Tuesday, June 9, 2020

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Forgot I Once Added to My TBR


This week's topic is:  Books I Forgot I Once Added to My TBR

This is a fun topic! I decided to use my Goodreads TBR for it since I have hundreds of books on my Goodreads TBR because it's just sort a catch-all for things that sound interesting to me--I've never been one of those people that actively manages their TBR number and it doesn't really bother me to have a huge one (In fact, I think I like it because it means I'll never run out of things to read--as if that was a realistic concern!). For this topic, I feel like I can figure out why I added most books to my Goodreads TBR, so I tried to look through the list for books that I added a long time and that I don't recognize at all! After reading the descriptions for some of these, I still remember nothing about most of them, but I think I need to bump some of them up on my active TBR when my library reopens!

Let me know if you've heard of or read any of these books, because I certainly haven't.


Exiled (The Never Chronicles, #1)
Exiles by J.R. Wagner
This one sounds like it could be majorly hit or miss and the reviews seem similarly mixed about it. I'm curious where I first heard about it!

About:
"Stripped of his powers and banished to The Never, James must save himself before he can save his fellow sorcerers from imminent demise. Prophesied by the greatest of all seers to be the sorcerer who would bring an end to the Epoch Terminus—the destruction of his kind—James grew up developing his powers under the watchful eye of his mentor, Akil Karanis. James's insular world is shattered when he is found guilty of murdering Akil and exiled to The Never, a mysterious and dangerous place reserved for the worst of the worst, a land from which no one returns. Powerless and alone, James quickly learns that the land itself poses a greater threat than its inhabitants. If he is to have any chance of returning to his family, any chance of proving his innocence, any chance of saving his kind, he must survive the dangers and temptations meant to ensnare both body and mind in order to discover what no one else has been able to discover a way home." Goodreads


Killing AdonisKilling Adonis by J.M. Donellan
This sounds like a particularly quirky read. I feel like this one would have one of those wittier narrative tones that can also be hit or miss, but I do love the sound of the labyrinthine mansion and the entire "tragicomic tale" situation. This one might be worth checking out!

About:
"LIGHT DUTIES 
LARGE PAY 
NO QUESTIONS ASKED ... OR ANSWERED 

After seeing a curious flyer, Freya takes a job caring for Elijah, the comatose son of the eccentric Vincetti family. She soon discovers that the Vincetti’s labyrinthine mansion hides a wealth of secrets, their corporate rivals have a nasty habit of being extravagantly executed, and Elijah is not the saint they portray him to be. 

As well, Marilyn Monroe keeps showing up, unaware she’s very much deceased. And there’s something very strange about the story that Elijah’s brother Jack is writing … 

Killing Adonis is a tragicomic tale about love, delusion, corporate greed and the hazards of using pineapple cutters while hallucinating." Goodreads 


The Starboard Sea
The Starboard Sea by Amber Dermont
I am definitely interested in this one! This sounds like something that might be right up my alley--though it's been a while since I've read something that sounds like it. 

About:"Set against the backdrop of the 1987 stock market collapse, The Starboard Sea is an examination of the abuses of class privilege, the mutability of sexual desire, the thrill and risk of competitive sailing and the adult cost of teenage recklessness. It is a powerful and compelling novel about a young man navigating the depths of his emotional life, finding his moral center, trying to forgive himself, and accepting the gift of love." Goodreads


Don't Fear the Reaper (Netherworld, #1)
Don't Fear the Reaper by Michelle Muto
Reviews for this one look pretty good! It sounds exceptionally dark, which I tend to like, and I think it's self-published, so it might be interesting to check out and support!

About:
"Grief-stricken by the murder of her twin, Keely Morrison is convinced suicide is her ticket to eternal peace and a chance to reunite with her sister. When Keely succeeds in taking her own life, she discovers death isn’t at all what she expected. 

Instead, she’s trapped in a netherworld on Earth and her only hope for reconnecting with her sister and navigating the afterlife is a bounty-hunting reaper and a sardonic, possibly unscrupulous, demon. But when the demon offers Keely her greatest temptation—revenge on her sister’s murderer—she must uncover his motives and determine who she can trust. 

Because, as Keely soon learns, both reaper and demon are keeping secrets and she fears the worst is true—that her every decision will change how, and with whom, she spends eternity." Goodreads


Hikikomori: Adolescence without End
Hikikomori: Adolescence without End by Tamaki Saito, trans. Jeffrey Angles
After reading the synopsis, I think I actually remember this one! I'm still really interested in this concept of Hikikomori and it's definitely one I will need to check out still.

About:
"This is the first English translation of a controversial Japanese best seller that made the public aware of the social problem of hikikomori, or “withdrawal”—a phenomenon estimated by the author to involve as many as one million Japanese adolescents and young adults who have withdrawn from society, retreating to their rooms for months or years and severing almost all ties to the outside world. Saitō Tamaki’s work of popular psychology provoked a national debate about the causes and extent of the condition. 

Since Hikikomori was published in Japan in 1998, the problem of social withdrawal has increasingly been recognized as an international one, and this translation promises to bring much-needed attention to the issue in the English-speaking world. According to the New York Times, “As a hikikomori ages, the odds that he’ll re-enter the world decline. Indeed, some experts predict that most hikikomori who are withdrawn for a year or more may never fully recover. That means that even if they emerge from their rooms, they either won’t get a full-time job or won’t be involved in a long-term relationship. And some will never leave home. In many cases, their parents are now approaching retirement, and once they die, the fate of the shut-ins—whose social and work skills, if they ever existed, will have atrophied—is an open question.” 

