Tuesday, September 11, 2018

Top Ten Tuesday: Has Anybody Read These Books? Anybody?




Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s topic is hidden gems. I feel like I’ve talked about that before, so I’m changing the prompt a little. Here are 10 books that I hope are hidden gems. I haven’t read any of them yet. I haven’t seen many people talking about them. They all have fewer than 100 reviews on Goodreads. Either they’re hidden gems, or they’re really terrible.



Hopeful Hidden Gems




Poetry





1. Stranger, Baby by Emily Berry



Emily Berry's Dear Boy was described as a 'blazing debut,' winning the Forward Prize for Best First Collection in 2013. Stranger, Baby, its follow-up, is marked by the same sense of fantasy and play, estrangement and edgy humor for which she has become known. But these poems delve deeper again, in their off-kilter and often painful encounter with childhood loss.


















2. Next Door To The Dead by Kathleen Driskell




When Kathleen Driskell tells her husband that she's gone to visit the neighbors, she means something different than most. The noted poet―whose last book, Seed across Snow, was twice listed as a national bestseller by the Poetry Foundation―lives in an old country church just outside Louisville, Kentucky. Next door is an old graveyard that she was told had fallen out of use. In this marvelous new collection, this turns out not to be the case as the poet's fascination with the "neighbors" brings the burial ground back to life.















3. Have Dog, Will Travel: A Poet’s Journey With An Exceptional Labrador by Stephen Kuusisto



In a lyrical love letter to guide dogs everywhere, a blind poet shares his delightful story of how a guide dog changed his life and helped him discover a newfound appreciation for travel and independence.
















Short Story Collections





4. Heartbreaker: Stories by Maryse Meijer



In her debut story collection Heartbreaker, Maryse Meijer peels back the crust of normalcy and convention, unmasking the fury and violence we are willing to inflict in the name of love and loneliness. Her characters are a strange ensemble—a feral child, a girl raised from the dead, a possible pedophile—who share in vulnerability and heartache, but maintain an unremitting will to survive. 


















5. Deceit And Other Possibilities by Vanessa Hua



In this powerful debut collection, Vanessa Hua gives voice to immigrant families navigating a new America. Tied to their ancestral and adopted homelands in ways unimaginable in generations past, these memorable characters straddle both worlds but belong to none.




















6. Age Of Blight: Stories by Kristine Ong Muslim



What if the end of man is not caused by some cataclysmic event, but by the nature of humans themselves? In Age of Blight, a young scientist's harsh and unnecessary experiments on monkeys are recorded for posterity; children are replaced by their doppelgangers, which emerge like flowers in their backyards; and two men standing on opposing cliff faces bear witness to each other's terrifying ends.
















Novels





7. Sufficient Grace by Amy Espeseth



Ruth and her cousin Naomi live in rural Wisconsin, part of an isolated religious community. The girls’ lives are ruled by the rhythms of nature—the harsh winters, the hunting seasons, the harvesting of crops—and by their families’ beliefs. Beneath the surface of this closed, frozen world, hidden dangers lurk.

Then Ruth learns that Naomi harbors a terrible secret. She searches for solace in the mysteries of the natural world: broken fawns, migrating birds, and the strange fish deep beneath the ice. Can the girls’ prayers for deliverance be answered? 















8. The Parentations by Kate Mayfield



Eighteenth-century London and the lives of the sisters Fitzgerald, Constance and Verity, become entwined with the nearby Fowler household. For Clovis Fowler, whose unearthly Nordic beauty belies a ruthless thirst for power, and husband Finn, a Limehouse thief, have agreed to provide safe harbor to a mysterious baby.

The puzzling phenomenon binding them close arose unexpectedly from deep within the savage but beautiful landscape of Iceland, where a hidden pool of water grants those who drink from it endless life. But those who sip from the waterfall discover all too quickly that immortality is no gift.

To preserve the life of this strange baby from those who wish him harm means that all concerned must remain undiscovered for more than two hundred years. And, as the centuries creep thither, one in their enclave proves more menacing than those who pursue them. Worse, the life-giving pool that sustains them all, runs dry . . .












9. Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss



Teenage Silvie is living in a remote Northumberland camp as an exercise in experimental archaeology. Her father is an abusive man, obsessed with recreating the discomfort, brutality and harshness of Iron Age life. Behind and ahead of Silvie's narrative is the story of a bog girl, a sacrifice, a woman killed by those closest to her, and as the hot summer builds to a terrifying climax, Silvie and the Bog girl are in ever more terrifying proximity.


















10. Fell by Jenn Ashworth



When Annette Clifford returns to her childhood home on the edge of Morecambe Bay, she despairs: the long empty house is crumbling, undermined by two voracious sycamores. What she doesn't realize is that she's not alone: her arrival has woken the spirits of her parents, who anxiously watch over her, longing to make amends. Because as the past comes back to Jack and Netty, they begin to see the summer of 1963 clearly, when Netty was desperately ill and a stranger moved in. Charismatic, mercurial Timothy Richardson, with his seemingly miraculous powers of healing, who drew all their attention away from Annette. Now, they must try to draw another stranger towards her, one who can rescue her.









Which book do you hope will be a hidden gem?














78 comments:

  1. Haven't read any of these books yet. Ghost Wall looks interesting. I'm listening to Best Day Ever. supposed to be intense, so far it sounds peaceful.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don’t know if I’ve heard of Best Day Ever. I’ll have to look it up.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

      Delete
  2. I haven't read yet any of the books you mentioned, but Sufficient Grace caught my attention. It does seem an hidden gem.

    Happy readings! ;)
    Tânia @MyLovelySecret

    ReplyDelete
  3. All new to me! Sufficient Grace sounds really good. I am looking forward to your thoughts on it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hope I can find a copy. It’s from a small press and not easy to find used.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

      Delete
  4. I haven't read any of these but I love that cover with the car on fire. Lol.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I like that one, too. Whoever designed the cover should get a raise.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

      Delete
  5. I have heard of none of these... Granted I don't read a lot of poetry but. Some of these sound like things I might like to look into!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh wow I haven't heard of any of these! Is that a sign that they will all be hidden gems?

    ReplyDelete
  7. I hadn't heard of any of them until now. Enjoy! I hope they turn out to be gems. (Also, I really like the title Deceit and Other Possibilities.)

    ReplyDelete
  8. I have not read any of these and I've only heard of two of them! The Parentations, Ghost Wall, and Sufficient Grace sound particularly interesting, though these actually all sound great. I hope that they are all hidden gems as well, they sound promising.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I’m impressed that you’ve heard of them. So far, I haven’t found many people who know anything about them.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

      Delete
  9. I haven't heard of any of these before now! They all sound pretty promising!

    ReplyDelete
  10. No! I haven't read any of them LOL But thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Haven't read any of these, but I have been working my way through a large collection of David Whyte's poetry lately.

    ReplyDelete
  12. There are some interesting titles on this list! I'm going to have to look them up. :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. I never read poetry- I'm kind of a heathen. I do like the sound of Sufficient Grace.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sometimes I think I’m the only blogger who reads poetry. Maybe I’m a heathen for reading it?

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

      Delete
  14. I haven't read any of these, but Sufficient Grace sounds really good!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I haven’t heard of any of these but they all sound fantastic! The one about the guide dog sounds incredibly heartwarming! Great choices 😊

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Usually “heartwarming” isn’t my thing, but the guide dog one does sound good.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

      Delete
  16. I mean, actually, no I don't think anyone has? 😂 Especially poetry, I don't think my brain is capable of comprehending poetry like, ever. But I do hope they are awesome and DO turn out to be hidden gems!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Haha, when I ended the post with “Has anybody read these?” I figured the answer would be a resounding “No.” Turns out, I was right.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

      Delete
  17. I haven't heard of any of these, but I'll have to check out out Ghost Wall. :)

    ReplyDelete
  18. I haven't read any of these, but Ghost Wall sounds like my kind of book. Thanks for sharing these hidden gems!

