~ ~ Wondrous Words Wednesday ~ ~

Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Bermudaonion's Weblog where we share words that we’ve encountered in our reading. Feel free to join in the fun (please do!) Be sure to leave a link to your post over at Bermudaonion's Weblog.

The following words are from The Easter Parade by Richard Yates


" The public relations photographer did his job well, and so did the editors of the rotogravure section of The New York Times."


1. Rotogravure
: (Roto or Gravure for short) is a type of intaglio printing process; that is, it involves engraving the image onto an image carrier. In gravure printing, the image is engraved onto a cylinder because, like offset printing and flexography, it uses a rotary printing press (the images to be printed are curved around a cylinder). Once a staple of newspaper photo features, the rotogravure process is still used for commercial printing of magazines, postcards, and corrugated (cardboard) product packaging. (from Wikipedia).


"It's not just a bore," she said once of a tiresome eighteenth-century novel, "it's a pernicious bore."
2. Pernicious
: highly injurious or destructive, deadly;
: archaic, wicked
(**this is one of those words that refuses to stick in my head!)


" There were small carbuncular knobs on the back of his neck and out across his shoulders, but if she squinted very slightly she didn't see them."


3. Carbuncular
: a painful local purulent inflammation of the skin and deeper tissues with multiple openings for the discharge of pus and usually necrosis and sloughing of dead tissue.




" But the messy stack of manuscript was there waiting for her in the morning, after a fitful sleep; and she had to acknowledge, with an editor's gelid eye, that it didn't read well at all."


4. Gelid
: extremely cold; icy

These words are from Volt: Stories by Alan Heathcock


" From high in his combine, Winslow eyed the dormant train, the engine far to the west, the coal cars deep into the eastern woods. "


1. Combine
: a harvesting machine for cutting and threshing grain in the field.


" From the corner of his eye, Winslow noticed a flash of white in the crop, then a crouching man sprang and dashed in front of the harrower. "


2. Harrower
: an agricultural implement with spike-like teeth or upright disks, drawn chiefly over plowed land to level it, break up clods, root up weeds, etc.


" Miriam heard something. A breaking in the swale. "


3. Swale
: a low place in a tract of land, usually moister and often having ranker vegetation than the adjacent higher land.
: a valleylike intersection of two slopes in a piece of land.

~ First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros ~

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros is a weekly meme hosted by Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea every Tuesday. Share the opening paragraph (maybe two) of a book you've decided to read based on that paragraph. I received this book many months ago and it's been catching my eye at least once a day ever since. I wanted to read it when I received it and I want to read it even more now! The author is very well known and highly praised for her short stories. There have been many very positive reviews about this novel, too.  My BBAW interview blogger match, Gayle, Everyday I Write the Book, named it as one of her top five favorite books of 2011, too!


Don't forget to drop by Bibliophile By the Sea and read Diane's selection this week and be sure to visit and read the contributions of other participants in this terrific meme who can be found in the comments!

The Year We Left Home by Jean Thompson

The bride and groom had two wedding receptions: the first was in the basement of the Lutheran church right after the ceremony, with punch and cake and coffee and pastel mints. This was for those of the bride's relatives who were stern about alcohol. The basement was low-ceilinged and smelled of metallic furnace heat. Old ladies wearing corsages sat on folding chairs, while other guests stood and managed their cake plates and plastic forks as best they could. The pastor smiled with professional benevolence. The bride and groom posed for pictures, buoyed by adrenaline and relief. There had been so much promised and prepared, and now everything had finally come to pass.


By five o'clock the last of the crowd had retrieved their winter coats and boots from the cloakroom and headed out. It was January, with two weeks of hard-packed snow underfoot and more on the way, and most of them had long drives from Grenada, over country roads to get back home. The second reception was just beginning at the American Legion hall, where there would be a buffet supper, a bar, and a dance band.

What are your thoughts about these 2 opening paragraphs? Would you read this book based on these paragraphs?

Mailbox Monday!

Welcome to Mailbox Monday, a weekly meme created by Marcia from A girl and her books. I've missed a couple of weeks of Mailbox Monday so, below are some of the titles I received for review, purchased, or otherwise obtained. Mailbox Monday is being hosted by the Mailbox Monday Tour blog this week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists!

