The Secret Place by Tana French -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

The Secret Place by Tana French

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

She came looking for me.

-- from The Secret Place by Tana French. That's sure an enigmatic opening sentence. It could go about anywhere after that. 

The Secret Place is the fifth of six mystery books in Tana French's Dublin Murder Squad series. In a twist from a typical series, there is no one specific protagonist. The main detective in each book is a different detective from the homicide department in Dublin. 

I'm determined to finish the six books. But I admit it has been more of a chore than I anticipated. French's books, and this series in particular, are incredibly popular. They just do not work for me. The first four bothered me because each story was based on an enormous coincidence that were hard to swallow. In three of them, the lead detective had a personal connection to the crime that, inexplicably, he fails to disclose. In one, the female detective is sent in undercover because she looks EXACTLY like the murder victim. They keep the murder quiet and send the detective to live with the victim's former housemates. Yeah, right. 

The fourth one, Broken Harbor, irritated me so much, I almost gave up on the series for good. It is massively long and full of suspense, but the detective never does any detecting. It goes along for over 450 pages without any basic forensic work before the big resolution based on . . . you guessed it . . . basic forensic work! All the time with the lead detective hiding the fact that his sister is involved. 

It's been three years since I read Broken Harbor because I couldn't face another book that made me want to throw it across the room. But I'm a completist and The Secret Place has been hogging space on my TBR shelf for too long. So I am going to read this one and the last one in the series and wrap this up. The good news is The Secret Place does not involve an unbelievable coincidence. The bad news is that it involves teenagers after a murder at a girls' boarding school. Another of my unpopular opinions is that I do not like books about teenagers. I just can't win with Tana French.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

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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 is 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 Secret Place:

"Basically, there was no reason anyone would want to kill Chris Harper. Good kid, by all accounts."

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

A year ago a boy was found murdered at a girlsʼ boarding school, and the case was never solved. Detective Stephen Moran has been waiting for his chance to join Dublin’s Murder Squad when sixteen-year-old Holly Mackey arrives in his office with a photo of the boy with the caption: “I KNOW WHO KILLED HIM.” Stephen joins with Detective Antoinette Conway to reopen the case—beneath the watchful eye of Holly’s father, fellow detective Frank Mackey. With the clues leading back to Holly’s close-knit group of friends, to their rival clique, and to the tangle of relationships that bound them all to the murdered boy, the private underworld of teenage girls turns out to be more mysterious and more dangerous than the detectives imagined.

Book Beginnings on Fridays

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

I woke up this morning, realizing I forgot to post Book Beginnings! What a dolt!

Thanks to the few of you who might see this Book Beginnings on Fridays posted so late on Saturday. 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

I'll skip this week so I can get this up a smidge faster. Then I'll get to work getting next week's post scheduled! 

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 #bookbeginnings hashtag.

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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 is 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

Same! I'll skip and get back to you next week. Thanks for bearing with me. 

Margery Allingham -- FAVORITE AUTHOR, BOOK LIST

FAVORITE AUTHOR, BOOK LIST

Margery Allingham

Marjory Allingham was one of the four Queens of Crime from the Golden Age of mystery fiction, reigning alongside Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Ngaio Marsh. Born in 1904, Allingham wrote dozens of mysteries and other books before her death in 1966. Her most famous body of work is a series featuring Albert Campion, gentleman sleuth.

ALBERT CAMPION BOOKS IN ORDER

• The Crime at Black Dudley (1929) TBR SHELF

• Mystery Mile (1930) TBR SHELF

• Look to the Lady (1931) TBR SHELF

• Police at the Funeral (1931) TBR SHELF

• Sweet Danger (1933) TBR SHELF

• Death of a Ghost (1934) TBR SHELF

• Flowers for the Judge (1936) TBR SHELF

• The Case of the Late Pig (1937) TBR SHELF

• Dancers in Mourning (1937) TBR SHELF

• Mr. Campion: Criminologist (1937) (short stories)

• The Fashion in Shrouds (1938) TBR SHELF

• Mr. Campion and Others (1939) (short stories) TBR SHELF

• Traitor's Purse (1941) TBR SHELF

• Coroner's Pidgin (1945) TBR SHELF

• The Casebook of Mr. Campion (1947) (short stories; I can't find on line)

• More Work for the Undertaker (1948) TBR SHELF

• The Tiger in the Smoke (1952) TBR SHELF

• The Beckoning Lady (1955) TBR SHELF

• Hide My Eyes (1958) TBR SHELF

• The China Governess (1962)

• The Mind Readers (1965) TBR SHELF

• Cargo of Eagles (1968) (completed by her husband)

• The Allingham Casebook (1969) (short stories)

• The Allingham Minibus (1973) (short stories) TBR SHELF

• The Return of Mr. Campion (1989) (short stories)

Allingham's husband, Philip Youngman Carter, finished her last Campion novel, Cargo of Eagles, after her death. He went on to write three more Campion novels under his own name. The last of these was completed after Carter's death by Mike Ripley, who continued the series under his own name. 

