After I finished it, of course, I realized I should have included Wedding Cake for Breakfast: Essays on the Unforgettable First Year of Marriage (given its venue, after all...).
Tell me, what else did I miss? What are your favorite books on love?
Showing posts with label book preview. Show all posts
Writing Elsewhere: 13 Books on Love
13 February 2015
With Valentine's Day right around the corner (oh wait, is that tomorrow? That's tomorrow. Huh.), I compiled a list of 13 books on love for Martha Stewart Weddings. My picks:
After I finished it, of course, I realized I should have included Wedding Cake for Breakfast: Essays on the Unforgettable First Year of Marriage (given its venue, after all...).
After I finished it, of course, I realized I should have included Wedding Cake for Breakfast: Essays on the Unforgettable First Year of Marriage (given its venue, after all...).
Looking Ahead: February Books
03 February 2014
I've got my eye on more February releases than I can possibly hope to read in one month (and a short month, at that!), but where would I be if I ever caught up on all the books I wanted to read? And so I'll keep adding more books to the mental list of "books-on-my-radar" and hoping that one day someone will just pay me to sit in my house and read all day:
Annihilation, by Jeff VanderMeer (FSG, February 4): The publisher blurb for this begins, "If J.J. Abrams, Margaret Atwood, and Alan Weisman collaborated on a novel . . . it might be this awesome." That's a big claim, but if it lives up to the hype, it really will be awesome. The first in a planned trilogy, the second and third volumes are due to be published in 2014, so the wait won't be long.
Marshlands, by Matthew Olshan (FSG, February 4): An unnamed man is released from an unidentified military prison to a country he no longer recognizes as his own. As this novel moves backwards in time, the man's crimes are revealed--as is the haunting world of a country at war with its occupiers. I've already read this one, and while it's rather quiet, it resonates with our current political situation despite its lack of identifying details.
The Secret of Raven Point, by Jennifer Vanderbes (Scribner, February 4): World War II history promising a "war saga capturing the experiences of soldiers after the battles have ended." And told from the perspective of a woman? Yes, please.
Strange Bodies, by Marcel Theroux (FSG, February 4): The Millions Most Anticipated Books of 2014 article stated, "This smart novel’s central conceit is that we are all, like books, made of words." What's not to love about that?
The Martian, by Andy Weir (Crown, February 11): One of the first men to walk on the surface of Mars is left behind by his crew... and will quickly become the first man to die on the surface of Mars. An interesting twist on our concept of "Martians," yes?
The News: A User's Manual, by Alain de Botton (Pantheon, February 11): Alain de Botton, founder of the School of Life (which has a corresponding book series worth checking out), tackles our obsession with the news in his latest work. In the age of the 24-hour-news cycle, this couldn't feel more relevant.
The Good Luck of Right Now, by Matthew Quick (Harper, February 11): The author of The Silver Linings Playbook is back in an epistolary novel told entirely in letters to Richard Gere. The letter-writer, Bartholomew, starts his missives after the death of his mother--and just keeps going. I've already read this one, and while it's not what I think people will be expecting, it's heartfelt and engaging.
Bark: Stories, by Lorrie Moore (Knopf, February 25): I've never read Lorrie Moore, but after all the praise that has been heaped upon her, I don't plan to miss this collection.
Kinder Than Solitude, by Yiyun Li (Random House, February 25): Another one picked up from The Millions' list of 2014 titles, this one promises to be a literary dive into the whodunit--or rather, the "what really happened" and the "does it even matter." I love novels that turn the classic crime story on its head, and this fits that bill in more ways than one.
Annihilation, by Jeff VanderMeer (FSG, February 4): The publisher blurb for this begins, "If J.J. Abrams, Margaret Atwood, and Alan Weisman collaborated on a novel . . . it might be this awesome." That's a big claim, but if it lives up to the hype, it really will be awesome. The first in a planned trilogy, the second and third volumes are due to be published in 2014, so the wait won't be long.
