Top Ten Tuesday: Cover Love

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

Today’s topic is a cover freebie- so I’m going to go with books I was initially attracted to based on the cover.  I know we all do this sometimes, but I feel particularly guilty of it quite frequently lately.

Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn – It’s impossible not to notice this cover when you’re walking past it. Look at the bright colors? And why is that shark upside down? Is it dead? I’m about eight chapters into this and loving it so far. A wonderful sort of magical realism story.

Oil and Marble: A novel of Leonardo and Michelangelo by Stephanie Storey – I love that the cover goes along with the title here. I originally thought this would be non-fiction but it turns out it’s historical fiction. I have high hopes but reviews seem mixed.

Creatures by Crissy Van Meter – Truth be told, I’m still unsure on this book. But I adore this cover- it’s busy and my eye keeps catching on something new every time I look at it.

Crossings by Alex Landragin – I snatched this up from NetGalley because I couldn’t say no to this cover. I read the blurb and deflated a little bit but then I looked at the cover and said “oh well.” It’s pretty enough that if I like it I may just buy it to look at (it’s even prettier in person).

The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi – This is another book that’s hard not to notice with it’s bright red and pink against a backdrop of gray.  I’ve also heard great things about the author though I’m still unsure if it’s right for me.

The Book of Hidden Wonders by Polly Crosby – This one has been floating around recently and it catches my eye everytime.  Something about the cover just feels mysterious and inviting.

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell – So this is an interesting one because I actually don’t like this cover. I don’t like the style, I don’t like the feather across the eyes.  It makes me want to squirm in my seat. I’m also weirdly drawn to it because it makes me so uncomfortable.

City of Strife (City of Spires #1) by Claudie Arsenault – I wish this was a picture of a real city in real life so I could really go there.

West by Carys Davies – I like the weird mesh of styles here and the big bold letters.  I think I’ve added this and taken it off several times because I don’t love the blurb but I do love the cover.

Beyond Redemption (Manifest Delusions #1) by Michael R. Fletcher – I love the western feel of this cover and the bold blocky art work. I’m reasonably sure this book is too heavy on the magic for me to ever get around to reading it, but I keep it on the TBR because why not.  

And that’s it from me! Have you read any of these? Do you like any of these covers? 

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Top Ten Tuesday: Books that made me hungry

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

Happy Tuesday friends!  I meant to do more TTTs in August but the topics weren’t speaking to me much.  If I’m being honest- I don’t know that I’m going to make out any better with this topic- but I thought it would be fun to try.

Beyond the El by John Chu – This is a short story, and probably doesn’t count, but it’s definitely the first one that came to mind.  The MC is what is known as a food crafter (someone who cooks with magic?) and he spends the whole story trying to recreate his mother’s dumplings. Dumplings are pretty much my favorite food group… so, yeah. Had to mention it here. (As a bonus, this one is free on Tor.com.)

How Long ‘Til Black Future Month? by N.K. Jemisin – This is a collection of short fiction by N.K. Jemisin. There are two food related stories that made my mouth water: “L’alchemista,” where a chef is challenged to cook magical recipes by a mysterious stranger, and “Cuisine des Memoires,” where a strange kitchen can recreate any historical meal, the last supper, or Queen Elizabeth’s coronation dinner, or even a meal whose only significance is personal.

Fallout: The Vault Dweller’s Official Cookbook by Victoria Rosenthal – Okay. If you’ve ever played Fallout, you know that none of the food items you pick up ever sound appealing.  But still… aren’t you just a little curious to know what Deathclaw Wellingham tastes like? Or Radstag Stew?  Come on. You know you want it.

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo – Because Waffles.

Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews – I didn’t actually like this book that much. In fact, I disliked it so much I never saw the movie even though I really wanted to.  But.  For some reason the author included a bunch of recipes throughout the book and many of them actually sounded really good.  I never got around to trying them because the book was borrowed, but I wanted to.

