Havisham by Ronald Frame

If you see an ARC of this book, I will offer a kidney for it. I think it goes without explanation why I am interested. Says the blogger whose online persona is "Estella's Revenge." Ahem!

Totally excited for this book.

Update:
Picador USA told me I could keep my kidneys, and they are very generously mailing a copy. SWEET!

Havisham by Ronald Frame

If you see an ARC of this book, I will offer a kidney for it. I think it goes without explanation why I am interested. Says the blogger whose online persona is "Estella's Revenge." Ahem!

Totally excited for this book.

Update:
Picador USA told me I could keep my kidneys, and they are very generously mailing a copy. SWEET!

The Astronaut Wives Club by Lily Koppel

I always keep you guys updated on what I'm reading and what's on the horizon. Surprisingly (to me, anyway), there seemed to be a huge burst of interest in the comments about The Astronaut Wives Club, by Lily Koppel, and I'm here to fill you in on my most recent non-fiction read. 

Unsurprisingly, this book focuses on the wives of the first NASA astronauts during the height of the "space race" between the US and Russia. The book spans the years between the late 50s and on through the 60s and early 70s. There are some distinct "groups" of wives that come onto the scene as their husbands are recruited for astronaut training and eventually assigned specific missions into space. Originally, there were seven astronauts and wives, then a wave of nine additional, then 14 more, and then 19 more. In short, a lot of wives. A lot of astronauts. A lot of drama!

First, I should tell you that I gulped this book down, more or less, in a day. I think I read something like 225 of the 270ish pages last Sunday. Lily Koppel is an accomplished writer. She regularly contributes to the New York Times, and she's the author of the very popular, The Red Leather Diary: Reclaiming a Life Through the Pages of a Lost Journal.  Her work is not so much the writing of a hard-hitting journalist, but very conversational and personalized to her subjects. I know I've seen some comments around the blogosphere that this was bothersome to a few readers, but I found it extremely relatable and pleasant to read. Obviously, since I gulped it down!

I was completely invested in the first half of this book because there was a limited number of subjects. I definitely felt that I got closest to the original seven wives. Koppel was able to introduce each wife and her husband thoroughly: their personalities, their background and education, how they met and fell in love, the state of their marriage by the time the NASA years rolled around. It becomes immediately clear that NASA is a political place to be and a microcosm of 1950s and 60s values. The wives were expected to be perfect and uphold perfect marriages. They dressed a certain way, carried themselves like sophisticated ladies, and held up a great deal of the PR end of the deal. Upon completion of each mission, an astronaut wife was expected to step out on her lawn with a smile and celebrate a successful mission or appear supportive and confident in light of a failed mission. And did I mention that every household had its own Life magazine journalist around, like, all the time??? Yeah. They were constantly documented. Especially during the course of a mission. It was a lucrative financial arrangement, but can you image the suckage? Don't think I could do it.

I cannot imagine the pressure. There was a tangible sense of dread and heartache in Koppel's account of what these women endured. They put up with a lot of shit from their husbands. There were some philanderers and some saints, but every wife had to put on a perfect facade. Likewise, the astronauts were all acutely aware that they would not receive a space flight if their marriage did not appear solid and pristine.

My only significant issue with this book was in the second half. As more NASA families came onboard, the docket of "characters" got muddled. I had a hard time keeping up with who was who. I did a lot of Googling so I could put faces with names, and I was glad to have a directory in the front of the book to help me refresh my memory. The latter half of the book did focus on specific, memorable, vital missions (Apollo 1, the moon walk, Apollo 13, etc.).  But I still felt it could've been edited down quite a lot to include fewer wives with a more intimate knowledge of those who were included.

Despite the issues in the second half, I really enjoyed this book. I'm so glad the wives' story has finally been told, and it's really hard to believe that it hasn't been before now. This book is as much about the culture of the time period as it is about the individual families involved in NASA's heyday. It's about gender roles and gender politics, celebrity and sensationalism, history and heartache--the nation's growing pains and glory. 

Pub. Date: June 2013
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 9781455503254
Source: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I went after this baby as soon as I saw it!

The Astronaut Wives Club by Lily Koppel

I always keep you guys updated on what I'm reading and what's on the horizon. Surprisingly (to me, anyway), there seemed to be a huge burst of interest in the comments about The Astronaut Wives Club, by Lily Koppel, and I'm here to fill you in on my most recent non-fiction read. 

