Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Top Ten Tuesday: Best Books Of 2015 (So Far)


Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s topic is top ten books I’ve read so far this year. Numbers 1, 2, and 3 are actually rereads, but I’m counting them.

Best of 2015 (So Far)




10. Vicious – V.E. Schwab


A masterful, twisted tale of ambition, jealousy, betrayal, and superpowers, set in a near-future world. 
Victor and Eli started out as college roommates—brilliant, arrogant, lonely boys who recognized the same sharpness and ambition in each other. In their senior year, a shared research interest in adrenaline, near-death experiences, and seemingly supernatural events reveals an intriguing possibility: that under the right conditions, someone could develop extraordinary abilities. But when their thesis moves from the academic to the experimental, things go horribly wrong. Ten years later, Victor breaks out of prison, determined to catch up to his old friend (now foe), aided by a young girl whose reserved nature obscures a stunning ability. Meanwhile, Eli is on a mission to eradicate every other super-powered person that he can find—aside from his sidekick, an enigmatic woman with an unbreakable will. Armed with terrible power on both sides, driven by the memory of betrayal and loss, the archnemeses have set a course for revenge—but who will be left alive at the end? 
In Vicious, V. E. Schwab brings to life a gritty comic-book-style world in vivid prose: a world where gaining superpowers doesn’t automatically lead to heroism, and a time when allegiances are called into question.


9. A Darker Shade Of Magic – V.E. Schwab


Kell is one of the last Travelers—rare magicians who choose a parallel universe to visit.  
Grey London is dirty, boring, lacks magic, ruled by mad King George. Red London is where life and magic are revered, and the Maresh Dynasty presides over a flourishing empire. White London is ruled by whoever has murdered their way to the throne. People fight to control magic, and the magic fights back, draining the city to its very bones. Once there was Black London—but no one speaks of that now. 
Officially, Kell is the Red Traveler, personal ambassador and adopted Prince of Red London, carrying the monthly correspondences between royals of each London. Unofficially, Kell smuggles for those willing to pay for even a glimpse of a world they’ll never see. This dangerous hobby sets him up for accidental treason. Fleeing into Grey London, Kell runs afoul of Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She robs him, saves him from a dangerous enemy, then forces him to another world for her 'proper adventure.' 
But perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, Kell and Lila will first need to stay alive—trickier than they hoped.


8. The Narrow Road To The Deep North – Richard Flanagan


Richard Flanagan's story of Dorrigo Evans, an Australian doctor haunted by a love affair with his uncle's wife, journeys from the caves of Tasmanian trappers in the early twentieth century to a crumbling pre-war beachside hotel, from a Thai jungle prison to a Japanese snow festival, from the Changi gallows to a chance meeting of lovers on the Sydney Harbour Bridge.  
Taking its title from 17th-century haiku poet Basho's travel journal, The Narrow Road To The Deep North is about the impossibility of love. At its heart is one day in a Japanese slave labour camp in August 1943. As the day builds to its horrific climax, Dorrigo Evans battles and fails in his quest to save the lives of his fellow POWs, a man is killed for no reason, and a love story unfolds.


7. St. Lucy’s Home For Girls Raised By Wolves – Karen Russell


In these ten glittering stories, debut author Karen Russell takes us to the ghostly and magical swamps of the Florida Everglades. Here wolf-like girls are reformed by nuns, a family makes their living wrestling alligators in a theme park, and little girls sail away on crab shells. Filled with stunning inventiveness and heart, St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves introduces a radiant new writer.


6. Not A Drop To Drink – Mindy McGinnis


Lynn knows every threat to her pond: drought, a snowless winter, coyotes, and, most importantly, people looking for a drink. She makes sure anyone who comes near the pond leaves thirsty, or doesn't leave at all. 
Confident in her own abilities, Lynn has no use for the world beyond the nearby fields and forest. Having a life means dedicating it to survival and the constant work of gathering wood and water. Having a pond requires the fortitude to protect it, something Mother taught her well during their quiet hours on the rooftop, rifles in hand. 
But wisps of smoke on the horizon mean one thing: strangers. The mysterious footprints by the pond, nighttime threats, and gunshots make it all too clear Lynn has exactly what they want, and they won’t stop until they get it . . . . 
With evocative, spare language and incredible drama, danger, and romance, debut author Mindy McGinnis depicts one girl’s journey in a barren world not so different than our own.


