Top Ten Tuesday: Books to Read When You Need Something Light and Fun

I've decided to jump on board with Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week the topic is: Top Ten Books When You Need Something Light and Fun.

So here's my list, in no particular order:

1. Lisa Lutz's Spellman series - absolutely hilarious mystery series about a (dysfunctional) family of private investigators. 

2. Heads You Lose by Lisa Lutz and David Hayward - the book features commentary and arguments between the authors as they switch off chapters.

3. Meg Cabot's Queen of Babble series - because Lizzie Nichols is completely awesome!

4. Forgotten by Catherine McKenzie - I actually love all of McKenzie's books so far but I think this one is my favorite. It's sweet and funny. 

5. A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore - my husband is a big fan of everything Moore has written but Dirty Job is my fave. So while I'd again recommend his whole backlist, this is the one I'd recommend most highly. 

6. Anything by Sarah Addison Allen - these are fairly light reads and all around wonderful stories!

7. Stretch: The Unlikely Making of a Yoga Dude Neal Pollack - I've mentioned this one before, but I have to mention it again. I laughed out loud throughout this book. I was just starting to get into yoga myself when I read it, which made it that much funnier, but even if you aren't into yoga you'll get a kick out of Pollack's humor.  

8. Mark Henry's Amanda Feral series - these do come with a warning: this is a dirty, dirty series! But if bitchy, fashionista zombies is your thing (and if dirty humor is your thing) you need to check these out!

9. The Selection & The Elite by Kiera Cass - a little bit of a deviation from the previous one in the list, I'll admit, but I am quite enjoying this series from Cass. 

10. The original Oz books by L. Frank Baum - there were 14 in all. They are super short reads for an adult, but they're well worth tracking down. (Books 2 & 3 were combined for the Return to Oz adaptation, which brought me to the series initially.)

The Golem & The Jinni by Helene Wecker

Good morning, everyone! Today I'm a stop on the TLC book tour for Helene Wecker's debut, The Golem & The Jinni!

This has been one of the most talked about books of the season! In fact, it was on my personal wishlist for what seemed like ages when the opportunity to participate in the tour came my way. It didn't take much to pique my interest, the title alone did it for me. The promise of a book based in Jewish and Syrian folklore drew me in without pause.

It's 1899 when the Golem and the Jinni make their way to the New World. 

Chava was commissioned to be the wife of a merchant immigrating to New York from Konin. Though he was a man of means, he was not an easy man to get along with. Nonetheless, he found he was lonely and in want of a companion. His solution was a golem. Normally meant to be a workhorse and protector, this man asked that his golem be curious and intelligent, but also proper. Unfortunately, after waking the golem the man passed away. But the golem was lucky enough to cross paths with someone who could help. He named her Chava and under his tutelage began to make a life for herself.  

The Jinni's introduction to New York was much different. He'd spent centuries trapped inside a flask until being awakened by a metalsmith. The Jinni, stuck in human form, had no memory of how he became ensnared in the container but the metalsmith was willing to help, taking the Jinni under his wing as his apprentice and introducing him to the community. 

When the Jinni and the Golem finally cross paths, they instantly see each other for what they really are. Their shared bond becomes a wary friendship as they each make their way in a world that is so vastly foreign to them both. 

There have been GLOWING reviews in addition to this gorgeous trailer:



Fortunately, and take it from me, Wecker's debut does live up to expectations!

The Golem & The Jinni is so many things! It's a story steeped in folklore but it's also a story of immigration and historic New York. It's also a story of friendships and relationships. And while the Golem and the Jinni are the most magical characters, they're not the only focus of the story. Both of them have a number of additional characters who gravitate around them. For Chava, there's Rabbi Meyer and his nephew, Michael; her creator; and the people at the bakery where she works. For the Jinni, there's Arbeely, the smith; Maryam Faddoul, the woman whose family owned the flask; and Mahmoud Saleh, an ice cream maker cursed with a strange ability; and many others.

The overall story is an intricate one with connections both large and subtle and backstories and histories that become more clear as the book progresses. And like any good fairy or folk tale, Helene Wecker's story uses the fantastic to tell a story that is oh, so very common at heart: the struggle to be human.

