Where Is Your Bookmark? (11/03/2015)

Yesterday I began reading Jackie Copleton's A Dictionary of Mutual Understanding, and although I am still not too far into it, I am quite enjoying it. It's a nice change of pace from my recent reading.

From Amazon:

When Amaterasu Takahashi opens the door of her Philadelphia home to a badly scarred man claiming to be her grandson, she doesn’t believe him. Her grandson and her daughter, Yuko, perished nearly forty years ago during the bombing of Nagasaki. But the man carries with him a collection of sealed private letters that open a Pandora’s Box of family secrets Ama had sworn to leave behind when she fled Japan. She is forced to confront her memories of the years before the war: of the daughter she tried too hard to protect and the love affair that would drive them apart, and even further back, to the long, sake-pouring nights at a hostess bar where Ama first learned that a soft heart was a dangerous thing. Will Ama allow herself to believe in a miracle?

First Paragraph of A Dictionary of Mutual Understanding:

Even the kindness of the half-light could not hide his disfigurement. The man stood on my doorstep hunched against the chill of a winter morning. Despite the scarring, I could tell he was Japanese, in his forties or fifties. I had seen such burns before, blacker versions, in another life. He wore a suit, no coat, and held a briefcase on fingers fused together. he bowed his bald head low, cleared his throat and apologised for the intrusion. Years had passed since I last heard it but the southern Kyushu dialect was unmistakable. He asked if my name was Amaterasu Takahashi and, despite my apprehension, I nodded. The muscles of his face twitched, perhaps in a smile. 'Then I bring you good news.'

Teaser from page 6: 

I convinced myself an edited version of my past was necessary for a bearable life. I told myself I must not think too long on the mistakes I had made that led Yuko to the city's death zone. How else could I get up in the morning and face another day? How else could I endure the years as they trickled by, one too slowly following the other?


What do you think? Would you keep reading?  

What are you reading at the moment?  Is it anything you would recommend?

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely ladies at Broke and Bookish.

I switched up this week's week's  Top Ten Tuesday theme to make it easier for me. Especially given how busy work is right now and with all the Halloween craziness that thank goodness is now behind me. This week, I am featuring Top Ten Series I Have Only Read One Book Of But Am Eager to Dive Back Into over the past five years.

1.

I am anxious to see what Tessa Arlen will come up with after her cozy mystery, Death of a Dishonorable Gentleman, set in Edwardian England. The next novel in her series featuring Lady Montfort, Death Sits Down to Dinner, is due out in March of next year.

2. & 3.

I fell head over heels in love with Karen Marie Moning's writing when I read Darkfever, the first in her urban fantasy Fever series, and then Beyond the Highland Mist, the first in her paranormal romance Highlander series (to which no Highlander book has lived up to yet).  I do not know why I have not yet read the second in either series. Maybe I am afraid Bloodfever and To Tame a Highland Warrior won't live up to my expectations, given how much I enjoyed the first books in their respective series. That's silly though! I should just read them.

4.

I really enjoyed Jennifer Robson's Somewhere in France, a historical fiction novel set during World War I, which tells the story of a woman who becomes an ambulance driver on the front lines. After the War is the sequel, featuring the friend of Lily from the first book--Charlotte who is a military nurse. These books do not exactly fall into the series category, but I figured I would bend the rules a little, given the two books are connected.

5.

I read Louise Penny's A Trick of the Light, which I think is book #7 in her Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series, when the opportunity presented itself. I loved every minute of reading that book, and keep meaning to go back and start from the beginning with Still Life.

6.

Another series I jumped into the middle of  is Deborah Crombie's Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James series. I have read #14 in the series, No Mark Upon Her, which I just loved. One of these days I want to read A Share In Death and then the rest of the series--hopefully in order.

7.

I read A Game of Thrones, the first in the Song of Ice and Fire Saga by George R.R. Martin right after giving birth to my daughter and devoured it. I would really like to read the rest of the books eventually, and next up is A Clash of Kings.

8.

It took me a while to get to Kim Harrison's Dead Witch Walking, and once I did, I couldn't believe I waited so long. Still, I have only read the first book in the Hollows series to far. I need to get to The Good, The Bad, and the Undead.

9.

Gail Carriger's Soulless had come highly recommended, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I am anxious to read the second book in the The Parasol Protectorate Series called Changeless.

10. I only just recently read Karen E. Olson's Hidden, featuring her computer hacker protagonist. I hear she is working on book three in the series already, which is good news for me! I just wish I didn't have to wait so long for book #2: Shadowed.

Have you read any of these? If you read series, are there any series you have read just one book of but would like to continue with the rest? 

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