Tag Archives: wish list

Wishlist Wednesday

Posted in Wishlist Wednesday by

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:

Other Kingdoms by Richard Matheson
(published 2011)

From Amazon:

For over half a century, Richard Matheson has enthralled and terrified readers with such timeless classics as I Am Legend, The Incredible Shrinking Man, Duel, Somewhere in Time, and What Dreams May Come. Now the Grand Master returns with a bewitching tale of erotic suspense and enchantment.…

1918. A young American soldier, recently wounded in the Great War, Alex White comes to Gatford to escape his troubled past. The pastoral English village seems the perfect spot to heal his wounded body and soul. True, the neighboring woods are said to be haunted by capricious, even malevolent spirits, but surely those are just old wives’ tales.

Aren’t they?

A frightening encounter in the forest leads Alex into the arms of Magda Variel, an alluring red-haired widow rumored to be a witch. She warns him to steer clear of the wood and the perilous faerie kingdom it borders, but Alex cannot help himself. Drawn to its verdant mysteries, he finds love, danger…and wonders that will forever change his view of the world.

Other Kingdoms casts a magical spell, as conjured by a truly legendary storyteller.

Why do I want to read this?

First off, it’s Richard Matheson! Not only is he responsible for some remarkable works of fiction, he is also the creator of fiction that inspired some remarkable movie achievements as well. Somewhere In Time has to be one of the most romantic movies of all time (Christopher Reeve! Jane Seymour!), and when I finally discovered the book, I loved it as well. Based only on Somewhere In Time, you might assume that Richard Matheson writes mainly in the romance/fantasy genre… until you encounter pieces as diverse as the scary I Am Legend and short story Steel, the basis for last year’s boxing robot movie Real Steel.

Other Kingdoms sounds right up my alley. Post-WWI historical setting, mysterious woods, a dangerous faerie kingdom — too intriguing to pass up! Mortals inadvertently crossing a border into faerie have cropped up in several novels I’ve read over the past few years: Graham Joyce’s Some Kind of Fairy Tale and Susanna Clarke’s masterpiece Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, among others. Done well, these stories can be chilling in their mix of the ordinary and the magical, as they take the sparkly fairy worlds of our collective childhoods and reinvent them as strange universes full of menace and wonder. I have a feeling that Other Kingdoms, in the hands of Richard Matheson, will fit right in with the best of the best.

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!

The Monday agenda

Posted in The Monday Check-In by

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.

Back to work, back to real life… but there’s always time to talk about reading! Onward with the Monday agenda:

From last week:

Hmm, how’d I do?

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter: I finished this over the weekend (my review is here). Loved this book! I’d been aching for some good fiction, after a week of non-fiction reading, and this one definitely fit the bill. Highly recommended.

The Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan: Just started!

I got pretty bogged down with playing with my new bookshelves and hitting the public library’s big used book sale ( you can see my recap here), both of which kept me thinking about books a lot (fun!) but reading a bit less than usual (not so fun).

Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon (group re-read): Intense. Amazing.

And this week’s new agenda:

I just started The Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan last night, and it’s pretty much love at first sight. Magical, ominous, unique… it was hard to tear myself away so I could get some sleep.

Why is it that all of my library requests seem to arrive at once? Now checked out and waiting to be read: The Diviners by Libba Bray, The Dog Stars by Peter Heller, Seraphina by Rachel Hartman, and The Forgetting Tree by Tatjana Soli. I’ll be luck to get to any of these this week, because…

The Casual Vacancy is coming! I’ve had J. K. Rowling’s new book (for grown-ups!) on pre-order for months, and it’s finally being released later this week. While the subject matter doesn’t sound all that thrilling to me, I’m certainly willing to give a try to anything JKR writes. Who else is planning to read The Casual Vacancy right away?

Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon (group re-read): Chapters 50 and 51 on deck for this week. Chapter 50 is essential — big reveals, big confrontations. Can’t wait.

So many book, so little time…

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

Wishlist Wednesday

Posted in Wishlist Wednesday by

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!

The Monday agenda

Posted in The Monday Check-In by

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.

