This post is a part of the Book Beginnings and Friday 56 blog memes. Visit more of my All About Books posts.
Fiction
Book Beginnings: The spy was late. CIA Officer Jennifer Lear sat inside a toasty café drinking a cappuccino, Die Welt open in front of her. She was at a table for two against the front window and right next to the door. Outside, the snow fell as if there was an unlimited supply, and Berliners wearing dark heavy overcoats and knitted hats made their way along the Kurfürstendamm.
Friday 56: Dr. Leiko Narita, the C.I.A.’s Deputy Director for Intelligence, sat down in a leather chair across from a matching couch where sat her head of the Office of Scientific & Weapons Research, Rolfe Judas. She passed Judas a blue legal-sized fastener file folder. “Why in the hell should I care about Haley Girard?”
Nonfiction
It's All Relative by A.J. Jacobs
Book Beginnings: Thanks for picking up this book. You didn't have to. but it' s nice thing to do, seeing as you and I are cousins. Our shared ancestor would no doubt be proud. Admittedly I'm not sure exactly which ancestor we share.
Friday 56: Most of us have been taught that families are the backbone of civilization. But some philosophers argue that the idea of "family" is an unfortunate evolutionary holdover. It helped us survive when we were small bands of cave people. But now it means we're programmed to choose our family's well being over the Greater Good.
