Page 123 Quiz

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The Rules

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.

I’m not going to follow Rule #5 because this meme will be my quiz for the week.  I want more than 5 people to participate.  It can be whatever book is on hand.

“Then on holy days, when people come from all over the country to hear the services in the cathedral, we gather farthings galore.”

“It seems to me we might man the bridge on holy days only, and give you a fire out of the proceeds,” said Philip.

Paul looked anxious.

This is from The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett.  Weighing in at 973 pages, it was given to me by my friend, Eric.  I think he was testing me to see how long it would take me to read it!  I am enjoying it very much, but am only on page 287. 

Let me hear from you.

The Widow, by Carla Neggers

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Cover ImageFinished 7-5-08, rating 3.5/5, Romantic Suspense, pub. 2007

How would your life change if your husband was murdered four days into your honeymoon?  For Abigail, it changed the course of her career and the obsessed way in which she chose to spend her time.  She became a homicide detective, convinced that she would some day learn enough to find her husband’s killer, but seven years later she was still stuck reliving the past, looking for answers.  Then one day she receives a phone call that sends her back to Maine, where her husband was killed and she still owned a house.

Once in Maine there is a large line-up of potential suspects.  Abigail is familiar with all of them because she has never stopped investigating them.  While fighting for the truth she finds the time to finally heal from her husband’s death and fall in love. 

This was a fun book that will keep you guessing.  Here’s the post on my meeting Carla Neggers https://stacybuckeye.wordpress.com/2008/05/02/carla-neggers-book-signing/

Harlan Coben’s Latest E-Letter

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Tell No One is my favorite Harlan Coben book, so I thought I’d pass this along.

 

TELL NO ONE Movie Opens in USA! 

Hey, gang —

The multi-award winning TELL NO ONE movie opens today in the USA!

TELL NO ONE, directed by Guillaume Canet, starring Francois Cluzet and Kristin Scott Thomas, and based on the novel by uh Harlan Coben, debuts in NYC and Los Angeles on July 2nd and then starts making it way around to select heaters all over the country. 

Stephen Holden raved in today’s NEW YORK TIMES: “Guillaume Canet’s delicious contemporary thriller TELL NO ONE  is Vertigo meets The Fugitive by way of The Big Sleep. That is meant as high praise… Tell No One is pure, nasty fun. I watched it twice. It was even better the second time.” 
(Read the whole review at http://movies.nytimes.com/2008/07/02/movies/02tell.html)

And in today’s LOS ANGELES TIMES Kenneth Turren wrote: “Tell everyone about TELL NO ONE…. Author Coben, who says he is a fan of ‘stories that move you, that grab hold of your heart and do not let it go,’ has gotten a film that does exactly that.”
(Read the whole review at www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-tell2-2008jul02,0,2639849.story)

To see the trailer – and for those who are observant, can you spot me in it? – visit HarlanCoben.com.

For a full listing of where it will be playing, click TellNoOneMovie.com and then click Screenings. That’s all I know about screenings now.  No word on DVD release or any of that.

Nominated for 9 Cesar Awards (French Oscan) and winning four as well as winning the Lumiere Award (French Golden Globe) for Best Movie, TELL NO ONE was one of the top grossing films in Europe and the UK and now after debuting in New York and Los Angeles on July 2nd, it finally comes here!

That’s all the news for now.  Keep reading and have a wonderful summer.

Best,

Harlan

The Blue Hour, by T. Jefferson Parker

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Cover ImageFinished 7-1-08, rating 3/5, thriller, pub. 2000

“Use the years to live well.”    Chapter 35

Retired detective, Tim Hess, is asked to come back to work as a consultant.  Hess is taking chemo and radiation treatments and will be forced to take orders from a young, brash detective that has just sued her last partner for sexual harassment.   He takes the job and is hoping to pass on his years of wisdom to his partner, Merci.  Merci, for her part, is an ambitious woman who has not yet figured out how to play well with others.  They are tracking a serial killer and using the time to learn what each other has to offer.

I liked Hess, but not Merci.  I thought the mystery was good and moved fast.  I did not really like the last chapter, it didn’t seem to fit in with the rest of the book.  I didn’t love it, but it was good.  This is the first in a series just about Merci and I’m curious to see if she softens enough for me to really like her as the series progresses.  We’ll see.

Open House, by Elizabeth Berg

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Cover ImageFinished listening to on 6-27-08, rating 3.5/5, fiction, pub. 2000

“There were just families yelling at their kids not to drown and teenagers walking around like billboards, acting as if their bodies would never change.They’re so oblivious to the fact that they’ll get older.  Sometimes I want to grab them and say, ‘Hey!  I used to look like you!  Ha-ha-HA!!'”

“Yes,” Lydia says.  “That’s what I want to say to you sometimes.”  She sips her tea.

My God.  Of course that must be true.  Of course it must!  What’s a little cellulite next to a face full of deep wrinkles?  What’s a face full of deep wrinkles next to infirmity?  When does the time come when you stand in front of your grown-up woman’s mirror and feel contentment for what you see there?  Ever?—Chapter 12

Sam is a 42 year old mother, daughter, best friend, and soon to be ex-wife.  She has never had to support herself and 12 year old son, Travis, and has decided that the best way to do this is to take in boarders at her large suburban home.  Travis is not crazy about the idea and everybody else just thinks she’s crazy.  First there’s mature Lydia, then sad Lavender, and finally fabulous Edward.

