Top Ten Tuesdays: My Summer TBR Pile

Cheers to the gals at The Broke and the Bookish for hosting this lovely meme!

This is meant to be the Top Ten Books on my Summer TBR pile. However, I’ve listed the nine books (or possibly 13, if you count all the titles by Hobb that I intend to read!) that are definitely next up in my TBR list, although I’m sure I’ll pick up some random others based on reviews I see floating around. I've got a one month holiday coming up in August too, so I'm hoping to get through quite a few!

Assassin's Quest (Farseer Trilogy #3) by Robin Hobb
This is the last book in an epic trilogy that I have loved so far. I binge-read the first two books, and have definite plans to finish off the third soon (and probably the Tawny Man trilogy too, because why not). Based on the first two, I have no doubt that they will be awesome. Just look at that dragon on the cover!

Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor
I’ve only ever read one short story by Nnedi Okorafor. (It was marvellous.) Plus, her books seem to keep extremely good company on Goodreads – whenever they pop up, they’re always listed with others I love. So looking forward to her novel on the alien invasion of Nigeria!

Lord of Emperors (The Sarantine Mosaic #2) by Guy Gavriel Kay
I started reading Kay a couple of years ago, and have loved everything he’s written. Now this book was actually on my Spring TBR list, but somehow I didn’t get around to it (I blame Netgalley!). But I love Kay’s novels. They’re dramatic, and epic, and always make me cry. Definitely reading this over summer.

Shadowplay (Micah Grey #2) by Laura Lam
I read Book 1 earlier this year, and now Book 2 is sitting on my Kindle, waiting patiently to be read. A second instalment of queer fantasy, apparently with more magic than the last? Yes please.
  
The Mirror Empire (The Worldbreaker Saga #1) by Kameron Hurley
I’ve heard a lot of good things about Hurley’s other books, although I’ve never read them. This new series of hers seems like a good place to start! It looks suitably epic. 

The Magician’s Land (The Magicians #3) by Lev Grossman

I know there are a lot of people who dislike these books, but I’m not one of them. (Maybe this could be blamed on my love of Narnia, despite its many flaws?) Anyway, I can’t wait to see how Grossman wraps this trilogy up.  

Rose Under Fire (Code Name Verity #2) by Elizabeth Wein
Another WW2 pilot novel, this time about an American who gets captured and sent to Ravensbruck, the notorious women's concentration camp. Looks as heart-wrenching as the last, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Also, that cover! Arty & dramatic.

Earth Star (Earth Girl #2) by Janet Edwards

I don’t read much YA, but am happy to make an exception for this series. The first book was awesome, and I’ve heard the second lives up to its predecessor. Yes to clever sci-fi & awesome female protagonists. 

 

War for the Oaks by Emma Bull

This book has been sitting on my Kindle for at least a year, and I found it when I was reorganising my books. I know it’s a classic (with faeries! I have a terrible weakness for faeries) so am really looking forward to reading it.

Waiting on Wednesday: The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine, a great place to geek out over upcoming books!

My pick for this week is The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters, to be published in September by Riverhead. And why? Because Waters is a stunning author - Fingersmith is possibly my favourite non-SFF book ever, The Night Watch was beautiful and melancholy, and her other books are awesome too. And this one! I was a bit worried when I first read the blurb – it doesn’t make it clear that there are lesbians in it, and her last novel, The Little Strangers, didn’t have any queer content – but apparently she’s not making this a trend. Plus all the reviews have said glowing things about both the romance and the overall tension in this book. I seriously can’t wait.


From the bestselling author of The Little Stranger and Fingersmith, an enthralling novel about a widow and her daughter who take a young couple into their home in 1920s London.

It is 1922, and London is tense. Ex-servicemen are disillusioned; the out-of-work and the hungry are demanding change. And in South London, in a genteel Camberwell villa—a large, silent house now bereft of brothers, husband, and even servants—life is about to be transformed as impoverished widow Mrs. Wray and her spinster daughter, Frances, are obliged to take in lodgers.

