Book Beginnings On Friday

The beginning of Heat Wave by Richard Castle:

It was always the same for her when she arrived to meet the body.

Now, I am a fan of the tv series Castle, which is about the (fictional) author of this book, so I immediately think of this as the opening scene of an episode of the show. As far as opening lines go, this one tells us there is a body (a key ingredient in a murder mystery), and that "she" is most likely the police investigator, because she is on her way to "meet" the body (rather an odd phrase, don't you think?) and that she has done this thing before. How's that for detection skills?

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Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by A Few More Pages

How to participate: Share the first line (or two) of the book you are currently reading on your blog or in the comments. Include the title and the author so we know what you're reading. Then, if you feel so moved, let us know what your first impressions were based on that first line, and let us know if you liked or did not like the sentence. The link-up will be here at A Few More Pages every Friday.

Patiently Awaiting

I wanted to share with you some of the forthcoming books that I am patiently (or not so patiently) awaiting the release of.

One of Our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper Fforde
Expected publication: 22 February 2011 by Hodder & Stoughton (UK)

This is the sixth book in the Thursday Next series. I still haven't read book five, First Among Sequels, but I have enjoyed the first four and will definitely be getting this too.

It is a time of unrest in the BookWorld. Only the diplomatic skills of ace literary detective Thursday Next can avert a devastating genre war. But a week before the peace talks, Thursday vanishes. Has she simply returned home to the RealWorld or is this something more sinister?

All is not yet lost. Living at the quiet end of speculative fiction is the written Thursday Next, eager to prove herself worth of her illustrious namesake.

The written Thursday is soon hot on the trail of her factual alter-ego, and quickly stumbles upon a plot so fiendish that it threatens the very BookWorld itself. (Amazon)

Gideon's Sword by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
Expected publication: 22 February by Grand Central Publishing (US)

I have never read anything by either of these two authors, but this sounds like a good place to start. Actually, it had me at "trickster, prodigy, master thief".

Introducing Gideon Crew: trickster, prodigy, master thief.

At twelve, Gideon Crew witnessed his father, a world-class mathematician, accused of treason and gunned down. At twenty-four, summoned to his dying mother's bedside, Gideon learned the truth: His father was framed and deliberately slaughtered. With her last breath, she begged her son to avenge him.

Now, with a new purpose in his life, Gideon crafts a one-time mission of vengeance, aimed at the perpetrator of his father's destruction. His plan is meticulous, spectacular, and successful. But from the shadows, someone is watching. A very powerful someone, who is impressed by Gideon's special skills. Someone who has need of just such a renegade.

For Gideon, this operation may be only the beginning . . . (Amazon)

The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party by Alexander McCall Smith
Expected publication: 3 March 2011 by Little, Brown (UK)

I love the No. 1 Ladies' Detectove Agency series, and am always looking forward to a new book about Mma Ramotswe. This is the 12th in this lovely series.

The twelfth installment in the beloved, best-selling series is once again a beautiful blend of wit and wisdom, and a pro­foundly touching tale of the human heart.  Precious Ramotswe is haunted by a dream in which she is driving her dear old white van. Grace Makutsi dreams that her 97 percent on the Botswana Secre­tarial College exam was a mistake. When Mma Ra­motswe discovers that her van is actually still in use (and, of course, sets out to retrieve it), Mma Makutsi wonders whether her dream will turn out to be pro­phetic as well. They can only wait and see, but, in the meantime, one of Phuti Radiphuti’s apprentices has gotten a girl pregnant and, under pressure to marry her, has run away. Naturally, it is up to Precious and Grace to help the couple work things out. In other developments, Mma Ramotswe investigates a case of rural jealousy in which cattle are being poisoned. Add to the mix Violet Sephotho’s newly begun, already unstoppable run for the Botswana Parliament and the possibility that wedding bells may finally ring for Phuti Ra­diphuti and Grace Makutsi—whose love for each other is as great as their love for Botswana—and we have a charming and delightful tale in the inimitable style of Alexander McCall Smith. (Goodreads)

 

Stories I Only Tell My Friends by Rob Lowe
Expected publication: 10 May 2011 by Henry Holt & Co (US)

I have been a fan of Rob Lowe for many years, and I'm looking forward to reading his autobiography (and look at pretty pictures. Yes, I'm that shallow (but have you seen the man?).)

A wryly funny and surprisingly moving account of an extraordinary life lived almost entirely in the public eye

A teen idol at fifteen, an international icon and founder of the Brat Pack at twenty, and one of Hollywood's top stars to this day, Rob Lowe chronicles his experiences as a painfully misunderstood child actor in Ohio uprooted to the wild counterculture of mid-seventies Malibu, where he embarked on his unrelenting pursuit of a career in Hollywood.

