Renee began Throwback Thursday at Its Book Talk as a way to share some of her old favorites as well as sharing books that she wants to read that were published over a year ago. Books that were published over a year ago are almost always easier to find at libraries or at a discounted sale price. As I have been sifting through my TBR list and purging those books that no longer hold my interest, I came across several from years past that I’d love to share with you! Continue reading
Renee began Throwback Thursday at Its Book Talk as a way to share some of her old favorites as well as sharing books that she wants to read that were published over a year ago. Books that were published over a year ago are almost always easier to find at libraries or at a discounted sale price. As I have been sifting through my TBR list and purging those books that no longer hold my interest, I came across several from years past that I’d love to share with you! Continue reading
Renee began Throwback Thursday at Its Book Talk as a way to share some of her old favorites as well as sharing books that she wants to read that were published over a year ago. Books that were published over a year ago are almost always easier to find at libraries or at a discounted sale price. As I have been sifting through my TBR list and purging those books that no longer hold my interest, I came across several from years past that I’d love to share with you! Continue reading
Renee began Throwback Thursday at Its Book Talk as a way to share some of her old favorites as well as sharing books that she wants to read that were published over a year ago. Books that were published over a year ago are almost always easier to find at libraries or at a discounted sale price. As I have been sifting through my TBR list and purging those books that no longer hold my interest, I came across several from years past that I’d love to share with you!
Renee began Throwback Thursday at Its Book Talk as a way to share some of her old favorites as well as sharing books that she wants to read that were published over a year ago. Books that were published over a year ago are almost always easier to find at libraries or at a discounted sale price. As I have been sifting through my TBR list and purging those books that no longer hold my interest, I came across several from years past that I’d love to share with you!
Renee began Throwback Thursday at Its Book Talk as a way to share some of her old favorites as well as sharing books that she wants to read that were published over a year ago. Books that were published over a year ago are almost always easier to find at libraries or at a discounted sale price. As I have been sifting through my TBR list and purging those books that no longer hold my interest, I came across several from years past that I’d love to share with you!
Title: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Published: 1890
Status: Classic
Average Goodreads Rating: 4.05
Written in his distinctively dazzling manner, Oscar Wilde’s story of a fashionable young man who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty is the author’s most popular work. The tale of Dorian Gray’s moral disintegration caused a scandal when it first appeared in 1890, but though Wilde was attacked for the novel’s corrupting influence, he responded that there is, in fact, “a terrible moral in Dorian Gray.” Just a few years later, the book and the aesthetic/moral dilemma it presented became issues in the trials occasioned by Wilde’s homosexual liaisons, which resulted in his imprisonment. Of Dorian Gray’s relationship to autobiography, Wilde noted in a letter, “Basil Hallward is what I think I am: Lord Henry what the world thinks me: Dorian what I would like to be—in other ages, perhaps.”
This is a story I have revisited many times the last two decades. Wilde’s writing has always had a pull for me and The Picture of Dorian Gray is his best work. Some paint Gray as a villain, others as troubled and misunderstood. I fall more in the misunderstood and immensely complicated column. Wilde explores the natures of sin, the depths of morality and immorality, and it is this work that ultimately got him imprisoned. The Picture of Dorian Gray is a must read that will continue to have an impact for many, many years to come.
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Renee began Throwback Thursday at Its Book Talk as a way to share some of her old favorites as well as sharing books that she wants to read that were published over a year ago. Books that were published over a year ago are almost always easier to find at libraries or at a discounted sale price. As I have been sifting through my TBR list and purging those books that no longer hold my interest, I came across several from years past that I’d love to share with you!
Title: The Anatomist’s Wife (Lady Darby Mystery #1) by Anna Lee Huber
Published: January 1st 2012
Publisher: Berkley
Average Goodreads Rating: 3.91
Scotland, 1830. Following the death of her husband, Lady Darby has taken refuge at her sister’s estate, finding solace in her passion for painting. But when her hosts throw a house party for the cream of London society, Kiera is unable to hide from the ire of those who believe her to be as unnatural as her husband, an anatomist who used her artistic talents to suit his own macabre purposes.
Kiera wants to put her past aside, but when one of the house guests is murdered, her brother-in-law asks her to utilize her knowledge of human anatomy to aid the insufferable Sebastian Gage–a fellow guest with some experience as an inquiry agent. While Gage is clearly more competent than she first assumed, Kiera isn’t about to let her guard down as accusations and rumors swirl.
When Kiera and Gage’s search leads them to even more gruesome discoveries, a series of disturbing notes urges Lady Darby to give up the inquiry. But Kiera is determined to both protect her family and prove her innocence, even as she risks becoming the next victim…
I have been on a pretty intense historical mystery kick lately. You would be hard pressed to convince me that Deanna Raybourn isn’t the Empress of historical mysteries, however, this book sounds right up the same alley. Slightly unconventional leading lady working with an inquiry agent to solve a murder that happened within her family home? Fairly standard premise but just because it has been done before doesn’t mean that it can’t be good.
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Renee began Throwback Thursday at Its Book Talk as a way to share some of her old favorites as well as sharing books that she wants to read that were published over a year ago. Books that were published over a year ago are almost always easier to find at libraries or at a discounted sale price. As I have been sifting through my TBR list and purging those books that no longer hold my interest, I came across several from years past that I’d love to share with you!
