Category: The Friday 56 Page 3 of 15

The Friday 56 for 4/7/23: The Raven Thief by Gigi Pandian

On April 7, 2023

In Currently Reading, News/Misc., Quotations, The Friday 56

This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

RULES:
The Friday 56 Grab a book, any book.
Turn to Page 56 or 56% on your ereader. If you have to improvise, that is okay.
Find a snippet, short and sweet.
Post it.

from Page 56 of:
The Raven Thief

The Raven Thief by Gigi Pandian

“I think she means,” said Sanjay, “that the killer could have run away, and now they’re getting farther away.”

“We all know that’s not what happened,” Kumiko said. then muted her phone so the 9-1-1 dispatcher wouldn’t hear what she said next. “This wasn’t an outsider. It was one of us.”

For the next seven seconds, the only sound in the room was the breathing of its stressed-out occupants.

The Friday 56 for 3/31/23: Hacked by Duncan MacMaster

By HCNewton

On March 31, 2023

In Currently Reading, News/Misc., Quotations, The Friday 56

This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

RULES:
The Friday 56 Grab a book, any book.
Turn to Page 56 or 56% on your ereader. If you have to improvise, that is okay.
Find a snippet, short and sweet.
Post it.

I’ve been reading a lot of ARCs lately, so nothing I can quote from, but MacMaster talking about editing book 3 in this series got me thinking about it. Ergo…

from Page 56 of:
Hacked

Hacked by Duncan MacMaster

“Let’s change the subject.”

“Well,” she said, “the rumours about you being kidnappig have really given interest in your books a big shot in the arm.”

“At least it was good for something,” I said.

I ordered breakfast, Geetha told me she already ate, so I only ordered for myself. I ordered big, waffles and Sausages with real maple syrup, coffee, and orange juice. I normally didn’t eat this big in the morning, but kidnappings really worked up an appetite.

The Friday 56 for 3/24/23: Please Return to the Lands of Luxury by Jon Tilton

By HCNewton

On March 24, 2023

In Currently Reading, News/Misc., Quotations, The Friday 56

This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

RULES:
The Friday 56 Grab a book, any book.
Turn to Page 56 or 56% on your ereader. If you have to improvise, that is okay.
Find a snippet, short and sweet.
Post it.

from Page 56 of:
Please Return to the Lands of Luxury

Please Return to the Lands of Luxury by Jon Tilton

Jane sighed and cradled the doll in her arms. As she studied the closest group of homes, the tag brushed against her hand. Her heart skipped a beat. Of course—even though she couldn’t read, she knew what the words ‘Spring Blossom Way’ looked like. She grabbed the tag and compared its letters to the ones on the sign. A few matched, but nothing exact.

Jane hurried down the street, stopping at each intersection until she found a match. A warmness swept through her, as if the letters had jumped off the sign and given her a hug.

The Friday 56 for 3/17/23: Backpacking through Bedlam by Seanan McGuire

By HCNewton

On March 17, 2023

In Currently Reading, News/Misc., Quotations, The Friday 56

This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

RULES:
The Friday 56 Grab a book, any book.
Turn to Page 56 or 56% on your ereader. If you have to improvise, that is okay.
Find a snippet, short and sweet.
Post it.

from Page 56 of:
Backpacking through Bedlam

Backpacking through Bedlam by Seanan McGuire

Sitting down to dinner inside a giant termite mound, and other sentences I’ve never considered before.

The patriarch turned out to be a smiling man roughly Thomas’s apparent age, with paler spots than most of the others, and who went by the unprepossessing name of “Kenneth.” That was almost reassuring. Real-life cult leaders don’t usually call themselves “Bloodfang the Consumer,” but they also aren’t generally content to go around being named “Kenneth.”

The Friday 56 for 3/10/23: Miss Percy’s Pocket Guide (to the Care and Feeding of British Dragons by Quenby Olson

By HCNewton

On March 10, 2023

In Currently Reading, News/Misc., Quotations, The Friday 56

This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

RULES:
The Friday 56 Grab a book, any book.
Turn to Page 56 or 56% on your ereader. If you have to improvise, that is okay.
Find a snippet, short and sweet.
Post it.

from Page 56 of:
Miss Percy's Pocket Guide (to the Care and Feeding of British Dragons)

Miss Percy’s Pocket Guide (to the Care and Feeding of British Dragons) by Quenby Olson

Carefully, he looked through the pages, paused at one in particular, and handed it across to her.

“Is that a…?” She tilted it towards the light streaming through the windows. “It looks like a bird?” (In her defense, the sketch—a curious amalgam of skeleton and tendons and muscle rendered in a mixture of pencil and ink—was not well done. Her Great Uncle Forthright may have had a talent for collecting interesting things and living a hearty life for an extraordinary number of years, but his drawings—while technically correct, for the most part—bore a childlike quality to them that made portions of them difficult to decipher.)

The Friday 56 for 3/3/22: Darkness, Take My Hand by Dennis Lehane

By HCNewton

On March 3, 2023

In Currently Reading, News/Misc., Quotations, The Friday 56

This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

RULES:
The Friday 56 Grab a book, any book.
Turn to Page 56 or 56% on your ereader. If you have to improvise, that is okay.
Find a snippet, short and sweet.
Post it.

from Page (55 and) 56 of:
Darkness, Take My Hand

Darkness, Take My Hand by Dennis Lehane

“You got a pen?”’

