Wants and Needs - Jan/Feb Bookmarks

 

Back again with a nice long list of wants and needs from the latest edition of Bookmarks magazine (and ongoing and highly appreciated Christmas gift from my parents each year).  Fate has a way of noticing which books I mark, it seems, because a number of them have thrown themselves in my path.


The first bit of excitement when I opened the pages was a feature on Haruki Murakami.  Hey what do you know!  One of my goals this year was to read his work (my first will probably be "Kafka on the Shore") so it was a treat to learn a little more about the man.


Here are a whole long list of my Needs:    

1.  A Thousand Lives:  The Untold Story of Hope, Deception, and Survival at Jamestown - Julia Scheeres


Nothing feeds my mind more than getting an insight to why ordinary people do horrific things, which is why I so love true crime.  To that end, I also enjoy learning why ordinary people become followers of something so outlandish like a cult.  I got this book at SIBA, so it is waiting anxiously on my bookshelves to be read.

2.  Agent 6 - Tom Rob Smith


I've read both of Tom Rob Smith's books in the series prior to this one.  Child 44 I loved.  The Secret Speech not so much.  I am willing to give Smith another go however, because I love the protagonist Leo Demidov, who survived Stalinist Russia and is now involved in a Cold War-era conspiracy.  I'm on hold at the library for this audio.  

3.  Believing the Lie - Elizabeth George


George has been working on this series, involving one Inspector Lynley, for ages.  In fact, this is installment number 17.  I joined the ranks about four installments ago and have loved every one of them.  I don't even really care what the topic of the book is, I just know I'll love it.  And from my lips to Penguin Audio's ears!  I received this in the mail from them just last week.  Narrated by Davina Porter! Totally made my day.

4.  Perfect - Ellen Hopkins


One of my goals for 2012 was to read more free verse novels, and this was at the top of the list.  Apparently it is a companion novel to "Impulse" which I must get my hands on as well.  The book addresses troublesome teen issues, such as drugs, ambition, eating disorders, the works.  Those who have read it love it.  The audio landed in my lap recently, loaned to me by Heather.

5.  The Affair - Lee Child


You would think by the 16th installment of the Jack Reacher series (and I have read them all), they would start to get stale.  Well, I can feel staleness in the horizon if something doesn't change, but apparently Child has dodged that bullet for the moment by taking us back through time to when Reacher was fresh out of the military and taking on his last assignment with the Pentagon.  Hmmm, insight into the elusive Reacher?  Love it.  I just wish the library would get on with it and get it on audio...




And then there are a few wants as well:

1.  The Odds - Stewart O'Nan


This past year, I read my first O'Nan called "Emily, Alone".  It was not my favorite book for lack of plot, but O'Nan does have beautiful writing and a huge fan base.  Therefore, I'll be giving him another try with this one.  In his latest, he writes about a couple on the brink of divorce that takes a second honeymoon to Niagara Falls to give it one more shot.  

2.  The Scorpio Races - Maggie Stiefvater


Young adult dystopia, love story, flesh-eating water horses.  And because Jill loved it.

3.  The Cat's Table - Michael Ondaatje


I'm strangely drawn to this one, yet know very little about it.  Ondaatje's claim to fame is winning the Booker for "The English Patient", but this novel has been universally praised for it's themes...coming-of-age, morality, physical danger.  An 11 year-old leaves Sri Lanka on a three-week trip on an ocean liner to meet his mother in England.  And as they say, it isn't about the destination, but the journey as the young man encounters all walks of life.  Hmmm...  

Wants and Needs (Bookmarks November/December)

I'm back again, with the latest installment of Bookmarks, which for me is like the arrival of that toy catalog right around Christmas-time when I was a kid.  I pore through each entry, make notations and scribbles, and try to figure out how in the heck I'm going to get them all read.

One thing I'd like to point out here.  Most of the books I am listing below I already knew about - many of them have been reviewed and scooped by my friends.  Bookmarks is just a reminder for me to get in the game and read them.  Or at the very least, just talk about them so I don't feel so bad about getting to them in a year or two.

So here are my NEEDS:




11/22/63 - Stephen King:  Uncle Stevie imagines what life would have been like had JFK not been assassinated.  In this little tale of alternate reality, a high school teacher travels back in time to try to alter historical events.  And without even looking I know this thing is probably a thousand pages, so I am going to try to get to it on audio. 

Steve Jobs - Walter Isaacson:  Predictable selection, I know, but why not?  I love biographies, and when one presents itself that claims to be an uninhibited exploration of everything that made this man tick?  I must know these things.  Again, I'm just guessing this is a chunkster (how could it not be?) so I'm targeting it for audio.