Wicked Appetite by Janet Evanovich – Evanovich’s novels always make me hungry.  Lizzie is a baker of most excellent cupcakes, and Stephanie Plum seems to frequent Chick-fil-A quite often.  Although I will add it’s totally unfair that Diesel can eat as many cupcakes as he wants without having to worry about his figure.

Yes, Chef by Marcus Samuelsson – Samuelsson is probably one of my favorite TV chefs. In this memoir he recounts how he learned to cook from his Swedish grandmother, and went on to study in some of the most renowned kitchens in the world.  The hunger is just part of the experience.

New Moon (Luna #1) by Ian McDonald – One of the main characters in this story is a teenager, Lucasinho, who likes to bake cakes.  He seems to have a talent for it too.  IIRC – there are also some killer descriptions of Brazilian coffee which is my other favorite food group.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern – Carnival food is my guilty pleasure. I don’t care that it’s terrible for you. Or that most of it is deep fried.  We get one big carnival in New England a year and it is my mission to taste it all.  Granted- the food I’m referring to isn’t exactly the candy apples and popcorn of The Night Circus, but it was hard not to be reminded.  (I’d give my left arm for a giant bag of hot kettle corn right now… Probably won’t happen this year.  Damn you 2020.)

So I made it to nine.  I tried.  (Who knew books that make you hungry were so hard to remember?)  Do you have any favorite foodie novels? Let me know so I can check them out!

Top Ten Tuesday: My Most Anticipated Releases for the Second Half of 2020

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

I missed this topic a few weeks back, but there are SO MANY amazing books to be released this year.  I keep finding new ones to gawk at and feeling overwhelmed at the amount of reading I have to do to catch up.

The Evening and the Morning by Ken Follett (Sept 15, 2020)- This is the prequel I never knew I needed.  It’s a Kingsbridge novel set during the Viking Age.  A KINGSBRIDGE NOVEL SET IN THE VIKING AGE!!!  A favorite series by a beloved author during my favorite time period.  It’s like Follett wrote it just for me.

War Lord by Bernard Cornwell (Nov 24, 2020) – I’m sorry to start this list with two pieces mostly unrelated to my blog content- but when I found out about this title just a couple weeks after Follett’s, it felt like Christmas was coming early. I’ll probably sob my whole way through this book because I know it’s the last but I have never loved any fictional character as much as I love Uhtred.  I cannot wait to get my hands on it.

Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse (Oct 13, 2020) – I’ve been eager for this too, since I first heard about it in spring.  Although her Sixth World series (that starts with Trail of Lightning) wasn’t exactly my cup of tea, I loved her short story, Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience and I’m hoping to see more of what drew me in about that story here.

The Trials of Koli by M.R. Carey (Sept. 15, 2020) – The Book of Koli has undoubtedly been my favorite read so far this year, so I can’t leave it’s sequel off the list.

The Tower of Fools by Andrzej Sapkowski (Oct 27, 2020) – I can’t tell if this is set in the same world as The Witcher, but regardless I’m thrilled to see this.  It’s been around for quite some time, but it’s never been translated before. I’ve seen some reviews that said this is Sapkowski’s best, so even though there’s no Geralt, I’ll be there with bells on.

The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher (Oct 6, 2020) – We all know how much I love horror, and while I still haven’t had a chance to try Kingfisher, I’m super excited for this.  The blurb reminded me of House of Leaves and also like the Horror version of Ten Thousand Doors of January.  No idea how that would work exactly but I’m there for it.

Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones (Sep 1, 2020) – After the most excellent Mapping the Interior, and the even more excellent The Only Good Indians (RTC), consider me an official fan of Stephen Graham Jones.  This is what I think of when I hear the term literary horror and it’s brilliant.

Beowulf: A New Translation by Maria Dahvana Headley (Aug 25, 2020) – According to the author’s twitter, the first word of this book is “Bro” and Grendel’s mother “is a warrior woman, not an ugly troll woman”.  I was thrilled with her modern contemporary retelling- The Mere Wife, and I am so excited for this modern feminist translation of Beowulf.

