Can You Forgive Her? by Anthony Trollope -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Welcome to the last Book Beginnings of the year! Please share the first sentence (or so) of the book  you are reading, or just a book that caught your fancy. 

MY BOOK BEGINNING

Whether or no, she, whom you are to forgive, if you can, did or did not belong to the Upper Ten Thousand of this our English world, I am not prepared to say with any strength of affirmation. By blood she was connected with big people,—distantly connected with some very big people indeed, people who belonged to the Upper Ten Hundred if there be any such division; but of these very big relations she had known and seen little, and they had cared as little for her.

-- from Can You Forgive Her? by Anthony Trollope. 

Can You Forgive Her? is the first book in Anthony Trollope's Palliser Series of six novels, also known as the Parliamentary Novels. It was first published in serial form in 1864 - 1865. The book follows three women through courtship and marriage: Alice Vavasor, her cousin Glencora Palliser, and her aunt Arabella Greenow. Early on, Alice asks, "What should a woman do with her life?" This theme repeats itself in the dilemmas faced by the other women in the novel.

This series has some character crossover with Trollope's Barchester Chronicles series, which I read a few years back. This series has been on my mind since I found a boxed set of paperbacks at a library friends store last spring. There is a year-long group read on Instagram that is just the inspiration I needed to dive in. 

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Please add the link to your Book Beginnings post in the box below. If you share on social media, please use the hashtag #bookbeginnings so we can find each other. 

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THE FRIDAY 56

The Friday 56 is a natural tie-in with Book Beginnings. The idea is to share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of your featured book. If you are reading an ebook or audiobook, find your teaser from the 56% mark.

Freda at Freda's Voice started and hosted The Friday 56 for a long, long time. She is taking a break and Anne at My Head if Full of Books has taken on hosting duties in her absence. Please visit Anne's blog and link to your Friday 56 post.

MY FRIDAY 56

From Can You Forgive Her?:

They were sitting at Basle one evening in the balcony of the big hotel which overlooks the Rhine. The balcony runs the length of the house, and is open to all the company; but it is spacious, and little parties can be formed there with perfect privacy.

 

Christmas!

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS! 

1 Day to Christmas!

 

2 Days to Christmas!

 

3 Days to Christmas!

 

The Christmas Chronicles: Notes, Stories & 100 Essential Recipes for Winter by Nigel Slater -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Wow! I had Christmas brain last week and totally forgot to post Book Beginnings on Fridays until Saturday morning! What a crazy lady. Sorry about that!

Thank you for joining me this week for Book Beginnings, where participants share the first sentence (or so) of the book they are reading this week. Please share yours! You can also share from a book that caught your fancy, even if you are not reading it at the moment.

It's the week before Christmas, and while I am not reading Christmassy books in general, I did want to dip into Nigel Slater's Christmas book to get me in the mood. I also want to remind myself to remember to read this book next year!

What books are you hoping to get from Santa?

MY BOOK BEGINNING

The icy prickle across your face as you walk out into the freezing air.

-- from the Introduction to The Christmas Chronicles: Notes, Stories & 100 Essential Recipes for Winter
by Nigel Slater. Normally I do not like sentence fragments as the opening to a book. But with Nigel Slater, I don't care.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Please add the link to your Book Beginnings post in the box below. If you share on social media, please use the hashtag #bookbeginnings.

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THE FRIDAY 56

The Friday 56 is a natural tie-in with Book Beginnings. The idea is to share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of your featured book. If you are reading an ebook or audiobook, find your teaser from the 56% mark.

Freda at Freda's Voice started and hosted The Friday 56 for a long, long time. She is taking a break and Anne at My Head if Full of Books has taken on hosting duties in her absence. Please visit Anne's blog and link to your Friday 56 post.

MY FRIDAY 56

From The Christmas Chronicles:

We have been lighting fires around this time for centuries. Since ancient times Celtic people have gathered around bonfires on October 31 and November 1 to celebrate Samhain, the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter.

