First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros:
The Art Of Racing In The Rain by Garth Stein

 first chapter first paragraph tuesday intros
Aug 192019
 

Every Tuesday I host First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros sharing the first paragraph or two of a book that I’m reading or plan to read soon

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The Art of Racing in the Rain

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

1
Gestures are all that I have; sometimes they must be grand in nature. And while I occasionally step over the line and into the world of the melodramtic, it is what I must do in order to communicate clearly and effectively. In order to make my poinr understood without question. I have no words I can rely on because, much to my dismay, my tongue was designed long and flat and loose, and therefore, is a horribly ineffective tool for pushing food around my mouth while chewing, and an even less effective tool for making clever and complicated polysyllabic sounds that can be linked together to form sentences. And that’s why I’m here now waiting for Denny to come home-he should be here soon-lying on the cool tiles of the kitchen floor in a puddle of my own urine.

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros:
A Three Dog Life by Abigail Thomas

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Aug 122019
 

Every Tuesday I host First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros sharing the first paragraph or two of a book that I’m reading or plan to read soon

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A Three Dog Life by Abigail Thomas

1
What Stays The Same

This is the one thing that stays the same: my husband got hurt. Everything else changes. A grandson needs me and then he doesn’t. My children are close then one drifts away. I smoke and don’t smoke; I knit ponchos, then hats, shawls, hats again, stop knitting, start up again. The clock ticks, the seasons shift, the night sky rearranges itself, but my husband remains constant, his injuries are permanant. He grounds me. Rich is where I shine. I can count on myself with him.

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros:
Long Way Gone by Charles Martin

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Aug 052019
 

Every Tuesday I host First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros sharing the first paragraph or two of a book that I’m reading or plan to read soon

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Long Way Gone

Long Way Gone by Charles Martin

Part One

I’d seen him before. Old guy was probably seventy-five. Maybe eighty. Gnarled, arthiritic fingers. Four packs a day voice. Cottony white hair with yellowed ends. Wrinkled ebony skin. A high mileage chasis. He wore threadbare, blue and gray striped pants that had previously belonged to a wool suit and a soiled white button down that he’d fastened clear to the top. To complete the ensemble, he wore two-toned classic oxfords. The white was dull and cracked, but what remained of the black had been polished to a spit shine.

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros:
Only One Life by Ashley Farley

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Jul 292019
 

Every Tuesday I host First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros sharing the first paragraph or two of a book that I’m reading or plan to read soon

Feel free to join in by posting your own FCFPTI and linking below

Only One Life

Only One Life by Ashley Farley

Part One
Chapter One

Julia
Present Day

Julia felt as thought her belly might explode wide open, even though the baby wasn’t due for another two weeks. She smiled at the thought of giving birth on the tile floor in the kitchen of Duke’s Diner as Duke hovered over her, coaching her through the labor pains and delivery.

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros:
The Overdue Life of Amy Byler by Kelly Harms

 first chapter first paragraph tuesday intros
Jul 222019
 

Every Tuesday I host First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros sharing the first paragraph or two of a book that I’m reading or plan to read soon

Feel free to join in by posting your own FCFPTI and linking below

The Overdue Life of Amy Byler by Kelly Harms

Dear Mom,
So here’s the thing. And I know you’re going to make some weird big deal out of it because you’re a mom and a nerd and you can’t help yourself. You’re going to, like, make it into a Facebook meme and then needlepoint it onto a pillow because you’re crazy. But whatever, here it is: you were right.

What do you think? Would you keep reading?

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros:
Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes

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Jul 152019
 

Every Tuesday I host First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros sharing the first paragraph or two of a book that I’m reading or plan to read soon

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Evvie Drake Starts Over

Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes
Narrated by: Julia Whelan, Linda Holmes

First
Go now or you’ll never go, Evvie warned herself. She didn’t want to be there when he got home from work. It was cowardly, yes, but she didn’t relish the whole thing it would turn into, the whole mess. He’d say, not unreasonably, that leaving with no warning at all was a little dramatic. Afer all this time, he would wonder, why now? He wouldn’t know that, today exactly, Evvie had been with him for half her life. She’d figured it out on the back of a grocery receipt a few months earlier, and then she had circled this date on their wall calendar in red. He’d walked by it over and over and never once asked her about it. If she let the day pass, she thought she might start to disappear, cell by cell, bone by bone, replaced by someone who looked like her but wasn’t.