No work this Monday morning, but the start of a reading week nonetheless… Here’s the latest:

From last week:

Hmm, how’d I do?

A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard: Done. I couldn’t quite bring myself to write a review. Suffice it to say, this is a powerful, sad, painful book; one that’s important to read but hard to enjoy. I admire the author’s courage and strength very much, and give her a lot of credit for coming forward and sharing her story.

Stiff by Mary Roach: Finally! I’ve had this one on my to-read list for years, glad to have finally tackled it. Not for the faint of heart (or stomach), but truly fascinating and surprisingly funny. My review is here.

In graphic novels, I read Anya’s Ghost by Vera Brosgol. Delightful. From my Goodreads review:

Fabulous graphic novel about a lonely teen-aged girl who makes a new best friend – who happens to be a ghost. When loner Anya — an outsider who has conquered her Russian accent but not her low self-esteem or poor body image — falls down an abandoned well, she meets the ghost of Emily, who just wants to help. Or does she? Emily’s “help” soon takes on a more sinister tone, until Anya is forced to make a decision about her own life and what she stands for.

Crisply told and nicely illustrated, with a keen eye toward teen emotions and struggles, Anya’s Ghost is charming and funny, and at the same time manages to be sensitive and perceptive. Definitely a winner.

Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon (group re-read): Onward we go. We’re finally at what is probably the most critical set of chapters in the book, and the discussion is fascinating.

And this week’s new agenda:

My brain cells are practically screaming for fiction.

First up: I finally got my copy of Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter from the library. Really looking forward to this one.

Next: Looks like I’ll get to another of my Wishlist Wednesday books without much of a wait. I plan to dig into The Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan later this week.

And then: I’m feeling non-committal, but I’ll try to get to one of the pending titles on my Kindle, probably Jane by Robin Maxwell.

Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon (group re-read): Chapters 48 and 49 on deck for this week. I think my favorite characters need some lessons in healthy communication skills.

And furthermore:

My new bookshelves are calling! Playing with books may take time away from the actual reading of books this week, but it’s just so much fun that I don’t mind at all. One side effect of my shelving project: Discovering all the books I bought last year and forgot about, as they sat hidden in bags and piles. Hello, old friends! What a happy reunion we’re all having!

So many book, so little time…

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

Wishlist Wednesday

Posted in Wishlist Wednesday by

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!

The Monday agenda

Posted in The Monday Check-In by

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.

Another Monday morning, another workweek underway… another opportunity to make grandiose, pie-in-the-sky plans to read everything I can get my paws on. Here’s the latest:

From last week:

Hmm, how’d I do?

Frozen by Mary Casanova: Done! My review is here. Short version: Okay, some nice elements, but not a must-read.

The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker: Done! Here’s my review. Overall, I’d say nicely written but flawed. Still, I’m glad to have read it.

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin: Finished late last night, review to follow. Highly readable and hard to put down.

In graphic novels, I finished up the Jack of Fables series. A fun additional to the world of Fables, but not essential reading.

Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon (group re-read): Need I keep saying it? Terrific book, terrific chapter discussions!

And this week’s new agenda:

I may veer off the fiction path (shocking, for me) and delve into a few books I’ve been wanting to try:

A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard. Just picked this one up at the library. As a parent, I approach reading this with some trepidation, but I do so admire this young woman’s courage and want to see how she portrays her own experiences.

I really should read one of the Mary Roach books that were my Wishlist Wednesday selections last week, either Stiff or Spook.

In sci-fi/fantasy, I have Jane by Robin Maxwell all queued up on my e-reader. That’s Jane, as in “me, Tarzan”. Sounds like fun!

Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon (group re-read): Chapters 46 and 47 on deck for this week. We’re getting up to some parts that are emotionally difficult. It’s hard when bad things happen to characters you’re so invested in!