Unsurprisingly, this book focuses on the wives of the first NASA astronauts during the height of the "space race" between the US and Russia. The book spans the years between the late 50s and on through the 60s and early 70s. There are some distinct "groups" of wives that come onto the scene as their husbands are recruited for astronaut training and eventually assigned specific missions into space. Originally, there were seven astronauts and wives, then a wave of nine additional, then 14 more, and then 19 more. In short, a lot of wives. A lot of astronauts. A lot of drama!

First, I should tell you that I gulped this book down, more or less, in a day. I think I read something like 225 of the 270ish pages last Sunday. Lily Koppel is an accomplished writer. She regularly contributes to the New York Times, and she's the author of the very popular, The Red Leather Diary: Reclaiming a Life Through the Pages of a Lost Journal.  Her work is not so much the writing of a hard-hitting journalist, but very conversational and personalized to her subjects. I know I've seen some comments around the blogosphere that this was bothersome to a few readers, but I found it extremely relatable and pleasant to read. Obviously, since I gulped it down!

I was completely invested in the first half of this book because there was a limited number of subjects. I definitely felt that I got closest to the original seven wives. Koppel was able to introduce each wife and her husband thoroughly: their personalities, their background and education, how they met and fell in love, the state of their marriage by the time the NASA years rolled around. It becomes immediately clear that NASA is a political place to be and a microcosm of 1950s and 60s values. The wives were expected to be perfect and uphold perfect marriages. They dressed a certain way, carried themselves like sophisticated ladies, and held up a great deal of the PR end of the deal. Upon completion of each mission, an astronaut wife was expected to step out on her lawn with a smile and celebrate a successful mission or appear supportive and confident in light of a failed mission. And did I mention that every household had its own Life magazine journalist around, like, all the time??? Yeah. They were constantly documented. Especially during the course of a mission. It was a lucrative financial arrangement, but can you image the suckage? Don't think I could do it.

I cannot imagine the pressure. There was a tangible sense of dread and heartache in Koppel's account of what these women endured. They put up with a lot of shit from their husbands. There were some philanderers and some saints, but every wife had to put on a perfect facade. Likewise, the astronauts were all acutely aware that they would not receive a space flight if their marriage did not appear solid and pristine.

My only significant issue with this book was in the second half. As more NASA families came onboard, the docket of "characters" got muddled. I had a hard time keeping up with who was who. I did a lot of Googling so I could put faces with names, and I was glad to have a directory in the front of the book to help me refresh my memory. The latter half of the book did focus on specific, memorable, vital missions (Apollo 1, the moon walk, Apollo 13, etc.).  But I still felt it could've been edited down quite a lot to include fewer wives with a more intimate knowledge of those who were included.

Despite the issues in the second half, I really enjoyed this book. I'm so glad the wives' story has finally been told, and it's really hard to believe that it hasn't been before now. This book is as much about the culture of the time period as it is about the individual families involved in NASA's heyday. It's about gender roles and gender politics, celebrity and sensationalism, history and heartache--the nation's growing pains and glory. 

Pub. Date: June 2013
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 9781455503254
Source: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I went after this baby as soon as I saw it!

Newbies on the Nook

So what? I might've gone a little crazy trading up books with friends and buying affordable e-books, and now I have a whole SLEW of new stuff on my Nook. Whatcha got to say about it??? Huh? Huh?

Ok, enough defensive. Y'ALL, these are such great-looking books! Even though the sheer amount is slightly embarrassing. In my defense, many of these books have been on my Nook for a while now, but after a software upgrade it magically stopped reading epubs I had imported! So I had to wipe it and start over. What was old is new again, as they say.

The Color Master: Stories by Aimee Bender -- I almost wet myself when Vasilly told me she had a new book coming out.
Hild by Nicola Griffith - From Goodreads: A brilliant, lush, sweeping historical novel about the rise of the most powerful woman of the Middle Ages: Hild. 
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving - A book I did not complete the first time I tried reading it, but this is the choice for our Estella Project Readalong, and I'm looking forward to trying again!

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline has been on my shelves FOREVER. I even met the author, for heaven's sake. But it's still sitting on my shelves unread. I hope having a Nook copy will prompt me to hurry up.
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel is a gift from a sweet friend, and I book I've been interested in for ages.

