Last week I wrote about not just one but three books (almost catching me up with my 'finished reads')--where did that burst of energy come from? It seems to be gone at the moment, so something easy for today. I like Teaser Tuesdays because it is an excuse to write about a book that I am reading at the moment. I'm reading a stack of books right now however. I'm back in 'grazing mode' and maybe I'll finish one or two of them soon.
Since I'm not sure which one I feel like telling you about today, I thought I would give you a little sampling of book excerpts. But I am not going to tell you which is which. A little interactive post, if you will. The mystery teasers below are all books on my night table and more importantly for you they are on my sidebar at right.
Which books do you think each quote belongs to?
Teaser one:
"The water was as warm and dense as a living thing against my naked flesh, and I found that if I remained perfectly still, my limbs stretched out limply and my hair in a great cloud along my arms and back, it was difficult to perceive where [I] ended and the Salt Sea began. The air along my exposed front was slightly cool, but the sea's temperature was mine, and the heartbeats that thudded slowly through my veins became the pulse of the sea."
Teaser two:
"For the first time in my life I realized that slavery was not some foreign country, some distant region from which a few very old people came, like the two or three who still survived in Fond-Zombi. It had all happened here, in our hills and valleys, perhaps near this clump of bamboo, perhaps in the air I was breathing."
Teaser three:
"She is clearly one of us. One of the twelve or fifteen families that matter. A good head on what people say are rather pretty shoulders; though this is something no one can know for certain. Still a spinster at the age of thirty-two, she has been left on the shelf."
Teaser four:
"Our mothers took us two younger girls to lunch in departments stores, pretending we were better friends than we were. That's how it was on Irving Circle and how I was raised: You made the best out of what was within reach, which meant friendships engineered by parents and by the happenstance of housing. I stayed with it because we both had queenly older sisters who rarely condescended to play with us, because Shelley was adopted and I was not, because Shelley had Clue and Life, and I did not."
Teaser five:
"When I woke up in the morning, his side was already empty but still warm, and the pillow had an indentation in the shape of his head. In films, in scenes like this, after a fight, the man always leaves the woman and emotional letter saying he's sorry, or he buys her a bouquet of flowers, and even thought I know that M. isn't into writing letters or bringing flowers, I did expect something to be waiting for me on the kitchen table. That's how it is with films--they have an effect on you even if you know they're stupid. When there was nothing there but a half-empty cup of black coffee, I was disappointed."
Have I made this too hard? Do you want a few hints? One book is a romantic comedy. One a mystery. One an award winner. And three are translated from other languages into English. But which is which? And maybe one or more of the books falls into more than on category.
Anyone want to try their luck and play along?
Answers tomorrow.
**And if all else fails, gratuitous cute cat photo is sure to elicit an "aww" or two. Dulce was the sweetest cat that ever was, and I miss her still. Look at that earnest little face. And she liked books, too.