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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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succession aired which told king lear through the same plot sometimes ideas get plucked from the universe at the same time harm done by ruth rendell book 18 in her inspector wexford series this one involves domestic violence and the victims seeking protection at the local women s shelter a spool of blue thread by anne tyler i m an anne tyler completist so am reading all of them they all involve families but this one didn t have much plot beyond following a particular family in baltimore of course through several generations in one house risk management by reid winslow a dual storyline thriller that built to an exciting ending read my review here the singapore grip by j g farrell also in his empire trilogy which i read out of order but it didn t matter this is the story of the british community in singapore when the japanese invade in 1941 it is a long shaggy story highlighting the disparities between the british and asian inhabitants it is definitely one of the top books of my reading year a history of the world in 10½ chapters by julian barnes linked short stories the opening story retold noah s ark from the perspective of a bug stowaway and was hilarious the rest of the stories had a link strong or weak to noah s ark all in all a mixed bag but i think that of all story collections discovering main street travel adventures in small towns of the pacific northwest by foster church the third tbr 26 in 26 for me in july while a lot of the specific information was outdated my fault for waiting so long to read this 2010 book there was still plenty here to inspire a long list of road trip ideas the summons by peter lovesey his 3d peter diamond mystery i was happy to find that this one brought diamond back to bath the setting of the first book posted by gilion at rose city reader at 8 00 am 0 comments labels 2026 challenge anne tyler book thoughts historical fiction hogarth shakepeare memoir monthly wrap up mystery nonfiction peter lovesey ruth rendell tbr 26 in 26 thursday july 30 2026 the windsor knot by s j bennett book beginnings book beginnings on fridays the windsor knot by s j bennett 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 it was an almost perfect spring day from the windsor knot by s j bennett not a particularly gripping opening sentence but i expect things will pick up i ve been organizing my tbr shelves and came across the windsor knot a cozy ish mystery set in 2016 in which the queen of england is the sleuth what an adorable idea i m going to read it with my ears because my library has the audiobook 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 the windsor knot when i mentioned it to the queen she asked me to pass on her sincere condolences and when i did lady hepburn invited her to tea and her majesty said yes was this even possible from the publisher s description it is the early spring of 2016 and queen elizabeth is at windsor castle in advance of her 90th birthday celebrations but the preparations are interrupted by the shocking and untimely death of a guest in one of the castle bedrooms the scene leads some to think the young russian pianist strangled himself yet a badly tied knot leads mi5 to suspect foul play when they begin to question the household s most loyal servants her majesty knows they re looking in the wrong place for the queen has been living an extraordinary double life ever since her teenage years as lilibet away from the public eye and unbeknownst to her closest friends and advisers she has the most brilliant skill for solving crimes with help from her assistant private secretary rozie oshodi a british nigerian officer recently appointed to the royal horse artillery the queen discreetly begins making inquiries as she carries out her royal duties with her usual aplomb no one in the royal household the government or the public knows that the resolute elizabeth won t hesitate to use her keen eye quick mind and steady nerve to bring a murderer to justice posted by gilion at rose city reader at 5 00 pm 1 comments labels book beginnings friday 56 mystery opening sentence wednesday july 29 2026 june 2026 monthly wrap up book thoughts book thoughts june 2026 monthly wrap up what book surprised you in june for me the answer is the calamity club which completely pulled me in from the get go see my earlier review post here s the list of the book i read in june see any favorites murder on the links by agatha christie i love ac but often forget to read her books i d like to read at least one a month but need to concentrate to make that work this was an overly complicated but still fun hercule poirot case set in france stalky co by rudyard kipling schoolboy stories are not my usual cup of tea these are as good as they get and i appreciate them as a classic but didn t really engage with them the calamity club by kathryn stockett i got a review copy of this one from the librarything early reviewer program i was determined to get it read and reviewed but was daunted by the page count it s a doorstop so i switched to the audiobook from my library and was so happy i did the two readers did an amazing job and really made the characters come alive the bible of british taste stories of home people and place by ruth guilding this coffee table book was fascinating i expected glossy layouts of fancy houses but it is more about how real people live in architecturally significant houses in whatever state those houses may be in it is about preserving not necessarily restoring or renovating i was unfamiliar with guilding s former blog of the same name so this world was all new to me simisola by ruth rendell is the 16th book in her inspector wexford series and explores issues of immigration racism and exploitation it was a good one curriculum vitae autobiography by muriel spark spark is one of my favorite authors her autobiography covers her childhood in edinburgh disastrous first marriage to a mentally unstable man she followed to rhodesia now zimbabwe work for the british secret service during wwii and early success as an author it s fascinating to read her story in her own words the merry heart reflections on reading writing and the world of books by robertson davies this was a delight from beginning to end davies is another favorite fiction writer of mine this is a collection of speeches he gave later in life mostly about reading and writing i loved every page diamond solitaire by peter lovesey is the second mystery in his peter diamond series i have most of the book in cool soho crime editions and am excited dive in diamond is the kind of schleppy overweight own worse enemy sort of crime solver i love sort of an english version of ian mcewan s john rebus slightly foxed no 87 summer 2025 this literary quarterly is so interesting it is worth the risk of overloading my tbr shelves not pictured the island of missing trees by elif shafak this was my first shafak book and might be my last i read it for book club and we all agreed that the premise was good but the execution left us cold because she lectures a lot a lot road rage by ruth rendell this 20th wexford mystery involves environmental activists protesting the construction of a new byway near kingsmarkham wexford s fictional town in sussex the impossible fortune by richard osman i love the thursday murder club books and this new one the fifth lived up to me expectations mona s eyes by thomas schlesser this was another book club pick and i did not finish it i don t include it on my book count for the year but i include it here because i wrote about it here the kipling spark and davies books were from my tbr 26 in 26 stack leaving me with nine to go posted by gilion at rose city reader at 9 00 am 0 comments labels agatha christie book thoughts classic classic books coffee table books monthly wrap up muriel spark peter lovesey robertson davies ruth rendell soho crime thursday july 23 2026 the singapore grip by j g farrell book beginnings book beginnings on fridays the singapore grip by j g farrell 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 the city of singapore was not built up gradually the way most cities are by a natural deposit of commerce on the banks of some river or at a traditional confluence of trade routes from the singapore grip by j g farrell this week i m diving in to the singapore grip the final 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 apolo...