5. Wizard And Glass – Stephen King


Roland and his band of followers have narrowly escaped one world and slipped into the next. There Roland tells them a tale of long-ago love and adventure involving a beautiful and quixotic woman named Susan Delgado. And there they will be drawn into an ancient mystery of spellbinding magic and supreme menace.


4. Fangirl – Rainbow Rowell

A coming-of-age tale of fanfiction, family and first love. 
Cath is a Simon Snow fan. 
Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan... 
But for Cath, being a fan is her life—and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving. 
Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere. 
Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to. 
Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words... And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone. 
For Cath, the question is: Can she do this? 
Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories? 
And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?


3, 2, 1. The MaddAddam Trilogy – Margaret Atwood



These novels, set in a post-apocalyptic future, follow a group of people attempting to survive in a dangerous world. Over the course of the trilogy, the characters’ involvement with the disease that destroyed everything is slowly revealed.  

Monday, June 29, 2015

Review: The Dark Tower – Stephen King


The Dark Tower – Stephen King


The seventh and final installment of Stephen King's Dark Tower saga is perhaps the most anticipated book in the author's long career. King began this epic tale about the last gunslinger more than 20 years ago; now he draws its suspenseful story to a close, snapping together the last pieces of his action puzzle and drawing Roland Deschain ever closer to his ultimate goal.

This is a review of book #7 in the Dark Tower series. The review is spoiler-free, but you might want to check out my thoughts on book #1 (The Gunslinger), book #2 (The Drawing of the Three), book #3 (The Waste Lands), book #4 (Wizard and Glass), book #5 (Wolves of the Calla), and book #6 (Song of Susannah).  
 

Review: My first thought when I finished this book: So many people are going to hate that ending.

In the final book of the Dark Tower series, Roland finally reaches the Tower, but you’ll never guess what happens next.

I love this book so much that I don’t know where to start. I’ve read enough Stephen King novels to know that they usually end with a bloodbath. I expected that the majority of the characters would never see the Tower that they worked so hard to reach. Since I was anticipating death around every corner, I had this weird sense of dread the whole time I was reading. I like these characters, and I didn’t want them to die. But, as expected, the deaths start piling up. Most of the characters don’t make it to the end. It is a Stephen King book, after all.

The aftermath of each death is handled brilliantly. Instead of rushing forward with nonstop action, King takes the time to show the reader how much the deaths impact the remaining characters. This ties in nicely with the themes of the series and allows the reader to fully understand just how much Roland is sacrificing to reach his Tower.

I guess I have to talk about the ending a bit (in a non-spoiler way). It’s anticlimactic. I can totally see why so many readers hate it. The villains aren’t as scary as they first appear. The battles are short. The deaths aren’t too dramatic. However, the ending makes complete sense to me. Roland has sacrificed everything to reach this Tower. At some point, he (and the reader) has to wonder if it is really worth it. Is it everything he expected it to be? Is anything worth the deaths of the people you love?

Even though I like this book, there are a few things about it that bother me. First, I think the pacing is off in many places. It gets so unbelievably slow at times. There is a huge section where the characters do nothing but sit in a cave and listen to a tape of a minor character’s life story. It’s not an interesting story, and I was tempted to skim over it. There are also dead-ends that don’t seem to go anywhere or have any impact on the overall plot.

Like the previous book, this one is a little too meta for me. Stephen King is a character (or, more accurately, four characters) in his own novel. I did get used to it after a while, but it still pulled me out of the story. Also, he relies a lot on deus ex machina, and he points out when he uses deus ex machina, so the reader is very aware that he’s doing it. I didn’t mind at first, but it gets old quickly.

This book does have a few annoying quirks, but it’s still a nearly perfect ending to the series. I’m so happy that I finally got around to reading it.  

Sunday, June 28, 2015

The Sunday Post #10


The Sunday Post is hosted by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to recap the past week, talk about next week, and share news.



