I haven't written about books I've bought/received for a long while, so there is... horror! two piles to show at once now. Some of those I have even finished already, hehe.
From top to bottom:
* Hilary Mantel, "Wolf Hall" - was an impulse buy, but since I'm going through the longlist of this year's Women's Prize, and Mantel is in it with the sequel to the "Wolf Hall", the purchase has worked itself out quite fine.
* Sinclair Lewis, "Arrowsmith" - a Classics Club book that I got to read for the Spin event in March. Finished it, liked it. Might try out some more Lewis in future.
* Scott Addams, "God's Debris" - something that can be called "a mind exercise" by the author of Dilbert. The premise of this slim book seems very intriguing, I love literary mind games. Won it a while back from a giveaway.
* Ken Follett "The Pillars of the Earth" - another brick, which I can't wait to start! It's something about building a cathedral in 12th century and I have faith it's going to be a-we-some.
* B. N. Peacock "A Tainted Dawn" - another piece of historical fiction (I really do intend to make my grand foray into the genre). Travelling by the sea and military conflicts. I won this book.
* Susan Wise Bauer "The Well-Educated Mind" - it's a book that is supposed to help us read and interpret classics. If it will manage to make me ask more questions about books, and seek more answers - good.
Women's Prize 2013 books:
* Gillian Flynn "Gone Girl" - read it in a few days, had some issues, but I think it's a good book for people who are after fast-paced writing and story twists. I personally am more focused on the depth and style of writing, which is why plot-based novels ain't quite my thing, but I'm glad I read it (bought it before I knew it was longlisted for WP). But, I don't expect I will try other of Flynn's works any time soon, if at all.
* Elif Shafak "Honour" - set in London, Istanbul and a Kurdish village, I'm looking forward to this one, but I will probably read the other books from this pile first.
* Francesca Segal "The Innocents" - I see family drama. Expecting this one to be a hit or a miss.
* Barbara Kingsolver "Flight Behavior" - I haven't read any Kingsolver and I want to love her, so I am very, very apprehensive towards this book.
* Kate Atkinson "Life After Life" - reading this one now, and loving it so much. Almost don't even want it to end. Fascinatingly structured novel.
* Maria Semple "Where'd You Go, Bernadette" - read it, loved it, need to write about it. The humour! But then again it is no wonder considering that Semple has written for Arrested Development, one of the funniest TV-shows there is :)
Can't wait to hear more about Life After Life -- there's been a lot of buzz about that book!
ReplyDeleteThere has! And it's totally buzz-worthy - in my opinion (am about half way through, it's also quite a long book).
DeleteI feel a bit blindsided by Hilary Mantel. Why does she have to be on every list? It's killing me because it means I have to read Wolf Hall AND Bring up the Bodies. Don't get me wrong, I'm looking forward to finding out what all the fuss is about, but they are just so long. I do love a good chunkster so I shouldn't complain but I always get a bit clammy and sweaty palmy when I encounter the chunks and this is, like, two! Oh dear.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, panic over. The Well-Educated Mind sounds intriguing and I'm dying to read Where'd You Go, Bernadette. Happy reading :)
Haha loved reading your rant :D I don't know why Mantel has to be in every list, maybe she is that good? (I haven't read anything yet.) But if both of those books are indeed really good then I know I'll get through them fast and you know, it's always good to read a good book :)
DeleteBernadette is a fast read, though, at least for me it was. So far I'm happy with Women's Prize books, and want to see what's more to come. I expect Life After Life to make it to shortlist, not sure about Bernadette... but crossing fingers.
Boooooks! I loved The Pillars of the Earth. And I really liked The Poisonwood Bible and Prodigal Summer by Kingsolver, but I don't even think I had heard of Flight Behavior! I hope you like it :)
ReplyDeleteYess we love many, many books :D It's good to know you liked Poisonwood Bible, I got this one in my Classics Club list as well. But maan am I gonna be disappointed if I'm gonna end up with "meh" after reading Kingsolver :)
DeleteOut of those two piles, I've only read God's Debris, which I remember really enjoying.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to hearing about The Well-Educated Mind. That's been on my to-read list for quite a while now.
Ah, good to know. I haven't seen much feedback on God's Debris otherwise, but it seems very interesting!
DeleteI love Arrested Development! I need to re-watch the seasons, I haven't seen it in quite some time. :)
ReplyDeleteI haven't even seen all the seasons yet :) (On that note there was some rumour that they are making new episodes for Netflix? I wonder how that'll work out now that years have passed...) But it's such a crazy funny show indeed :)
DeleteWhat a great pile of books! I've seen a few blogs based on The Well Educated Mind, so I'll be interested to see what you think of it.
ReplyDeleteI think I saw that book first in one of such blogs. I have only browsed it so far, and I think I have to come up with some kind of schedule for reading, can't really read it like fiction. But I'll be certainly writing about my experience with this one!
DeleteYou've got some amazing reads ahead of you :) The Pillars of the Earth is one of my all time favorites, I hope you enjoy it. Bernadette is hilarious and smart, I hope you like that one too :)
ReplyDeleteOh duh, now I see that you did read Bernadette! I'm glad you liked it!
DeleteJep, I did, and I read your review too. I can't wait to start Pillars, but it's suuuch a big book :D
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