Sandra Nachlinger's Blog, page 52

The Whiskey Bottle in the Wall (Vol. 1) - Friday 56 and Book Beginnings

I've just started reading The Whiskey Bottle in the Wall (Vol. 1) and I'm already enthralled by the characters. This collection of short stories by Kathleen Valentine brings to life the inhabitants of small-town Marienstadt, Pennsylvania, and paints a vivid picture of the quirky characters' lives.

Just the names of the tales are enough to intrigue me!

*  Peeper Baumgratz and the Sister's
    Snowplow
*  The Great Dumpling War and Dance
    Competition
*  The Whiskey Bottle in the Wall

It’s no surprise that “The Whiskey Bottle in the Wall” was named Best Short Story in the 2013 eFestival of Words. Kathleen's stories are told with wit and warmth, and I'm looking forward to reading all three volumes in the series. FYI: The series can be purchased in one omnibus edition here:  Whiskey Bottle Omnibus

Here's the BOOK BEGINNING from the first story:
      Henry Werner knew that being the Chief of Police in Marienstadt, Pennsylvania, was an easy job but any day that started out with a visit from Sister Adelaide, the Prioress of St. Joseph's Convent, and which was followed by a call from the State Police, was off to an unpromising start. Despite the fact that he was close to forty and had been a policeman ever since he left the Marines, one withering stare from Sister Adelaid could reduce him to a single throbbing nerve. The worst part was, she knew it.

And here are a couple of sentences from 56% on my Kindle:
      "You have a good idea there, Padre, and God forbid that any of these old gals should get hit by a bus and their recipes die with them, so we have to be sneaky. Luckily, you came to the right guy for that. The way you go about this, y'see, is to appeal to their vanity."

Genre: Fiction / Folklore / Humor
Number of Pages: 156
Amazon Link: The Whiskey Bottle in the Wall (Vol. 1)
Other Books by Kathleen Valentine:  Amazon Author Link

********* Anyone can participate in Book Beginnings and Friday 56. 

   Click here to connect to other Book Beginnings posts     (sponsored by Rose City Reader.)

   Find other Friday 56 bloggers here 
   (sponsored by Freda's Voice).                            

Maggie's Turn - Book Beginnings on Friday and Friday 56

“Wouldn’t it be fun, just for a little while, to drive a different direction and take a few snapshots?” Those words from Chapter 1 made me ask: who hasn’t wanted to run away for a little while? If you can relate, then you'll definitely enjoy MAGGIE'S TURN. 

FRIDAY 56 (56% on my Kindle):
     Cassie stopped short when she saw the red Mustang sitting in the driveway instead of the minivan, and no one else in sight. She turned and stared at Maggie, her expression reflecting confusion.
     "You have a Mustang? A red Mustang? Where's the van? Where are the kids?"


BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY:
It had not been a good morning at the Harrison household. At least not for Maggie. Her nineteen-year-old son, Kyle, had slept in late, which meant he was late showering and would be late to one of the four college courses he was intent upon failing. Because he was running behind, her fourteen-year-old daughter, Kaia, was late getting ready for school, which meant Maggie's husband, Andrew, had to rush to shower for work. And, of course, Maggie had to rush too since she was always the last person to use the bathroom.

Genre: Women's Fiction
Number of Pages: 247
Amazon Link: Maggie's Turn


********* Anyone can participate in Book Beginnings and Friday 56. 

   Click here to connect to other Book Beginnings posts    (sponsored by Rose City Reader.)

   Find other Friday 56 bloggers here 
   (sponsored by Freda's Voice).                            

Christmas Calling - Teaser Tuesday

Does this cover look familiar? Maybe that's because last week I featured a teaser from the first of two novellas that make up CHRISTMAS CALLING. This week I've selected my Teaser from the second story, Christmas Snow by Birdie L. Etchison. This sweet contemporary romance will put you in the Christmas spirit!