So many book, so little time…

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

Wishlist Wednesday

Posted in Wishlist Wednesday by

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 actually a two-fer:

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers (2003)

Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife (2005)

by Mary Roach

 

 

From Amazon, about Stiff:

Stiff is an oddly compelling, often hilarious exploration of the strange lives of our bodies postmortem. For two thousand years, cadavers—some willingly, some unwittingly—have been involved in science’s boldest strides and weirdest undertakings. They’ve tested France’s first guillotines, ridden the NASA Space Shuttle, been crucified in a Parisian laboratory to test the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin, and helped solve the mystery of TWA Flight 800. For every new surgical procedure, from heart transplants to gender reassignment surgery, cadavers have been there alongside surgeons, making history in their quiet way.

In this fascinating, ennobling account, Mary Roach visits the good deeds of cadavers over the centuries—from the anatomy labs and human-sourced pharmacies of medieval and nineteenth-century Europe to a human decay research facility in Tennessee, to a plastic surgery practice lab, to a Scandinavian funeral directors’ conference on human composting. In her droll, inimitable voice, Roach tells the engrossing story of our bodies when we are no longer with them.

Also from Amazon, about Spook:

The best-selling author of Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers now trains her considerable wit and curiosity on the human soul. “What happens when we die? Does the light just go out and that’s that—the million-year nap? Or will some part of my personality, my me-ness persist? What will that feel like? What will I do all day? Is there a place to plug in my lap-top?” In an attempt to find out, Mary Roach brings her tireless curiosity to bear on an array of contemporary and historical soul-searchers: scientists, schemers, engineers, mediums, all trying to prove (or disprove) that life goes on after we die. She begins the journey in rural India with a reincarnation researcher and ends up in a University of Virginia operating room where cardiologists have installed equipment near the ceiling to study out-of-body near-death experiences. Along the way, she enrolls in an English medium school, gets electromagnetically haunted at a university in Ontario, and visits a Duke University professor with a plan to weigh the consciousness of a leech. Her historical wanderings unearth soul-seeking philosophers who rummaged through cadavers and calves’ heads, a North Carolina lawsuit that established legal precedence for ghosts, and the last surviving sample of “ectoplasm” in a Cambridge University archive.

Why do I want to read these two books?

Plain and simple, Mary Roach cracks me up. I have never laughed so hard over a science book as I did reading Roach’s Packing for Mars. (Come to think of it, I’m not sure that I’ve ever laughed while reading a science book, but my point remains.)

Mary Roach takes on a subject and then examines it from every possible angle, looking for all the scientific oddities that bring her subject to life. In Bonk, her subject was sex, and while some parts were particularly cringe-inducing (there are certain experiments that I just didn’t need to know about!), it was certainly never boring. Packing for Mars is a look at the science of human space travel, and it was hilarious. Plus, I learned a lot, such as the arduous process of inventing effective space toilets and what position to assume in order to increase the odds of surviving an elevator crash. (Answer: Lie flat on your back. There, maybe I’ve actually saved a life today!)

Stiff and Spook were Mary Roach’s first two books, and they’ve been on my shelf for years now. I don’t deviate from the fiction world very often, but I think these two books are a good reason to veer off a bit.

I leave you with a quote from Stiff: “Death. It doesn’t have to be boring.”

 

 

The Monday agenda

Posted in The Monday Check-In by

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.

You might think an agenda has no business showing up on Labor Day. What can I say? A reader’s work is never done! It’s time to take stock and plan for the upcoming week.

From last week:

Every Day by David Levithan: Read as fast and furiously as I possibly could. See my review here. The short version? I loved it. Add this one to the list of YA fiction that everyone should read.

Going Bovine by Libba Bray: Finally finished, after several stops and starts. My review is here, but the bottom line is that, despite several laugh-out-loud moments and some truly snazzy writing, I just didn’t enjoy this one nearly as much as I’d hoped.

In graphic novels, I ended up diving into the Jack of Fables series by Bill Willingham (a spin-off from the incredibly wonderful Fables series). I’m on #4 of 9, and so far, I’d say… amusing, but not essential.

My son forced me to read the comic/graphic novel he gobbled up, Giants Beware! by Jorge Aguirre. Quite funny and spirited — definitely a good choice if you’ve got middle-grade readers to entertain.

Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon (group re-read): Need I keep saying it? Terrific book, terrific chapter discussions!

