Where Is Your Bookmark? (& Top Ten Books I Want For Christmas)

Help me decide what to read next year! I am looking for your book recommendations: Vote here!

This will be my first year participating in Sheila of Book Journey's annual First Book of the Year 2017 event. On the 1st of the year, I will be posting a photo of the book that will be starting off my year. I haven't settled on a book yet--so many choices! Will you be joining it? I hope so!

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I just started reading All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Masstai, which is about a man from an alternate future who travels through time, ripping the very fabric of the universe and changing the future's course, falls in love, and must decide if he wants to fix the mistake and return to the Utopian world he came from or stay in the crazy world we call home today. (For a much more complete synopsis, the cover below is linked to the book's Goodreads page.)

Every Tuesday Diane from Bibliophile By the Sea First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, where participants share the first paragraph (or a few) of a book they are reading or thinking about reading soon. It is also where I share my first impressions about the book I am sharing.

So, the thing is, I come from the world we were supposed to have. That means nothing to you, obviously, because you live here, in the crappy world we do have. But it never should've turned out like this. And it's all my fault--well, me and to a lesser extent my father and, yeah, I guess a little bit Penelope.

Every Tuesday, Ambrosia from The Purple Booker hosts Teaser Teaser at which participants grab their current read, open to a random page, and share two or more sentences from that page while avoiding any spoilers.

Teaser from page 28 of All Our Wrong Todays:

I remember, as a kid, when I first understood that only half of every tree is visible, that the roots in the soil are equal to the branches in the sky, that a whole other half is underground. It took me a lot longer, well into adulthood, to realize people are like that too.

What do you think? Would you keep reading?  

I really like the premise of this novel and am looking forward to reading it. From the little I've read so far, the novel seems to be written in a narrative memoir form. The opening is very conversational, I think. It got me curious about what our narrator means about being the reason the world turned out the way it did. What could Tom have possibly done?

I chose the teaser and random, but I rather like it.

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

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

This week's  Top Ten Tuesday Ten Books I Wouldn't Mind Santa Leaving Under My Tree. All ten of these books are on my wishlist, some for longer than others. I would love to unwrap any of these on Christmas Day! What are the chances though? Someday . . .

1. Love and Freindship: And Other Youthful Writings (Penguin Classics) by Jane Austen, Christine Alexander ~ Jane Austen, folks. 'Nuff said. (Anyone else do a double take on the spelling of the title just to be sure it wasn't wrong?)

Goodreads Summary: 

Jane Austen's earliest writing dates from when she was just eleven years, and already shows the hallmarks of her mature work: wit, acute insight into human folly, and a preoccupation with manners, morals and money. But it is also a product of the eighteenth century in which she grew up - dark, grotesque, often surprisingly bawdy, and a far cry from the polished, sparkling novels of manners for which she became famous. Drunken heroines, babies who bite off their mother's fingers, and a letter-writer who has murdered her whole family all feature in these very funny pieces. This edition includes all of Austen's juvenilia, including her 'History of England' - written by 'a partial, prejudiced, and ignorant Historian' - and the novella 'Lady Susan', in which the anti-heroine schemes and cheats her way through high society. Taken together, they offer a fascinating - and often surprising - insight into the early Austen.

2. Ink and Bone (The Great Library, #1) by Rachel Caine ~ I enjoyed the author's Weather Warden series and think this will be even better. I mean, the Great Library!

From Goodreads: 

Ruthless and supremely powerful, the Great Library is now a presence in every major city, governing the flow of knowledge to the masses. Alchemy allows the Library to deliver the content of the greatest works of history instantly—but the personal ownership of books is expressly forbidden. 

Jess Brightwell believes in the value of the Library, but the majority of his knowledge comes from illegal books obtained by his family, who are involved in the thriving black market. Jess has been sent to be his family’s spy, but his loyalties are tested in the final months of his training to enter the Library’s service. 

