Top Ten Tuesday: Books To Read This Spring

 

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Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday! This week, we’re talking about the top ten books I’m reading this spring. I think I picked a fun mixture of genres. Check out what I’m reading and then tell me which books you plan to read in the next few months.

 

 

🌈  Books I’m Reading This Spring  💧

 

 

 

 

CAIRO BY G. WILLOW WILSON & M.K. PERKER

 

Adult Urban Fantasy Graphic Novel

 

A stolen hookah, a spiritual underworld, and a genie on the run change the lives of five strangers forever in this modern fable set on the streets of the Middle East's largest metropolis.

Cairo interweaves the fates of a drug runner, a down-on-his-luck journalist, an American expatriate, a troubled young student, and an Israeli soldier as they race through bustling present-day Cairo to find an artifact of unimaginable power, one protected by a dignified jinn and sought by a wrathful gangster-magician. But the vastness of Africa's legendary City of Victory extends into a spiritual realm—the Undernile—and even darker powers lurk there

 

Why I’m excited to read it: I always need more graphic novels in my life. They’re fun, nice to look at, and quick to read on a busy spring day. This book was recommended by a friend. I was looking for a graphic novel that has depth but would still let me escape from the real world. We’ll see if this one gives me what I’m looking for.

 

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INSIGNIFICANT EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF A CACTUS BY DUSTI BOWLING

 

Contemporary Middlegrade Fiction

 

Aven Green loves to tell people that she lost her arms in an alligator wrestling match, or a wildfire in Tanzania, but the truth is she was born without them. And when her parents take a job running Stagecoach Pass, a rundown western theme park in Arizona, Aven moves with them across the country knowing that she’ll have to answer the question over and over again.

Her new life takes an unexpected turn when she bonds with Connor, a classmate who also feels isolated because of his own disability, and they discover a room at Stagecoach Pass that holds bigger secrets than Aven ever could have imagined. It’s hard to solve a mystery, help a friend, and face your worst fears. But Aven’s about to discover she can do it all . . . even without arms.

 

Why I’m excited to read it: My book friends love this novel. I’ve lost track of how many times it’s been recommended to me. It’s supposed to be a sweet story with spunky, realistic child characters. Also, it’s set in Arizona. I love deserts! If I could handle the heat without turning into a raving psycho bitch, I’d move to Arizona. Arizona is nice in spring, so now is a perfect time for a desert book.

 

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CLOVER BLUE BY ELDONNA EDWARDS

 

Adult Historical Fiction

 

There are many things twelve-year-old Clover Blue isn't sure of: his exact date of birth, his name before he was adopted into the Saffron Freedom Community, or who his first parents were. What he does know with certainty is that among this close-knit, nature-loving group, he is happy. Here, everyone is family, regardless of their disparate backgrounds—surfer, midwife, Grateful Dead groupie, Vietnam deserter. But despite his loyalty to the commune and its guru-like founder Goji, Blue grapples with invisible ties toward another family—the one he doesn't remember.

With the urging of his fearless and funny best friend, Harmony, Clover Blue begins to ask questions. For the first time, Goji's answers fail to satisfy. The passing months bring upheaval to their little clan and another member arrives, a beautiful runaway teen named Rain, sparking new tensions. As secrets slowly unfurl, Blue's beliefs—about Goji, the guidelines that govern their seemingly idyllic lives, and the nature of family itself—begin to shift. With each revelation about a heartbreaking past he never imagined, Blue faces a choice between those he's always trusted, and an uncertain future where he must risk everything in his quest for the truth.

 

Why I’m excited to read it: The main character's name is Clover Blue. That's a very spring-time name. The book set in a commune in the 1970s. Of course I need to read it! By the end of my life, I’ll probably have read every commune book ever written. I’m not sure how/why I keep attracting commune books to me, but this one is a welcome addition to my collection.

 

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NOT SO PURE AND SIMPLE BY LAMAR GILES

 

Young Adult Contemporary Fiction

 

Del has had a crush on Kiera Westing since kindergarten. And now, during their junior year, she’s finally available. So when Kiera volunteers for an opportunity at their church, Del’s right behind her. Though he quickly realizes he’s inadvertently signed up for a Purity Pledge.

