Monthly Archives: January 2013

Wishlist Wednesday

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Welcome once again to Wishlist Wednesday!

The concept is to post about one book from our wish lists that we can’t wait to read. Want to play? Here’s how:

  • Follow Pen to Paper as host of the meme.
  • Please consider adding the blog hop button to your blog somewhere, so others can find it easily and join in too! Help spread the word! The code will be at the bottom of the post under the linky.
  • Pick a book from your wishlist that you are dying to get to put on your shelves.
  • Do a post telling your readers about the book and why it’s on your wishlist.
  • Add your blog to the linky at the bottom of the post at Pen to Paper.
  • Put a link back to Pen to Paper somewhere in your post.
  • Visit the other blogs and enjoy!

My Wishlist Wednesday book is:

The Dressmaker by Kate Alcott

From Amazon:

Tess, an aspiring seamstress, thinks she’s had an incredibly lucky break when she is hired by famous designer Lady Lucile Duff Gordon to be her personal maid on the Titanic. Once on board, Tess catches the eye of two men—a kind sailor and an enigmatic Chicago businessman—who offer differing views of what lies ahead for her in America. But on the fourth night, disaster strikes, and amidst the chaos, Tess is one of the last people allowed on a lifeboat.

The survivors are rescued and taken to New York, but when rumors begin to circulate about the choices they made, Tess is forced to confront a serious question.  Did Lady Duff Gordon save herself at the expense of others? Torn between loyalty to Lucile and her growing suspicion that the media’s charges might be true, Tess must decide whether to stay quiet and keep her fiery mentor’s good will or face what might be true and forever change her future.

Why do I want to read this?

To tell the truth, I’ve long been fascinated by the story of the Titanic, even before Kate and Leo brought us Rose and Jack (sniff…). I’ve read other novels either centering on the sinking of the Titanic (Every Man For Himself by Beryl Bainbridge) or featuring the Titanic as a catalyst for plot developments or as an event that sets the tone for a particular period (most recently, The House of Velvet and Glass by Katherine Howe).  I only just stumbled across a reference to The Dressmaker this past week, but I think it sounds wonderful, especially the combination of historical figures (Lady Lucile Duff Gordon was a real survivor of the Titanic) with fictional characters who can provide a more intimate point of view. One of the synopses of this book mentions that the plot focuses a great deal on the aftermath of the sinking and the trials that were held, and while I’ve read a great deal about the tragedy itself, I haven’t seen much about the fall-out afterward such as the public reactions and the official investigations.

The Dressmaker sounds like a book that I’ll love! I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy.

Have you read The Dressmaker? What did you think? And what are you wishing for this week?

Quick note to Wishlist Wednesday bloggers: Come on back to Bookshelf Fantasies for Flashback Friday! Join me in celebrating the older gems hidden away on our bookshelves. See the introductory post for more details, and come back this Friday to add your flashback favorites!

Teaser Tuesdays – 1/8/2013

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Here goes, trying something new again! I just stumbled across this weekly event, and thought I’d give it a whirl.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by Should Be Reading. 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 — but watch out for spoilers! •Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers! 

My teaser for this week is from Mariana by Susanna Kearsley:

Page 78:

It is difficult to describe the sensation of sliding backwards in time, of exchanging one reality for another that is just as real, just as tangible, just as familiar. I should not, perhaps, refer to it as “sliding,” since in actual fact I was thrust — abruptly and without warning — from one time to the next, as though I had walked through some shifting, invisible portal dividing the present from the past.

Do you have a teaser to share? Add your link or your teaser in the comments below. Happy reading!

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Bookish Goals For 2013

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Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is:

Top Ten Bookish Goals for 2013

I recently did a blog post about my bookish resolutions for 2013, and at first thought this week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic would be a bit redundant. But thinking about it further, goals and resolutions are not necessarily synonymous. After all, a resolution is something that I’m committing to seeing through, generally something that’s a stretch or that takes real effort. (I know, I know, resolutions are make to be broken. How well I remember those pounds I was going to lose last year…) But goals? Goals, to me, represent attainable results, maybe more of a work plan than a grand ambition.