Confessions on the 7:45 by Lisa Unger (Oct 6, 2020) – I’m in love with the premise of this – two strangers confess their problems to each other on a train. A few days later, one of those problems mysteriously disappears…

The Relentless Moon (The Lady Astronaut #3) by Mary Robinette Kowal (Jul 14, 2020) – Okay, so this one is cheating, since it’s already been released, but I haven’t read it yet. It is on hold at my library though!  If you haven’t read this series yet, I highly recommend checking it out (starting with the short story The Lady Astronaut of Mars).

I’ve been out of the loop – so I’m curious, which new releases are you most looking forward to?

 

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Borrowed For The Sake Of A Buddy

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

Today’s topic is “Books I borrowed/bought because…”  The truth is, I am hugely influenced by what my friends and family are reading.  I enjoy being part of the discussion, of the book afterward.  It’s part of why I’m a blogger.  I appreciate having that additional insight and receiving recommendations for books I might not have otherwise found.

Too Like the Lightning (Terra Ignota #1) by Ada Palmer – I would never ever have picked this up without being prompted both by the Science Fiction Fantasy Book Club on GoodReads and a very timely Kindle sale.  The blurb is super vague and a confusing mess that seems like it focuses mostly on world building.  It’s turned out to be one of my favorite books of all time, and if it hadn’t been for the book club pick, I’d never have discovered it.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline – Back before I started really getting back into reading, circa 2015 or so, I wasn’t very active on GoodReads and I wasn’t frequenting the bookstore.  The movie wasn’t out yet, so I’d honestly never heard of this.  Thanks to a coworker, who let me borrow it, I flew this book and it succeeded in making me love reading again.  I don’t talk about this one much, because it’s since faded to the background, tainted by that terrible movie I was so looking forward to, but I still hold this up as my Nerd Bible every once in awhile.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman – Same workplace, different co-worker.  He went ON AND ON AND ON about this book.  Probably like I do with many of my favorite things.  I didn’t end up reading it until later, but I thought of him the whole time (in a totally not creepy way).  I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as he did, but I could see why he was talking about it so much.

Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor – This one was prompted by a reading challenge I was doing called “Inclusive Book Bingo”.  And it seemed very YA/MG to me which was sort of a turn off right from the start.  I participated because I didn’t have any better alternatives, and reading together is better than reading alone.  What I discovered was a story worthy of adults and younger audiences.

Renegades by Marissa Meyer – This is kind of a weird story.  The short of it is, one reader objected to the inclusion of a gay couple in Renegades, so the rest of us rounded ourselves up and initiated a buddy-read-sit-in.  I made a couple wonderful reader friends that I still message with regularly.  Renegades turned out to be pretty enjoyable, even though I haven’t gone on to continue the series.  (I’m not opposed to it, it simply isn’t a priority.)

The Mere Wife by  Maria Dahvana Headley – This was a book I’d never heard of, on a subject I knew nothing about, because for some reason I never had to read Beowulf in high school.  But I really admire the literary tastes of the person who proposed the buddy read in the first place so I decided to give it a go, even though it didn’t seem like my sort of thing.  And I am so glad I did.  Because truly this was one of the best books I read last year.

Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James – The same person who prompted me to borrow The Mere Wife, prompted me to borrow this.  Unfortunately I didn’t love this one as much as I loved the other, but there was still a lot to appreciate about it, and I’m not sorry I read it.

Carnival by Elizabeth Bear – Another one I can attribute to the Inclusive Book Bingo Challenge.  This was my first experience with Bear.  I still want me some carpet plant, and a House… and a Khir… so many cool things.  I likely never would have discovered this book if it hadn’t been elected as the Book Bingo group read.

Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning – I have my momma to thank for this one!  She has lots of good recommendations and I think we’ve read through most of this series together.  I doubt I’d ever have found it on my own.