Allingham also wrote plays for stage and radio, nonfiction, mysteries without Campion, and other fiction. The mystery and fiction books are:

• Blackkerchief Dick (1923) (historical fiction)

• The White Cottage Mystery (1928)

• Rogues' Holiday (1933) (as Maxwell March)

• The Shadow in the House, aka The Devil and Her Son (1935) (as Maxwell March)

• Black Plumes (1940) TBR SHELF

• The Oaken Heart (1941) (autobiographical fiction) ON LIBBY & SPOTIFY

• Dance of the Years (1943) (autobiographical, historical fiction)

• Wanted: Someone Innocent (1946) (novella and short stories)

• Take Two at Bedtime (1950) (two novellas) TBR SHELF

• No Love Lost (1954) (two novellas) TBR SHELF

• The Darings of the Red Rose (1995) (serialized anonymously in 1930)

• Other Man's Danger, aka The Man of Dangerous Secrets (1931) (as Maxwell March)

My goal is to read all of the Albert Campion novels and short stories. I'm not going to try to read all of her books, although I will read the non-Campion short stories included in the collections I read and the two non-Campion books I already own. 

NOTES

Created on March 19, 2025. 

The e-book editions are available and are usually not very expensive.

Most of the Allingham books I have are part of my collection of vintage, green triband, Penguin Books. I plan to read all my Penguin books and hers come first alphabetically. A good place to start!

WINNER! 2024 European Reading Challenge

 

2024 EUROPEAN READING CHALLENGE

THIS IS THE WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT POST FOR 2024

TO FIND THE 2024 REVIEWS, GO TO THIS PAGE

TO FIND THE 2024 WRAP UP POSTS, GO TO THIS PAGE

THE 2025 EUROPEAN READING CHALLENGE SIGN UP IS AT THIS PAGE

2024 was the 12th year of the European Reading Challenge! The challenge involves reading books set in different European countries or written by authors from different European countries.

My big thanks go to all the participants who joined me for the Grand Tour last year!

JET SETTER GRAND PRIZE WINNER

The 2024 Jet Setter prize goes to Sabine at sabines.literary.world who participated on Instagram. 2024 is the fourth year in a row that this intrepid armchair traveler won the challenge. In 2021, Sabine visited all 50 European states -- TWICE! In 2022, she hit another grand slam, but only one time around the continent. In 2023, she slowed down and "only" visited 35 of the 50 European states. In 2024, she hit her stride again, visited all 50 European states, and reviewed the books she read. Her wrap up post discusses her reading journey. 

Honorary Mention (but no prizes) go to the other nine participants who completed the challenge and posted wrap up posts about the countries they visited and the books they read. Here they are, with the number of different countries visited in parenthesis:

• Alexis Drake on Goodreads (8)

• All About Cosy (10)

• Avid Series Reader (15)

• Cinzia at Quattro passi sulle nuvole (21)

• Maphead's Book Blog (30)

• Mark at Carstairs Considers (4)

• Me, Myself, I Read (and Write) (3)

• Reese at Typings (15)

• Tess at tessreadslibri (6)

My own wrap-up post is here. I read books from 14 different European countries, and four were translations. I didn't even try to review the books I read, which is more than I can handle as long as I am running my own law firm.

Congratulations to all the readers who completed the 2024 challenge!

There is still plenty of time to join us in 2025.

JOIN THE 2025 CHALLENGE! SIGN UP HERE!

The gist: The idea is to read books by European authors or books set in European countries (no matter where the author comes from). The books can be anything – novels, short stories, memoirs, travel guides, cookbooks, biography, poetry, or any other genre. You can participate at different levels, but each book must be by a different author and set in a different country – it's supposed to be a tour.

Sign up HERE for the 2025 Challenge.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

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

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.

-- from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. 

The opening sentence from Pride and Prejudice is so famous, I could type it in from memory. But it is a good one, no matter how hackneyed it has become. 

Because 2025 is the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen's birth, I am rereading her six main books in publication order. Now up is her most popular book. I am reading it as an audiobook this time around. I plan to start this weekend. My only question is whether to go with a British reader for the traditional experience, or this delightful version read in an American Southern accent. Which would you choose?

The book cover, above, is not the cover on my copy. But it is so pretty that I wanted to share it. 

