Top Ten Tuesday:

For That Artsy Reader Girl’s Top Ten Tuesday

April 7: Books I Bought/Borrowed Because… (Fill in the blank. You can do 10 books you bought for the same reason, i.e., pretty cover, recommended by a friend, blurbed by a favorite authors, etc. OR you could do a different reason for each pick.)

For this one, I decided to list the last ten books I read and why I read them.

1. Hearts and Bones by Margaret Lawrence– I’ve had this book sitting in my bookcase for a while, and I decided to read it at last. Really I think that’s as far as the decision went! I bought it at a thrift store for $1 because it looked OK. It was OK, but not much more than that.

 

 

 

2. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton– I was going to go to a book club that was reading this. I’d read it in college but it deserved a reread. The book club was cancelled due to the situation with coronavirus, but I’m glad I had a chance to revisit this book.

 

 

3. Snow White Learns Witchcraft by Theodora Goss- I’m a fan of Goss and I got this as an ebook when it was on sale with a  reduced price of $1.99. I think the sale was the reason I bought it, but I might like to buy a physical copy, which I often tend to do with ebooks I really live. They feel like they’re more mine when they’re physical books.

 

 

 4. Normal People by Sally Rooney- I had heard a lot of good things about this one, and I saw it in the library and decided to give it a shot. It lived up to my expectations more or less.

 

 

 

5. The Subtle Knife by Phillip Pullman– I’ve been rereading Pullman’s His Dark Materials series and this is #2. In my memory it was a very “second in a trilogy” book, but on rereading it, I felt that in some ways it was stronger than The Golden Compass. I suppose that’s why it pays to reread sometimes!

 

 

6.The Last Widow by Karin Slaughter- I got this from the library because I often enjoy Slaughter’s work as an author of mystery/thriller/crime novels. However in this case I think the fact that I happened to read this as the coronavirus was starting to turn up impacted my enjoyment. The crime in question seemed a bit too close to home.

 

 

7.Bellewether by Susanna Kearsley– I read this one because Kearsley is one of the authors that I feel like I can turn to for a reliably good read. This is her latest, and it was no different in that respect.

 

 

 

8. The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys– I got this one from the library because it looked interesting and it was set around and in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, which was a historical period that I know very little about. While I’m still interested in the period, I felt that the book was just OK.

 

 

9. Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe by Heather Webber– This was a library book that I picked out simply because it looked good. It was. I think that the magical realist, feel good novel was more or less what I needed.

 

 

 

10. The Dutch House by Ann Patchett– I’m a big fan of Ann Patchett so this one had been on my TBR for a while. While it wasn’t my favorite of her books, I felt it lived up to expectations.

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2018 Mid Year Book Freak Out

I’ve seen this tag on a lot of blogs, so I thought “why not mine?”

BEST BOOK YOU’VE READ SO FAR IN 2018

Idaho by Emily Ruskovitch– While I enjoyed the plot, this wasn’t a book to read to find out whodunnit or what happens next. If you read it for clear, unambiguous answers, you’ll be frustrated. But there are passages in this book that are so exquisitely written that I almost had to stop reading for a moment. There is ugliness in the plot. People do ugly things. But those are written about so beautifully that you almost can’t help but find something lovely in them, even when you don’t want to. The book consists of this torturous pairing of sadness and hope, and love and pain.

BEST SEQUEL YOU’VE READ SO FAR IN 2018

Actually, I don’t think many of the books I’ve read in 2018 qualify as sequels. Probably one of the only ones is Messinger of Truth by Jacqueline Winspear, which is the 4th in the Maisie Dobbs series. While somewhat grim (set in the aftermath of WWI and the looming shadow of WWII) the characters developed in interesting ways. One of the characters’ circumstances took a turn that I didn’t quite expect. I’m eager to see what becomes of him in the next book.

NEW RELEASE YOU HAVEN’T READ YET BUT WANT TO

The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock is one that I’m very anxious to read because I’ve heard good reviews from several fairly reliable sources. The combination of fantasy and historical fiction is right up my alley.

MOST ANTICIPATED RELEASES FOR THE SECOND HALF OF THE YEAR

There are a lot. At the moment, the most notable are these.

