Top Ten Tuesday: Never Say Never

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

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 Book I Will Probably Never Read. Never is a pretty strong term, isn’t it? There are very few books I can say with certainty that I’ll never read — so to come up with a list of 10 books, I’ve had to break up the topic into two categories:

Starting with, books I’ll never read because I have little or no interest:

1. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy: Since I’ve made it this far in my life without having read War and Peace, I think it’s safe to assume it’ll never happen. And it’s not that I’m opposed to Tolstoy or anything — I actually have read Anna Karenina!

2. The rest of the Millenium trilogy by Stieg Larsson: I truly hated The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, and have absolutely no interest in reading further in the series.

3. Any new books by Charlaine Harris: I’m still mad at myself for continuing to read the Sookie series through to the bitter end, when they clearly stopped appealing to me somewhere around the midpoint of the series. I can’t imagine enjoying anything further she’d write.

4. Anything else by Dan Brown: I read The Da Vinci Code (didn’t everyone?) and Angels and Demons, and that was plenty.

5. The Lymond Chronicles by Dorothy Dunnett: People in my book club adore these books and talk about their complexity and nuances quite a bit… and I’ve just never felt the urge to join in on any of their group reads.

Second category: Books I’ll probably never read, not because I don’t want to… but simply because I’ve had ample opportunity and still haven’t gotten around to them. Lacking motivation, perhaps?

6. Lisey’s Story by Stephen King: I have no idea why I haven’t read this. I bought it when it came out and thought it sounded good. It’s been on my shelf ever since, and every time I think about reading it, I find something else to read instead.

7. The Help by Kathryn Stockett: I picked up a copy right before seeing the movie… and once I’d seen the movie, I didn’t feel any need to read the book.

8. Lonely Werewolf Girl by Martin Millar: Another one that really appealed to me when I bought it… but it’s been years and I still haven’t felt like actually reading it.

9. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield: Same as above. I know it’s supposed to be great. I know plenty of people who loved it. I even own a copy — but I’ve just never found myself wanting to pick it up and start it.

10. The Bronze Horsemen by Paullina Simons: So many people have recommended this series to me. I don’t know why I haven’t wanted to read it, except perhaps that I haven’t wanted to put the time into such chunky books.

So what are your never-gonna-happen books?

Share your links, and I’ll come check out your top 10!

If you enjoyed this post, please consider following Bookshelf Fantasies! And don’t forget to check out my regular weekly feature, Thursday Quotables. Happy reading!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

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!

4May2015

The Monday Check-In ~ 5/4/2015

Posted in The Monday Check-In by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

My Monday tradition, including a look back and a look ahead — what I read last week, what new books came my way, and what books are keeping me busy right now. Plus a smattering of other stuff too.

What did I read last week?

The Bookseller by Cynthia Swanson: My blog tour post and review is here. (Loved the book!)

Rook by Sharon Cameron. DNFd at 38%. Such a letdown. I wanted to love this book. Click here if you want to see what I said about Rook on Goodreads:

Offline:

In my “real” life, things are busy as always. I did manage to sneak in two fun outings this past week — dinner with a good friend after months of our schedules never matching up, and then The Book of Mormon with my husband just last night. (It rocked.)

Fresh Catch:

A Groupon for a local used book store was burning a hole in my pocket (it was about to expire), so here’s what I picked up:

What will I be reading during the coming week?

Currently in my hands:

I’m trying to get a jump start on my review commitments for May. I’m reading The Mapmaker’s Children by Sarah McCoy so I’ll have my blog tour post ready in advance. Planning ahead? How unusual!

Now playing via audiobook:

I’m so close to the end of the Emma audiobook! Juliet Stevenson is an amazing narrator, and I’ve really loved every minute. I’ll be traveling next week and probably won’t start another audiobook until I get back — but when I do, it’ll be tempting to listen to more Austen à la Stevenson!

