Seven Books I Want to Read (or Read Again)

For this week's Quick Takes (hosted by Conversion Diary) I'm selecting seven titles from my "To Read Soon" list.  Here goes:

1. My mom recommends A Discovery of Witches (Harkness)... And so be it!

(Sorry, bad joke.  I really am looking forward to this one!!  Mom's engrossed, and our tastes tend to coincide... The book is on my Kindle as I type.)

2.  Embers (Marai)....I read this novel once before, and found it achingly beautiful!  It's the story of unlikely childhood friends whose social and psychological differences separate them painfully in adulthood.  All of this is an allegory for the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire-- but the tale is so simply yet richly told that its political dimension never thwarted my enjoyment.  In other words, while I'm not invested in the fate of Austria-Hungary, I do care about these characters.

3.  The Doctor's Wife (Braddon)... Immersed in romance novels, the title character is bored with her marriage to a nice-guy doctor.  A British Madame Bovary?  I'm intrigued.

4.  Black and Blue (Quindlen).... Because I loved Still Life with Breadcrumbs.

5. Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek (van Wagenen)... Written by a fifteen-year-old (!), this memoir describes the author's application of a '50s-era popularity guide to the middle-school social scene.  My friend Shannan recommends it, so I'm game!

6. I Capture the Castle (Smith).... Years ago, I saw a film version of this coming-of-age tale set in 1930s' Britain.  I never forgot it and always meant to read the book someday, er, now.

7.  The End (Scibona)  ...A re-read, because-- while the author's use of language is astoundingly brilliant (something to savor on every page)-- in the end  I'm not quite sure that I "got it."  Time to try again!  This novel was a finalist for the National Book Award.


Thanks for dropping in.  Happy Friday, everyone!