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

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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 is 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 Pride and Prejudice:

Allowing for the common demands of the game, Mr. Wickham was therefore at leisure to talk to Elizabeth, and she was very willing to hear him, though what she chiefly wished to hear she could not hope to be told, the history of his acquaintance with Mr. Darcy. She dared not even mention that gentleman.

 

The Lady of the Mine by Sergei Lebedev -- BOOK REVIEW

 

BOOK REVIEW

The Lady of the Mine by Sergei Lebedev, translated by Antonina W. Bouis

The Lady of the Mine is not an easy read, but it is a powerful one. Set in 2014 when Russia invaded eastern Ukraine, it is the tragic story of a Ukrainian mining village that suffered invaders throughout the 20th Century. There is an abandoned mine shaft in the village filled with the bodies of war victims dating back to the Russian Revolution. More recently, the Nazis executed thousands of Jews and and threw the bodies down the mine during World War II. As much as the Russians would like to expose the crimes of the Nazis, they keep the mine quiet because exposing the Nazis would also expose crimes committed by the Russians during their civil war and by Soviets later. 

That is the grisly backdrop to the 2014 story. When the Russians return to the village, the current conflict revives past miseries, especially when a passenger plan is shot down over the village. 

The book is told from multiple points of view, including a young soldier in the Russian occupying forces, a young woman with generational ties to the mine and people of the village, the former manager of the mine under prior Soviet occupation, and the original mine engineer, speaking from the grave because he is one of the bodies buried in the mine. Because the story is told by so many people and skips around in time, I had a hard time engaging with the book. I had to remind myself who the different narrators were and what their connection was to the historical events in the village. I also missed some of the many references to people, places, and events that are unfamiliar to non-European readers. 

Although I struggled with these aspects of the book, I ended up admiring it very much. It made me think about how dark times in history repeat themselves and the role of ordinary individuals in tumultuous times. Now that Ukraine is again fighting off the Russians, The Lady of the Mine is a particularly moving and significant story.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

The mystical laundress at the center of this novel is obsessed with purity. Her task is formidable as she stands guard over a sealed shaft at a Ukrainian coal mine that hides terrible truths. The bodies of dead Jews lying in its depths seem to attract still more present-day crimes. Acclaimed Russian author Sergei Lebedev portrays a ghostly realm riven by lust and fear just as the Kremlin invades the same part of Ukraine occupied by the Wehrmacht in World War II. Then corpses rain from the sky when a jetliner is shot down overhead, scattering luxury goods along with the mortal remains. Eerie coincidences and gruesome discoveries fill this riveting exploration of an uncanny place where the geography exudes violence, and where the sins of the past are never all that in the past. Lebedev, who has won international praise for his soul-searching prose and unflinching examination of history’s evils, shines light on the fault line where Nazism met Soviet communism, evolving into the new fascism of today’s Russia.

NOTES

The Lady of the Mine was one of my TBR 25 in '25 books and counts as my Ukraine book for the 2025 European Reading Challenge. I got my copy in a LibraryThing Early Reviewer giveaway. 

 

Paris Lost and Found: A Memoir of Love by Scott Dominic Carpenter -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Paris Lost and Found: A Memoir of Love by Scott Dominic Carpenter

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

Hands down my favorite heist ever.

-- from Paris Lost and Found: A Memoir of Love by Scott Dominic Carpenter.

I don't know what to make of that opening sentence. Paris Lost and Found is a memoir about Scott Dominic Carpenter losing his wife to dementia and living in Paris during the pandemic. He's not a criminal who commits heists. Perhaps if I had read his first memoir, French like Moi: a Midwesterner in Paris, I would understand his humor better. Nonetheless, I look forward to reading this one because, while the subject matter is sad, the storytelling is supposed to be very funny. 

See the Publisher's Description below for more details. 

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 #bookbeginnings hashtag.

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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 is 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 Paris Lost and Found:

The gruffness seemed uncalled-for, and out of keeping with the fake garlands of spruce that conferred holiday cheer on the establishment. I wasn't the only one who turned to watch.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

From bizarre encounters on the Metro to comical clashes with authority figures, including a quixotic battle against a flock of migrant parrots, and even the tribulations of dating, Paris Lost and Found unveils sides of the great city that are as quirky as they are authentic. With a unique blend of wit, insight, and wistfulness, Carpenter charts a path through a labyrinth of challenges—only to emerge on the other side, squinting into the bright light of hope and new beginnings.

Anthony Trollope -- FAVORITE AUTHOR, BOOK LIST

 

FAVORITE AUTHOR, BOOK LIST

Anthony Trollope

Thanks to Arches Bookhouse, I’m the happy new owner of a complete set of Anthony Trollope fiction. Plus some.