So, in no particular order, my bookish goals for the new year:

1) Concentrate on reading books that I already own. Do less buying and borrowing. I love my public library and the wonderful used books stores in town, but really, I have plenty on my shelves to keep me busy. Time to tone down my obsessive need to get my hands on every new book that comes out.

2) Purge! See # 1 — I have plenty of books on my shelves (and spilling off my shelves…), but let’s face facts: There are books in my house that I picked up years ago, and every time I think about reading one of them, my first reaction is “nah, not in the mood”. When this continues happening with the same books for a really long period of time, it’s time for those books to go! One of my big goals for 2013 is to pull out all of those books that I’ll never get around to reading and find them a new home. If I donate my unwanted books to our local library sale, I’ll be doing a good deed as well as improving my overly-cluttered habitat. Two birds, one stone!

3) Organize! I bought beautiful new bookshelves earlier this year, assembled them, shoved lots and lots of books on them in an initial frenzy of moving books off the floor and out of boxes and bags… and I’ve done nothing since. My shelves lack any semblance of rhyme or reason. I look forward to a few leisurely afternoons of taking books off the shelves, figuring out a system, and reassembling my little personal library. Preferably while holding  a nice, hot cup of coffee. Or maybe something a wee bit stronger.

4) Find new ways to engage my child in reading. My adorable, smart, funny son practically runs in the opposite direction whenever I ask him to take time to read. He loves stories, loves being read to — just doesn’t want to sit and read himself. I think we may have achieved a bit of a breakthrough recently: I downloaded a book for him on my IPad, and suddenly reading became fun! I hate the idea that technology has to be involved, but I suppose I should count my blessings and be glad that he’s reading at all. Still, I know the newness of the IPad will soon fade and I’ll have to find new and creative ways to get this kid to read.

5) Read a classic that I’ve never read before. I’ve read all of Jane Austen, but only one book by Charles Dickens. I’ve read Jane Eyre and Vanity Fair, but I’ve never read The Grapes of Wrath or The Sun Also Rises. I don’t know what it will be, but I do know that I want to read at least one classic book this year. Which fits in with #6…

6) Read outside the box. I’m a fiction-lover, through and through, deep down to my bones. But I do enjoy other genres when I read them, even if I really have to force myself to depart from the fiction world. I’d like to branch out a bit, maybe read a little history, a science book, maybe some social commentary, a biography or two. Again, I haven’t picked anything in particular yet, but this is a good “note to self” to remember to make time to branch out a bit.

7) Attack the fairies! OK, that’s my cutesy way of trying to force myself to commit to reading the book I was so excited to get a couple of months ago: Fairy Tales From the Brothers Grimm by Philip Pullman. I have a well-documented problem with short story collections, and despite the fact that I love fairy tales and I love Philip Pullman, I still haven’t been able to sit down and open this book. Perhaps I need some serious psychotherapy to figure out why I have such a problem with stories… or perhaps I just need a good list like this one to force me into action. Time will tell.

These next two are really more blog-related than specifically bookish, but since I blog about books, it works for me.

8) Explore the blogosphere. My blog was born in 2012 and I’ve spent the first several months of its life just feeling my way forward. Now it’s time to reach out a bit more, try to connect with other readers and bloggers, and expand my reach and my online community. My goal is to participate in more blogging events, challenges, bloghops, etc. I hope to meet some cool and interesting people along the way, get some great new ideas, and really get a better sense of what’s out there and what I can do with a blog.

9) Get techie with it. Again, in the world of blogging, I’m sure there are a lot more resources and tools than what I’m currently using. My other bloggy goal is to explore the technical resources that can help make me a better blogger. (Ideas? Suggestions? Referrals? I’m all ears!)

Finally, the one that really matters, probably more than all of the above:

10) Slow down. Stop focusing on the numbers. Stop worrying about stats. Read for pleasure. Pick books because they’re what I want to read. Take as long as it takes to read, savor, enjoy, contemplate, consider, ponder, and reflect. Remember that I read because I love it, not because I have a challenge to meet or a blog post to write. When I stop enjoying my reading and start finding it more of a chore, I know I’m doing something wrong. READ FOR LOVE. That is all.

