Tuesday Intro -- Letters from Paris

Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the first paragraph of her current read. Anyone can join in. Go to Diane's website for the image and share the first paragraph of the current book you are reading.
I wrote about this book Letters from Paris by Juliet Blackwell for Dreaming of France on Monday, so I thought I'd share the intro today. The book goes back and forth in time from Claire Broussard who grew up in Louisiana and travels to Paris after the death of her grandmother who raised her. She's

trying to track down the artists who make masks like the one she found in her attic as a child, and the mask might be connected to her own history. The book jumps back in time to 1897 to tell the story of Sabine, a young French woman who travels to Paris in hopes of finding work.

Here's the intro from the prologue:

February 27, 1898
He sleeps.
Sabine creeps across the dark studio before dawn, beseeching the silent faces not to betray her. They watch her every move, mute witnesses to her crime.
Slipping through the door, she winces at the scraping sound of metal on metal as she pauses to latch it behind her. Fog envelops her,, the mist cutting through her threadbare blouse and underthings, wet needles of cold air piercing her skin. 

  I'm also joining in with Teaser Tuesday which is a weekly bookish meme, hosted Ambrosia @The Purple Booker.
Here's my teaser from page 65:

Claire's stomach growled again. And knock her over with a feather: there was a McDonald's. Right there on the Champs-Elysees.
If that wasn't a sign, she didn't know what was. Claire ducked into the fast-food restaurant. 

I don't know about you, but I'm a little put off by an American who eats at McDonalds when in France. We did it when we traveled with the kids, but I would have to be super homesick pass up French restaurants and cafes to eat at McDonalds.

Here are the kids outside a McDonalds as we drove through France. 

Hope everyone is reading something good.

Tuesday Intros -- The Perfect Comeback of Caroline Jacobs

Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the first paragraph of her current read. Anyone can join in. Go to Diane's website for the image and share the first paragraph of the current book you are reading.
Today, I was determined to have an intro that is not connected to France. So I chose The Perfect Comeback of Caroline Jacobs by Matthew Dicks.  Truthfully, I hesitate to pick up a book written by a man, especially a man writing from a woman's viewpoint, but the story sounds interesting so I

thought I'd try it.
Here's the intro:

Caroline Jacobs rose, pointed her finger at the woman seated at the center of the table reserved for the PTO president and her officers, and said it. Shouted it, in fact. In the cafeteria of Benjamin Banneker High School, surrounded by crowded bulletin boards, scuffed linoleum, and the lingering smell of chicken nuggets, Caroline Jacobs had shouted a four-letter word. The four-letter word.
The room fell silent. 

 I'm also joining in with Teaser Tuesday which is a weekly bookish meme, hosted Ambrosia @The Purple Booker.
Here's my teaser from page 37:

"Your daughter attacked another student in the biology lab this morning."
"She attacked someone?"
"Yes," Dr. Powers said. "A classmate. Mr. Schultz said that the girls were arguing about something in the back of the classroom and then Polly began shouting. Using profanity, from what I'm told. Before Mr. Shultz could reach them to intervene, Polly had punched Miss Dinali in the face. In the nose to be exact."

Interested to see where this books goes. What do you think?

Tuesday Intros -- The Paris Effect

Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the first paragraph of her current read. Anyone can join in. Go to Diane's website for the image and share the first paragraph of the current book you are reading.
The cover of this book definitely sucked me in, and I'm so glad I read The Paris Effect by KSR Burns. I'll be reviewing it for FranceBookTours on January 10 so I hope you'll come back to see my review and  have a chance to win a copy.

Amy and her closest friend Kat spent years planning the perfect Paris trip, which they would take place whenever Kat conquered cancer and Amy's husband absented himself on a long business trip. But Kat didn't survive, so Amy finds herself sneaking off to Paris alone.
Here's the intro:

Seven p.m. A Wednesday. Two weeks to the day after the funeral. Kat is dead. I am not.
What I am is hungry.
And majorly pissed off at William. 

I'm also joining in with Teaser Tuesday which is a weekly bookish meme, hosted Ambrosia @ The Purple Booker.

Here's the teaser:

He falls asleep thirty seconds later and I lie next to him, watching his chest rise and fall. I will wait two more days and then I will take the home pregnancy test I have stashed behind the towels in the linen closet.

and

Accordingly, the Sacre Couer painting in the window is not only non-contrite but sassy. It vibrates, quivers, shimmers, twitches with joy. It yearns to jump up and do the cancan.