This was my Facebook and Twitter feeds on Friday after the US Supreme Court Ruling on same-sex marriage. I’m so happy for all of my gay friends.



On The Blog Last Week





On The Blog This Week

  • On Monday I review The Dark Tower by Stephen King.
  • On Tuesday I list my favorite books of 2015 (so far).
  • On Wednesday I review Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.
  • On Friday I talk about the first book I ever remember reading.
  • On Saturday I show you Part 1 of The Book Haul To End All Book Hauls.



In My Reading Life

Last week, I finished The Dark Tower (all 845 amazing pages of it). Then I read Ready Player One by Ernest Cline and Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz. Next, I’m reading The Wind through the Keyhole by Stephen King. That will be the last Dark Tower book I have to read! I’ll be done with the series, and it will be the longest series I’ve ever completed. I should bake myself a celebration cake.

Also, The Book Haul To End All Book Hauls has slowly been arriving on my doorstep over the past few days. This is a lot of books, people. They’re stacked all over my floor because I don’t know where to put them. I have enough reading material to last me for the rest of the year. And, I feel so bad for my poor mailman. Those boxes are heavy.


That’s it. I hope to “see” you back here soon.


Friday, June 26, 2015

FF Friday: In Which Books Are Forced Upon Me


Feature & Follow is a weekly blog hop hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read.

This week’s question: Is there a book that you were required to read in school that you actually loved?

Answer: Nothing ruins a book faster than being forced to read it (and then write about it). Luckily, now that I’m in graduate school, I get to choose the majority of my reading list. I usually like the books that I pick for myself, so writing about them is tolerable.

While I was getting my bachelor’s degree in English literature, I wasn’t so lucky. Most of the books that I had to read were torturous. However, there were two that I really loved:




The Things They Carried – Tim O’Brien

They carried malaria tablets, love letters, 28-pound mine detectors, dope, illustrated bibles, each other. And if they made it home alive, they carried unrelenting images of a nightmarish war that history is only beginning to absorb. Since its first publication, The Things They Carried has become an unparalleled Vietnam testament, a classic work of American literature, and a profound study of men at war that illuminates the capacity, and the limits, of the human heart and soul.



Interpreter Of Maladies – Jhumpa Lahiri

Jhumpa Lahiri's stories show the lives of Indians in exile, of people navigating between the strict traditions they've inherited and the baffling New World they must encounter every day.  




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The follow part: If you are a book blogger and you leave a link to your blog in the comments below, I will follow you on Bloglovin’. I’d love it if you also followed me. If you want to be friends on Goodreads, TwitterBookLikes, or G+, that would be awesome, too. Click the links to go to my pages on those sites. I’m looking forward to “meeting” you.

Thursday, June 25, 2015

Discussion: What Makes You Read A Book Review?

Break out the wine and pretentious snacks. Let’s discuss literature.


Every morning, I wake up, grab breakfast, and log on to Bloglovin’. I use that site to keep track of the 500+ (that’s not an exaggeration) blogs that I follow. The overwhelming majority of those blogs post book reviews. Some post reviews occasionally, and some post several reviews a day. I love reading reviews, but there’s no possible way that I can get through that many. I end up scrolling past hundreds of them every morning.

So, what makes me stop scrolling and click on one? Here are 10 things that get my attention.


1. A picture of the book cover: My Bloglovin’ feed displays a post title, a picture, and the first few sentences of the post. If the picture is of the book cover, I’m more likely to click on the review. I love books, so covers tend to get my attention immediately.


2. The word “Review” in the post title: I want to know that I’m clicking on a review and not a book haul, tag, synopsis, or something else.


3. A book that I’ve already read: I like to read reviews of books I’ve already read. I’m interested in knowing what other people think about the book.


4. A book that everybody is talking about: If I see multiple posts about a book from different bloggers, I’ll probably get curious enough to click on a few of the reviews.


5. A book with an epic cover: I judge books by their covers all the time. Seeing a cool cover will make me click on a review.


6. A blogger I trust: I’ve discovered a few bloggers who have very similar reading tastes to me. I tend to read their reviews because I’ll probably agree with them.