The Monday agenda 1/7/2013

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Not a lofty, ambitious to-be-read list consisting of 100+ book titles. Just a simple plan for the upcoming week — what I’m reading now, what I plan to read next, and what I’m hoping to squeeze in among the nooks and crannies.

It’s post-holiday, back-to-work, back-to-reality time. And what better way to prepare than by getting my reading plans in order? Here’s the agenda for this week:

From last week:

Sailor Twain by Mark Siegel: Read the previous week, but finally got the review done last week. Loved this book.

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins: Done! A great book for starting off the new year on a happy note. My review is here.

This One Is Mine by Maria Semple: You win some, you lose some. I read it, but didn’t enjoy it. My review is here.

And finally, clearing up my library pile so I can start the new year sans guilty conscience over holding onto books for so long… I read Redshirts by John Scalzi. I don’t know why it took me so long to get around to this incredibly fun book. My review is here.

This was probably a more productive week of reading than is normal for me. That’s what comes of not skiing during a family ski vacation — plenty of time to sit by a fire with a cup of coffee and a book while everyone else is busy on the mountain. Bliss!

And this week’s new agenda:

I’ve just started Mariana by Susanna Kearsley. I’ve enjoyed two of her novels so far, and this one has been on my shelf for a while now. The cover alone made me fall for this book — can’t wait to see if the story lives up to it!

I have three days of travel coming up at the end of this week, and I take my travel book selection very seriously. So far, top contenders are Mrs. Queen Takes the Train by William Kuhn (although, as a hardcover, it might not be the wisest choice for shlepping around), or one of the unread selections on my Kindle, most likely Arcadia by Lauren Groff, Dodger by Terry Pratchett, or Carnival of Souls by Melissa Marr.

In the world of kids’ books, good news at last! My son and I seem to have finally settled on a book that we can enjoy together, after starting and abandoning several over the last few weeks. We’re now reading Here Be Monsters! by Alan Snow, and I think this one will actually stick.

My online book groups are heating up again! Next week, the Outlander Book Club begins its re-read of The Fiery Cross (book #5 in Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series) and the week after that is the beginning of a re-read of Jane Eyre. I’ve committed to participating in both of these, but I’m a little worried that I’ll end up stretched a bit thin.

So many book, so little time…

That’s my agenda. What’s yours? Add your comments to share your bookish agenda for the week.

Book Review: Redshirts by John Scalzi

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Book Review: Redshirts by John Scalzi

If this book doesn’t bring out your inner nerd, then you clearly lack the nerd gene, end of story. Reading Redshirts, I couldn’t help but wish that I’d watched more Star Trek episodes in my youth — despite clearly recalling that I never did enjoy the original Star Trek all that much.

Redshirts is funny and surprisingly touching, and certainly the most original writing I’ve read all year. (Yes, I know it’s only January 6th; I still mean it as a compliment).

It’s the year 2456, and being a crew member of the Universal Union’s flagship Intrepid is not a career move with a whole lot of job security. Junior crew members seem to die on a regular basis, particularly whenever they accompany senior officers on away missions. Their deaths are gruesome, horrible, bloody, and sadly unavoidable. In fact, the crew have taken to hiding whenever the senior officers are about, in order to avoid encounters that may lead to death, or they rely on unproven ideas such as that only one crew member ever dies in the company of a certain officer — so if one person has already met their death on a given mission, the rest will be safe if only they manage to stick with the officer. Life kind of sucks, and death seems to be lurking right around the corner.

When Ensign Andrew Dahl is assigned to the Intrepid, it seems like a plum assignment — until he and his friends, also new to the ship, notice just how weird thing onboard truly are. People die in ridiculous ways (Borgovian Land Worms! Ice Sharks! Killer robots with harpoons!). At key times, pieces of previously unknown information just seem to appear in their minds. Everyone freaks out about away teams. An elaborate tracking system warns certain crew members when a senior officer is en route, at which point those in the know take convenient coffee breaks. When a scientific problem seems impossible, a mysterious machine called The Box is ready to spit out a solution within the designated time frame, usually only minutes before cataclysmic disaster is sure to strike.