I love this  interpration of Sacre Couer, the big white church located in Montmartre with a spectacular view of Paris (see my previous post).
Although the cover might make you think this book is chick lit, it deals with some heavy subjects and has a slightly sinister feel, leaving me very anxious throughout as I sped through to find out what happened. You can find it here at Amazon for $4.99 on Kindle or $11.99 in paperback.
I'm excited to see what everyone else is reading too.
Thanks for visiting and commenting.

First Paragraph, Teaser Tuesday -- The Hundred-Foot Journey

Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the first paragraph of her current read. Anyone can join in. Go to Diane's website for the image and share the first paragraph of the current book you are reading.

This is the original cover
for the book.

I've seen so much about this book and its incarnation as a movie, that I have to read it. I've had a copy of the book in the house before and my husband read it. He liked it. For some reason, I'm having trouble getting through it. It begins in Mumbai then moves to London, Lumiere (a small town in the French Alps) then Paris. Sally and Sim have both blogged a lot about the movie. The movie was filmed in Sally's French village and Sim has the trailers up.
Maybe I need to skip ahead to the France parts. My blog friends
Here's the intro of the book:

I, Hassan Haji, was born, the second of six children, above my grandfather's restaurant on the Napean Sea Road in what was then called West Bombay, two decades before the great city was renamed Mumbai. I suspect my destiny was written from the very start, for my first sensation of life was the smell of machli ka salan, a spicy fish curry, rising through the floorboards to the cot in my parents' room above the restaurant. To this day I can recall the sensation of those cot bars pressed up coldly against my toddler's face, my nose poked out as far as possible and searching the air for that aromatic packet of cardamom, fish heads, and palm oil, which, even at that young age, somehow suggested there were unfathomable riches to be discovered and savored in the free world beyond.

 I'm joining Teaser Tuesday this week too.
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Open to a random page of your current read  and share a teaser sentence from somewhere on that page. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teaser.

Here's the cover for the
book now that it's about
to be a movie. 

And here's my teaser from page 93:

"Talent," she said through the muffled clutch of her napkin. "Talent that cannot be learned. That skinny Indian teenager has that mysterious something that comes along in a chef once a generation. Don't you understand? He is one of those rare chefs who is simply born. He is an artist. A great artist." 

Has anyone else read this book? I hope the book is as good as the trailers for the movie look.
I'm also joining in with Paris in July since this book is mostly set in France.

First Paragraph, Teaser Tuesday -- Mr. Lynch's Holiday

Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the first paragraph of her current read. Anyone can join in. Go to Diane's website for the image and share the first paragraph of the current book you are reading.
I got the book Mr. Lynch's Holiday by Catherine O'Flynn after seeing someone else feature it on First Paragraph, Tuesday Teaser. I hope I like it.

Here's the intro:

He arrived on a cloudless day. As he stepped onto the tarmac, he looked up at the sky and saw nothing but blue and the traces left by other planes.

Fairly succinct opening. The basics are that Dermot Lynch takes his first vacation from Birmingham in many years to visit his son Eamonn who lives on the coast of Spain. He learns Eamonn's secrets and becomes the center of the ex-pat community .
I'm joining Teaser Tuesday this week too.
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Open to a random page of your current read  and share a teaser sentence from somewhere on that page. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teaser.
Here's mine from page 10:

Eamonn nodded. "That's good." He wanted nothing more than to crawl back into his bed, to finally fall asleep and on waking discover that his father's arrival had been an unsettling dream. "So..." He was still nodding. "Is this a holiday, then?" 

I hope I find some other books to add to my list today as I visit everyone's blog.

First Paragraph, Tuesday Teaser -- Dreaming in French

Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the first paragraph of her current read. Anyone can join in. Go to Diane's website for the image and share the first paragraph of the current book you are reading.
I was renewing library books when I realized one of the books is due on Thursday and I haven't started reading it. I quickly pulled it from the shelf and started yesterday -- Dreaming in French by Megan McAndrew.