TEASER (from about Page 6):
Her mother decorated anything that stood still. The bathroom had snowflake toilet tissue; snowmen filled every corner of the house. 

Genre: Christian Romance / Fiction
Number of Pages: 156 (both novellas)
Amazon Link: Christmas Calling
More books and stories by Birdie L. Etchison: Birdie's Books

Synopsis:
Janie Montgomery leaves Seattle to escape sad memories and spend Christmas with her aunt in Spokane. On the way her car is stranded in a ditch, surrounded by a mountain of snow. EMT Greg Kincaid comes to her rescue in an SUV, like a knight in snowy armor. It is the beginning of a love story as mystifying as a white-out, as gentle as falling snow, as colorful as Christmas decorations, and as sweet as homemade cookies. Only by the grace of God can Janie and Greg weather the storms and find true love.
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:Grab your current readOpen to a random pageShare two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that pageBE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away -- you don't want to ruin the book for others)Share the title and author too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasersLeave a comment on MizB's Teaser Tuesday post (HERE) and include your link so everyone can find your post.

Christmas Calling - Teaser Tuesday

With Christmas only a few weeks away, it seems like the right time to feature CHRISTMAS CALLING on Teaser Tuesday. Two novellas make up this charming book. Colleen Reece's story (Christmas Challenge) is set in Montana during the 1880s. Birdie Etchison's (Christmas Snow) is contemporary and takes place in the Spokane, Washington, area. Both are Christian romances.  

My Teaser is from Christmas Challenge.

TEASER:
Forty-five minutes later Valerie stared into the steely gray eyes of the man who held her future in his ink-stained hands. She swallowed the flutter in her throat and gave him back glance for glance. Danny O'Shea's daughter bowed to no man.
(I stretched the Teaser to three sentences this time. It's from 5% on my Kindle)

Genre: Christian Romance / Fiction
Number of Pages: 156
Amazon Link: Christmas Calling
More books by Colleen L. Reece: Colleen's Books

Amazon Synopsis:
      After the death of her guardian, Valerie Shannon O’Shea feels as adrift as a boat torn free of its moorings on Lake Michigan. She prays about her future and finds a challenge in the newspaper. IS THE PIONEER SPIRIT STILL ALIVE AND WELL? A skeptical financier doubts women in the late 1880s can live the hard life of their ancestors. He is offering train fare to Montana and a substantial cash prize to a young woman courageous enough to live in an abandoned one-room schoolhouse for a full year without help from anyone. 
      The schoolhouse is near Whitewind, where Valerie and her father lived ten years earlier. Danny O’Shea was then convicted of a crime he swore he did not commit. There is little to connect Valerie Shannon, as she signs her paintings, with the gawky fourteen-year-old known as Shannon O’Shea. What if she can meet the newspaper challenge, paint the Montana landscape, and carry out her long held vow to clear her father’s name? 
      The long train trip across country brings back bittersweet memories. Many are of eighteen-year-old Locke Stuart, son of the judge who sent Valerie’s father to prison. Locke had stolen Valerie’s heart but never answered her letters. She wonders if he ever thinks of the girl he fiercely championed in spite of his father’s opposition.    
      Valerie and Locke must ride tangled trails and learn to heed the everlasting whisper, Trust Me, before they can find happiness. 
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:• Grab your current read• Open to a random page• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
Here's the link to join in: Teaser Tuesday

The Meryl Streep Movie Club - Teaser Tuesday

  
If you like books that explore relationships between women, you'll love THE MERYL STREEP MOVIE CLUB. I'm less than halfway through the story, and last night I had to force myself to stop reading so I could get some sleep!

Here's my Teaser from 3% on my Kindle:

The envelope, like the letter inside, typed on plain white paper, was unaddressed, unsigned:
Your husband is having an affair. I'm not sure if you know, or if you want to know.