Bellwether and The Clockmaker’s Daughter are the long-anticipated new books by two of my favorite authors.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT

After Anatevka by Alexandra Silber

I think that I wanted to like this more than I did. I’m a fan of Alexandra Silber as an actress and a blogger and I wanted to love her debut novel. She played Hodel in the 2007 London production of The Fiddler on the Roof and Tzeitel in the 2016 Broadway revival of the same show. In this book, she imagined Hodel’s life after she leaves the stage (Hodel is last seen getting on a train to Siberia, where she will join her lover, Perchik in a labor camp). Tzeitel is also given a voice in letters she writes to her sister. I thought that this was a great extension of the creative process, from an actress who clearly has a strong connection to the material and the characters. Which makes my biggest problem with it surprising. An actor is supposed to show who a character is and what s/he feels by illustrating it with their body and voice. But in this book, we’re told things about the characters rather than shown. We know for example that Hodel loves Perchik because we’re told that this is the case, but not because we see it. So ultimately I liked this less than I wanted to.

BIGGEST SURPRISE

Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo

I read this because I’d seen it recommended many times, rather than any interest I may have had in a Nigerian couple struggling to conceive. But this story of the traditional culture coming into conflict with modern life drew me in right away. I found that I cared about the characters and the things that happened to them. The plot twisted in directions that I didn’t expect, but it never felt contrived.

FAVORITE NEW AUTHOR

I look forward to reading more from Susanna Fogel, author of Nuclear Family. According to her bio she’s written a couple of screenplays and some stuff for The New Yorker. But her first novel has a really nice blend of the humor, love, and exasperation that makes family what it is. Granted, the Fellers are their own unique kind of dysfunctional, but the blend of wanting to simultaneously hug some of these people and never see or speak to them again is something that many people will understand. The chapters consist of letters that the family writes to the main character, Julie. They have names like One of the Eggs You Just Froze Has a Question, Your Mom’s Rabbi Has a Great Idea for a TV Show!, Your Uncle Figured a Mass E-mail Was the Best Way to Discuss His Sexuality, The Gerbil You Drowned in 1990 Would Like a Word With You, and Your Intrauterine Device Has Some Thoughts on Your Love Life.  Yes, some of it’s weird, but Fogel pulls it off.

FAVORITE NEW CRUSH

I haven’t really encountered any new literary crushes. I’ve recently discovered Simone St. James though, and while her books aren’t great literature, they’re good fun. Her romantic heroes tend to be compelling enough for me to fall for, for the duration of the book, even though they’re not likely to become long-term book boyfriends.

FAVORITE NEW CHARACTERS

Probably Sir Anthony Peters, Beth Cunningham, and Alex MacGregor from The Mask of Duplicity. All three are intriguing. I’m eager to get to know them all a bit better in the next book in the series.

BOOKS THAT MADE YOU CRY

Commonwealth by Ann Patchett probably came the closest. It takes place over five decades but the events in two time periods really got to me. One is when several children in a blended family are playing one summer day. The other is when one of those children is caring for her sick father, nearly a half a century later. When she and her father are directly confronted with the events of that summer day, I got a bit of a lump in my throat. I won’t say more, because I can’t without giving away spoilers.

A BOOK THAT MADE YOU HAPPY

Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day by Winifred Watson

The movie has always been one of my “happy movies”- something I put on to make a bad day a little bit better. I found the novel on which it was based to be even frothier and lighter than the film. In some ways, I actually wished for some of the additional weight that the film added, but the book definitely left me in a good mood.

MOST BEAUTIFUL BOOKS YOU’VE BOUGHT SO FAR THIS YEAR

Cheerful Weather For the Wedding by Julia Strachey. Like most Persephone Classics, it’s a small work of art, as an object. Its cover features Girl Reading, a painting by Harold Knight. I like the colors in the painting and the general state of repose of the figure. The endpaper features a printed dress fabric design by Madeleine Lawrence. It’s also beautifully written.

WHAT BOOKS DO YOU NEED TO READ BEFORE THE END OF THE YEAR?