His dad thinks his wires are crossed, and his best friend, Qwan, doesn’t believe any girl is worth the long game. But Del’s not about to lose his dream girl, and that’s where fellow pledger Jameer comes in. He can put in the good word. In exchange, Del just has to get answers to the Pledgers’ questions . . . about sex ed.

With other boys circling Kiera like sharks, Del needs to make his move fast. But as he plots and plans, he neglects to ask the most important question: What does Kiera want? He can’t think about that too much, though, because once he gets the girl, it’ll all sort itself out. Right?

 

Why I’m excited to read it: A million years ago, when I was in graduate school, I met Lamar Giles and read his book, Fake ID. He seems like a smart, nice person. Fake ID is a thriller, so it didn’t blow my mind or anything, but I enjoyed it enough to keep an eye on the author’s career. I like contemporary fiction more than thrillers, so I was thrilled (haha, see what I did there?) when this book was announced. It sounds like it will use humor to tackle difficult questions.

 

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EVERYTHING IS TEETH BY EVIE WYLD

 

Adult Memoir / Graphic Novel

 

Evie Wyld was a girl obsessed with sharks. Spending summers in the brutal heat of coastal New South Wales, she fell for the creatures. Their teeth, their skin, their eyes; their hunters and their victims.

Everything is Teeth is a delicate and intimate collection of the memories she brought home to England, a book about family, love and the irresistible forces that pass through life unseen, under the surface, ready to emerge at any point.

Why I’m excited to read it: I know this book is set in summer, but spring is a good time to read about nature. The animals are waking up and becoming more active. I loved Evie Wyld’s novel, All The Birds, Singing. She’s excellent at writing description and crafting books with unique narrative structures. If you like literary fiction, nature writing, or Australian stuff, you have to read All The Birds, Singing. I’m curious to see what she can do with a graphic novel. (Graphic memoir? Graphic nonfiction? Illustrated memoir? I’m not exactly sure what this genre is called, and all the options sound incorrect or naughty.) I looked through the book when it came in the mail, and I really like the art style. It’s a mix of cartoonish humans and ultra-realistic sharks. Definitely unusual.

 

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THE THING WITH FEATHERS BY MCCALL HOYLE

 

Young Adult Contemporary Fiction

 

Emilie Day believes in playing it safe: she’s homeschooled, her best friend is her seizure dog, and she’s probably the only girl on the Outer Banks of North Carolina who can’t swim.

Then Emilie’s mom enrolls her in public school, and Emilie goes from studying at home in her pj’s to halls full of strangers. To make matters worse, Emilie is paired with starting point guard Chatham York for a major research project on Emily Dickinson. She should be ecstatic when Chatham shows interest, but she has a problem. She hasn’t told anyone about her epilepsy.

Emilie lives in fear her recently adjusted meds will fail and she’ll seize at school. Eventually, the worst happens, and she must decide whether to withdraw to safety or follow a dead poet’s advice and “dwell in possibility.”

 

Why I'm excited to read it: I haven’t read much YA contemporary in the last few years. I decided to change that by going on the hunt for under-hyped YA books. This book doesn’t have a ton of reviews, but the ones I’ve seen are very positive.

 

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HOMEGOING BY YAA GYASI

 

Adult Historical Fiction

 

Two half-sisters, Effia and Esi, are born into different villages in eighteenth-century Ghana. Effia is married off to an Englishman and lives in comfort in the palatial rooms of Cape Coast Castle. Unbeknownst to Effia, her sister, Esi, is imprisoned beneath her in the castle's dungeons, sold with thousands of others into the Gold Coast's booming slave trade, and shipped off to America, where her children and grandchildren will be raised in slavery. One thread of Homegoing follows Effia's descendants through centuries of warfare in Ghana, as the Fante and Asante nations wrestle with the slave trade and British colonization. The other thread follows Esi and her children into America. From the plantations of the South to the Civil War and the Great Migration, from the coal mines of Pratt City, Alabama, to the jazz clubs and dope houses of twentieth-century Harlem, right up through the present day, Homegoing makes history visceral, and captures, with singular and stunning immediacy, how the memory of captivity came to be inscribed in the soul of a nation.