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, because how could I resist when I loved Eleanor and Park so much?
Far, Far Away by Tom McNeal isn't getting stellar reviews. Cool premise, but not in a huge hurry.
Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan sounds gothicky-awesome.

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater will be my first by her. I skipped the werewolves.
The Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan - I hear such good things about Tender Morsels, but given the subject matter, I may start here instead.
Every Day by David Levithan - Truthfully, I have no idea what it's about. Which usually works out well for me.

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare because my friend Shannon told me to read it.
Splintered by A.G. Howard in spite of the horrendous cover.

While I've been off YA for a while now, it's making a comeback in my stacks! I'm looking forward to all of these goodies. Now let's see how long it takes me to get them read!

What's new on your e-reader or your TBR? 

Newbies on the Nook

So what? I might've gone a little crazy trading up books with friends and buying affordable e-books, and now I have a whole SLEW of new stuff on my Nook. Whatcha got to say about it??? Huh? Huh?

Ok, enough defensive. Y'ALL, these are such great-looking books! Even though the sheer amount is slightly embarrassing. In my defense, many of these books have been on my Nook for a while now, but after a software upgrade it magically stopped reading epubs I had imported! So I had to wipe it and start over. What was old is new again, as they say.

The Color Master: Stories by Aimee Bender -- I almost wet myself when Vasilly told me she had a new book coming out.
Hild by Nicola Griffith - From Goodreads: A brilliant, lush, sweeping historical novel about the rise of the most powerful woman of the Middle Ages: Hild. 
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving - A book I did not complete the first time I tried reading it, but this is the choice for our Estella Project Readalong, and I'm looking forward to trying again!

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline has been on my shelves FOREVER. I even met the author, for heaven's sake. But it's still sitting on my shelves unread. I hope having a Nook copy will prompt me to hurry up.
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel is a gift from a sweet friend, and I book I've been interested in for ages.

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, because how could I resist when I loved Eleanor and Park so much?
Far, Far Away by Tom McNeal isn't getting stellar reviews. Cool premise, but not in a huge hurry.
Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan sounds gothicky-awesome.

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater will be my first by her. I skipped the werewolves.
The Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan - I hear such good things about Tender Morsels, but given the subject matter, I may start here instead.
Every Day by David Levithan - Truthfully, I have no idea what it's about. Which usually works out well for me.

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare because my friend Shannon told me to read it.
Splintered by A.G. Howard in spite of the horrendous cover.

While I've been off YA for a while now, it's making a comeback in my stacks! I'm looking forward to all of these goodies. Now let's see how long it takes me to get them read!

What's new on your e-reader or your TBR? 

Another Bookslide...

That's right...ever since I've been out of the bloggy loop, the books continue to arrive on my doorstep. Here are the newest additions to my stacks...

The Iguana Tree by Michel Stone for a TLC Book Tour in April. Set amid the perils of illegal border crossings, The Iguana Tree is the suspenseful saga of Lilia and Hector, who separately make their way from Mexico into the United States, seeking work in the Carolinas and a home for their infant daughter. Michel Stone's harrowing novel meticulously examines the obstacles each faces in pursuing a new life: manipulation, rape, and murder in the perilous commerce of border crossings; betrayal by family and friends; exploitation by corrupt officials and rapacious landowners on the U.S. side; and, finally, the inexorable workings of the U.S. justice system.


A Mountain of Crumbs: A Memoir by Elena Gorokhova from the lovely and generous Heather at Raging Bibliomania. Elena Gorokhova’s A Mountain of Crumbs is the moving story of a Soviet girl who discovers the truths adults are hiding from her and the lies her homeland lives by. Elena’s country is no longer the majestic Russia of literature or the tsars, but a nation struggling to retain its power and its pride. Born with a desire to explore the world beyond her borders, Elena finds her passion in the complexity of the English language—but in the Soviet Union of the 1960s such a passion verges on the subversive. Elena is controlled by the state the same way she is controlled by her mother, a mirror image of her motherland: overbearing, protective, difficult to leave. In the battle between a strong-willed daughter and her authoritarian mother, the daughter, in the end, must break free and leave in order to survive.


