I am currently reading 5 books but haven't finished anything recently, so no fodder for posts, so I was thrilled when I discovered that today's Top Ten Tuesday theme (at The Broke and the Bookish) was about books we are excited about reading this spring.
Turns out, my reading lists are about to being thrown out the window because there a so many great books that just appeared on my horizon that I am very excited to read.
1. Girl on a Train - I am planning to listen to this using a library copy, which means it might actually be Fall before my turn comes, but I am eager to read it.
2. Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania - I really enjoy Erik Larson's books and since I am currently reading a lot about WWI, the timing on this couldn't be better.
3. The Buried Giant - I'm a new Kazuo Ishiguro fan, having only fairly recently read Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go, and this latest novel sounds intriguing and I know the writing will blow me away...as usual.
4. Emma: A Modern Retelling - I have mixed feelings about the quality of the novels that have emerged from the Austen Project (i.e., modern retellings of Austen's 6 novels by well-known novelists), but I like Alexander McCall Smith and I like Edinburgh and I love Emma and I'm hopeful that he has done right by Austen and her Emma.
5. My Brilliant Friend - I always seem to be planning a trip to Italy, but whether I actually get there or not, I love to read about Italy. This is the first novel in Elena Ferrante's trilogy about life in modern Italy.
6. Bring Up the Bodies - Wolf Hall is about to start on PBS and it's high time I read Hilary Mantel's sequel, which has been languishing on my TBR shelf for far too long.
7. Ross Poldark: A Novel of Cornwall - in keeping with letting the PBS broadcast schedule serve as an impetus to read, I am excited to read this first book in a series by Winston Graham. It premieres in June, so I just might get to it!
8. As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of 'The Princess Bride' - my husband received this Cary Elwes memoir for Christmas and it's just the kind of fun book that spring reading calls for.
9. Opening the Mountain: Circumambulating Mount Tamalpais, A Ritual Walk - I love walking and I love the Bay Area, and I would like to go on one of the ritual walks around it. My brother has done this a couple of times and lent me this book so that I can get inspired to put it on the calendar.
10. Charles Dickens and the House of Fallen Women - I've had this non-fiction book by Jenny Hartley for awhile now, but since I've been reading a lot of Dickens lately, I'm reenergized to read it.
What are your spring reading plans?
At the moment I'm reading Trollope's Rachel Ray and after that I'm going on to Bryson's Notes from a Small Country. I loved the Poldark books and the first TV series which I have on DVD but I'm not enjoying the new series as much. None of the actors look or sound right to me and it seems rushed.
ReplyDeleteI never saw the original adaptation so I don't have that to compare it to--disappointed that it's not up to the mark. I'm sure I'll be posting about my reactions to it, come summer.
DeleteI listened to a great review of Dead Wake on my local NPR station. I'm really thinking I need to get my hands on it.
ReplyDeleteDead Wake and As You Wish are on my TBR. I read My Brilliant Friend not long ago and it was excellent. I'm glad to know there are other people who also read five books at once and may discard them if something more appealing comes along!
ReplyDeleteThis looks like a really great list and I am looking forward to your thoughts on these books.
ReplyDeleteWith that I am not really sure if I am comfortable with the concept of the Austen Project.
The PBS inspiration is strong with me too. I'd like to get back to my Hilary Mantel books and try Poldark (for the first time ) too. After our Tuesbooktalk read of Tale of Two Cities, I will want to finish Mantel's A Place of Greater Safety too. :) Always fun to rearrange the TBRs mentally or in a new stack at home!
ReplyDeleteI started The Girl on the Train yesterday and read the first third in one sitting - riveting! Finished My Brilliant Friend on Sunday and would have gone on to the second book immediately had it not been for the soon-to-disappear kindle version of Girl on the Train (from the library). Enjoy your spring reading.
ReplyDeleteI would love to put some of these on my spring reading list! Although, I'm trying really hard not to make a list so I can just choose whatever catches my fancy.
ReplyDeleteYou mention having "mixed feelings about the quality of the novels that have emerged from the Austen Project," but you don't say what you don't like. I have recently read Joanna Trollope's Sense and Sensibility, and was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked it and how true it was to Austen.
ReplyDeleteI tried Val McDermid's Northanger Abbey and thought it was promising at the beginning, but then it morped into a silly, boring book about vampires. I also found most of the characters very annoying and unbelievable and cliche, and so I didn't bother finishing it.
DeleteI'm glad you like the Trollope S&S--maybe I should give it a try myself.
I have so many books to read but I don't think I'll be able to resist the Erik Larson for long. It looks super interesting!
ReplyDeleteI hadn't heard of The Princess Bride memoir book. That will make a perfect gift for a couple friends of mine. Thanks! :-). Also, I read the Northanger Abbey retelling last year and didn't like it at all. Hope you have better luck with Emma. :-)
ReplyDeleteMy Brilliant Friend is haunting me. I keep getting it out from the library and then have to take it back, get it out, take it back. Yikes! I've decided to leave it for awhile and perhaps in summer I'll be more inspired. It seems like a summer-type book.
ReplyDeleteYour list looks like fun! Happy reading!