The Outsiders placed Lowe at the birth of the modern youth movement in the entertainment industry. During his time on The West Wing, he witnessed the surreal nexus of show business and politics both on the set and in the actual White House. And in between are deft and humorous stories of the wild excesses that marked the eighties, leading to his quest for family and sobriety.

Never mean-spirited or salacious, Lowe delivers unexpected glimpses into his successes, disappointments, relationships, and one-of-a-kind encounters with people who shaped our world over the last twenty-five years. These stories are as entertaining as they are unforgettable. (Goodreads)

What books are you patiently awaiting?

Review: The Castle in the Pyrenees

The Castle in the Pyrenees
Slottet i Pyreneene
By Jostein Gaarder

First published: 2008
Read: 1-2 January 2011
Pages: 270

Through five intense years in the 1970s, Steinn and Solrunn had a happy life together. Then they suddenly parted ways, for reasons that are unclear to both. In the summer of 2007 they meet again on a balcony of an old wooden hotel by a fjord in western Norway. It is a place they both have fond memories from, and their meeting turns out to be fateful. But is it purely coincidental that they meet at that particular spot at that particular time? Over a couple of weeks that summer they write emails to each other, and it becomes clear that they have been living with very different interpretations of their shared past. THE CASTLE IN THE PYRENEES is both a love story and a novel of ideas, exploring the place of human consciousness in the universe. Its main theme is of great current interest: can science explain everything, or does some invisible force influence our lives? (Goodreads)

Just Not Enough Plot

Jostein Gaarder has been my favourite Norwegian writer, possibly my favourite writer ever, since I was a kid and got lost in the pages of The Solitaire Mystery for the first time. His YA novels are amazingly creative and exciting. The thing is, Gaarder is an intellectual; a modern philosopher. His adult books scare me to death. I am so intimidated by all the big thoughts and ideas and philosophising (is that even a word?). It makes me feel ... inadequate, sometimes even dumb. Yes, philosophy is a big part of Sophie's World, but there Gaarder manages to make it interesting and fun. So far I have not had much luck with his adult books, as they tend to go way over my head. Still, I picked this up from the library, confident that this time I would be able to follow his stream of consciousness. After all, I have three years of university, including a course in philosophy, under my belt now. Of course I could handle a grown-up Gaarder novel!

I was wrong.

"A novel of ideas" should have been my first clue, "exploring the place of human consciousness in the universe" the second. Remind me to pay proper attention to desciptions from now on.

There is no doubt that Gaarder is a very clever man, and his thoughts are very interesting, but to me this was simply too much. I found myself reading paragraph after paragraph and not understanding a word. Well, obviously I understood the words, but I completely failed to decode their meaning. Now, I should probably mention that I am generally not the smartest person in the room (except when I am the only person in the room), but I do enjoy a challenge now and then, and this book certainly was a challenge to me.

That being said, there was a real plot hiding underneath all the layers of philosophy, and like all of Gaarder's plots it was very interesting with some surprising twists along the way. These parts of the book I raced through, eager to find out what really happened between the two lovers, and these parts were the reason I finished the book. If the story of Steinn and Solrun had been the main focus and the various ideas and theories had been toned down, I would have liked it that much more. As it is, there simply was not enough story to hold my interest throughout the entire book.

I am hesitant to give this one a rating, because it would not be based on the quality of the book, but simply on my personal preference. Bearing that in mind, I am going to rate it 2 out of 6 stars for my own reference.

I know many readers wil enjoy the story of two estranged lovers meeting again by chance and starting up a correspondence discussing their different ideas, world views and the universe itself. If you are interested in intellectual topics, then I am sure you will like Gaarder. If you prefer to start with something a little lighter, I would recommend trying one of his YA books like Sophie's World, Through a Glass Darkly, The Orange Girl or my personal favourite, The Solitaire Mystery.

It's Monday, What Are You Reading?

It's Monday, What Are You Reading is a weekly meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. It is where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week. This week Sheila has been hosting this meme for a year. Happy anniversary, Sheila!

So January came and went, and with it went the snow. We have had mostly rain here lately, which is fine by me, because I am not a fan of shoveling snow. This coming Sunday is Mother's Day here in Norway, so I will be busy this week baking a cake and making a card for my lovely Mum. Oh, and I have to pay the VAT on Thursday, so I need to get some accounting done as well.

READ LAST WEEK
I finished Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets on Monday, bringing my final total of books read in January up to 8 books.

CURRENTLY READING
Lately I have been drawn to old favourites, so now I am rereading The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. It has only been two years since I read it for the first time, but I had forgotten just how good it really is. Definitely one of my all-time favourite books. At 715 pages it is a small brick, and after a week I am only just over half-way through. But I am enjoying it so much I would not have minded if it was twice that long. Besides, I will most likely finish it this week - last time it took me almost a month.

