Book Beginning & DOUBLE GIVEAWAY: Drive by Raymond Ahrens

SEE DOUBLE GIVEAWAY DETAILS BELOW

Please join me every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author's name.

EARLY BIRDS: I am experimenting with getting this post up Thursday evening for those who like to get their posts up and linked early on. We'll try it this way for a couple of months to see if people like the option of early posting. If you have feelings one way or the other, please comment.

TWITTER, ETC: If you are on Twitter, Google+, or other social media, please post using the hash tag #BookBeginnings. I am trying to follow all Book Beginning participants on whatever interweb sites you are on, so please let me know if I have missed any and I will catch up.

MR. LINKY: Please leave a link to your post below. If you don't have a blog, but want to participate, please leave a comment with your Book Beginning.



MY BOOK BEGINNING

It's an ordeal listening to a grown man cry – a cry that Haitian aides working at the Morningside Nursing Home compare to the sound of screeching tires in the instant before a deadly crash.

-- Drive by Raymond Ahrens.

THE BOOK: "Willy Easelman, 86, born in Brooklyn and a perennial finalist in the American Dreams Sweepstakes, is committed to the Morningside Nursing Home by his daughter, Anna. Cunning, despite his dementia, Willie sneaks behind the wheel of his '86 Impala and escapes, heading north along America's roadways that paved the way for the post-war exodus to the suburbs."

THE GIVEAWAY

Thanks to the magnificent book publicist Mary Bisbee-Beek, I have TWO copies of the finished paperback edition of Drive to give away to TWO lucky book bloggers.  Even better, this is a LEAPFROG giveaway, meaning that both winners will get to host a giveaway of their own!

The contest is for readers in the USA only (sorry) and is open until Thursday, August 15, 2013, at 4:00 PST. There are five ways to enter and each one is worth a chance to win. To enter, do any or all of the following, but you must leave a comment for each one and you must put an email address in a comment:

1. Comment on this post. You must include an email address. If I can't find a way to contact you I will draw another winner. (1 entry)

2. Blog about this giveaway. Posting the giveaway on your sidebar is also acceptable. Leave a separate comment with a link to your post. (1 entry)

3. Follow this blog with Google or NetworkedBlogs, or subscribe via email (or tell me if you already are a subscriber or follower). Leave a separate comment for this. (1 entry)

4. Tweet this post on Twitter. Leave me a separate comment with your twitter user name. (1 entry)

5. Post this on a social network. Put it on facebook, post it on Google+, pin it on Pinterest, Stumble it, digg it, reddit, or otherwise put it out there in the social network. Leave a separate comment with a link or explanation. (1 entry)

There are a lot of ways to enter (maximum of five entries), but you must LEAVE A SEPARATE COMMENT for each one or they will not count. I will use random.org to pick the winners from the comments.

This contest is open to entries from the U.S. only. The deadline for entry is 4:00 PM, Pacific Time, on Thursday, August15, 2013. I will draw and post the winner's name in my Book Beginning post going up at 5:00 PM on August 15, 2013.  

Review: Scout's Honor by Patrick Boyle

Scout's Honor, the original book about the problem of sex abuse in Boy Scouts, is available now on Kindle for only $1.99.

The book is a little outdated now that over 1,200 BSA "Perversion Files" have been made public and so much more has come to light. But it explains the history of child molesters targeting Scouts and how the Boy Scouts, from the beginning, tried to cover up the problem.

With example after example, Patrick Boyle shows that BSA worried more about its own reputation and defamation lawsuits from pedophiles than the welfare of the children being raped and sexually exploited by adult volunteers.

Scout's Honor will grab you from the opening page. It reads like fiction, but is not. Doyle meticulously researched court filings, pored through public records, and interviewed convicted pedophiles for his eye-opening expose of one of America's most trusted institutions.

While it may be disappointing to read negative information about the Boy Scouts, awareness and acknowledgement of a problem must come before change is possible.  


OTHER REVIEWS

If you would like your review of this book listed here, please leave a comment with a link and I will list it here.