The Stranger in the Woods by Michael Finkel – Another great recommendation from my mom!  This is way outside my comfort zone- but when my mom recounted the story to me I was sort of in disbelief.  I’ve seen a Maine winter.  Surviving 20 of them with no roof over your head?  I read the book and I still can’t imagine.
And that’s it!  Have you ever picked up a book or read something you might not have otherwise because someone you trusted recommended it?

 

 

Top Ten Tuesday: Pandemic Fiction

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

For some I know this topic will hit too close to home right now, and I don’t blame you.  Feel free to skip this and go on to the next link.  But if you’re like me, with a black, and often inappropriate sense of humor, you might be craving every pandemic book you can get your hands on right now.  Some of these I’ve read, some of them I haven’t, but I hope everyone finds something interesting.

And if speculative plagues are less your thing, here are a few historical and nonfiction plague books:

 

I realize this list is far from comprehensive – have I missed any of your favorites?  Are you reading pandemic fiction now or avoiding it?

 

Top Ten Tuesday: Spring TBR

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

Someday, when I bust out of this reading slump, or conquer all these ARCS, I’m going to read whatever strikes my fancy for a month.  So there’s likely no sticking to this list.  Here’s what I’m excited about, ARCs or No.

11/22/63 by Stephen King – Planned buddy read with the fabulous Nicole @ Book-Wyrm-Knits!  I’m holding you to it. End of May.

Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi – This was gifted to me by the equally fabulous Tammy @ Books, Bones & Buffy!  Thank you!  I can’t wait to read it.

The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway – Gnomon was a mind bender that made me work for it.  While I think I’ll put this off until my reading slump is definitely over- I’m eager to get back to his work.

Full Throttle by Joe Hill – Now that I’m thinking about it, a Joe Hill anthology is probably exactly what I need to dump the slump.  Short attention spans aren’t really an issue in a book of short stories.

Raven Stratagem by Yoon Ha Lee – I want to get this read before I forget what happened in Nine Fox Gambit!  (For a review that explains the Machineries of the Empire better than I ever could, please check out Ola’s review at Re-enchantment of the World.)

Killing Gravity by Corey J. White – This was a Tor Freebie not too long ago.  It’s a novella so perfect for the amount of attention I seem willing to give books lately, and one that’s been on my radar for awhile.

The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel – This is one of the few ARCs I have that I am still super excited for!  It also is neither fantasy or sci-fi, so it will give me a much needed break from the genre.

Code Name Helene by Ariel Lawhon – This is another that falls outside my usual genre, but I’m eager to get to it.  I’ve heard great things about Lawhon and historical fiction usually makes me all happy inside.

The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell – Keeping with the theme of Historical Fiction (and in my desperation to seek out comforting reads in turbulent times) I’m eager to reread this.  Especially since the final book in the Saxon Stories was recently announced.

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones – Because Horror.  That’s it.

 

We all know I’m not likely to stick to this TBR… and there are probably 30 other books I could put here.  What have you got planned for the spring?

Top Ten Tuesday: One Word Titles

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

This week’s topic is One Word Titles.  Titles are rarely what attract me to a book, but they are sometimes intriguing.  So I’m going to attempt to pull the most interesting one word titles out of my TBR.

Hammered by Elizabeth Bear – I think this is one of the few I added because of the title.  I think Hammered might have something to do with robotics, but at the same time it sounds to me like the MC might spend a lot of time at the bar…

Choke by Chuck Palahniuk – Every time I start talking about Fight Club, someone jumps in and recommends Choke.  I added it more because of the overwhelming number of recommendations I was given, but I still think the title is intriguing.  Who is choking precisely?  Are they choking someone else or choking on something?  Or is this just the sound people make when they try to say the author’s last name?

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman – I love this title because of the whimsy it implies.  It reminds me of Alice in Wonderland- I just imagine all sorts of odd things happening in Neverwhere.

Feed by M.T. Anderson, Feed by Mira Grant, The Feed by Nick Clark Windo, and Feeder by Patrick Weekes – When I was looking through my options for this week’s TTT, the word Feed stood out to me.  I found it in five different titles, one of which I didn’t include here because it was two whole words (and not a fake word like ‘the’ obviously.)

