The State of the TBR Pile

Thanks to Amazon's Deals Store and Riffle's Select program, my TBR pile has grown in recent months.  And on top of that, I can't seem to stay away from the library, either!  It's getting a bit ridiculous.  At least NetGalley isn't approving me for anything; then I'd be in even more trouble...

I've been trying to keep track of what books are in my TBR pile with the In My Mailbox feature... but not all of my books are listed there.  Some where bought (or gotten for free) during a blogging lull so they weren't recorded in the IMM meme.  So I thought I'd list what I've got that needs to be read.  I also wanted to ask for a bit of advice (since I haven't had the best luck lately with my book choices).  Are there any books in my TBR pile that I absolutely must read right now because they're so unbelievably awesome?  Are there any that I should just not bother with at all?  Let me know in the comments!

Hardcovers & Paperbacks

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
The Faerie Door by B. E. Maxwell
Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
Prophecy of the Sisters by Michelle Zink
Sisters of the Sword by Maya Snow
Wicked by Gregory Maguire

Kobo

11 Birthdays by Wendy Mass
At the Back of the North Wind by George MacDonald
Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick
The Dresskeeper by Mary Naylus
Evernight by Claudia Gray
The Lightning Dreamer by Margarita Engle
Need by Carrie Jones
Penelope by Penelope Farmer
Plain Kate by Erin Bow
The Princess and Curdie by George MacDonald
The Star Rover by Jack London

Kindle

Backwards by Todd Mitchell
Broken by C. J. Lyons
Burned by Ellen Hopkins
Crewel by Gennifer Albin
Die for Me by Amy Plum
Enchanted by Alethea Kontis
Epiphany by Christina Jean Michaels
Feed by M. T. Anderson
Fracture by Megan Miranda
How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
Girl Parts by John M. Cusick
The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker
Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers
House of Dark Shadows by Robert Liparulo
Incarnate by Jodi Meadows
Infinity by Sherrilyn Kenyon
Initiate by Tara Maya
Magyk by Angie Sage
Once Upon a Marigold by Jean Ferris
The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani
The Shadow Society by Marie Rutkoski
Splintered by A. G. Howard
Starters by Lissa Price
A Tale Dark & Grimm by Adam Gidwitz
Transparent by Natalie Whipple
Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi
The Uninvited by Tim Wynne-Jones
Until We End by Frankie Brown
The Winter Witch by Paula Brackston
Wish by Alexandra Bullen

In My Mailbox (62)

Bought from Amazon.ca:

Epiphany
by Christina Jean Michaels

“I had my first psychic dream when I was nine. Psychic implied power, and powerful wasn’t a word I’d use to describe myself. I couldn’t foretell the future or conjure visions at will, but I couldn’t think of a more fitting word to describe what I sometimes saw in my dreams.”

For 23-year-old Mackenzie Hill, tossing her life down the garbage disposal is easy after a painful incident shatters her life. Her heart is bleeding, and moving to Watcher’s Point is a chance to start anew, only she isn’t prepared for the guy who walks out of her dreams and into the flesh. Literally... because she’s been dreaming about this sexy stranger for years.

Mackenzie is even less prepared to face the dark nature of her dreams. They’ve turned disturbingly gruesome, full of blood and murder, and when they begin to coincide with the media’s headlines, she and Aidan realize her visions might be the key to stopping a madman from killing again.

Only Aidan has painful secrets of his own, and perhaps the biggest danger of all is falling for him.

Transparent
by Natalie Whipple

Plenty of teenagers feel invisible. Fiona McClean actually is.

An invisible girl is a priceless weapon. Fiona’s own father has been forcing her to do his dirty work for years—everything from spying on people to stealing cars to breaking into bank vaults.

After sixteen years, Fiona’s had enough. She and her mother flee to a small town, and for the first time in her life, Fiona feels like a normal life is within reach. But Fiona’s father isn’t giving up that easily.

Of course, he should know better than anyone: never underestimate an invisible girl.

Borrowed from the library:

More Than This
by Patrick Ness

From two-time Carnegie Medal winner Patrick Ness comes an enthralling and provocative new novel chronicling the life — or perhaps afterlife — of a teen trapped in a crumbling, abandoned world.

A boy named Seth drowns, desperate and alone in his final moments, losing his life as the pounding sea claims him. But then he wakes. He is naked, thirsty, starving. But alive. How is that possible? He remembers dying, his bones breaking, his skull dashed upon the rocks. So how is he here? And where is this place? It looks like the suburban English town where he lived as a child, before an unthinkable tragedy happened and his family moved to America. But the neighborhood around his old house is overgrown, covered in dust, and completely abandoned. What’s going on? And why is it that whenever he closes his eyes, he falls prey to vivid, agonizing memories that seem more real than the world around him? Seth begins a search for answers, hoping that he might not be alone, that this might not be the hell he fears it to be, that there might be more than just this...