Dahl and his four colleagues are doing their best to avoid away missions, but it’s only a matter of time before they get caught in one of the death-inducing assignments… and really, they’d rather not get blown up or eaten. As they start putting clues together, they encounter Jenkins, a former science team member now hiding out in the ship’s cargo tunnels. Jenkins has a crazy theory — but given events on the Intrepid, his craziness might just be the only explanation that fits.

Jenkins’s theory? The reality of the Intrepid is being warped by events occurring during episodes of a sci-fi television series from the early 21st century. He gives an ominous warning: “Avoid the Narrative.” As Dahl and friends dig deeper, they come up with a desperate plan to rewrite their own reality by changing the TV series they seem to be living. Will it work? I won’t ruin the fun by revealing anything further, but suffice it to say that this wacky space odyssey takes on all the tropes of space opera TV serials and does them up to the nth degree.

John Scalzi’s writing is smart, funny, and full of insider jokes and references sure to warm the hearts of fanboys and fangirls everywhere. As the characters try to make sense of the rudimentary technology and information systems available in 2012, we’re treated to gems such as this:

Kerensky grabbed the phone and read the article sullenly. “This doesn’t prove anything,” he said. “We don’t know how accurate any of this information is. For all we know, this” — he scrolled up on the phone screen to find a label — “this Wikipedia information database here is complied by complete idiots.”

Little moments throughout the book led to irrepressible giggling on my part. The plot itself is so clever and mind-bending that I could only stop and admire how crazily convoluted it had all become, and yet with its own internal logic that literally defies the laws of physics as the heroes figure out a solution to their reality-challenged existence.

Redshirts ends with three codas, and they are a nice touch indeed, adding a human element to the story’s wrap-up that is sweet, sentimental, and completely fitting.

If you enjoy science fiction, have a basement full of Star Trek memorabilia, or ever became hooked on a TV show that features warp speed and space battles, you simply must read Redshirts. I haven’t had this much fun since finishing my Big Bang Theory viewing marathon. Geek heaven!

This book is my first encounter with John Scalzi’s writing, but I’d love to read more. Have you read other books by John Scalzi? Which book do you recommend as a starting place?

Book Review: Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

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Book Review: Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Author Stephanie Perkins has done it again! Her first novel, Anna and the French Kiss (reviewed here), is a refreshingly sunny story of contemporary teens finding their way toward first love. Nothing explodes, the world doesn’t end, there are no technological breakdowns or repressive forms of government. What a nice change for readers of YA fiction! Instead, in Stephanie Perkins’s novels, we’re treated to teens facing real-life problems, negotiating the perils of growing up and finding their way, struggling with big and little decisions, and figuring out what’s really important to them. In other words, characters who feel true and convincing, and who earn the investment a reader feels by the end of the book.

In Lola and the Boy Next Door, we meet the delightfully quirky Lola, a 17-year-old San Francisco native, growing up in the Castro district in the Victorian home she shares with her two dads. Lola believes in self-expression through costuming, and arrays herself in a never-ending rainbow of vintage dresses, multi-hued wigs, glitter and make-up, boots and raincoats, as she tries on different personae and presentations. Lola has learned to tolerate the slings and arrows of her more conformist-minded classmates, and bounces through her life with a couple of close friends and her supportive but very protective parents.

Lola is dating Max, a 22-year-old rock musician whose bad boy outside masks a more sensitive inner core. Max is surprisingly agreeable to the strictures imposed by Lola’s dads: mandatory attendance at the weekly grilling otherwise known as Sunday brunch, non-negotiable hourly phone calls during all dates and outings. This, however, does not prevent Lola from losing her virginity to Max during their supposedly “safe” sanctioned dates. After all, Lola thinks Max is “the one”. She’s in love, and all is well…

… Until the day that Lola’s former neighbors move back into the Victorian next door. The Bells moved away two years earlier in pursuit of daughter Calliope’s figure skating career, taking with them Calliope’s twin brother Cricket (the titular boy next door). Cricket and Lola had been inseparable for one wonderful summer, until a series of miscommunications and the family’s sudden move ripped the two apart and left Lola with a major hole in her heart.