I thought I liked the cover, but the more I look at it... I thought she had her face against her knee, but it can't be her knee because it is too skinny. I'm not sure. Amazon has a different cover for it now.
Here's the intro:

Astrid became a Marxist after it stopped being fashionable, even in France, but fashion, as she always told us, was for people without imagination. How a woman who shopped at Sonia Rykiel could have discovered within herself a sudden solidarity with the working classes was a matter for some perplexity, though not on the part of Lea, who expressed the view that our mother was unstable. At sixteen my older sister was cultivating cynicism. She had also just gone on the pill, which was easy to do in those days. All it took was a visit to the clinique on Rue Bonaparte, where the darkly handsome Docteur Bernard, who looked more like a hairdresser than a gynecologist, dispensed contraception to the young sirens of the Sixth Arrondissement after the most nominal of examinations and, it was rumored, occasionally seduced one, though Lea was disappointingly not among their number. Why Lea had sought birth control was in itself cause for speculation, since she didn't have a boyfriend. But, as she grimly told me, it was better to be prepared. Grimness was a sentiment that gripped Lea frequently. Like Vera in War and Peace, my older sister saw herself as the only dignified member of a ridiculous family. She bore our mother's idiosyncrasies stoically but, in her heart, my sister thought of herself as French, and French mothers did not go to ashrams in India, or march in demonstrations, or hire Maoist housepainters, or walk around the apartment wearing nothing but red nail polish. 

I'm joining in with Teaser Tuesday this week too, but the intro is so long that I'll let it stand for both First Paragraph and Tuesday Teaser.
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Open to a random page of your current read  and share a teaser sentence from somewhere on that page. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teaser.
Looking forward to seeing all of your books.

First Paragraph, Tuesday Teaser -- The Valley of Amazement

Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the first paragraph of her current read. Anyone can join in. Go to Diane's website for the image and share the first paragraph of the current book you are reading.
Yesterday I started Amy Tan's The Valley of Amazement. I'm expecting great things because it's by Amy Tan.

Here's the intro:

When I was seven, I knew exactly who I was: a thoroughly American girl in race, manners, and speech, whose mother, Lulu Minturn, was the only white woman who owned a first-class courtesan house in Shanghai.

Also this week  is Teaser Tuesdays. Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Open to a random page of your current read  and share a teaser sentence from somewhere on that page. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teaser.
And here's my teaser from page 97:

The woman's face was contorted and her shouts were faint, distant. She had deafened one ear. She slapped my face and more stinging tears rose. "Do you understand?" she said in a faraway voice. I could not gather my senses long enough to answer before more slaps followed.  

Sounds totally different from the intro, doesn't it? Things must really go south for this character in the first hundred pages.

First Paragraph, Tuesday Teaser -- The Supreme Macaroni Company

Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the first paragraph of her current read. Anyone can join in. Go to the website for Diane's image and share the first paragraph of the book you are reading.

Who doesn't love Adriana Trigiani? Well, I do and I was excited to see a new novel by her at the library. So I'm starting The Supreme Macaroni Company. This book deals with characters that Trigiani has written about before -- Valentina who runs a shoe company in Greenwich Village and gets its leather from a manufacturer in Italy. After marrying an Italian tanner, Valentina must adjust to life with a family and continue to run her struggling business. Here's the intro:

The Hudson River lay flat and black like a lost evening glove. The clouds parted overhead as the distant moon threw a single, bright beam over lower Manhattan as though it were looking for its other half.

Also this week is Tuesday Teasers by Miz B of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along. Open to a random page of your current read and share a teaser sentence from somewhere on that page. Be careful not to include spoilers. Share the author and the title too.
Here's a teaser from page 20:

All my emotional trigger points jammed, and my gut spasmed. All I could think was that the happiest moment of my life was being ruined by these nut jobs. So instead of behaving with maturity, I sank to their level, buckled under the pressure like a hormone-enraged tween, and shouted at them in my highest soprano. "What the hell is going on here? What's wrong with you people? You're ruining Christmas?" 

 Sounds like a family that speaks their feelings. I'm looking forward to this book.

First Paragraph, Tuesday Teaser -- The Chocolate Touch

Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the first paragraph of her current read. Anyone can join in. Go to Diane's website for the image and share the first paragraph of the current book you are reading.
Continuing my obsession with France, and looking for a bit of an escape, I'm starting The Chocolate Touch

by Laura Florand.
Here's the intro:

"She's back."
Dom straightened from the enormous block of chocolate he was creating, gave his maîtresse de salle, Guillemette, a disgruntled look for having realized he would want to know that, and slipped around to the spot in the glass walls where he could get the best view of the salle below. He curled his fingers into his palms so he wouldn't press his chocolaty hands to the glass and leave a stain like a kid outside a candy shop.