With the arrival of Lilian and Leonard Barber, a modern young couple of the “clerk class,” the routines of the house will be shaken up in unexpected ways. Little do the Wrays know just how profoundly their new tenants will alter the course of Frances’s life—or, as passions mount and frustration gathers, how far-reaching, and how devastating, the disturbances will be.

Short-listed for the Man Booker Prize three times, Sarah Waters has earned a reputation as one of our greatest writers of historical fiction, and here she has delivered again. A love story, a tension-filled crime story, and a beautifully atmospheric portrait of a fascinating time and place, The Paying Guests is Sarah Waters’s finest achievement yet.

Top Ten Tuesday: The Best Books I've Read (So Far) in 2014

Cheers to the gals at The Broke and the Bookish for hosting this lovely meme.

This week’s list features the top ten books I’ve read so far this year. It was an easy list to make as I haven't actually read that much recently - I blame my new job. Still, the list below is filled with great novels so I'm happy to let the gushing (re)commence! 

SFF: 

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie. I never got around to reviewing this one, but my god did I love the adventures of Breq the gender-subverting ex-spaceship. Probably my favourite novel this year.

A Stranger in Olondria by Sofia Samatar. A beautifully-written fantasy about literacy and ghosts. (My review.)

Child of a Hidden Sea by A. M. Dellamonica. An awesome portal fantasy - full of nautical mishaps, pop-culture musings and even a few gay people. Although I find it depressing how happy that last fact made me. (Review coming soon.)

Assassin's Apprentice (The Farseer Trilogy #1) by Robin Hobb. A compelling fantasy about Fitz, a lonely royal bastard and apprentice assassin. (My review.)

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison. A very thoughtful stand-alone examining the burdens of leadership in an elven court. (My review.)

Pantomime by Laura Lam. Queer fantasy with circuses and a slight bit of of magic. Yes, of course I liked this. (My review.) 

Historical/Lit Fic: 

Somewhere in France: A Novel of the Great War by Jennifer Robson. A satisfying story about a rich-girl-turned-ambulance-driver and her on-off boyfriend. (My review.)

Sarah's Key by Tatiana De Rosnay. A surprisingly easy read concerning the Vel D'Hiv incident in France. (My review.)  

And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini. Heartbreaking novel about a string of interlinked families.

 

Non-fiction: 

The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes - and Why by Amanda Riply. Very interesting book, full of anecdotes & a bit of research. 

Book Review: Sarah's Key by Tatiana De Rosnay

Title: Sarah’s Key
Author: Tatiana de Rosnay
Genre: Historical/ Contemporary
Publisher: St Martin’s Griffin
Published: 2007
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Blurb (taken from Goodreads): Paris, July 1942: Sarah, a ten year-old girl, is brutally arrested with her family by the French police in the Vel' d'Hiv' roundup, but not before she locks her younger brother in a cupboard in the family's apartment, thinking that she will be back within a few hours.

Paris, May 2002: On Vel' d'Hiv's 60th anniversary, journalist Julia Jarmond is asked to write an article about this black day in France's past. Through her contemporary investigation, she stumbles onto a trail of long-hidden family secrets that connect her to Sarah. Julia finds herself compelled to retrace the girl's ordeal, from that terrible term in the Vel d'Hiv', to the camps, and beyond. As she probes into Sarah's past, she begins to question her own place in France, and to reevaluate her marriage and her life.

Why I read it: 
A friend gave this to me years ago and it’s been sitting on my bookshelf ever since. I figured now would be a good time to get around to it!

Thoughts:

The historical framework underlying Sarah’s Key is grim. It concerns the 1942 Vel D’Hiv roundup, where French policemen arrested over 13,000 Jewish familes in Paris. Women & children made up most of the detainees (a lot of men had gone into hiding, but expected their families to be safe). Confined in a large velodrome for the better part of a week, police later shipped their victims off to concentration camps. Most were gassed at Auschwitz. Before reading this novel, I’d never even heard of the incident (although I’m neither French nor a historian, so perhaps that’s not surprising). Either way, it’s unbelievably horrible – although the book itself is quite good.