The Leopard - Jo Nesbo:  Our beloved and tormented Harry Hole finds himself in Hong Kong, having fallen to the lure of opium and gambling.  He is called back home, though, despite his past transgressions, to once again save the day.  And this is a little bit of a cheat, because I already do have this book on my nightstand.  I just can't help waving it around and letting everyone know that they need to get on this bandwagon quickly, because this is already the sixth translated installment. 

Wonderstruck - Brian Selznick: And we thought that "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" was the greatest thing since sliced bread?  Apparently this one rivals its mastery, because Bookmarks has given it 4.5 stars, which almost never happens.  We have a story of a deaf boy, a young girl from 50 years in the past, magically come together at the American Museum of Natural History.  Told in words and drawings, like Hugo, I must have this now.  Scholastic was kind enough to keep the damn thing taped up on the display at SIBA, so I couldn't even touch it.  I'm still a little sore about that.    

Here are some of my WANTS: 

The Art of Fielding - Chad Harbach:  Although I like baseball well enough, I'm told that this book is good even if you don't know what a seven inning stretch is.  Described as a novel that mixes Moby Dick with baseball, this book is more a study of three-dimensional characters that you won't forget in the near future.

Birds of Paradise - Diana Abu-Jaber:  This one is also another cheat, because I have this book.  I not only received it, signed, from SIBA, but I met the author at a luncheon where the authors took turns coming to your table to talk about their books.  Diana came with her own bottle of wine and shared (a girl after my own heart) and was funny and easy-going and made her novel, about a family left in ruins after their 13-year-old ran away, a must-read.  Bookmarks just reminded me that I need to delegate this one to the nightstand.

The Cider House Rules - John Irving:  Don't judge me.  I've only read one John Irving novel (Last Night in Twisted River) and I was underwhelmed.  I know that he has some amazing books though, and this one was featured in an article that highlights books about careers.  I'm thinking I need to make a project of Irving some day, starting with this book, and continuing with "The World According to Garp" and "A Prayer for Owen Meany".  

The Most Dangerous Thing - Laura Lippman:  I have resisted reading Lippman's Tess Monaghan series because there are so many books and I like to start at the beginning and read them all.  Intimidating.  But a stand alone?  I can do that.  This one has something to do with secrets, relationships from childhood to adulthood, destroyed innocence and such.  I know that I'm in good hands with whatever she writes. 


Any opinions on any of these?  I always need help with prioritization!

Wants and Needs (Bookmarks September/October)

Time for another issue of things that I am coveting from the latest Bookmarks Magazine, but will be lucky if I read one or two.  Especially since lately, I've been averaging about 30 pages a day in print.  Oh well.  It doesn't hurt to fantasize.     

Need:  Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - Ransom Riggs
This book has been EVERYWHERE on the blogs lately, and it seems like the perfect fit for the RIP challenge.  Descriptions of the book include phrases like "exploring the crumbling ruins of an abandoned orphanage", "answers to grandfather's death", "treacherous bog", and "peculiar children trapped in time".  Then there are these spooky pictures.  I must have.

Need:  Before I Go To Sleep - S.J. Watson
Somebody blurbed this book as "Memento on crystal meth", which is like the best blurb ever.  After an automobile accident, a woman is afflicted with a condition where her memory resets every 24 hours.  At the same time, trouble is afoot with her husband.  Everyone has said this one is a seriously wild ride that doesn't unclench its claws from your face until the last page. 

Want:  Sister - Rosamund Lupton
Two sisters, totally different but closely bonded through the death of a brother and paternal abandonment in their youth.  When one sister tragically dies by apparent suicide, the other vows to get the true story.  Bookmarks deems this "heartrending and spine-chilling" tale, told in epistolary form, a success.  We are warned that this is a "hold your breath and your handkerchief thriller". 

Want:  Time and Again - Jack Finney
Featured in an article about Old New York On the Page (which is completely alluring to me), this 1970 novel is about a government experiment that turns out to be a time-travel expedition to 1882 NYC.  This novel has been around for awhile...has anyone read it?  I whet my appetite on "The Doomsday Book" and now I need more.  

Want:  The Marriage Plot - Jeffrey Eugenides
After immersing myself in the absolute brilliance of "Middlesex", I guess I don't really care what this one is about, I just want more Eugenides-ness.  But for the curious, this is described as a modern love story that includes some students writing their thesis (theses?) on literary classics.  I don't know, Raych liked it and wrote a seriously amazing review on it, so that about does it for me.  I am eyeballing an audio for this one...
Does anyone have opinions?  Are there any of these that I must not miss at any cost? 

