Teaser Tuesday: A Batter of Life and Death by Ellie Alexander.

The camera crew returned to shoot footage of Linda at work.  She pounded shortbread cookies into a fine powder for the crust and put on a sweet smile for the camera.

-- A Batter of Life and Death by Ellie Alexander.

This second book in Ellie Alexander's Bakeshop Mystery series finds the owner of Torte competing in a reality show, Take the Cake.  Apparently someone is willing to kill for the top prize.

The series started with Meet Your Baker and is a lot of fun for fans of culinary cozies! The Ashland, Oregon setting is a real treat.

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Jenn at A Daily Rhythm, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event.

Mailbox Monday: Summer Fun

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday! MM was created by Marcia, who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring event. Mailbox Monday has now returned to its permanent home where you can link to your MM post.

A couple of fun looking, perfect-for-summer books came into my house last week:



An Irish Volunteer by Juliet Cardinal.

This fact-based historical novel tells the remarkable story of Joe Plunkett and Grace Gifford, an unlikely pair of lovers who joined forces during the 1916 Irish Revolution. Joe is a poet, a Catholic, and the son of a Count; Grace is a Dublin artist and a Protestant. Can they risk their lives and their love for their dreams of an independent Irish Republic?



A Batter of Life and Death by Ellie Alexander.

On the lighter side, here is the second mystery in this smart new cozy series of "Bakeshop Mysteries" set in Ashland, Oregon, following the clever debut, Meet Your Baker.

Book Beginning: A Batter of Life and Death by Ellie Alexander

SORRY FOR THE LATE POSTING FOLKS! CRAZY WEEK!!!

THANKS FOR JOINING ME ON FRIDAYS FOR BOOK BEGINNING FUN!

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 & SLOWPOKES: This weekly post goes up Thursday evening for those who like to get their posts up and linked early on. But feel free to add a link all week.

FACEBOOK: Rose City Reader has a Facebook page where I post about new and favorite books, book events, and other bookish tidbits, as well as link to blog posts. I'd love a "Like" on the page! You can go to the page here to Like it. I am happy to Like you back if you have a blog or professional Facebook page, so please leave a comment with a link and I will find you.

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

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING



MY BOOK BEGINNING

They say that time heals a broken heart. I've noticed that no one mentions exactly how much time it take, though. 

-- A Batter of Life and Death by Ellie Alexander.

This is the second book in Ellie's Bakeshop Mystery series that started last year with the delightful Meet Your Baker. Sweet treats and terrific mysteries are coming out of this Ashland, Oregon themed series!

Teaser Tuesday: Olivay by Deborah Reed

The chorus of sirens had scaled back, long enough for the ringing in Olivay's ears to kick in. Her apartment was ruined.

-- Olivay by Deborah Reed. After taking a stranger home, Olivay wakes to a bombed-out Los Angeles and a possible terrorist in her bed.

Reed has creative energy to spare and it overflows the pages of her latest novel.  Olivay is terrific!

Reed wrote Carry Yourself Back to Me and Things We Set on Fire, two fine literary novels set in Florida farm country. She also wrote two wild-ride thrillers, A Small Fortune and Fortune's Deadly Descent, under her Audrey Braun pen name. In Olivay, Reed brings her her literary and storytelling skills together in one page-turner of an adventure.

I'm lucky enough to get a review copy of this one. Olivay is coming out on July 7 and is available for pre-order from Wallace Books (call 503-235-7350 to order a copy) or from amazon in kindle, paperback, or audio editions.

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Jenn at A Daily Rhythm, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event.

Mailbox Monday

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday! MM was created by Marcia, who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring event. Mailbox Monday has now returned to its permanent home where you can link to your MM post.

I got a couple of books last week that go together:



Reagan: The Life by H.W. Brands

I don't know how anything can top the two-volume Reagan biography by Steve Hayward, but I'm willing to give this new one a shot. It is generating good buzz for being accessible and engaging, so it sounds like it will be enjoyable.