Hide Me Among the Graves by Tim Powers. London, winter of 1862, Adelaide McKee, a former prostitute, arrives on the doorstep of veterinarian John Crawford, a man she met once seven years earlier. Their brief meeting produced a child who, until now, had been presumed dead. McKee has learned that the girl lives—but that her life and soul are in mortal peril from a vampiric ghost. But this is no ordinary spirit; the bloodthirsty wraith is none other than John Polidori, the onetime physician to the mad, bad, and dangerous Romantic poet Lord Byron. Both McKee and Crawford have mysterious histories with creatures like Polidori, and their child is a prize the malevolent spirit covets dearly.

So these are the books on the horizon, although, as I mentioned in my previous post, I'm trying not to put too much pressure on myself to read anything specific. Any reading is good reading and any reading is better than no reading! All in good time, all in good time. 

Another Bookslide...

That's right...ever since I've been out of the bloggy loop, the books continue to arrive on my doorstep. Here are the newest additions to my stacks...

The Iguana Tree by Michel Stone for a TLC Book Tour in April. Set amid the perils of illegal border crossings, The Iguana Tree is the suspenseful saga of Lilia and Hector, who separately make their way from Mexico into the United States, seeking work in the Carolinas and a home for their infant daughter. Michel Stone's harrowing novel meticulously examines the obstacles each faces in pursuing a new life: manipulation, rape, and murder in the perilous commerce of border crossings; betrayal by family and friends; exploitation by corrupt officials and rapacious landowners on the U.S. side; and, finally, the inexorable workings of the U.S. justice system.


A Mountain of Crumbs: A Memoir by Elena Gorokhova from the lovely and generous Heather at Raging Bibliomania. Elena Gorokhova’s A Mountain of Crumbs is the moving story of a Soviet girl who discovers the truths adults are hiding from her and the lies her homeland lives by. Elena’s country is no longer the majestic Russia of literature or the tsars, but a nation struggling to retain its power and its pride. Born with a desire to explore the world beyond her borders, Elena finds her passion in the complexity of the English language—but in the Soviet Union of the 1960s such a passion verges on the subversive. Elena is controlled by the state the same way she is controlled by her mother, a mirror image of her motherland: overbearing, protective, difficult to leave. In the battle between a strong-willed daughter and her authoritarian mother, the daughter, in the end, must break free and leave in order to survive.


Hide Me Among the Graves by Tim Powers. London, winter of 1862, Adelaide McKee, a former prostitute, arrives on the doorstep of veterinarian John Crawford, a man she met once seven years earlier. Their brief meeting produced a child who, until now, had been presumed dead. McKee has learned that the girl lives—but that her life and soul are in mortal peril from a vampiric ghost. But this is no ordinary spirit; the bloodthirsty wraith is none other than John Polidori, the onetime physician to the mad, bad, and dangerous Romantic poet Lord Byron. Both McKee and Crawford have mysterious histories with creatures like Polidori, and their child is a prize the malevolent spirit covets dearly.

So these are the books on the horizon, although, as I mentioned in my previous post, I'm trying not to put too much pressure on myself to read anything specific. Any reading is good reading and any reading is better than no reading! All in good time, all in good time. 

Mailbox Madness and Miscellaneous Malarky

How's that title for some Monday morning alliteration??! I haven't even had coffee today. I think a round of applause is in order. I also put up Valentine's Day stickies on my office window, so it's possible I've been body-snatched.

I don't usually participate in Mailbox Monday, but this past week has seen a noticeable deluge of books coming into my house. Lately, it seems that if I wish out loud on my blog or Twitter, a book magically appears in my house! Usually, it's thanks to a wonderful blogger or author who decide to be my book fairy.

I should also mention: Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia and is gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week and explore great book blogs. Mailbox Monday is hosted by MetroReader in February.


Find blurbs for each book near the end of this post!

If you haven't heard of Cinder by Marissa Meyer you may have experienced a recent head injury and a damaging case of the forgetfuls. It's EVERYWHERE. And it just so happens to look really really good. Cinderella + cyborg = kickass. Vasilly is kind and generous and sent her ARC along to me since she was done with it. 