As you see, this isn’t a fancy set. It’s not even a matching set. These are all reader copies in mismatched paperback editions. I might call this a “collection,” but it’s not a collectible collection. Maybe calling it a "grouping" would be more accurate. Whatever you call it, I love it!

I had to rearrange a several of my paperback book shelves and even cull some books to make room for all of these. The result is a miracle of horizontal and double-deep organization. A common bookworm problem.

Anthony Trollope was a prolific Victorian author who wrote 47 novels, dozens of short stories, travel books, two plays, nonfiction, and several collections of correspondence. He died in 1882. The Trollope Society and the Trollope Society USA are excellent resources for Trollope fans. Both host in-person and online events for members and provide a trove of Trollope information.

The books I got at Arches include all the novels, short stories, and travel writing, plus a book of letters, his autobiography, two “companion” books, and a biography by Victoria Glendinning.

Trollope is best known for his two six-novel series, the Chronicles of Barsetshire and the Palliser Novels. I've read those books, although I'd like to read the Barsetshire novels again. But there are so many others that I haven't read for the first time, so it will be a while before I get to rereads. 

Are you an Anthony Trollope fan? Do you have any favorites or suggestions about which books to prioritize?

Here is Anthony Trollope's bibliography, which are novels unless noted:

The Macdermots of Ballycloran (1847) TBR SHELF

The Kellys and the O’Kellys (1848) TBR SHELF/ON AUDIBLE

La Vendee (1850) TBR SHELF

The Warden (1855) (Chronicles of Barsetshire, Book 1) FINISHED

Barchester Towers (1857) (Chronicles of Barsetshire, Book 2) FINISHED

Doctor Thorne (1858) (Chronicles of Barsetshire, Book 3) FINISHED

The Three Clerks (1858) TBR SHELF/ON AUDIBLE

The Bertrams (1859) TBR SHELF

The West Indies and the Spanish Main (1859) (travel) TBR SHELF

Castle Richmond (1860) TBR SHELF/ON AUDIBLE

Tales of All Countries, 1st Series (1861) (short stories) TBR SHELF

Framley Parsonage (1861) (Chronicles of Barsetshire, Book 4) FINISHED

North America, Volume 1 (1861) (travel) TBR SHELF

Orley Farm (1862) TBR SHELF/ON AUDIBLE/ON SPOTIFY

The Struggles of Brown, Jones, and Robinson, by One of the Firm (1862) TBR SHELF

North America, Volume 2 (1862) (travel) TBR SHELF

Rachel Ray (1863) TBR SHELF

Tales of All Countries, 2nd Series (1863) (short stories) TBR SHELF

North America, Volume 3 (1863) (travel) TBR SHELF
 
The Small House at Allington (1864) (Chronicles of Barsetshire, Book 5) FINISHED

Can You Forgive Her? (1865) (Palliser Novels, Book 1) FINISHED

Miss Mackenzie (1865) TBR SHELF

The Belton Estate (1865) TBR SHELF/ON AUDIBLE

Hunting Sketches (1865) (nonfiction)

Traveling Sketches (1866) (nonfiction)

Clergymen of the Church of England (1866) (nonfiction)

The Last Chronicle of Barset (1867) (Chronicles of Barsetshire, Book 6) FINISHED

The Golden Lion of Granpere (1867) TBR SHELF

The Claverings (1867) TBR SHELF/ON AUDIBLE

Nina Balatka (1867) TBR SHELF

Lotta Schmidt and Other Stories (1867) (short stories) TBR SHELF

Linda Tressel (1868) TBR SHELF

Phineas Finn (1869) (Palliser Novels, Book 2)

He Knew He Was Right (1869) TBR SHELF/ON AUDIBLE/ON SPOTIFY

Did He Steal It? (1896) (play)

On English Prose Fiction as a Rational Amusement (1869) (lectures)

The Vicar of Bullhampton (1870) TBR SHELF/ON AUDIBLE/ON SPOTIFY

An Editor's Tales (1870) (short stories) TBR SHELF

The Commentaries of Caesar (1870 (nonfiction)