-- The Billion Dollar Spy by David E. Hoffman

Who can resist Cold War spy history that reads like the hottest fiction? Based on newly-released CIA documents and personal interviews, Pulitzer-winner David Hoffman tells the story of the Soviet spy who worked with the CIA's Moscow station in the last years of the Cold War.

Book Beginning: Olivay by Deborah Reed

THANKS FOR JOINING ME ON FRIDAYS FOR BOOK BEGINNING FUN!

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 & SLOWPOKES: This weekly post goes up Thursday evening for those who like to get their posts up and linked early on. But feel free to add a link all week.

FACEBOOK: Rose City Reader has a Facebook page where I post about new and favorite books, book events, and other bookish tidbits, as well as link to blog posts. I'd love a "Like" on the page! You can go to the page here to Like it. I am happy to Like you back if you have a blog or professional Facebook page, so please leave a comment with a link and I will find you.

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

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING



MY BOOK BEGINNING

Those who saw it that morning never said a word about Will's long stride when he walked down the sidewalk, or the way his legs bowed slightly with every step.

-- Olivay by Deborah Reed. That's quite an enigmatic first sentence for a thrill-a-minute new novel. I know from the back cover that the title heroine is a widow who looks for comfort in the arms of a stranger named Henry, only to wake up to a terrorist attack on Los Angeles. So who is Will and how does he fit in?

I want to read the whole thing. Right. Now.

Reed wrote Carry Yourself Back to Me and Things We Set on Fire, two fine literary novels set in Florida farm country. She also wrote two wild-ride thrillers, A Small Fortune and Fortune's Deadly Descent, under her Audrey Braun pen name. In Olivay, Reed brings her her literary and storytelling skills together in one roller-coaster adventure.

I'm lucky enough to get a review copy of this one. Olivay is coming out on July 7 and is available for pre-order from Wallace Books (call 503-235-7350 to order a copy) or from amazon in kindle, paperback, or audio editions.

Review: Lists of Note

Lists of Note: An Eclectic Collection Deserving of a Wider Audience was made for those of us who can’t resist a list. Shaun Usher compiled 125 assorted lists that span the centuries from the ancient Egyptians to David Foster Wallace. The book includes lists as varied as:

• 50 possible names for Snow White’s Seven Dwarfs;
• F. Scott Fitzgerald’s conjugation of the verb, to cocktail;
• The titles of fake books Charles Dickens had made to fill his empty bookshelves;
• Rules from the Immaculate Heart College Art Department in 1967;
• Favorite books of Norman Mailer, Ernest Hemingway, and Edith Wharton.

Usher combines the lists with facsimile reproductions, historic photographs, ephemera, trivia, and anecdote. Lists of Note is a mesmerizing collection to get lost in for days.

NOTE

Lists of Note would make a terrific graduation or housewarming gift because it is "coffee table" sized and a real conversation starter.

OTHER REVIEWS

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

Teaser Tuesday: McCallandia by Bill Hall

McCall took the oath of office from Chief Justice Burger shortly after noon the following day. Nixon had been carried off the White House lawn in a Marine helicopter, giving a final salute to gathered supporters.

-- McCallandia by Bill Hall.

Bill Hall's clever new political novel, McCallandia, imagines what America would have been like if Tom McCall, Oregon's popular, environmentally-friendly governor, had succeeded Richard Nixon as President after Watergate.

McCall was a moderate Republican, best remembered for passage of Oregon's Bottle Bill and making the state's ocean beaches public. He also played a small roll in counter-culture history when he countenanced Oregon's mini version of Woodstock, Vortex I, the "only state-sponsored rock festival."

You can order McCallandia from Nestucca Spit Press or Powell's Books.

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Jenn at A Daily Rhythm, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event.

Mailbox Monday: Olivay

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday! MM was created by Marcia, who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring event. Mailbox Monday has now returned to its permanent home where you can link to your MM post.

I got one book last week, and I can't wait to read it:



Olivay by Deborah Reed. A widow looks for comfort in the arms of a stranger. But could her one night stand have something to do with the terrorist attack on Los Angeles that happened the same night?

