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| A weekly Meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish |
These types of posts are always a little challenging to put together because I don't do a lot of pre-planning at least where reading is concerned. However I do find putting the lists together useful in focusing my thoughts on my TBR pile.
1. Wild Comfort: the Solace of Nature by Kathleen Dean Moore
Spring is a time to reconnect with nature after huddling inside for the last few months and I think this book will be the perfect accompaniment to re-establishing the physical connection. I've had it on my TBR for a long time and finally purchased a copy this winter. It is also on my 100 Books Project list.
2. The Living Landscape by Rick Darke and Doug Tallamy
In the same spirit as above. This book doesn't come out until July but I've luckily been allowed to have a peak at an ARC. I love to garden and am a Wildlife Biologist by profession so I'm always looking for ways to twine the two things together. Doug Tallamy came to my notice a couple years ago when he made a splash with some research he had done on the benefits of using native plants in the garden.
3. A Breath of Frost by Alyxandra Harvey
Okay enough with all the non-fiction naturey nonsense! Time for some good old fashioned paranormal YA. Ever since reading and loving the Drake Chronicles last year I'm kind of hooked on Alyxandra Harvey. This came out in January and it's about time I curled up with it.
I've had this on my radar for a zillion and one years. It's about a female apprentice to Sherlock Holmes and who wouldn't want to read that?! I've also heard really good things about it.
I read the first in this series last year and liked it. If I don't read book #2 soon I will have forgotten everything from book 1.
With the Lunar chronicles and The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale all whipping me into a tizzy of book love, I am in a serious fairy tale re-telling obsession. There are a lot out there and I wasn't sure where to turn to but I have this book on my kindle and Ella Enchanted was pretty great. Would love to hear about some of your favorite retellings, though. There were a couple of great lists from last week's Top Ten Tuesday that I didn't bookmark and now may be lost forever:(
If I'm going to make progress on my 100 books project, then I'll actually need to do some reading from that list. That is my understanding of how it works ;-). I'm feeling the pull of this one quite a bit.
8 and 9. The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford
Both of these are also on my 100 Books Project list and I just discovered they are available at my local library after having not been for many years! Goodreads says these books:
"...satirize British aristocracy in the twenties and thirties through the amorous adventures of the Radletts, an exuberantly unconventional family..."
This was on my winter reading list and is on my 100 Books Project list and I do really want to read it! I think my obstacle has been that I actually own it and it is sitting on my bedside table and I would much prefer to shop for "new" books at the library. What the hell is wrong with me??? I will get to this one this spring.
Well with all those good intentions, the chance of me sticking to this reading plan are probably fifty-fifty. Or perhaps lower.Out of the ten books I had on my winter reading list, I read exactly 2. For the fall list I actually read 4 out of the ten. I'm averaging 30% off these lists:-) Not a passing grade! Maybe I should at least shoot for a D this spring...
I read The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate years ago. I remember enjoying them, but they were kind of sad.
ReplyDeleteI just read Sabriel and really enjoyed it. It reminded a lot of Ursula K. LeGuin's Earthsea books. I don't mean it was derivative, just that the tone of the books are similar.
As for fairy tale retellings, have you tried Robin McKinley? She has two Beauty and the Beast stories: Beauty, and Rose Daughter. She also wrote Spindle's End (Sleeping Beauty), Deerskin (Donkeyskin), and The Outlaws of Sherwood (Robin Hood).
My Top Ten TBR:
http://abibliophilesstyle.wordpress.com/2014/03/18/top-ten-tuesday-tbr/
Hopefully I will pick Sabriel up soon! I like LeGuin so that's a motivator.
DeleteI have read most of Robin McKinley's re-tellings though not Deerskin or The Outlaws of Sherwood. Those are good options to satisfy my fairy tale obsession right now!
If you're still looking for retellings, this chart is awesome:
Deletehttp://www.epicreads.com/blog/an-epic-chart-of-162-young-adult-retellings/
This looks amazing!! Thanks for discovering and sharing!
DeleteI loved Sabriel! Catherynne M. Valente also writes fairytale retellings, I don't particularly like her style but most people love it, and she does write clever books.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I've heard of Valente. I'll check her out but with caution:) I like clever as long as its not the whole point of the thing.
DeleteI read Beekeeper's Apprentice just recently and loved it! Remains of the Day is one of my favorites as well.
ReplyDeleteI have read a lot of great reviews of the Beekeeper's Apprentice and that entire series which is heartening because it is a series with a "gimmick" which could go horribly wrong. Sounds like it works in this instance! I have loved the one Ishiguro book I've read (Never Let Me Go) and I am sort of in the mood for his style of writing.
DeleteGrrrr apparently Safari eats blog comments. Booo. So basically to sum up my long excited comment, if you haven't read any of Robin McKinley's retellings you NEED to (I can't remember if it was you I was fangirling with about her), Marillier is also a good option, and to quickly sum up the rest, I actually have a bookshelf just for retellings.
ReplyDeleteAww...Man - Bad Safari! Thanks SO much for giving me the link to that treasure trove of a goodreads shelf! That's awesome! There are many on there that I have not heard of though I see that there are many that could be given a pass. I think it must definitely be a challenge to re-write an iconic tale in a way that does not suck! McKinley is great at it and I've read most of hers (though I've not read Deerskin which I see you rated well) and I've really liked one of Marillier's (Daughter of the Forest) but had trouble with the sequel to it - can't remember why. Thanks again for persevering and writing a synopsized post after your first was eaten!
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