What was in your "mailbox" this week?  Let me know in the comments!


In My Mailbox was started by Kristi of The Story Siren.

Weekly Recap - April 6-12, 2014

Here's what I blogged about over the last seven days:

Sunday - I posted the contents of my "mailbox".

Tuesday - I shared my opinions on the Top Ten Most Unique Books for Top Ten Tuesday.

Top Ten Tuesday - Top Ten Most Unique Books

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted at The Broke and the Bookish.

This week's topic is Top Ten Most Unique Books.  The books on this list are all unique for different reasons: format, point of view, framing device, pictures...  I guess most books are unique in that they're all different... but I've tried to pick books that are really different:

Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion - After reading a couple of zombie books, I wasn't sure I was into the genre.  But then I read this one, and I loved it; it was my favourite book of 2013.  What makes it unique is that it's told from the point of view of a zombie... and what a point of view that is.  All my preconceived notions of zombies went out the window with this one.  It's definitely worth a read, whether you're really into zombie novels or are just looking for a unique take on the genre.

Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder - A novel about the history of philosophy?  The premise will either appeal to you or make you shudder with anticipated boredom.  To be honest, I did get bogged down near the end and it took me a while to finish.  But I did ultimately enjoy this book, and it is unlike anything I've read before or since.

Room by Emma Donoghue - This book made my list because of the narrator.  Jack is five years old, and his telling of the story is charming.  What might have been just another (rather dark) contemporary novel about a mother and son being held captive becomes a thrilling tale as we see the events unfold through a small child's point of view.

The Princess Bride by William Goldman - I chose this one because I thought the idea that this was a book written by a fictional person was rather interesting.  While William Goldman is listed as the author, this book (and another of Goldman's works called The Silent Gondoliers) is supposedly by someone named S. Morgenstern.  It's a cute device, and it helps to frame the story.

The Neverending Story by Michael Ende - If you've seen the somewhat cheesy (but still entertaining) 1980s movie and liked it, you should read the book... and if you do, you must read the edition with the red and green typefaces.  The colours differentiate between Bastian's and Atreyu's stories, and it really helps the reader keep things straight (because the story can get wild and twisty at times).  The two-colour format is pretty unique; I haven't seen any other books like this.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs - One need only flip through this book to see what makes it so unique.  The old photographs tie in perfectly with this creepy, atmospheric story about some very odd goings-on in Wales.

God Went to Beauty School by Cynthia Rylant - How many books are there about God?  In verse?  (I mean, besides that one.)  I thought this unique book was thought provoking and different, and yet it still managed to be sweet and amusing.

Every Day by David Levithan - While I ultimately ended up disliking this book (due to the characters), I thought the premise was really interesting and unlike anything I'd read before.  Not only does the main character (named A) wake up every day in a different body, but A is a genderless entity.  I can't recall any other stories I've read where the main character is neither "he" nor "she"!  (That did make writing my review kind of tricky...)

The Dust of 100 Dogs by A. S. King - There are books about reincarnation, books about being trapped in a dog's body, and books told from a dog's point of view.  And then there's this novel, which somehow manages to incorporate all three.  Yes, it's a bit weird... but it works.

Dreamhunter by Elizabeth Knox - The premise of this book is what makes it so unique.  Set in a world that seems very much like ours (but in the 1910s or thereabouts), Dreamhunter uses the premise that dreams can be caught and performed for others for entertainment.  It's an interesting idea, and so different from many of the standard fantasy/paranormal YA offerings.

In My Mailbox (61)

Bought from Amazon.ca:

Broken
by C. J. Lyons

WOULD YOU PUT YOUR LIFE ON THE LINE TO BE NORMAL?

Diagnosed with a rare and untreatable heart condition, Scarlet has come to terms with the fact that she’s going to die. Literally of a broken heart. It could be tomorrow, or it could be next year. But the clock is ticking…

All Scarlet asks is for a chance to attend high school—even if just for a week-a chance to be just like everyone else. But Scarlet can feel her heart beating out of control with each slammed locker and vicious taunt. Is this normal? Really? Yet there’s more going on than she knows. And finding out the truth might just kill Scarlet before her heart does…

Fracture
by Megan Miranda

Eleven minutes passed before Delaney Maxwell was pulled from the icy waters of a Maine lake by her best friend Decker Phillips. By then her heart had stopped beating. Her brain had stopped working. She was dead. And yet she somehow defied medical precedent to come back seemingly fine. Everyone wants Delaney to be all right, but she knows she's far from normal. Pulled by strange sensations she can't control or explain, Delaney finds herself drawn to the dying. Is her altered brain now predicting death, or causing it?

