It’s the second Monday in January but feels more like the beginning of the year. Or maybe I just wish it was because, two weeks in and I’m not being bowled over by anything I’m reading. At the end of the year, I was reading a book that rocked me so hard (Vanessa and Her Sister) I’m going to break all the rules and include it in my best of 2015 when next December comes around. Yes, I’m that kind of crazy.
Don’t get me wrong, I have read a couple of strong books and I’ve reviewed them on Monday and Wednesday. Those are the days my blog has the most traffic and so I like to showcase the books I really love. And yet, here we are today and I have no showcase. Spoiler: I have nothing to showcase for Wednesday either so it may be kitten gifs or pictures of bad dresses from the Golden Globes awards.
Instead of writing about what I’ve read here’s what I’m reading. Let’s hope they’re so good I’ll be compelled to come back and review the hell out of them.
What I am reading — The Gods of Heavenly Punishment by Jennifer Cody; The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown; and Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine and the Miracle That Set Them Free by Hector Tobar
I really liked The Gods of Heavenly Punishment- a perspective on WWII we don’t see a lot. Kudos to you for reading so much non-fiction. I try but have trouble staying engaged. Of course, I say that when so far this year I’m having more luck with non-fiction than fiction! 🙂
This is the first I’m seeing I Think You’re Totally Wrong, but I love the idea of it being subtitled “A Quarrel”. Definitely going to check it out. Here’s to happier reading!
I felt like I hit the ground running in 2015 because the first book I finished was The Wisdom of the Earth by Christopher Scotton — amazing! I have a copy of Vanessa and Her Sister in my stack and can’t wait to read that — loved your review. (Did you see the review in the Sunday NY Times yesterday — excellent!) I am a huge fun of Julia Glass and adored And the Dark Sacred Night — hope you do too. Here’s a review I wrote last spring: http://booksonthetable.com/2014/04/14/monday-match-up-and-the-dark-sacred-night-three-junes/.
Happy New Year, and I hope you have a great reading year ahead!
The Undertaker’s Daughter has a GREAT cover! Hopefully that’s a sign of awesome reading to come. Also, I would not be heartbroken if you recapped those awards dresses. 😉
Last night I finished Stern Girls. Don’t recommend. Before that, I read The Goldfinch, which was too long by half (or more). I’m looking for a good one, too.
You get greedy for the good ones, don’t you? And have less patience for the ones that are not so great.
I always refer to your situation as a book hangover. It’s hard to find something” good after reading an excellent book. I hope the ones you are planning are excellent too. Come see my week here. Happy reading!
HUGE hangover! Almost the kind that makes me think I should never read again. I’m almost wondering if it is me because I’m hearing about these books people are loving and I’m ‘meh’.
I love the title of I Think You’re Totally Wrong…going to look that one up. And I recently saw Vanessa and her Sister on another blog – that one raved about it too, so I’ll have to check that one out as well. May go on the nonfiction november list.
Reading Kate Williams’ Ambition and Desire just now, about Josephine Bonaparte. Not fiction, but it reads like it. Pretty good. I desperately want to read some fiction that blows my mind and fills me with writerly envy. Nothing much has since The Goldfinch, which I read in November.
I know, Cynthia! The last thing I read that just moved me so deeply was Vanessa and Her Sister- it was the prose. Since then, everything is kind of grey.
I Think You’re Totally Wrong sounds really interesting! Great books. Happy reading!
I’ve seen “The Undertaker’s Daughter” on several blogs and it sounds fascinating!
Oh Undertaker’s Daughter…the title is catchy. If you enjoy it, another memoir dealing with growing up in a funeral home is Driving With Dead People, by Monica Holloway. Kept me up to all hours, but definitely more sad in certain parts, as Undertaker’s Daughter sounds like it might be.
The Undertaker’s Daughter looks good.
ENJOY your reading week.
Very nice blog. Gorgeous header.
Elizabeth
Silver’s Reviews
My It’s Monday, What Are You Reading
I’m really loving it! It reads almost like fiction.