When his friend inadvertently commits heresy by creating a device that could change the world, Jess discovers that those who control the Great Library believe that knowledge is more valuable than any human life—and soon both heretics and books will burn…

3. Sorcerer to the Crown (Sorcerer Royal #1) by Zen Cho ~ I can't remember when I first heard about this book, but I have had it on my radar every since. I can't resist a novel with magic in it, and this one sounds really good.

Goodreads Summary: 

At his wit’s end, Zacharias Wythe, freed slave, eminently proficient magician, and Sorcerer Royal of the Unnatural Philosophers—one of the most respected organizations throughout all of Britain—ventures to the border of Fairyland to discover why England’s magical stocks are drying up.

But when his adventure brings him in contact with a most unusual comrade, a woman with immense power and an unfathomable gift, he sets on a path which will alter the nature of sorcery in all of Britain—and the world at large…

4. Truthwitch (The Witchlands, #1) by Susan Dennard ~ I was drooling over this book when it first came out and it's a miracle I haven't yet run out and bought it myself. This books has my name written all over it.

Goodreads Summary:

In a continent on the edge of war, two witches hold its fate in their hands.

Young witches Safiya and Iseult have a habit of finding trouble. After clashing with a powerful Guildmaster and his ruthless Bloodwitch bodyguard, the friends are forced to flee their home.

Safi must avoid capture at all costs as she's a rare Truthwitch, able to discern truth from lies. Many would kill for her magic, so Safi must keep it hidden - lest she be used in the struggle between empires. And Iseult's true powers are hidden even from herself.

In a chance encounter at Court, Safi meets Prince Merik and makes him a reluctant ally. However, his help may not slow down the Bloodwitch now hot on the girls' heels. All Safi and Iseult want is their freedom, but danger lies ahead. With war coming, treaties breaking and a magical contagion sweeping the land, the friends will have to fight emperors and mercenaries alike. For some will stop at nothing to get their hands on a Truthwitch.

5. The Mother by Yvvette Edwards ~ Although a difficult topic to read about--a parent's worse fear--I sometimes find myself running to books like this--or running away. This one intrigues me and I am anxious to read it.

Goodreads Summary:

The unimaginable has happened to Marcia Williams. Her bright and beautiful sixteen-year-old son Ryan has been brutally murdered. Consumed by grief and rage, she must bridle her dark feelings and endure something no mother should ever have to experience: she must go to court for the trial of the killer—another teenage boy—accused of taking her son’s life. 

How could her son be dead? Ryan should have been safe—he wasn’t the kind of boy to find himself on the wrong end of a knife carried by a dangerous young man like Tyson Manley. But as the trial proceeds, Marcia finds her beliefs and assumptions challenged as she learns more about Ryan’s death and Tyson’s life, including his dysfunctional family. She also discovers troubling truths about her own. As the strain of Ryan’s death tests their marriage, Lloydie, her husband, pulls further away, hiding behind a wall of secrets that masks his grief, while Marcia draws closer to her sister, who is becoming her prime confidant. 

One person seems to hold the answers—and the hope—Marcia needs: Tyson's scared young girlfriend, Sweetie. But as this anguished mother has learned, nothing in life is certain. Not any more.  

7. Jane Steele by Lynday Faye ~ If it isn't obvious from the description why this one appeals to me, well, let me tell you that Jane Eyre is one of my favorite all-time novels.

From Goodreads:

Reader, I murdered him. 

A Gothic retelling of Jane Eyre. 

Like the heroine of the novel she adores, Jane Steele suffers cruelly at the hands of her aunt and schoolmaster. And like Jane Eyre, they call her wicked - but in her case, she fears the accusation is true. When she flees, she leaves behind the corpses of her tormentors. 

A fugitive navigating London's underbelly, Jane rights wrongs on behalf of the have-nots whilst avoiding the noose. Until an advertisement catches her eye. Her aunt has died and the new master at Highgate House, Mr Thornfield, seeks a governess. Anxious to know if she is Highgate's true heir, Jane takes the position and is soon caught up in the household's strange spell. When she falls in love with the mysterious Charles Thornfield, she faces a terrible dilemma: can she possess him - body, soul and secrets - and what if he discovers her murderous past?

7. Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande ~ This book comes highly recommended by many of you. I have never shied away from the topic of growing old (even though I don't like revealing my age) or dying. They are facts of life. As I watch my mother grow older and remembering all my father went through, I can't help but want to read this book.

Goodreads Summary:  

In Being Mortal, bestselling author Atul Gawande tackles the hardest challenge of his profession: how medicine can not only improve life but also the process of its ending.

Medicine has triumphed in modern times, transforming birth, injury, and infectious disease from harrowing to manageable. But in the inevitable condition of aging and death, the goals of medicine seem too frequently to run counter to the interest of the human spirit. Nursing homes, preoccupied with safety, pin patients into railed beds and wheelchairs. Hospitals isolate the dying, checking for vital signs long after the goals of cure have become moot. Doctors, committed to extending life, continue to carry out devastating procedures that in the end extend suffering.

Gawande, a practicing surgeon, addresses his profession’s ultimate limitation, arguing that quality of life is the desired goal for patients and families. Gawande offers examples of freer, more socially fulfilling models for assisting the infirm and dependent elderly, and he explores the varieties of hospice care to demonstrate that a person's last weeks or months may be rich and dignified.

8. The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge ~ Ever since seeing the movie this book was based on, I have wanted to read the book. What a nice treat it would be to receive this one in my stocking?

Goodreads Synopsis: 

When orphaned young Maria Merryweather arrives at Moonacre Manor, she feels as if she’s entered Paradise. Her new guardian, her uncle Sir Benjamin, is kind and funny; the Manor itself feels like home right away; and every person and animal she meets is like an old friend. But there is something incredibly sad beneath all of this beauty and comfort—a tragedy that happened years ago, shadowing Moonacre Manor and the town around it—and Maria is determined to learn about it, change it, and give her own life story a happy ending. But what can one solitary girl do?

A new-fashioned story that is as wonderful as the best fairy tales.

9. Planetfall by Emma Newman ~ This is the first in a science fiction series that called to me from the first time I heard about it. I enjoy reading science fiction, but don't read enough of it.

From Goodreads:

Renata Ghali believed in Lee Suh-Mi’s vision of a world far beyond Earth, calling to humanity. A planet promising to reveal the truth about our place in the cosmos, untainted by overpopulation, pollution, and war. Ren believed in that vision enough to give up everything to follow Suh-Mi into the unknown.

More than twenty-two years have passed since Ren and the rest of the faithful braved the starry abyss and established a colony at the base of an enigmatic alien structure where Suh-Mi has since resided, alone. All that time, Ren has worked hard as the colony's 3-D printer engineer, creating the tools necessary for human survival in an alien environment, and harboring a devastating secret.

Ren continues to perpetuate the lie forming the foundation of the colony for the good of her fellow colonists, despite the personal cost. Then a stranger appears, far too young to have been part of the first planetfall, a man who bears a remarkable resemblance to Suh-Mi.

The truth Ren has concealed since planetfall can no longer be hidden. And its revelation might tear the colony apart…

10. Moriarty: Anna Kronberg Bundle by Annelie Wendeberg ~ I love stories about women masquerading as men in order to do something relegated only to men. Add in Sherlock Holmes and I'm sold.

Goodreads Summary: 

Europe, late 19th century. Antibiotics have yet to be invented, and germs take a death toll that lets the number of murders appear negligible. But when a cholera victim is found floating in one of London's drinking water supplies, Dr Anton Kronberg - England's best bacteriologist - is called upon to investigate. He crosses paths with Sherlock Holmes. The detective immediately discovers Kronberg's secret - a woman masquerading as a man in order to practice medicine - a criminal deed that could land her in prison for years to come. The two highly analytical minds provoke and annoy each other at once. Eventually, they must team up to unravel a spiderweb of murder, espionage, and bioterrorism that spreads across continents. Compiles the first three books in the Kronberg Thriller Series: The Devil's Grin, The Fall, & The Journey

Have you read any of these books? Would you recommend them? What books would you like to find under the tree this year?

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