    ReplyDelete
  19. I've not read any of these. Heartbreaker and Ghost Wall caught my attention.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They both have really strange covers. Strange covers always catch my attention.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

      Delete
  20. These all sound weird and spooky. I think you'd like some of them! The novels all sound interesting to me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I’m pretty sure I’d like most of them. They’re my kind of weird.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

      Delete
  21. I haven't read any of these books. Thank you for bringing them to my attention! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  22. Ooooh The Parentations looks so good! It sounds so unique and I love 18th century London :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love historical London novels, too. Mostly because I really want to visit real London.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

      Delete
  23. FELL sounds really good!! I don't read poetry or short stories, so I wouldn't know about those-- but I love the cover of HEARTBREAKER STORIES!!

    ReplyDelete
  24. The Parentations looks so good, I might have to check that one out :)

    ReplyDelete
  25. I've never heard of any of these books! Heartbreaker: Stories sounds like something I'd like to read though. A whole lot of different things and one message. Going to check out some reviews! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The reviews I’ve seen have been pretty positive, but there are so few of them!

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

      Delete
  26. No! I haven't even heard of any of them! Good job!

    ReplyDelete
  27. I haven't read (or heard of) any of these. It's so weird that I've read 100's of books in a year but still miss out on so many. *sigh*

    One of my favorite overlooked books is The Hallowed Ones by Laura Bickle.

    Karen @ For What It's Worth

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know! I read over 100 books a year, and I read book blogs every day, but there are so many books I’ve never seen before.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

      Delete
  28. I honestly just checked Have Dog Will Travel out from the library this past Friday. So glad to see it on your list!

    ReplyDelete
  29. I haven't read any of these, but Ghost Wall sounds like a great read. And Fell sounds really interesting too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I’m looking forward to both of those. I just have to find copies that I can afford.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

      Delete
  30. I also haven't read any that you have listed. I'll have to look into them. Enjoy your day.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Oh this is a wonderful list, definitely hidden gems, I haven't heard or read any of these - but then again, I read mostly YA books haha. I'm really intrigued by The Parentations, sounds so mysterious! :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It does sound mysterious. I need to get back to reading YA. I’ve been slacking a lot recently.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

      Delete
  32. All of these titles are new to me, but several of them sound quite good, especially Sufficient Grace, Ghost Wall, and The Parentations.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I’m really looking forward to reading the novels, if I can find copies of them. They’re hard to find.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

      Delete
  33. The story about guide dogs looks inviting. Thanks for visiting my blog.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It does. It’s not my normal kind of book, but I’m curious about it.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

      Delete
  34. I have not read any of these books! A lot of them sound really good though! Great list. I always love when there's a lot of books that I don't know! Gives me a lot of options to expand my reading. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, this week’s TTT topic was good. I learned about so many new books.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

      Delete
  35. This is a great list! I've never heard of any of these books and am intrigued by most of them. Planning to check them out. :)

    ReplyDelete
  36. Wow I don't think I have heard of any of these!!! But they sound really good! Great list <3

    ReplyDelete
  37. I haven't heard of any of them I'm afraid! Mind you most people won't recognise my picks either!

    ReplyDelete
  38. I don't think I've heard of any of these, let alone read them. xD It's a shame. I'm always disappointed when I find a really good book and no one I know has read it, either lol. It's like ... okay, I'll just collect all these feels, then, and go sit in the corner by myself, thanks. I'll have to check some of these out. They sound great!

    ReplyDelete
  39. These are certainly hidden gems as far as I'm concerned! I haven't heard of any of them. I'll be looking for Have Dog Will Travel, though. That sounds awesome!

    ReplyDelete
  40. Yeah I don't think I've heard of any of these besides Ghost Wall which I saw someone read on goodreads I think. But otherwise nope. So some true hidden gems here.

    ReplyDelete
  41. You've listed some amazing sounding books! I haven't read a single one of them but will definitely be adding a few of these to my TBR. :)

    ReplyDelete
  42. I have The Parentations lined up to read next month - fingers crossed! Heard a couple of good things about Ghost Wall also. I hope they are all good 'uns for you!

    ReplyDelete
  43. Next Door To The Dead by Kathleen Driskell sounds a bit interesting. :-)

    ReplyDelete