The Circle: I've never read David Eggers, and this book about an internet company that grows to emcompass more and more parts of the lives of its users feels super relevant to today. This was a bit of a flop, and I'm curious whether I think that's fair.
Sophie's Choice: I've seen the movie so I'm spoiled on the "twist", but I'm interested to read the source material. The book isn't always better than the movie, so we'll see how this one actually works.
The Mothers: This (and the following two) are ARCs...advance reader copies, for which I am owing a review. This one is an inter-generational story about mothers during three different periods of Australian history. I don't read much Aussie lit and I'm curious to see how I like it.
The Life Of The World To Come: When your story is about a high-strung law student/lawyer, I tend to be game because that has been my actual life. This about the aforementioned lawyer-type, who feels like his life is over when his girlfriend leaves him and his work on a death penalty case that throws him even further off-balance.
Border Child: Some of the rhetoric surrounding immigration today makes my blood boil, but I do think that the underlying issue we're wrestling with is an important and complex one. What gets left out all too often, though, is the remembrance that these are people we're talking about. This is a story about a family that attempts to leave Mexico for the United States, but along the way the small daughter is lost and the parents return home...but years later, information about their missing child is revealed and they won't stop at anything to find out the truth.
The Executioner's Song: The death penalty has been a long and abiding interest of mine. When I was in law school, I took a course on it, did research on it for the professor that taught that course, and was in a death penalty focused clinic. This enormous (1000+ pages in my mass-market edition) non-fiction novel deals with a death penalty case in Utah and even though I'm sure it's going to bog down my reading pace I'm stoked to get to it.
The Confessions of Saint Augustine: I've always wanted to read this, and that hasn't changed even though it's been well over half my lifetime since I've been to Mass. It'll be a definite change of pace for me!
Invisible Man: With the goings-on recently, racial issues have been top-of-mind for me. This is a classic story about prejudice and the way we divide ourselves from our fellow humans and I'm really interested to get into it.
Paper Magician: This was a Kindle sale pickup...I don't know if I just saw the cover enough that it wore me down, but I definitely bought it inexpensively. I tend to be drawn to fiction about magical worlds, so I'm interested, but if I'm being honest the reviews are mixed so my expectations aren't particularly high.
Eleanor of Aquitaine: I read Alison Weir's The Six Wives of Henry VIII a while back (review upcoming...my book backlog is crazy right now, y'all!) and loved it...she presents well-researched history in a very readable and enjoyable way. So now I need to read the rest of her books, and luckily for me she writes a lot about royalty: one of my favorite nonfiction subjects! This one is about a royal I don't actually know as much about, so I'm looking forward to sinking my teeth in!
Great list! I desperately need to read some Alison Weir, and I'm hoping to read some historical non-fiction this autumn, too - I visited the Tower of London at the weekend and picked up a copy of Weir's 'The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn' which I'm hoping to read very soon. =) I hope you enjoy all of these!
ReplyDeleteI went to the Tower when I was in college and loved it! It was nothing like what I was expecting, honestly. I've actually managed to snag secondhand copies of most of Weir's work...she's really great!
DeleteI have a copy of that Dave Eggers' book. I bought it after going to an author talk with him. I think it's interesting and I really should force myself to read it already!
ReplyDeleteI've just started reading it and it's definitely a really thought-provoking concept!
DeleteMy bestie is always recommending Invisible Man to me. She loves it, hope you do too!
ReplyDeleteI hope so too! It sounds incredible
DeleteGreat list! I've been meaning to revisit St. Augustine's Confessions, it's been a few years and I remember thinking how fascinating and thoughtful a read it was. Alison Weir's books are great, I read her book on the War of the Roses and she really made that mess of a war easy to follow/keep track of all the players involved :)
ReplyDeleteHappy reading! And thanks for dropping by my TTT earlier this week :)
Glad to hear good things about the Confessions...it's one of those things that I've kept meaning to read for years but gets pushed off the top of my TBR by lighter or more fun-sounding reads. This fall is finally the time! I think I have her War of the Roses book on my Kindle to read pretty soon...I've started reading the Philippa Gregory books on that era and it'll be nice to actually have some well-researched history to match it up with!
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