In America, we generally don't start celebrating Christmas until after Thanksgiving at the end of November. Slater is in England and starts his book about Christmas and winter on November 1. This is the thing I want to remember next year so I start the book in November and read through the days. 

4 Days to Christmas!

 

5 Days to Christmas!

 

6 Days to Christmas!

 

Christmas Books

CHRISTMAS BOOKS

One Christmas tradition I have — and I don’t think I’m alone in this — is to plan at least 100 Christmassy things I want to do in December and then abandon at least 80 of them when reality sets in. Prewrap the gifts with gorgeous ribbons and coordinating gift tags becomes shove everything into gift bags and write the name on the bottom with a sharpie. Bake all my own cookies and pies becomes buying shortbread and an almond ring from my favorite bakery and begging Hubby to make a gingerbread cake.

You get the idea!

One of my dream plans every year is to spend December in a cleaned and decorated house, in front of a fully decorated tree, a fire going in the fireplace, a warm adult beverage to hand, reading nothing but Christmas books. And then November fades away and I still have a dozen or so books I planned to read this year demanding attention. My list of Christmas books get set aside to “next year” like always.

I’m sticking with this tradition for Christmas 2024! 

This month, I seem to be reading a lot of mysteries. I am also finishing my last three book for the TBR 23 in '23 Challenge. By happenstance, the one I am reading now, Lord Peter: The Complete Lord Peter Wimsey Stories by Dorothy L. Sayers, has two stories in it set at Christmas. So I managed to get in at least a little holiday-themed reading. 

Also, this year I gathered the Christmas books I could find around the house into a stack for inspiration. I’m going to keep this stack on my bedroom table where I keep books I plan to read, like my TBR 24 in '24 books. That will remind me to get the others finished by the end of November so I can indulge my fantasy of reading these in December. I am particularly looking forward to that Nigel Slater Christmas book. I really love food books with a Christmas theme. 

See any here you’ve read or want to? Do you have any favorite Christmassy books? I'd like to get more books or at least make a list of possibilities here on the blog.

7 Days to Christmas!

 

8 Days to Christmas!

 

9 Days to Christmas!

 

10 Days to Christmas!

 

11 Days to Christmas!

 

12 Days to Christmas!

 

13 Days to Christmas!

 

14 Days to Christmas!

 

15 Days to Christmas!

 

The 2024 European Reading Challenge -- WRAP UP PAGE

 

THE 2024 EUROPEAN READING CHALLENGE

WRAP UP PAGE

THIS IS THE PAGE FOR WRAP UP POSTS

TO LIST YOUR REVIEWS, GO TO THIS PAGE

TO SIGN UP, GO TO THE MAIN CHALLENGE PAGE, HERE, OR CLICK THE BUTTON ABOVE

LINK YOUR POST

When you complete the 2024 European Reading Challenge at whatever level you signed up for, please do a wrap up post and enter a link to your post here. Please link to your wrap up post, NOT the main page of your blog or social media profile.

A wrap up post can be very simple. You can do a separate post on your blog or social media platform. Or, if you participate in the challenge on your blog and just update your original post without doing a separate wrap up post, that's OK too. Just post a link to your updated post here. If you participate on social media, please do some kind of wrap up post listing the books you read and link it here.

OR LEAVE A COMMENT

If you want, you can also simply leave a comment below listing the books you read. Please include your name, the names of the books, the authors of the books, and the countries of the books.

WANT THE PRIZE? WRAP IT UP!

Without some kind of wrap up post, I don't have any way to know if you finished the challenge. I like to know so I can visit everyone. But it is more important if you are competing for the Jet Setter Prize. If you want to compete for the prize, you have to leave a wrap up post or I will have no way to know if you visited more countries than the other people competing with you. This is also why you need to identify the country of your book. I don't want to guess and I don't want to research.

When I announce the prize winner, Honorable Mention will go to the participants who visited the most countries (but not as many as the winner), with links to their wrap up posts. If you don't link a wrap up post, I won't be able to find you.

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NOTE ABOUT DATES

You have until December 31, 2024, to finish reading the books. You have until January 31, 2025, to finish your reviews and your wrap up post. I will announce the winner as soon as possible after January 31, 2025.