Now Cricket is back, and Lola has to figure out whether she can let him back into her life. (Hint: the title pretty much lets us know that she does.) Lola and Cricket are rather adorable. Their bedroom windows face one another, and they have nightly conversations across the narrow gap between their houses. Cricket is sweet, smart, and head over heels for Lola. Lola wants to be friends… but can she really be happy with Max when Cricket is waiting in the wings?

All this sounds much shallower than it actually is. Both Lola and Cricket have inner doubts and demons to face. Lola’s birth mother Norah was a troubled teen who found herself with an unwanted pregnancy and gave the baby to her brother and his partner to raise. Norah pops back into their lives whenever she’s down and out, which is often, and is an ongoing source of embarrassment and self-questioning for Lola. Cricket has discovered some unsavory truths about his family’s past which make him doubt his own talents. On top of that, Cricket lives in his sister’s shadow, supporting her and cheering for her, but destined to have his life uprooted based on Calliope’s needs.

Lola has to make some big decisions, and I give Stephanie Perkins a lot of credit for not making these decisions easy or free of fall-out. Lola doesn’t want to hurt anyone, but it’s inevitable that she will. She doesn’t want to let down her fathers, but she ends up breaking their rules unintentionally. Even when Lola does what she needs to do, she doesn’t immediately bounce back and move on. We see a real teen dealing with real emotions, and even when it’s hard, it feels true.

As an added bonus, Anna and St. Clair from Anna and the French Kiss are supporting characters in Lola and the Boy Next Door, and it’s quite fun to see them moving forward with their life plans (although they do kind of feel like an “old married couple” in this story, despite only being a year older than they were in their own book). Additionally, I personally got a big kick out of the San Francisco setting. It’s always fun to read fiction set in my town, and I loved the descriptions of the neighborhoods and various landmarks that figured into Lola’s story.

I enjoyed Lola and the Boy Next Door very much. Even though the title pretty much tells you how Lola’s story will end up, it’s the journey that’s so much fun. Lola is a terrific main character — not flawless, but fresh, honest, and individual, with her heart in the right place even if it takes her a bit of trying to figure out her actions. Stephanie Perkins’s writing is lively and the dialogue sparkles. I’m looking forward to reading more by this talented YA author: Her next book, Isla and the Happily Ever After, is due out in May of this year.

Book Review: This One Is Mine by Maria Semple

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Book Review: This One Is Mine by Maria Semple

It’s truly surprising to me how very much I disliked This One Is Mine, considering how much I loved Maria Semple’s second novel, Where’d You Go, Bernadette (reviewed here in 2012). Maria Semple, a former TV writer for shows including Arrested Development and Mad About You, has a flair for humor and quirky use of words. These elements are apparent in This One Is Mine, but the story itself is so loaded with unlikable characters making nonsensical decisions that I read the book with feelings of detachment and apathy.

This One Is Mine centers around two lead female characters. Violet, formerly a successful TV writer (hmmm… a stand-in for the author?), is now a stay-at-home mom to a mostly invisible toddler. And what a home! Violet is married to hotshot music executive David Parry, and they live their life in an architecturally significant mansion, with private in-home yoga lessons, cars to die for, and a nanny whom the couple — despite their self-image as super-PC and sensitive — refer to by the nickname of LadyGo, due to her rudimentary use of the English language in sentences such as “Somebody ask and lady go, I’m a friend of the band. Lady who plan the party? Lady go mad.”

Violet may be an at-home mother, but she’s rarely at home. She is unhappy, constantly on the verge of tears, and always flying off in pursuit of some activity that involves driving around LA and avoiding sights that might make her cry. Why no one has noticed that she needs therapy and medication, I have no idea. During a random drive through the city, Violet encounters a down-at-heels, dirty, drug-addicted bass player and launches without a second thought into what may be the world’s most unlikely and ill-advised affair. Teddy is, to put it mildly, kind of gross, not just physically, but in attitude as well. In their brief early encounters, Teddy manages to use every racial slur possible and engages in incredibly unsexy sex talk — yet Violet is smitten, to the point of obsession and at risk of throwing away everything else of value in her life.

