Yes, the endless cycle. Reading books. And then, you know how it goes, thinking about books to read. I really don't spend as much time online these days (social media-wise), but just the nature of my job in the ordering department of the library I am constantly looking at and ordering new books. New releases, forthcoming titles, library lists. And then someone mentions a book and you look online and vendors have a tricky way about trying to lure you into seeing and requesting and ordering and wanting to read More New Books. Actually sometimes it is easy to put off those new books by thinking of an older book by an author with a new release coming or a story that is similar . . . that I already have in my TBR pile. And you know what happens, then, right?
Yes, I start jotting down titles to "read next". And you, my friends, yes, you, out there, mention books you are reading or have read and loved and then I Want to Read Them, Too. It's just such a vicious (okay, not really) since here we go with another list of books I want to read sooner than later.
I keep a little notebook for bookishness like this, and then I have a little cheat sheet of current reads and little goals that I tuck into whatever I happen to be reading at the moment to carry with me. It's meant to keep me on track and remind me what I have in progress. But then there is always room for new notes on that sheet. I will read something or see something and think--I'll just jot that book down so I don't forget. Sometimes I follow up and indeed will pick up that book, and sometimes it just lingers over the weeks and I move on to something else.
Do you want to take a peek at what is on my 'reading next wishlist'? Of course in a week it will likely have morphed into something else entirely, but these are the books that are on my mind right now.
The Aftermath by Rhidian Brook -- because it is soon to be released as a movie. "Set in post-war Germany, the international bestseller The Aftermath by Rhidian Brook is a stunning emotional thriller about our fiercest loyalties and our deepest desires. In the bitter winter of 1946, Rachael Morgan arrives with her only remaining son Edmund in the ruins of Hamburg. Here she is reunited with her husband Lewis, a British colonel charged with rebuilding the shattered city. But as they set off for their new home, Rachael is stunned to discover that Lewis has made an extraordinary decision: they will be sharing the grand house with its previous owners, a German widower and his troubled daughter. In this charged atmosphere, enmity and grief give way to passion and betrayal." (Check out the trailer here).
Ruth Reichl's foodie memoirs -- starting with Tender at the Bone.
And something by MFK Fisher -- because her writing is pretty much divine. And I am in a foodie memoir sort of mood. Any good memoir/NF mood actually. Maybe Serve it Forth -- "In Serve It Forth, her first book, M. F. K. Fisher takes readers on an animated journey through culinary history, beginning with the honey-loving Greeks and the immoderate Romans. Fisher recalls a hunt for snails and truffles with one of the last adepts in that art and recounts how Catherine de Medici, lonely for home cooking, touched off a culinary revolution by bringing Italian chefs to France. Each essay makes clear the absolute firmness of Fisher's taste--contrarian and unique--and her skill at stirring memory and imagination into a potent brew."
Rachel Cusk's Outline -- because I just bought the first of her trilogy at the library sale I recently went to. And I am in the mood for some literary/award nominated/winning fiction.
Really enjoying (as you well know seeing as I talk about her almost weekly it seems) Kinsey Millhone and the Alphabet mystery series. So, why not revisit a few other US authors who have penned stories with independently minded and sassy heroines. I have read a very few books by Laura Lippman and Janet Evanovich. They are just light enough and entertaining enough to meet my ready for sunshine and warmth mood. I am only on book #2 of Tess Monaghan's adventures, so Charm City will be pulled out of my stacks. And as for Stephanie Plum I am ready for Three to Get Deadly, which I think I own.
And I was thinking of the Read Harder Challenge task list and maybe I might look around at my piles for a book of alternate history. I think it is definitely time to cross off a few more tasks from the list.
For the moment, however, it is Georges Simenon and I swear I am am am going to finish that last book of the Mary Hocking trilogy, Welcome Strangers. The Maigret novel is really good, and while I am very much enjoying the Hocking it is a tad more work, but in the end, it will of course, be very much worth it.