing some changes as I’m very good at listing the books I want to read and very bad at sticking to the list.
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. For the rules see her blog.
The topic this week is May Flowers — you can pick your own title for this one to reflect the direction you choose to go with this prompt (books with flowers on the cover, flower names in the title, characters whose names are flower names, stories involving flowers/gardeners).
Although roses are not flowers that bloom in May I’ve chosen to feature books with the word Rosein the title (except for Deadhead, which has roses in each chapter heading). I’ve listed them in A-Z author order. Some are books I’ve read and I’ve linked the titles to my posts. The others I’ve linked to the descriptions in Goodreads or Amazon:
The Last Kashmiri Rose by Barbara Cleverly (not read). It is India, 1922, and the wives of officers in the Bengal Greys have been dying violently, one each year and always in March. The only link between the bizarre but apparently accidental deaths is the bunches of small red roses that appear on the women’s graves. When a fifth wife is found with her wrists cut in a bath of blood, the Governor rejects the verdict of suicide and calls in Joe Sandilands, an ex-soldier and Scotland Yard Detective. It becomes clear to Joe that the deaths are, indeed, a series of murders, and they are have not yet run their course. Who will be the recipient of the next—and last—Kashmiri Roses? As he discovers the shocking truth, Joe must work fast to unmask a killer whose motives are rooted in the dark history of India itself.
White Rose, Black Forest by Eoin Dempsey, a World War Two novel, set in the Black Forest, Germany in 1943, where Franka Gerber is living alone in an isolated cabin, having returned to her home town of Freiburg after serving a prison sentence for anti-Nazi activities. a novel inspired by true events The White Rose movement in Germany was a non-violent intellectual resistance group in Nazi Germany, who conducted an anonymous leaflet and graffiti campaign that called for active opposition to the Nazi regime.
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, a fantastic historical crime mystery novel set in a Franciscan monastery in 14th century Italy. William of Baskerville and his assistant Adso are sent to the monastery to investigate a series of murders. I’ve read this book twice.
Red Rose, White Rose by Joanna Hickson – (not read) Told through the eyes of Cicely and her half-brother Cuthbert, this is the story of one of the most powerful women in England during one of its most turbulent periods. Born of Lancaster and married to York, the willowy and wayward Cicely treads a hazardous path through love, loss and imprisonment and between the violent factions of Lancaster and York, as the Wars of the Roses tear England’s ruling families apart. So nearly queen herself, Cicely Neville was the mother, grandmother and great-grandmother of kings – and her descendants still wear the crown.
Deadheads by Reginald Hill – crime fiction, a Dalziel and Pasco murder mystery. Each chapter is named after a particular rose followed by a description of that rose and the first one is called Mischief, a hybrid tea, in which old Mrs Florence Aldermann instructs her great nephew, eleven year old Patrick, how to deadhead roses and explains why it is necessary. When Patrick inherits the splendid Rosemount House and gardens on the death of his aunt, he is able to indulge his horticultural passions without restraint. But is he a murderer?
The Rose of Sebastopol by Katherine McMahon historical fiction about the Crimean War as seen through the eyes of Mariella Lingwood. Her fiance, Henry is a surgeon who volunteered his services at the battlefields and her cousin Rosa, determined to be a nurse has also gone to the Crimea. There’s a good deal of interesting and somewhat gruesome descriptions of the medical practices and, surprisingly to me at any rate, criticism of Florence Nightingale.
The Last Rose of Shanghai by Weina Dai Randel – historical fiction set in Japanese-occupied Shanghai, this is a World War Two romance, the story of Aiyi Shao, a young heiress and the owner of a glamorous Shanghai nightclub and Ernest Reismann, a penniless Jewish refugee who had fled from Germany. I loved the beginning of this book but the rest of it was not so good – too much ‘telling’ and I’d have liked less focus on the romance, which to me was barely believable.
Where Roses Fade by Andrew Taylor (not read), book 5 in the Lydmouth Crime series. When Mattie Harris’s body is found drowned in the river, everyone in Lydmouth knows something is wrong. Mattie wasn’t a swimmer – it can’t have been a simple accident. She was drunk on the last night of her life – could she have fallen in? Or was she pushed?
