Teaser Tuesday - The God's Eye View by Barry Eisler and 謎解きはディナーのあとで

It's Tuesday! And I have a cold, I think. Most of the symptoms have been successfully suppressed with medicine, but I have an awfully dry throat now (and oddly enough, no drowsiness, despite what the label said).

Right now, I'm reading The God's Eye View by Barry Eisler, a novel on surveillance. I'm only two chapters in, but it's off to an exciting start.

My teaser:

"The outfit was ostentatiously stylish in the corridors of NSA, especially during shirtsleeves summer, but Anders supposed the look had its merits - chiefly that it at least partly disguised the fact that once upon a time, Delgado had earned a reputation as a technology-savvy killer for various East Coast crime organisations, both foreign and domestic. 

That had been ten years ago, when Anders had warned him about and ran interference with the FBI task force looking to put him behind bars."

Another book that I just finished today is called 謎解きはディナーのあとで or Problem solving after dinner. It's a crime series that was turned into a drama (and a movie) in Japan. Basically it's about a rich heiress who's also a police officer, and her butler, who's way better at solving cases than she is. It's really funny, and the book makes me want to watch the series. The teaser (for those who know Japanese):

麗子はおずおずと男のもとに歩み寄り、「ごめんなさい」と、とりあえず頭を下げて謝った。「修理代はいくらかしら？」 

「ご心配なく。せいぜい七、八万円といったところでしょう」男は何事もないように静かに立ち上がると、麗子の方を向いて恭しく一礼した。「ほんのかすり傷でございます。お嬢様」

Basically, in this scene, Reiko (the protagonist) has accidentally damaged an expensive car, and (this is where the quote starts), she goes to the man driving it to apologise and ask about the damages. The man estimates it to be 700000 to 800000 yen, but the reveal is - she owns the car, and this is her new butler.

Oh, and the 「」 marks are actually quotation marks for speech! That gave me quite a shock the first time I saw it!

What is your teaser today?

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Books and a Beat. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• 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!

Fizz: How Soda Shook Up the World by Tristan Donovan

Fizz: How Soda Shook Up The World is a history of soft drinks. I used to drink that quite a lot, but after I moved to Japan, I switched to tea and water. Much healthier hahahaha. But still, I was curious to find out the history of soft-drinks.

First off, I had no idea that soft drinks started as carbonated water. Apparently there was an idea that it was good with you. Then people added flavourings. For a while, it was like medicine (Coke started off as medicine, for one). Then it was a treat. And now it's an everyday drink. Although come to think of it, when I was a kid, I think coke (with all the bubbles beaten out of it) was occasionally used as a medicine. I think it was for cough?

I thought it was fascinating how far the influence of soft drinks reached. In particular, Coke, Pepsi and politics. It even spilled over into the race into space.

While the book starts in Europe, most of it takes place in America, since that's where soda was adopted most rapidly. After the war, there's a brief excursion into Japan and other countries. But mostly, it's very Western (particularly American) centric. Well... Looking at the subject matter I guess there's no choice.

I've actually read a related book before - Secret Formula by Frederick Allen, which was an extremely interesting and detailed look into the history of Coca-Cola. I remember saying, in my review for the book, that everything unrelated to coke was brought in only when it affected coke. Well, this book is more about the broader picture, and coke is but one of the many companies it talks about. Fizz is more like a broad look into the soda industry, though in the later half, when companies began to form, it seems to focus more on the leading companies.

So depending on what you're in the mood for, I have two books for you.

If you want a general look at how soft drinks took over the world, read Fizz. If you're a Coke person and you want to know more about your favourite company (as well as all the company politics!), read Secret Formula. Both books are interesting and easy to read.

A Girl's Guide to Moving On by Debbie Macomber

During the early days of this blog, I had this huge Debbie Macomber reading addiction. I actually tagged books with her name, and I almost never tag books with author names (my tagging system is very strange). I loved the The Shop on Blossom Street, and I even own one of her knitting pattern books. Needless to say, when I saw her new book on NetGalley, I jumped at the chance to read it.

A Girl's Guide to Moving On is a novel about Nichole and Leanne, a daughter and mother-in-law learning how to, you've guessed it, move on after divorcing their husbands. Leanne has put up with her husband's philandering ways for many years, but she's had enough. Nichole has found out that her husband takes after his father in the less savory aspects, and she's not willing to put up with it. As the two live on their own, they draw up a list of guidelines to help them move on.

And this is the backstory. The story really starts when Nichole meets a tow-truck driver called Rocco, and we find out about Leanne's ESL student Nikolai. Yes, this is a love story (and about moving on. Really).

Ok, should I go with the good or bad first? I think bad news first.

The bad news: the start of this story did not work for me. Because the story was in first person, Nichole's summing up of the events felt like someone giving a lecture. It was basically an info-dump of everything that I told you in the second paragraph of my review, but with more detail. Not the best way to bring me into the world.

That's what I didn't like. Now for the good parts.

This is a uplifting and encouraging read. I really, really enjoyed it. I basically picked it up after a really tough exam that I'm still pretty sure that I'm going to fail, and I ended up reading the whole thing in one sitting. After the awkward first few chapters, I found that I loved the characters, and very surprising for me, love the romance story. I was totally rooting for Nichole and Rocco the whole way, and yes, Leanne and Nikolai too. (Although Nichole and Rocco are what my sister would call "my OTP ship" or something like that. I'm not up to date, ok?)

If you like Debbie Macomber, you'll probably enjoy this book. I certainly did, even though for a while, I had serious doubts about it.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a free and honest review.

Teaser Tuesday - The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu

Hey everyone! How's your week going? How did you use that extra one day of the year? I was reading, so it was definitely a good use of time. Job hunting season in Japan starts today (I believe Japan and Korea are the only two countries that use a system of hiring new graduates in the same time period. So it all has a schedule), so I guess the coming weeks and months will be busy for me.

Right now, I'm making my way through The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu and I LOVE IT SO MUCH. Apart from the fantastic storyline, I love all the references to Chinese history. I'm probably missing a lot, but I caught quite a few!

My teaser (sorry, it's three sentences today, because of the impact of the last sentence):

"Their brief moment of merriment was interrupted by the sound of shouting men and clashing swords in the street. The gates to the mayor's house flew open, and a blood-soaked Captain Dosa stumbled in, his body pierced by arrows.  

Mata was here."

How about you? What is your Teaser this week?

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Books and a Beat. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• 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!