The Night Sky: A Journey from Dachau to Denver and Back by Maria Sutton (for review from the author)

This extraordinary and unflinchingly honest memoir takes us on a riveting journey into the hearts and souls of three enigmatic people whose destinies are forever changed by the events of World War II. The secrets of misguided love and passions are revealed as the author journeys between the past and the present to solve the mystery of a handsome Polish officer with piercing blue eyes and sun-colored hair. Maria Sutton takes us to the dark green hills and valleys of the ancient Carpathian Mountains in Ukraine, where the woody fragrance of birch trees and new-mown hay fills the fresh, crisp air after a heavy rain. Vicariously, we see a sunrise over Poland obscured by brightly colored swastikas on warplanes and then we will be taken into suffocating cattle cars, lice-infested stalags, and to the Dachau death camp. Further down a country road, the hearty laughter and beer steins clinking with each salute to the Fuhrer’s astonishing victories can be heard. As Maria takes us on this odyssey to solve a decades-long mystery, she learns the family secrets of untold heroism, quiet courage, and a mother’s love — and of tragedy, disillusionment, and heartbreak. At the end of her long journey, Maria uncovers a shattering and painful truth. But the secret, however heartbreaking, would also become the greatest gift she would receive.

Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo (from the publisher)

In this brilliantly written, fast-paced book, based on three years of uncompromising reporting, a bewildering age of global change and inequality is made human. Annawadi is a makeshift settlement in the shadow of luxury hotels near the Mumbai airport, and as India starts to prosper, Annawadians are electric with hope. Abdul, a reflective and enterprising Muslim teenager, sees “a fortune beyond counting” in the recyclable garbage that richer people throw away. Asha, a woman of formidable wit and deep scars from a childhood in rural poverty, has identified an alternate route to the middle class: political corruption. With a little luck, her sensitive, beautiful daughter—Annawadi’s “most-everything girl”—will soon become its first female college graduate. And even the poorest Annawadians, like Kalu, a fifteen-year-old scrap-metal thief, believe themselves inching closer to the good lives and good times they call “the full enjoy.” But then Abdul the garbage sorter is falsely accused in a shocking tragedy; terror and a global recession rock the city; and suppressed tensions over religion, caste, sex, power and economic envy turn brutal. As the tenderest individual hopes intersect with the greatest global truths, the true contours of a competitive age are revealed. And so, too, are the imaginations and courage of the people of Annawadi. With intelligence, humor, and deep insight into what connects human beings to one another in an era of tumultuous change, Behind the Beautiful Forevers carries the reader headlong into one of the twenty-first century’s hidden worlds, and into the lives of people impossible to forget.

Carry the One by Carol Anshaw (from the publisher via Shelf Awareness)

This stunning, break-out achievement has already been hailed by Emma Donoghue, bestselling author of Room, for presenting “passion and addiction, guilt and damage, all the beautiful mess of family life. Carry the One will lift readers off their feet and bear them along on its eloquent tide.” Carry the One begins in the hours following Carmen’s wedding reception, when a car filled with stoned, drunk, and sleepy guests accidently hits and kills a girl on a dark, country road. For the next twenty-five years, those involved, including Carmen and her brother and sister, connect and disconnect and reconnect with each other and their victim. As one character says, “When you add us up, you always have to carry the one. Through friendships and love affairs; marriage and divorce; parenthood, holidays, and the modest tragedies and joys of ordinary days, Carry the One shows how one life affects another and how those who thrive and those who self-destruct are closer to each other than we’d expect. Deceptively short and simple in its premise, this novel derives its power and appeal from the author’s beautifully precise use of language; her sympathy for her very recognizable, flawed characters; and her persuasive belief in the transforming forces of time and love.

Love at First Bark by Julie Klam (from publisher, Penguin, for review)

The bestselling memoirist shows how saving a dog can sometimes help you save yourself. Julie Klam writes about dogs with a rollicking wit and a radiating warmth-as no other writer can. In her bestselling memoir You Had Me at Woof, she shared the secrets of happiness she learned as an occasionally frazzled but always devoted owner of Boston terriers. Now, with the same enchanting, pop culture-infused amalgam of humor and poignancy that reached the The New York Times and the Today show and won the hearts of readers across the country, she returns with more humorous insight into life with canine companions. Klam focuses here on dog rescue, and its healing power not only for the dogs who are cared for and able to find good homes, but also for the people who bond with these animals. Klam became involved with rescue after years as an owner of purebred dogs. She was looking for a way to help and participate in a community, but she never imagined just how much she would receive in return. The dogs she has rescued through the years have filled her life with laughter and contentment, sorrow and frustration, and they have made certain that she never has a dull moment. Along the way, she has collected stories from friends who have also found that guiding dogs to nurturing homes made their own lives richer. These experiences, which show us that even in our smallest gestures we can make a big difference, inspired Love at First Bark.

