Saturday, June 16, 2018

Book Haul: Recommendations (Part 2)




Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga’s Reviews. I get to show off all the books I’ve gotten recently. Way back at the beginning of the year, I asked for book recommendations. Here are some of the books that you recommended I read. Sorry, I didn’t write down who recommended which book because I’m a lazy, terrible person, but thank you for the recommendations!


Your Recommendations (Part 2)





The Post-Birthday World – Lionel Shriver


Using a playful parallel-universe structure, The Post-Birthday World follows one woman's future as it unfolds under the influence of two drastically different men.

Children's book illustrator Irina McGovern enjoys a quiet and settled life in London with her partner, fellow American expatriate Lawrence Trainer, a smart, loyal, disciplined intellectual at a prestigious think tank. To their small circle of friends, their relationship is rock solid. Until the night Irina unaccountably finds herself dying to kiss another man: their old friend from South London, the stylish, extravagant, passionate top-ranking snooker player Ramsey Acton. The decision to give in to temptation will have consequences for her career, her relationships with family and friends, and perhaps most importantly the texture of her daily life.


















A Thousand Splendid Suns – Khaled Hosseini


Born a generation apart and with very different ideas about love and family, Mariam and Laila are two women brought jarringly together by war, by loss and by fate. As they endure the ever escalating dangers around them—in their home as well as in the streets of Kabul—they come to form a bond that makes them both sisters and mother-daughter to each other, and that will ultimately alter the course not just of their own lives but of the next generation.
























The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini


Despite their class differences, Amir, the son of a wealthy businessman, and Hassan, his devoted sidekick and the son of Amir's household servant, play together, cause mischief together, and compete in the annual kite-fighting tournament—Amir flying the kite, and Hassan running down the kites they fell. But one day, Amir betrays Hassan, and his betrayal grows increasingly devastating as their tale continues. Amir will spend much of his life coming to terms with his initial and subsequent acts of cowardice, and finally seek to make reparations.






















Borderliners – Peter Høeg


Strange things are happening at The Biehl School when this elite academy opens its doors to a group of orphans and reform school rejects, kids at the end of the system's tether. But the school is run by a peculiar set of rules, in which every minute is regimented and controlled. The children soon suspect that they are guinea pigs in a bizarre social experiment, and that their only hope of escape is to break through a dangerous threshold of time and space.

























The Case for Christ: A Journalist’s Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus – Lee Strobel


A former reporter for The Chicago Tribune and former atheist presents a tough-minded investigation of Christian beliefs, interviewing today's scientists, historians, and philosophers to gather compelling evidence for the truth about Jesus.













Have you read any of these? What did you think?










43 comments:

  1. The Post-Birthday World and Borderliners sound the most appealing to me. I'm curious to hear what you think about The Case for Christ. I'm an agnostic and always quite interested by any evidence either way.

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    1. I’m curious, too. When I asked for books about Christianity, so many people recommended that one to me.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  2. I haven't read a single one of these, though Borderliners sounds very interesting. Great post!

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  3. I read The Post-Birthday World years ago. I thought it was pretty good, I should give my copy a reread!

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    1. It’s not my usual type of book, but I’m trying to get out of my comfort zone.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  4. Loved The Kite Runner...oh how I cried reading it!!! His other book was a decent read.

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    1. Lots of people have said that it's really good. I’m looking forward to it.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  5. I loved both The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Sons.

    Hope you have a great weekend. - Katie

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  6. I'm terrible at keeping up with who recommended what! These all sound good though the only one I've heard of is The Kite Runner. It sounds like an ugly cry read. I like the look of The Post-Birthday World.

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    1. I really need to get better at keeping track of who recommended what. Every time I ask for recs, I get a zillion responses. The book community knows everything.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  7. These all look so tempting. I'm very curious about The Post-Birthday World. Thanks for sharing, and for visiting my blog.