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros:
Becoming Boston Strong: One Woman’s Race to Run and Conquer the World’s Greatest Marathon by Amy Roe

 first chapter first paragraph tuesday intros
Jul 082019
 

 

Every Tuesday I host First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros sharing the first paragraph or two of a book that I’m reading or plan to read soon

Feel free to join in by posting your own FCFPTI and linking below

Becoming Boston Strong: One Woman's Race to Run and Conquer the World's Greatest Marathon

Becoming Boston Strong:
One Woman’s Race to Run and Conquer the World’s Greatest Marathon
by Amy Roe

Chapter One
Heartbreak

I am caught in a crowd of runners shuffling feebly through the streets when my cell phone rings. My dad’s raspy voice is on the other end: “Amy?”
He has no idea what had just happened. He can’t know. No one, save for those of us who have just seen and heard the explosions, knows about this yet.

I’m starting this soon!

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros:
Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman by Elizabeth Buchan

 first chapter first paragraph tuesday intros
Jul 012019
 

Every Tuesday I host First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros sharing the first paragraph or two of a book that I’m reading or plan to read soon

Feel free to join in by posting your own FCFPTI and linking below

Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman

Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman by Elizabeth Buchan

For twenty-five years, Rose Lloyd has juggled marriage, motherhood, and career with remarkable success. It has been a life of family picnics, books and wine, a cherished house, and her own exquistely designed garden- sunny and comfortable. But then the carefully managed existence to which Rose has become accustomed comes crashing down around her when-over the course of days-her marriage and her career both fall apart. Rose finds herself in mourning for the tenderness of a lost partnership, for a shattered domestic life, and for the lost confidence of a woman who, until now, had made her own way.

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros: As We Are Now by May Sarton

 first chapter first paragraph tuesday intros, reviews
Jun 242019
 

Every Tuesday I host First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros sharing the first paragraph or two of a book that I’m reading or plan to read soon

Feel free to join in by posting your own FCFPTI and linking below

As We Are Now

As We Are Now by May Sarton

I am not mad, only old. I make this statement to give me courage. To give you and idea what I mean by courage, suffice it to say that it has taken two weeks for me to obtain this notebook and a pen. I am in a concentration camp for the old, a place where people dump their parents or relatives exactly as though it were and ash can.

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros:
Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love
by Dani Shapiro

 first chapter first paragraph tuesday intros
Jun 172019
 

Every Tuesday I host First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros sharing the first paragraph or two of a book that I’m reading or plan to read soon

Feel free to join in by posting your own FCFPTI and linking below

Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love

Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love by Dani Shapiro

1

When I was a girl I would sneak down the hall late at night once my
parents were asleep. I would lock myself in the bathroom, climb onto the Formica counter, and get as close as possible to the morror until I was nose to nose with my own reflection. This wasn’t an exercise in the simple self-absorption of child of childhood. The stakes felt high. Who knows how long I kneeled there, staring into my own eyes. I was looking for something I couldn’t possibly have articulated-but I always knew it when I saw it. If I waited long enough, my face would begin to morph. I was eight, ten, thirteen. Cheeks, eyes, chin, and forehead-my features softened and shape-shifted until finally I was able to see another face, a different face, what seemed to me a truer face just beneath my own.

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros:
Have You Seen Luis Velez? by Catherine Ryan Hyde

 first chapter first paragraph tuesday intros
Jun 102019
 

Every Tuesday I host First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros sharing the first paragraph or two of a book that I’m reading or plan to read soon

Feel free to join in by posting your own FCFPTI and linking below

Have You Seen Luis Velez?

Have You Seen Luis Velez? by Catherine Ryan Hyde

Part One
October

Chapter One
Those Eyes

Raymond slipped out the door of his family’s apartment and across the hall to the railed stairs. He looked down the long, rectangular stairwell, four floors down to the lobby. At first he saw no one.

