Book Beginnings on Friday

Book Beginnings is a weekly meme hosted on Friday by A Few More Pages. Want to play along? Share the first line (or two) of the book you are currently reading on your blog or in the comments. Include the title and the author so we know what you're reading. Then, if you would like, let us know what your first impressions were based on that first line, and let us know if you liked or did not like the sentence.

"Pamela Buchanan Marshfield saw the ad the homeless shelter in Vermont had placed in the newspaper before her attorney did. She realized right away it was about her brother and her brother's work."
~The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian

I'm not crazy about these first couple of lines. It does open up a few questions like why does this woman have an attorney and is her brother homeless? Other than that, I'm not very intrigued. I like to be pulled in right away and this didn't do that for me. Now that I'm cruising through the book, I can say it is a good read. Better than what I thought based on those first 2 sentences.

Aloha Friday

Kailani at An Island Life started Aloha Friday. Want to play along? I ask a question, you answer the question in the comments. You can also ask your own question on your blog. Here's my question:

Do you like to read on the beach?

Friday Finds

MizB from Should Be Reading hosts Friday Finds. What great books did you hear about/discover this past week? Share with us your FRIDAY FINDS!

I'm Kind of a Big Deal: And Other Delusions of Adequacy by Stefanie Wilder-Taylor

Folly Beach by Dorothea Benton Frank

One Summer by David Baldacci

Three Wishes by Carey Goldberg, Beth Jones and Pamela Ferdinand

A Round-Heeled Woman by Jane Juska

The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Allison Hoover Bartlett

Monmouth County Cupcake Manhunt - Ocean Grove Bake Shoppe

I'm making my way through Monmouth County searching for that cupcake bakery that I so desperately want to find. Plus, it's a fun activity to keep me and the kids busy during the summer.

Location #2 - Ocean Grove Bake Shoppe

By the looks of their logo, I thought I'd found the place I've been hunting for. Not quite. Ocean Grove is a quaint little town along the Jersey Shore. Lots of cute little shops and eateries along Main Street. This is a tiny little bakery with few choices by way of cupcake. Here were our selections:

Starting at top left going clockwise, a cookie crumb cupcake, then a black and white cupcake and finally a carrot cupcake. In a nutshell, this bakery is 1 for 3. The cookie crumb was the best out of them all. It was sweet frosting with delish cookie crumbs around the edges and moist-enough yellow cake. The other two were very, very dry and uninspiring. I would go so far as to say the carrot cupcake was stale. The black and white was simply yellow cake with chocolate frosting with a white stripe. This, too, was very stale-tasting. Needless to say I was disappointed again. Strike 2 in my quest.

Total cost for 3 cupcakes was $7. At least I didn't pay a fortune for day-old cupcakes. Sorry Ocean Grove, I won't be frequenting your cute little bakery again.

Booking Through Thursday

Booking Through Thursday is a weekly meme about (mostly) books and reading. This week's BTT . . . With the advent (and growing popularity) of eBooks, I’m seeing more and more articles about how much “better” they can be, because they have the option to be interactive … videos, music, glossaries … all sorts of little extra goodies to help “enhance” your reading experience, rather like listening to the Director’s commentary on a DVD of your favorite movie. How do you feel about that possibility? Does it excite you in a cutting-edge kind of way? Or does it chill you to the bone because that’s not what reading is ABOUT?

I don't get it - literally and figuratively. I don't Nook or Kindle or eBook in any way, shape or form. I love my books. I don't need bells and whistles to distract me from my reading experience. The words trigger the imagination, and that enhances my reading experience. Music and video . . . that's the antithesis of reading!