The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt by Caroline Preston (win from Kaye, Pudgy Penguin Perusals Thank you!)

Frankie’s dreams of becoming a writer, she must forgo a scholarship to a prestigious women’s college to help her widowed mother. But when a mysterious Captain James sweeps her off her feet, her mother finds a way to protect Frankie from the less-than-noble intentions of her unsuitable beau. Through a kaleidoscopic array of vintage postcards, letters, magazine ads, ticket stubs, catalogue pages, fabric swatches, candy wrappers, fashion spreads, menus and more, we meet and follow Frankie on her journey in search of success and love. Once at Vassar, Frankie crosses paths with intellectuals and writers, among them “Vincent,” (alumna Edna St. Vincent Millay), who encourages Frankie to move to Greenwich Village and pursue her writing. When heartbreak finds her in New York, she sets off for Paris aboard the S.S. Mauritania, where she keeps company with two exiled Russian princes and a “spinster adventuress.” In Paris, Frankie takes a garret apartment above Shakespeare & Company, the hub of expat life, only to have a certain ne’er-do-well captain from past reappear. But when a family crisis compels Frankie to return to her small New England hometown, she finds exactly what she had been looking for all along.

The Snow Whale by John Minichillo (win from Serena at Savvy Verse & Wit Thank you!)

When John Jacobs, a mild-mannered suburban office worker, takes a DNA test and discovers that he is part-Inuit, he so embraces his new identity that he declares it his Inupiat tribal right to set forth on a whale hunt. So begins this postmodern satire, a seriocomic, quirky adventure set in the oldest continuously settled town in North America, in the North Slope of Alaska, on the frozen Chukchi Sea, literally at the top of the world, where the inhabitants and their ancestors have depended on subsistence whaling for thousands of years. Minichillo cleverly dishes out a resounding twist on Melville’s classic that re-examines identity, race, and our connection to nature, all while poking fun at our contentment with heated socks in an era defined by global warming.

Death with Interruptions by Jose Saramago (from a friend)

On the first day of the new year, no one dies. This of course causes consternation among politicians, religious leaders, morticians, and doctors. Among the general public, on the other hand, there is initially celebration—flags are hung out on balconies, people dance in the streets. They have achieved the great goal of humanity: eternal life. Then reality hits home—families are left to care for the permanently dying, life-insurance policies become meaningless, and funeral parlors are reduced to arranging burials for pet dogs, cats, hamsters, and parrots. Death sits in her chilly apartment, where she lives alone with scythe and filing cabinets, and contemplates her experiment: What if no one ever died again? What if she, death with a small d, became human and were to fall in love?

Sunday Salon ~ Reading, Reading, Reading...and some other stuff....!

I meant to post my Sunday Salon much earlier today. And then the day just got away from me! We're having beautiful weather here, almost 70 degrees the last 2 days. I couldn't not take advantage of it especially knowing the weather will probably change to winter kind of weather one of these days! The cats are loving the warm weather and having a bounce in their step and want to play, always a lot of fun!


I didn't do much shopping this weekend. I hate shopping the Friday after Thanksgiving. I probably wouldn't have shopped at all but yesterday in NYC it was "Small Saturday" so we shopped some small stores in a few different areas of Brooklyn. Along with some gifts, I bought some delicious truffles at Jacques Torres, 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami and The Redbreast and Nemesis by Jo Nesbo!


Whenever possible this weekend I've been reading. On Friday afternoon, I was organizing some books. I picked up The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern and decided to put it on my nightstand so I'd remember I had it and planning to read it as soon as I could. Like I often do, I flipped through the first few pages and then I read the first page, so aptly titled "Anticipation" and I was gone! I'm not quite finished but I'm hoping to finish The Night Circus tonight. I had no idea how really good this book is despite the positive reviews I read. I didn't think I would like it that much. It's fantastic. I feel badly that I ignored the books I was already reading, (lol) but, oh well, I'll get back to them.