Ralph the Heir (1871) TBR SHELF

Sir Harry Hotspur of Humblethwaite (1871) TBR SHELF/ON LIBBY

The Eustace Diamonds (1872) (Palliser Novels, Book 3) FINISHED

Australia and New Zealand, Volume 1 (1873) (travel) TBR SHELF

Australia and New Zealand, Volume 2 (1873) (travel) TBR SHELF

Phineas Redux (1874) (Palliser Novels, Book 4) FINISHED

Lady Anna (1874) TBR SHELF/ON AUDIBLE

Harry Heathcote of Gangoil (1874) TBR SHELF/ON LIBBY

The Way We Live Now (1875) TBR SHELF/ON LIBBY

The Prime Minister (1876) (Palliser Novels, Book 5) FINISHED

The American Senator (1877) TBR SHELF/ON AUDIBLE

South Africa, Volume 1 (1877) (travel) TBR SHELF

South Africa, Volume 2 (1877) (travel) TBR SHELF

The Lady of Launay (1878) TBR SHELF

Is He Popenjoy? (1878) TBR SHELF/ON AUDIBLE

Cousin Henry (1879) TBR SHELF

An Eye for an Eye (1879) TBR SHELF

John Caldigate (1879) TBR SHELF/ON SPOTIFY

Thackeray (1879) (nonfiction)

The Duke’s Children (1880) (Palliser Novels, Book 6) FINISHED

The Life of Cicero, Vol. 1 (1880) (nonfiction)

The Life of Cicero, Vol. 2 (1880) (nonfiction)

Ayala’s Angel (1881) TBR SHELF/ON AUDIBLE

Dr. Wortle’s School (1881) TBR SHELF/ON LIBBY

Marion Fay (1882) TBR SHELF

The Fixed Period (1882) TBR SHELF

Kept in the Dark (1882) TBR SHELF/ON AUDIBLE

Why Frau Frohmann Raised Her Prices and Other Stories (1882) (short stories)

Lord Palmerston (1882) (nonfiction)

Mr. Scarborough’s Family (1883) TBR SHELF

The Landleaguers (1883) TBR SHELF

An Autobiography (1883) (nonfiction) TBR SHELF

An Old Man’s Love (1884) TBR SHELF/ON LIBBY

The Noble Jilt (1923) (play)

London Tradesmen (1927) (nonfiction)

The Tireless Traveler: Twenty Letters to the Liverpool Mercury (1941) TBR SHELF

The New Zealander (1972) (nonfiction)

The Letters of Anthony Trollope (1983)

NOTES

I cobbled together this list from wikipedia and other sources. It may not be 100% accurate, especially about publication dates. If anything is missing or in error, please let me know.

I linked to bookshop.org when I could, just to provide an easy source of information about the books. (Although I do have an account, so I probably get a few pennies if you order any of them.) If bookshop.org didn't have it, I cited to what I could find. 

Because the books are old and out of copyright, you can find many of the texts on line, in generic paperbacks, and very inexpensive "complete works" ebook editions. These last contain almost everything Anthony Trollope wrote, including the hard-to-find books, like his plays and lectures. I can't vouch for their completeness, especially as to posthumously published works. For instance, I could not find a "complete works" that contained his letters, which were published well after his death.  

Many of Trollope's books are available as audiobooks from the library (Libby), Audible, Spotify, LibreVox, and others. Most of them are available for free from LibreVox, but the quality varies. 

Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson

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

As a kid growing up in South Africa, Elon Musk new pain and learned how to survive it.

-- from Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson.

Love him, hate him, don't care -- Elon Musk is in the spotlight. I decided this was the perfect time to read Walter Isaacson's biography of Musk to get a better understanding of this man playing such a huge role in public affairs right now. The book came out at the end of 2023, so does not cover the 2024 election or Musk's role heading up the DOGE. But it offers a lot of insight into this man of the moment. 

Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs was excellent, so I knew this one would be well-written, meticulously researched, and balanced. I just finished it and it is all those things. Musk is a fascinating person. His technological breakthroughs and business successes are jaw-droppingly impressive. He is also a really strange dude and can be a total jerk. I was riveted. I highly recommend this one.   

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 #bookbeginnings hashtag.

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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 is 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 Elon Musk:

They were impressed and wanted him to work full-time, but he needed to graduate in order to get a U.S. work visa. In addition, he came to a realization: he had a fanatic love of video games and the skills to make money creating them, but that was not the best way to spend his life.

There's a lot of Revenge of the Nerds to Musk's story.  

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

The #1 New York Times and global bestseller from Walter Isaacson—the acclaimed author of Steve Jobs, Einstein: His Life and World, Benjamin Franklin, and Leonardo da Vinci—is the astonishingly intimate story of the most fascinating, controversial innovator of modern times. For two years, Isaacson shadowed Elon Musk as he executed his vision for electric vehicles at Tesla, space exploration with SpaceX, the AI revolution, and the takeover of Twitter and its conversion to X. The result is the definitive portrait of the mercurial pioneer that offers clues to his political instincts, future ambitions, and overall worldview.

