Top Ten Books on my Winter TBR List & Tuesday Intro (Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel)

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish that asks bloggers to create Top Ten lists on a variety of bookish topics. This week’s topic is…

Top Ten Books on my Winter TBR List
I tend to use the winter to read more backlist books and less new releases, so you won’t see all new releases on this list. I also try to re-read a favorite that I haven’t read in a long time…last year I re-read two of my favorites by Pat Conroy: The Lords of Discipline and The Great Santini

My Annual Winter Re-Read

The Prince of Tides, Pat Conroy, southern fiction

The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy
I read this one years ago and loved it, but can’t remember all the details. I’ve loved re-reading my old Pat Conroy favorites over the past few years.

New Releases

City of Liars and Thieves, Eve Karlin, Dead Wake, Erik Larson, Dirty Chicks, Antonia Murphy, Bishop's Wife, Mette Ivie Harrison

City of Liars and Thieves by Eve Karlin
A debut novel based on a true crime, the United States’ first recorded murder trial. This one combines two things I’ve had great luck with this year: debuts and fiction based on true crime. I will be reviewing this one for TLC Book Tours in January.

Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson
The master of nonfiction tackles an ocean crossing. This one is coming out in March, 2015 and I’m trying to get my hands on a review copy (it’s not on NetGalley).

Dirty Chick: Adventures of an Unlikely Farmer by Antonia Murphy
This memoir was an emailed review request and sounded so odd (a San Francisco yuppy uproots her family to move to a farm in New Zealand after her son is diagnosed with a rare illness) that I was intrigued. Goodreads had a few quotes from the book and I liked the writing style, so I’ll be reviewing it in January (coming out on January 22, 2015).

The Bishop’s Wife by Mette Ivie Harrison
A murder mystery set in Mormon Utah, which comes out on December 30.

2014 Hits/”Big Books” I Haven’t Read Yet

All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr, The Means, Douglas Brunt, Us, David Nicholls

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
I’ve had a sample of this one sitting on my Kindle for a month now. I keep saying I’m going to get to it…I swear I will.

The Means by Douglas Brunt
I loved Brunt’s 2012 debut, Ghosts of Manhattan, so have been meaning to check out his 2014 political novel about two Presidential candidates.

Us by David Nicholls
I started this one a month ago, but wasn’t feeling it. I intend to give it one more shot since I loved Nicholls’ One Day.

Backlist Books

The Wife, Meg Wolitzer, This Town, Mark Leibovich

The Wife by Meg Wolitzer
Ever since I read The Interestings, I’ve wanted to read something from Wolitzer’s backlist. Shannon at River City Reading’s review led me to The Wife.

This Town by Mark Leibovich
I’ve had this political satire sitting on my Kindle since this summer…it’s high time I give it a go!

First Chapter First Paragraph

Every Tuesday, fellow blogger Bibliophile By the Sea hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, where bloggers share the first paragraph of the book they are currently reading or thinking about reading soon.

Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel

I’m almost finished this one and it’s awesome…and I am NOT usually a fan of post apocalyptic fiction. I think the fact that the characters are just as confounded by what’s happening as I am makes me better able to identify with a subject that I’m not usually into. The first paragraph really didn’t do much for me, but it quickly got much, much better!

Plot Summary from Amazon
One snowy night Arthur Leander, a famous actor, has a heart attack onstage during a production of King Lear. Jeevan Chaudhary, a paparazzo-turned-EMT, is in the audience and leaps to his aid. A child actress named Kirsten Raymonde watches in horror as Jeevan performs CPR, pumping Arthur’s chest as the curtain drops, but Arthur is dead. That same night, as Jeevan walks home from the theater, a terrible flu begins to spread. Hospitals are flooded and Jeevan and his brother barricade themselves inside an apartment, watching out the window as cars clog the highways, gunshots ring out, and life disintegrates around them.

Fifteen years later, Kirsten is an actress with the Traveling Symphony. Together, this small troupe moves between the settlements of an altered world, performing Shakespeare and music for scattered communities of survivors. Written on their caravan, and tattooed on Kirsten’s arm is a line from Star Trek: “Because survival is insufficient.” But when they arrive in St. Deborah by the Water, they encounter a violent prophet who digs graves for anyone who dares to leave.

Here’s the first paragraph of Chapter 1:

The king stood in a pool of blue light, unmoored. This was act 4 of King Lear, a winter night at the Elgin Theatre in Toronto. Earlier in the evening, three little girls had played a clapping game onstage as the audience entered, childhood versions of Lear’s daughters, and now they’d returned as hallucinations in the mad scene. The king stumbled and reached for them as they flitted here and there in the shadows. His name was Arthur Leander. He was fifty-one years old and there were flowers in his hair.

What do you think? Would you keep reading? Stay tuned for my full review…


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12 Comments

  1. Beth F wrote:

    yes, I’d keep reading — and I keep meaning to read this one. Must.Get.To.It. My teaser

    Posted 11.25.14 Reply
  2. I have been known to read the occasional post-apocalyptic tales…and even sometimes enjoyed them. But it’s not my preferred genre.

    This does sound unique, however. I am curious. Thanks for sharing…and for visiting my blog.

    Posted 11.25.14 Reply
  3. The Wife?! It’s one of my all-time favorite books. All the Light We Cannot See is also excellent. I hope you enjoy them!

    Posted 11.25.14 Reply
  4. Cleo wrote:

    Well you have a great winter TBR! I do hope you enjoy your choices. Interesting first paragraph although your comments about not normally enjoying post apocalyptic books has me more convinced that I’d enjoy this more than I’ve previously thought I would.

    Posted 11.25.14 Reply
  5. Nise' wrote:

    I loved All The Light We Cannot See! I would keep reading as I like this genre.

    Posted 11.25.14 Reply
  6. Like you, I loved One Day and I’m looking forward to Us. Station Eleven is on my list as well. Happy winter reading!

    Posted 11.25.14 Reply
  7. Just this morning a book club friend said I HAD to read The Light We Cannot See, so of course, I’m adding that to my list.

    I liked the first paragraph even though I don’t like that kind of stuff either. I think I’d like to try a few more pages. Happy Thanksgiving Sarah.

    Posted 11.25.14 Reply
  8. YAY – The Wife!! It’s a super quick read if you’re looking for something short. I know you’e been back and forth with All the Light We Cannot See, so if it helps sway you, – I loved that the chapters were super short (like 2-3 pages each). It made me think, “Oh, I’ll just read the next chapter.” and I would end up reading huge chunks at one time.

    Posted 11.25.14 Reply
  9. Sorry for being so late with commenting today! Ooh I’m currently studying King Lear for on of my modules! I have requested this book on Netgalley so fingers crossed I’ll get to read it as well because so many people are so happy with it it’s making me jealous. I hope you enjoy the rest of it as well! Thanks for sharing 🙂 have a great week!
    My Tuesday Post
    Juli @ Universe in Words

    Posted 11.25.14 Reply
  10. I haven’t heard of most of these titles, but I’m pretty excited about Us because I’ve heard lots of good things about it! It seems that everyone has read One Day except me. Great list!
    -Jon from Bookish Antics!

    Posted 11.25.14 Reply
  11. Diane@BibliophilebytheSea wrote:

    I’ve been on the fence about this one, but am leaning toward reading it. Thanks for sharing the intro.

    Posted 11.25.14 Reply
  12. I hadn’t heard about Dead Wake–that sounds interesting! I really, really loved All the Light We Cannot See! Great historical novel. I worried it would be too sappy (the blind girl!), but somehow it wasn’t.

    Posted 11.29.14 Reply

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