Rating: 5/5

To see other stops on the tour, check out the official tour page here.

For more on Helene Wecker, you can visit her website here. You can also like her on Facebook.

The Banks of Certain Rivers by Jon Harrison

I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised by the book I'm posting about today. I work in publishing and I've seen some quality writing in the self publishing world. I've also seen some not so great and some downright terrible. Jon Harrison's debut was recommended to me by a person whose taste I do genuinely trust thanks to their other recs and reviews on Goodreads. And so I said I would give The Banks of Certain Rivers a shot. I have to say I am glad that I did - it was well worth it.

Neil Kazenzakis doesn't exactly have it easy: he's a high school teacher with a teenage son he's been raising on his own since his wife was hospitalized a few years ago. Neil and his son, Chris, are doing their best. Chris does well in school and is planning to start college in a year. But Neil has been in a relationship for the past two years, something he's been careful to keep from his son out of fear of how he will react. Just when he's ready to finally come clean, Neil is accused of beating up a student. A scandalizing YouTube video is all the proof most people need of the event, but Neil stands by his side of the story. The video's account isn't what really happened. Suspended while the event is investigated, Neil's world is further shaken by the threat of losing his job and the insurance that pays for his wife's long term care.

While the story is playing out, there are emails addressed to Neil's wife interspersed throughout the story. It's his journal of sorts and gives readers further insight into the various things Neil struggles with. His friend Alan serves as a good sounding board for some of these issues, but Neil spends a lot of time hiding things from those around him - not really for his own sake but to protect the people he loves from the things he thinks might hurt them. Neil puts up a good front, but it wears on him and as the story progresses he starts to crack.

Neil reminisces about his life, his marriage, his family, and his friends throughout the story as well. It's worked into the narrative in a way that it doesn't at all hinder the flow of the story, which has a great pacing. Harrison's prose is very smooth, the kind of story that sweeps you along so that you don't even notice how much time has passed when you next look up from the page.

Harrison's characters and their relationships are the driving force of this story. Without such fantastic characterization, the story would still have been a good story but the characters make it more relatable and human.

Rating: 4.5/5

New Releases 5/7/13

Some of the new titles hitting shelves this week are:

Seduction by MJ Rose

Silent Voices by Ann Cleeves

Benjamin Franklin's Bastard by Sally Cabot

The Humans by Matt Haig (UK)

What a Mother Knows by Leslie Lehr

Dead Ever After by Charlaine Harris (Sookie Stackhouse)

Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend by Matthew Dicks (PB)

The Kings and Queens of Roam by Daniel Wallace

The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell

A Dual Inheritance by Joanna Herson

Silken Prey by John Sandford

In Broad Daylight by Seth Harwood

The Barbed Crown by William Dietrich

Every Contact Leaves a Trace by Elanor Dymott

Murder as a Fine Art by David Morell

The Shadows of Falling Night by S.M. Stirling

The Dead Man's Deal by Jocelynn Drake

The Mist-Torn Witches by Barb Hendee

Hearts of Shadow by Kira Brady

Red Moon by Benjamin Percy

Awaken by Meg Cabot

Reboot by Amy Tintera

The End Games by T. Michael Martin

Mystic by Alyson Noel

The Savage Blue by Zoraida Cordova

Invisibility by Andrea Cremer and David Levithan

Icons by Margaret Stohl

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancy

If I Should Die by Amy Plum

New on DVD:
Jack Reacher
Mama
Safe Haven

New reviews at Bookbitch.com:
The Time of My Life by Cecelia Ahern
NOS4A2 by Joe Hill
The Mermaid of Brooklyn by Amy Shearn

Pre Pub Book Buzz: The String Diaries by Stephen Lloyd Jones

I'm bringing back Pre Pub Book Buzz -- or Books I'm Stoked About -- Saturdays! Why? Because there are always a ton of upcoming releases I can't wait to read and Saturdays are kind of a free day to do promote those.

