new releases | Bookshelf Fantasies

And now, for this week’s 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 (http://vogue-pentopaper.blogspot.com) somewhere in your post.
Visit the other blogs and enjoy!

My Wishlist Wednesday book is:

The Shadowy Horses by Susanna Kearsley
(originally published 1997; new edition to be released October 2012)

From Amazon:

The invincible Ninth Roman Legion marches from York to fight the northern tribes. And then vanishes from the pages of history.

Archaeologist Verity Grey has been drawn to the dark legends of the Scottish Borderlands in search of the truth buried in a rocky field by the sea.

Her eccentric boss has spent his whole life searching for the resting place of the lost Ninth Roman Legion and is convinced he’s finally found it—not because of any scientific evidence, but because a local boy has “seen” a Roman soldier walking in the fields, a ghostly sentinel who guards the bodies of his long-dead comrades.

Here on the windswept shores, Verity may find the answer to one of the great unsolved mysteries of our time. Or she may uncover secrets someone buried for a reason.

Why do I want to read this?

I’ve recently read two other books by Susanna Kearsley: The Winter Sea and The Rose Garden. Both were exceptionally well-crafted novels which combined a contemporary story with an historical twist — they’ve been described as “time slip” novels, where the main character finds herself displaced into another time period and must struggle to fit in, solve a mystery, or both. The author has a lovely flair for describing settings such as Scottish castles and Welsh countrysides, and her characters are fully developed with rich inner lives and deeply-felt emotions.

Based on my previous experiences with her work, I’d be happy to give The Shadowy Horses a try. The description really appeals to me as well: I’m grown quite fond of stories set in and around Scotland, I love good historical fiction, and I find the story of the disappearance of the Ninth Roman Legion quite fascinating. I know the fate of the legion has inspired other works of fiction and, most recently, the movie “The Eagle” (with Channing Tatum), and I’m sure Ms. Kearsley is more than up to the task of giving us a fresh take on one of history’s great unsolved mysteries.

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!

And now, for this week’s 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 (http://vogue-pentopaper.blogspot.com) somewhere in your post.
Visit the other blogs and enjoy!

My Wishlist Wednesday book is:

The Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan
(published September 2012)

From Amazon:

On remote Rollrock Island, men go to sea to make their livings—and to catch their wives.

The witch Misskaella knows the way of drawing a girl from the heart of a seal, of luring the beauty out of the beast. And for a price a man may buy himself a lovely sea-wife. He may have and hold and keep her. And he will tell himself that he is her master. But from his first look into those wide, questioning, liquid eyes, he will be just as transformed as she. He will be equally ensnared. And the witch will have her true payment.

Margo Lanagan weaves an extraordinary tale of desire, despair, and transformation. With devastatingly beautiful prose, she reveals characters capable of unspeakable cruelty, but also unspoken love.

Why do I want to read this?

Well, just look at that description! Selkies, witches, love… windswept, sea-battered islands… sounds like the perfect mixture of mythology and otherworldly romance, with a very dark undercurrent.

I read Margo Lanagan’s story collection Black Juice a couple of years ago, and — unusual for me with my bad attitude toward short stories — I just couldn’t look away until I’d read the whole thing. “Singing My Sister Down” immediately became one of my favorite short stories ever — it’s crisp, creepy, tragic, and unforgettable.

Since I’m trying to curtail my hardcover book buying, I haven’t given into temptation yet on The Brides of Rollrock Island… but if my local library doesn’t get it PRETTY DARN QUICK, I have a feeling this will be my next purchase.

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 last week’s introductory post for more details, and come back this Friday to add your flashback favorites!