Marshlands, by Matthew Olshan (FSG, February 4): An unnamed man is released from an unidentified military prison to a country he no longer recognizes as his own. As this novel moves backwards in time, the man's crimes are revealed--as is the haunting world of a country at war with its occupiers. I've already read this one, and while it's rather quiet, it resonates with our current political situation despite its lack of identifying details.
The Secret of Raven Point, by Jennifer Vanderbes (Scribner, February 4): World War II history promising a "war saga capturing the experiences of soldiers after the battles have ended." And told from the perspective of a woman? Yes, please.
Strange Bodies, by Marcel Theroux (FSG, February 4): The Millions Most Anticipated Books of 2014 article stated, "This smart novel’s central conceit is that we are all, like books, made of words." What's not to love about that?
The Martian, by Andy Weir (Crown, February 11): One of the first men to walk on the surface of Mars is left behind by his crew... and will quickly become the first man to die on the surface of Mars. An interesting twist on our concept of "Martians," yes?
The News: A User's Manual, by Alain de Botton (Pantheon, February 11): Alain de Botton, founder of the School of Life (which has a corresponding book series worth checking out), tackles our obsession with the news in his latest work. In the age of the 24-hour-news cycle, this couldn't feel more relevant.
The Good Luck of Right Now, by Matthew Quick (Harper, February 11): The author of The Silver Linings Playbook is back in an epistolary novel told entirely in letters to Richard Gere. The letter-writer, Bartholomew, starts his missives after the death of his mother--and just keeps going. I've already read this one, and while it's not what I think people will be expecting, it's heartfelt and engaging.
Bark: Stories, by Lorrie Moore (Knopf, February 25): I've never read Lorrie Moore, but after all the praise that has been heaped upon her, I don't plan to miss this collection.
Kinder Than Solitude, by Yiyun Li (Random House, February 25): Another one picked up from The Millions' list of 2014 titles, this one promises to be a literary dive into the whodunit--or rather, the "what really happened" and the "does it even matter." I love novels that turn the classic crime story on its head, and this fits that bill in more ways than one.
Top Ten Tuesday: 2014 Releases to Look For
03 December 2013
I don't often participate in Top Ten Tuesday, but I found it hard to resist today's topic: 2014 releases we can't wait to read. My list ranges from books I've been waiting for for years (Lev Grossman's Magician's Land) to those I've only just discovered in the depths of Edelweiss (Unlearning with Hannah Arendt). It's a lot longer than just 10, but here are some of my picks:
Frog Music, by Emma Donoghue (Little, Brown & Company, April 1): Believe it or not, I've never yet read any of Donoghue's work (though I have several of her titles on my shelf). Here, she returns to historical fiction, based on an unsolved murder in 1876 San Francisco.
Magician's Land, by Lev Grossman (Viking, August 5): The third book in Grossman's Magicians trilogy, following up on The Magicians (2010) and The Magician King (2011). I've been waiting since 2011 for this book, and am thrilled that it now has an official pub date.
Perfect, by Rachel Joyce (Random House, January 14): Joyce's debut novel, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, was the kind of book I loved so much that I never reviewed it, fearful that trying to put my thoughts in words would somehow dilute the experience of it. Needless to say, there's no way I'm missing her sophomore effort.
The Martian, by Andy Weir (Crown, February 11): One of the first men to set foot on Mars is accidentally left behind, thought to be dead after an unexpected dust storm. Sounds creepy, scientific, and outer-spatial, and comes with lots of bloggers already buzzing.
When Everything Changed, by Gail Collins (Little, Brown & Company, April 2014): This one is a bit of a cheat, as it's a "Keepsake Issue" of a twenty-year old title, but Collins approach to the history of feminism from 1960 to today intrigues me, and I love the idea of combining this account with space for individuals to record their own or their family member's own memories of each time period covered.