Ongoing reads:

I’ve been reading these forever, it seems…

So many book, so little time…

30Apr2015

Blog Tour & Book Review: The Bookseller by Cynthia Swanson

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

I’m delighted to be participating in the blog tour celebrating The Bookseller, a debut novel by Cynthia Swanson. Thank you, TLC Book Tours, for inviting me to participate!

The Bookseller is the touching and intriguing story of one woman living two lives.

As the book opens, we meet Kitty, a single career woman in 1962. 38 years old, she and her best friend Frieda own a small bookshop in a no-longer-thriving neighborhood of Denver. Kitty lives alone with her cat Aslan, enjoys the sister-like company of her friend, and thrives in a loving relationship with her devoted parents. She’s happy, and really doesn’t regret the life choices she made that brought her to this point in her life.

But when Kitty goes to sleep, she wakes up in a strange bedroom in a lovely home, beside a loving man names Lars who refers to her by her full name, Katharyn. It’s 1963, and she appears to be married to her soulmate, living in a comfortable house in a newer Denver neighborhood, a stay-at-home mother to triplets.

Kitty is absolutely confounded by this dream world of hers. When she wakes up again, she’s haunted by how realistic this imaginary world seems, and is struck by the thought that she’s encountered the unusual name Lars before. She remembers that in her real life, she’d almost had a first date with a man named Lars eight years earlier, but he stood her up and so they never met.

Each time Kitty goes to sleep, she crosses from one world to another. Her dream world is vivid and distinct. She discovers an enormous depth of feeling for her husband Lars, and she loves her adorable children, despite being confused and somewhat frustrated by her son Michael, who is, apparently, autistic. Sadly, in this dream world, Katharyn and Frieda have fallen out years earlier, although she has no idea why.

Gradually, the lines begin to blur. Each world feels real and seems to want to claim her. The more time Kitty spends in her dream world, the more memories come back to her… but so much still remains elusive. Finally, Kitty has to sort out which is her real world, where she truly belongs, and which life is the one she must let go.

… And let me just pause here from providing plot summary and say — wow. What a book.

With hints of Sliding Doors as well as certain points that reminded me of The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells by Andrew Sean Greer, The Bookseller asks us to pass from dream world to reality and back to dream world right along with Kitty. Both lives are rich and detailed. Both are filled with people who matter to her. Could she really have forgotten a life in which she’s a wife and mother? But how can all of her memories be about her life in the bookstore with Frieda, if her other life with Lars feels equally real?

I loved the construction of this emotion-packed novel. We flow right alongside the main character as she shifts abruptly, never entirely sure of when or where she’ll wake up in a different life, sometimes in the middle of a scene, so to speak, already under way. The writing is matter-of-fact, yet startling at times, as when Kitty gazes into the face of her dream husband for the first time or is suddenly struck by the knowledge that she has children.

The 1960s setting works magnificently here. The author weaves in all sorts of small details that make the time period seem real, from the admiration of Jackie Kennedy’s fashion sense to the fears of the Cuban Missile Crisis to the simple joys of listening to Patsy Cline and checking out the newest books by J. D. Salinger and Katherine Anne Porter.

It’s also a marvelous tribute to the choices available to a woman at that time and the courage needed to chart her own course. Staying single, owning a business — these are not easy paths, and certainly not common or expected. Likewise, the challenges facing a young mother are daunting. Despite being well-off and with a supportive husband, dealing with three children is all-consuming. The medical world was only just waking up to the meaning of autism at the time, and the only resources Kitty can find on the subject pin the “blame” squarely on the mother, with no guidance available on finding ways to connect with the child or even how to provide him with an education.

The Bookseller had me hooked from the first chapter, and I truly loved the main character. Her two lives, as Kitty and Katharyn, each offer her something special — but each is missing some key element that makes the other life hard to turn away from. Her confusion and pain feel real, as does her love for Lars and her children, her parents, and Frieda.

I highly recommend The Bookseller. Its shifting reality twists will absolutely keep you guessing! With an engaging yet mysterious plot, a well-earned resolution, and emotions that ring true, this book should appeal to anyone who enjoys stories about strong women confronting unusual and unpredictable challenges. Check it out!