Reed has written two excellent literary novels under her own name, and two rip roaring thrillers under her Audrey Braun pen name. Olivay finally brings her talents for eloquent storytelling and nail-biting suspense together.

I'm lucky enough to get a review copy of this one. Olivay is coming out on July 7 and is available for pre-order from Wallace Books (call 503-235-7350 to order a copy) or from amazon in kindle, paperback, or audio editions.

Book Beginning: McCallandia by Bill Hall

THANKS FOR JOINING ME ON FRIDAYS FOR BOOK BEGINNING FUN!

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 & SLOWPOKES: This weekly post goes up Thursday evening for those who like to get their posts up and linked early on. But feel free to add a link all week.

FACEBOOK: Rose City Reader has a Facebook page where I post about new and favorite books, book events, and other bookish tidbits, as well as link to blog posts. I'd love a "Like" on the page! You can go to the page here to Like it. I am happy to Like you back if you have a blog or professional Facebook page, so please leave a comment with a link and I will find you.

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

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING



MY BOOK BEGINNING

A crisp January day in the nation's capital, January 1983.

The network news cameras focused on the prototype all-electric car pulling up in front of the National Cathedral in Washington. D.Ca., where the state funeral of the thirty-eighth president would soon begin.

-- McCallandia by Bill Hall.

What if Tom McCall, Oregon's popular, environmentally-friendly governor, had succeeded Richard Nixon as President when he resigned in 1973? That's the premise of Bill Hall's clever new novel, McCallandia.

McCall was a moderate Republican, best remembered for passage of Oregon's Bottle Bill and making the state's ocean beaches public. Portland's Waterfront Park is named after him.

You can order McCallandia from Nestucca Spit Press or Powell's Books.

Teaser Tuesday: The Grow by Lindsay R. Mohlere

The pot is growing in five plant groups surrounded by native bushes and undergrowth to mask the plants.  The group spacing makes it easier to walk between clusters of the seven-foot high, foot-foot wide plants.

-- The Grow by Lindsay R. Mohlere.

Mohlere has spun a great heist story about thieves stealing from thieves -- Mouse Morrison and his gang of ruffians trying to rip off a Mexican drug cartel with an illegal grow operation deep in an Oregon National Forest.

The Grow is a great summer read that seems all the more timely now that Oregon has legalized pot. Oregonians may be toking up on the up and up, but the black market is thriving in most of the rest of the country and makes for great fiction.

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Jenn at A Daily Rhythm, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event.

Mailbox Monday: Naked in the Woods and Building a Better Nest

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday! MM was created by Marcia, who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring event. Mailbox Monday has now returned to its permanent home where you can link to your MM post.

I got two books last week, and they kind of go together:



Naked in the Woods: My Unexpected Years in a Hippie Commune by Margaret Grundstein.

This looks like a remarkable memoir about a 1970s Utopian experiment in the Oregon woods that turned into something more like Lord of the Flies.

Naked in the Woods is available online from Powell’s, Amazon, or OSU Press. Or ask your local bookseller to order a copy!

PORTLAND FRIENDS: Margaret Grundstein will be reading from and signing Naked in the Woods at Powell’s Books on Hawthorne this Thursday, June 11, 2015, at 7:30 p.m., 3723 SE Hawthorne Blvd., Portland, OR 97214.



Building a Better Nest: Living Lightly at Home and in the World by Evelyn Searle Hess, author of To the Woods. It sounds like Searle Hess may have had a better -- at least less stressful -- experience with "off-grid living" than Grundstein, which is why it may be interesting to read these back to back.

Building a Better Nest is also available from Powell's, Amazon, OSU Press, or your local bookseller.

2015 CHALLENGE: Vintage Mystery

Every year I sign up for the Vintage Mystery Challenge hosted by Bev at My Reader's Block. Last year was the first time I successfully finished, but I've always had fun and the challenge introduces me to authors I haven't read before (Ngaio Marsh and Micheal Innes, for example) and inspires me to read the old mysteries I love but never seem to get around to (Agatha Christie and Rex Stout, for example).