Next, I was happily Tweeting about how much I want to try Eowyn Ivey's novel, The Snow Child, when BAM!!!  A woooonderful, quite popular author direct messaged and offered to send her ARC! Her exact words, "I don't usually give ARCs away, but I like putting books in the hands of bloggers." Right on! She remains nameless here because I don't know if she wants the world to know she's giving away her ARCs. I'm moving her book up in my reading queue, too. :D Very sweet indeed.

I also accepted two books for review recently. While I've been laying off of the review books these looked intriguing enough to add to my downsized TBR. I have a good relationship with the publishers and the pitches were very kind, well-thought, and seemed to actually have a clue what I prefer to read and blog! Huzzah!!! Is this progress?! I think it just might be!

White Horse is the first in a debut trilogy from Alex Adams (published by Atria). I'm picky about my post-apocalyptic novels, and after my undying love for The Passage, we'll see if this one can hold a candle. Crossing my fingers.

Picture the Dead by Adele Griffin looks weird-wonderful. I'm all about weird spirit photography and spiritualism and that kinda stuff. This one is published by Sourcebooks Fire for children and young readers. The illustrations in this one look great, and the book itself is beautiful.

Cinder blurb:
Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earths fate hinges on one girl. . . . Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. Shes a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsisters illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kais, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her worlds future.


The Snow Child blurb:
Alaska, 1920: a brutal place to homestead, and especially tough for recent arrivals Jack and Mabel. Childless, they are drifting apart--he breaking under the weight of the work of the farm; she crumbling from loneliness and despair. In a moment of levity during the season's first snowfall, they build a child out of snow. The next morning the snow child is gone--but they glimpse a young, blonde-haired girl running through the trees. This little girl, who calls herself Faina, seems to be a child of the woods. She hunts with a red fox at her side, skims lightly across the snow, and somehow survives alone in the Alaskan wilderness. As Jack and Mabel struggle to understand this child who could have stepped from the pages of a fairy tale, they come to love her as their own daughter. But in this beautiful, violent place things are rarely as they appear, and what they eventually learn about Faina will transform all of them.

White Horse blurb: 


Thirty-year-old Zoe wants to go back to college. That’s why she cleans cages and floors at GeneTech. If she can keep her head down, do her job, and avoid naming the mice she’ll be fine. Her life is calm, maybe even boring, until the end of the world when the President of the United States announces that humans are no longer a viable species. Zoe starts running the moment she realizes everyone she loves is gone. On her trek she encounters characters both needy and nefarious: some human, some monster, and some uncertain beings altered by genetic mutation. Zoe comes to see that humanity is defined not by genetic code, but by soulful actions and choices.


Picture the Dead blurb: 
A ghost will find his way home. Jennie Lovell's life is the very picture of love and loss. First she is orphaned and forced to live at the mercy of her stingy, indifferent relatives. Then her fiance falls on the battlefield, leaving her heartbroken and alone. Jennie struggles to pick up the pieces of her shattered life, but is haunted by a mysterious figure that refuses to let her bury the past. When Jennie forms an unlikely alliance with a spirit photographer, she begins to uncover secrets about the man she thought she loved. With her sanity on edge and her life in the balance, can Jennie expose the chilling truth before someone-or something-stops her?

What landed in your house this week?? Come on, enable me just a bit more!

Mailbox Madness and Miscellaneous Malarky

How's that title for some Monday morning alliteration??! I haven't even had coffee today. I think a round of applause is in order. I also put up Valentine's Day stickies on my office window, so it's possible I've been body-snatched.

I don't usually participate in Mailbox Monday, but this past week has seen a noticeable deluge of books coming into my house. Lately, it seems that if I wish out loud on my blog or Twitter, a book magically appears in my house! Usually, it's thanks to a wonderful blogger or author who decide to be my book fairy.

I should also mention: Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia and is gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week and explore great book blogs. Mailbox Monday is hosted by MetroReader in February.


Find blurbs for each book near the end of this post!

If you haven't heard of Cinder by Marissa Meyer you may have experienced a recent head injury and a damaging case of the forgetfuls. It's EVERYWHERE. And it just so happens to look really really good. Cinderella + cyborg = kickass. Vasilly is kind and generous and sent her ARC along to me since she was done with it. 