The Temporary Gentleman, by Sebastian Barry (Viking, May 1): I loved Barry's The Secret Scripture, and didn't realize until browsing through Edelweiss that he had a new novel out this year. This is the story of an Irishman who fought in WWII, and is--I've just learned--a continuation of Barry's "separate yet interconnected novels that brilliantly reimagine characters from Barry’s own family."
To Rise Again at a Decent Hour, by Joshua Ferris (Little, Brown & Company, May 6): Like Ferris' previous two novels, this novel promises a story of one man searching for meaning in an otherwise absurd world--this time a Luddite who finds someone impersonating him online.
The Invention of Wings, by Sue Monk Kidd (Viking, January 7): I loved The Secret Life of Bees, and read Kidd's Traveling with Pomegranates, which she and her daughter co-wrote, at a time when my and my mother's life almost directly paralleled Kidd and her daughter's life. She's solidly on the list of "I'll-read-anything-she-writes" authors, and this story of an slave in 19th century-Charleston and her daughter looks more than intriguing.
Unlearning with Hannah Arendt, by Marie Luise Knott (Other Press, May 13): I wrote a paper on the banality of evil in a college history class, drawing deeply on Arendt's teachings as well as works from other authors, and the topic has long intrigued me. Knott's book is hailed as an examination of the innovative strategies Arendt used to arrive at her now-famous theories.
Astonish Me, by Maggie Shipstead (Knopf, April 8): I haven't read Shipstead's debut novel, Seating Arrangements--yet. But after all the praise it received from bloggers and reviewers I saw, I don't plan to miss her second novel, which focuses on the world of professional ballet.
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. See everyone's answers to this week's prompt over on their site.
Frog Music, by Emma Donoghue (Little, Brown & Company, April 1): Believe it or not, I've never yet read any of Donoghue's work (though I have several of her titles on my shelf). Here, she returns to historical fiction, based on an unsolved murder in 1876 San Francisco.
Magician's Land, by Lev Grossman (Viking, August 5): The third book in Grossman's Magicians trilogy, following up on The Magicians (2010) and The Magician King (2011). I've been waiting since 2011 for this book, and am thrilled that it now has an official pub date.
Perfect, by Rachel Joyce (Random House, January 14): Joyce's debut novel, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, was the kind of book I loved so much that I never reviewed it, fearful that trying to put my thoughts in words would somehow dilute the experience of it. Needless to say, there's no way I'm missing her sophomore effort.
The Martian, by Andy Weir (Crown, February 11): One of the first men to set foot on Mars is accidentally left behind, thought to be dead after an unexpected dust storm. Sounds creepy, scientific, and outer-spatial, and comes with lots of bloggers already buzzing.
When Everything Changed, by Gail Collins (Little, Brown & Company, April 2014): This one is a bit of a cheat, as it's a "Keepsake Issue" of a twenty-year old title, but Collins approach to the history of feminism from 1960 to today intrigues me, and I love the idea of combining this account with space for individuals to record their own or their family member's own memories of each time period covered.
The Temporary Gentleman, by Sebastian Barry (Viking, May 1): I loved Barry's The Secret Scripture, and didn't realize until browsing through Edelweiss that he had a new novel out this year. This is the story of an Irishman who fought in WWII, and is--I've just learned--a continuation of Barry's "separate yet interconnected novels that brilliantly reimagine characters from Barry’s own family."
To Rise Again at a Decent Hour, by Joshua Ferris (Little, Brown & Company, May 6): Like Ferris' previous two novels, this novel promises a story of one man searching for meaning in an otherwise absurd world--this time a Luddite who finds someone impersonating him online.
The Invention of Wings, by Sue Monk Kidd (Viking, January 7): I loved The Secret Life of Bees, and read Kidd's Traveling with Pomegranates, which she and her daughter co-wrote, at a time when my and my mother's life almost directly paralleled Kidd and her daughter's life. She's solidly on the list of "I'll-read-anything-she-writes" authors, and this story of an slave in 19th century-Charleston and her daughter looks more than intriguing.