Mattie was a waitress, of no importance at all, so when Lydmouth’s most prominent citizens become very anxious to establish that her death was accidental, Jill Francis’s suspicions become roused. In the meantime she is becoming ever closer to Inspector Richard Thornhill, and discovering that the living have as many secrets as the dead…
Black Roses by Jane Thynne, one of my TBRs. Berlin, 1933. Warning bells ring across Europe as Hitler comes to power. Clara Vine is young and ambitious, and determined to succeed as an actress. A chance meeting at a party in London leads her to Berlin, to the famous Ufa studios and, unwittingly, into an uneasy circle of Nazi wives, among them Magda Goebbels. Then Clara meets Leo Quinn who is undercover, working for British intelligence. Leo sees in Clara the perfect recruit to spy on her new acquaintances, using her acting skills to win their confidence. But when Magda Goebbels reveals to Clara a dramatic secret and entrusts her with an extraordinary mission, Clara feels threatened, compromised and desperately caught between duty and love.
The Rose and the Yew Tree by Mary Westmacott (Agatha Christie) (not read) A captivating novel of love and intrigue. Everyone expected Isabella Charteris, beautiful, sheltered and aristocratic, to marry her cousin Rupert when he came back from the War. It would have been such a suitable marriage. How strange then that John Gabriel, an ambitious and ruthless war hero, should appear in her life. For Isabella, the price of love would mean abandoning her dreams of home and happiness forever. For Gabriel, it would destroy his chance of a career and all his ambitions…
Famous for her ingenious crime books and plays, Agatha Christie also wrote about crimes of the heart, six bittersweet and very personal novels, as compelling and memorable as the best of her work.
Spell the Month in Books is a linkup hosted by Jana on Reviews From the Stackson the first Saturday of each month. The goal is to spell the current month with the first letter of book titles, excluding articles such as ‘the’ and ‘a’ as needed. That’s all there is to it! Some months there are optional theme challenges, such as “books with an orange cover” or books of a particular genre, but for the most part, any book you want to use is fair game!
This month’s theme is Nature. This is a vast topic and looking through my books, both read and those I’ve yet to read, I have lots to choose from, but I only found a few that fit this theme in titles that begin with letters to spell the word MAY. I have read two of these books and the other one is one of my TBRS.
If you have ever wondered how wildlife/nature documentaries are filmed this book has the answers.
James Aldred, a professional tree climber, wildlife cameraman, and adventurer, explains how he discovered that trees are places of refuge as well as providing unique vantage points to view the world. Trees enthral him, right from the time he first climbed into the canopy of an oak tree in the New Forest. Climbing trees gives him peace within himself and with the world around him. Since he first began climbing trees he has travelled the world climbing many of the world’s tallest trees, filming for the BBC and National Geographic magazine.
The Man Who Climbs Trees is a wonderful book, full of James Aldred’s adventures and his views on life and spirituality. I loved it. His travels brought him into contact with dozens of different religions and philosophies all containing ‘profound elements of truth’ that he respects very much, concluding that ‘spirituality is where you find it’ and he finds it ‘most easily when up in the trees’.
I bought this book because I enjoyed Melissa Harrison’s novella, Rain: Four Walks in English Weather, which is about four rain showers, in four seasons, across Wicken Fen, Shropshire, the Darent Valley and Dartmoor. I like the way she writes about the natural world and All Among the Barley looks as though it will bring to life a world governed by the old rural traditions, in an evocation of place and a lost way of life. It’s a novel set in the autumn of 1933 on a farm describing rural traditions as harvest time approaches.
The volcanic eruption of Mount Tambora on Sumbawa Island in Indonesia in 1815 had a profound and far reaching impact on the world. It led to sudden cooling across the northern hemisphere, crop failures, famine and social unrest in the following year, which became known as The Year Without Summer and in North America as Eighteen hundred and froze to death. But it wasn’t until the mid twentieth century that volcanic eruptions were shown to affect climate change.
Guinevere Glasfurd’s novel illustrates how the impact of the extreme weather conditions affected the lives of six people. They never meet, or know each other, but their stories are intertwined throughout the book in short chapters, giving what I think is a unique look at the events of 1816. I enjoyed all the stories.
The next link up will be on June 1, 2024 when the optional theme will be History.
It’s time again for Six Degrees of Separation, a monthly link-up hosted by Kate atBooks Are My Favourite and Best. Each month a book is chosen as a starting point and linked to six other books to form a chain. A book doesn’t need to be connected to all the other books on the list, only to the one next to it in the chain.
This month starts with The Anniversary a novel longlisted for the 2024 Stella Prize, by Stephanie Bishop, a psychological thriller, described as a ‘simmering page-turner about an ascendant writer, the unresolved death of her husband, and what it takes to emerge on her own’. I haven’t read this but it’s apparently about a married couple on a cruise celebrating their wedding anniversary. When a storm hits the ship the husband falls overboard and the truth about their marriage is gradually revealed.