“Somewhere. Let me find it.” More of that rustling sound and I knew she’d dropped the phone on the bed as she rummaged around for a pen.

Angie’s kitchen is spotless because she’s never used it, and her bathroom sparkles because she hates filth, but her bedroom always looks like she just unpacked from a trip in the middle of a windstorm. Socks and underwear spill from open drawers, and clean jeans and shirts and leggings are strewn across the floor or hang from doorknobs or the posts of her headboard. She’s never, as long as I’ve known her, worn the first wardrobe she’s considered in the morning. Amid all this carnage, books and magazines, spines bent or cracked, peek up from the floor.

Mountain bikes have been lost in Angie’s bedroom, and now she was looking for a pen.

The Friday 56 for 2/24/22: Haven by Ceril N Domace

By HCNewton

On February 24, 2023

In Currently Reading, News/Misc., Quotations, The Friday 56

Things worked out today for me to augment my Tour Stop by using Haven for my Friday 56 post…

This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

RULES:
The Friday 56 Grab a book, any book.
Turn to Page 56 or 56% on your ereader. If you have to improvise, that is okay.
Find a snippet, short and sweet.
Post it.

from 56% of:
Haven

Haven by Ceril N Domace

He said he was here to take some measurements and deliver clothing to replace the tattered garments still clinging to Jen’s frame. Owen was treated to a lengthy lecture about her needs as a werewolf as he helped with the measurements.

She could wear most shirts, but pants would be touch and go. She didn’t need shoes and her fur would thicken during winter. Owen needed to make sure her claws were trimmed to a healthy length, get something for her to chew on when her teeth fell out, and arrange for pack bonding sessions. Jen turned around to dress while the two men talked, revealing another thing Owen would have to watch out for.

“You have a tail,” Owen said dumbly, pointing at the offending appendage.

“I do?” She dropped her new shorts as her hands flew to her rear. The way she twisted and turned reminded Owen of Toto chasing his tail; he put a stop to it before it could make him laugh.

My thanks to The Write Reads for the invitation to participate in this tour and the materials (including the novel) they provided.

The Friday 56 for 2/17/22: I Shouldn’t Even Be Doing This! by Bob Newhart

By HCNewton

On February 17, 2023

In Currently Reading, News/Misc., Quotations, The Friday 56

This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

RULES:
The Friday 56 Grab a book, any book.
Turn to Page 56 or 56% on your ereader. If you have to improvise, that is okay.
Find a snippet, short and sweet.
Post it.

from Page 56 of:
I Shouldn't Even Be Doing This!

I Shouldn’t Even Be Doing This! And Other Things That Strike Me as Funny by Bob Newhart

In the piece, I imagined a telephone conversation between the press agent and Abraham Lincoln just before Gettysburg, that I think, in part, would have gone something like this:

Hi Abe, sweetheart. How are you, kid? How’s Gettysburg? … Sort of a drag, heh? Well, Abe you know them small Pennsylvania towns, you seen one you seen ’em all…. Listen Abe, I got the note. What’s the problem?…. You’re thinking of shaving it off? Abe, don’t you see that’s part of the image with the shawl and the stovepipe hat and the string tie?… You don’t have the shawl. Where’s the shawl?…. You left it in Washington. What are you wearing, Abe?…A sort of cardigan? Abe, don’t you see that doesn’t fit with the string tie and the beard? Abe, would you leave the beard on and get the shawl?

Now, what’s this about Grant?… You’re getting a lot of complaints about Grant’s drinking. Abe, to be perfectly honest with you, I don’t see the problem. You knew he was a lush when you appointed him…. Your gag writers… You want to come back with something funny? Maybe an anecdote about a town drunk. I can’t promise anything. I’ll get them working on it.

The Friday 56 for 2/10/23: A Man Named Doll by Jonathan Ames

By HCNewton

On February 10, 2023

In Currently Reading, News/Misc., Quotations, The Friday 56

This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

RULES:
The Friday 56 Grab a book, any book.
Turn to Page 56 or 56% on your ereader. If you have to improvise, that is okay.
Find a snippet, short and sweet.
Post it.

from Page 56 of:
A Man Named Doll

A Man Named Doll by Jonathan Ames

I went back inside and looked at the blood trail some more. Someone had dragged blondie from the table to the elevator and up to the sixth floor, and then for some reason had left him there and taken off.

Or, alternatively, that person was somewhere inside, hiding, and not making themselves known.

So I had a dilemma: Should I search the whole house? Or should I go home immediately and call the cops and tell them everything? Every stupid thing I had done?

I decided to search the house.

The Friday 56 for 2/3/23: The Silk Empress by Josef Matulich

By HCNewton

On February 3, 2023

In Currently Reading, News/Misc., Quotations, The Friday 56

This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

RULES:
The Friday 56 Grab a book, any book.
Turn to Page 56 or 56% on your ereader. If you have to improvise, that is okay.
Find a snippet, short and sweet.
Post it.

from Page 56% of:
The Silk Empress

The Silk Empress by Josef Matulich

He poured tea for both of them into little glass cylinders with fancy silver handles.

“The British, and perhaps the court of the Emperor, are not very wise. Because they have a problem with rats, they hunt down mice and squirrels.”

Algie thought on that as he took a sip of his tea, strong, sweet, and heavy with lemon and spices. “Is that a metaphor,” he asked Zdan, “or a problem of translation?”

Zdan laughed out, displaying his strong yellow teeth. “I will miss your visits, British boy!”