The Sun's Shadow by Sejal Badani -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

The Sun's Shadow by Sejal Badani

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

I lean over the saddle, my body aligning perfectly with the horse as I prod him to go faster.

-- from The Sun's Shadow by Sejal Badani.

I really enjoyed Sejal Badani’s earlier book, The Storyteller’s Secret (see my Book Beginnings post for that one), so am excited to read her new one, The Sun’s Shadow. It sounds like a family story with a hint of domestic suspense.

  

See the Publisher's Description below for more details. What do you think? 

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 #bookbeginnings hashtag.

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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 is 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 Sun's Shadow:

Unsure of my destination, I navigate the empty streets in the dark. I stare at the stars in the open sky, wondering if what lies past them holds the solution to what is happening to my son.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

Celine’s life is spiraling out of control. She’s in danger of losing the beloved equestrian farm that was her childhood home. Her distant husband, Eric, is devoting a suspicious amount of time to a stunning new colleague. Then her young son, Brian, receives a devastating cancer diagnosis. As her life falls apart, she faces an impossible fight

Felicity has uprooted her career and her teenage son, Justin, to get closer to Eric. She’s tired of keeping his secrets―that Eric’s frequent “business trips” have been time spent with her and Justin. Felicity is determined to get her happily ever after, even if it means confronting Celine at a delicate time.

But when Brian’s prognosis worsens, and a transplant from Justin becomes his best chance at survival, Felicity must make a wrenching decision about her son’s well-being―and Celine must accept that the “other woman” is her only hope.

In another life Celine and Felicity might have been friends. Can they put aside the pain between them to do what’s best for their families―and their own futures?

Pipsqueaks! Little Books with a Big Novelty Punch -- BOOK THOUGHTS

BOOK THOUGHTS

Pipsqueaks! Little Books with a Big Novelty Punch

Oh, the pipsqueaks! You know the little books that accumulate in your house? I don’t mean short books, although most are. I mean books that are physically small and often have what I think of as a novelty aspect to them. They are typically illustrated, often compilations, and are quick reads. They usually arrive as gifts or impulse purchases. They are the kind of little books often found at the checkout counter of bookstores.

I think of these little books as pipsqueaks. They hide on my shelves and occasionally squeak at me. They are meant to be read immediately and don't like being left on the shelf like an unread copy of Don Quixote or Moby Dick. In the interest of quieting the squeaking and clearing space on my shelves (admittedly, not much), I’ve gathered a very short stack of these cute little things, with the goal of reading them soon to get them off my shelves and out of my brain.

Would you have impulse purchased any of these?

• With Thanks & Appreciation: Thoughts, Sentiments, Tokens & Traditions of the Past by Pat Ross. Apparently, double-barreled titles are another feature of these books. I see there is a note inside telling me this was a gift from the realtor who helped me buy my first house back in 1989! Good grief! I need to read it or just pass it on.

• Bamboo Farmer Wisdom: 101 Inspirational Thoughts by Greg Bell. Greg is a friend of mine who wrote Water the Bamboo: Unleashing The Potential Of Teams And Individuals, an excellent business leadership/self-help book that I reviewed here. Bamboo Farmer Wisdom is a sort of tag along collection of inspirational aphorisms.

• Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative by Austin Kleon. This is a perfect example of what I am talking about. I grabbed this one day when I was shopping at Powell's, intending to read it that afternoon. Several years later, it is still on my shelf. Time to remedy that!

• I Could Pee on This: And Other Poems by Cats by Francesco Marciuliano. Didn’t every cat owner get this in a Christmas stocking hen it first came out? I think I got three copies!

• Freedom Feminism: Its Surprising History and Why it Matters Today by Christine Hoff Sommers. This is the only substantive book in the stack. I got it from American Enterprise Institute when I joined its Leadership Network and meant to read it right away.

• Bad Dad Jokes: That’s How Eye Roll by Bart King. My friend Jack Ohman illustrated this one, so I got a copy when they launched it.

• Literary Feasts: Inspired Eating from Classic Fiction by Sean Brand. This one is an understandable impulse purchase, since I will buy any books, whatever its size or format, that combines books and food.

• What Shall I Say: A Guide to Letter Writing for Ladies, no author, is a facsimile of an 1898 self-help book. I found it in a Little Free Library and couldn't resist. 

• The St. Trinian’s Story: And the Pick of the Searle Cartoons, compiled by Kaye Webb, illustrated by Robert Searle. Another LFL find. I knew nothing about Searle or St. Trinian's, but google tells me that Ronald Searle was a British artist and satirical cartoon artist. He created the famous, fictional St. Trinian's School as the subject of comic strips, books, and movies. 