 I'm not too sure about the plot for this, except it's about a woman who eats chocolate and a man who makes chocolate and it's set in Paris. What else could I ask for?
Also this week  is Teaser Tuesdays. Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Open to a random page of your current read  and share a teaser sentence from somewhere on that page. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teaser.
Here's my teaser from page 38:

Dominique always liked that first moment when he stepped into the street, carrying the scent of cacao with him so strongly that people turned to look at him, trying to catch his flavor.

Yum, why didn't I marry a man who makes chocolate?

First Paragraph, Tuesday Teaser -- Together Tea

Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the first paragraph of her current read. Anyone can join in. Go to Diane's website for the image and share the first paragraph of the current book you are reading.
This is a book I haven't started yet but it's next on my list. Together Tea by Marjan Kamali.

As the main character, Mina, turns 25, her mother decides to find her a husband. Growing up in New York, Mina does not understand her Iranian mother. The two travel to Iran together to grow closer.
Here's the intro:

Mina was half-asleep when her mother, Darya, called to say that she'd found the perfect gift for her twenty-fifth birthday. "His name is Mr. Dashti," Darya said almost breathless on the phone. "Two degrees. A PhD and an MBA. He's a descendant of the third cousin of Reza Shah. He lives in Atlanta. Has perfect health. The nicest teeth. He'll be here on Sunday afternoon for tea and questions. Please, Mina, no tricks this time. I've done the numbers. And wear the lavender dress with your new belt." 

Sounds like the mother might be a little overbearing.

Also this week  is Teaser Tuesdays. Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Open to a random page of your current read  and share a teaser sentence from somewhere on that page. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teaser.
Here's my teaser from page 63:

The river reflected the streetlights, and all Mina could hear was the passing traffic on the Drive. As she jogged along Riverside Park, Mina saw Mr. Dashti's doughy hands holding his tea and his look of hesitation when their eyes met. Of course he was like all the other men: well educated, polite, careful. But there was something different this time. Maybe it was the palpable relief she saw on his face when they didn't click. The sense that he was equally lost in this messy matchmaking business. He didn't want it either. Poor Mr. Dashti was just as stuck as she was.

I like this because she's on a run, and I'm not able to go on a run this morning, so she's doing it for me.
This book is priced at $1.99 on Kindle when I looked it up. Just in case  you want an inexpensive read.

First Paragraph, Tuesday Teaser -- The Collector of Dying Breaths

Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the first paragraph of her current read. Anyone can join in. Go to Diane's website for the image and share the first paragraph of the current book you are reading.
This week I'm starting a new book for France Book Tours. It's The Collector of Dying Breaths by MJ

Rose. I've read another novel by her that I enjoyed. The attention to scent detail is amazing. This book is about the man who became the perfumer for Catherine de Medici and somehow becomes obsessed with bringing two people back to life. Hope it doesn't go too sci fi on me. The book comes out on April 8, but I received a preview copy from the publisher.
Here's the intro:

March 1, 1573, Barbizon, France.
Written for my son to read upon my death, from his father, René le Florentin, perfumer to Catherine de Medici, Queen Mother.
It is with irony now, forty years later, to think that if I had not been called a murderer on the most frightening night of my life, there might not be any perfume in Paris today. And that scent -- to which I gave my all and which gave me all the power and riches I could have hoped for -- is at the heart of why now it is I who call myself a murderer.

Also this week  is Teaser Tuesdays. Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Open to a random page of your current read  and share a teaser sentence from somewhere on that page. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teaser.
Here's a teaser from 45% on my Kindle:

"His time at court must come to an end," Henry said. "You are right. If the Protestants were to hear that my wife was engaged in black magic and spread rumors to that effect, it could be ruinous for her and for me." 

It looks like this book has a modern-day character from one of her previous books, Seduction, which I reviewed in May 2013. Check back on April 9 for my review of The Collector of Dying Breaths.