Drawing on his own clinical experience with hikikomori patients, Saitō creates a working definition of social withdrawal and explains its development. He argues that hikikomori sufferers manifest a specific, interconnected series of symptoms that do not fit neatly with any single, easily identifiable mental condition, such as depression." Goodreads


A Soldier of the Great War
A Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin
This sounds like some really great historical fiction, I'll be bumping it up the list.

About:
"Alessandro Giuliani, the young son of a prosperous Roman lawyer, enjoys an idyllic life full of privilege: he races horses across the country to the sea, he climbs mountains in the Alps, and, while a student of painting at the ancient university in Bologna, he falls in love. Then the Great War intervenes. Half a century later, in August of 1964, Alessandro, a white-haired professor, tall and proud, meets an illiterate young factory worker on the road. As they walk toward Monte Prato, a village seventy kilometers away, the old man—a soldier and a hero who became a prisoner and then a deserter, wandering in the hell that claimed Europe—tells him how he tragically lost one family and gained another. The boy, envying the richness and drama of Alessandro's experiences, realizes that this magnificent tale is not merely a story: it's a recapitulation of his life, his reckoning with mortality, and above all, a love song for his family." Goodreads


Wytches, Volume 1
Wytches Vol. 1-6 by Scott Snyder, Jock, Matt Hollingsworth
This sounds incredibly spooky and creepy--I'm in! Plus, I'm always on the look out for new graphic novels to check out, and I'm always down for witches!

About:
"Everything you thought you knew about witches is wrong. They are much darker, and they are much more horrifying. Wytches takes the mythology of witches to a far creepier, bone-chilling place than readers have dared venture before. When the Rooks family moves to the remote town of Litchfield, NH to escape a haunting trauma, they're hopeful about starting over. But something evil is waiting for them in the woods just beyond town. Watching from the trees. Ancient...and hungry." Goodreads


Birdy
Birdy by Jess Vallance
I feel like this synopsis is fairly vague, so I'm not sure what to expect, but it might still be one I'm interested in?

About:
"Frances Bird has been a loner for so long that she’s given up on ever finding real friendship. But then she’s asked to show a new girl around school, and she begins to think her luck could finally be changing. 

Eccentric, talkative and just a little bit posh, Alberta is not at all how Frances imagined a best friend could be. But the two girls click immediately, and it’s not long before they are inseparable. Frances could not be happier. 

As the weeks go on, Frances finds out more about her new best friend – her past, her secrets, her plans for the future – and she starts to examine their friendship more closely. Is it, perhaps, just too good to be true?" Goodreads


Nerve
Nerve by Jeanne Ryan
I like the general concept of this one, though reviews don't seem overly positive. Still, if my library had it I'd take a look.

About:
"ARE YOU PLAYING THE GAME OR IS THE GAME PLAYING YOU? 

Vee doesn't know if she has the guts to play NERVE, an anonymous online game of dares. But whoever's behind the game knows exactly what she wants, enticing her with lustworthy prizes and a sizzling-hot partner. With Ian on her team, it's easy to agree to another dare. And another. And another. At first it's thrilling as the Watchers cheer them on to more dangerous challenges. But suddenly the game turns deadly. Will Vee and Ian risk their lives for the Grand Prize dare, or will they lose NERVE?" Goodreads


MarrowMarrow by Tarryn Fisher
A cursed hosue called Bone? That's pretty much all I need to know. Although this hunting down evil people is also pretty interesting....

About:
"In the Bone there is a house.

In the house there is a girl. 

In the girl there is a darkness. 

Margo is not like other girls. She lives in a derelict neighborhood called the Bone, in a cursed house, with her cursed mother, who hasn’t spoken to her in over two years. She lives her days feeling invisible. It’s not until she develops a friendship with her wheelchair-bound neighbor, Judah Grant, that things begin to change. When neighborhood girl, seven-year-old Neveah Anthony, goes missing, Judah sets out to help Margo uncover what happened to her. 

What Margo finds changes her, and with a new perspective on life, she’s determined to find evil and punish it–targeting rapists and child molesters, one by one. 

But hunting evil is dangerous, and Margo risks losing everything, including her own soul.Goodreads

Have you read any of these books? What are some books you added to your TBR and forgot about?

15 comments:

  1. Killing Adonis does sound interesting!

    My TTT .

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  2. A Soldier of the Great War is the one from your list that calls to me!

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    1. It's one that I think I want to read sooner rather than later. :)

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  3. Great list! I haven't heard of most of these, but A Soldier of the Great War sounds interesting. I remember trying the first volume of Wytches and it was a little too odd for me - I hope you enjoy it!

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    1. Hm, 'too odd' can definitely be hit or miss then, haha, I'm curious about it now!

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  4. You should watch the movie Nerve, it's so much fun!! I have the book but haven't read it, but my daughter made me watch the movie and I loved it 😁

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    1. I didn't even realize it was a movie! Maybe I'll have to just watch that instead of reading the book, you've persuaded me! :)

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  5. Killing Adonis sounds intriguing! Here is my Top Ten Tuesday.

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  6. Ooo! Marrow! Have you read any of Tarryn Fisher's books before? They're so good.

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  7. Marrow certainly has a wild and crazy premise! I’ve never read anything by Tarryn Fisher but I know she has a lot of fans.

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  8. The Starboard Sea sounds great and I LOVE the cover. It and the Japanese one I can't pronounce are going on my TBR--thanks

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  9. Ooh I read Nerve. It wasn't bad! Not great but not bad, at least IMO.

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  10. I have way more books on my Goodreads Want-to-Read shelf than on my TBR - it's mostly from giveaways I've entered and forgotten about! I haven't read any of these, but hope you enjoy them!

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