The 2024 European Reading Challenge -- REVIEW PAGE

 

THE 2024 EUROPEAN READING CHALLENGE

REVIEW PAGE

THIS IS THE PAGE TO LIST YOUR REVIEWS

IF YO HAVE FINISHED, WRAP UP POSTS GO ON THIS PAGE

TO SIGN UP, GO TO THE MAIN CHALLENGE PAGE, HERE,

OR CLICK THE BUTTON ABOVE

LINK YOUR REVIEWS HERE

Please add links to your review posts in the Linky box below. Please put your name and/or the name of your blog or social media handle, the name of the book you reviewed, and the country of the book or author. For example: Gilion at Rose City Reader, War and Peace, Russia.

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LINKS

When you review a book for the 2024 European Reading Challenge, please add it to this list using the Linky widget above. Please link to your review post, NOT the main page of your blog or social media account.

You do not need a blog to participate. If you review books on Instagram, Facebook, goodreads, or some other platform that generates a URL, you can add link to the review in the Linky box above the same as a link to a blog post. Please link to the review, not your profile page. If you have questions about how to find the URL for a social media review post, leave a comment to ask me, email me at gilion at dumasandvaughn dot com, or DM me on Instagram @gilioncdumas.

REVIEWS

You do not have to review books to complete the European Reading Challenge. You can complete the challenge simply by reading one to five books (or more), each set in a different European country or written by an author from a different European country. But if you do review books, please link your reviews here so other people can find them.

Also, if you want to win the Jet Setter Prize, you have to review the books. Only books reviewed count for the prize. If you are competing for the prize, definitely link your reviews here. You can link all your reviews, but only one book per country counts towards the prize.

WRAP UP

If you complete the challenge, please link some kind of wrap up post on the wrap up page. That way, I know who finished the challenge. If you do not do a wrap up post separate from your sign up post -- you just update your original post -- that's fine! But please, please, please link to the updated post after you finish the challenge. It is too hard for me to count all your reviews to figure out if you finished the challenge or not.

NOTE ABOUT DATES

You have to finish reading all books by December 31, 2024. You have until January 31, 2025 to finish your reviews and your wrap up post. I will announce the winner(s) as soon as possible after January 31, 2025.

16 Days to Christmas!

 

17 Days to Christmas!

 

Pocketful of Poseys by Thomas Reed -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Thank you for joining me for Book Beginnings on Fridays. Please share the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are reading this week. You can also share from a book that caught your fancy, even if you are not reading it right now.

MY BOOK BEGINNING

Grace Tingley always struggled letting herself into her mother's cottage, especially when her arms were full. 

-- from Pocketful of Poseys by Thomas Reed (new from Beaufort Books). 

It's hard to know where this story will go, based on this first sentence. But it makes me interested to know more. Grace and her mom must get along, because Grace is going to her mom's house and has a key. But why does her mom not let her in? Is her mom there? And what does she have in her arms? Groceries? Is she her mother's caretaker? Or is something completely different going on?

I like a book beginning that gets me asking all kinds of questions. 

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Please add a link to your Book Beginnings post in the linky box below. If you share on social media, please use the hashtag #bookbeginnings.

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THE FRIDAY 56

The Friday 56 is a natural tie-in with Book Beginnings. The idea is to share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of your featured book. If you are reading an ebook or audiobook, find your teaser from the 56% mark.

Freda at Freda's Voice started and hosted The Friday 56 for a long, long time. She is taking a break and Anne at My Head if Full of Books has taken on hosting duties in her absence. Please visit Anne's blog and link to your Friday 56 post.

MY FRIDAY 56

-- from Pocketful of Poseys:

Their appointment with Bradford Tuttle, the stereotypically oleaginous funeral director, had struck Grace and Brian as easily lasting longer than the average college final exam — lengthened even more by the fact that almost every utterance the man voiced involved increasingly wearing references to your dear departed loved one. Grace didn't feel the least bit guilty about forgetting a detail or two.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

Grace Tingley and Brian Posey are forty-something twins whose lives have gone in very different directions. . . . 