First Paragraph Tuesday Intros:
Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm

 first chapter first paragraph tuesday intros
Jun 032019
 

Every Tuesday I host First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros sharing the first paragraph or two of a book that I’m reading or plan to read soon

Feel free to join in by posting your own FCFPTI and linking below

Turtle in Paradise

Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm

June 1935
1
Rotten Kids

Everyone thinks children are sweet as Necco Wafers, but I’ve lived long enough to know the truth: kids are rotten. The only difference between grown-ups and kids is that grown-ups go to jail for murder. Kids get away with it.

I stare out the window as Mr. Edgit’s Ford Model A rumbles along the road, kicking up clouds of dust. It’s so hot that the backs of my legs feel like melted gum, only stickier. We’ve been driving for days now; it feels like eternity.

I started listening to this book today. What do you think? Would you keep reading?

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros:
Being the Grownup: Love, Limits, and the Natural Authority of Parenthood by Adelia Moore

 first chapter first paragraph tuesday intros
May 272019
 

Every Tuesday I host  sharing the first paragraph or two of a book that I’m reading or plan to read soon

Feel free to join in by posting your own FCFPTI and linking below

Being the Grownup: Love, Limits, and the Natural Authority of Parenthood by Adelia Moore

Chapter One-
It was tiem to leave the playground. I was 26, pregnant, and the stay-at-home mom of a 2 year old. My husband and I had just moved to a city that was hundereds of miles away from any family or friends. I knwq no one else with a young child. My son was happily swinging, but it was time for lunch, and soon after that, the battlegroundof nap time. When I told him that it was time tp leave, he said, “No, I don’t want to go; I want to swing”. After a t least two more failed efforts at verbal persuasion, I lifted him off the swing. He cried and squirmed out of my arms and finally threw himself on the ground. He kicked and screamed in a full-fledged tantrum. I wanted to cry myself. As I write, through the window I can see a little girl and her mother walking a Chihuahua. He stops several times and refuses to to walk, and finally she picks him up-just as I did with my son. What were her alternatives? What were mine?

I’m reading this for a book tour on June 17th

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros:
Rumple Buttercup: A Story of Bananas, Belonging, and Being Yourself by Matthew Gray Gubler

 first chapter first paragraph tuesday intros
May 202019
 

Every Tuesday I host First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros sharing the first paragraph or two of a book that I’m reading or plan to read soon

Feel free to join in by posting your own FCFPTI and linking below

Rumple Buttercup: A Story of Bananas, Belonging, and Being Yourself
by Matthew Gray Gubler

Come close and I’ll tell you a story

Chapter 1
Once upon a time,
Long ago and far away in a tiny town beneath a purple peaked pine tree…
There lived a monster named Rumple Buttercup

He had…
5 crooked teeth, 3 strands of hair, green skin, and his left foot was slightly bigger than his right

He was weird

And so Rumple worried that if anyone ever saw him they would, be scared, run away, or throw rocks at his head
So he spent his entire life hiding underground in a rain drain right by a garbage can in the middle of town where no one would ever see him

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros:
Her One Mistake by Heidi Perks

 first chapter first paragraph tuesday intros
May 132019
 

Every Tuesday I host First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros sharing the first paragraph or two of a book that I’m reading or plan to read soon

Feel free to join in by posting your own FCFPTI and linking below

Her One Mistake

Her One Mistake by Heidi Perks

NOW

My name is Charlotte Reynolds. I lean forward to speak into the microphone, though I’m not sure why. It just feels imperative that I at least get my name across clearly. Reaching out for the glass in front of me, I grip it between my fingertips, pushing it slowly in counterclockwise circles, watching the water inside ripple.

The clock on the otherwise bare white wall flashes 9:16 p.m. in bright red lights. My children should be in bed by now. Tom said he would stay the night and sleep in the spare room. “Don’t worry,” he told me when I called him earlier. “I won’t go anywhere until you’re home.” That isn’t what I’m worrying about, but I didn’t say as much.

