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description= Books, book lists, and bookish thoughts from Rose City Reader.;
description= Books, book lists, and bookish thoughts from Rose City Reader.;
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book in j g farrell s empire trilogy the three books explore the decline of the british empire focusing on three key historical points in time the irish war of independence troubles the indian mutiny the siege of krishnapur and japan s 1942 invasion of singapore the singapore grip all three are slyly funny with a seemingly gentle satire that creeps up on you worth reading especially back to back 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 mister linky s magical widgets thumb linky widget will appear right here this preview will disappear when the widget is displayed on your site if this widget does not appear click here to display it 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 singapore grip walter had been almost overpowered on the occasion of his first visit to akron ohio by this sensation of the right thing being done at high intensity all around him and not only in the production of male babies but in that of motor tyres and rims too perhaps it was just as well that he and firestone were on opposite ends of the rubber business from the publisher s description singapore 1939 life on the eve of world war ii just isn t what it used to be for walter blackett head of british singapore s oldest and most powerful firm no matter how forcefully the police break one strike the natives go on strike somewhere else his daughter keeps entangling herself with the most unsuitable beaus while her intended match the son of blackett s partner is an idealistic sympathizer with the league of nations and a vegetarian business may be booming what with the war in europe the allies are desperate for rubber and helpless to resist blackett s price fixing and market manipulation but something is wrong no one suspects that the world of the british empire of fixed boundaries between classes and nations is about to come to a terrible end a love story and a war story a tragicomic tale of a city under siege and a dying way of life the singapore grip completes the empire trilogy that began with troubles and the booker prize winning siege of krishnapur posted by gilion at rose city reader at 5 00 pm 3 comments labels book beginnings friday 56 nyrb classics opening sentence thursday july 16 2026 encounters with animals book beginnings book beginnings on fridays encounters with animals by gerald durrell thank you for joining me this week for book beginnings on fridays where participants share the opening sentence or two from the book they are reading you can also share from a book you want to feature even if you are not reading it at the moment my book beginning i am constantly being surprised by the number of people in different parts of the world who seem to be quite oblivious to the animal life around them from encounters with animals by gerald durrell i only recently discovered gerald durrell s animal books i ve read several novels written by his brother lawrence durrell but it was only when i watched the wonderful durrell s of corfu that i learned about gerald and his lifelong love of animals so far i ve only read one of his books menagerie manor about starting a private zoo on the channel island of jersey but i have several others on my tbr shelf including this one your book beginning please add the link to your book beginning post in the linky box below if you participate or share on social media please use the hashtag bookbeginnings so other people can find your post mister linky s magical widgets thumb linky widget will appear right here this preview will disappear when the widget is displayed on your site if this widget does not appear click here to display it the friday 56 the friday 56 asks participants to share a two sentence teaser from their book of the week if your book is an ebook or audiobook pick a teaser from the 56 point anna at my head is full of books hosts the friday 56 a natural tie in with book beginnings on fridays please visit my head is full of books to leave the link to your post my friday 56 from encounters with animals i sat on that sandbank for two hours watching these great roly poly creatures churning up the water and sand as they duelled in the shallows as far as i could see the old male was getting the worst of it and i felt sorry for him from the publisher s description gerald durrell s accounts of the animals he encountered on his travels were some of the first widely shared descriptions of the world s most extraordinary animals moving from the west coast of africa to the northern tip of south america and elsewhere durrell observes the courtships wars and characters of a variety of creatures from birds of paradise to ants and anteaters among others posted by gilion at rose city reader at 5 00 pm 1 comments labels book beginnings friday 56 nonfiction opening sentence penguin books thursday july 9 2026 here one moment by liane moriarty book beginnings book beginnings on fridays here one moment by liane moriarty well if you came by last week or the week before for book beginnings my apologies apparently retirement and hosting duties don t mix because i keep forgetting to post i ve now added a weekly reminder to my calendar so i hope i will be more responsible if you are still hanging around thank you for joining me this week for book beginnings on fridays where participants share the opening sentence or two from the book they are reading you can also share from a book you want to feature even if you are not reading it at the moment my book beginning later not a single person will recall seeing the lady board the flight at hobart airport from here one moment by liane moriarty her most recent novel i love moriarty s books and have read most of them this one is not as suspenseful as big little lies or some of the other ones but it is good entertainment like all of them are you a liane moriarty fan what s your favorite your book beginning please add the link to your book beginning post in the linky box below if you participate or share on social media please use the hashtag bookbeginnings so other people can find your post mister linky s magical widgets thumb linky widget will appear right here this preview will disappear when the widget is displayed on your site if this widget does not appear click here to display it the friday 56 the friday 56 asks participants to share a two sentence teaser from their book of the week if your book is an ebook or audiobook pick a teaser from the 56 point anna at my head is full of books hosts the friday 56 a natural tie in with book beginnings on fridays please visit my head is full of books to leave the link to your post my friday 56 from here one moment paula stares for a dull stupefied moment at the document the scottish man is trying to hand her she squints to read it as if it s a contract or a file she needs to act on but she really doesn t have the bandwidth for this right now from the publisher s description suddenly a woman traveling alone stands she walks down the aisle making predictions about how and when passengers will die some dismiss her they don t believe in psychics some are delighted with her prophecies their lives will supposedly