Most of the novel shifts between two viewpoints. The first is Sarah’s:  a sheltered 10-year-old Jewish girl, who gets arrested by French police at the start of the novel. However the main character is really Julia - an American journalist living in Paris, a woman working on an article to mark the sixtieth commemoration of the Vel D’hiv incident.

Sarah’s story is harrowing. When the police pound at the door in the night, she locks her 2-year-old brother in a cupboard to protect him. (You can probably work out what happens next. It’s not pretty.) However, Sarah doesn’t understand what’s happening as the authorities spirit her away; her parents never explained the political reality of the day, to her extreme detriment. I thought it was a pity she was so ignorant. As a teacher, I know kids that age can have surprising insight… although I also realise it would be an extremely awkward conversation.

Julia’s story is interesting enough. I didn’t really care about her failing marriage, but her relationship with her daughter (much more open than the one Sarah had with her parents) and her life as an expat in Paris were fascinating. I’ve never lived in Paris, but I’ve passed through there quite a lot, and the city seemed incredibly well-described. The throw-away comments about bakeries, tourists, the different arrondissments and expat magazines all rang true – although I did think Tatiana de Rosnay overused italicised French words occasionally. I speak the language so it wasn’t a problem for me, but other readers might find it frustrating.

The only other thing that bothered me about this book (aside from the fact I was reading a print copy!) were the very short chapters, and the fact that Sarah’s and Julie’s stories are told in different fonts. I found it jarring at first, but as the stories progressed I soon stopped noticing. So only a minor quibble…

Overall? This was an easy-to-read (and occasionally devastating) novel. I really enjoyed it.

Book Review: Somewhere in France by Jennifer Robson

Title: Somewhere in France
Author: Jennifer Robson
Genre: Historical Romance
Published: William Morrow & Company
Date Published: December 2013
Ranking: 4 out of 5 stars

Goodreads Summary:
Lady Elizabeth Neville-Ashford wants to travel the world, pursue a career, and marry for love. But in 1914, the stifling restrictions of aristocratic British society and her mother’s rigid expectations forbid Lily from following her heart. When war breaks out, the spirited young woman seizes her chance for independence. Defying her parents, she moves to London and eventually becomes an ambulance driver in the newly formed Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps—an exciting and treacherous job that takes her close to the Western Front.

Assigned to a field hospital in France, Lily is reunited with Robert Fraser, her dear brother Edward’s best friend. The handsome Scottish surgeon has always encouraged Lily’s dreams. She doesn’t care that Robbie grew up in poverty—she yearns for their friendly affection to become something more. Lily is the most beautiful—and forbidden—woman Robbie has ever known. Fearful for her life, he’s determined to keep her safe, even if it means breaking her heart.

In a world divided by class, filled with uncertainty and death, can their hope for love survive. . . or will it become another casualty of this tragic war?

Why I read it:
I’ve read a lot of mediocre fantasy recently, and was craving something different. A book about an ambulance-driving WWI heroine seemed to fit the bill.

My Review:

Oh, this one was good. I loved almost everything about it – the setting, the characters, the central romance.

Lily (or the Lady Elizabeth) was a lovely heroine. The stifled aristocrat starts the novel full of good intentions but little agency – she’d like to make something of her life, but it seems unlikely she’d ever muster up the courage. How could she, with choices severely restricted not only by her gender, but also her class? But the war and her correspondence with Robbie, a surgeon with a working-class background, push her into action: first working as a clippie in London, later taking a position as an ambulance driver in France.

I’m not a historian, so I’ve no idea if Robson’s portrayal of English society was accurate or not. But it certainly made for a very different story. From glamorous Downton Abbey estates to the Western Front, the story is permeated with a sense of restrictive British propriety. Female soldiers are strictly segregated from the male troops. Men try not to swear around delicate, feminine ears, and worry about providing sweethearts with “the protection of their name.” This is made all the more ridiculous by the sheer horror of the surrounding war. Is it a cliché to say that Britain at this time really was another world? In any case, the all-pervasive sexism made me very glad I wasn’t born 100 years ago.