Find out more:

Purchase Links

Amazon | IndieBound | Barnes & Noble

About the Author:

Cynthia Swanson is a writer and a designer of the midcentury modern style. She has published short fiction in 13th Moon, Kalliope, Sojourner, and other periodicals; her story in 13th Moon was a Pushcart Prize nominee. She lives in Denver, Colorado, with her husband and three children. The Bookseller is her first novel.

Find out more about Cynthia at her website and connect with her on Facebook.

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The details:

Title: The Bookseller
Author: Cynthia Swanson
Publisher: Harper
Publication date: March 3, 2015
Length: 352 pages
Genre: Adult fiction
Source: Review copy courtesy of TLC Book Tours

For further information, stop by TLC Book Tours to view other blog tour hosts.

29Apr2015

Thursday Quotables: Emma by Jane Austen

Posted in Thursday Quotables by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Welcome back to Thursday Quotables! This weekly feature is the place to highlight a great quote, line, or passage discovered during your reading each week. Whether it’s something funny, startling, gut-wrenching, or just really beautifully written, Thursday Quotables is where my favorite lines of the week will be, and you’re invited to join in!

NEW! Thursday Quotables is now using a Linky tool! Be sure to add your link if you have a Thursday Quotables post to share.

Emma by Jane Austen
(published 1815 )

It’s been many years since I first read Emma — and listening to the audiobook is just cracking me up. Here are just a few random moments that made me giggle:

On single women, according to Emma herself:

“Never mind, Harriet, I shall not be a poor old maid; and it is poverty only which makes celibacy contemptible to a generous public! A single woman, with a very narrow income, must be a ridiculous, disagreeable old maid! the proper sport of boys and girls, but a single woman, of good fortune, is always respectable, and may be as sensible and pleasant as any body else.”

On living dangerously, according to Mr. Woodhouse:

“Open the windows! – but surely, Mr. Churchill, nobody would think of opening the windows at Randalls. Nobody could be so imprudent! I never heard of such a thing. Dancing with open windows! – I am sure, neither your father nor Mrs. Weston (poor Miss Taylor that was) would suffer it.”

On fashion, according to Mrs. Elton:

“I have the greatest dislike to the idea of being over-trimmed — quite a horror of finery. I must put on a few ornaments now, because it is expected of me. A bride, you know, must appear like a bride…”

And a final health caution from Mr. Woodhouse:

“I am very sorry to hear, Miss Fairfax, of your being out this morning in the rain. Young ladies should take care of themselves. Young ladies are delicate plants. They should take care of their health and their complexion. My dear, did you change your stockings?”

What lines made you laugh, cry, or gasp this week? Do tell!

If you’d like to participate in Thursday Quotables, it’s really simple:

Write a Thursday Quotables post on your blog. Try to pick something from whatever you’re reading now. And please be sure to include a link back to Bookshelf Fantasies in your post (http://www.bookshelffantasies.com), if you’d be so kind!
Click on the linky button (look for the cute froggie face) below to add your link.
After you link up, I’d love it if you’d leave a comment about my quote for this week.
Be sure to visit other linked blogs to view their Thursday Quotables, and have fun!

28Apr2015

Wishing & Waiting on Wednesday: What You Left Behind

Posted in Wishlist Wednesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

There’s nothing like a Wednesday for thinking about the books we want to read! My Wishing & Waiting on Wednesday post is linking up with two fabulous book memes, Wishlist Wednesday (hosted by Pen to Paper) and Waiting on Wednesday (hosted by Breaking the Spine).

This week’s pick:
What You Left Behind by Jessica Verdi
(to be released August 4, 2015 )

It’s all Ryden’s fault. If he hadn’t gotten Meg pregnant, she would have never stopped her chemo treatments and would still be alive. Instead, he’s failing fatherhood one dirty diaper at a time. And it’s not like he’s had time to grieve while struggling to care for their infant daughter, start his senior year, and earn the soccer scholarship he needs to go to college.