First Paragraph, Tuesday Teaser -- Little White Lies and Butterflies

Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the first paragraph of her current read. Anyone can join in. Go to Diane's website for the image and share the first paragraph of the current book you are reading.
I started reading author Suzie Tullett's latest novel Little White Lies and Butterflies. It's on sale on Amazon

Kindle for 99 cents for two more days. The synopsis explains that Lydia, almost 30 and still single, realizes that women can't really have it all so she focused on finding the right guy rather than building a career. She decides her life needs a major shake up so she takes refuge on a Greek island and reinvents herself. She gets herself into trouble with a white lie about being a chef and finds herself catering a wedding in Greece.

"Well that's it!" I announced, having just landed at Mum and Dad's house for our customary Sunday lunch gathering. "My life as I know it is officially over!"
I paused, waiting for that all important condoling response. Daft enough to expect at least a modicum of sympathy from within the bosom of my family, I quickly realised I should've known better. The Linvingstons didn't do compassion. 

Also this week  is Teaser Tuesdays. Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Open to a random page of your current read  and share a teaser sentence from somewhere on that page. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teaser.
Here's a teaser from 21% on my Kindle:

I could tell by their excitable tone that they were, no doubt, all exchanging the latest in gossip and it wouldn't have surprised me if this included a conversation about the made, English woman.
"Have you heard about the basket case who's tried to pass herself off as a chef?" one of them was probably asking.

 I'm not too far into this one yet. What do you think?

First Paragraph, Teaser Tuesday -- Confessions of a Paris Party Girl

Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the first paragraph of her current read. Anyone can join in. Go to Diane's website for the image and share the first paragraph of the current book you are reading.
This week I started a book for France Book Tours called Confessions of a Paris Party Girl by Vicki

Lesage. It's a story about Lesage's trip to France as a young 20-something and so far, it looks like partying was an important part of the trip. Here's the intro from Chapter 1:

I would like to say that when I first stepped off the plane and embarked on my new life in France, something memorable happened. Or something funny or amazing or romantic or at least worth writing about. Truth is, I don't remember. I take that to be a good thing. Considering all the mishaps I've had since moving here, "uneventful" nearly equals "good" in my book.
Looking back all these years later, I see myself as a hopeful, naive girl full of energy stepping off that plane. Tired of running into my ex-boyfriend seemingly everywhere around my midwestern American hometown, and having been unceremoniously freed from my IT job, this fearless 25-year-old was ready for a change. 

Also this week  is Teaser Tuesdays. Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Open to a random page of your current read  and share a teaser sentence from somewhere on that page. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teaser.
Here's a teaser from 19% on my Kindle as she explains a popular fondue restaurant in Paris:

I lied when I said I didn't know what I liked most about the place. Their gimmick is that you drink wine out of baby bottles and this is what stole my heart. It's a guaranteed hit with out-of-town guests, who wear out their camera batteries in various poses with the baby bottles. 

First Paragraph, Tuesday Teaser -- My Wish List

Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the first paragraph of her current read. Anyone can join in. Go to Diane's website for the image and share the first paragraph of the current book you are reading.
I'll be reviewing this book for FranceBookTours on March 19. I've already finished My Wish List by Gregoire Delacourt, but wanted to share the intro with you.

We're always telling ourselves lies.
For instance, I know I'm not pretty. I don't have blue eyes, the kind in which men gaze at their own reflection, eyes in which they want to drown so that I'll dive in to rescue them. I don't have the figure of a model,  I'm more the cuddly sort -- well...plump. The sort who takes up a seat and a half. A man of medium height won't be able to get his arms all the way around me. I don't move with the grace of a woman to whom men whisper sweet nothings, punctuated by sights...no, not me. I get brief forthright comments. The bare bones of desire, nothing to embellish them, no comfortable padding. 

Delacourt, of course, wrote this little novel in French and it was translated into English by Anthea Bell. I love the cover too. The tag line at the bottom asks: "If you won the lottery would you trade your life for the life of your dreams?" Jocelyne runs a shop full of sewing notions. She has a husband and two grown children until one day she plays the lottery.

Also this week  is Teaser Tuesdays. Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Open to a random page of your current read  and share a teaser sentence from somewhere on that page. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teaser.
Here's a teaser from 16%:

I haven't gone dancing since that thirteenth birthday of mine, when I danced to "Indian Summer" with my budding breasts.