She goes on a shopping spree at Tiffany’s.  She calls Martha Stewart and Martha calls her back.  She makes new friends.  She goes on a date.  And most importantly, she stops crying.

I love the rare simplicity of Elizabeth Berg’s writing and her ability to tell a story with real depth in such a concise and readable way.  Her characters are always recognizable as someone you know or might meet someday.  This story of a woman facing life after divorce is a triumph.  I’ve read quite a few of Berg’s books and by the end I always feel as if I’ve gained some insight. This is no exception.

Famous Epitaphs

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Here’s how to play…Identify these famous writers by the inscription on their tomb. Leave a comment with the # and the author and I’ll cross it off the list. No Googling, that’s cheating and no fun! If you know them all, please guess every one!!!! But also feel free to guess for fun  🙂

1. “I told you so, you damned fools.” –HG Wells

2. “Beren” –JRR Tolkien

3. “The only proof he needed for the existence of God was music.” — Kurt Vonnegut

4. “Quoth the Raven, Nevermore“ EDGAR ALLAN POE, Jason

5. “I had a lover’s quarrel with the world.” ROBERT FROST, Dave

6. “Called Back” — Emily Dickinson

7. “The Stone the Builders Rejected” –Jack London

8. “Don’t Try” — Charles Bukowski

9. “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” — F Scott Fitzgerald

10. “And alien tears will fill for him, Pity’s long, unbroken urn. For his mourners will be outcast men, And outcasts always mourn.” — Oscar Wilde

The Bone Collector, by Jeffrey Deaver

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Cover ImageFinished 6-23-08, rating 4/5, fiction, pub. 1997

 I remember seeing the movie with Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie, but the only thing I really recall with any detail is Denzel as a quadriplegic.  The book is not as easily forgettable. 

 Lincoln Rhyme was a brilliant criminologist for the NYPD until he was injured in the line of duty.  Now he is paralyzed and desperately wants to die.  Patrolwoman Amelia Sachs has just found her first dead body and is about to be whisked into a high profile, politically charged case without her consent.  The two become unlikely partners in tracking a serial killer who is leaving as many living victims as dead ones.

The fast-paced action is balanced with two totally unique characters.  Rhyme and Sachs are complicated and their interaction and growth made me want to start reading the next Lincoln Rhyme book immediately.  And that rarely happens.  There is lots of violence.  Two scenes in particular were disturbing (rats and a mouthful of carotid artery) and were the only reason I didn’t rate this book a little higher. 

My only other issue is that I have a copy of the book with Denzel on the front, so that’s how I’m picturing Rhyme, but it is clear in the book that Rhyme is not black.  I think Sachs said at one point that he looked like Robert DeNiro.  I like picturing Rhyme as Denzel (who wouldn’t?),  but when repeated references were made to his white skin it threw my mental picture off. 

It’s a great thriller and I highly recommend it.

Four Seasons in Rome, by Anthony Doerr

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Cover ImageFinished 6-19-08, rating 4.5/5, memoir, pub. 2007

Subtitle-On Twins, Insomnia, and the Biggest Funeral in the History of the World

“Too much beauty, too much input; if you’re not careful you can overdose.”  (Winter)

“It is a Metropolitan Museum of Art the size of Manhattan, no roof, no display cases, and half a million combustion engines rumbling in the hallways.”  (Winter)

Doerr won the Rome Prize from the American Academy of Arts & Letters and was awarded a year in Rome with a home, an office, and a paycheck.   This memoir is his love letter to Rome, his wife, and his two young boys. 

Anthony, his wife, Shauna, and their six-month-old twins, Owen & Henry, arrive in Rome in the fall.  His first perceptions of Rome took me back to our own trip to Italy in April.  The discussion of the toilets, the crazy traffic, the confusion on how to order and pay, the absence of fat people, and the absolute awe of the history, all made me smile in agreement and remembrance.  Moving into winter there is the visit to St. Peter’s Basilica and watching the Pope being carried by, the five minutes alone in the Sistene Chapel, and seeing the Pantheon for the first time.  The game of bus golf sounds wonderfully fun and just up my alley.  Take a bus (or train) and randomly get off at stops and see what’s there before doing it again.  In the spring the Pope dies and a new one is chosen right in their backyard.  Shauna is hospitalized.  The heat of summer overwhelms them and they take weekly trips out of Rome to Umbria.

My copy is marked with lines and exclamation points that make it easy for me to go back and read my favorite passages (there are many).  I have already gone back and read many of the passages and pages I loved most and I just finished the book yesterday.  He has passages on Rome, on parenting, and on the splendor of life that will stick with you.  I highly recommend this memoir- especially if you love Italy or have had twins.

Anthony Doerr Book Signing

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Anthony Doerr was at Joseph-Beth last night and Jason & I went to hear him speak.  He looks like his dust jacket photo and seemed like a genuinely nice guy.  The crowd was full of family and friends.  He grew up in the Cleveland area (Novelty), so the evening had a reunion atmosphere with Anthony being the long lost relative.  There were also a few local authors on hand to support him.  It was an enjoyable reading.

He read from three sections of his book, Four Seasons in Rome: On Twins, Insomnia, and the Biggest Funeral in the History of the World, and then answered questions.  I am still reading this latest book and was really hoping to see the twins that he wrote about so lovingly, but they weren’t there.  The couple in front of me had come all the way from Pittsburgh to meet him.  He was self-deprecating enough to be really charming and I encourage you all to check him out.  He’s written something for everyone.  He has a book of short stories, a novel, and a memoir.