The one person who makes Ryden feel like his old self is Joni. She’s fun and energetic—and doesn’t know he has a baby. But the more time they spend together, the harder it becomes to keep his two worlds separate. Finding one of Meg’s journals only stirs up old emotions, and Ryden’s convinced Meg left other notebooks for him to find, some message to help his new life make sense. But how is he going to have a future if he can’t let go of the past?

I read Jessica Verdi’s The Summer I Wasn’t Me last year, and was so impressed by the book’s strong characters and honest emotions. This new book sounds really powerful, and I can’t wait to read it!

What are you wishing for this Wednesday?

Looking for some bookish fun on Thursdays? Come join me for my regular weekly feature, Thursday Quotables. You can find out more here — come play!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

27Apr2015

The Monday Check-In ~ 4/27/2015

Posted in The Monday Check-In by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

What did I read last week?

The Secrets We Keep by Trisha Leaver: Done! My review is here.

A Cold Day for Murder by Dana Stabenow: Finished the audiobook! My review is here.

Elsewhere on the blog:

I just haven’t had time for much of anything — including, it would seem, thinking ahead. Looks like I won’t be doing a TTT post this week. I looked at the topic and drew a tremendous blank… and I just don’t have any brain cells to spare at the moment. But I’ll dive back in next week, I’m sure!

Fresh Catch:

Two new books arrived this week:

What will I be reading during the coming week?

Currently in my hands:

I’m participating in the blog tour for The Bookseller by Cynthia Swanson this week, so finishing the book is priority #1! After that, I plan to read Rook by Sharon Cameron.

Now playing via audiobook:

I finished my most recent mystery via audiobook — see above for the link to my review of A Cold Day for Murder by Dana Stabenow.

I’ve just started listening to Emma by Jane Austen (narrated by Juliet Stevenson) — and it is a total hoot! I’ve read the book before, but listening to it, especially all of the dialogue, is a blast.

Ongoing reads:

I’ll be reading the first two here for months to come — one with my kiddo and one with Outlander Book Club. Also in Outlander world, I’m more or less reading along with the TV show, trying to read the chapters that I think will be covered in each week’s new episode — which is definitely time- consuming on top of all of my other reading! (I read about 100 pages for the most recent episode…)

So many book, so little time…

23Apr2015

Book Review: The Secrets We Keep by Trisha Leaver

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Maddy and Ella, identical twin sisters in their senior year of high school, were best friends since birth… right up until the first week of freshman year, when Maddy’s pursuit of popularity led her to dump quiet, artistic Ella and become the belle of the ball. From that moment onward, the two occupied a home together, but had next to nothing in common. Maddy was always at the center of the in-demand social circle, busy with perfect boyfriend Alex, and obsessed with looks, clothes, and status. Ella found a new best friend, Josh, who shared her interests in art and anime and became her constant companion.

That’s all backstory. Early on in The Secrets We Keep, tragedy strikes. On a rainy night, on the way home from a party, Maddy’s car goes off the road and one twin is killed, the other seriously injured. But who survived? As it turns out, Ella had driven Maddy’s car to pick her sister up — and because Maddy’s clothes were soaked from waiting in the rain, Ella gave Maddy her coat and sweatshirt.

The driver is pulled alive from the wreck, while the other sister is dead at the scene. The car is Maddy’s; the driver is presumed to be Maddy — especially since the dead girl is wearing Ella’s clothes.

When Ella wakes up in the hospital, she at first has no recollection of her name or her circumstances. But there’s a boy holding her hand, dozens of flower bouquets in her room from her many friends, and the name “Maddy” written on the board in her room. She assumes she herself is Maddy, and it’s not until she insists on seeing her dead twin in the morgue that her own memories come flooding back.