 Hope your reading something you love.

First Paragraph, Tuesday Teaser -- Still Life With Bread Crumbs

Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the first paragraph of her current read. Anyone can join in. Go to Diane's website for the image and share the first paragraph of the current book you are reading.
One good thing about being sick is the chance to sit and read. I started Still Life with Bread Crumbs by Anna Quindlen. Here's the intro.

A few minutes after two in the morning Rebecca Winter woke to the sound of a gunshot and sat up in bed.
Well, to be completely accurate, she had no idea what time it was. When she had moved into the ramshackle cottage in a hollow halfway up the mountain, it had taken her two days to realize that there was a worrisome soft spot in the kitchen floor, a loose step out to the backyard, and not one electrical outlet in the entire bedroom. She stood, turning in a circle, her old alarm clock in  her hand trailing its useless tail of a cord, as though, like some magic spell, a few rotations and some muttered curses would lead to a place to plug it in. Like much of what constituted Rebecca's life at that moment, the clock had been with her far past the time when it was current or useful.

I think that second paragraph doesn't go at all with the first paragraph, but the book has definitely captured

me with Quindlen's warm writing style. This is the story of a photographer who had one of those famous pictures in the 1970s-80s that people made into posters and hung in their dorm rooms. Now the money from that picture has dried up, she's trying to pay for her mother's nursing home and her father's apartment, so she sublets her fabulous New York apartment and takes a rundown cottage in the country to try to make ends meet.

Also this week  is Teaser Tuesdays. Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Open to a random page of your current read  and share a teaser sentence from somewhere on that page. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teaser
Here's my teaser from page 34:

Rebecca never hung her own work in her home. She felt it would be like talking to herself. Which she did a fair amount in the cottage these days. Otherwise she would never speak to anyone.

First Paragraph, Tuesday Teaser -- Friday Nights

Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the first paragraph of her current read. Anyone can join in. Go to Diane's website for the image and share the first paragraph of the current book you are reading.
I chose this book because I loved the cover, so whoever says "you can't judge a book by it's cover" may be right (I'll let you know) but you can certainly pick books based on their covers. Friday Nights by Joanna Trollope says a group of six women, ages 22 to retired, spend every Friday night together with a bottle of wine and without children or husbands. Then one of them meets a man who tests the group's bonds.
Here's the intro:

Toby's mother said that when Eleanor came he'd have to go down to the ground floor and help her with the lift. Toby said -- sulkily, because he was angry with her for something he couldn't quite put his finger on -- "She doesn't  need help."

Also this week  is Teaser Tuesdays. Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Open to a random page of your current read  and share a teaser sentence from somewhere on that page. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teaser.
Here's a teaser from page 82:

"Kay, babe, we've had this conversation." He bent and picked up the portfolio. He said, "You used to believe in me."

Hope you all are reading something interesting.

First Paragraph, Tuesday Teaser -- Someone Else's Love Story

Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the first paragraph of her current read. Anyone can join in. Go to Diane's website for the image and share the first paragraph of the current book you are reading.

I wanted to use this book for my First Paragraph, Tuesday Teaser, but I enjoyed it so much that I finished it yesterday. I'll still feature it, even though I'm not currently reading it. The book is someone else's love story by Joshilyn Jackson. I carried the book with me to a swim meet on Saturday and my friend Betsy said, "Oh, her books remind me of yours."
I wish. I really enjoyed this.
Here's the intro:

I fell in love with William Ashe at gunpoint, in a Circle K. It was on a Friday afternoon at the tail end of a Georgia summer so ungodly hot the air felt like it had all been boiled red. We were both staring down the barrel of an ancient, creaky .32 that could kill us just as dead as a really nice gun could. 

Also this week  is Teaser Tuesdays. Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Open to a random page of your current read  and share a teaser sentence from somewhere on that page. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teaser.
Here's my teaser from page 55:

Because I knew then. William Ashe was going to save us. William Ashe was the brave one, the bold one. He was the great god Thor. I wanted to lean across my son's head and press my mouth to his and taste him and let him suck all this certainty out of my mouth. I wanted to be his, or maybe just be him.  

I can highly recommend this book.