This afternoon I've been watching the Jets playing the Buffalo Bills. It's a relief to see the Jets can still play some decent football. Of course, this is a nail-biter and they're taking it all the way to the end....


Have a wonderful Sunday!
Happy Reading!

Giveaway: Happy Haul-idays from Chronicle Books!!

Chronicle Books is hosting their 2nd annual Happy Haul-idays event and this year they have added a great element that captures the meaning of the Holiday Season: not only will one lucky blogger and one commenter on the winning blogger's post win $500 worth of books from Chronicle, but the winning blogger will be able to choose a charity to win $500 worth of books from Chronicle!


Here's How to Enter:
1) Write a blog post with a list of Chronicle books valued at up to $500 that you’d like to haul in. Please post about which charity you’d choose and why.
2) Remind your readers that if you win, you get to choose one lucky commenter on your entry post to win the same haul of books.
3) Fill out the quick form on the Chronicle Books giveaway page.
4) Tweet about the giveaway, to increase your chances, using #happyhaulidays and get one extra entry per day.


My charity is the Brooke Jackman Foundation, a non-profit organization working to improve literacy among at-risk children in the New York area. This non-profit was set up by the family of Brooke Jackman after she died in the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center. Brooke was only 23 when she died. She loved to read and was interested in helping children so her family started this foundation to honor her.

The books I'd love to win:

(To find out more about the book, click the title)

Don't forget to leave a comment if you want a chance to win my giveaway if I win!

The Commonsense Kitchen
500 Recipes Plus Lessons for a Hand-Crafted Life
By Tom Hudgens
6-7/8 x 9-1/2 in; 608 pp;
2-color illustrations
Hardcover
Published in July, 2010

Time for Dinner
Strategies, Inspiration, and Recipes for Every Night of the Week
By Pilar Guzmn,, Alanna Stang,,and Jenny Rosentrach
7-1/2 x 9 in; 272 pp;
250 color photographs
Hardcover
Published in July, 2010

Sunday Soup
A Year's Worth of Mouthwatering, Easy-to-Make Recipes
By Betty Rosbottom,Photographs by Charles Schiller
8-3/4 x 8 in; 168 pp;
32 color photographs
Paperback
Published in July, 2008

The Exquisite Book
100 Artists Play a Collaborative Game
By Julia Rothman,, Jenny Volvovski,,and Matt Lamothe,Foreword by Dave Eggers
7-1/2 x 9 in; 152 pp;
color images throughout, shrink-wrapped, accordion binding
Hardcover
Published in August, 2010

This Is NPR
By Cokie Roberts,, Susan Stamberg,, Noah Adams,, John Ydstie,, Renee Montagne,, Ari Shapiro,,and David Folkenflik
7-1/4 x 9-1/4 in; 256 pp;
100 color images & photographs, jacketed hardcover with audio CD
Hardcover
Published in October, 2010

More Things Like This
By the Editors of McSweeney,Introduction by Michael Kimmelman,Foreword by Dave Eggers
8-3/4 x 8 in; 224 pp;
289 full-color and b/w images throughout
Hardcover
Published in September, 2009

The Garden at Night
Private Views of Public Edens
Photographs by Linda Rutenberg,Essay by Christopher Dewdney
11 x 13 in; 176 pp;
160 color photographs
Hardcover
Published in September, 2007

The Watercolor Sketchbook Kit
Materials, Techniques, and Projects
Text and illustrations by Curtis Tappenden
7 x 7-1/4 x 1/2 in; 144 pp;
full-color illustrations throughout
Other
Published in June, 2002

Learn to Meditate
A Practical Guide to Self-Discovery and Fulfillment
By David Fontana, PhD
6-1/2 x 9-1/4 in; 160 pp;
130 color illustrations
Paperback
Published in February, 1999

City Walks Architecture: New York
By Alissa Walker,Maps by John Spelman
4-1/8 x 6-3/4 x 1-1/4 in; box with lid, 25 2-panel cards, tri-fold intro card, 25 color maps, 25 color photos
Other
Published in August, 2009