When their widowed mother Cinny, a charter member of Woodstock Nation, is diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, Grace and Brian are there for her last days in hospice care. This is where Cinny reveals her staggering plan for the siblings: They're to sprinkle her ashes, mixed with their father's, at a series of exotic locations around the globe--some remote, some challengingly public, all known and loved by the Poseys.

Joined by their own immediate families, Grace and Brian set off on a funereal odyssey that uncovers more about their parents' relationship, and themselves, than the twins find it easy to admit.

The TBR 24 in '24 Challenge -- WRAP UP PAGE

 

WRAP UP PAGE

FOR THE TBR 23 IN '23 CHALLENGE

January 1, 2023 to December 31, 2023

THIS IS THE PAGE TO LINK YOUR WRAP UP POSTS

TO LINK A REVIEW, GO TO THIS PAGE

TO SIGN UP FOR THE CHALLENGE, GO TO THE MAIN CHALLENGE PAGE OR CLICK THE CHALLENGE BUTTON ABOVE

LINK YOUR WRAP UP POSTS HERE

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WRAP UP LINKS

If you complete the challenge, please link some kind of wrap up post in the Linky box above. That way, I know who finished the challenge. If you just update your original post and do not do a wrap up post separate from your sign up post that's fine! Please still add the link to the updated post in the box above.

If you have trouble adding your link, leave it in a comment and I will add it or email me your link at gilion (at) dumasandvaughn (dot) com and I will add it for you. Please put your name and the name of the your blog or your social media handle and the platform in the comment or email so I can find you. Thanks!

REVIEWS

If you review a book for the TBR 23 in '23 Challenge, please add the link to your review on the review page. Please link to your review post, not the main page of your blog or social media account.

You do not have to have a blog to participate in this challenge. If you review books on Instagram, goodreads, or some other social media, use the link from your social media review post in the Linky box on the review page. Please link to the review, not your profile page. If you have questions about how to find the URL for a social media review post, leave a comment, email me at gilion (at) dumasandvaughn (dot) com, or DM me on Instagram @gilioncdumas.

The TBR 24 in '24 Challenge -- REVIEW PAGE

 

REVIEW PAGE

FOR THE TBR 24 IN '24 CHALLENGE

January 1, 2024 to December 31, 2024

THIS IS THE PAGE TO LIST YOUR REVIEWS

IF YOU HAVE FINISHED, WRAP UP POSTS GO ON THIS PAGE

TO SIGN UP, GO TO THE MAIN CHALLENGE PAGE OR CLICK THE BUTTON ABOVE

LINK YOUR REVIEWS HERE

Please put your name and/or the name of your blog or social media handle and the name of the book you reviewed. (EX: Rose City Reader, War & Peace or @gilioncdumas, Pride & Prejudice.) Please link to your review post and not your blog home page or main social media profile page.

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LINKS

If you review a book for the TBR 24 in '24 Challenge, please add the link to your review in the Linky box above. Please link to your review post, not the main page of your blog or social media account.

You do not have to have a blog to participate in this challenge. If you review books on Instagram, goodreads, or some other social media, use the link from your social media review post in the Linky box above. Please link to the review, not your profile page. If you have questions about how to find the URL for a social media review post, leave a comment, email me at gilion (at) dumasandvaughn (dot) com, or DM me on Instagram @gilioncdumas.

If you have trouble adding your link, leave it in a comment and I will add it or email me your link at gilion (at) dumasandvaughn (dot) com and I will add it for you. Please put your name and the name of the book you reviewed in the comment or email. Thanks!

BOOKS AND REVIEWS

You do not have to review books to complete the TBR 24 in '24 Challenge.

The only point of the challenge is to clear 24 books off your TBR shelf in 2024. You can pick all of them them ahead of time, some of them, or none of them. If you pick them, you can change your mind later and switch books. The only "rule" is that you must own the book before January 1, 2024.