• An Englishman’s Commonplace Book by Roger Hudson. It is unfair to lump this gorgeous Slightly Foxed edition with the others. For one thing, it isn't so little. But it is a very short compilation of brief observations, quips, and quotes, so has the high novelty value that makes it a pipsqueak to me.

What pipsqueaks are hiding on your shelves?

Jane Austen's 250th Birthday -- FAVORITE AUTHOR, BOOK LIST

FAVORITE AUTHOR/BOOK LIST

Jane Austen's 250th Birthday

Did someone say bandwagon? Yes, I’ll jump on!

As we’ve all noticed, 2025 is Jane Austen’s 250th birthday. Or, technically, it is the 250th anniversary of her birth, because she isn't celebrating anymore. But we can! Like others, I plan to reread her six major novels in celebration of this milestone. I may get to some of her other works as well.

I’m going to read them in publication order. I’m too Teutonic in my reading habits to do it any other way. There are readalong groups reading by popularity and other criteria, but chronologically is my preference. Because she stopped and started her writing of some of the books, there is uncertainty about the precise order in which she wrote them, particularly the last two. So I'm going with publication order, not the order in which they were necessarily written. 

Jane Austen is a favorite of mine, ever since I first encountered her as an English Lit major in college. I’ve read the six major novels before, most of them two or three times. This time around, I plan to read them with my ears because I haven’t experienced them as audiobooks. 

My set, shown in the picture above, is a Book of the Month Club special edition issued 25 years ago for the anniversary of her 225th birthday. My then sweetheart, soon to be husband, gave it to me for my birthday that year. 

I read Sense and Sensibility in January. I’m happy to be back in Austenland!

Are you reading any Jane Austen books this year? What’s your favorite?

WRITINGS OF JANE AUSTEN

Austen wrote six major novels, another novel that she never submitted for publication, two unfinished novels, a play, poems, letters, prayers, and a large collection of juvenilia published in three volumes. 

Here is the list of Jane Austen's six main novels, in publication order. These are the books I plan to reread this year: 

• Sense and Sensibility (1811)
• Pride and Prejudice (1813)
• Mansfield Park (1814)
• Emma (1816)
• Northanger Abbey (1818, posthumous)
• Persuasion (1818, posthumous)

Austen's other writings, which I may get to someday, but probably not this year, are:

• Lady Susan (the novel she never submitted for publication; published in 1871)
• The Watsons (novel begun in 1803 and abandoned in 1805; fragment published in 1871)
• Sanditon (novel begun in 1817 and left unfinished at her death in July of that year; fragment published in 1925)
• Sir Charles Grandison (a play adapted around 1800 from a novel by Samuel Richardson; published in 1980)
• Plan of a Novel (satire written in 1815; first published in 1926)
• Poems (written 1796–1817; perhaps published at her death in 1817, but I can't pin that down)
• Prayers (written 1796–1817; same as poems)
• Letters (written 1796–1817; same as poems)
• Juvenilia in Three Volumes (written 1787 to 1793, when she was 11 to 17 years old; organized by Austen into three volumes; perhaps first published in 1954, since updated) 

There is a Kindle omnibus edition of that includes Lady Susan, The Watsons, Sanditon, Plan of a Novel, Sir Charles Grandison, and the three volumes of Juvenilia. This is all the minor works except the poems, prayers, and letters. At the time I wrote this post, the Kindle omnibus was $.99. 

 

How to Winter: Harness Your Mindset to Thrive on Cold, Dark, or Difficult Days by Kari Leibowitz -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

How to Winter by Keri Liebowitz, PhD.

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

Located more than two hundred miles north of the Arctic Circle, Tromsø, Norway, is home to an extreme and special winter, when the world often appears blue-tinted, snow cloaks the city in quiet, and the northern lights dance in the sky.

-- from How to Winter: Harness Your Mindset to Thrive on Cold, Dark, or Difficult Days by Kari Leibowitz, PhD. 

A friend of mine gave me this book for Christmas and I want to read it while it is still winter. It is aimed at people who don't like winter, so I am not really the target audience. Maybe if I lived some place where winters are harsh, I'd dislike winter. But here in the Pacific Northwest, winter is pretty mild. We definitely get the dark, shorter days, and the weather is chilly and damp. But we don't usually get snow and it rarely dips below freezing. I enjoy the change of season very much, although I understand that some people don't. 

Still, Leibowitz has interesting ideas for how to deal with the winter blues, so I am enjoying the book. She also makes an effort to explain how her advice and tips can be applied to any depressing situation -- more of a winter of the soul than a season. 