Why Did I Buy This Book?
Over 500 Puzzlers, Teasers, and Challenges to Boost Your Brainpower
By Lynn Brunelle
7 x 8 in; 376 pp;
one-color illustrations throughout
Paperback
Published in March, 2009

The Art of Pixar
The Complete Color Scripts and Select Art from 25 Years of Animation
By Amid Amidi Foreword by John Lasseter
11 x 9 in; 320 pp;
Hardcover
Published in October, 2011

Ernie
A Photographer's Memoir
By Tony Mendoza
8 x 6 in; 80 pp;
52 b/w images
Hardcover
Published in February, 2001

Cats Are Weird
And More Observations
By Jeffrey Brown
6-1/2 x 6-1/2 in; 108 pp;
color and b/w illustrations throughout, die-cut cover with stamping
Hardcover
Published in July, 2010

Drinking, Smoking and Screwing
Great Writers on Good Times
Edited by Sara Nickles,Introduction by Bob Shocochis
5-1/2 by 8-1/2 in; 224 pp;
Paperback
Published in August, 1994

Writer's Workshop in a Book
The Squaw Valley Community of Writers on the Art of Fiction
Introduction by Richard Ford,Edited by Alan Cheuse,and Lisa Alvarez
5-1/2 x 8-1/2 in; 224 pp;
Paperback
Published in May, 2007

This Is My Best
Great Writers Share Their Favorite Work
Edited by Kathy Kiernan,and Retha Powers
5-1/2 x 8-1/4 in; 448 pp;
Paperback
Published in April, 2005

Any Bitter Thing
A Novel
By Monica Wood
5-1/2 x 8 in; 384 pp;
Hardcover
Published in May, 2005

Moleskine® 2012 Daily Planner Red Large Hard Cover
Published in April, 2011

Birch Forest Flexi Journal
By Lisa Congdon
5 x 7-1/2 in; 192 pp;
flexi-binding, color illustrations
Paperback

Sunblooms Bound Journal
By Amy Butler
5 x 7-1/8 in; 224 pp;
color illustrations
Paperback

Native Flowers Mini Journals
By Jill Bliss
4-1/8 x 5-3/4 x 1-1/2 in; four journals: paperback with flexi binding, 4 x 5-1/2, 96 pages each
Paperback

Book Review: Mozart's Last Aria by Matt Rees

Mozart's Last Aria by Matt Rees


Publisher: Harper Perennial
Publishing Date: November 1, 2011
Pages: 336
ISBN: 978-0062015860
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: 3.0 out of 5


Book Summary: The news arrives in a letter to his sister, Nannerl, in December 1791. But the message carries more than word of Nannerl’s brother’s demise. Two months earlier, Mozart confided to his wife that his life was rapidly drawing to a close . . . and that he knew he had been poisoned.


In Vienna to pay her final respects, Nannerl soon finds herself ensnared in a web of suspicion and intrigue—as the actions of jealous lovers, sinister creditors, rival composers, and Mozart’s Masonic brothers suggest that dark secrets hastened the genius to his grave. As Nannerl digs deeper into the mystery surrounding her brother’s passing, Mozart’s black fate threatens to overtake her as well.


Transporting readers to the salons and concert halls of eighteenth-century Austria, Mozart’s Last Aria is a magnificent historical mystery that pulls back the curtain on a world of soaring music, burning passion, and powerful secrets.


My Thoughts: Classical music has been a part of my life since I was a child. My mother listened to Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, and Mozart on a daily basis. I also share my birthday day with Mozart. I don't know a lot about the lives of these composers, although, or what kind of men they were. So, when I saw Mozart's Last Aria on TLC Book Tours list, I jumped at the chance to read this book. Unfortunately, this book isn't at all what I expected or hoped. Readers who loved Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code, which I did not, will probably enjoy this book much more than I did.


Mozart's sister, Madame Maria Anna Berchtold von Sonnenburg aka 'Nannerl' travels to Vienna from her home in Salzburg upon receiving a letter from her sister-in-law, Constanze, informing her of her brother, Wolfgang Mozart's, death. Nannerl and Mozart have been estranged for at least three years which makes his death all the more painful for Nannerl. She was a talented piano player as a child but Mozart was a genius. When she arrives in Vienna, Nannerl, is asked to perform at a concert given in honor of Mozart. I enjoyed Matt Rees descriptions of Vienna and of Mozart's music as well as of the Mozart family history. As the story progresses, although, it becomes bogged down with melodrama and too many characters as Nannerl tries to ferret out the mystery of Mozart's death. And Nannerl herself becomes a tedious and annoying character.