Sally, our other point of focus, is David’s younger sister, a single woman in her thirties who desperately wants what Violet seems to have — a successful husband, a beautiful home, a life of ease and celebrity. Sally latches onto Jeremy White, a sports handicapper on the verge of stardom, seeing him as her golden ticket. As his career rises, Sally willfully (or, you might say, stupidly) overlooks his assortment of quirks and oddities in order to fulfill her dream of the good life. And we’re not just talking odd habits. The warning signs around Jeremy are pretty much there for all to see, in gigantic blinking red letters, but Sally’s relentless pursuit of her ideal life doesn’t allow her to see them.

Naturally, nothing works out for anybody. Violet’s affair implodes. Sally gets her man, but at what price? The book culminates in a few very unbelievable turn of events, as characters make one stupid decision after another. Coincidences mount, terrible outcomes ensue. The characters learn lessons and become better people for it. Um, really?

This One Is Mine is full of unhappy people, who seem to thrust happiness away with both hands as they grab at people and circumstances which can only end up as the worst possible choices. Healthy attitudes and though-processes don’t exist in this world. David is actually the only likeable character present, as we get a sense of his compassion, his devotion to both his wife and sister, and his ability to forgive. Other than David, we spend much too much of the book watching unbalanced people make terrible decisions and ruin their own and other people’s lives.

Where’d You Go, Bernadette had its share of quirky and not-so-likeable people, but they were balanced by the book’s satirical tone, as well as by having teen-aged Bee as a relatable point-of-view character. As a reader, I cared about Bee’s well-being, and saw the other character’s through that lens. Even the most selfish or clueless characters ultimately revealed a deeper core.

Not so in This One Is Mine. Neither Violet nor Sally are sympathetic characters, and I couldn’t find a point of entry for caring about either of them. The selfishness of their world views, the unending spending, the world of the ultra-rich — all served to further distance me from the drama. In the end, I found it hard to have patience with the characters or the book as a whole, as reading This One Is Mine largely consists of watching the two main characters selfishly mistreat the people in their lives. The ending was much too neat for my taste, as Violet and Sally end up chastened yet improved by their ordeals, bonding through calamity, and ultimately stronger for it all. None of it worked for me.

Flashback Friday: The Sound of Waves by Yukio Mishima

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It’s time, once again, for Flashback Friday…

Flashback Friday is a chance to dig deep in the darkest nooks of our bookshelves and pull out the good stuff from way back. As a reader, a blogger, and a consumer, I tend to focus on new, new, new… but what about the old favorites, the hidden gems? On Flashback Fridays, I want to hit the pause button for a moment and concentrate on older books that are deserving of attention.

If you’d like to join in, here are the Flashback Friday book selection guidelines:

  1. Has to be something you’ve read yourself
  2. Has to still be available, preferably still in print
  3. Must have been originally published 5 or more years ago

Other than that, the sky’s the limit! Join me, please, and let us all know: what are the books you’ve read that you always rave about? What books from your past do you wish EVERYONE would read? Pick something from five years ago, or go all the way back to the Canterbury Tales if you want. It’s Flashback Friday time!

My pick for this week’s Flashback Friday:

The Sound of Waves by Yukio Mishima

(published 1954)

I first read this novel by Yukio Mishima as part of a world lit class way back when. What I remember most is that I’d read one tragic, depressing book after another for this particular class. When we finally got to The Sound of Waves, I read it with my breath held anticipating some horrible event soon to befall the main characters… and then breathed a sigh of relief when I finally realized that this is, overall, a very happy love story.

I was unable to find more than a very brief synopsis on any of the major book sites (this one is from Amazon):

Set in a remote fishing village in Japan, The Sound of Waves is a timeless story of first love. A young fisherman is entranced at the sight of the beautiful daughter of the wealthiest man in the village. They fall in love, but must then endure the calumny and gossip of the villagers.

I don’t remember many of the details, but I do remember loving this book. Over the years, I’ve given away most of my old college lit books, but The Sound of Waves is one that I’ve kept. I’d say that’s it’s probably about time for me to reread this one and see if it still makes me smile.

So, what’s your favorite blast from the past? Leave a tip for your fellow booklovers, and share the wealth. It’s time to dust off our old favorites and get them back into circulation! 