And here’s where my belief in this story pretty much went out the window: Ella feels tremendously guilty for causing her sister’s death. She sees how happy her parents are when she wakes up and they greet her as “Maddy”, and she hears from Alex and the nurses how many of “her” friends are crammed into the halls and waiting rooms, cheering for her survival. Ella decides on the spot that her parents wouldn’t be happy if they knew the survivor was Ella, not Maddy. Furthermore, she decides that she owes Maddy a debt for killing her, and the way to make it up to her is to live her life. So Ella keeps her own identity a secret and vows to live Maddy’s life, which becomes a bit harder once she has to attend her own funeral and act like her best friend Josh means nothing to her.

Hoo boy. Things unravel from there. Ella uncovers a dark secret about a very not-nice plot of Maddy’s. Ella does a not-very-good job of impersonating Maddy when she goes back to school, breaking all sorts of rules about appearance, bitchiness, and maintaining mean girl status quo. Instead of going to her own honors classes and maintaining her perfect grades, Ella follows Maddy’s undemanding schedule and has to force herself to dumb down her test performance. In short, it’s a mess.

Does any of this make sense? Not really. Ella’s thinking can be chalked up to shock at first, but she’s really much too smart a girl to actually believe that her parents are happy that Maddy survived and she didn’t. And I couldn’t see any logic in the idea of living Maddy’s life as a way to repay her sister. Maddy is still dead, after all. How can pretending to be her make a difference? And then there’s Ella’s belief that Maddy being alive makes so many more people happy — why does this matter to Ella? She doesn’t even like these people.

It’s really a ridiculous situation, and I found it pretty much impossible to buy the premise. As clichéd as the old stand-by amnesia plot is, the whole set-up here would have been much more plausible if Ella hadn’t regained her memories. If she actually believed herself to be Maddy, it would be interesting to see her trying to piece her life back together, when it was never actually hers. But having Ella pretend to be Maddy for the flimsiest of reasons just defies all logic. The piece about her parents really irritated me, to be honest. So they bury Ella and try to rebuild their lives with Maddy — and then when the truth comes out, they’re forced into a brand-new mourning period for the daughter they believed to be alive, yet they’re supposed to now be overjoyed by Ella’s survival? It’s just weird and cruel, and I felt that Ella’s treatment of her parents was especially callous.

I realize this all sounds as though I didn’t like The Secrets We Keep at all, and that’s not entirely the case. On the more positive side, the writing itself is fast-paced and kept my attention, so even though I kept exclaiming over how unbelievable the plot was, I also didn’t want to put the book down. Granted, a part of me wanted to keep reading to see if there was some great twist coming or if the ending would justify it all. And, well, no, that’s not what happened… but still, I did keep reading and I did want to see how it worked out, so there’s that.

Not every book is for every reader, and despite having a premise — at least according to the synopsis — that sounded really intriguing, the final result just didn’t work for me.

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The details:

Title: The Secrets We Keep
Author: Trisha Leaver
Publisher: Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group
Publication date: April 28, 2015
Length: 304 pages
Genre: Young adult contemporary fiction
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley

22Apr2015

Thursday Quotables: A Cold Day for Murder

Posted in Thursday Quotables by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Welcome back to Thursday Quotables! This weekly feature is the place to highlight a great quote, line, or passage discovered during your reading each week. Whether it’s something funny, startling, gut-wrenching, or just really beautifully written, Thursday Quotables is where my favorite lines of the week will be, and you’re invited to join in!

NEW! Thursday Quotables is now using a Linky tool! Be sure to add your link if you have a Thursday Quotables post to share.

A Cold Day for Murder by Dana Stabenow
(published 1992 )

This is a long passage, but it says a lot about some of the characters and conflicts in this award-winning mystery set in Alaska. (To find out more, check out my review, here.)

