Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Top Ten Books I'd Like To Read This Spring

A weekly Meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish
Spring?  What's that?  I'll just assume this means the books we wish to read at sometime in the coming months whenever spring decides to...well... spring.

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.





4. The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie King

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.






5. Faerylands Forlorn (A Man of His Word #2)

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.







6. The Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine

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:(



7. The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

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..."


10.  Sabriel by Garth Nix

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...