BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYSThe Royal Secret by Lucinda RileyThank 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"James, darling, what are  you doing?"-- from The Royal Secret by Lucinda Riley. I ..read more

BOOK BEGINNINGSOutsider In Amsterdam by Janwilliams van de WetteringThank 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 BEGINNINGThe Volkswagen was parked on the wide sidewalk of the Haarlemmer Houttuinen ..read more

 BOOK THOUGHTSRoad Trip Books What are you up to this week? I’m heading off to drive from my house in Portland to my sister’s house in Omaha. When she and our mom moved back to our hometown two years ago, I ended up with the last bits and pieces that didn’t fit in the moving PODs. Which explains why I’ve been fostering this gorgeous Italian pot for my sis. She and our mom used to have a ..read more

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYSJulius by Daphne du MaurierThank 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 BEGINNINGHis first instinct was to stretch out his hands towards the sky.-- from Julius by Daphne du ..read more

 BOOK THOUGHTSRut or Routine?I’m a creature of habit, for sure. There are some things I like to do over and over, the same way, for years. For example, I’m on a board that meets four times a year at an office in the suburbs. I may pass that building 12 or 15 times a year, but only after the quarterly board meeting do I regularly do three nearby things: (1) stop at the Cat Fanciers’ Thrift ..read more

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYSThank 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 BEGINNINGOne sunny April afternoon in 1990 two Englishman strode up the steps of London's Tate Gallery, passed beneath the imposing ..read more

BOOK THOUGHTSBooks and BirthdaysToday is my husband’s birthday so I baked his favorite German chocolate cake! I have other birthday plans in the works, but I'm going to take a book break first. I plan to put my feet up for a few minutes with this terrific book, Provenance: How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art by husband and wife writing team Laney Salisbury and Aly ..read more

 BOOK THOUGHTSKingsley Amis, Favorite Author"If you can't annoy somebody, there is little point in writing." ~ Kingsley Amis in Lucky Jim Kingsley Amis was born on this day in 1922. He is in my pantheon of favorite authors, right up there with Graham Greene, Jim Harrison, Iris Murdoch, Philip Roth, Muriel Spark, and Evelyn Waugh. But Amis holds a special place in my reader’s heart. His ..read more

 BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYSThank 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 BEGINNINGOnly an idiot would travel without a book.-- from Last Chance in Paris by Lynda Marron. Well, that sentence caught ..read more

BOOK THOUGHTSOn ComminglingDo you commingle your books?  My husband and I commingle our finances, and even our music CDs. But we would no sooner commingle our books as we would our socks! The picture above is a snapshot of my husband's shelves in our home library. We may keep our books separate, but I get the lion’s share of shelf space. He gets this wall. I, on the other hand, get two walls ..read more