The idea of the challenge is to read mysteries from the Golden Age of mystery writing, meaning those published prior to 1960. Bev added a "Silver" level last year for mysteries published between 1960 and 1989, but I am singing up again only for the Gold category.

Like last year, there is a BINGO theme this year, which mixes it up a bit. You complete the challenge by filling in six in a row or the four corners and any other two. You can use one Free Space as a wild card to complete the bingo.

BOOKS FINISHED

None yet. I'm off to a very slow start this year. 

NOTE: Updated May 29, 2015.

Book Beginning: The Grow by Lindsay R. Mohlere

THANKS FOR JOINING ME ON FRIDAYS FOR BOOK BEGINNING FUN!

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 & SLOWPOKES: This weekly post goes up Thursday evening for those who like to get their posts up and linked early on. But feel free to add a link all week.

FACEBOOK: Rose City Reader has a Facebook page where I post about new and favorite books, book events, and other bookish tidbits, as well as link to blog posts. I'd love a "Like" on the page! You can go to the page here to Like it. I am happy to Like you back if you have a blog or professional Facebook page, so please leave a comment with a link and I will find you.

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

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING



MY BOOK BEGINNING

Angelo's Bar and Grill is quiet for a Sunday afternoon. . . . Two fat guys in blue satin bowling shirts and a skinny bleached blond hooker with bad teeth play acey-duecy at the bar.

-- The Grow by Lindsay R. Mohlere.

So what if Oregon just legalized pot? There's still money in illegal dope and still fiction gold in the idea of ripping of an illegal grow operation hidden deep in an Oregon National Forest. The Grow is a great summer read!

Review: Portland Food Cart Stories

In Portland Food Cart Stories, you will find 40 food cart stories, about the owners of 30 food carts, organized into eight parts: author's introduction, Iconic Food Carts, people who moved to Portland to open food carts, breakfast food carts, food cart boosters, vegetarian food carts, ethnic food carts, and comfort food carts.

The book is more than a guide to Portland’s trendiest eating scene. As promised, Shomer tells the stories behind the carts – how the owners decided what they would make, where they got the crazy names, and how to explain the sometimes insanely loyal followings. You will feel like a friend next time you step up to the window.

I confess I'm not as adventurous as I could be about Portland's food carts. I'm here in Food Cart Mecca and I rarely venture beyond my favorite Grilled Cheese Grill. But if anything can inspire me, it is this book. Now I'm ready to venture out.

Shomler is the go-to guy when it comes to Portland's food cart scene. Whether you live here or are planning a visit, prep yourself with his book and go mobile with his social media: website, PortlandFoodCartAdventures.com; Facebook page, Portland Food Cart Adventures; and Twitter @GR8FoodCartsPDX.

NOTES

Steven Shomler's new book, Portland Beer Stories, is brand new this month.  You can find Portland Food Cart Stories at Powell's or on amazon, in paperback or Kindle.

Mailbox Monday: The Grow and McCallandia

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday! MM was created by Marcia, who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring event. Mailbox Monday has now returned to its permanent home where you can link to your MM post.

I got two great looking books last week, just in time for summer fun:



The Grow by Lindsay R. Mohlere.

Just because Oregon legalized pot doesn't mean you can't spin a really good heist story about gang of thieves out to steal a ton of marijuana from a Mexican cartel grow operation hidden in an Oregon National Forest. Just flipping through The Grow, I can tell it's a perfect summer thriller!



McCallandia by Bill Hall.

This alternate history imagines a United States if Oregon's popular, pro-environment governor, Tom McCall, had succeeded Richard Nixon as President when Nixon resigned in 1973. There is some buzz that McCallandia is "the greatest political novel in Oregon history." That assessment comes from the novel's publisher, Matt Love of Nestucca Spit Press, but still, it's pretty big praise!

You can order McCallandia from Nestucca Spit Press or Powell's Books.