The Fellowship of the Ring by JRR Tolkien– I’ve never actually made it through the Lord of the Rings books. Finally, the prospect of being a fantasy writer who had never read Tolkien was too much. I’m making my way through this slowly, in between reading other things. I will finish it before the end of the year though!

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Want To Get Early

For That Artsy Reader Girl’s Top Ten Tuesday:

May 1: Books I’d Slay a Lion to Get Early (Submitted by Emma)

I’m assuming that the topic for today is a hyperbole because however anxious I am to read these, I’m not in the habit of lion slaying. Most of these are from authors/series that I already know and trust. Hey, if I’m going to take on a lion to get one of these books, they’d better be worth it!

1. Bellewether by Susanna Kearsley- I really just want this because I’m excited to have a new Kearsley book to read. A Desperate Fortune came out in 2015, so it’s been a few years! I like this cover but I’m not sure, I may prefer the Canadian cover simply because it’s more consistent with most of my other Kearsley books.

Release Date:  August 7, 2018

 

2. The Clockmaker’s Daughter by Kate Morton– Morton is another author whose work I have followed for years. Her last novel, The Lake House, came out in 2015, so I’m more than ready for a new one. This isn’t the cover, the actual cover art hasn’t been revealed yet.

Release Date: October 9, 2018

 

 

3. Where the Light Enters by Sara Donati– I enjoyed Donati’s Wilderness series and I liked The Gilded Hour even better. While several plot lines were resolved in The Gilded Hour, there were some major ones that weren’t. I want to see how those play out. The cover shown here isn’t the book’s actual cover. Rather it’s a temporary cover stolen from the author’s website.

Release Date: Unknown

4. Lethal White by Robert Galbraith (aka JK Rowling)- Again it’s been three years since Career of Evil, the last Cormoran Strike novel. That one left us with a cliffhanger regarding the relationship between two major characters. I’ve been waiting to see how that plays out! The cover shown here was a fanmade cover based on the artwork of previous books in the series. It is not the real cover.

Release Date: Unknown

5. Bare Knuckle by Cindy Brandner– I really enjoyed Brandner’s Exit Unicorns. I’m reading the rest of the series slowly so that I’m not left too long with nothing to read. But since Bare Knuckle is a prequel to Exit Unicorns, I think I’ll be OK  reading it, even though I haven’t finished the whole series.

Release Date:  May 1, 2018

 

6. Neverworld Wake by Marisha Pessl– I loved Pessl’s Night Film, and this boarding school set murder mystery seems right up my alley!

Release Date:  June 5, 2018

 

 

7. The Paragon Hotel by Lyndsay Faye– I discovered Lyndsay Faye via Jane Steele, and her next book is a murder mystery set in the 1920s and it sounds really good!

 

 

 

8. A Question of Trust by Penny Vincenzi– Penny Vincenzi is always a bit of a guilty pleasure for me. Her books are long, glamorous and just soapy enough to float. This is her latest.

Release Date: July 10, 2018

 

 

9. When We Caught Fire by Anne Godberson– Anne Godberson’s Luxe series is another major guilty, soapy, pleasure. I’m looking forward to her upcoming historical novel, about the love triangle that supposedly caused the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.

Release Date: Oct 2, 2018

 

From Gabaldon’s site: The images above on this page show an ancient Egyptian amulet with a bee hieroglyph. Ancient Egyptians were the first documented beekeepers in human history, dating to 5,000 years ago.

10. Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone by Diana Gabaldon– According to Gabaldon, the Outlander series will be 10 books in all making this the second to last.  I’m looking forward to seeing the Frasers and MacKenzies reunited on the Ridge once again, hoping that the Revolutionary War finally ends and that the whole crew survives it. According to buzz (no pun intended), it won’t hit bookshelves until 2019-ish. The title refers to the Celtic custom of talking to one’s bees that made it to the Appalachians. It was believed that a beekeeper should tell the bees if someone is born, dies, comes, or leaves, because if they’re not informed they’ll fly away. Of course, that information makes me wonder if the title is literal or metaphorical, and who the speaker is.

