First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros ~ The Darlings by Christina Alger

 
Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the sea posts the opening paragraph (maybe two) of a book she decided to read based on the opening paragraph (s). Feel free to grab the banner and play along.   I like this meme and decided to play along with her this week. The Darlings will be published in February of 2012. The following is from an ARC I received from Viking.


"Paul slipped in through the side door just as the applause was ending. He stood at the edge of the ballroom until the clapping faded and the music started up again. His wife, Merrill, was up front near the stage. She looked on as a photographer snapped pictures of his mother, Ines, the gala's chairperson. Around him, partygoers wafted from table to table; a giant amoebic mass, shimmering in the incandescent light of a thousand cocktail glasses and candles. As Paul wended his way toward his wife, he caught a couple of cold stares tossed in his direction. His hand shot reflexively to the knot of his tie, atraightening it. It was one of his favorite ties; part of what Merrill called the "first-string rotation" in his closet. he felt good in it, usually. Tonight, amid the sea of tuxedos, it felt woefully inadequate. He kept his eyes trained on his wife and tried, without luck, to recall the name of Ines's charity."


The first paragraph really set the scene for me and I could picture it easily. What do you think? Would you continue reading or say pffft and toss it aside?

Show Me 5 Saturday: Hollywood is Like high School with Money

That's A Novel Idea has started a new MEME called Show Me Five Saturday. This meme will give each blogger an opportunity to give a brief description of a book they have read or reviewed during the week.It will work like this: Each Saturday You will post the answer to these questions. The number indicates the number of answers you will provide.

1. Book you read and/or reviewed this week
2. Words that describe the book
3. Settings where it took place or characters you met
4. Things you liked and/or disliked about it
5. Stars or less for your rating?

Here's mine:

• Hollywood is Like High School with Money by Zoey Dean
• comedic, chicklit.
• Hollywood major movie studio, Taylor Henning : main character who quickly loses her naivete after she lands a job as second assistant to Iris, Quinn: Iris's jaded teen daughter who teachs Taylor how to get ahead in this cutthroat business but has her own agenda that comes back to bite Taylor in the hindquarters. Ouch!
• Comedy, friendships fake and real, movie business inside scoop, the ending
• 4 stars

Wondrous Words Wednesday

Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Bermuda Onion with words new (to us).

From Irreplaceable by Stephen Lovely, my vocabulary words are:

charango: n. a 10 stringed mandolin of Andean regions with a sound box traditionally made from the shell of an armadillo or tortoise, now made of wood.

limbic : adj. pertaining to or of the nature of a limbus or border, marginal.

mediastinum: ,n the partition separating the right and left thoracic cavities, formed of the 2 inner pleural walls, and , in humans, comprising all the viscera of the thorax except the lungs.

Snooty,Beauty,Hootie, Tootie and George!

Donna at Write by Faith

tagged me for a picture meme. The rules are simple.

Go to your fifth photo file and pick the fifth picture and explain it.Tag 5 others .

This was an extraordinary day. Hubby went out to clip the Ligustrum tree and saw a baby owl and came running in to get me. I came out and looked at him in wonder. We had never seen an owl up close in our own tree. Since we were having some friends over for lunch, we had to come in and start making some sandwich fixings. We were still gabbing about the bird and he said it was grey, I said it was brown. A little bit of dispute, so I went back out to look at him again and heard a small hoot.
Lo and behold, there was another one on the branch above. I started looking in the tree and found 3 more for a grand total of five. One of our neighbors is a real bird enthusiast so I called him to come look. We had the parents and 3 babies. One of the parents was really haughty looking so I named him Snooty and the mother Beauty. Two of the babies were practically glued to each other so I named them Hootie and 7Tootie. The last baby was on a branch by himself with the widest open eyes imaginable. He was looking all around intently and seemed to be very curious about everything, so I had to name him George. I mean, really, what else could I do?
Several other neighbors came over to see what we were all looking at in the tree. When our friends showed up for lunch, no sandwiches were made but we had a good explanation. That was the only day we saw them. We looked and looked for days and they were gone. What an experience. Unfortunately the picture of George did not come out too clearly so we only have the picture of Snooty.

I am not going to tag anyone but if you want to do the meme please feel free and please leave me or Donna a comment so we can go share your "story".

Easter "Basket"

When Karen at Now don't get me started ( be sure to go to her blog and see the fabulous picture and fun story she has) tagged me for this picture meme, I thought for sure my fourth picture would be either a penguin or a train. (hubby collects them) but lo and behold, it is our Easter rabbits and a bag of goodies we were planning on sending our kids. When our daughters were teens, one of them thought still getting an Easter basket was childish and made some snarky remark about how long was this custom going to go on. I snapped back without thinking, until you are 42! Well, now they are 39 and 41. I know, how is this possible? I'm getting close to ending that commitment. I think they thought I would forget but every year they get something from us. When we moved 1300 miles south, we started sending "do it yourself" baskets. Basically, we threw some Easter grass in a box and put in a few bags of their favorite stuff. Of course, then we had to put in stuff the son-in-law and grandchildren liked too. The funny thing is, now they look forward to getting their "Easter basket". If you're thinking of doing this, here's a tip - don't mail jelly beans, they are too heavy. Just throw a buck in the box and tell them to buy their own. Now there are rules to this picture tag: (aren't there always)

1) Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on your computer.

2) Select the 4th picture in the folder.

3) Explain the picture.

4) Tag 4 people to do the same.

Hopefully Karen won't mind but I am going to bend the rules a tad.(for moi, anyway) Instead of tagging 4 people, I am just putting this out there. If you want to do it and have a little fun, please take the meme and you can opt to tag. Hope nobody minds me "doing my own thing here" If you do post a picture, please let me know so I can go read your story .

2009 Awards

I am so touched and honored that Mary from Book-fan Mary has given me this beautiful Butterfly Award for "the coolest blog I ever know." Thanks, Mary!

This is a meme award to be passed on. The rules are:

1. Post the logo on your blog

2. Add link to the person who awarded it to you

3. Award up to 10 blogs

4. Add links to those blogs in your award post

5. Leave a message for awardee on their blog

Just a few of the blogs I really enjoy and want to pass on the award to are:

Wrighty at Wrighty's Reads

Yvonne at Socrates' book reviews

Luanne at A bookworms world

Karen at now don't get me started

Wendi B at Wendi's book corner

Kalea_ Kane enroute to life

Toni at A circle of books

Kathy at Bermuda onion

Bookshelf Meme

I just got tagged by Popin for a Bookshelf Meme

1. What is the book that has been on my shelf the longest?

Marcella, A Raggeddy Ann Story that I have had since 1949. (I was 3 yrs old, you do the math) If you came up with as old as dirt, you got it!


2. What is a book that reminds me of something specific in my life?

My life has been pretty routine and to tell you the truth I can't think of a book that comes to mind easily.


3. What is a book I acquired in an interesting way?

This probably isn't interesting but I inherited 2 books called Spain and the Spaniards Vol 1 & 2 that were published in 1895 from my father's cousin. She was a missionary in Japan in the early 1900's. The most interesting family member I can claim.

4. What is the book that has been with me the most places?

That would be 101 Famous Poems. I had an absolutely dog-eared paper back copy and one year for Christmas, my husband replaced it with a new hard cover copy. Oh,joy!

5. What is a bonus book that I just want to talk about?

I just finished The Piano Teacher and I really liked that story. Good debut novel.

Okay, so now I have to tag other bloggers for this. I tag

Wrighty

Mary at Bookfan-Mary


Anyone else who is interested, feel free to take the meme!