Unlearning with Hannah Arendt, by Marie Luise Knott (Other Press, May 13): I wrote a paper on the banality of evil in a college history class, drawing deeply on Arendt's teachings as well as works from other authors, and the topic has long intrigued me. Knott's book is hailed as an examination of the innovative strategies Arendt used to arrive at her now-famous theories.
Astonish Me, by Maggie Shipstead (Knopf, April 8): I haven't read Shipstead's debut novel, Seating Arrangements--yet. But after all the praise it received from bloggers and reviewers I saw, I don't plan to miss her second novel, which focuses on the world of professional ballet.
What books are on your 2014 must-read list? What have you been waiting for?
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. See everyone's answers to this week's prompt over on their site.
Fall Forward: Impatience is a Virtue
07 September 2012
I posted earlier this week about nine summer books I missed and can't wait to get my hands on now that my self-imposed Summer of TBR is over. But in addition to all the great books I skipped this summer, there's a ton of amazing literature slated for release this fall. Am I missing anything in my collection below? What are you most excited about for fall?
Looking Back: Summer Books I Missed
05 September 2012
Now that I've survived my summer of TBR, I'm loosening my belt a little and allowing myself to indulge in a few summer releases I skipped over. Here's a few I can't wait to get my hands on... and since I'm late to this reading party, I'm hoping you all can help tell me where to start!
Book Trailers?
19 March 2010
I've been noticing more and more book trailers popping up around the bookworld interwebs. At first, these were novel concepts and therefore pretty intriguing - I even posted the trailer for Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters a few months ago.
But as they become more and more popular, I'm beginning to wonder whether or not I truly like them as a marketing tool, whether they are effective as a marketing tool, or if they are just more noise to sift through in trying to decide which books to read. What it comes down to, I think, is that book trailers can often tell me nothing more than a well-written book synopsis/summary/back cover blurb.
More than this, though, is the fact that the message that these trailers do convey is being sent via a medium I would not choose. I am a bookworm, through and through, and am much more likely to identify with a written blurb or preview of a book rather than an acted-out version.
There are exceptions to this, of course, as not all book trailers are merely acted-out scenes from the book. There is Libba Bray's book trailer for Going Bovine, in which the author herself dresses up as a cow and wanders around New York City. I loved both the book and the trailer. Bray clearly has a sense of humor.
There is another kind of book trailer I've found particularly intriguing recently, and that is one for books that go beyond a normal book blurb. Two in particular come to mind: ABC3D and War in the Pacific. Sure, the blurb could say "A book of the alphabet in which the letters come to life and pop off the page," and "A history of the war in the Pacific complete with facsimile documents of primary sources," but those are boring. Instead, look what a book trailer can do for books such as these, where a cover image and a blurb just aren't going to suffice in explaining the true value of the book:
War in the Pacific (a really, really cool book, I say shamelessly as one who has seen it and worked with it in person)
ABC Pop-up Book (with over 1.5 MILLION views!)
But as they become more and more popular, I'm beginning to wonder whether or not I truly like them as a marketing tool, whether they are effective as a marketing tool, or if they are just more noise to sift through in trying to decide which books to read. What it comes down to, I think, is that book trailers can often tell me nothing more than a well-written book synopsis/summary/back cover blurb.
More than this, though, is the fact that the message that these trailers do convey is being sent via a medium I would not choose. I am a bookworm, through and through, and am much more likely to identify with a written blurb or preview of a book rather than an acted-out version.
There are exceptions to this, of course, as not all book trailers are merely acted-out scenes from the book. There is Libba Bray's book trailer for Going Bovine, in which the author herself dresses up as a cow and wanders around New York City. I loved both the book and the trailer. Bray clearly has a sense of humor.