7. An author I like: I’m always interested in reading reviews of books written by my favorite authors, whether I’ve read the book or not.


8. An ARC review: I want to know about the books that are coming out soon. Seeing “ARC Review” in the title of a post will grab my attention.


9. A book that I’m mildly curious about: Maybe I’ve seen the book on Goodreads a few times, but I don’t know much about it. I’ll read reviews to see if it’s something that interests me.


10. A book that I want to read: If I know that I want to read a book, I’ll skim reviews of it. I don’t look too closely at the review because I’m afraid of spoilers, but I do want to know what the reviewer thought of the book.


What about you? What makes you read a book review?    











I’m linking back to Feed Your Fiction Addiction and It Starts At Midnight. They host the 2015 Discussion Challenge.     

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Top Ten Tuesdays


Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s topic is top ten Top Ten Tuesdays. Here are the ones that I had the most fun writing.


Favorite Top Ten Tuesdays


10. The One You’re Reading Right Now: I loved looking back at my old Top Ten Tuesdays. I’d forgotten about some of those.


9. Top Ten Favorite Books from the Past 3 Years: This one gave me a good excuse to spend a ton of time scrolling through Goodreads. I also got to see how terrible I was at writing book reviews when I first started.


8. Top Ten Margaret Atwood Books: This was one of those fill-in-the-blank topics. You guys know about my love for Margaret Atwood. I've only mentioned her in every single post I’ve ever put on this blog.


7. Top Ten Characters I’d like to Check In With: I was so happy when I saw this topic. I’m not the only one who wonders what characters are up to after their books are over.


6. Top Ten Genres I’m Unlikely to Read: I didn’t really enjoy writing this one, but you guys seemed to enjoy reading it. It got a bazillion pageviews. (Bazillion is an actual number, right? I was never very good at math.)


5. Top Ten Favorite Very, Very Dead Authors: This was a topic that I picked myself. I chose it because I had a hard time deciding on my top ten favorite authors of all time. I had to separate them into favorite living authors and favorite dead ones.


4. Top Ten Favorite (Living) Authors: I think this was supposed to be top ten favorite authors of all time. That’s way too hard, so I just listed my favorite not-dead authors.


3. Top Ten Memorable Characters: I loved going through my shelves and trying to remember something about the characters in each book.


2. Top Ten Bookish Problems: This was just funny. I laughed at everyone else’s lists.


1. Top Ten Romance Likes and Dislikes: I had fun writing this list because I have a lot of bookish romance likes and dislikes. I also spent way too much time looking for memes to stick in the post. 

Monday, June 22, 2015

Review: Smoke – Ellen Hopkins


Smoke – Ellen Hopkins


Pattyn Von Stratten’s father is dead, and Pattyn is on the run. After far too many years of abuse at the hands of her father, and after the tragic loss of her beloved Ethan and their unborn child, Pattyn is desperate for peace. Only her sister Jackie knows what happened that night, but she is stuck at home with their mother, who clings to normalcy by allowing the truth to be covered up by their domineering community leaders. Her father might be finally gone, but without Pattyn, Jackie is desperately isolated. Alone and in disguise, Pattyn starts a new life, but is it even possible to rebuild a life when everything you’ve known has burned to ash and lies seem far safer than the truth?

Review: Every time I review an Ellen Hopkins book, I start the review with “Ellen Hopkins is brilliant.” This review is no exception. Ellen Hopkins is still a brilliant poet, and this book is wonderful.

Smoke is a novel-in-verse and the sequel to Burned. It continues the story of two sisters, Pattyn and Jackie Von Stratten. Pattyn is on the run from the police, and Jackie is left to clean up the wreckage that Pattyn left behind.

Smoke picks up right where Burned left off. The action starts immediately and doesn’t really slow down. This is a super-fast read. Even though it’s over 500 pages, I easily finished it in a day. The poems are beautifully written, and there is a large enough verity of them that they don’t feel repetitive. I was completely engrossed in the story, and I am so happy that it has a hopeful ending. The ending of Burned is very depressing. I’m glad that some of the characters’ issues are resolved in the sequel.

