Teaser Tuesday: The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul by Deborah Rodriguez

... 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

The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul by Deborah Rodriguez

My teaser is from p 30



" It was from the act itself -- dangerous, contemptuous and fearless. Out here, Halajan was as close as she'd ever get again, she feared , to freedom."

In a little coffee shop in one of the most dangerous places on earth, five very different women come together. As these five discover there is more to one another than meets the eye, they form a unique bond that will forever change their lives and the lives of many others.

Teaser Tuesday

... 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

The Templar Legacy by Steve Berry

Cotton Malone is enjoying his quiet new life as an antiquarian bookseller in Copenhagen when he is unexpectedly plunged back into the cloak and dagger world he thought he's left behind.

My teaser is from p149


"Why did you give me this to read?" she said to Malone when she finished.
"You needed to."
Where had all these ghost come from? Rennes-le-Chateau might hold no treasure, but this place harboured demons intent on tormenting her.

 
 
 
It's been a while since I read this sort of 'find the lost relic'  thriller but I'm enjoying this immensely. Lots about old books, the history of the Knights Templar and an exciting hunt through Denmark and the South of France. Great reading.

Teaser Tuesday - Harbour by John Ajvide Lindqvist

... 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

Harbour by John Ajvide Lindqvist

Anders lost his six-year-old daughter on the island of Domaro. He turned his back and she was gone: vanished from the winter ice, as if by magic.

My teaser is from p 67
 
" Anders' grandmother had retold the story using exactly the same words, and ever since it had been an expression that came into his head from time to time when he wanted to describe something. It came to him now, as he examined the door and found not a trace of whoever had been hammering on it.
Something bad is coming!"
 
 
 
I assumed this was going to be another Scandinavian crime story but it's turning out to be a quietly chilling supernatural horror............and it's very good!

Teaser Tuesday - The Leopard by Jo Nesbo

... 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

No doubt about it - Scandinavia produces some great crime and thriller writers. I haven't read Jo Nesbo before, in fact until very recently I thought he was a 'she' and I know I probably should have read The Snowman first ,but,  when my lovely librarian who had just finished cataloguing this one, asked if I'd like it first????...........not an offer I was going to turn down.

The Leopard by Jo Nesbo

Deeply traumatised by The Snowman investigation Inspector Harry Hole reluctantly returns to Oslo when two young women are found with twenty-four inexplicable puncture wounds and both of them drowned - in their own blood.

My teaser is from p6


"If all you had to do was pull the wire, why hadn't she already done it? Because the warning had been given by an obvious sicko? Or was this part
of the game? Being tricked into resisting the temptation to stop this quite unnecessary pain?"



So far I've only read 50 pages but it's proving a real page turner.........hope it can keep the momentum for the full 611 pages.

Teaser Tuesday: Daniel by Henning Mankell

... 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


Daniel by Henning Mankell

In 1875 a young Swedish entomologist is on an expedition to the Kalahari Desert........he finds a small boy whose tribe has been wiped out by European raiders and decides to adopt him and take him back to Sweden.

My teaser comes from p229 '

'He's dying of longing.'
'But what is it he's longing for? Parents who are dead? Sand that burns under his feet?'
'He's longing for home. Whatever it is, that's where he longs to be.'

I finished it last night - it's a certainty for 'best of 2011' lists - heartwrenching and compelling reading. I recommend!

Teaser Tuesday: When Labels are Limiting!

... 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

I read very little YA fiction. At my age there's no reason why I should want to when there are so many 'adult' books crying out to be read. So even though I've read many glowing reviews of this book it hasn't been high on my reading priority list because it wears the YA label.

But labels can be limiting I discovered on my visit to the library last week. Having one of those days when it's difficult to find something I spotted this book on the shelves............in the Adult Section!........so I thought why not and added it to my loot. When I asked the librarian why it was where it was she said that they have copies in the YA section but " had also considered it was worthy of a wider readership."
Now I've read it I applaud their vision and hope that many readers whose feet never take them to the YA shelves will read and enjoy it.

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

The story of a girl who dies young, but in the process learns how to live.

My teasers comes from p195

" My point is: maybe you can afford to wait. Maybe for you there's a tomorrow. Maybe for there's one thousand tomorrows, or three thousand, or ten, so much time you can bathe in it, roll around in it, let it slide like coins through your fingers."

