Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Top Ten Books On My Spring TBR List


After finishing the massive Wives and Daughters I'm somewhat between books at the moment. I did just start something a couple of days ago,but this seems as good a time as any to make another list. Spring break is less than two weeks away and I do plan to get a lot of reading done. Here's what I'm hoping to finish this spring:


1. Lucy Gayheart by Willa Cather. I'm only about 50 pages in to this novella, one of Cather's last works. It's about a young musician living in Chicago which is also the setup for her 1915 novel The Song of the Lark. This one was published 20 years later so it will be interesting to compare the two.

2.  One Fine Day by Mollie Panter-Downes. Chosen randomly for me by the Classics Club Spin. I've heard wonderful things about this novella, set just after the end of WWII. Also it's blessedly short, since I have some really chunky books on this list.



3. Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain. On my TBR Pile Challenge list. It's about 700 pages long and I've heard it's wonderful. I've wanted to read it since 2014 when there were lots of great lists of books about WWI.

4. Quartet in Autumn by Barbara Pym. I've only got two Pym works left before I've finished all her books. This one fits in with Simon's 1977 Club which should be sometime in April if I remember correctly!

5. Miss Boston and Miss Hargreaves by Rachel Malik. I don't read much current fiction but bloggers seem to love this book. On a recent trip to Paris I picked this up at Shakespeare and Company.

One Pair of Feet by Monica Dickens. The follow-up to One Pair of Hands, Monica Dickens' memoir of working as a nurse in WWII. Also purchased at Shakespeare and Company, they also have used books. This one was a bargain at only 6 euros.


7. Babylon Berlin by Volker Kutscher. I was absolutely gripped by the TV adaptation of this historical crime series, set in Berlin during the wars. It's streaming on Netflix and if you haven't seen it, you should drop everything and WATCH THIS. I'm trying really hard not to buy any more books but I broke down and ordered a copy online. I suspect I'll get hooked on the series and have to buy all of them as soon as they're translated into English.


8. The Lacquer Lady by F. Tennyson Jesse. Another book from the TBR Pile Challenge, it's Virago Modern Classic about a young woman who goes to Burma in the 1880s. I thought it would work nicely for Asian Pacific Heritage Month in May.


9. A Love Story by Emile Zola. It's been a while since I read a Zola novel but Fanda at Fanda Classiclit is hosting Zoladdiction in April, in honor of Zola's birthday. I got a lovely new translation from the nice people at Oxford World's Classics so this would be a good time to read it.

10. The Jewel in the Crown by Paul Scott. This is on my list as a possible read for the Back to the Classics Challenge (it squeaks in just under the wire as a 20th Century Classic). There's a free digital audio download on Overdrive from my library so this is a win-win!

Bloggers, have you read (or listened to) any of these? And what's on your to-read list for spring?

15 comments:

  1. Miss Boston and Miss Hargreaves...definitely!! It's one of those stories that makes you forget time while you're reading. And you've piqued my interest about Babylon Berlin.

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    1. I'm nearly done with Lucy Gayheart and I think Miss Boston might be next!

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  2. Great choice of books. In terms of books I am interested in reading I would go with Jewel of the Crown and the Zola Book. Vera Brittain interests me too but 700 pages is alot but all the books sound good.

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    1. Seven hundred pages is really daunting! I have read a little of the beginning and it's good, but it seems like a dense read. I think that's why I keep putting it off.

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  3. That's a great list. Testament of Youth is heartbreaking but wonderful - I think you'll like it. I was thinking about reading Quartet in Autumn for 1977 Club too, though I haven't decided yet.

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    1. I think a lot of people will be reading Pym for 1977 Club! I'm also thinking about A Judgement in Stone by Ruth Rendell. I've read all her Barbara Vine books but not as much of the earlier crime fiction.

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  4. Glad to see you'll be joining us for Zoladdiction. I'm getting excited - just have to finish my ccspin book first, so I can focus on Zola properly :-)

    The Testament of Youth is a wonderful, heart-breaking memoir. It will break you but then put you back together.

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    1. I was going to bring Testament on vacation but now maybe I shouldn't! I can see myself weeping in the airport and that might not be a good thing.

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  5. One Fine Day is wonderful. It is one of those books I am a bit evangelical about. I want to force it on everyone but then I want to keep it to myself because what if they don't love it adequately?

    No pressure or anything.

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    1. I know what you mean! It's really disappointing when others don't love a book as much as you do.

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    2. I love One Fine Day, and followed up with a reread of Woolf's Between the Acts. Together, they bracket World War II. They belong together at the beginning and the end of that great chasm that divides our century. Hope you like ONe Fine Day and maybe give Between the Acts a try or a reread.

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  6. The only one I have read is One Fine Day which I have recommended before. I hope you like it.

    This is a great list and I really like how you are working in other challenges. I might have to borrow the Barbara Pym for the 1977 club! I have loved the three books of hers that I have read so far and really need to read more...all of them!

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    1. I've loved all of Barbara Pym too. I'll be a little sad when I've finished all of them and I only have two left.

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  7. One more week, and I'll be starting A Love Story too. Quite curious with this one!

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  8. One more week, and I'll be starting A Love Story too. Quite curious with this one!

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