Just like with Burned, Ellen Hopkins does an amazing job of showing the results of religious abuse. It’s a topic that isn’t discussed often. I think that most authors wouldn’t be brave enough to approach it. I know that Burned and Smoke are both criticized for being anti-Mormon, but I don’t see them that way. I see them as anti-religious abuse and anti-religious extremism. Abuse can happen within any religion, and these books are a great way to get people talking about the issue.

My only criticism of Smoke is the lack of character development. Pattyn and Jackie’s boyfriends are both too perfect for my tastes. I would have liked them to be more realistically flawed. I also think the mother could have used more development. Some of her behaviors and decisions are difficult to understand without knowing her better.

Despite the lack of character development, I love this book. I think I love all of Ellen Hopkins’s books. If you haven’t read one, you really should.    

Sunday, June 21, 2015

The Sunday Post #9


The Sunday Post is hosted by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to recap the past week, talk about next week, and share news.


Happy Father's Day!

True story . . . 



On The Blog Last Week




On The Blog This Week

  • On Monday I review Smoke by Ellen Hopkins.
  • On Tuesday I list my favorite Top Ten Tuesdays.
  • On Thursday I discuss what makes me read a book review.
  • On Friday I talk about the best books that schools have forced me to read.



In My Reading Life

Last week, I read Smoke by Ellen Hopkins and started The Dark Tower by Stephen King. The Dark Tower is taking me a while to get through. My copy is almost 900 pages, and reading it is like trying to hold a cinderblock. I’m about 600 pages into it right now. After that, I (finally!) get to read Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. That book has been sitting on my shelf since March.

I also ordered a lot of books. None of them have arrived yet, but get ready for massive book hauls. I think I have enough books to get me through the end of the year.


In My Blogging Life

The blog hit 200 Bloglovin’ followers, 100 G+ followers, and 150 Twitter followers last week. Thank you so much for the support.

Friday, June 19, 2015

FF Friday: In Which I Get A (Hypothetical) Tattoo


Feature & Follow is a weekly blog hop hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read.

This week’s question: If you were to get a tattoo, what would it say or what would the graphic be?

Answer: I like the idea of having a tattoo, but I don’t have one because I don’t know what to get. If something is going to be stuck on my body for the rest of my life, I want it to be meaningful. So far, there’s nothing in my life that I care about so much that I want it tattooed on me.



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The follow part: If you are a book blogger and you leave a link to your blog in the comments below, I will follow you on Bloglovin’. I’d love it if you also followed me. If you want to be friends on Goodreads, TwitterBookLikes, or G+, that would be awesome, too. Click the links to go to my pages on those sites. I’m looking forward to “meeting” you.

Thursday, June 18, 2015

2015 Book Haul #5


Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews. I get to show off all the books I’ve gotten recently.

I had a few credits for the used bookstore, so I thought I’d spend them. Here’s my tiny haul of used books.



Severance: Stories – Robert Olen Butler


The human head is believed to remain in a state of consciousness for one and one-half minutes after decapitation. In a heightened state of emotion, people speak at the rate of 160 words per minute. Inspired by the intersection of these two seemingly unrelated concepts, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Robert Olen Butler wrote sixty-two stories, each exactly 240 words in length, capturing the flow of thoughts and feelings that go through a person's mind after their head has been severed. The characters are both real and imagined: Medusa (beheaded by Perseus, 2000 BC), Anne Boleyn (beheaded at the behest of Henry VIII, 1536), a chicken (beheaded for Sunday dinner, Alabama, 1958), and the author (decapitated, on the job, 2008). Told with the intensity of a poet and the wit of a great storyteller, these final thoughts illuminate and crystallize more about the characters' own lives and the worlds they inhabit than many writers manage to convey in full-length biographies or novels. The stories, which have appeared in literary magazines across the country, are a delightful and intriguing creative feat from one of today's most inventive writers.


Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail – Cheryl Strayed


At twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother’s death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life. With no experience or training, driven only by blind will, she would hike more than a thousand miles of the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State—and she would do it alone.  
Told with suspense and style, sparkling with warmth and humor, Wild powerfully captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddened, strengthened, and ultimately healed her.