Title: Stormdancer (The Lotus War #1) by Jay Kristoff
Published: September 1st 2012
Publisher: Tor UK
Average Goodreads Rating: 3.8
Arashitoras are supposed to be extinct. So when Yukiko and her warrior father Masaru are sent to capture one for the Shõgun, they fear that their lives are over – everyone knows what happens to those who fail the Lord of the Shima Isles. But the mission proves less impossible and more deadly than anyone expects. Soon Yukiko finds herself stranded: a young woman alone in her country’s last wilderness, with only a furious, crippled arashitora for company. Although she can hear his thoughts, and saved his life, all she knows for certain is he’d rather see her dead than help her. Yet trapped together in the forest, Yukiko and the beast soon discover a bond that neither of them expected.
Meanwhile, the country around them verges on collapse. A toxic fuel is choking the land, the machine-powered Lotus Guild is publicly burning those they deem Impure, and the Shõgun cares for nothing but his own dominion. Authority has always made Yukiko, but her world changes when she meets Kin, a young man with secrets, and the rebel Kagé cabal. She learns the horrifying extent of the Shõgun’s crimes, both against her country and her family.
Returning to the city, Yukiko is determined to make the Shõgun pay – but what can one girl and a flightless arashitora do against the might of an empire?
“Why, Amanda! This does not sound like your usual kind of read at all! Are you feeling okay?” Yes I am, thanks for asking! I stumbled across this little beauty of a book on another blog earlier this week and it caught my eye. Admittedly, I’d have to be in the right kind of mood to pick this one up but it sounds fascinating all the same. It gives me the impression of some kind of steam punk anime and, while neither of those concepts usually spark my imagination, I think this one could be well worth a shot.
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Renee began Throwback Thursday at Its Book Talk as a way to share some of her old favorites as well as sharing books that she wants to read that were published over a year ago. Books that were published over a year ago are almost always easier to find at libraries or at a discounted sale price. As I have been sifting through my TBR list and purging those books that no longer hold my interest, I came across several from years past that I’d love to share with you!
Title: Best Served Cold (First Law World #4) by Joe Abercrombie
Published: June 2009
Publisher: Gollancz
Average Goodreads Rating: 4.16
Springtime in Styria. And that means war. Springtime in Styria. And that means revenge.
There have been nineteen years of blood. The ruthless Grand Duke Orso is locked in a vicious struggle with the squabbling League of Eight, and between them they have bled the land white. While armies march, heads roll and cities burn, behind the scenes bankers, priests and older, darker powers play a deadly game to choose who will be king.
War may be hell but for Monza Murcatto, the Snake of Talins, the most feared and famous mercenary in Duke Orso’s employ, it’s a damn good way of making money too. Her victories have made her popular – a shade too popular for her employer’s taste. Betrayed, thrown down a mountain and left for dead, Murcatto’s reward is a broken body and a burning hunger for vengeance. Whatever the cost, seven men must die.
Her allies include Styria’s least reliable drunkard, Styria’s most treacherous poisoner, a mass-murderer obsessed with numbers and a Northman who just wants to do the right thing. Her enemies number the better half of the nation. And that’s all before the most dangerous man in the world is dispatched to hunt her down and finish the job Duke Orso started…
Springtime in Styria. And that means revenge.
This book sounds like it has everything. Murder? Check. Betrayal? Check. A yearning for revenge? Double check and not a love story in sight. I have been in the mood for a violent, fast paced story that doesn’t include a love plot. From the reviews this one sounds like a perfect fit. I’m so glad I saw this hanging out on my TBR this morning. I’m going to check to see if my library has it right now. Happy reading, everyone!
Find this book on
Goodreads | Amazon US | Amazon UK | Book Depository | Thriftbooks
Renee began this Throwback Thursday meme at Its Book Talk as a way to share some of her old favorites as well as sharing books that she wants to read that were published over a year ago. Books that were published over a year ago are almost always easier to find at libraries or at a discounted sale price. As I have been sifting through my TBR list and purging those books that no longer hold my interest, I came across several from years past that I’d love to share with you!
Title: Daughter of Smoke & Bone (Daughter of Smoke & Bone #1) by Laini Taylor
Published: August 2012
Publisher: Hodder Paperbacks
Average Goodreads Rating: 4.04
“Errand requiring immediate attention. Come.”
The note was on vellum, pierced by the talons of the almost-crow that delivered it. Karou read the message. ‘He never says please’, she sighed, but she gathered up her things.
When Brimstone called, she always came.
In general, Karou has managed to keep her two lives in balance. On the one hand, she’s a seventeen-year-old art student in Prague; on the other, errand-girl to a monstrous creature who is the closest thing she has to family. Raised half in our world, half in ‘Elsewhere’, she has never understood Brimstone’s dark work – buying teeth from hunters and murderers – nor how she came into his keeping. She is a secret even to herself, plagued by the sensation that she isn’t whole.
Now the doors to Elsewhere are closing, and Karou must choose between the safety of her human life and the dangers of a war-ravaged world that may hold the answers she has always sought
I know it’s not just me that sees Laini Taylor’s books everywhere. Her newest release, Strange the Dreamer, appears to be incredibly popular. But you know what? I was being shallow and a little odd and refused to look up books by Taylor because I hate the cover (US) of Strange the Dreamer so much. I mean, it is an intense hate. Don’t ask me why, I can’t figure it out myself. I’m being a terrible person and judging a book by it’s horrendous cover.
However, I stumbled across Daughter of Smoke and Bone and the story synopsis certainly interests me. My local library currently has it on hold for me and I’ll be picking it up today. I’m trying not to judge it by the fact that the Goodreads description compares it to Twilight. How did the publishers ever think that comparison was a good selling point? Boy, I’m being a negative Nancy. I think I’ll go brew some coffee and read a few pages of my current book before the day has to begin. Happy Thursday, everyone!
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