Where Is Your Bookmark? (& Top Ten New-To-Me-Series Authors Read So Far in 2016)

One of the books I am reading right now is Ninni Holmqvist's The Unit. I thought I would share a bit of it with you today.

Goodreads Summary: 

One day in early spring, Dorrit Weger is checked into the Second Reserve Bank Unit for biological material. She is promised a nicely furnished apartment inside the Unit, where she will make new friends, enjoy the state of the art recreation facilities, and live the few remaining days of her life in comfort with people who are just like her. Here, women over the age of fifty and men over sixty-single, childless, and without jobs in progressive industries--are sequestered for their final few years; they are considered outsiders.

In the Unit they are expected to contribute themselves for drug and psychological testing, and ultimately donate their organs, little by little, until the final donation. Despite the ruthless nature of this practice, the ethos of this near-future society and the Unit is to take care of others, and Dorrit finds herself living under very pleasant conditions: well-housed, well-fed, and well-attended. She is resigned to her fate and discovers her days there to be rather consoling and peaceful.

But when she meets a man inside the Unit and falls in love, the extraordinary becomes a reality and life suddenly turns unbearable. Dorrit is faced with compliance or escape, and...well, then what?

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.

It was more comfortable than I could have imagined. A room of my own with a bathroom, or rather an apartment of my own, because there were two rooms: a bedroom and a living room with a kitchenette. It was light and spacious, furnished in a modern style and tastefully decorated in muted colors. True, the tiniest nook or cranny was monitored by cameras, and I would soon realize there were hidden microphones there too. But the cameras weren't hidden. There was one in each corner of the ceiling--small but perfectly visible--and in every corner and every hallway that wasn't visible from the ceiling; inside the closets, for example, and behind doors and protruding cabinets. Even under the bed and under the sink in the kitchenette. Anywhere a person might crawl in or curl up, there was a camera. Sometimes as you moved through a room they followed you with their one-eyed state. A faint humming noise gave away the fact that at that particular moment someone on the surveillance team was paying close attention to what you were doing. Even the bathroom was monitored. There were no fewer than three cameras within that small space, two on the ceiling, and one underneath the washbasin.. This meticulous surveillance applied not only to the private apartments, but also to the communal areas. And of course nothing less was to be expected. It was not the intention of those who lived here should be able to take their own lives or harm themselves in some other way. Not once you were here. You should have sorted that out beforehand, if you were thinking along those lines. 

Every Tuesday, Jenn from Books And A Beat hosts Teaser Tuesdays at which time participants grab their current read, open to a random page, and share two (2) "teaser" sentences from that page while avoiding any spoilers.

Teaser from page 96 of The Unit:

This--this was when my legs finally gave way and I sank helplessly to the floor and just sat there, not moving with my back against the door, and, without being able to stop myself or even keep the noise down, I howled like a mortally wounded animal.

What do you think? Would you keep reading?  

The Unit is not a fast paced novel, but it has me hooked. There's a sadness to it. A helplessness. Our heroine is resigned to her fate in many ways, and yet she is still very much alive--and wants to be. 

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 is Top Ten New-To-Me-Series Authors I Read For The First Time In 2016. I had to throw in the series element, otherwise this list would look too much like my top ten list of books read this year--at least so far. Most of the books on this list have a magical element to them, but a few are straight mysteries or romance.

1. Genevieve Cogman ~ I read two of her books this year, The Invisible Library and The Masked City. It was love at first sight. Set in a world of multi-dimensions, this fantasy series is fast-paced and fun with a heroine after a reader's heart: a librarian spy.

2. Kirsten Weiss ~ I read the first in her new series, The Perfectly Proper Paranormal Museum, and it is my absolute favorite cozy of the year.

3, Julia Buckley ~ I was quite taken with my first introduction to this author's work, the first in a new  cozy series, A Dark and Stormy Murder, featuring a crime fiction author and her assistant.

4. Susan Spann ~ I enjoy a good historical mystery, and have been wanting to try this author's Shinobi series, featuring a ninja and a Catholic Priest for quite some time. While I still haven't read the first book in the series, I had no problem getting lost in her most recent addition to the series, The Ninja's Daughter.

5. Danielle Monsch ~ This one was a gem of a paranormal romance novel I wasn't expecting to knock me off my feet. Stone Guardian was a lot of fun to read. Who thought a gargoyle could be a love interest?

6. Jaime Lee Moyer ~ I knew I would like the first in her series, Delia's Shadow, and it did not disappoint. Set in one of my favorite cities, San Fransciso, this historical mystery features a woman who can communicate with ghosts. It's dark and so good!

7. Rachel Hartman ~ I finally dived into Rachel Hartman's Seraphina books and what a world she's created! I read both Seraphina and Shadow Scale this year and am anxious to get back to that world, where dragons and humans walk among each other.

8. Elliott James ~ The Urban Fantasy novel Charming was everything it was advertised to be. High in action, funny, and full of interesting mythical characters. I haven't gotten to the other books in the series yet, but I did buy them.

9. Delores Fossen ~ Her Blame It On the Cowboy had the right amount of romance, mystery and action in it to make me fall head over heels for this  romance book. I definitely want to explore the other books in the series.

10. Robert Galbraith ~ I am cheating with this one, I know, but how could I leave it out? Maybe the title of this top ten list should be Top Ten Series I Started in 2016. I FINALLY got around to reading the P.I. mystery The Cuckoo's Calling this year and am hooked. J.K. Rowling is definitely not a One Series Wonder.




Have you read any of these authors before? What would make your list of top ten list of top ten authors you read for the first time this year? 

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