For this the “official rules” are to select a page at random in the book you’re currently reading and pick two sentences between lines 7 and 12. For today’s teaser my selection isn’t random, nor between the specified lines. I picked these sentences because I liked the references to people connected with the Ettrick Valley in the Scottish borders near Selkirk.
My teaser sentences are from page 5 of Alice Munro’s The View From Castle Rock:
In the lower Ettrick Valley was Aikwood, the home of Michael Scott, the philospher and wizard of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, who appears in Dante’s Inferno. And if that were not enough, William Wallace, the guerilla hero of the Scots, is said to have hidden from the English, and there is a story of Merlin – Merlin – being hunted down and murdered in the old forest, by Ettrick shepherds.
I’ve just started to read this book in which Alice Munro writes a fictionalised version of her family history, starting with her ancestors’ view from Edinburgh’s Castle Rock in the eighteenth century. It’s really a mix of fact and fiction.
To see more teasers look here.
BooksPlease 
This sounds like such an interesting book. Good teaser!
LikeLike
Wow, those Scottish shepherds must be pretty formidable! But why, I wonder, would they want to do away with Merlin? Great teasers.
LikeLike
Love this teaser! So intriguiging!
LikeLike
I want to read that!! And I want to visit Aikwood, if it’s a real place — and even if it’s not!
LikeLike
I love to trace on my ancestry and have thought about writing a book like this. I’ll have to check it out. Thanks for the teaser!
LikeLike
I’ve heard good things about this book but had no idea what it was about. You’ve piqued my interest!
(I don’t follow the TT official rules either! I like to pick my own teasers.)
LikeLike
Like the teaser. Will check it out.
Tuesday Thoughts
LikeLike
this sounds really interesting. thanks for the great teaser
LikeLike
Sounds like a good book. Mine is here, http://zetor-mogsblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/teaser-tuesday_17.html from’The Brutal Art’ by Jesse Kellerman.
LikeLike
I’ve always thought this was the best way to handle the genealogy urge. A lot more fun to make up stories about your ancestors.
LikeLike
Thanks for visiting!!
LikeLike
I like how “Merlin” is stressed the second time. It made me laugh a little.
LikeLike
Wow – sounds like quite the interesting place! 🙂
Here’s my Teaser! ~ Wendi
LikeLike
Sounds like Ettrick Valley has a lot of history
LikeLike
Your blog looks wonderful. I’ve just discovered it via Samantha in the UK.
I too love books and reading. Here’s a link to a post/series I wrote about travel and books
http://mysydneyparislife.wordpress.com/2008/08/27/travel-and-books-part-5-where-we-find-them/
I look forward to exploring your world (and blogroll) of books and reading further!
Cheers from Sydney (and sometimes Paris)
LikeLike
This book sounds very interesting! I hadn’t heard of it before. I love the idea. Is it a series of interconnected stories then?
My Teaser Tuesday post is here:
http://shereadsandreads.blogspot.com/2009/02/teaser-tuesdays-february-17.html
LikeLike