August | 2014 | Bookshelf Fantasies

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.

How did I do with last week’s agenda?

The Book of Life (All Souls Trilogy, #3) 6990472 Where She Went (If I Stay, #2)

I finally finished The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness! It felt like I was reading it forever. My review is here.

I read both If I Stay and Where She Went by Gayle Forman, and loved them both. If there was any doubt (and there really wasn’t), it’s now official: I’ll happily read anything and everything that Gayle Forman decides to write!

Fresh Catch:

One new addition to my shelves this week:

The Unwritten, Vol. 9: The Unwritten Fables

It’s a Fables/Unwritten cross-over! I haven’t started the Unwritten series yet, but I do love everything related to Fables. It’s clear to me that I need a good week or two of undiluted graphic novel time!

What’s on my reading agenda for the coming week?

Landline Just Like the Movies Since You've Been Gone

After staring at it longingly from across the room for a few weeks, it’s finally time to read Landline by Rainbow Rowell. I’ve read about half so far — and like every other Rainbow Rowell book, it’s terrific.

Once I finish Landline, I think I’d better try to catch up on my backlog of ARCs. I intend to read Just Like the Movies by Kelly Fiore and Since You’ve Been Gone (don’t you love that cover?) by Anouska Knight, for starters.

Pop-culture goodness:

I had a blissfully fangirlish day this past week. On Wednesday, I took a day off work and headed downtown to a wonderful book signing/reading by Deborah Harkness. She was funny, smart (of course), gracious, and so friendly toward us all. What a pleasure!

From there, I hopped in my car and drove about an hour to get to the theater showing a preview screening of the first episode of Outlander. Arriving early, I had a great time hanging out with other fans for a couple of hours. The screening itself? What can I say? It was everything I’d hoped for. Amazing cast, beautiful settings, fantastic production… and so true to the book! Simply beautiful.

The first episode is available as a free preview via http://www.starz.com!

So many book, so little time…

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

Happy reading!

Flashback Friday is a weekly tradition started here at Bookshelf Fantasies, focusing on showing some love for the older books in our lives and on our shelves. If you’d like to join in, just pick a book published at least five years ago, post your Flashback Friday pick on your blog, and let us all know about that special book from your reading past and why it matters to you. Don’t forget to link up!

This week on Flashback Friday:

Coma by Robin Cook
(published 1977)

Synopsis (Goodreads):

They call it “minor surgery,” but Nancy Greenly, Sean Berman, and a dozen others, all admitted to Memorial Hospital for routine procedures, are victims of the same inexplicable, hideous tragedy on the operating table. They never wake up again.

Some traceless error in anesthesia has cased irreversible brain death, leaving each of them in a hopeless coma.

Something is very wrong here. And Susan Wheeler, a beautiful young medical student, hazards her life to uncover the horrifying explanation–a plot so ghastly, so far-reaching, so terrifyingly incredible yet so nightmarishly possible, it will leave you suspended in a state of fear….

I think this was the first medical thriller I’d ever read, and let me tell you: It scared the bejeezus out of me. Robin Cook has written over 20 novels since, but in Coma, his 2nd novel, he introduced popular culture to the terror of medicine gone wrong, and we’ve never quite recovered!

What flashback book is on your mind this week?

Note from your friendly Bookshelf Fantasies host: To join in the Flashback Friday fun:

Grab the Flashback Friday button
Post your own Flashback Friday entry on your blog (and mention Bookshelf Fantasies as the host of the meme, if you please!)
Leave your link in the comments below
Check out other FF posts… and discover some terrific hidden gems to add to your TBR piles!

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Do you host a book blog meme? Do you participate in a meme that you really, really love? I’m building a Book Blog Meme Directory, and need your help! If you know of a great meme to include — or if you host one yourself — please drop me a note on my Contact page and I’ll be sure to add your info!