The New
Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly feature hosted by the marvelous Tressa at Wishful Endings to spotlight and discuss upcoming release we are excited about that we have yet to read.
Release Date: May 11, 2021 by Simon Schuster
A lyrical novel set against the backdrop of China’s Cultural Revolution that follows a father’s quest to reunite his family before his precocious daughter’s momentous birthday, which Garth Greenwell calls “one of the most beautiful debuts I’ve read in years.”
How many times in life can we start over without losing ourselves?
In the summer of 1986 in a small Chinese village, ten-year-old Junie receives a momentous letter from her parents, who had left for America years ago: her father promises to return home and collect her by her twelfth birthday. But Junie’s growing determination to stay put in the idyllic countryside with her beloved grandparents threatens to derail her family’s shared future.
What Junie doesn’t know is that her parents, Momo and Cassia, are newly estranged from one another in their adopted country, each holding close private tragedies and histories from the tumultuous years of their youth during China’s Cultural Revolution. While Momo grapples anew with his deferred musical ambitions and dreams for Junie’s future in America, Cassia finally begins to wrestle with a shocking act of brutality from years ago. In order for Momo to fulfill his promise, he must make one last desperate attempt to reunite all three members of the family before Junie’s birthday—even if it means bringing painful family secrets to light.
“A beautifully written, poignant exploration of family, art, culture, immigration, and most of all, love,” (Jean Kwok, New York Times bestselling author of Searching for Sylvie Lee) Swimming Back to Trout River weaves together the stories of Junie, Momo, Cassia, and Dawn—a talented violinist from Momo’s past—while depicting their heartbreak and resilience, tenderly revealing the hope, compromises, and abiding ingenuity that make up the lives of immigrants. [Goodreads Summary]
Why I want to read this: How can I not want to read this after reading the description? History, family drama, characters I am sure to come to care for . . . This sounds like it will be an emotional and worthwhile read.
Black Water Sister by Zen Cho
Release Date: May 11, 2021 by Ace Books
A reluctant medium discovers the ties that bind can unleash a dangerous power in this compelling Malaysian-set contemporary fantasy.
Jessamyn Teoh is closeted, broke and moving back to Malaysia, a country she left when she was a toddler. So when Jess starts hearing voices, she chalks it up to stress. But there's only one voice in her head, and it claims to be the ghost of her estranged grandmother, Ah Ma. In life Ah Ma was a spirit medium, the avatar of a mysterious deity called the Black Water Sister. Now she's determined to settle a score against a gang boss who has offended the god--and she's decided Jess is going to help her do it.
Drawn into a world of gods, ghosts, and family secrets, Jess finds that making deals with capricious spirits is a dangerous business. As Jess fights for retribution for Ah Ma, she'll also need to regain control of her body and destiny. If she fails, the Black Water Sister may finish her off for good. [Goodreads Summary]
Why I want to read this: Another one that sounds too good to pass up. I want to know more about these spirits and family secrets and about Jess and her grandmother. I cannot wait to read this!
Does either of these books interest you? What upcoming releases are you looking forward to reading?
The Old(er)
I have an embarrassing number of unread books sitting on the shelves in my personal library. Carole of Carole's Random Life in Books has given me the perfect excuse to spotlight and discuss those neglected books in her Books from the Backlog feature. After all, even those older books need a bit of love! Not to mention it is reminding me what great books I have waiting for me under my own roof still to read!
Intrepid literary detective Thursday Next is back in the second installment of Jasper Fforde's one-of-a-kind series The inventive, exuberant, and totally original literary fun that began with The Eyre Affair continues with Jasper Fforde's magnificent second adventure starring the resourceful, fearless literary sleuth Thursday Next. When Landen, the love of her life, is eradicated by the corrupt multinational Goliath Corporation, Thursday must moonlight as a Prose Resource Operative of Jurisfiction--the police force inside books. She is apprenticed to the man-hating Miss Havisham from Dickens's Great Expectations, who grudgingly shows Thursday the ropes. And she gains just enough skill to get herself in a real mess entering the pages of Poe's "The Raven." What she really wants is to get Landen back. But this latest mission is not without further complications. Along with jumping into the works of Kafka and Austen, and even Beatrix Potter's The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies, Thursday finds herself the target of a series of potentially lethal coincidences, the authenticator of a newly discovered play by the Bard himself, and the only one who can prevent an unidentifiable pink sludge from engulfing all life on Earth. [Goodreads Summary]
Why I want to read this: This is the second book in the Thursday Next series. I really enjoyed the first one for all its wildness and bookish references. I went out and bought not just this one but the two books to follow. Someday I will get caught up with this series!