Next, I was happily Tweeting about how much I want to try Eowyn Ivey's novel, The Snow Child, when BAM!!!  A woooonderful, quite popular author direct messaged and offered to send her ARC! Her exact words, "I don't usually give ARCs away, but I like putting books in the hands of bloggers." Right on! She remains nameless here because I don't know if she wants the world to know she's giving away her ARCs. I'm moving her book up in my reading queue, too. :D Very sweet indeed.

I also accepted two books for review recently. While I've been laying off of the review books these looked intriguing enough to add to my downsized TBR. I have a good relationship with the publishers and the pitches were very kind, well-thought, and seemed to actually have a clue what I prefer to read and blog! Huzzah!!! Is this progress?! I think it just might be!

White Horse is the first in a debut trilogy from Alex Adams (published by Atria). I'm picky about my post-apocalyptic novels, and after my undying love for The Passage, we'll see if this one can hold a candle. Crossing my fingers.

Picture the Dead by Adele Griffin looks weird-wonderful. I'm all about weird spirit photography and spiritualism and that kinda stuff. This one is published by Sourcebooks Fire for children and young readers. The illustrations in this one look great, and the book itself is beautiful.

Cinder blurb:
Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earths fate hinges on one girl. . . . Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. Shes a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsisters illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kais, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her worlds future.


The Snow Child blurb:
Alaska, 1920: a brutal place to homestead, and especially tough for recent arrivals Jack and Mabel. Childless, they are drifting apart--he breaking under the weight of the work of the farm; she crumbling from loneliness and despair. In a moment of levity during the season's first snowfall, they build a child out of snow. The next morning the snow child is gone--but they glimpse a young, blonde-haired girl running through the trees. This little girl, who calls herself Faina, seems to be a child of the woods. She hunts with a red fox at her side, skims lightly across the snow, and somehow survives alone in the Alaskan wilderness. As Jack and Mabel struggle to understand this child who could have stepped from the pages of a fairy tale, they come to love her as their own daughter. But in this beautiful, violent place things are rarely as they appear, and what they eventually learn about Faina will transform all of them.

White Horse blurb: 


Thirty-year-old Zoe wants to go back to college. That’s why she cleans cages and floors at GeneTech. If she can keep her head down, do her job, and avoid naming the mice she’ll be fine. Her life is calm, maybe even boring, until the end of the world when the President of the United States announces that humans are no longer a viable species. Zoe starts running the moment she realizes everyone she loves is gone. On her trek she encounters characters both needy and nefarious: some human, some monster, and some uncertain beings altered by genetic mutation. Zoe comes to see that humanity is defined not by genetic code, but by soulful actions and choices.


Picture the Dead blurb: 
A ghost will find his way home. Jennie Lovell's life is the very picture of love and loss. First she is orphaned and forced to live at the mercy of her stingy, indifferent relatives. Then her fiance falls on the battlefield, leaving her heartbroken and alone. Jennie struggles to pick up the pieces of her shattered life, but is haunted by a mysterious figure that refuses to let her bury the past. When Jennie forms an unlikely alliance with a spirit photographer, she begins to uncover secrets about the man she thought she loved. With her sanity on edge and her life in the balance, can Jennie expose the chilling truth before someone-or something-stops her?

What landed in your house this week?? Come on, enable me just a bit more!

Books Burning Holes in My Shelves

Thanks to the Christmas holidays, some generous bloggy friends, and some generous publishers, I have a stack of books burning a hole in my shelves!!! Many of my books have been boxed up and stored away for the last six months or so, and that part of my reading life has actually been really helpful. I can't spend too much time perusing endless choices when I only have 20 or so physical books to choose from and the stock of stuff on my e-reader. It streamlines the waffling, in other words.

Here are the books at the tippy top of my stacks really calling my name right now...

I've started The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa, and I've already bumped off 40 pages or so before a bitchin' headache bloomed. This was a gift from the lovely Nancy at Bookfoolery and Babble. She was kind enough to send along her copy when I mentioned wanting to read it recently. This one feels cozy and pleasant so far, and I can't wait to see where Ogawa takes the story. I'm also really impressed with the beautiful translation by Stephen Snyder.


Blurb: He is a brilliant math professor, with a peculiar problem — since a traumatic head injury, he has lived with only eighty minutes of short-term memory. She is an astute young housekeeper with a ten-year-old son who is hired to care for him. And between them a strange, beautiful relationship blossoms. Though the professor can hold new memories for only eighty minuets, his mind is still alive with elegant equations from the past; and through him, the numbers, in all of their articulate order, reveal a sheltering and poetic world to both the housekeeper and her son.