My first link is The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware. A type of locked room mystery. Journalist Lo Blacklock is on a luxury press launch on a boutique ship and hopes it will help her recover from a traumatic break-in at her flat. But woken in the night by a scream from cabin 10 next to hers she believes a woman was thrown over board, only to discover that the ship’s records show that cabin 10 was unoccupied. I liked the beginning of the book but was a bit disappointed with it overall after liking the beginning of it so much.
My second link is a different type of cabin in Another Part of the Wood by Beryl Bainbridge. Joseph decides to take his mistress and son, together with a few friends, to stay in a cabin in deepest Wales for the weekend – with absolutely disastrous results. It is set in a holiday camp, which consists of huts in a wood at the foot of a mountain. The wood, as in fairy tales, is not a safe place.
Woods can be dangerous places – as in My third link, a book set in another wood in The Way Through the Woods by Colin Dexter. Inspector Morse aided by Sergeant Lewis investigates the case of a beautiful young Swedish tourist who had disappeared on a hot summer’s day somewhere near Oxford twelve months earlier. After unsuccessfully searching the woods of the nearby Blenheim Estate the case was unsolved, and Karin Eriksson had been recorded as a missing person. A year later the case is reopened.
Oxford gives me My fourth link in Gaudy Night by Dorothy L Sayers set Shrewsbury College, a fictional all female college, at Oxford University (based on Somerville College, Sayers’ own college). Harriet Vane is asked to find who is writing poison pen letters, writing nasty graffiti and vandalism causing mayhem and upset. An excellent book and a pleasure to read.
My fifth link is via the word ‘night‘ in the book title in The Night Hawks by Elly Griffiths, the 13th book in the DrRuth Galloway books. The Night Hawks are a group of metal detectorists. They are searching for buried treasure when they find a body on the beach in North Norfolk. At first DCI Nelson thinks that the dead man might be an asylum seeker, but he turns out to be a local boy, Jem Taylor, recently released from prison. Ruth is more interested in the treasure, a hoard of Bronze Age weapons also found on the beach.
My final link is to The Body on the Beach by Simon Brett, first in his Fethering Mysteries, set in a fictitious village on the south coast of England. Neighbours Carole and Jude join forces to work out the identity of the body and the culprit. Carole is a retired civil servant, cautious and analytical, whereas Jude is impulsive, an alternative healer and very inquisitive (nosey). I quite like this series. They are entertaining whodunnits.
My chain consists mainly of mystery/crime fiction books, as usual.
Next month (June 4, 2024), we’ll start with – Butter by Asako Yuzuki, a novel of food and murder.
Every Friday Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Gillion at Rose City Readerwhere you can share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading. You can also share from a book you want to highlight just because it caught your fancy.
I’m featuring The Square of Sevens by Laura Shepherd-Robinson, the last book I bought. It’s set in 18th century England, beautifully written, and it’s weird and wonderful!
Book Beginning:
People like to say they seek the truth. Sometimes they even mean it. The truth is they crave the warm embrace of a lie.
Also every Friday there is The Friday 56, hosted by Freda at Freda’s Voice, but she is taking a break and Anne at My Head is Full of Books has taken on hosting duties in her absence. You grab a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% of an eBook), find one or more interesting sentences (no spoilers), and post them.
Page 56:
The De Lacy family swiftly became my new obsession. I spent many hours up in the attic in that autumn of 1739, wedged between a moth-eaten crocodile, a broken astrolabe, and the tusk of a narwhale, curiosities banished here by Mrs Freemantle.
Description from Amazon:
Laura Shepherd-Robinson’s The Square of Sevens is an epic and sweeping mystery set in Georgian high society, a dazzling story offering up intrigue, heartbreak, and audacious twists.
A girl known only as Red, the daughter of a Cornish fortune-teller, travels with her father making a living predicting fortunes using the ancient method: the Square of Sevens. When her father suddenly dies, Red becomes the ward of a gentleman scholar.
Now raised as a lady amidst the Georgian splendour of Bath, her fortune-telling is a delight to high society. But she cannot ignore the questions that gnaw at her soul: who was her mother? How did she die? And who are the mysterious enemies her father was always terrified would find him?
The pursuit of these mysteries takes her from Cornwall and Bath to London and Devon, from the rough ribaldry of the Bartholomew Fair to the grand houses of two of the most powerful families in England. And while Red’s quest brings her the possibility of great reward, it also leads her into grave danger . . .
~~~
What do you think, does it appeal to you? What are you currently reading?
BooksPlease 