mystery

I’ve been off my writing game lately. Busy week/weekends, work, and life all distract. I even passed on last week’s Top Ten! For Shame!! So, briefly, I’ve compiled this week’s list from The Broke & The Bookish which is Ten Books recently added to my TBR List. I’d love to hear your suggestions!

1. On Immunity: An Inoculation, by Eula Biss. I just picked this audiobook up on a whim, so it will be one of my next listens. She has good reviews for what appears to be a well rounded discussion/argument for vaccines.

2. A Madness So Discreet, by Mindy McGinnis. Historical Fiction Thriller set in 1890 following a main character struggling with her own sanity. McGinnis’ book isn’t out until the fall, and I cannot wait! Plus, look at that lovely cover art!

3. Angelfall (Penryn & the End of Days Book #1), by Susan Ee. Another blogger recommended this series to me and warned me not to be put off by the angels. Since I love post-apocalyptic fiction, I decided to listen to her suggestion!

4. Partials (Partials Sequence #1), by Dan Wells. More Post-apocalyptic YA and another blogger recommended read. The blurb had me at “for fans of The Hunger Games, Battlestar Galactica, and Blade Runner.” It piqued my interest further with the concept of war between humans and genetically engineered beings.

5. Ancillary Sword (Imperial Radch #2), by Ann Leckie. I just finished the first one in this series, and I can safely place it somewhere in my all time favorite top ten books. Good sci-fi with themes of culture, identity, social norms, and gender. I’m looking forward to the second with the third due out sometime this year.

6. Blood Red Road (Dust Lands Trilogy #1), by Moira Young. More post-apocalyptic fiction with strong female characters. I’ve had two different people recommend this book to me recently, so it should probably be tackled sooner rather than later.

7. Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality, by Christopher Ryan & Cacilda Jetha. Yes, this one totally switches gears! I love studying gender, relationships, and how/why we are built the way we are. After a good discussion with one of my friends, she told me about this book which she too had just put on her To Be Read list.

8. Shift (Silo #2), by Hugh Howey. I reviewed Wool about a month ago. This is the follow up, though it is more of a prequel. I already have the audiobook, so it’s just a matter of time before I listen to it.

9. The Good House, by Tananarive Due. This was one of those “on a whim” purchases on Audible (it was on sale). It looks good though! Supernatural thriller…haunted house…good reviews…I’m in!

10. Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture, & the Body, by Susan Bordo. I’ve read selections from this book. Correction, I’ve TAUGHT a selection from this book. However, I am ashamed to say I’ve never read it! I forgot about this one until recently, and so, I’m making it my goal to read it before the year is out! Bordo always has a good way of analyzing culture and the body, both male and female.

As you may or may not know, I had the privilege to attend the American Library Association’s Midwinter Conference last week (more on that whole trip soon). During this wonderful train-snow-book-filled adventure, I acquired a whopping 47 books. Of course, most of them were free Advanced Reading Copies, and of course, I couldn’t wait to dig into them! And honestly, I cannot recommend you pre-order this book enough:

The Walls Around Us is a fast paced tale about two girls: one on the outside and one on the inside. Violet is a ballerina preparing to leave for Julliard who will let nothing get in the way of the future she has planned. Amber has spent the last 3 years inside a girl’s detention center, just trying to survive each day. A third girl, Orianna, holds the keys to unlocking mysteries for all of them. You see, as the story begins, she’s already dead.

The prose flits between place and time deftly. Employing first person narration, Suma creates distinct voices and experiences, allowing the reader to make the switches easily. Violet, ever independent and strong willed, speaks in first person, as an “I” never a we. Amber, on the other hand, does not distinguish herself from the rest of the prisoners. Suma gives her a third person narration, a “we” an “us” mentality. Right from the start, these girls are set to be apart, and yet, as you must know, they are neither what they seem.

The smoothness of the text also pulls you into the story and creates an easy way to read between the lines without using jarring neon lights. As always, I’m a sucker for language, and though it isn’t the lilting, descriptive tone I usually wilt over, The Walls Around Us employs a lively prose which fits the tense, mysterious and slightly supernatural tone of the book and ropes you right in.

Overall, The Walls Around Us is about more than ghosts or prisons or ballerinas. It’s about decisions, motivations, friendship, fear of facing reality, and about finally facing who and what you really are on the inside.

The walls are what we make of them.

Now, I leave you with the lovely view of where I finished the book…cuddled up with my oh so graceful sleeping greyhound, Prince.

Merely Creative

Learning. Creating. Growing.

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Book #7–The Walls Around Us, by Nova Ren Suma (due out March 24, 2015)