Amazonia by James Rollins – I’ve actually mentioned this book before- but it sounds very Crichtonesque.  Soldier goes into jungle missing an arm, comes back with both.  WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE?  So of course I added it.  But what first attracted me was the title- because I love all things set in a jungle.

It by Stephen King – One word. Two letters.  King has a lot of one word titles to choose from- but none are so terrifyingly vague as It.  That thing that takes all the forms of your worst nightmares.  It’s lurking in the sewer and in the caves.  You cannot escape It.  It is coming for you.  And most horrifying of all… It’s length.

Satantango by Laszlo Krasznahorkai – I discovered this a couple years ago when I was attempting to read more translated works.  It sounds like a small town drama, which are the best kind.  Also- how could you not be intrigued by a title like Satantango?

Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson – I think one word titles are difficult to make interesting- but it’s hard not to be grabbed by this word.  I like this title because the word is interesting, invented while sounding real, and manages to give you some clue as to what the book is about.  I’d guess some sort of puzzle solving, but here it’s more code breaking.

Synners by Pat Cadigan – Synners wound up on my TBR because I was searching for a top 50 best SFF books of all time, assembled from as many sources as I could find.  This book kept popping up as one of the most underrated SF novels out there.  The title I like because phonetically it sounds like “sinners” while visually it reminds me of “synergy”.  I’m guessing the two meet somewhere in the middle.

Uncharted by Kevin J. Anderson and Sarah A. Hoyt – This title caught my eye because it shares a name with one of my favorite video game franchises of all times: Uncharted.  That game is more about the explorations of Sir Francis Drake then Lewis and Clarke, but I’m fond enough of the game that I couldn’t let go of the title and decided to go for it.  I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t somewhat put off by the scantily clad woman on the cover.

What do you think of these books?  Have you read any of them?  Which one word titles speak most strongly to you?

Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Love Stories

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

This week’s topic, in honor of Valentine’s Day I’m assuming, is a Love Freebie.  I actually used to read quite a bit of romance, and I’ve already done a favorite couple’s post in the past.  You’ll probably see a few of the same couple’s here, but hopefully there are a couple new ones also.  I’m going with favorite love stories- so not everything here falls strictly into the romance category.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen – I’ll go ahead and get the easy one out of the way.  Elizabeth Bennett and Fitzwilliam Darcy don’t have quite an enemies to lovers romance, but it was probably a prototype for that.  It certainly doesn’t start out with googly eyes.

The Immortal Highlander by Karen Marie Moning – So it’s paranormal fantasy, but it’s also primarily a romance.  This has a “love is the path to redemption” trope, which feels a little outdated now, but Moning made it work in the best way.  Adam is an immortal Fae cast out from Faery.  Gabrielle is just a simple law student, and the only person who can see Adam.

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett – This is probably the only tragic romance I’ll ever read (knowingly anyway).  The relationship between Roxane Coss and Katsumi Hosokawa is devastating, and I was blubbering like a baby whale by the end of it.

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon – A historical fantasy romance.  Jamie and Claire’s relationship isn’t perfect, and sometimes it’s downright traumatizing, but these two just had some great chemistry on the page.  I’d keep reading these books, but they’re all like 800 pages long, and I’m not entirely confident the story is headed where I want it to since some future parts have been spoiled for me.  Either way- this was a great book.

The Wolf in the Whale by Jordanna Max Brodsky – What I loved so much about this story was the obstacles each person had to overcome within themselves to be able to go on to love the other person.  That they accepted each other in the end as they were was just so uplifting to me.  Omat and Brandr quickly went on to be one of my favorite couples of all time. (Review here)

The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys – This was another surprise favorite from last year.  It’s historical fiction more than it is even romance, but the romance between Ana and Daniel was one of my favorite parts.  Their story follows a “lovers from opposite sides of the tracks” trope. (Review here)

The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal – Including this is probably cheating, since it’s not even remotely a love story, and Elma and Nathaniel York are already very much in love when we “meet” them.  But they are still one of the cutest and most romantic couples in fiction.  I’m including a link to The Lady Astronaut of Mars because to me, it’s so important to their story, and made their romance in TCS that much sweeter. (Review here)

The White Queen by Philippa Gregory – I’m not actually the biggest fan of Philippa Gregory, but I did love this book.  I loved not ever knowing if Edward IV would return to Elizabeth or be turned against her by his family.  Their’s is definitely a tumultuous relationship.