Genre: Contemporary Women's Fiction
Length: 352 Pages
Amazon Link: The Meryl Streep Movie Club

Synopsis from Amazon:
In the bestselling tradition of The Friday Night Knitting Club and The Jane Austen Book Club, three women find unexpected answers, happiness, and one another with Meryl Streep movies as their inspiration.

Two sisters and the cousin they grew up with after a tragedy are summoned home to their family matriarch's inn on the coast of Maine for a shocking announcement. Suddenly, Isabel, June, and Kat are sharing the attic  bedroom--and barely speaking. But when innkeeper Lolly asks them to join her and the guests in the parlor for weekly Movie Night--it's Meryl Streep month--they find themselves sharing secrets, talking long into the night--and questioning everything they thought they knew about life, love, and one another.
Each woman sees her complicated life reflected through the magic of cinema: Isabel's husband is having an affair, and an old pact may keep her from what she wants most . . . June has promised her seven-year-old son that she'll somehow find his father, who he's never known . . . and Kat is ambivalent about accepting her lifelong best friend's marriage proposal. Through everything, Lolly has always been there for them, and now Isabel, June, Kat--and Meryl--must be there for her. Finding themselves. Finding each other. Finding a happy ending.Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:• Grab your current read• Open to a random page• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
Here's the link to join in: Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesday - The Husband's Secret

Infidelity, murder, revenge ... this book has it all and Tupperware too! Set in Australia, the author creates characters who remind me of people I've known (or could easily have known) who are all too real in their failings. The story fascinated me, and I couldn't stop reading. I'll be looking for more books by Liane Moriarty.

Here's my Teaser:

What did it say? She considered tearing it open right that second, before she had time to think about it, like the way she sometimes (not very often) shoved the last piece of chocolate in her mouth, before her conscience had time to catch up with her greed. 
- At 5% on my Kindle

Genre: Contemporary Women's Fiction
Length: 394 Pages
Amazon Link: The Husband's Secret

Synopsis from Goodreads:

My Darling Cecilia
If you're reading this, then I've died . . .

Imagine your husband wrote you a letter, to be opened after his death. Imagine, too, that the letter contains his deepest, darkest secret - something so terrible it would destroy not just the life you built together, but the lives of others too. Imagine, then, that you stumble across that letter while your husband is still very much alive.

Cecilia Fitzpatrick achieved it all - she's an incredibly successful business woman, a pillar of her small community and a devoted wife and mother. Her life is as orderly and spotless as her home. But that letter is about to change everything, and not just for her: Rachel and Tess barely know Cecilia - or each other - but they too are about to feel the earth-shattering repercussions of her husband's devastating secret.
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:• Grab your current read• Open to a random page• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
Here's the link to join in: Teaser Tuesday

Eight Cousins - Louisa May Alcott

For today's Book Beginnings on Friday and Friday 56 post, I'm featuring Eight Cousins. I haven't read the book yet, but at 99¢ for my Kindle, it's a bargain!

Here's the Book Beginning:

Chapter 1 - Two Girls
      Rose sat all alone in the big best parlor, with her little handkerchief laid ready to catch the first tear, for she was thinking of her troubles, and a shower was expected. She had retired to this room as a good place in which to be miserable; for it was dark and still, full of ancient furniture, sombre curtains, and hung all around with portraits of solemn old gentlemen in wigs, severe-nosed ladies in top-heavy caps, and staring children in little bob-tailed coats or short-waisted frocks. 

Louisa May paints a good picture of the room, but those two sentences are really long! Would an editor let us write that way today? I don't think so.

Here's the Friday 56 excerpt from my Kindle:

      Presently, Phebe appeared with a card. Rose read it, made a grimace, then laughed and said,
     "I'll see Miss Blish," and immediately put on her company face, pulled out her locket, and settled her curls.


********* Anyone can participate in Book Beginnings and Friday 56. 

   Click here to connect to other Book Beginnings posts    (sponsored by Rose City Reader.)

   Find other Friday 56 bloggers here 
   (sponsored by Freda's Voice).                            