 

Why I'm excited to read it: The cover looks so bright and sunny! I need that in my life after a very snowy winter. I love family sagas that follow generations of characters. Usually family sagas are fat books, so I was surprised at the scrawniness of Homegoing. How is the author going to pack this story into a tiny book? I’m interested to find out.

 

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MADE YOU UP BY FRANCESCA ZAPPIA

 

Young Adult Contemporary Fiction

 

Alex fights a daily battle to figure out the difference between reality and delusion. Armed with a take-no-prisoners attitude, her camera, a Magic 8-Ball, and her only ally (her little sister), Alex wages a war against her schizophrenia, determined to stay sane long enough to get into college. She’s pretty optimistic about her chances until classes begin, and she runs into Miles. Didn't she imagine him? Before she knows it, Alex is making friends, going to parties, falling in love, and experiencing all the usual rites of passage for teenagers. But Alex is used to being crazy. She’s not prepared for normal.

 

Why I’m excited to read it: April showers bring May flowers, right? I love the storm on the cover. The author’s other book, Eliza and Her Monsters, was one of my favorite books of 2019. Francesca Zappia is great at writing shy, introverted, relatable characters. I’m excited to see if this book lives up to the hype.

 

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THE GOOD PEOPLE BY HANNAH KENT

 

Adult Historical Fiction

County Kerry, Ireland, 1825.

Nóra Leahy has lost her daughter and her husband in the same year, and is now burdened with the care of her four-year-old grandson, Micheál. The boy cannot walk, or speak, and Nora, mistrustful of the tongues of gossips, has kept the child hidden from those who might see in his deformity evidence of otherworldly interference.

Unable to care for the child alone, Nóra hires a fourteen-year-old servant girl, Mary, who soon hears the whispers in the valley about the blasted creature causing grief to fall upon the widow's house.

Alone, hedged in by rumor, Mary and her mistress seek out the only person in the valley who might be able to help Micheál. For although her neighbors are wary of her, it is said that old Nance Roche has the knowledge. That she consorts with Them, the Good People. And that only she can return those whom they have taken.

 

Why I’m excited to read it: I don’t remember who it was, but one of the reviewers I follow on social media described this book as “fairies and murders.” I’m ready for that! Hannah Kent’s other book—Burial Rites—is one of my favorite historical novels. Her writing style is very . . . visceral. Lots of yucky stuff. Her descriptions really make you feel like you’re living alongside the characters. The cover of The Good People reminds me of spring at my house. The grass is green, but it's still stupidly cold outside!

 

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SAINTS AND MISFITS BY S.K. ALI

 

Young Adult Contemporary Fiction

 

How much can you tell about a person just by looking at them?

Janna Yusuf knows a lot of people can’t figure out what to make of her, an Arab Indian-American hijabi teenager who is a Flannery O’Connor obsessed book nerd, aspiring photographer, and sometimes graphic novelist is not exactly easy to put into a box.

And Janna suddenly finds herself caring what people think. Or at least what a certain boy named Jeremy thinks. Not that she would ever date him—Muslim girls don’t date. Or they shouldn’t date. Or won’t? Janna is still working all this out.

While her heart might be leading her in one direction, her mind is spinning in others. She is trying to decide what kind of person she wants to be, and what it means to be a saint, a misfit, or a monster. Except she knows a monster . . . one who happens to be parading around as a saint . . . .

 

Why I’m excited to read it: I know this doesn’t look like my normal kind of book. It’s very . . . pink. And there’s a love story. Gag. But, spring is an excellent time for love! I hope. I noticed that almost all of my favorite bloggers have read this book and given it high ratings. I thought I’d pick up something at the edges of my comfort zone.

 

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What are you reading this spring?