"But for some of us there's only today. And the truth is you never really know."


And that truth is not only relevant to teenagers but to all of us. As is so much else in this book . The writing is beautiful and once I started reading I found it hard to put the book down........surprise, surprise.........it's very, very good!! Time to stop letting my rigid thinking limit my choices.

Teaser Tuesday - The Wedding Shroud by Elisabeth Storrs

... 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

Not quite my current read as I've already finished it but a book I want to put the spotlight on for historical fiction lovers. By an Australian author and I haven't seen much mention of it yet from the Northern Hemisphere but definitely worthy of adding to those TBR lists.

The Wedding Shroud by Elisabeth Storrs

406 BC - a young woman torn between two cultures.

My two teasers come from p100
 
"Artile signalled two attendants to hold a large round mantle over the couple; a symbol of shelter and union from those outside. Just like the bridal gown it was light and transparent, a fine thread of gold woven through it. There was space beneath it - a kind of cocoon."
 
"His face softened. 'This is our wedding shroud,' he said. 'Eventually it will embrace us in death.'
 
 
All going well I'll be reviewing The Wedding Shroud next week.

Teaser Tuesday - The Botticelli Secret by Marina Fiorato

... 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

The Botticelli Secret by Marina Fiorato

"Renaissance Italy comes alive in brilliant sights and sounds from marbled halls to filthy sewers. An enticing mystery, historical intrigue and romantic adventure"

My teaser comes from page 2
 
 
 
"  I was dressed in my best, to be sure, for I am always aware of the passing trade. But I happened to be sitting on the balustrade of the river, pissing into the Arno."
 
 
 
 
 
I've only just started this book which has ,according to the blurb on the back,  ' a deliciously irreverent heroine' called Luciana who herself quite happily confesses to being 'a guttersnipe' which is probably a better description. She has a mouth on her that would make any mother reach for the soap.
 
 

Teaser Tuesday - The Scarlet Contessa by Jeanne Kalogrides

... 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

The Scarlet Contessa by Jeanne Kalogrides

My teaser comes from p 252.

" He sat on the bench, bent halfway forward from the waist, his breathing labored, his arms wound round himself, as if he were struggling to keep something dangerous from bursting out. At the sound of my steps, he looked up immediately, his eyes wide with horror."

Told by her lady-in-waiting, this is the story of Caterina Sforza , the bravest warrior Renaissance Italy ever knew. She ruled her own lands, fought her own battles. and openly took lovers whenever she pleased!

Teaser Tuesday - The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

... 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


The Classics I've been reading this year, mainly through readalongs, have all been English so this month I decided to go elsewhere. Not having read anything of this American author's before I chose .....

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

My teaser comes from p17

"The immense accretion of flesh which had descended on her in middle life like a flood of lava on a doomed city had changed her from a plump active little woman with a neatly turned foot and ankle into something as vast and august as a natural phenomenon. She had accepted this submergence as philosophically as all her other trials, and now, in extreme old age, was rewarded by presenting to her mirror an almost unwrinkled expanse of pink and white flesh, in the centre of which the traces of a small face survived as if awaiting excavation.

It's proving to be everything it says it is ..........a novel with a lucid and penetrating style, vivid characterisations, an insight into the lives of upper class New Yorkers during the 1870's. It's marvellous reading.

I'm back - Teaser Tuesday

Home again after a lovely few days with our daughter and family. Celebrated the youngest grandson's 5th birthday and waved him off to his first day at school yesterday before leaving. The time went so quickly although confronting my google reader this morning was a bit daunting and made me feel as though I've been gone for weeks.

So I thought I'd ease myself back into the blogging gently with a Teaser Tuesday ....

... 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!

My Teaser

"Noora yawned again and stared up at the mountains, a disheveled carpet of gleaming old rocks and bright ,young shoots. She took it all in: unruly scrubs with tips bursting into tiny red flowers; fluffy, white dots on stout bushes; bizarre purple clusters that crowned stunted cacti."

(p53)

The Sand Fish by Maha Gargash

 A novel from Dubai

'A fascinating window into a different culture - and an inspiring and unforgettable universal story of strength and self-reliance.'