Brass Ankle Blues: A Novel – Rachel Harper


As a young woman of mixed race, Nellie Kincaid is about to encounter the strange, unsettling summer of her fifteenth year. Reeling from the recent separation of her parents, Nellie finds herself traveling to the family's lake house with only her father and her estranged cousin, leaving behind the life and the mother she is trying to forget.

As the summer progresses, Nellie will have to define herself, navigating the twists and turns of first love. At the same time, her family is becoming more and more divided by the day. Does her newfound identity require her to distance herself from those she loves, or will it draw her closer?

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Review: The Narrow Road to the Deep North – Richard Flanagan


The Narrow Road to the Deep North – Richard Flanagan


Richard Flanagan's story of Dorrigo Evans, an Australian doctor haunted by a love affair with his uncle's wife, journeys from the caves of Tasmanian trappers in the early twentieth century to a crumbling pre-war beachside hotel, from a Thai jungle prison to a Japanese snow festival, from the Changi gallows to a chance meeting of lovers on the Sydney Harbour Bridge. 
Taking its title from 17th-century haiku poet Basho's travel journal, The Narrow Road To The Deep North is about the impossibility of love. At its heart is one day in a Japanese slave labour camp in August 1943. As the day builds to its horrific climax, Dorrigo Evans battles and fails in his quest to save the lives of his fellow POWs, a man is killed for no reason, and a love story unfolds.

Review: I don’t have words for this book. Seriously, the English language does not have words to describe how I felt while I was reading The Narrow Road to the Deep North. It has taken me days to write this review because I just don’t know what to say. I guess the rambling that follows is the book reviewer’s equivalent of being speechless.

The Narrow Road to the Deep North tells the story of a Japanese POW camp during World War II. It mostly focuses on an Australian doctor, Dorrigo Evans, but occasionally shifts perspective to tell the stories of the camp guards, the prisoners, or the people they left behind when they went to war.

I love this book, and I hate this book. The whole time I was reading, I felt this weird mixture of horror, sadness, suspense, hope, awe, and boredom. Like I said, there isn’t a word for that. The writing is so strong and graphic that the scenes from the POW camp will probably stay in my brain for the rest of my life. However, I also felt like the writing was a little too flowery at times (especially during the Amy/Dorrigo affair), and I just wanted the author to get to the point and move on. I had to read more than half of the book before I became truly interested in the story, but once it hooked me, I couldn’t put it down.

Other than the writing, the best part of this novel is its multiple points-of-view. The reader gets to see the POW camp from every angle. There are no heroes or villains. The characters are all flawed and doing their best to survive. The story doesn’t stop when the war ends, so we get to see how the characters cope with their POW experiences. Some of them self-destruct while others are able to find hope and positivity in the experience.

This is a horrible, brilliant, confusing novel. Any book that can cause this many mood swings totally deserves the Booker Prize.

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Top Ten Tuesday: Books On My Summer TBR


Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s topic is top ten books on my summer TBR. So, here’s what I plan to read in the next few months.

My Summer TBR




1. Mistborn: The Final Empire (Mistborn #1) – Brandon Sanderson
2. The Well of Ascension (Mistborn #2) – Brandon Sanderson
3. The Hero of Ages (Mistborn #3) – Brandon Sanderson

Mistborn is an epic fantasy trilogy and a heist story of political intrigue, surprises and magical martial-arts action. The saga dares to turn a genre on its head by asking a simple question: What if the hero of prophecy fails? What kind of world results when the Dark Lord is in charge?


4. Aristotle And Dante Discover The Secrets Of The Universe – Benjamin Alire Sáenz

A lyrical novel about family and friendship from critically acclaimed author Benjamin Alire Sáenz.   
Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they discover that they share a special friendship—the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. And it is through this friendship that Ari and Dante will learn the most important truths about themselves and the kind of people they want to be.