There is another kind of book trailer I've found particularly intriguing recently, and that is one for books that go beyond a normal book blurb. Two in particular come to mind: ABC3D and War in the Pacific. Sure, the blurb could say "A book of the alphabet in which the letters come to life and pop off the page," and "A history of the war in the Pacific complete with facsimile documents of primary sources," but those are boring. Instead, look what a book trailer can do for books such as these, where a cover image and a blurb just aren't going to suffice in explaining the true value of the book:
War in the Pacific (a really, really cool book, I say shamelessly as one who has seen it and worked with it in person)
ABC Pop-up Book (with over 1.5 MILLION views!)
Libba Bray... A Mad Cow.
23 August 2009
Book trailers seem to be the new hit thing for book promotions, and while I don't dislike them (I even went so far as to put the Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters preview in a blog post), I must admit, I also don't quite get them. I recently stumbled into a link to Libba Bray's book trailer for Going Bovine, however, reviewed here, and she seems to have struck on something more than the traditional dramatization/read-the-back-cover-blurb book trailer. Seriously. Libba Bray. Dressed as a cow. Wandering Random House offices and the streets of New York. You don't want to miss it.
The video isn't available anywhere that I can seem to embed it, but it is on Entertainment Weekly's Shelf Talker here.
Two August Releases from S&S
18 August 2009
I'm spending this week poring over The Complete Sailor in preparation for my week at home, so instead of a book review, I've got book teasers. In addition to the stack of books on my folder, the boxes of books still unpacked and the myriad galleys and books to read at work, here are two books I can't wait to get my hands on:
The White Queen, by Philippa Gregory
Yes, it's a "romance." But technically, it's more than that. Gregory's books are historical fiction, Gregory being a historian before she was a novelist. With The White Queen, she delves into one of the greatest mysteries of medieval England: Elizabeth Woodville, who would become Queen of England, and her two sons, who would be ferried up into the Tower of London never to be seen or heard from (or of) again. To this day, historians have not been able to piece together what happened to these two boys, and on this day, the book is now on sale. Now, we just have to wait to see if it can top the 1.5 million copies of The Other Boleyn Girl sold. But then, that was made into a movie, and as we saw with Julie and Julia, those just generate book sales like no one's business.
From Square One: A Meditation, with Digressions, on Crosswords , by Dean Olsher
Olsher is a self-proclaimed obsessive. The first sentence of the first excerpt of the book on S&S's website reads: "There is no other word for it. I get defensive when people dismiss the crossword as a mere pastime or, worse, a form of escapism. To my mind, they just don't get it." This title promises to take us on a full tour of the crossword puzzle, the mind that loves it, and the obsession it creates. Personally, I can't wait. To read the book, or to dig up my Merl Reagle crossword books.
The White Queen, by Philippa GregoryYes, it's a "romance." But technically, it's more than that. Gregory's books are historical fiction, Gregory being a historian before she was a novelist. With The White Queen, she delves into one of the greatest mysteries of medieval England: Elizabeth Woodville, who would become Queen of England, and her two sons, who would be ferried up into the Tower of London never to be seen or heard from (or of) again. To this day, historians have not been able to piece together what happened to these two boys, and on this day, the book is now on sale. Now, we just have to wait to see if it can top the 1.5 million copies of The Other Boleyn Girl sold. But then, that was made into a movie, and as we saw with Julie and Julia, those just generate book sales like no one's business.
From Square One: A Meditation, with Digressions, on Crosswords , by Dean Olsher
Olsher is a self-proclaimed obsessive. The first sentence of the first excerpt of the book on S&S's website reads: "There is no other word for it. I get defensive when people dismiss the crossword as a mere pastime or, worse, a form of escapism. To my mind, they just don't get it." This title promises to take us on a full tour of the crossword puzzle, the mind that loves it, and the obsession it creates. Personally, I can't wait. To read the book, or to dig up my Merl Reagle crossword books.
Jane Austen always was a bit terrifying
10 August 2009
Check it - the preview for Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, the second "Quirky Classic." This follows Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which I own but has been temporarily swiped by my boyfriend. I'll have to steal it back so I can get up a review. In the meantime...
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