SERENDIPITOUS TUESDAYS: INTROS/TEASERS — MORE THAN YOU KNOW — OCT. 2

 

Welcome to another Tuesday celebrating bookish events, from Tuesday/First Chapter/Intros, hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea; and Teaser Tuesdays hosted by Should Be Reading.

Today I’m excerpting from an e-book by Penny Vincenzi:  More Than You Know.

Amazon Description:  It all comes down to love or money in a harrowing custody battle over a little girl, set against the glossy backdrop of the magazine and advertising worlds in 1960s London.

A privileged girl from a privileged class, Eliza has a dazzling career in the magazine world of the 1960s. But when she falls deeply in love with Matt, an edgy working-class boy, she gives up her ritzy, fast-paced lifestyle to get married.

By the end of the decade, however, their marriage has suffered a harrowing breakdown, culminating in divorce and a dramatic courtroom custody battle over their little girl. Also at risk is Eliza’s gorgeous family home, a pawn in the game, which she can’t bear to give up.

True to form, Penny Vincenzi introduces a devious cast of characters seemingly plucked from the pages of sixties- and seventies-era magazines, as she deftly maneuvers between the glamorous, moneyed worlds of fashion and advertising, and a heart-wrenching custody battle going on in the courtroom where the social mores of the time are on full display.

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Intro:  1958:

Eliza was in the middle of curtzying to the Queen when she decided it was time she lost her virginity.

She was rather shocked at herself, not for the nature of the decision, but for managing to make it at such a moment, such a terribly important moment in her life; both her mother and her godmother (who was actually presenting her) had instilled into her endlessly how lucky she was, because this was positively the last year of court presentation; it had been declared an anachronism, not in keeping with the new Elizabethan age.  And here she was, in her blue silk Belinda Belville cocktail dress, in the presence of the Queen—so much younger and prettier in the flesh than the photographs—and she was thinking not about being part of a deeply important tradition that had lasted for generations, but about with whom of all the young men she was dancing and flirting with that wonderful summer she might achieve this new ambition.  It really was rather bad of her.

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Teaser:  “Never let it go” had been his last words to her; and she promised.  It was owned by a trust, and they were merely its tenants for life; it was slowly bankrupting them.

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Now…what do you think?  Would you keep reading?  And now I’m off to see your selections.

A LONG AND WINDING ROAD…. — A REVIEW

 

 

 

As a Beatles fan and a person who came of age during the sixties, I was eager to read Wonderful Tonight: George Harrison, Eric Clapton, and Me. Prior to reading this tome, my knowledge of Pattie Boyd was almost nonexistent. I also realized how little I really knew about the lives behind the public images of the rockers she married: George Harrison…and later, Eric Clapton.

In the early sections, Ms. Boyd chronicles growing up in Africa and also describes some of her feelings of abandonment when she was shipped off to various boarding schools. Her relationship–or lack thereof–with her father must have left a hole in her life that she sought to fill through her relationships with men in adulthood.

Aside from the details of her life as a child, a model, and as the wife of these famous men, there wasn’t a lot of Pattie’s interior world that I learned from this book. I didn’t get a strong sense of her identity. Some of her later reflections show that during her marriages, she did not have her own identity, and a strong sense of self was a major ingredient missing in her life.

After the divorces, when she came into her own as a professional photographer and learned to stand alone more completely, I believe that she did finally discover who she is. And when she ponders the disasters that befell some of her friends, those who died of the “excesses of our time,” she concludes:

 

“I was lucky. I survived. I didn’t have the addictive gene or I might have gone down with Eric. We might have drunk ourselves to death. But given my life over again, I wouldn’t change anything. I love music. I loved everything that went with rock ‘n’ roll. I loved being at the heart of such creativity and being young in such a stimulating and exciting era. I have known some amazing people and had some unforgettable experiences.”

 

If the rest of us can look back at our lives and reach these kinds of conclusions, we, too, could consider ourselves lucky. While not terribly insightful, except for the occasional moments, this was a book I enjoyed. 3.5 stars.

TEASER TUESDAYS — THE TRAIN OF SMALL MERCIES — DEC. 13

Welcome to Teaser Tuesdays, hosted by Should Be Reading.  This is an event that features bookish excerpts.

To join in, just go to the link….

Here’s how it works:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers.

Today I’m sharing from a book that I’ve been waiting for…a story that features a time in the past and its haunting search for hope amid the debris of an American tragedy:  The Train of Small Mercies, by David Rowell.

About: 

In New York, a young black porter struggles through his first day on the job-a staggering assignment aboard Robert F. Kennedy’s funeral train. In Pennsylvania, a woman creates a tangle of lies to sneak away from her disapproving husband and pay her respects to the slain senator, dragging her child with her. In Maryland, a wounded young soldier awaits a newspaper interview that his parents hope will restore his damaged self-esteem. And in Washington, an Irish nanny in town to interview with the Kennedy family must reconcile the lost opportunity and the chance to start her life anew.

In this stunning debut, David Rowell depicts disparate lives united by an extraordinary commemoration, irrevocably changed as Kennedy’s funeral train makes its solemn journey from New York to Washington.

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Teaser: Delores looked at the wet red paint on her posterboard.  It read:  “Our prayers are with you, Ethel,” but now her choice of red filled her with regret.  It was blood red. p. 40

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I’m eager to immerse myself in this poignant story.  What are you excerpting today?  I hope you’ll stop by and share….

LEGACIES & HISTORIC MOMENTS — A REVIEW

In the beginning of this historical tale that spans the years between the 1960s to the Millennium and beyond, we meet a man with the unlikely name of Heck Hellman. A kayaking adventure and a tragic drowning set the scene for the unfolding legacy and drama of this character’s progeny EV Hellman and her mother Mei-Mei.

The backdrop of this tale is a school in Cape Wilde, headed by Goddard Byrd (known as God) that plunges us into another kind of legacy: the private educational system in New England, and how legendary moments like the first (accidental) admission of a black female to a previously all-male school further impacts the heritage of this somewhat arrogant, didactic male head.

Daughters of the Revolution is not one of those coming-of-age boarding school stories, but instead, it digs deep beneath the surface details of lives and spotlights an historical era. Shifting perspectives reveal the tale, and the language in which it is told is brilliant in the way that it describes and dissects the characters. They are humorous in their humanity, with all their flaws put on display.

As “God” heads toward the end of his life, he reflects about death. “Toward morning, he dreamed of death. He found himself unprepared, having forgotten to bring a pair of socks from his top drawer, where his good nine-toed wife used to tuck them, rolled up into themselves. And so he had to stand barefoot in purgatory with other forgetful old men. What a disappointing end. He’d imagined light—if not a blaze of glory, a small persistent glow.”

Moments like these are showcased throughout, reminding the reader that real-life human thoughts and feelings emanate from the characters, who are truly “alive” on the pages. This short tome was full of such moments, and although it sometimes jumped sporadically between characters and time periods, it was quite enjoyable. Four stars.