Your TBR shelf can include a virtual shelf of ebooks or audiobooks, as long as you owned them prior to January 1, 2024. It does not include library books.

This is supposed to be fun!

WRAP UP

If you complete the challenge, please link some kind of wrap up post on the wrap up page. That way, I know who finished the challenge. If you just update your original post and do not do a wrap up post separate from your sign up post that's fine too! But please still add the link to the updated post on the wrap up page.

18 Days to Christmas!

 

19 Days to Christmas!

 

20 Days to Christmas!

 

21 Days to Christmas!

 

22 Days to Christmas!

 

23 Days to Christmas!

 

Innocent Blood by P. D. James -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Rabbit! Rabbit! Rabbit! It's December! And it looks like I'm kicking off the holidays by posting my first Book Beginnings late. Sorry!

Thank you for joining me for another month of Book Beginnings on Fridays. Please share the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are reading this week. You can also share from a book that caught your fancy, even if you are not reading it right now. 

Do you read any kind of themed book in December, like Christmas, holidays, winter, snowy, whatever? I always think I'm going to, then end up racing to finish the books I wanted to read this year before the end of the year. 

MY BOOK BEGINNING 

The social worker was older than she had expected; perhaps the nameless official who arranged these matters thought that graying hair and menopausal plumpness might induce confidence in the adopted adults who came for their compulsory counseling.

-- from Innocent Blood by P. D. James. 

I definitely did not pick a holiday-themed book this week! This one caught my eye as an audiobook so I thought it would be fun to listen to while I'm decorating the house. It's a 1979 stand alone by one of my favorite authors. It has strong Ruth Rendell vibes -- more a novel of suspense than a straightforward mystery. 

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Please add a link to your Book Beginnings post in the linky box below. If you share on socia media, please use the hashtag #bookbeginnings.

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THE FRIDAY 56

The Friday 56 is a natural tie-in with Book Beginnings. The idea is to share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of your featured book. If you are reading an ebook or audiobook, find your teaser from the 56% mark.

Freda at Freda's Voice started and hosted The Friday 56 for a long, long time. She is taking a break and Anne at My Head if Full of Books has taken on hosting duties in her absence. Please visit Anne's blog and link to your Friday 56 post.

MY FRIDAY 56

-- from Innocent Blood:

I know that my mother is dead so I can’t trace her, and I may never find my father. But at least if I can find out who my mother was I may get a lead to him.

24 Days to Christmas! An Advent Calendar Tradition!

ADVENT: COUNTDOWN TO CHRISTMAS

One of my favorite blog traditions is counting down the days to Christmas with vintage holiday cards. This has nothing to do with books, but a love for books goes hand in hand with a love for ephemera, like vintage cards. This is the 15th year I've posted an advent calendar here on Rose City Reader. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

If you also like vintage cards and want to see more, click on the "Advent" or "vintage postcard" tags at the bottom of these posts (or bottom of the page) to find hundreds of images from past years. You will find trees, nativity scenes, Santas, elves, cats, birds, dogs, deer, ornaments, gifts, candles, bells, and lots more!

THIS YEAR'S THEME

Usually my advent countdowns are a hodgepodge, but sometimes there is a theme. In past years, I've done all cats, all houses, all animals, all Santas. This year I'm going for all bells. Bells seem very cheerful to me. 

Next task will be to tackle my real Christmas cards. Do you send them? I enjoy seeing all the new-fashioned cards with pictures, so I can see my friends and family. But I always end up sending a traditional boxed card, usually with a snapshot or sticker picture of me and my husband. 

I did order printed cards from Zazzle for my law firm. 2023 is the tenth year my law partner and I have practiced together. That's quite a milestone! 

DECEMBER BLOGGING

Do you have special holiday-themed blogging you do in December? I always plan to but never do more than this advent calendar. I always hope to read holiday, Christmas, wintery, snowy books in December. But I always end up racing to finish the books I picked out at the beginning of the year and I don't have time for any Decemberish books. 

This time of year is also when I get excited to plan next year's challenges. Although with so much else going on, it is hard to get all the posts up before the end of the year. I usually end up planning in December and posting in January.