5. Ready Player One – Ernest Cline

It's the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place.  
Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets.  
And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortune—and remarkable power—to whoever can unlock them.  
For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that Halliday's riddles are based in the pop culture he loved—that of the late twentieth century. And for years, millions have found in this quest another means of escape, retreating into happy, obsessive study of Halliday's icons. Like many of his contemporaries, Wade is as comfortable debating the finer points of John Hughes's oeuvre, playing Pac-Man, or reciting Devo lyrics as he is scrounging power to run his OASIS rig.  
And then Wade stumbles upon the first puzzle. 
Suddenly the whole world is watching, and thousands of competitors join the hunt—among them certain powerful players who are willing to commit very real murder to beat Wade to this prize. Now the only way for Wade to survive and preserve everything he knows is to win. But to do so, he may have to leave behind his oh-so-perfect virtual existence and face up to life—and love—in the real world he's always been so desperate to escape. 
A world at stake. A quest for the ultimate prize. Are you ready?


6. Stone Mattress: Nine Tales – Margaret Atwood


Margaret Atwood turns to short fiction for the first time since her 2006 collection, Moral Disorder, with nine tales of acute psychological insight and turbulent relationships bringing to mind her award-winning 1996 novel, Alias Grace. A recently widowed fantasy writer is guided through a stormy winter evening by the voice of her late husband in "Alphinland," the first of three loosely linked stories about the romantic geometries of a group of writers and artists. In "The Freeze-Dried Bridegroom," a man who bids on an auctioned storage space has a surprise. In "Lusus Naturae," a woman born with a genetic abnormality is mistaken for a vampire. In "Torching the Dusties," an elderly lady with Charles Bonnet syndrome comes to terms with the little people she keeps seeing, while a newly formed populist group gathers to burn down her retirement residence. And in "Stone Mattress," a long-ago crime is avenged in the Arctic via a 1.9 billion-year-old stromatolite. In these nine tales, Margaret Atwood is at the top of her darkly humorous and seriously playful game.


7. The Wind Through the Keyhole – Stephen King

In The Wind Through the Keyhole, Stephen King returns to the rich landscape of Mid-World, the spectacular territory of the Dark Tower fantasy saga that stands as his most beguiling achievement. Roland Deschain and his "ka-tet"—Jake, Susannah, Eddie, and Oy, the billy-bumbler—encounter a ferocious storm just after crossing the River Whye on their way to the Outer Baronies. As they shelter from the howling gale, Roland tells his friends not just one strange story but two . . . and in so doing, casts new light on his own troubled past.


8. Notable American Women – Ben Marcus

On a farm in Ohio, American women led by Jane Dark practice all means of behavior modification in an attempt to attain complete stillness and silence. Witnessing (and subjected to) their cultish actions is one Ben Marcus, whose father, Michael Marcus, may be buried in the back yard, and whose mother, Jane Marcus, enthusiastically condones the use of her son for (generally unsuccessful) breeding purposes, among other things. Inventing his own uses for language, the author Ben Marcus has written a harrowing, hilarious, strangely moving, altogether engrossing work of fiction that will be read and argued over for years to come.



9. Severance: Stories – Robert Olen Butler

The human head is believed to remain in a state of consciousness for one and one-half minutes after decapitation. In a heightened state of emotion, people speak at the rate of 160 words per minute. Inspired by the intersection of these two seemingly unrelated concepts, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Robert Olen Butler wrote sixty-two stories, each exactly 240 words in length, capturing the flow of thoughts and feelings that go through a person's mind after their head has been severed. The characters are both real and imagined: Medusa (beheaded by Perseus, 2000 BC), Anne Boleyn (beheaded at the behest of Henry VIII, 1536), a chicken (beheaded for Sunday dinner, Alabama, 1958), and the author (decapitated, on the job, 2008). Told with the intensity of a poet and the wit of a great storyteller, these final thoughts illuminate and crystallize more about the characters' own lives and the worlds they inhabit than many writers manage to convey in full-length biographies or novels. The stories, which have appeared in literary magazines across the country, are a delightful and intriguing creative feat from one of today's most inventive writers.



10. Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail – Cheryl Strayed

At twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother’s death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life. With no experience or training, driven only by blind will, she would hike more than a thousand miles of the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State—and she would do it alone. 
Told with suspense and style, sparkling with warmth and humor, Wild powerfully captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddened, strengthened, and ultimately healed her.