Kate kept talking, compulsively, the words spilling out of her as if he had not spoken. “Every time she says it, ‘Katya’, she says it in that voice of doom. I see fifty generations of Aleuts lined up behind her, glaring at me. Every time she says it, she’s telling me I betrayed her and my family and the village and my culture and my entire race by running away.” She gave a thin smile. “And now, she’s believes I’ve betrayed myself by running back. I’ve been preaching, and I quote, ‘assimilation into the prevailing culture for the survival of my people.’ Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? Sounds like I’ve had seven or eight sociology classes. Sounds like I know what I’m talking about.” Kate smiled, and Jack winced away from the sight of it. “And I live in a log cabin five miles from the closest neighbor and twenty-five miles from the nearest village. I’m shipping Xenia off to town, but I can’t bear to go in myself.”

“Kate,” he said.

“Don’t you understand, we’re not all like this,” she said fiercely. “We’re not even mostly like this. We’re not all drunks and adulterers and murderers. We’re just people, like anybody else trying to get along in this goddam world. We’re starting from behind and we’re just trying to catch up.”

What lines made you laugh, cry, or gasp this week? Do tell!

If you’d like to participate in Thursday Quotables, it’s really simple:

Write a Thursday Quotables post on your blog. Try to pick something from whatever you’re reading now. And please be sure to include a link back to Bookshelf Fantasies in your post (http://www.bookshelffantasies.com), if you’d be so kind!
Click on the linky button (look for the cute froggie face) below to add your link.
After you link up, I’d love it if you’d leave a comment about my quote for this week.
Be sure to visit other linked blogs to view their Thursday Quotables, and have fun!

21Apr2015

Wishing & Waiting on Wednesday: This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance!

Posted in Wishlist Wednesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

This week’s pick:
This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance! by Jonathan Evison
(to be released September 8, 2015 )

With her husband Bernard two years in the grave, seventy-nine-year-old Harriet Chance sets sail on an ill-conceived Alaskan cruise only to discover through a series of revelations that she’s been living the past sixty years of her life under entirely false pretenses. There, amid the buffets and lounge singers, between the imagined appearance of her late husband and the very real arrival of her estranged daughter midway through the cruise, Harriet is forced to take a long look back, confronting the truth about pivotal events that changed the course of her life.

Jonathan Evison—bestselling author of West of Here, The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving, and All About Lulu—has crafted a bighearted novel with a supremely endearing heroine at its center. Through Harriet, he paints a bittersweet portrait of a postmodern everywoman with great warmth, humanity, and humor. Part dysfunctional love story, part poignant exploration of the mother/daughter relationship, nothing is what it seems in this tale of acceptance, reexamination, forgiveness, and, ultimately, healing.

I really enjoyed The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving, and I love the idea of a 79-year-old woman discovering secrets on an Alaskan cruise! Sounds funny and heart-warming at the same time, and I want to read it!

What are you wishing for this Wednesday?

Looking for some bookish fun on Thursdays? Come join me for my regular weekly feature, Thursday Quotables. You can find out more here — come play!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

20Apr2015

Top Ten Tuesday: Top 10 All-Time Favorite Authors

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

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 All-Time Favorite Authors. I had a really hard time narrowing it down, and changed my mind about half a dozen times, but finally decided to focus on living writers whose works I continue to read (and hope to keep reading for a long time to come).

Here we go:

1. Diana Gabaldon (like there was any doubt about this one!)

2. Mary Doria Russell

3. Stephen King

4. Patricia Briggs

5. Jim Butcher

6. Susanna Kearsley

7. Christopher Moore

8. Neil Gaiman

9. Bill Willingham

10. J. K. Rowling

[Note on images: Author photos scavenged from the interwebs; book photos taken by moi!]

I hate having to stop at just 10. This is just scratching the surface — and doesn’t even include some of the late greats, such as Douglas Adams, Kurt Vonnegut, and J. R. R. Tolkien. Ah well, I suppose that’s a list for another day!

Looking forward to seeing everyone else’s lists this week.

Share your links, and I’ll come check out your top 10!

If you enjoyed this post, please consider following Bookshelf Fantasies! And don’t forget to check out my regular weekly feature, Thursday Quotables. Happy reading!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