I am hosting the European Reading Challenge again in 2024 and a TBR 24 in '24 challenge. I will get those posts before the end of the year, I promise!

What are your blogging plans for December? Do they include planning or posting any 2024 reading challenges?

Please join me tomorrow when the Rose City Reader advent calendar continues!

Lord Peter: The Complete Lord Peter Wimsey Stories by Dorothy L. Sayers -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends! I hope you are enjoying this long holiday weekend. I love Thanksgiving because it is such an American tradition and it is the gateway to Christmas!

I am particularly thankful this Thanksgiving because I just finished by final appellate brief in the Boy Scouts sex abuse bankruptcy.  I've been working on Boy Scout sex abuse cases for 17 years, these particular cases for 13 years, and this bankruptcy for almost four years.  It has been a long, hard slog.  It is not over yet, but getting this last brief done is a huge step. 

What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving?  

Thank you also for joining me for Book Beginnings on Fridays this holiday weekend. Please share the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, or just a book that caught your eye. 

MY BOOK BEGINNING

The Egoists’ Club is one of the most genial places in London. It is a place to which you may go when you want to tell that odd dream you had last night, or to announce what a good dentist you have discovered.

- from "The Abominable History of the Man with Copper Fingers," the first story in Lord Peter: The Complete Lord Peter Wimsey Stories by Dorothy L. Sayers. 

I love Sayers's Lord Peter mysteries. I finished the novels a couple of years back but the short stories still sit on my TBR shelf. I am never drawn to short stories, so often find myself with a favorite author's collection of stories left to read after I've finished the novels I was drawn to.  I often just skip them. But Sayers is such a favorite of mine that I want to read these. The long Thanksgiving weekend is the perfect opportunity to get cracking. 

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Please add the link to your Book Beginning post in the linky box below. If you share on social media, please use the hashtag #bookbeginnings. 

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THE FRIDAY 56

The Friday 56 is a natural tie-in with Book Beginnings. The idea is to share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of your featured book. If you are reading an ebook or audiobook, find your teaser from the 56% mark.

Freda at Freda's Voice started and hosted The Friday 56 for a long, long time. She is taking a break and Anne at My Head if Full of Books has taken on hosting duties in her absence. Please visit Anne's blog and link to your Friday 56 post.

MY FRIDAY 56

-- from Lord Peter:

"Bless you, child, I didn’t send out the invitations, but I suppose your brother and that tiresome wife of his will be there. Do come, of course, if you want to."

-- from the story, "The Interesting Episode of the Article in Question."

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

 

Best wishes for a Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends!

Black Mischief by Evelyn Waugh -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Thank you for joining me for Book Beginnings on Fridays! Please share the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are reading this week, or just a book that caught your fancy.

MY BOOK BEGINNING

We, Seth, Emperor of Azania, Chief of the chiefs of Sakuyu, Lord of Wanda and Tyrant of the Seas, Bachelor of the Arts of Oxford University, being in this the twenty fourth year of our life, summoned by the wisdom of Almighty God and the unanimous voice of our people to the throne of our ancestors, do hereby proclaim . . .

-- from Black Mischief by Evelyn Waugh (ellipses in original).

For the last several months, I've been reading Evelyn Waugh books as part of a buddy read group on Instagram.  Our book this month is Black Mischief. I have two copies to chose from. One is an omnibus edition that also includes Vile Bodies, one of our earlier reads. (Some of the same characters appear in both.) The other is a Penguin edition with a Peter Bently cover. The print is a smidge bigger in the Penguin book, so I’m going with that one.

I love Evelyn Waugh books. But this one sat on my TBR shelf for a long time. It is farcical satire about Seth, the Oxford-educated emperor of Azania, a fictional African nation. Seth brings in his college chum Basil Seal to head up Azania’s new Ministry of Modernization.

I’ve dragged my feet over reading it because, given the premise, I feared it wouldn’t have aged well. Apparently, while contemporary readers struggle with Waugh’s depiction of race, his contemporary readers complained the book was anti-Catholic. I decided to read it it with the idea of learning from past cultural mistakes – racial and religious – not glorifying them. That’s always my approach to older books that don’t match our current standards.