First Paragraph, Tuesday Teaser -- Marie Antoinette's Head

Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the first paragraph of her current read. Anyone can join in. Go to Diane's website for the image and share the first paragraph of the current book you are reading.
I'm reading another book for FranceBookTours. This one is called Marie Antoinette's Head by Will Bashor, who lives right here in Columbus. The book is about the hairdresser to Marie Antoinette. Apparently the hairdresser was quite a character himself. The beginning section puts me off a little because there are notes on sources, notes on royal titles, a chronology and a really long list of historical characters, but the actual writing is entertaining. Here's the intro from the Prologue:

Captain de Busne, Marie Antoinette's last bodyguard, took her back to the cell where she awaited the hour of her execution. He had just accompanied her to the revolutionary tribunal where she was tried and convicted, but on this occasion, Captain de Busne was also guilt of unpardonable crimes. He had held his hat in his hand while escorting the fallen queen, he had taken the trouble of fetching a glass of water for her, and finally, he had offered his arm to help her down the dark staircase leading to her fetid prison cell. Later that day, Captain de Busne was denounced by the tribunal and arrested for his criminal behavior.

Also this week  is Teaser Tuesdays. Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Open to a random page of your current read  and share a teaser sentence from somewhere on that page. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teaser.
Here's my teaser from 8% on my Kindle:
When finally freed from its curling papers and Léonard's comb, Julie's hair took on a bewitching charm. he had divided it into zones with each one presenting different visions: here emeralds, there pearls with a little flower, and a few blossoms that seemed to pierce through the curls.

First Paragraph, Tuesday Teaser -- Gastien The Cost of the Dream

Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the first paragraph of her current read. Anyone can join in. Go to Diane's website for the image and share the first paragraph of the current book you are reading.
This week I'm reading a book for FranceBookTours. It's historical fiction titled Gastien The Cost of the Dream by Caddy Rowland.
Here's the intro: from the Prologue, April, 1999:

Gastien slouched at the table by the window appearing to stare at the painting in front of him. He wasn't really seeing it. Mon Dieu, his hip hurt! Everything hurt. The muscles in his arms and legs ached something fierce, and his hands trembled. It was getting extremely difficult now to recover in the mornings after a night of hard drinking. His stomach felt like molten hell, and his head! Oh, sweet Jesus, the pounding in his head! It was almost enough to make him consider giving up his beloved absinthe, but not quite.

Also this week  is Teaser Tuesdays. Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Open to a random page of your current read  and share a teaser sentence from somewhere on that page. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your tease.
Here's a teaser from 29% on my Kindle:

"Forgive me, Father, but I don't believe in  your God," Gastien stated. "I learned years ago he did not really exist. If you are hoping for a believer, I am going to have to disappoint you."

I'll be posting a full review of the book on Jan. 15 so check back to see what I thought of the book.

First Paragraph, Tuesday Teaser -- Bridget Jones Mad About the Boy

Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the first paragraph of her current read. Anyone can join in. Go to Diane's website for the image and share the first paragraph of the current book you are reading.
Yesterday, my first official day after classes had finished at one of the colleges where I teach, I made the mistake of picking up Bridget Jones Mad About the Boy by Helen Fielding. The reason it was a mistake, because I spent the rest of the day engrossed in it and finished it last night. She is as delightful as always.

Here's the intro:

Thursday, 15 April 20132:30 p.m. Talitha just called, talking in that urgent, 'let's-be-discreet-but-wildly-overdramatic' voice she always has. 'Darling, I just want to let you know that it's my sixtieth on the 24th of May. I'm not SAYING it's my sixtieth, obviously. And keep it quiet because I'm not asking everyone. I just wanted you to keep the date free.'

Not the greatest opening, but you do dive directly into that Bridget Jones voice and if you've read the others, that warm feeling floods through you.
Also this week  is Teaser Tuesdays. Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Open to a random page of your current read  and share a teaser sentence from somewhere on that page. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teaser
Here's my teaser from page 248:

Everyone stared as the little dog foundered to the surface in the middle of the pool, yapping, then disappeared under the water again. Suddenly, Roxster pulled his T-shirt over his shoulders, revealing his ripped torso. He dived straight into the pool, an arc of blue water, spray and muscle, then resurfaced, wet and glistening, at the other end of the pool having completely missed the dog, which took a last gulp of air, then sank.

Don't worry. The dog makes it. Actually, I've never heard of a dog that couldn't swim.
Hope you are reading something you enjoy.