Category #3 for the 2016 MMD Reading Challenge is "a book you've been meaning to read." I know I'm not the only reader who has a list of books I fully
Love and Lettering by Katie
A dazzling new collection of short stories written over a decade, spanning loss, alienation, aging and the strangeness of contemporary life - from Yiyun Li, the prize-winning author of The Book of Goose. A grieving mother makes a spreadsheet of everyone she's lost. A professor develops a troubled intimacy with her hairdresser. And every year, a restless woman receives an email from a strange man twice her age and several states away. In Yiyun Li's stories, people strive for an ordinary existence until doing so becomes unsustainable, until the surface cracks and grand mysterious forces - death, violence, estrangement - come to light. And even everyday life is laden with meaning, studded with indelible details: a filched jar of honey, a mound of wounded ants, a photograph kept hidden for many years, until it must be seen. Li is a breathtakingly original writer, an alchemist of opposites: tender and unsentimental, metaphysical and blunt, funny and horrifying, omniscient and yet acutely aware of just how much we cannot know. Beloved for her novels and memoirs, she returns here to her earliest form, gathering short stories and a remarkable novella never before published in the UK. Taken together, the stories in Wednesday's Child articulate the true cost of living with all Li's trademark unnerving beauty and searing wisdom.
This year I am going to do something a little different and share my personal book lists over here. Previously I had been sharing them over on my other
About Puck Me Tripp Stevens: Sadie Allen is a pain in my side and the hottest girl I’ve ever seen. She holds the power to bring me the stories I need to be
It's summer, school's out forever, and you never want to touch another college reading list again. I get it. I absolutely get it. There's nothing quite like "assigned reading" to really kill a person's love of literature, and there's nothing quite…
Volume 9
Moloka'i by Alan Brennert
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme started here at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week we have a specific topic for a top ten list. Link up, visit some new blogs and add to your ever growing TBR list. For future Top Ten Tuesday topics through February, go here! We've all been told not to judge a book by its cover. But we all do it. We also judge books by their titles. I know that a lot of work goes into cover art - and so I think it's an acceptable factor in your decision to spend $15-$20 on a book that it cover and/or title be pleasing. So here are 10 books that I've judged and bought based on their cover art and/or title. And whether or not that judging led me astray. 1. Brave Story by Miyuki Miyabe Can we just take a few minutes to look at how gorgeous this cover is (this is the front and back - the art wraps around the whole thing). I cannot even tell you how many times I went to the store and just stared at this book. I sat there consumed with lust over how pretty it was. I didn't even really know what it was about when I finally decided that it had to sit on my shelf and be pretty. Thankfully the book is just as great as the cover. 2. The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts by Louis De Bernieres I stumbled upon this book at a library sale with no previous knowledge of the author. I read the title and giggled and then looked at the cover and smiled. Shrugged and thought, "eh 50 cents, why not?" It has turned out to be one of my favorite books this year. A review should find it's way on this blog some day soon. 3. Count Gieger's Blues by Michael Bishop A similar story to the above, I picked this one up at a book sale based on the fact that there was a superhero on the front. Unfortunately my only thoughts on this book are "ughhhh". They can't all be winners. 4. The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack by Mark Hodder You should really take a second to go find a bigger version of this cover because it is REALLY cool. The book itself was okay - I didn't love it but I didn't hate it either. The cover of the sequels are just as cool, so I will probably end up reading them as well. Seriously though, look at that detail. That is a well done cover. Kudos. 5. A Long Long Time Ago and Essentially True by Brigid Pasulka Didn't include the cover for this one because it was the title that actually drew me in. There is something wonderful about this title. I saw it in an advertisement and thought "well that's certainly intriguing" Thankfully I was lucky enough to get my hands on an ARC of it. It certainly is intriguing and it lives up to that title. 6. The Book of Flying by Keith Miller Another book sale find (man I love them!) I think the title was what originally caught my eye. And there is something I really love about the cover - I'm not sure why because it's not particularly pretty or stand out, but I just really really like it. However the book is pretty and fantastic. He also has another book called "The Book of Fire" that I really want to read but I can't find it any where. If you can find it: read it, then give it to meeee! 7. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson I definitely bought this book based on the title. I must admit it kept reminding me of Misses Pettigrew Lives for a Day which I adore - so even though I knew they had nothing to do with one another, I couldn't help but bring it home with me. The cover art isn't really my taste... but it fits the book. All in all it was a good judgement call. 8. The Dangerous Lives of Alter Boys by Chris Fuhrman So this one technically might not belong on this list.... this was my favorite movie in High School (and is still on my top 10 to this day) and for a long time I had no idea there was a novel that it was based on. When I finally discovered the novel I was also pleasantly surprised by the fantastic cover art that went a long with it. And I think we can all agree on how great the title is. Really I just want people to appreciate everything about this novel (and movie!). 9. The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz This book was on my to-read list forever because of its title. What a fantastic title! The cover is okay too.... but UGH. that is all. just ugh. 10. The Island of The Day Before by Umberto Eco This one is still on my to-read shelf. I bought it because of the title, but the cover is pretty fantastic as well. I've heard mixed things about it by now, so I'm a little nervous to tackle it. But hopefully I did not choose poorly... What about you guys? Which books did you buy based on the cover and/or title? Did your instinct prove to be correct? Be sure to link up below and share your top ten picks!
Hear that? Oh, it's just my reading list crying about the new books I'm about to add.