But it isn't as dated as I feared. It is really hilariously funny and mostly a send up of soft colonization.  I say soft because Azania is an independent nation. But the island is overrun with western diplomatic legations, missionaries from half a dozen churches, European mercenaries, and an international set of adventurers and tradespeople. The humor is extremely dry and situational, not based on witty comments people make.  

Have you read Black Mischief? Would you?

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Please add the link to your Book Beginnings post in the box below. And please use the #bookbeginnigns hashtag if you share on social media. 

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THE FRIDAY 56

The Friday 56 is a natural tie-in with Book Beginnings. The idea is to share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of your featured book. If you are reading an ebook or audiobook, find your teaser from the 56% mark. 

Freda at Freda's Voice started and hosted The Friday 56 for a long, long time. She is taking a break and Anne at My Head if Full of Books has taken on hosting duties in her absence. Please visit Anne's blog and link to your Friday 56 post. 

MY FRIDAY 56

-- from Black Mischief:

"I wonder if you know anything about this cable. Can't make head or tail of it. Isn't in any of the usual codes. Kt to QR% CH."

That's longer than two sentences, but it only makes sense this way. This statement from the head of the British legation sets up a comic scene later. The "code" he can't figure out is a chess move one of the young people is playing by correspondence. Later, the British butler copies the "code" because he is spying for the head of the French legation. The French guy thinks it is a clue to proving that the British are plotting a takeover of the country. When, in reality, the British guy is a dolt who shirks his job and plots nothing more sinister than how to grow asparagus so he doesn't have to eat it from a can.  

Hanging the Devil by Tim Maleeny -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Thank you for joining me for Book Beginnings on Fridays! 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. You can also share from a book you want to highlight, even if you are not reading it right now.

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.

SOCIAL MEDIA: If you are on Instagram, Twitter, 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. Find me on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

TIE IN: Freda at Freda's Voice is taking a break from hosting her weekly blog event, The Friday 56, a natural tie in with this event. The idea is to share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of your book, or 56% of the way through an e-book or audiobook. Many people, including me, are still posting Friday 56 teasers while Freda takes a break. Please visit her Freda’s Voice blog even if there currently is no place to link your post.

MY BOOK BEGINNING

Grace stared at the Buddha, but the Buddha didn't blink.

-- from Hanging the Devil: A Cape Weathers Mystery by Tim Maleeny. 

This art heist caper sounds like a roller coaster of fun. It is set in San Francisco, which I always love because I lived there for a while, and starts when a helicopter crashes into the Asian Art Museum. It is the fifth book in Maleeny's series featuring private detective Cape Weathers. I have a feeling I'm going to want to read the whole series. 

Hanging the Devil launches November 14 (next week) from Poisoned Pen Press. It is available for pre-order. 

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Please share the pink to your Book Beginnings post in the box below. If you share on social media, please use the hashtag #bookbeginnings.

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MY FRIDAY 26

From Hanging the Devil:

He wanted to ask Maria if that was a compliment or an insult, but his mouth was full. He'd ordered a lot of pancakes.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

When a helicopter crashes through the skylight of the Asian Art Museum, an audacious heist turns into a tragedy. The only witness to the crash is eleven-year-old Grace, who watches in horror as her uncle is killed and a priceless statue stolen by two men and a--ghost? At least that's how the eerie, smoke-like figure with parchment skin and floating hair appears to Grace. Scared almost to death, she flees into the night and seeks refuge in the back alleys of San Francisco's Chinatown.

Grace is found by Sally Mei, self-appointed guardian of Chinatown. While Sally trains Grace in basic survival skills, her erstwhile partner Cape Weathers, private detective and public nuisance, searches for the mysterious crew behind the robbery before they strike the museum a second time. As the clock winds down, Cape enlists aid from some unlikely allies to lay a trap for a ghost who has no intention of being caught--nor of leaving any witnesses alive to tell the tale.