Release Date: Unknown

 

 

Top Ten Tuesday: My Spring TBR

For That Artsy Reader Girl’s Top Ten Tuesday:

March 20: Books On My Spring TBR

It’s a bit late, but hey, it’s still Tuesday! These are some books that are coming out this spring that I’m really excited to read. The only other rules I gave myself were that I couldn’t include anything I’d already written about in another post. That actually made it fairly challenging!

1. Bellewether by Susanna Kearsley– Susanna Kearsley is one of my favorite authors, so her new book is pretty much an automatic purchase for me! This one may be sort of cheating though because it comes out in the summer…

 

 

 

2. Varina by Charles Frazier– I liked Charles Frazier’s previous novel, Cold Mountain, and in this novel, he returns to the same setting. It tells the story of Jefferson Davis’ wife, Varina. What interests me is that the book’s description doesn’t shy away from holding Varina accountable for the side of the war that she’s on. It says that she’s “culpable regardless of her intentions” and that “complicity carries consequences.” I’m interested to see how that plays out.

3. The Pisces by Melissa Broder– This book, about a woman in love with a merman, sounds really weird. But it seems to blend elements of Greek mythology in an interesting way: the heroine is writing a dissertation on the poet, Sappho, she attends a love addiction therapy group that functions as a Greek chorus, and she’s in love with a Siren figure. It’s weird enough that is just might work!

 

4. Dreadful Young Ladies and Other Stories by Kelly Barnhill– I have to admit that the pretty cover did catch my eye first. But this collection of fantastical short stories does sound appealing in and of itself!

 

 

 

5. The Mermaid by Christina Henry– Since this list already has a book about a merman on it, I felt it needed one about a mermaid as well. Actually, this is sort of a historical fantasy about a mermaid who becomes PT Barnum’s star attraction.

 

 

6. Dead Girls: Essays on Surviving An American Obsession by Alice Bolin– This book of essays explores what seems to be a national obsession with dead women. From Twin Peaks to Serial, our culture has a bizarre interest in women who are abused, disenfranchised, and killed. They are frequently used as a platform to tell men’s stories. I’m interested in a critical look at this.

 

7. The Broken Girls by Simone St. James– I’ve only recently discovered Simone St. James and  I’m a fan. In the past week I’ve flown through Lost Among the Living and Silence for the Dead. I’m eager to read her new novel.

 

 

 

8. Am I There Yet?: The Loop de loop, Zigzagging Journey to Adulthood by Mari Andrew– I really love Mari Andrew’s work on Instagram. I’m eager to check out her first book of essays and illustrations.

 

 

 

9. The Ghost Notebooks by Ben Dolnick– This is a gothic ghost story (right up my alley!) that’s the latest Belletrist pick and set in the Hudson Valley (a great setting for this type of book.)

 

 

 

 

10. The Elizas by Sara Shephard– This is an adult novel by the author of Pretty Little Liars and The Lying Game. It just seems like a total guilty pleasure that I can read to turn off my brain.

 

A to Z Reading Survey

I found this on Gin & Lemonade‘s blog and thought it looked like fun:

Author you’ve read the most books from:

It’s hard to say. Some are more prolific than others so I’ve read more from them even if they’re not my “favorite” authors. According to Goodreads I’ve read 19 books by LM Montgomery, 18 by Juliet Marillier, 17 by Lisa Gardener, 15 by Mercedes Lackey, 15 by Marian Keyes, 15 by Phillippa Gregory

But I wouldn’t say that they’re my favorite authors. Just that they’ve written more than a lot of other authors that I read.

Best Sequel Ever:

Hmmm… This one is hard! I’m thinking of book two in my favorite series… Often the second books aren’t my favorites! My initial instinct is to say Anne of Avonlea but I don’t want to be too predictable, so I’ll say Emily Climbs. It’s the sequel to Emily of New Moon and it’s by the same author.

Currently Reading:

Just started Marlena by Julie Buntin. So far it’s good but I’ve only read the first few chapters so far.

Drink of Choice While Reading:

Tea. Iced in warm weather, hot in the cold.

E-reader or Physical Book?

I’ll read an ebook on occasion but I far prefer physical books. If I read something as an ebook I feel less like I’ve read it. Does that make sense? Probably not!