The mystery of Mozart's death is linked to a secret Masonic society of which many of his friends and patrons may or may not have been members. As Nannerl meets the various characters in Mozart's life, such as the actor Karl Gieseke who seems suspicious of everyone and sleazy, the very smooth actor and singer Herr Schikaneder, patron Prince Lichnowsky and Mozart's fan and friend, Baron van Swieten, she tries to subtly determine what they knew of Mozart's life and death and the secret society. Beyond their names and a few minor details, none of these characters are developed in any major way. As a result, we can not relate to, understand or identify with any of them in any significant way making them and their importance in Mozart's life forgettable.


I found the pace of Mozart's Last Aria frequently schizophrenic. At times, such as when Nannerl is talking with her sister-in-law, thinking about her childhood with Mozart or an aspect of Vienna is described the story flows smoothly, moving at an enjoyable pace. At other times, though, when the secretive Masonic society is brought up or the brewing revolution, the story gets bogged down in confusing details that aren't explained well or sorted out. It almost feels like there are two different stories being told and forced together. Additionally, some scenes that should take barely a page go on for many pages because of crying, hand-wringing and other similar melodrama. But some questions and issues raised by Nannerl that I wanted to know more about, aren't explored in depth but are ignored, even, it seems, forgotten. The result is the mystery of Mozart's death feels contrived and manipulated to make an entertaining, highly dramatic, story.


There are many references to specific pieces of Mozart's music which was wonderful. Several times I listened to some of the named piece on You Tube. In some ways, this made the novel even less satisfactory for me because hearing Mozart's music made me wish for a less entertainment-oriented more solid novel about the life and death of Mozart. Readers who enjoy high drama, embellishment and stories manipulated for entertainment will probably enjoy this book more than I did. In the back of the book, Rees tells about the story behind Mozart's Last Aria and how he came up with this fictional tale. Rees researched quite a bit for this book and the historical details are true but the crime story is his own theory for the most part. I wish I'd known this before I began reading this book. But I now have a desire to know more about Mozart's life and hope to find the time to do some research of my own!

Matt Rees' website


Thank you to TLC Book Tours for the opportunity to read and review this book and to Harper Perennial for a copy of the book.

~ First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros: A Visit from the Goon Squad ~

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros is a weekly meme hosted by Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea every Tuesday.  Share the opening paragraph (maybe two) of a book you've decided to read based on that paragraph.  I have wanted to read this book for far too long! It first came to my attention when I saw it displayed on a table in Barnes & Noble shortly after it was published.  When it came out in paperback this year a lot of book bloggers read it and are reading it. I've read many reviews raving about this unique, creative story that sounds different from almost any other book.  It has also won many awards for better or worse! I just know I'm really looking forward to reading this book!


Don't forget to drop by Bibliophile By the Sea to read Diane's selection this week and be sure to visit and read the contributions of other participants in this terrific meme!

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

Found Objects


It began the usual way, in the bathroom of the Lassimo Hotel. Sasha was adjusting her yellow eye shadow in the mirror when she noticed a bag on the floor beside the sink that must have belonged to the woman whose peeing she could faintly hear through the vaultlike door of a toilet stall. Inside the rim of the bag, barely visible, was a wallet made of pale green leather. It was easy for Sasha to recognize, looking back, that the peeing woman's blind trust had provoked her: We live in a city where people will steal the hair off your head if you give them half a chance, but you leave your stuff lying in plain sight and expect it to be waiting for you when you come back? It made her want to teach the woman a lesson. But this wish only camouflaged the deeper feeling Sasha always had: that at, tender wallet, offering itself to her hand-it seemed so dull, so life-as-usual to just leave it there rather than seize the moment, accept the challenge, take the leap, fly the coop, throw caution to the wind, live dangerously ("I get it," Coz, her therapist, said), and take the fucking thing.


"You mean steal it."

What are your thoughts about this opening paragraphs? Would you read this book based on these paragraphs?