WHAT'S NEXT
I received an ARC of The Survivor by Sean Slater through Book Chick City's Mystery & Thriller Challenge. It will be published in March, so I am thinking I should get that out of the way soon. If not, I have about 200 other TBRs to choose from!

What are you reading this week?

My Month in Books: January

January was a fantastic reading month for me. I finished 8 books, which is more than double my usual monthly average! I'm not sure why I managed to read so much this month (perhaps because there is not much interesting on TV these days), but I'm glad I did. My personal 2011 challenge of reading 40 books is off to a great start, and if I can keep this up, I will have to update that goal soon. :)

Read in January

Links go to my reviews

1) Slottet i Pyreneene by Jostein Gaarder
2) Winter Solstice by Rosamunde Pilcher
3) Flaggermusmannen by Jo Nesbø
4) Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling
5) Burglars Can't Be Choosers by Lawrence Block
6) The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner
7) The Greek Symbol Mystery by Carolyn Keene
8) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling 

Incoming Books

January also brought some new books onto my shelves. I participated in The Broke and the Bookish's Secret Santa 2010, and got a belated, but wonderful present from Jana.

She sent me The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner, Bloody Jack by L.A. Meyer and Reckless by Cornelia Funke. Thank you so much, Jana! Unfortunately I don't have your email address or blog URL so I can't thank you personally - I just hope you see this!

I also got an ARC of The Survivor by Sean Slater from Simon & Schuster UK through Book Chick City's Mystery & Suspense Challenge 2011. Thank you both!

Speaking of challenges; I have joined 3 challenges for 2011. There are a couple of others I have had my eye on, but I decided that 3 were enough. I don't want any pressure.

Challenge progress

First in a Series Challenge - 2/6 (this might be updated to the next level during the year)
1. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling
2. Burglars Can't Be Choosers by Lawrence Block

2nds Challenge - 0/3

Mystery & Suspense Challenge - 1/12
1. Burglars Can't Be Choosers by Lawrence Block

Other posts of interest

Discussion posts
Reading Impatience
Kindle Cover

Top Ten Tuesday
Books I Resolve To Read
Bookish Resolutions
Inspirational Characters
Books I Wish I'd Read as a Kid

Booking Through Thursday
Firsts

Here's hoping the rest of the year will be as good!

A Match Made ... On My Bookshelf

I own hundreds of books, and quite a few of them belong to series. Traditionally I haven't cared much what edition the different series books are or whether the covers match; I was just happy to have the books. But lately I have realised the aesthetic value of matching covers (even though some of them disappear in the back row of double-stacked shelves) and so I try to get the same edition of books I know I want to keep. Sometimes this is easy; sometimes it can be very frustating. Let me give you some examples.

Example number 1: I wish these covers matched

This is my Dirk Pitt shelf. I know, it is a mess. I fell in love with the enigmatic hero invented by Clive Cussler back in 2002, and I now have all books in the series but the latest (yay!). The thing is, when I first started buying the books I had not started caring about matching covers. By the time I realised I did care, I had too many to buy new matching editions. I decided the inside was more important than the outside, so I continued buying whatever editions I could get my hands on. If you look closely, you will notice that some of them are even in Norwegian (I regret that now, but that is for another post). And yes, that is a wombat. His name is Fatso.

Example number 2: What went wrong??

By pure luck (different sources, back when I did not care so much etc.) I already had the matching UK Bloomsbury paperback editions of the first six Harry Potter books, so naturally I wanted HP7 to match. I found the Bloomsbury edition online and ordered it. It had the same cover art as my other copies, so I figured it had to be the right one. It was, except for one little detail: It was much smaller than the other books. *headdesk* Now they look like this on my shelf, and it annoys me no end.

Example number 3: This required some work, but I'm happy

I bought the movie cover version of Inkheart by Cornelia Funke because it was the cheapest edition in the store. I loved the book, but I didn't have room in my backpack to take it home with me (I was in Australia at the time), so I gave it away before I left. But I wanted to read the rest of the trilogy, so I went to Amazon and found that the cheapest edition of Inkspell was the special Gift Edition (go figure). Unfortunately I didn't order the same edition of the other two books at the same time, and when I went back to do so, they were gone. I spent a long time looking for this particular edition, and after a while I stumbled across Inkdeath in a Norwegian online store and ordered it on the spot. Inkheart, on the other hand, was nowhere to be found, and I was getting desperate. Finally I found a copy through AbeBooks, and I ended up buying it for double its regular price. I have never paid that much or worked that hard to find a particular book, but they do look pretty on my shelf, so I think it was worth it in the end.

I have learnt my lesson and from now on I will consider covers as much as price when I buy new books.

What are you like when it comes to covers? Match, no match, don't care? Do you have any other cover issues?

Sound Advice

"Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain."
– Mr. Weasley in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.