be long others are appalled then a few months later the first prediction comes true intricately plotted with the wonderful wit liane moriarty has become famous for here one moment brilliantly looks at friends lovers and family and how we manage to hold onto them in our harried modern lives posted by gilion at rose city reader at 5 00 pm 4 comments labels book beginnings friday 56 liane moriarty opening sentence sunday july 5 2026 5 great american novels fave five book thoughts 5 great american novels fave five book thoughts the word of the month is semiquincentennial on this independence day weekend in honor of america s 250th anniversary i picked five of my favorite american novels i think these are all great american novels even if i don t know i would pick one of them for the great american novel which is an elusive critter instead of trying to pick the most american novel i could think of huckleberry finn to kill a mocking bird i picked these because i love them and i think they all have a particularly american spirit to them postcards by e annie proulx her debut novel this overlooked gem follows the tragic hero from a hardscrabble farm in upstate new york across america and across the decades from 1940 to 1980 an unforgettable story of rural american life in the mid 20th century my ántonia by willa cather my favorite cather book and the best novel about immigrant pioneer life on the great plains rabbit angstrom the four novels by john updike rabbit run rabbit redoux rabbit is rich and rabbit at rest no matter your feelings about rabbit no fiction better captures the zeitgeist of the silent generation s era from basketball stardom in 1950s high school to a rocky marriage in the turbulent 60s commercial success in the 70s and retirement in florida in the 80s rabbit lived through it all updike won the pulitzer prize in 1982 for rabbit is rich and 1991 for rabbit at rest the road home by jim harrison like my ántonia this intergenerational family saga is set in nebraska but deals more directly with the tragic conflict between pioneers and native americans at the same time it is a great yarn with harrison s typical wry humor big characters astute sense of place and forgiving heart all the king s men by robert penn warren louisiana is like nowhere else in the united states but could only happen in the united states making this fictional story of huey long a quintessential american political novel it won the 1947 pulitzer prize have you rea any of these what do you think what book would you nominate for the great american novel five faves there are times when a full sized book list is just too much when the top 100 a big read or all the prize winners seem like too daunting an effort that s when a short little list of books or authors grouped by theme may be just the ticket inspired by nancy pearl s companion reads chapter in book lust themed clusters of books on subjects as diverse as bigfoot and vietnam i decided to start occasionally posting lists of five books grouped by topic or theme i call these posts my five faves feel free to grab the button and play along use today s theme or come up with your own if you post about it please link back to here and leave the link to your post in a comment if you want to participate but don t have a blog or don t feel like posting please share your list in a comment posted by gilion at rose city reader at 12 00 pm 1 comments labels annie proulx classic books five faves jim harrison john updike pulitzer prize willa cather sunday june 28 2026 the calamity club by kathryn stockett and mona s eyes by thomas schlesser book review s the calamity club by kathryn stockett and mona s eyes by thomas schlesser book review s i recently read the calamity club and mona s eyes both new popular books and they hit me entirely differently can you guess which of these i loved and which i didn t finish the calamity club by kathryn stockett well suspense over i loved this one absolutely loved it i almost didn t start it despite getting a review copy from the publisher spiegel grau the description on the back about three misfit women bonding together to claim what s rightfully theirs gave transgressive vibes that didn t appeal to me i just wasn t in the mood for thelma louise set in depression era mississippi but i gave it a go and could not have been more wrong in my interpretation of the cover description stockett s story is plot driven historical fiction at its best the pov switches between 10 year old meg stuck in an orphanage with a cruel superintendent and 25 year old birdie who is stuck solving the dire financial problems of her extended family their stories connect through charlie a woman whose tragic past drives her to an audacious plan to save all three of them the characters are compelling the setting authentic and the plotting steadily builds to a satisfying conclusion it s exactly the sort of shaggy adventure i love mona s eyes by thomas schlesser i made it through the first third then gave up i only wish i hit the dnf button earlier mona s eyes is the contemporary story of 10 year old mona who may or may not go blind following a medical scare her grandfather decides to teach her about art so if she goes blind she will have good images in her mind under the pretense of taking her to a child shrink he takes her once a week to a museum to study one piece of art and discuss it with him every chapter is their viewing and discussing one work of art it s like sitting through art history 101 but without the slides and the laser pointer reading about someone else looking at art is as boring as it sounds unlike plot dense calamity club mona s eyes has no plot at least not in the first third that i read there are little scenes interspersed between art lessons mona at school or with her friends mom worrying about mona s health dad drinking and running his vintage collectibles business into the ground but those are just scenes not story maybe they will tie together to suggest a plot at some point there s a glimmer of something involving mona finding a secret stash of valuable figurines in her father s storeroom maybe he can sell them and save his business but that is two short scenes out of 150 pages otherwise i feel like i m sitting in class notes have you read either of these what did you think my book club is reading mona s eyes for our next meeting i am dying to know what the other ladies think although i won t be surprised if they loved it several of them are really into art and may love it just because it is a book about art i like art as much as the next person but if i want to learn about art i ll read an art book or watch an art appreciation class on youtube i want my fiction to tell a story not educate me posted by gilion at rose city reader at 9 00 am 3 comments labels 2026 book club book review historical fiction new books review wednesday june 24 2026 birdbrains a lyrical guide to washington state birds edited by susan rich book review birdbrains a lyrical guide to washington state birds by susan rich editor stephanie delaney author bird notes and hiroko seki artist raven chronicles press 2025 book review birdbrains captivated me immediately both in concept and execution it s not like any other bird guide or poetry collection you ve ever seen the birdbrained brainchil...
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