For more on winter in Portland and a list of 18 wintery book, check out my post from earlier this week. 

 

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 #bookbeginnings hashtag.

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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 is 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 How to Winter:

The recommendations in this book are not one-size-fits-all. Rather, they are a smorgasbord of psychological tools and winter strategies that anyone can use, wherever you live, to cultivate more adaptive mindsets and embrace the darkest time of year.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

Do you dread the end of Daylight Saving Time and grouch about the long, chilly season of gray skies and ice? Do you find yourself in a slump every January and February? What if there were a way to rethink this time of year? Psychologist and winter expert Kari Leibowitz’s galvanizing HOW TO WINTER uses mindset science to help readers embrace winter as a season to be enjoyed, not endured—and in turn, learn powerful lessons that can impact our mental wellbeing throughout the year.

Wintery Books -- BOOK THOUGHTS

 BOOK THOUGHTS

Wintery Books

Snow is coming!

It is supposed to snow here in Portland this week, although I've been fooled already this winter. If it does snow, it will be a big deal for us. As cold, wet, and gray as Portland winters are, we can go whole seasons without a snowflake. When we do get snow, three to four inches can shut down the city. Yes, much of the shutdown is because we aren’t equipped to deal with it. But I grew up in the Midwest and the snow we get here is not like Midwest snow. 

Here, the snow usually comes when it has been raining and then the temperature drops. So first the wet streets freeze, then we get an inch or so of snow on top of that ice. That's bad enough. But then it thaws just enough to make the snow wet before it freezes again. That's when we get the ice/snow/ice sandwich. It's incredibly slippery and this is a hilly city. Forget winter tires or four wheel drive. It's just ice and it’s treacherous. 

Personally, I love a good snow day (or even a snow week). I have no place to go and no kids to entertain, so as long as the pantry is stocked (and the liquor cabinet), I’m happy to curl up with a good book and wait for everything to melt.

The forecast will most likely change and we will get more rain, not snow. But just in case, I made a stack of wintery books. See any here you’d read while the snow’s coming down?

• The Winter’s Tale by William Shakespeare

• Ice Palace by Edna Ferber

• The Winter of our Discontent by John Steinbeck

• The Case of the Abominable Snowman by Nicholas Blake

• There Came Both Mist and Snow by Michael Innes

• Blood Upon the Snow by Hilda Lawrence

• Chilled to the Bone by Quentin Bates

• Cold Storage, Alaska by John Straley

• If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler by Italo Colvino

• In Cold Domain by Anne Fine

• The Ice Saints by Frank Tuohy

• Snow Angels by James Thompson

• Chilly Scenes of Winter by Ann Beattie

• Arctic Chill by Arnaldur Indriðason

• A Spell of Winter by Helen Dunmore

• Frozen Tracks by Åke Edwardson

• Wintersmoon by Hugh Walpole

• The Cold Millions by Jess Walter

Just seeing these gathered together make be want to put on a wooly sweater, curl up in front of the fireplace with a warm beverage, and get to reading!

What winter mix of books can you find on your shelves?

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

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

Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

-- from Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. This is one of the most famous opening lines of any book. I am so glad to finally experience it for myself, in context. 

Anna Karenina is one of those classics I have wanted to read forever, yet it languished on my TBR shelf. I finally read War and Peace a couple of years ago as a chapter-a-day slow read. I don't do well with the slow read idea. I'm more of a bolter. I don't like to eke out a book. So no slow read of Anna Karenina for me. I'm reading it straight through. It is one of my TBR 25 in '25 books and on my Classics Club II list. 

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 #bookbeginnings hashtag.

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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 is 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 Anna Karenina:

Immediately after dinner Kitty came in. She knew Anna Arkadyevna, but only very slightly, and she came now to her sister’s with some trepidation, at the prospect of meeting this fashionable Petersburg lady, whom everyone spoke so highly of.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

At its simplest, Anna Karenina is a love story. It is a portrait of a beautiful and intelligent woman whose passionate love for a handsome officer sweeps aside all other ties - to her marriage and to the network of relationships and moral values that bind the society around her. The love affair of Anna and Vronsky is played out alongside the developing romance of Kitty and Levin, and in the character of Levin, closely based on Tolstoy himself, the search for happiness takes on a deeper philosophical significance.

One of the greatest novels ever written, Anna Karenina combines penetrating psychological insight with an encyclopedic depiction of Russian life in the 1870s. The novel takes us from high society St Petersburg to the threshing fields on Levin's estate, with unforgettable scenes at a Moscow ballroom, the skating rink, a race course, a railway station. It creates an intricate labyrinth of connections that is profoundly satisfying, and deeply moving.