Have you read Lost in a Good Book? Does this book sound like something you would like to read?
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All three new to me. Thank you for the updates on each one.
ReplyDeleteRight now we are celebrating the New Year here which has involved by a stroke of luck, five days holidays in a row! the whole country is closed down and everyone has gone somewhere.
But it is extremely hot, the sun is supposed to be right over Sri Lanka now. I wish it would find somewhere else to move to!
Mystica - Happy New Year! I hope you are staying cool and enjoying the holidays. It's nice that you get five days in a row of holiday. I hope you are enjoying the time!
DeleteOh, I am adding all these to my TBR - these are such excellet picks! I didn't realise Zen Cho had another book comin g out!
ReplyDeleteVerushka - Thank you! I hope you enjoy these if you read them! Thank you for stopping by!
DeleteAs ever, you've produced a fascinating range of books:)). I have read Lost in a Good Book, which was a quirky, enjoyable read - although I did reach a stage in this series when I drifted away because the quirkiness didn't develop beyond the word play and punnish jokes. Have a great reading week.
ReplyDeleteSarah - That's too bad about the rest of the series not being more developed. I can see who the quirkiness and word play could get old after awhile. Thank you for visiting!
DeleteI'm pretty sure I've read Lost in a Good Book, I used to be a big Jasper Fforde fan. I'm also curious about Black Water Sister:-)
ReplyDeleteTammy - Black Water Sister does sound good, doesn't it? Thank you for stopping by!
DeleteAll of these sound fantastic! Swimming Back to Trout River sounds really gripping, and I also feature Zen Cho's book last week--I love the sound of it. I also love Jasper Fforde, you can never go wrong with him. :)
ReplyDeleteJordan - Thank you! Yes, I am really looking forward to Swimming Back to Trout River. Black Water Sister sounds so good. Thank you for visiting!
DeleteI am so looking forward to Black Water Sister and also, I absolutely love the cover. Happy reading!
ReplyDeleteMy Can't-Wait Wednesday post
Alicia - I love the cover of Black Water Sister too. Thank you for stopping by!
DeleteBoth of the new books sound so good! Here is my post-https://paigesofbook.blogspot.com/2021/04/cant-wait-wednesday-kate-in-waiting-by.html.
ReplyDeleteSteph - I hope they will be! Thank you for visiting!
DeleteLost in a Good Book sounds awesome. I'm definitely gonna check this series out. Thanks for sharing! :)
ReplyDeleteAshley - I hope you like it if you read it! Thank you for stopping by!
DeleteBlack Water Sister sounds interesting. And I have one of the Jasper Fforde books on my TBR shelf waiting to be read. Hope you enjoy them all!
ReplyDeleteLaura - I am looking forward to reading Black Water Sister. :-) Thank you for visiting!
DeleteLost in a Good Book was a fun read. I enjoyed that one. :)
ReplyDeleteLark - I am glad to hear you enjoyed Lost in a Good Book. I look forward to reading it. :-) Thank you for stopping by!
DeleteI haven't read any of these but they aren't really my kind of books.
ReplyDeleteMary - We can't all like the same kinds of books. :-) Thank you for visiting!
DeleteYou've got some great choices this week. I especially like the sounds of Swimming Back to Trout River.
ReplyDeleteSuzanne - Thank you! I look forward to reading them some day.
DeleteI've always wanted to read some Jasper Forde, but don't really know where to start. Do you have any recommendations?
ReplyDeleteBarb - I have only read the one book by Fforde, which I really liked, so I would recommend that one. Plus it's the start of the series, The Eyre Affair. Thank you for stopping by!
DeleteAll of these are completely new to me! I love the sound of Black Water Sister and feel like I should give Jasper Fforde a try sometime soon. I hope that you enjoy all of these if you get the chance to read them.
ReplyDeleteCarole - Thank you! I hope I will too. :-) Thank you for visiting!
DeleteI never heard of any of these, but they do sound like good reads.
ReplyDeleteYvonne - Thank you!
DeleteThat's a great variety of books and they all sound interesting. Hope you enjoy reading them, Wendy!
ReplyDeleteMelody - I hope I will too. :-) Thank you for stopping by!
DeleteI hope you enjoy Lost in a Good Book. I love Jasper Fforde's books :)
ReplyDeleteJess - I hope I will too. Thank you for visiting!
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