What are you looking forward to reading ASAP

You have a wish list, right? Or, possibly, a large TBR pile of books next to your computer? If you don't have a Kindle, perhaps you have another list of books now in hardback that you're trying not to buy until they come out in paperback.

As for me, I can say yes to all of the above. Sure, I'm supposed to be moving ahead on my novel in progress Sarabande . For goodness sakes, my publisher is already tinkering with the cover art work. Sorry Kimberlee, but I'm not going to stop reading for anyone. (heh heh)

I have two books on my ASAP reading list, one old, and another I finally got around to buying.

The new one is the widely discussed The Tiger's Wife from the highly touted Tea Obreht. I generally avoid books from people who are highly touted because I think all that touting is simply BIG PUBLISHER publicity and/or because I'm jealous that I'm not being highly touted.

The Publisher's Weekly review begins with the words: "The sometimes crushing power of myth, story, and memory is explored in the brilliant debut of Obreht, the youngest of the New Yorker's 20-under-40."

We'd all like a review like that, right? The book is here on my desk, and after peeking inside, I think all the touting might be right. One negative review on Amazon gave me pause, that from a reviewer who's apparently familiar with the locale Obreht used for her book. The reviewer says she should have stuck to the real legends rather than making up new ones and misinterpreting old ones. Fair point, but I intend to see for myself.

You can find the LA Times review of the book here. And here you'll find the story about Obreht's Orange Prize nomination.

THE OLDER BOOK


Also here on my desk is a paperback copy of Samantha Hunt's The Seas . More recently, she released The Invention of Everything Else.

The very thing that makes this book NOT some people's cup of tea, makes it mine. Here's a woman in a "bleak northern fishing town" (as Publisher's Weekly sees it) who's fallen for a shell-shocked sailor. She thinks she's a mermaid. Reality and truth are mixed up here with a whole lot of ocean.

In addition to the Amazon link above, you can learn more about the book here.

ANOTHER FOR YOUR LIST


Okay, I'm cheating here to include a book I've already read. If you're a writer, take a look at The Sister from Below by Naomi Ruth Lowinsky.

That sister is your muse. As the publisher says, she speaks "to all those who want to cultivate an unlived promise, those on a spiritual path, those who are filled with the urgency of poems that have to be written, paintings that must be painted, journeys that yearn to be taken." I mentioned the book in The Spookiness of Written Truth.

Here's Lowinsky's blog with more information about the author and the book.

THAT ARE YOU READING?

What's on your ASAP reading list. Let me know in a comment. I hate running out of fresh reading material, so I really would like to know what your eager to get a copy of and start reading.
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--Malcolm