After I added Melissa Marr's Graveminder to my list of hopefuls for Christmas, I received it in the mail from the publisher! I'm pretty sure I had a CRS moment and forgot I'd requested it in the first place. Hmmphf! Either way, I'm glad to have it. This looks like a fun book when I'm in the mood for something light and paranormal. 


Blurb: Rebekkah Barrow never forgot the attention her grandmother Maylene bestowed upon the dead of Claysville, the small town where Bek spent her adolescence. There wasn't a funeral that Maylene didn't attend, and at each one Rebekkah watched as Maylene performed the same unusual ritual: She took three sips from a silver flask and spoke the words "Sleep well, and stay where I put you." Now Maylene is dead, and Bek must go back to the place she left a decade earlier. She soon discovers that Claysville is not just the sleepy town she remembers, and that Maylene had good reason for her odd traditions. It turns out that in Claysville the worlds of the living and the dead are dangerously connected; beneath the town lies a shadowy, lawless land ruled by the enigmatic Charles, aka Mr. D. If the dead are not properly cared for, they will come back to satiate themselves with food, drink, and stories from the land of the living. Only the Graveminder, by tradition a Barrow woman, and her Undertaker—in this case Byron Montgomery, with whom Bek shares a complicated past—can set things right once the dead begin to walk.


Tides of War by Stella Tillyard was another book provided by the publisher. I haven't had a chance to jump in, but reading the early pages of this one makes me think it's a promising read. I also enjoyed Wendy's review over at CaribousMom. I don't read enough sweeping historicals, and I think I'll be in the mood for this one really soon.


Blurb: Tides of War opens in England with the recently married, charmingly unconventional Harriet preparing to say goodbye to her husband, James, as he leaves to join the Duke of Wellington's troops in Spain. Harriet and James's interwoven stories of love and betrayal propel this sweeping and dramatic novel as it moves between Regency London on the cusp of modernity: a city in love with science, the machine, money, and the shocking violence of war in Spain. 

Ghost Light, by Joseph O'Connor, is yet another book I saw in a publisher's e-mail, and I jumped on it without hesitation. It looks a little dark and moody and maybe a little seedy in spots. Just the kind of historical novel I want to curl up with underneath the new quilt I received for Christmas.

Blurb: A powerful and deeply moving masterpiece about love, partings and reconciliation — and of the courage involved in living on nobody else's terms. Dublin, 1907. A young actress begins an affair with a damaged older man, the leading playwright at the theatre where she works. Outspoken and flirtatious, Molly Allgood is a Catholic girl from the slums of Dublin, dreaming of stardom in America. Her lover, John Synge, is a troubled genius, whose life is hampered by convention and by the austere and God-fearing mother with whom he lives. Their affair, sternly opposed by friends and family, is quarrelsome, affectionate and tender. Many years later, Molly, now a poverty-stricken old woman, makes her way through London's bomb-scarred city streets, alone but for a snowdrift of memories. Her once dazzling has faded but her unquenchable passion for life has kept her afloat.


Finally, Wendy was kind enough to host a giveaway for The Marriage Artist, by Andrew Winer, and I've been itching to read it ever since it arrived. I've seen good reviews of it here and there in the blogosphere, and y'all know I'm a cover nut, and I like this one a lot. Not to mention the inclusion of art and scandal. Woohoo!


Blurb: When the wife of renowned art critic Daniel Lichtmann plunges to her death, she is not alone. Lying next to her is Benjamin Wind, the very artist Daniel most championed. Dedicating himself to uncovering the secrets of their relationship, Daniel discovers a web of mysteries leading back to pre--World War II Vienna. Ambitious, haunting, and stunningly written, The Marriage Artist is an “elaborate psycho-political-sexual puzzle, with...hard truths, startling visions, and eerie insights into the mystical and memorializing powers of art, and that endless hunger we call love” (Booklist).


While these aren't the only books burning holes in my shelves, I did take the time to make a specific stack of books to read sooner rather than later. They've been sitting across from my favorite blogging spot for a while now, staring at me and mocking me. Little temptresses! 


Have you read any of these books? What books are calling out to you the loudest right now?