But I was reminded this morning when I visited The Broke and the Bookish for Top Ten Tuesday! Lo and behold, Bridget listed the top ten books she wants for her birthday. And I think I'll do the same for the heck of it. I'm always delighted and surprised if I receive books for my birthday. I'm far more likely to bank a gift card which is TOTALLY fine. If I'm so lucky this year, I will use this list to guide my own buying. So here they are!
The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff -- I've had this one in my crosshairs for a while now. You may remember that I posted a "Requesting Recommendations" about polygamy a while back. Many suggestions came of that post, but I think this work of fiction remains at the tippy-top of my wishlist.
Astray by Emma Donoghue -- This is one of the only NEW new releases you'll find on my wishlist. I'm more of a backlist girl. But I first encountered Emma Donoghue in her lovely (weird) short story collection of twisted fairy tales, Kissing the Witch. It was only later that I tackled the uber-seller, ROOM. I'm itching to get back to her shorter pieces, and these stories are tied together thematically with instances of characters going astray. Intriguing!
The Birth House by Ami Mckay -- Another product of a "Requesting Recommendations" post on midwifery. This one has been on the radar for a good long while.
Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link -- A collection of odd, fantastical short stories. This one first came to my attention back in 2006 after Heather reviewed it. How's that for staying power on ye olde wishlist? I also seem to be seeing a short story trend emerge.
Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Foods by Jessica Seinfeld -- I can attribute the wishlisting of this book to another former colleague!!! When I was complaining about my issues getting Greyson to eat veggies, Katy suggested this one.
St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves by Karen Russell -- I read Russell's odd, award-nominated Swamplandia! earlier this year. It was surprisingly pleasing to the reading palette, and I knew immediately I wanted to read this unique collection of short stories.
Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook by Anthony Bourdain -- I fell in love with Anthony Bourdain many and many a year ago and quite by accident. I think it started with a random episode of No Reservations, and that kickstarted it all. I soon fell into his writing with Kitchen Confidential and A Cook's Tour. With No Reservations calling it quits, it's about time I returned to my beloved Tony. It's a scandal that I haven't read this one already. Bourdain is truly the reason I fell in love with food writing and travel memoirs. Thanks, Tony, for influencing my tastes -- both literary and culinary.
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller -- This is the random title on the list if you ask me. While I've long been OVER mythology and Greek lore (a side effect of two degrees in English), I cannot resist the pull of The Song of Achilles. I've simply read too many good reviews and can hardly contain myself a moment longer!
Finally, the big, bad mother of the whole list. The emperor of wishlist items. Justin Cronin's follow-up to The Passage. THE TWELVE!!! Note: I will be buying The Twelve in e-book format. Who wants to lug this beast around?
So what's on your wishlist??? Birthday or not. :)
Magic for Beginners looks and sounds soooo familiar, but I don't actually remember ever reading or buying it. So weird.
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday! Hope those gift cards come through for you! :-)
Thanks, Joanna! I just can't get this collection out of my head. Must try it! :D
DeleteIn order to inspire any potential gift-givers, it should be known that The Song of Achilles is on sale on Amazon (e-book) for 3,99 at the moment (I know because I just bought it). Hope you get all the books you could wish for on your birthday! :)
ReplyDeleteOohh, thanks Beth!!! Sending the inspirational vibes toward my friends and family. ;)
DeleteGreat list! I loved The 19th Wife and The Birth House.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Beth! Glad to know these two were winners!
DeleteI have The Birth House, and The Twelve, so if I ever get them finished, I could possibly send them your way! I hope that you have a very Happy and bookish Birthday!!!
ReplyDeleteCool! Thanks, Zibilee. We'll see how much progress (if any) I make by the time you're done. lol I always have good intentions, and then books sit around forever.
DeleteI have a sort of birthday list on my blog today too! It's going around I guess. Good luck with your list... happy times, that TWELVE book!
ReplyDeleteI saw that, Suey! Happy early birthday to ya!
DeleteHappy early birthday to you! I hope you get all on your wishlist and more! I still need to read The Passage so I am way behind with that one. You have several others that interest me too! My big 50th is coming up in July. I'm thinking I need to assemble a list of 50 for my wishlist! Ha!
ReplyDeleteDEFINITELY a list of 50, Kathleen! lol You deserve 'em all.
DeleteHappy early birthday!! You must must must read the Bourdain book. If you liked his other ones, you'll be all over it.
ReplyDeleteI will definitely give it a go, Kelly!
DeleteHappy soon to be birthday! Mine just passed, so I didn't get a list up in time. Medium Raw is fun. I was so sad to watch the last episode of No Reservations last night.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much! I didn't get to see it, so I'm sure I'll be downloading it from iTunes or somewhere.
DeleteI have yet to read a single Emma Donoghue book, I really must because I've heard so many good things about her.
ReplyDeleteI did read Swamplandia and didn't really enjoy it, but am still intrigued by that short story collection.
And I loved The Song of Achilles when I read it, although I have read some reviews criticising it for not sticking to the source material. That didn't bother me at all in this book. It was very much an adaptation and not a retelling.
Hope you get some of your wishlist and have a great birthday!
Fence! Donoghue is good stuff. You might like Kissing the Witch, too.
DeleteIsn't that premise on the short stories too much to pass up?
And I'm glad you liked Song of Achilles. That gives me even more hope!
