The library is a perilous place. For compulsive book-hoarders like me. It’s even more dangerous because my library also sells books at a really really low price. So, I have the option to buy some and not worry about returning them. And those go on my ‘to-read-later’ pile, because I have the borrowed ones to read first. Then I buy some more and borrow some more, rinse and repeat. It’s an endless loop, I tell you!
Yesterday I went to the library with my toddler, M, for the children’s story reading session and to borrow some books for her. I walked in with a steely resolve to not even glance at the adult fiction section and to walk straight towards the children’s section. But as I walked in, those books were calling my name, quite literally. I saw a friend standing right next to adult fiction and calling out my name. Enough to melt that ‘steely’ resolve. Where is human nature so weak as in a library or a bookstore!
Here’s the loot –
Aristotle and Dante discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz is a coming-of-age story of two young boys, Aristotle and Dante, not in any way related to the poet and the philospher. They’re poles apart in every way, but when they meet at a swimming pool one day, a rare and once-in-a-lifetime kind of friendship is born. And it is through each other, they discover themselves and who they want to be. This YA fiction has won a number of literary awards and has received critical acclaim. I’m curious about this book!
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North. Harry August dies. And is reborn. Fifteen times. He begins every life as a child, a child who remembers everything about the lives he has lived before. But at the end of his 11th life, he sees a little girl who addresses him as Dr. August and says she wants to send a message. The ‘message’, whatever that is and for whomsoever it is intended, will have an impact on all his past lives and the ones to come. Hmm, to me this sounds like science fiction meets occult meets time travel. I’m dying to read this (har har)!
I got this because it is marketed as the next ‘Gone Girl’. Well, books like Gone Girl and Girl on the Train are so riveting, they tend to leave a void once you’ve finished reading them. And then you scour your bookstores and libraries for something similar, something which will fill that void. I really hope this isn’t just clever marketing. Luckiest Girl Alive is about Ani FaNelli who with her perfect job, a perfect fiancé and a wardrobe to die for, seems to be the luckiest girl alive, emphasis on the word ‘seems’. Along with all those fabulous clothes, she also has some skeletons in her closet, deep dark secrets of a painful past which threaten to destroy everything she holds dear. The book promises some unexpected twists. We’ll see.
I am Pilgrim by is Terry Hayes’ debut novel. It’s a spy thriller which promises to take us on a fast paced trip across the globe. ‘Pilgrim’ is an American spy who retires from heading a secret espionage unit for US Intelligence and then writes a book on forensic criminal investigation. Then come a series of crimes, a woman found dead in a tub of acid in New York, a public beheading in Mecca, a biotech expert found blinded in Damascus and then more in Afghanistan and Alsace. Pilgrim is called upon to chase a faceless man who has taken all the pages from the book that Pilgrim wrote, to commit crimes in the name of God.
That is it, folks. I’m excited about these additions to my ever growing to-read pile. I’m currently engrossed in ‘Brain on Fire’ by Susannah Cahalan. Review coming soon!
