First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros

Every Tuesday, Diane @ 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!

My selection this week is from Below Stairs: The Classic Kitchen Maid's Memoir That Inspired Upstairs, Downstairs, and Downton Abbey (Whew! that was a long title!!). I picked this one up from my library because I'm having Downton Abbey withdrawals!!

I was born in 1907 in Hove, the second child of a family of seven. My earliest recollection is that other children seemed to be better off than we were. But our parents cared so much for us. One particular thing that I always remember was that every Sunday morning my father used to bring us a comic and a bag of sweets. You used to be able to get a comic for a halfpenny plain and a penny coloured. Sometimes now when I look back at it, I wonder how he managed to do it when he was out of work and there was no money at all coming in.

Would you continue reading this one

 based on the opening paragraph?

Mailbox Monday and It's Monday...What Are You Reading?

Mailbox Monday 

is a gathering place for readers to share the books that

came into their house last week and explore great book blogs. 

Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

The May Host is:

Martha of Review's by Martha's Bookshelf

Sea Change by Karen White- courtesy of NAL/Penguin

----------------------------------------------------

Hosted by

 Sheila @ One Person's Journey Through a World of Books

We discuss the books that we've read 

and what we're planning to read for the week.

Last Week's Bookish Thoughts:

Nothing happened on my blog last week because I was so sick that I actually felt sorry for myself!! I was, "I want my mommy" sick!! Thankfully, the antibiotics have really kicked in and a week later I'm starting to feel halfway human! Thank you to my friends that stopped by to wish me well and for the virtual hugs!!

Books I will be talking about this week:

True Sisters- new release from Sandra Dallas

The Lightning Thief- middle school series on audio

Friday Fitness is coming back this week! I was detoured by unexpected life curveballs last week so I didn't spend a lot of time on the computer. Will discuss this in my upcoming post!!

In my Book Box:

I'm flirting with a few library choices and a few review books. I guess I will pick whatever speaks to me!!

• Thrush Green (library)
• Glow (review copy)
• Perfect (library)

Saturday Snapshot- The Witch Doctor is in!

Saturday Snapshot

is hosted by Alyce of At Home With Books.

It’s easy to participate – just post a picture

that was taken by you, a friend, or a family member and add your link on Alyce’s site.

The Witch Doctor

aka

Marcus

Last night was the premiere of Marc's Drama club's latest endeavor, Lagooned.  Above you will see The Witch Doctor totally decked out and the make-up was out of this world! The play was great as usual and I'm pretty sure Marc enjoyed running out without many clothes on!! 

Under the weather......

I have been feeling a bit under the weather. In fact, I think I do resemble this little critter above. Went to the doctor on Monday but the antibiotics are taking their time kicking in. I just don't have the energy to blog at this moment, nor to spend much time reading blogs because the computer screen exacerbates my sinus headaches that just don't seem to go away! I'm hoping to be feeling better soon!!! Until then I will be checking out for a few more days!

Love and hugs,
Staci

Mailbox Monday and It's Monday...What Are You Reading?

Mailbox Monday 

is a gathering place for readers to share the books that

came into their house last week and explore great book blogs. 

Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

The May Host is:

Martha of Review's by Martha's Bookshelf

In the Bag by Kate Klise- courtesy of William Morrow/Harper Collins

----------------------------------------------------

Hosted by

 Sheila @ One Person's Journey Through a World of Books

We discuss the books that we've read 

and what we're planning to read for the week.

Last Week's Bookish Thoughts:

Deep Down True- would make a good summer read.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo- not the stellar read I was hoping for.

Books I will be talking about this week:

True Sisters- new release from Sandra Dallas

The Lightning Thief- middle school series on audio

Friday Fitness is coming back this week! I was detoured by unexpected life curveballs last week so I didn't spend a lot of time on the computer. Will discuss this in my upcoming post!!

In my Book Box:

I'm flirting with a few library choices and a few review books. I guess I will pick whatever speaks to me!!

• Thrush Green (library)
• Glow (review copy)
• Perfect (library)
• The Wolf Who Loved Me (review copy)

Saturday Snapshot- friendly visitor

Saturday Snapshot

is hosted by Alyce of At Home With Books.

It’s easy to participate – just post a picture

that was taken by you, a friend, or a family member and add your link on Alyce’s site.

I have been stalking this Hairy Woodpecker for a few weeks now and every time he shows up I don't have my camera out!! But the other day he was so busy eating that I was able to sneak in the house, turn the camera on inside, and then quietly walk back out front to snap a few photos!! I have two teacher friends who make suet bags with their daughters and then give them away at school. I can't wait to show them what was snacking on the feed bag hanging from my tree!

The Girl with the Dragon Tatto- Bookish Thoughts #26

What The Girl With the Dragon Tatto is about:
Mikael Blomkvist, a once-respected financial journalist, watches his professional life rapidly crumble around him. Prospects appear bleak until an unexpected (and unsettling) offer to resurrect his name is extended by an old-school titan of Swedish industry. The catch--and there's always a catch--is that Blomkvist must first spend a year researching a mysterious disappearance that has remained unsolved for nearly four decades. With few other options, he accepts and enlists the help of investigator Lisbeth Salander, a misunderstood genius with a cache of authority issues. 


Why I wanted to read it: Because of all of the hype surrounding this trilogy!!

Source: Personal Shelves

• Thank goodness that I watched the Swedish version of this movie before ever trying to read this book. Sometimes it is beneficial to see the movie before reading because without some of my prior knowledge I think I would have bailed on this book.
• The first 300 pages were so hard to plod through. Every time I thought about stopping I would go back and read a fellow blogger's review that said is was slow in the beginning but it got better. 
• The characters were a bit hard to keep track of, especially the family that Mikael was writing a book about..talk about head swimming with details, people, and financial information that went right over my head. All of it together made it hard for me to enjoy reading.
• I think for me the book started to get more interesting and compelling when Lisbeth showed up more and the author started to peel away her layers of insecurity. I still don't know what makes her tick and why she is like she is, but I believe that more information about her childhood will be brought to light in book two!

This was a book that I wanted to love from page one, however, it turned out that I didn't really enjoy my reading until I was more than halfway involved in this story. I would be hard pressed to tell my friends that it was a stellar read. How can I convince them that even though the first half of the book is tedious, you need to wade through it because it's important to the story??? I will continue on with the next book but I don't feel any rush to get to it. 

Overall: 3/5

Bookish Thoughts #26

© 2012, Staci of Life in the Thumb. All Rights Reserved. If you reading this on a site other than, Life in the Thumb or Staci's feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.