Where Is Your Bookmark? (07/07/2015)

While my daughter recovered from her most recent fever this past weekend, I snuggled up with Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife, a book that might have made my top ten list this week had it not been for my Postal Book Club. I actually own a copy of the book, which has sat on my shelf for years. It's time had finally come. Now I am trying to decide if I want to see the movie version. Have you read the book or seen the movie?

It is hard for me to imagine someone not having heard of this book (I feel like the last person on earth to read it), but then again, I had never heard of Daphne du Maurier until 2006. In case you aren't familiar with The Time Traveler's Wife, it is about Henry and Clare. Henry is a Time Traveler who first appears to Clare when she is 6 years old. The two fall in love as he bounces through time, but they both learn that life isn't always easy. It's actually about more than that, but you get the idea.

First Paragraph of The Time Traveler's Wife:

Clare: It's hard being left behind. I wait for Henry, not knowing where he is, wondering if he's okay. It's hard to be the one who stays.

I keep myself busy. Time goes faster that way.

I go to sleep alone, and wake up alone. I take walks. I work until I'm tired. I watch the wind play with the trash that's been under the snow all winter. Everything seems simple unless you think about it. Why is love intensified by absence? 

Teaser from The Time Traveler's Wife: 

I wish for a moment that time would lift me out of this day, and into some more benign one. But then I feel guilty for wanting to avoid the sadness; dead people need us to remember them, even if it eats us, even if all we can do is say "I'm sorry" until it is as meaningless air.

and this one:

I place my hands over her ears and tip her head back, and kiss her, and try to put my heart into hers, for safekeeping, in case I lose it again. 

What do you think? Would you keep reading?  

I began reading The Gracekeepers by Kirsty Logan this week after scrolling through my Kindle and randomly picking the title. I am still not far into it, but I am already captivated.  A world divided into two types of people: those who live on land and those who live on the sea. It's described as being inspired by Scottish myths and fairytales. which is probably what drew me to the book in the first place. I can't wait to read more.

What are you reading at the moment?  Is it anything you would recommend?

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely ladies at Broke and Bookish.

This week's  Top Ten Tuesday theme is Top Ten Hyped Books I've Never Read. I went back and forth on how to interpret today's theme. Do I list ten hyped books I never intend to read or is it meant to be a list of books I just have not yet read? Several titles I listed in a previous Top Ten post (Books I'll (Probably) Never Read) could easily make this week's as well. Many of those books are well-hyped and popular. In the end, I decided to take this topic in a slightly different direction, listing five books I have not read despite (or because of) the hype and then five books I did read, but which I feel did not live up to the hype.

I read what I want to read, regardless of hype. Although, hype is occasionally what puts a book on my radar. Sometimes I rush to read a book that is getting much praise from my fellow book bloggers, but other times I sit back and wait--because, well, too much hype can be a turn off.

Books I Have Not Read Despite the Hype:

1.

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott ~ So many people love this novel and say I must read it. I haven't felt the overwhelming need to though--or even a little need to, really.  I may read it someday if the mood strikes, but as of right now, I cannot see that happening any time soon.

2.

The Life of Pi by Yann Martel ~ I might have been curious about this one when it first came out, but the more I heard about it, the less interest I had in reading it. I have no plans to see the movie either.

3.

The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling ~ I love the Harry Potter series and I hope to read the mystery series she writes under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, but this particular book has never appealed to me.

4.

The Martian by Andy Weir ~ I have heard so many good things about this book, but I am still on the fence about reading it. The description alone does not appeal to me, but so many others have sung its praise that it makes me wonder if I am missing out by not reading it.

5.

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón ~ I actually do want to read this one.  Someday. The hype kind of put me off of it though, and so it sits on my shelf unread.

Books I Read That Were Overhyped:

6.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

7.

The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory

8.

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez

9.

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

10.

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

Have you read any of these books?  What hyped books have you never read? Do you think you ever will read those titles?

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