The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley – This is another historical romance.  I keep meaning to read more of Kearsley because this one is such a favorite but other books keep taking precedence.  This is probably one of the sweeter relationships portrayed, and it’s a slow burn sort of romance.

Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning – Mac and Barrons are probably my favorite romantic couple of all time. Their story follows an enemies to lovers trope for sure.  I kind of gave up reading these, because I think the author needed to end it after book five and lost her way, but the Fever novels are some of the few I’ve reread.

And that’s it!  What are your favorite love stories?

Top Ten Tuesday: Cover Freebie

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

This week’s topic is a book cover freebie.  I’ve been so winter focused and we’re just getting rid of snow after a week where I am, so I’ve been craving books that take me to a warmer place.  Even if that warmer place isn’t actually any place you want to be.  A lot of these are super recognizable so I’m not going to break them all down- just leave them here to warm your day.  (Unless of course you’re in the southern hemisphere, in which case I still hope you find something you might like to read.)

Have you read any of these?  Do you have any favorite books set in the jungle?  Which covers did you pick for this week’s topic?

Top Ten Tuesday: The Last 10 Books Added to my TBR

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

This week’s topic is the last 10 books added to my TBR, which is pretty self explanatory so I’ll just jump in.

Into the Wild (Warriors #1) by Erin Hunter – This was recommended by a friend at work to read with my daughter.  She’s not quite into books without pictures yet, so I’m saving it for later.

Hella by David Gerrold – Brought to my attention just last week by Tammy @ Books, Bones & Buffy in one of her Future Fiction posts.  To be honest, I’d have added this for the cover alone, but the blurb mentions oversize flora and fauna, dinosaur herd, and neurodiversity.  I need this in my life like – yesterday.

Shorefall (Founders #2) by Robert Jackson Bennett – I haven’t read the first one yet- but this one was added by default when I entered the GoodReads Giveaway for it.  Figured if I’d won it would give me the incentive to prioritize it.

A Plague of Giants (Seven Kennings #1) by Kevin Hearne – Hearne is another one of those authors that has multiple books on my TBR.  I’ve heard mixed things which is why I’ve put him off for awhile.  This particular book was added to my TBR, again, by a GoodReads Giveaway.

Vagabonds by Hao Jingfang – I originally spotted this on NetGalley.  I didn’t end up requesting it, because I’m trying to refrain from doing so this year, but I was intrigued enough to add it.  It’s set in the future and is about an old conflict between Earth and Mars that both planets are now trying to resolve.  It sounds really unique and I’m super excited for it!

Agency by William Gibson – Another author that has multiple books on my shelf.  The blurb on this one is pretty sparse, but I was willing to take a chance because the author is fairly well known.  Again- this was brought to my attention through a GoodReads Giveaway.

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell – Historical Fiction is a genre I love and don’t read enough of.  I went through a brief love affair with all things Shakespeare a couple years ago when that show Will was on air.  A fellow reader and reviewer brought it up in one of my GoodReads groups and mentioned it was really well done, so of course it was an immediate add.

Imperfect Women by Araminta Hall – I think I originally spotted this on Edelweiss.  I added it strictly because the title caught my attention, but the blurb sounds really good.  A woman is murdered and her two best friends are let behind to unravel her secrets after her death.

Survivor Song by Paul Tremblay – Because there is no such thing as too much zombie fiction.

A Conjuring of Assassins (Chimera #2) by Cate Glass – The sequel to last year’s An Illusion of Thieves- I’m super excited for this!

And that’s it!  Which books have you added to your TBR recently?