Love times three sounds interesting. Will look into it.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy it if you get around to it, Rikki!
DeleteThese look like some good ones. Deceptively Delicious would be helpful as my kids are the big suck at eating veggies. They usually do in the end, but there is soooo much complaining. Sneaking them in is genius.
ReplyDeleteAnd yay for a 1980 baby! I turned 32 a couple of weeks ago. Same same. Hope you have a great birthday on Saturday and you get many, many books!
Thanks, Kristi! I'm SO glad she brought Deceptively Delicious to my attention. I must get my hands on a copy. It's torture getting veggies into Greyson.
DeleteHappy belated birthday!
Happy early birthday :)
ReplyDeleteI want to read The Birth House too, even though I don't have any children. Song of Achilles is AWESOME and I'm not a mythology fan. My husband is reading The Twelve at the moment and enjoying it so far. So you have great picks!
Thanks, Sam! Glad to know y'all have enjoyed (are enjoying) so any of these picks! Looks like I can't go wrong!
DeleteLove the list.
ReplyDeleteI have read and I enjoyed The 19th Wife! You might want to check your library for a digital copy if you also have a digital reader. I got it that way pretty quickly.
Deceptively Delicious is an awesome book! I haven't made many of the recipes, and I don't have kids, but I got the book to prep for when I do (and to try to make my own meals healthier with some sneaky veggies).
And OMG, The Song of Achilles is one you should steal if no one buys it for you because it was soooo good! Ok, no thievery, I was exaggerating, but it's a MUST! I reviewed it recently (http://loveatfirstbook.com/2012/10/25/the-song-of-achilles-by-madeline-miller-book-29/) and while I didn't do the best review, it was because I was soooo moved by this book.
So glad you enjoyed The 19th Wife, Rebecca! I creep on my library's e-book offerings pretty often, and The 19th Wife isn't on the list. Bummer!
DeleteAlso glad you can vouch for Deceptively Delicious. Cannot wait to get my hands on it.
LOL, and I will definitely get my hands on The Song of Achilles one way or another! No thievery, I promise!
I also love The passage. In Spain The twelve is still not available and I don't feel like reading it in English yet, but I'm looking forward to having it in my hands!! (someday...).
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by, Isi! Enjoy The Twelve when you can get around to it!
DeleteI'm sure I'll do it! Thanks!
DeleteHope you have a fantastic birthday this weekend! And all of those books look utterly amazing.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Brooke! :)
DeleteI have The 19th Wife and don't know why I haven't read it yet. I've got to get to that one soon. The Twelve is on my Nook, but I'm thinking about rereading The Passage before I start The Twelve.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to your thoughts on The 19th Wife if you get around to it before I do! I thought about re-reading The Passage. I might still, but that's a lot of time commitment and my reading has been slow this year. Great quality, but decreased quantity.
DeleteHappy birthday a little early! I listened to Love Times Three and I found it fascinating.
ReplyDeleteThank you!!!! And I'm really glad you liked Love Times Three. It looks fascinating to me!
DeleteI usually get gift cards too, which I love, but it would be nice to get a book once in a while, too! I wonder if people are afraid to get avid readers books because they're worried the reader has already read them? Hmmm. Maybe I'll post a similar list once December hits and send the link to all my friends and relatives :)
ReplyDeleteEmily, it is fun to get a physical book. But when it comes to books (and my dramatically decreased pile of them), I'll take whatever I can get! Like I said, this list will probably be more of a buying guide for me and I'm totally OK with that. Looking forward to your December list!
DeleteHappy early birthday! I hope you get everything on your list!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jenny!
DeleteHappy birthday! The Song of Achilles is a really good book. The Birth House and St. Lucy's Home for Girls are both on my reading lists. I hope you get some of the books you want.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Vasilly! I'm looking forward to all of these. Maybe we should try to do a buddy read if we can get ourselves orchestrated. lol
DeleteHappy birthday! Mine was a few weeks ago and I bought two cocktail books and Iced by Karen Marie Moning.
ReplyDeleteWorthy purchases, Tasha. Your cocktail pics make me drool!
DeleteHappy Birthday Andi!! I remember WAY BACK WHEN I was 32.. I had begun to forget how old I was for a few years! And I am not exaggerating, it's just when life is topsy-turvy for eons the small things tend to go out of your head. So there were a few times when I did the math in my head to figure out my age, pretty much from ages 32-36 I think it was.
ReplyDeleteAnd my Amazon Wishlist used to be the format for my father to buy stuff for me, God rest his soul! He wouldn't have to scratch his head to figure out what his finicky daughter wanted, he would just buy straight from the Wishlist. Those were fun times!
Happy happy birthday Andi! People in my life are too afraid to buy me books, lol, I'll take a gift card any day of the week though ;)
ReplyDeleteI have Astray and St. Lucy's but haven't read either one yet! Hope you get everything you want and more and have a WONDERFUL birthday darling!
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday! I've read a few of these. I'd definitely recommend listening to the Bourdain one on audio. I think it probably works better having him deliver it. And I had that Seinfeld book at one point and didn't make one single thing from it. If I still have it, I'd be happy to send it to you but I think it is long gone.
ReplyDeleteMagic for Beginners is fantastic. The Faery Handbag has long stayed in my mind. It's one of my very favorite stories! I hope you enjoy it!
ReplyDelete