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros:
Evidence Of The Affair by Taylor Jenkins Reid

 first chapter first paragraph tuesday intros
May 062019
 

Every Tuesday I host First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros sharing the first paragraph or two of a book that I’m reading or plan to read soon

Feel free to join in by posting your own FCFPTI and linking below

Evidence of the Affair by Taylor Jenkins Reid

December 10, 1976

Dear Mr. David Mayer,

My name is Carrie Allsop. Please accept my apologies for contacting you out of the blue. I am writing to ask a quite humbling favor. I recently found some love letters in my husband’s briefcase that I believe to be from your wife, Janet.

I suspect my husband, Ken Allsop, met your wife at a medial conference in Coronado three months ago. It seems as if they have been sleeping together since then. I have come to this conclusion because the letters from your wife to my husband include reverences to a relationship of a sexual nature.

 

I usually don’t read or listen to books like this but when I saw Susie post about this book I found the aspect of the spouses of the two having an affair intriguing. It’s a short story at only 1 hr. 19 min.

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros:
Postcards From a Stranger by Imogen Clark

 first chapter first paragraph tuesday intros
Apr 292019
 

Every Tuesday I host First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros sharing the first paragraph or two of a book that I’m reading or plan to read soon

Feel free to join in by posting your own FCFPTI and linking below

Postcards From a Stranger by Imogen Clark

Chapter One

Cara, 2017

“I can’t do this on my own anymore!”

I shout it down the phone. I don’t mean to shout. It’s just how my voice comes out. “I need some help,” I say more quietly.
I put my hand over the mouthpiece to muffle my voice.
“Dad” I plead. “Stop making that racket.”

Dad looks at me, his eyes mildly curious, but he does not stop. The crack of metal spoon on wooden table continues to pummel my delicate nerve endings. I remember the advice that I got from the specialist-care team and take another deep breath. “Please”! I add with the best smile I can muster.

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros:
Class Mom by Laurie Gelman

 first chapter first paragraph tuesday intros
Apr 222019
 

Every Tuesday I host First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros sharing the first paragraph or two of a book that I’m reading or plan to read soon

Feel free to join in by posting your own FCFPTI and linking below

Class Mom

Class Mom by Laurie Gelman

1
I click Send on my laptop, sit back in my chair, and grimace. “Well, that should give them something to think about,” I say to absolutely no one.

Rubbing my tired eyes, I wonder for the fiftieth time that day why I ever agreed to be a class mom again. My first instinct had been the right one.

 

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros
Kitchen Yarns: Notes on Life, Love, and Food by Ann Hood

 first chapter first paragraph tuesday intros
Apr 152019
 

Every Tuesday I host First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros sharing the first paragraph or two of a book that I’m reading or plan to read soon

Feel free to join in by posting your own FCFPTI and linking below

Kitchen Yarns: Notes on Life, Love, and Food
Kitchen Yarns: Notes on Life, Love, and Food by Ann Hood

Introduction

I grew up eating. A lot. As the great food writer M.F.K. Fisher said, “First we eat, then we do everything else.” That describes my childhood home. In my mind, my Italian grandmother, Mama Rose, was always cooking. We lived with her in the house she moved to with her parents when they came from Conca Della Compainia, a small mountanous town an hour and a world away from Naples, Italy, to West Warwick, Rhode Island. When I was young, Mama Rose and her mother, Nonna, kept an enormous garden in the backyard, and they would sit on summer afternoons and snap the end off string beans (served cold with garlic and mint), press tomatoes into sauce, pickle read and green peppers for the Christmas antipasto. We had fruit trees, Seckel pear, cherry, apple, fig and blueberry and raspberry bushes. They raised rabbits and chickens, too. More than once a beloved white bunny- Snowball, Snowflake, Snowy- disappeared from it’s cage only for us to have funny-tasting “chicken” that night at dinner.

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros:
I’m Fine and Neither Are You by Camille Pagán

 first chapter first paragraph tuesday intros
Apr 082019
 

Every Tuesday I host First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros sharing the first paragraph or two of a book that I’m reading or plan to read soon

Feel free to join in by posting your own FCFPTI and linking below

I'm Fine and Neither Are You

I’m Fine and Neither Are You by Camille Pagán

ONE

Mistakes were made. The first wasn’t even something I did; it was only a germ of an idea, fleeting but infectious. I had just sat on the toilet and was mulling over the day’s to-dos and why-didn’t-Is when a single thought shot past all the rest: I want out.

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