And this week’s new agenda:

I’ve simply got to make some headway with my stack of library books. Next up should be Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker, which I’ve really been looking forward to.

After that:

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

Frozen by Mary Casanova

Plus, I’ll plow on through and finish up the Jack volumes. Must see what that scamp gets up to next!

Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon (group re-read): Chapters 44 and 45 on deck for this week.

So many book, so little time…

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

Wishlist Wednesday

Posted in Wishlist Wednesday by

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:

Moloka’i by Alan Brennert
(published 2004)

From Amazon:

This richly imagined novel, set in Hawai’i more than a century ago, is an extraordinary epic of a little-known time and place—and a deeply moving testament to the resiliency of the human spirit.
Rachel Kalama, a spirited seven-year-old Hawaiian girl, dreams of visiting far-off lands like her father, a merchant seaman. Then one day a rose-colored mark appears on her skin, and those dreams are stolen from her. Taken from her home and family, Rachel is sent to Kalaupapa, the quarantined leprosy settlement on the island of Moloka’i. Here her life is supposed to end—but instead she discovers it is only just beginning.
With a vibrant cast of vividly realized characters, Moloka’i is the true-to-life chronicle of a people who embraced life in the face of death. Such is the warmth, humor, and compassion of this novel that “few readers will remain unchanged by Rachel’s story” (mostlyfiction.com).

Why do I want to read this?

Moloka’i has actually been on my to-read list for some time now. I’ve always been fascinated by Hawaiian history, and really enjoy good historical fiction set in Hawaii. The story of the leper colony on the island of Moloka’i is quite moving — and sadly, is quite true.  Alan Brennert has published Honolulu more recently, another piece of historical fiction set in Hawaii in the early 20th century. If I enjoy Moloka’i as much as I anticipate, I’m sure I’ll want to read Honolulu too.

The Monday agenda

Posted in The Monday Check-In by

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.

Continuing with the Monday agenda concept started a few weeks ago, it’s time to see how well last week’s reading agenda worked out and sketch out the plan for the coming week.

From last week:

Going Bovine by Libba Bray: As of early last week, I’d gotten about 2/3 of the way through this bizarre, funny book about a boy with mad cow disease. And then I hit a wall. It’s not that the book stopped being interesting or engaging in any way; I just reached a point where I felt like moving on. Going Bovine is still in my huge messenger bag that I carry everywhere with me, and I haven’t officially given up or anything. It’s just become a “not right now” kind of situtation.

Gold by Chris Cleave. Finished last night a few breath’s shy of midnight (hence the dark circles under my eyes and the failure to watch the True Blood season finale). The review should be along shortly. The fact that I went from half-heartedly picking up the book on Friday to staying up reading way too late on a work-night should tell you something about how I felt about this book.

In graphic novels, I ended up going with the Locke & Key series by Joe Hill. My library had volumes 1 – 4 available, and I gobbled them up. Dark, creepy, compulsively readable, Locke & Key has me hooked. Here’s hoping the wizards at the public library decide to order volume 5 pronto.

Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon (group re-read): Two challenging, thought-provoking chapters. We’re really getting to the good stuff!

And this week’s new agenda:

Every Day by David Levithan: I’ve had this one on pre-order for a while, and it should arrive tomorrow. This was my Wishlist Wednesday book a couple of weeks ago; you can see why I want to read this one here.

Beyond that, for once I can’t say that I have absolute plans. I’ll try to get back into Going Bovine — would love to cross this one off my pending list already. Maybe a young adult novel from my to-read shelf: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer or Small Damages, perhaps. I have review copies of a few upcoming titles as well, so I should really start digging into some of those. (Thank you, Netgalley!)

In graphic novels, I have the Jack of Fables series ready to go, but seeing how I tend to start a series and then not come up for air until I’m done, I’d better try to get some other reading done first.

Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon (group re-read): Chapters 42 and 43 on deck for this week. Like I said, the good stuff! And by the way, if you’re a fan and want to jump into the conversation, please do! Let me know if you need directions to the online group — I’d be glad to point the way.

So many book, so little time…

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