Wants and Needs (Bookmarks July/August)

With another issue of the wonderful Bookmarks comes more books that I can't help but drool over.  As much as I wish I could read them all NOW, there is a pretty good chance I will never put my hands on them.  So the next best thing is to talk about them for a little bit and get you all excited about them as well.  I had to laugh at myself this time around...every single book is a "need"!!! 

 "All Clear" - Connie Willis:  Having just finished Willis's "The Doomsday Book" I am now a believer.  "All Clear" is the sequel to "Blackout", both about time travel between the year 2060 and WWII in England...how can you go wrong with this?  In the critical summary, it calls this novel "some of the strongest storytelling of Willis's career".  Ok then.  Side note:  I realize there is a read-along occurring with these books as I speak...I will just a little too late this time!

 

"The End of the Affair" - Graham Greene:  Don't yell at me, I've never read this and it is high time I should.  Greene was the feature this month and it has inspired me to get on the bandwagon.  Who can resist a love story that takes place in WWII?

"Flashback" - Dan Simmons:  I never did have the courage to read the enormous "Drood" by Simmons but I loved "The Terror".  The story is about an earth in the not-so-distant future, where the US is falling apart and 87% of the population is addicted to a drug that allows them to relive the best moments of their lives.  Cool.
   

"In the Garden of Beasts" - Erik Larson:  My brain almost exploded when I read "The Devil in the White City", and it assured Larson top spot for historical non-fiction in my heart.  He is back to blow our minds again with the story about a mild-mannered historian sent to Berlin with his family to be the ambassador to Germany during WWII.  (Yes I know there is a WWII theme going on here this morning.)
 

  

"A Death in Summer" - Benjamin Black: I've read all but the last Quirk novel and I really enjoy them.  Great murder mysteries, great protagonist.  I love my series.

 

Wants and needs

My kids are always lecturing me on the difference between wants and needs. So I think I'm pretty clear, and muse on the concept often when I am perusing book recommendations from my bloggy friends, or, for example, my latest Bookmarks mag. Really, for me, it is just a case of how much I wiggle around when I think about the potential joy it might bring me. Here are some examples:

Wants - Definition: 60% chance of reading, depending on how my challenges go. Book has caught my attention.


So Much For That - Lionel Shriver. The only thing keeping this book off my "need" list is the fact that it is about the crappy healthcare system in the US, and the effect it has on one couple nearing retirement. I hear alot about crappy healthcare in my house, so I'm not sure I want to read about it. But there is this thing with Shriver's writing that I cannot deny.



Major Pettigrew's Last Stand - Helen Simonson. An endearing love story between widow and widower, a shared passion for literature, faith in the power of kindness. I need these to pull me back up out of the muck now and again.






The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - Rebecca Skloot. Impoverished young African-American woman is admitted into the hospital for cervical cancer, and without her knowledge, tissue is removed for experimentation. Years later, this tissue has been instrumental in modern medical research, yet the donor suffered, died and was buried in an unmarked grave, and her descendants live a life of poverty. Nothing like controversy to get my blood boiling.



Needs - Definition: These are sure things, baby. Right at the top of Maslow's Hierarchy. Maximum wiggling with anticipation.


The Prince of Mist - Carlos Ruiz Zafon. This author will forever have a spot in my heart after bestowing upon me The Shadow of the Wind. He is granted permanent immunity from anything ridiculous he might write in the future. This is a YA novel about hauntings, sunken ships and an enchanted stone garden, in the hands of a master. Bring it on.





The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest - Stieg Larsson. I don't believe I need to explain myself on this one. #3 in line for the audio, whenever it arrives at the local library. Then I shall lock myself in the closet for a couple of weeks.








61 Hours - Lee Child. I have a long-term and very loyal relationship with Mr. Child and Jack Reacher, the ultimate dude in this crime thriller series. Reacher finds his wandering self in South Dakota, where there is a meth lab, somebody who needs protecting, certainly some bad guys who need beat up, and a clock ticking down to something ominous. Mr. Child has permanent immunity from slip-ups as well, and would follow him wherever he may go.



The Passage - Justin Cronin. The first of a proposed trilogy (and fast-tracked for the silver screen), and on EW's list of most anticipated summer reads, this one cannot be ignored. We get a post-apocalyptic America with a virus and blood-thirsty vampiric goons and a little girl who might hold the answer to preventing the end of the world as we know it. This will soon be arriving in audio format to my doorstep!



Faithful Place - Tana French. I don't even know what it is about. But anybody who creates such an amazing book as The Likeness is good enough for me anyday. I'm buying what she is selling.













So what say you? Are you with me?