Alien Invasion? NOT.

Smithsonian Magazine calls it "the most famous alien invasion that never happened." They're referring to Orson Welles' "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast, aired October 30, 1938 - seventy-five years ago today. As you may know, Welles' convincing report led some listeners to believe the world had actually been invaded by creatures from outer space. Welles, only 23 at the time, did a masterful job of scaring the peewaddle out of his listeners on the eve of Halloween. 

If you'd like to hear the complete broadcast, click on the newspaper photo below. 

In that era - before the Internet, instant messaging, cell phones, and TV coverage - people relied on radio broadcasts and newspaper stories for information. It's not hard to understand how this broadcast might have freaked out some folks. I have to wonder: could something like this happen today? 

Information on this event as well as short clips and commentary, compiled by Smithsonian Magazine, can be found here: American Experience - War of the Worlds

The Funeral Dress - Teaser Tuesday

Today I'm featuring an excellent book I just finished reading, THE FUNERAL DRESS by Susan Gregg Gilmore. Through realistic dialogue and beautifully-written description, the author paints a vivid picture of the people living in poverty in the remote "hollers" of the Appalachian Mountains. This is a story that will stay with me. 

When the story opens, the main character, Emmalee, has recently given birth to a daughter, but she refuses to reveal the name of the father. Here's a partial description of the shack where she lives, as Emmalee awakens one winter morning.

Teaser Tuesday (at 12% on my Kindle):
She needed to pee but refused to confront the cold that had settled inside the house wrapped in plywood and pieces of tar paper. In the winter, it grew so bitter sometimes, a glass of water left by the bedside froze solid by morning, even when the stove burned hot in the other room. 

Genre: Women's Fiction
Number of Pages: 370
Amazon Link: The Funeral Dress

Here's the synopsis from Goodreads:
Emmalee Bullard and her new baby are on their own. Or so she thinks, until Leona Lane, the older seamstress who sat by her side at the local shirt factory where both women worked as collar makers, insists Emmalee come and live with her.  Just as Emmalee prepares to escape her hardscrabble life in Red Chert holler, Leona dies tragically.  Grief-stricken, Emmalee decides she’ll make Leona’s burying dress, but there are plenty of people who don't think the unmarried Emmalee should design a dress for a Christian woman - or care for a child on her own. But with every stitch, Emmalee struggles to do what is right for her daughter and to honor Leona the best way she can, finding unlikely support among an indomitable group of seamstresses and the town’s funeral director. In a moving tale exploring Southern spirit and camaraderie among working women, a young mother will compel a town to become a community. 
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:• Grab your current read• Open to a random page• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
Here's the link to join in: Teaser Tuesday

Jet Packs?

The headline on the Smithsonian Magazine blog entry promises: 
This Jetpack Could Carry You Twenty Miles and Be On the Market By Next Year
Really? Gosh, according to Smithsonian, next Halloween we could actually be buzzing like moths around a Jack O'lantern? That's hard to imagine!

I remember Sean Connery as James Bond, soaring above lesser humans with a jetpack created by "Q" (way back in 1965.) According to IMBd.com that movie racked up 140 million ticket sales, making it the most popular Bond movie ever, and the jetpack and Q's other inventions surely contributed to its success. Those viewers could be potential jetpackers. 

But it seems Q's idea wasn't original. While searching online for a free photo to use in this post, I came across this magazine cover from 1928. Looks like the jetpack idea has been around for a long, long time.



Now the esteemed Smithsonian says jetpacks will actually be available to anyone who has $150,000 to $200,000 to blow. I wonder if that price will include the required hearing protection, helmet, neck restraints, boots, and fireproof suit or will accessories be sold separately? Are batteries included? 

If you have a bunch of spare cash sitting around, will you buy a jetpack? You'll find details HERE if you're interested in this mode of transportation... and if you don't mind wearing a dorky looking helmet!  

Photo Source: Wikipedia