Fictional Character You Probably Would Have Actually Dated In High School:

Hmm… This is surprisingly tough because most of the guys in YA aren’t guys I’d want to date, and most of the guys in adult fiction are too old for high school me to date (have I been giving this too much thought?) Maybe Gilbert Blythe when he was high school age. He was always a sweetie!

Glad You Gave This Book A Chance:

Hmm… I remember when I read Crime and Punishment my senior year of high school. I didn’t think I’d hate it but given previous experiences with Russian literature I didn’t think I’d end up liking it. But I did. I don’t know if it qualifies as me “giving it a chance” since I had to read it for school. But we ended up talking about it in class at the same time that I was reading Donna Tartt’s The Secret History at home. Since Tartt’s novel alludes to Crime and Punishment quite a bit, the class discussions ended up enriching both books for me.

Hidden Gem Book:

Time and Chance by Alan Brennert- I actually just remembered the title and author of this one after only remembering the plot for a long time!

Important Moment in your Reading Life:

Probably the first time I fell in love with a book. The “problem” is that I’ve fallen in love with a lot of books from an early age.

Just Finished:

Touch by Courtney Maum

Kinds of Books You Won’t Read:

Non-fiction about topics that hold no interest for me.

Erotica

Graphic/gory horror

Longest Book You’ve Read:

According to Goodreads, it’s Clarissa by Samuel Richardson at 1,534 pages. I read it in college. Though I read a different edition from the one on there. I think my edition was probably a few hundred pages less. Mostly likely due to bonus material like introductions, footnotes etc.

Major book hangover because of:

I suppose it depends on what we mean by “book hangover”. If we mean a book that stayed with me emotionally for a long time after I read it, The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barberry and A Little Life by Hana Yanagihara, are probably the most recent ones. I’ve read other great books since then but these lingered under my skin in some way.

Number of Bookcases You Own:

2. But my books are not limited to bookcases.

One Book You Have Read Multiple Times:

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. I think in college I was sort of obsessed with it. I did my senior project on it and discuss it a bit in this post.

Preferred Place To Read:

My bed. I can also go for a hot bathtub. I want to get a really comfy oversized chair just for reading.

Quote that inspires you/gives you all the feels from a book you’ve read:

“The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.” Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey (because sometimes a quote just a true thought perfectly into words)

“If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day, so I never have to live without you.” – A.A. Milne, Winnie The Pooh (just simple and lovely)

“Isn’t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?”
― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables (something I try to remember!)

Reading Regret:

You mean like a book I’ve never finished? Or one I wish I hadn’t read? I don’t understand…

Series You Started And Need To Finish(all books are out in series):

The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher- I don’t actually know if it’s complete but I’ve only read the first 6 and I think there are like 15 in all.

Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien

Tarien Soul by CL Wilson

The Maisie Dobbs series by Jacqueline Winspear- Again, I don’t know if it’s complete but I’ve only read the first 3 and there are many more out there.

The Lymond Chronicles by Dorothy Dunnett

Three of your All-Time Favorite Books:

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter

It is insanely hard for me to limit this to just three books!!!

Unapologetic Fangirl For:

Outlander. I started reading the books over a decade ago. When the TV series started I revisited them and got hooked all over again.

Very Excited For This Release More Than All The Others:

At the moment I’m looking forward to Bellewether by Susanna Kearsley

Worst Bookish Habit

Planning to read more than I can get to.

Dog-earring pages.

X Marks The Spot: Start at the top left of your shelf and pick the 27th book:

Well, it doesn’t say which bookshelf, but I picked one at random. The 27th book is The Collector by John Fowles

Your latest book purchase:

I bought these at a used bookshop at the same time:

Messenger of Truth by Jacqueline Winspear

Dust and Shadow by Lyndsay Faye

The Night Watch by Sara Waters

A Curious Beginning by Deanna Raybourn

ZZZ-snatcher book (last book that kept you up WAY late):

Probably Night Film by Marisha Pessl. I think that’s the last time I remember thinking “I should go to sleep. But I need to know what happens next!”