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    1. I’m curious about it, too. It’s not the typical kind of book I read, but I’ve heard that the structure is unusual.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  8. Some nice ones to keep you busy. Yes, I'm terrible at remembering where I've seen books, too. lol

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    1. It’s extra bad because I asked the book community for recommendations, and I still didn’t write down who recommended what.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  9. I loved both The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns - even if they were also very hard to read in some instances. I hope you'll enjoy all your new books.
    Have a wonderful week ahead and happy reading.
    Lexxie @ (un)Conventional Bookviews

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    1. So many people recommended those books to me. I hope I love them as much as everybody else did.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  10. I've only heard of The Kite Runner out of all these. I like the sound of A Thousand Splendid Suns :)

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  11. You've got a nice haul this time! I will have to go check some of these out. Have a great week :)

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  12. I'm yet to read Khaled's books but have heard amazing things about it.

    Paperback Princess

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    1. Me, too. When I asked for recommendations, so many people recommended those books.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  13. THE POST-BIRTHDAY WORLD totally catches me because parallel world. Love those books. Kite RUnner has been sitting on my kindle forever. Hope you enjoy all of these!

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    1. That’s exactly why I’m interested in The Post-Birthday World. I can’t resist a parallel universe book.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  14. I saw the Kite Runner on the shelf at my local thrift store, not sure if I would like it or not.

    https://justmeandmyblogreviews.blogspot.com/2018/06/stacking-shelves_16.html

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    1. I’m not sure if I’ll like it, either, but the synopsis sounds pretty good to me.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  15. The Case for Christ is one I remember there being talked about a lot back when. One of my old pastors from my church in Florida actually had a dual degree, with science being one of his concentrations, and he did a whole series about the evidence for Christ. It was very interesting. Enjoy all you new books!

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    1. Interesting! A lot of people recommended it to me, so it must have had a lot of hype at some point.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  16. I like how Borderliners has a steampunk look. Enjoy these :-)

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  17. Lots of great books you got here, especially the Kite Runner! I hope you enjoy all your books!

    Here’s my Stacking the Shelves!

    Ronyell @ Rabbit Ears Book Blog

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  18. I keep meaning to read some Hosseini. I'm currently annoyed with Shriver, so I don't plan on reading any more of her stuff. She's really defensive about the We Need Diverse Books and #ownvoices movements. The others all look interesting though!

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    1. I just looked up Shriver on Twitter to see what you were talking about. She sounds like an unpleasant human. I’m glad I traded for her book instead of spending money on it.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  19. I picked up The Case for Christ a week or so ago. Can't say I've read it yet. Hope you enjoy it.

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  20. Borderliners looks good too!

    https://thebookconnectionccm.blogspot.com/2018/06/its-monday-what-are-you-reading-june-18.html

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  21. Ooh, nice haul! I read The Case for Christ many years ago and I'm shocked to realize that I hardly remember anything from it? The thing that sticks with me is that even though I'm not religious now it was very well-written and researched, so I appreciated that and am still glad I read it anyway. Borderliners sounds incredibly interesting, I'm going to have look that one up myself!

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  22. The Kite Runner was so good. I cried a lot when I read it too.

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  23. Lee Strobel was a pastor at my church when I became a Christian, and his book had a huge impact on me. It's written from a unique perspective, since he was a journalist and was looking to disprove Christianity.

    Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction

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  24. I've read the Kite Runner years ago, but get ready to ugly cry because that book is intense. I'm going to check the Post Birthday World!
    Tori @ In Tori Lex

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  25. I still need to read The Book Thief. *sigh* I'll never get through my TBR.

    Anywho, hope you enjoy your new books, and thanks for visiting Shell's Stories!

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  26. I've read both the Khaled Hosseini novels in this haul and I hope you will like them and be able to learn or take something away from them as well. A Thousand Splendid Suns ends up being most people's favourite but The Kite Runner is one book that actually made me cry - which very rarely happens.

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