Wishlist Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Pen to Paper where we post about one book that has been hanging out on our wish list (either for a long time, or not so long)
My pick for this weeks Wishlist Wednesday is a book that is actually due out in less than a week and that I already have reserved at the library for when their copies come in (here’s hoping, I’ll be one of the first to get to read it).
Salt to the Sea
Author: Ruta Sepetys
Release Date: Feb 2, 2016
Genres: Young Adult, Historical Fiction, World War 2 Fiction
Description:
In 1945, World War II is drawing to a close in East Prussia, and thousands of refugees are on a desperate trek toward freedom, almost all of them with something to hide. Among them are Joana, Emilia, and Florian, whose paths converge en route to the ship that promises salvation, the Wilhelm Gustloff. Forced by circumstance to unite, the three find their strength, courage, and trust in each other tested with each step closer toward safety.
Just when it seems freedom is within their grasp, tragedy strikes. Not country, nor culture, nor status matter as all ten thousand people aboard must fight for the same thing: survival.
Why am I excited to read it?
Ruta Sepetys’ debut book a few years back (2011), Between Shades of Grey, told the story of a teenager displaced and sent to Siberia when Russia annexed the Baltic states in 1941. It was a unique story to me as I read it, because not only did it touch on an era in history that isn’t routinely taught in high school (or college to my knowledge), but that it was also based in part on experiences by her family members. Ms Sepetys has the ability to write historical fiction in a way that just sucks you in and if her newest is like Between Shades of Grey, I might have to plan on a sleepless night, because I couldn’t put it down…
In case you have had your head buried in the sand (or maybe snow), its been hard to miss the predictions of the massive snow storm that is hitting the east coast this weekend (for me, it started about 2 hours ago). Over the past few years it seems to have become a tradition to name the storm with some witty moniker. In 2010 (when I moved to the DC area) it was #snowmageddon and in 2012/2013, it was #snowpocalyse. so the big question on many minds (or at least mine) for the last week has been, what are we going to call this storm? I mean, the official name is “Winter Storm Jonas”, although that makes me think of the Jonas brothers and i’m not a huge fan of them. The DC Capital Weather Gang had a nomination and poll on their website, the winner wasn’t a witty name, but the runner up was #snowzilla. So this picture seems appropriate…
Another name that I saw pop up in my facebook feed was #snowtoriousBIG – now, i’m not really a rap fan, but i chucked at this one (named after the Notorious BIG who was murdered in 1997). Whatever name we go with, it will be interesting to see how this storm turns out – the last weather chart I saw (on my way home today), looked like Else had just tried to freeze the entirety of Virginia.
Assassin’s Heart – Sarah Ahiers
My big success of the week (if you want to call it that) was that I finished my designated “first book of the year.” The book, Dangerous Women, is a short story collection from a bunch of popular authors, all with the theme of dangerous women. Overall, the stories were ok, there were a couple that I really enjoyed, like Diana Gabaldon’s story Virgins (about Jamie and Ian pre-Outlander); as well as Jim Butcher’s installment (part of the Dresden Files series) and Lev Grossman’s. And unfortunately, with any anthology there were ones i just didn’t enjoy, specifically for me, it was George R. R. Martin’s – I’m probably one of the few people who hasn’t read his Game of Thrones series (although I have the entire collection on my kindle), but based on my lack of enjoyment for his short story, I’m honestly in no rush to pick it up.
The theme of my reading with several books I finished this week was “left wanting more” – 2 of the books that I finished in the last couple of days (Shimmy for Me and Goodnight Tweetheart), I wanted them to be longer. The romances between the hero/heroine felt too short and not well developed; or in the other case, the story was progressing nicely and then it just ended and I was like WTH…so that was kind of frustrating for me. I know that at least one of the books is a popular book among my friends and for some a DIK (aka a Desert Island Keeper), but for me, it was a mere 3 stars – although it was 4 stars up until the very end when I felt the ending just killed the rest of the story.
But on the other side, I had a couple of strong/enjoyable reads this week, specifically, Before I Go and About a Dragon. Before I Go (Colleen Oakley) is the story of a woman in her late 20’s diagnosed with terminal cancer and her goal to find her husband, someone else before she died. I alternatly cried and laughed during her exploits. I’m looking forward to writing my review of it in the near future. About a Dragon is the second book in G.A. Aiken’s Dragon Kin series – this series is one where I had book 1 loitering on Mt TBR for several years before I actually read it at the end of last year and I’m looking forward to continuing the series.
