Thursday, 11 December 2014

Kindle Books I'm Excited to Read

As can sometimes happen in our house, I put my kindle down somewhere a few months ago and then couldn't find it anywhere.  I didn't really look very hard, as I've been in the mood for reading off my actual shelves lately, but I was still happy to come across it whilst de-cluttering this morning.  And I had forgotten how many great books I still have yet to read on there.  Here are some I am particularly excited for at the moment:

  

  • Life After Life by Kate Atkinson - I've had this ever since it started getting lots of hype, and I know I'm going to adore it.  I love the premise of getting to relive parts of your life.  I also have Atkinson's Case Histories, so hopefully this one will trigger an Atkinson reading binge.
  • The Girl who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of her own Making by Catherynne M. Valente - I have seen lots of positive reviews of this one, and I'm excited to delve into the atmosphere of the novel.
  • Gossip From the Forest by Sara Maitland - Part travelogue and part history/development of fairytales? Yes please!

  

  • Under the Skin by Michel Faber - I love Faber, and if I can't justify buying his new book yet, I can at least read from his back-list.  This is a creepy story of a female driver who likes to pick up male hitch-hikers with big muscles.
  • Scottsboro by Ellen Feldman - Historical fiction about black boys accused of raping a white girl in 1930s Alabama.  It was short-listed for the Orange prize too, which makes me more keen to read it.
  • Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters (Amelia Peabody 1) - I'm generally not into mysteries, but this one is set in Egypt and features an ahead-of-her-time main character.

  

  • Finding George Orwell in Burma by Emma Larkin - I like non-fiction like this, that blends travel with literature, history and politics.  I'm planning on reading this once I get to Orwell's Burmese Days.
  • Stanley: The Impossible Life of Africa's Greatest Explorer by Tim Jeal - I've done quite a bit of reading into African history and the creation of different empires, and Stanley is fascinating, but for all the wrong reasons.  This is the man who helped King Leopold plunder the Congo and commit horrific deeds there.  I'm interested in reading more about his motivations and frankly, how he lived with himself.
  • Strange Weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami - I heard about this one when it was nominated for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize earlier in the year.  It's about a relationship between a 30 year old woman and one of her high school teachers, and something about it really appeals to me. 
It goes without saying that there are of course more unread books than this on my kindle - I am a hoarder in all mediums, but these are the ones that really strike my fancy at the moment.  If you've read any of them, I'd love to know your opinions.
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24 comments:

  1. Christine11 December 2014 at 16:36

    Glad you found it! I just picked up a $1 copy of Life After Life from my library's book sale shelf -- I was a little on the fence about it, but couldn't resist for that price -- worth a shot!

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    1. Sam (Tiny Library)12 December 2014 at 19:56

      What a bargain! I would have snapped it up too.....wonder why the library was getting rid of such a new release?

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    2. Christine12 December 2014 at 20:14

      My library tends to get a lot of extra copies of high-profile books or books popular with book clubs for a special "Popular Now" shelf, but then when interest dies down a bit, they seem to clear out a few of the extra copies. All paperbacks are always $1, so I never leave the library without checking the sale shelf :)

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  2. Anonymous11 December 2014 at 17:34

    I finally sat down and deleted a whole bunch of books from my Kindle, the free ones that I got only because they were free. They were crowding those ebooks I really want to read. I haven't read any from your list here, but Finding George Orwell in Burma and Stanley both sound interesting. I just finished The Lost City of Z, which featured Percy Fawcett, who explored the Amazon at about the same time as Stanley was in Africa, and I was thinking about reading more about these early explorers.

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    1. Sam (Tiny Library)12 December 2014 at 19:58

      I've been steadily doing that too - I had a lot of books on there I had downloaded purely because they were free, and I'll never read them. Some I got because they were very cheap, and I got rid of those too.
      I've heard about Lost City of Z before....I'll definitely keep an eye out for it!

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  3. nomadreader11 December 2014 at 18:01

    I loved loved loved Scottsboro! (And everything else I've ever read by Feldman.) I just got Life After Life from the library on my Kindle. I hope to read it next (it's about time, right?!

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  4. Helen11 December 2014 at 21:24

    I love the Amelia Peabody series - I've read the first two and am planning to start the third one soon. I think they're the type of books you can still enjoy even if you're not into mysteries, as the setting and characters are so wonderful. Life After Life is a great book too!

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    1. Sam (Tiny Library)12 December 2014 at 20:02

      I have the first 4 on my kindle - I got them as an omnibus in one of the sales, so I'm really hoping I like them!

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  5. Andi11 December 2014 at 21:33

    I've misplaced my Nook and can't find it anywhere! And I have books (and comics) I want to read. Gah!

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  6. Lory12 December 2014 at 00:13

    I read Life After Life on my Kobo e-reader which sometimes does strange jumps in the text. With LAL this was a problem because it's easy to not notice you've missed an episode -- it was only after I had finished the book (I thought) and was reading a review that I realized I had missed an extremely important development in one of the alternate history scenarios. Then I had to go back and find it! I hope the Kindle is more reliable.

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    1. Sam (Tiny Library)12 December 2014 at 20:05

      That sounds really frustrating! There's no way you can judge a book accurately unless you've read the whole thing!

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  7. Anonymous12 December 2014 at 01:41

    Finding Orwell in Burma is really really good!

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    1. Sam (Tiny Library)12 December 2014 at 20:06

      Glad to hear it - I've never come across anyone who has read it before :)

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  8. Anonymous12 December 2014 at 02:16

    Oo, lots of excellent things! And it's a good time to read Life After Life, because Kate Atkinson's got a companion book to it coming out next year! So you can be prepared. :) And of course I always put in a plug for my girl Elizabeth Peters. Crocodile on the Sandbank isn't a perfect book, obviously, but it's a very dear book.

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    1. Sam (Tiny Library)12 December 2014 at 20:08

      Ooh a companion novel? Will definitely get to it soon then, so I can get excited with everyone else for the new release.

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  9. Lit Addicted Brit12 December 2014 at 05:57

    Life After Life is wonderful! It was one of the first books I read this year and it's still one of my favourites for the year! I've since bought a couple more of Kate Atkinson's books but haven't quite got to them yet!

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    1. Sam (Tiny Library)12 December 2014 at 20:08

      So many people I trust have loved Life After Life, I'm much more keen to read it now.

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  10. Riv12 December 2014 at 10:48

    I've been on some e-book kick lately, it's been a while since I finished a physical book. Enjoy your picks! I've only read Life After Life from this list, and it was my number one book of 2013. I'm so glad she's writing a companion? novel for this one.

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    1. Sam (Tiny Library)12 December 2014 at 20:09

      I go through phases - for physical books, library books or ebooks. I'm definitely excited to read Life After Life after seeing how many people in the comments have loved it.

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  11. Anonymous13 December 2014 at 11:57

    These look great! The only one I've read is Life after Life - I really enjoyed it and thought the concept was handled really well. Hope you enjoy it too :)

    Gemma

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  12. maryom14 December 2014 at 00:26

    I'm always forgetting the books I have loaded to the kindle - there's just no physical reminder in the form of a huge TBR pile awaiting attention! I've only read one of yours, Life After Life which I loved. I also tried to read The Girl who Circumnavigated Fairyland... but just couldn't get in to it and it fell by the 50 page rule.

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  13. Meg @ A Bookish Affair16 December 2014 at 13:07

    So many of these books look so good! I definitely want to read Life After Life!

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