Somewhere in France also has a compelling plot (something I don’t often say about lit fic!). It’s tied up in two things – Lily’s dutiful quest to aid the war effort, and her romantic feelings towards Robbie. This romance comprised a large part of the story, and I’m frankly surprised I enjoyed it as much as I did. While there are a few too many mentions of Robbie’s deep blue eyes, their relationship was mainly reserved and sweet. It also always came second to the demands of the war. And those demands! Life in London, training in the WAAC, being posted at a field hospital… I found it endlessly fascinating. The only thing I had difficulty believing was how Lily frequently hid her background. Surely her accent would have given her away?!

Highly recommended, especially for fans of historical fiction.

Ten Awesome Books on my Spring Reading List

Top Ten Tuesdays is a weekly book meme hosted by The Broke & The Bookish.

Gotta say I'm really excited about this week's topic. Why? Because a fortnight ago, I didn't really have a Spring TBR list. And then I decided that I would start reading/ reviewing/ blogging more, and spent the week discovering awesome new sites full of awesome new (and old!) books that somehow I had never heard of, and now my bulging TBR list is making my wife talk about hiding our credit card. Muhahahah.

ANYWAYS. Here's a list of books I intend to read in the next month or so.

A Stranger in Olondria by Sofia Samatar
I first picked up this book when I was on holiday in New Zealand and killing time in a bookstore. A few chapters in, I was entranced by the rich prose and the promise of misadventures in an decadent city across the sea. It's been nominated for a Nebula too... I can't wait to read the entire thing.

Lord of Emperors by Guy Gavriel Kay
I am a raging fangirl when it comes to Guy Gavriel Kay. His work is just that magnificent. This is the second book in his Sarantine Mosaic duology; one I would have read months ago, were I not trying to pace myself on his backlist.

Who fears death by Nnedi Okorafor
I came across a review of this book last week and was surprised it slipped under my radar. Post-apocalyptic fantasy set in Africa, good enough to have won the World Fantasy Award in 2011 – I’m looking forward to it.

Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson
I suspect this is on a lot of people’s to read lists! I love most of Sanderson's work (I always want to translate his magic systems into RPGs) and thought The Way of Kings was great. I'm sure this one will be too.

Pathlight: New Chinese Writing (Spring 2013)
Pathlight is a quarterly magazine featuring Chinese stories & poetry. The Spring 2013 edition focused on "The Future" aka Chinese sci-fi. I've been meaning to pick up a copy for ages. Listening to Ling Chen talk at the BLF Global Science Fiction panel only cemented this urge, as apparently this is the only place where her work has been translated in English.

Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch
I’ve been following this series for a while. I first started reading them because of the British covers (which are awesome. Come on. Look at those maps.) but I’ve continued with them because they’re a lot of fun. It’s police bureaucracy meets magic, set in a London that actually feels diverse. 

The Silvered by Tanya Huff
Tanya Huff is a pretty prolific novelist, although I don't recall reading any of her other books. This one looks interesting though: high fantasy with werewolves and a magic school drop-out.

Somewhere In France: A Novel of the Great War  by Jennifer Robson
This book has been getting lots of good reviews, and I've been aiming to read more straight historical fiction. Hopefully this one will live up to the hype. 

Hild by Nicola Griffith
Another historical novel I can't wait to get my hands on. Mostly because I've seen a lot of comments on the quality & thoughtfulness of the writing, but also because it's been nominated for a Nebula and the cover is pretty.


China's Urban Billion: The Story Behind the Biggest Migration in Human History by Tom Miller.

Yes, there is non-fiction on this list. Is that cheating? (Guess I'm a cheat.) This book is here because I went to a fascinating talk on urban China at the Beijing Literary Festival last week: a 90 minute discussion on city verses population growth, hukou reform, eco-design, water & air pollution, and how China's changing government structures have impacted all of the above. Tom Miller was one of the speakers. I'm sure it'll be interesting to a geo-nerd like myself.



Have you read any books on this list? What are you most looking forward to?