Books in the Queue

Here’s the thing that I do when I am reading too many thick books at the same time and can’t post new reviews. I tell you what other (thick) books I’m excited to read next. Yay! Surprisingly enough though, this little segment has helped me a lot in keeping up with my reading resolutions. Three to five books are not as daunting as, say, “I want to read 20 sci-fi books this year” or “I need to read 10 classics” (although I really do). I still have some old queueing books to get to, but overall, I’m a good girl – and the TBR is shrinking (ever so slowly).

Patrick Ness – Monsters of Men 

Why do I want to read it? I never thought I would like these books as much as I do. I was expecting another mediocre YA dystopia but Patrick Ness is quite brilliant. I decided to take a little break between the second and the third instalment in the trilogy, but the more time passes, the more I feel the urge to pick it up and finally find out what happens to Todd and Viola and whether they both make it out of this mess alive. This trilogy is truly gripping and I was delighted to find out that the third book is almost twice as thick as its predecessors. Plus, I desperately want to see Mayor Prentiss get what he deserves.

Margaret Atwood – The Handmaid’s Tale (finished 24th March 2013)

Why do I want to read it? I don’t really have to explain this, do I? I’ve never read anything by Margaret Atwood although I own several of her books. Oryx and Crake and The Handmaid’s Tale sound the most interesting to me. So I tossed a coin (and looked at the number of pages *ahem*) and picked one. From what I’ve heard, this is a bone-chilling vision of the future where women are separated into castes. And the protagonist is a “breeder” whose sole purpose is supposed to be giving her husband/owner children.

Catherynne M. Valente – Silently and Very Fast (finished 2nd February 2013)

Why do I want to read it? If you’ve just stumbled upon this blog you may not no yet: I love Catherynne Valente. She is currently my favorite author and I’m thrilled to have a substantial back-catalogue of her fiction yet to read. Because the February theme in my German book forum is “heart” I picked this novella – the robot on the cover has a glowing something in its chest that could be its heart, after all.

Deborah Harkness – A Discovery of Witches

Why do I want to read it? You can say what you want, sometimes we are all influenced by how much we like an author in interviews. I listened to a few podcast interviews with Deborah Harkness and I couldn’t help but find what she had to say very interesting. The idea to this novel came from the thought: Okay, if there are witches and vampires and ghosts and all that, what the hell do they do all day long? I have always wondered the same and I can’t wait to pick up this novel and find out.

These are the books I’m currently most looking forward to. My mood could change completely (though I have no doubt, I’ll pick up the Valente next) but each of these books is screaming my name right now. Then again, I’m reading Margo Lanagan at the moment and I am so stunned that I might just throw in another one of her books…