This week I'm featuring a new UK debut, The String Diaries by Stephen Lloyd Jones. This one is due out July 4 from Headline in the UK and word has it Mulholland will be releasing it here in the States (though I'm not sure of the date). I think I heard about it through Ellie over at Curiosity Killed the Bookworm. 

Here's the Goodreads description:

A jumble of entries, written in different hands, different languages, and different times. They tell of a rumour. A shadow. A killer.

The only interest that Oxford Professor Charles Meredith has in the diaries is as a record of Hungarian folklore ... until he comes face to face with a myth.

For Hannah Wilde, the diaries are a survival guide that taught her the three rules she lives by: verify everyone, trust no one, and if in any doubt, run.

But Hannah knows that if her daughter is ever going to be safe, she will have to stop running and face the terror that has hunted her family for five generations.

And nothing in the diaries can prepare her for that.

I'm certainly intrigued, how about you? Headline also has this great Q&A with Jones if you want a little extra while you wait for the book. 

The Elite by Kiera Cass

Only six girls remain in the Selection. When it ends, one of them will have won the Prince's hand and the crown. America Singer has made it this far but in spite of Maxon's assurances that she's the one as far as he's concerned, America is uncertain. Uncertain of her feelings for Maxon and whether she truly wants to be with him, uncertain where she stands with him, and uncertain whether she can handle the throne when and if the time comes. As the competition becomes more serious America becomes even more confused. And what about Aspen, her childhood sweetheart and now a member of the royal guard?

I truly enjoyed Kiera Cass's The Selection, and especially loved returning to the series with The Elite. It's just so much fun!

In this second of the trilogy, we do get a bit more information about Illea and its history, why things are the way they are and how they came to be that way. Maxon shows America a secret room in the palace that's filled with books, including the diaries of their founder.

There's also more friction between America and Maxon (and Aspen) as America continues to wrestle with her feelings for the prince and the competition as a whole. Cass walks a fine line between America becoming just a little too wishy washy, but I think she backed off and/or added enough explanation at the right time to make this a believable situation for me.

I'm anxiously awaiting the third installment. I still want to know so much more about Illea and the rebels. And I can't wait to see who will choose who in the end!

Rating: 5/5

NOS4A2 by Joe Hill

Yesterday was Joe Hill's latest book birthday and what a celebration it should be! Personally, I think any new Joe Hill (and/or Stephen King) release is cause for big celebration, folks. But I'm a dork for a great read and any great horror. (And a bit of a fangirl where this family is concerned.)

Vic McQueen has a gift. With her Tuff Burner bike, she has the ability to travel across a bridge that doesn't exist and find things that have been lost. But one day, after a fight with her mother, Vic goes in search of trouble. She finds it in the form of Charlie Manx, a serial kidnapper whose victims are never seen again. Manx shares Vic's ability and also travels roads that exist outside of our reality. He uses these roads to travel to Christmasland, a world that's not all it's cracked up to be. The children he takes there never grow up and never want to leave, but they aren't human anymore either. 

Oh, such a fabulously creepy and fast-paced read! Hill shares his father's ability in creating tales that can draw the reader completely into their fictional landscapes. I purposely saved this one for a weekend when I knew I'd be able to devote most - if not all - of my time to it without interruption and it was so worth it! Clocking in at a whopping 692 pages, I managed to finish NOS4A2 in just two days. Not that that's a huge accomplishment, I would have liked to linger inside its pages much longer! I couldn't help it, though. I found myself unable to set the book down for any significant period of time.

Vic is a cool character. She's flawed in so many ways, as are the people around her. Along with her son, Wayne (Bruce Wayne) and her Colorado hero/lover Lou, they make a perfect set of compelling characters.

Then there's creepy old Charlie Manx and his gasmasked henchman. Gingerbread will never smell the same again!

Horror and dark fiction fans should know, Hill is an awesome writer in his own right. Whether you come to him because of his parentage or you discover him completely by chance, you'll quickly find that he's an amazing talent. And if you're not reading him yet, you should be!

Here's Hill himself with more on NOS4A2 courtesy of the publisher:



Hill's on tour for this one and if you happen to be in the Denver area, I know for a fact he'll be at Tattered Cover's LoDo store on May 9 at 7:30!

Rating 5/5