Note from your friendly Bookshelf Fantasies host: To join in the Flashback Friday bloghop, post about a book you love on your blog, and share your link below. Don’t have a blog post to share? Then share your favorite oldie-but-goodie in the comments section. Jump in!

Wishlist Wednesday

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And now, for this week’s Wishlist Wednesday… the first of 2013!

The concept is to post about one book from our wish lists that we can’t wait to read. Want to play? Here’s how:

  • Follow Pen to Paper as host of the meme.
  • Please consider adding the blog hop button to your blog somewhere, so others can find it easily and join in too! Help spread the word! The code will be at the bottom of the post under the linky.
  • Pick a book from your wishlist that you are dying to get to put on your shelves.
  • Do a post telling your readers about the book and why it’s on your wishlist.
  • Add your blog to the linky at the bottom of the post at Pen to Paper.
  • Put a link back to Pen to Paper somewhere in your post.
  • Visit the other blogs and enjoy!

My Wishlist Wednesday book is:

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

From Amazon:

Libby Day was seven when her mother and two sisters were murdered in “The Satan Sacrifice of Kinnakee, Kansas.” As her family lay dying, little Libby fled their tiny farmhouse into the freezing January snow. She lost some fingers and toes, but she survived — and famously testified that her fifteen-year-old brother, Ben, was the killer. Twenty-five years later, Ben sits in prison, and troubled Libby lives off the dregs of a trust created by well-wishers who’ve long forgotten her.The Kill Club is a macabre secret society obsessed with notorious crimes. When they locate Libby and pump her for details–proof they hope may free Ben–Libby hatches a plan to profit off her tragic history. For a fee, she’ll reconnect with the players from that night and report her findings to the club . . . and maybe she’ll admit her testimony wasn’t so solid after all.As Libby’s search takes her from shabby Missouri strip clubs to abandoned Oklahoma tourist towns, the narrative flashes back to January 2, 1985. The events of that day are relayed through the eyes of Libby’s doomed family members–including Ben, a loner whose rage over his shiftless father and their failing farm have driven him into a disturbing friendship with the new girl in town. Piece by piece, the unimaginable truth emerges, and Libby finds herself right back where she started–on the run from a killer.

Why do I want to read this?

I don’t usually gravitate toward thrillers or crime dramas, but having read Gone Girl (reviewed here), I’m pretty much willing to assume that anything written by Gillian Flynn will be scary, compelling, and unpredictable. Gone Girl was one of those books that everyone was talking about in 2012 — and which definitely lived up to the hype. I’m really interested to see how the author’s earlier works compare to her break-out hit, and hope to get my hands on a copy of Dark Places in the near future.

Quick note to Wishlist Wednesday bloggers: Come on back to Bookshelf Fantasies for Flashback Friday! Join me in celebrating the older gems hidden away on our bookshelves. See the introductory post for more details, and come back this Friday to add your flashback favorites!

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books I Resolve To Read In 2013

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Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is:

Top Ten Books I Resolve To Read in 2013

I’ve done a few blog posts already about my reading intentions for 2013, including my reading resolutions and my participation in a reading challenge focused on reading books languishing on the ubiquitous “TBR” (to-be-read) shelf. Bearing those in mind, but thinking also about what I just really, really want to read in 2012, here goes:

The ten books I absolutely, positively want to read in 2013 are:

1. The Round House by Louise Erdrich

2. Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger

3. Written In My Own Heart’s Blood by Diana Gabaldon (This is the only one either not yet published or without a definite release date, but the author’s website says “fall 2013” — good enough for me!)

4. Tempest Reborn by Nicole Peeler

5. Dreamers of the Day by Mary Doria Russell

6. The Child’s Child by Barbara Vine

7. The Crane’s Dance by Meg Howrey

8. Other Kingdoms by Richard Matheson

9. Mariana by Susanna Kearsley

10. Frost Burned by Patricia Briggs

Granted, some of these aren’t much of a stretch for me. Three are new entries in series that I already read, and one is the beginning of a new series by an author I adore. Others are by authors who have written at least one other book that I’ve read and enjoyed. Still, given that I intend to read LOTS and LOTS of books in 2013, I think I can safely commit to including these ten.

What are you excited to read in 2013?

HAPPY NEW YEAR! May your reading year be filled with joy!