Then Delaney meets Troy Varga, who recently emerged from a coma with similar abilities. At first she's reassured to find someone who understands the strangeness of her new existence, but Delaney soon discovers that Troy's motives aren't quite what she thought. Is their gift a miracle, a freak of nature-or something much more frightening?

For fans of best-sellers like Before I Fall and If I Stay, this is a fascinating and heart-rending story about love and friendship and the fine line between life and death.

What was in your "mailbox" this week?  Let me know in the comments!


In My Mailbox was started by Kristi of The Story Siren.

Weekly Recap - March 30-April 5, 2014

Here's what I blogged about over the last seven days:

Sunday - I posted the contents of my "mailbox".  I got two new books this week.  One of them is in French; it's been a while since I read anything in French!  The other book is a novel in verse; I'm looking forward to reading another one of those.

Tuesday - For the Top Ten Tuesday meme I listed the 10 "gateway" books in my reading journey.

Thursday - I reviewed Unearthly by Cynthia Hand and gave it 2 ladybugs.

Review - Unearthly

Unearthly (Unearthly #1)
by Cynthia Hand
Date: 2011
Publisher: HarperTeen
Reading level: YA
Book type: prose novel
Pages: 453
Format: e-book
Source: Amazon.ca

In the beginning, there's a boy standing in the trees...

Clara Gardner has recently learned that she's part angel. Having angel blood run through her veins not only makes her smarter, stronger, and faster than humans (a word, she realizes, that no longer applies to her), but it means she has a purpose, something she was put on this earth to do. Figuring out what that is, though, isn't easy.

Her visions of a raging forest fire and an alluring stranger lead her to a new school in a new town. When she meets Christian, who turns out to be the boy of her dreams (literally), everything seems to fall into place and out of place at the same time. Because there's another guy, Tucker, who appeals to Clara's less angelic side.

As Clara tries to find her way in a world she no longer understands, she encounters unseen dangers and choices she never thought she'd have to make between honesty and deceit, love and duty, good and evil. When the fire from her vision finally ignites, will Clara be ready to face her destiny?

Unearthly is a moving tale of love and fate, and the struggle between following the rules and following your heart.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

I knew that Unearthly was the first book in a series when I went into it, but that didn't stop me from being pretty disappointed after I turned the final page.  For me, a good series of books has installments that can, more or less, stand on their own.  Of course there need to be some bits of mystery left unresolved to entice the reader on to the next book.  But in the case of this book, there was no balance; there simply wasn't enough plot in Unearthly to make up for all the loose ends that were left hanging at the end.

While I don't have a problem with the basic premise of the story (a girl who's part angel has to figure out how to fulfill her heavenly purpose), I thought the actual execution was a bit lacking.  The main issue is that the book was really light on plot.  I mean, really light.  Aside from a rather silly love triangle, Clara waxing poetic about the physical attributes of the two main love interests, and some boring high school stuff, not much happens... especially in the first half of the book.  In fact, I was past the halfway point when something interesting actually happened... or, really, when something interesting was foreshadowed.  The foreshadowing played out later in an event that was so poorly explained that it seemed tacked-on and contrived.  I assume that aspect of the story will be expanded upon in the next book(s).

As for the characters...  Let's just say that this book made me feel like I'm way too old for YA fiction.  I could not relate to Clara at all.  Her fixation on the looks of the two love interests (who are, of course, both perfect physical specimens of manhood at seventeen) was superficial and annoying.  I took to calling Tucker "the walking dimple" in my head as I read the book, because that feature was mentioned ad nauseum by Clara.  I found it annoying that she managed to reduce what was otherwise a really nice guy character into a small collection of physical traits.  As for Christian, I just didn't get what Clara saw in him.  Yes, he was the boy from her vision... but he was pretty much a Gary Stu.  Which is, I guess, appropriate, since Clara herself is one of the biggest Mary Sues I've encountered in a while.  By her very nature, she's good at almost everything, and stunningly beautiful, to boot.  Boring.  She doesn't even seem sure of how she wants to feel about things; so many of her reactions seemed surprising to me, inexplicable or out of place considering the situation.

When I was more than halfway through, and not much was happening, I started to get bored.  And when I get bored, I start to notice all sorts of errors and various other things that make me go, "Hmm?"  I'm still trying to figure out how Clara kept staring at the dimple in Tucker's left cheek as he drove.  They were in Wyoming... not England.

On the plus side, the cover is pretty and actually makes sense.  The mountains and trees reflect the setting, and the monochrome palette may be a nod to one particular scene.  The dress the girl is wearing is featured in the book (it looks like Clara's prom dress), so it's not just one of those "girl-wearing-a-pretty-dress-for-no-reason-whatsoever" covers.  I also thought the chapter titles were pretty cute; they were sort of lighthearted and it was nice to see something other than simple numbered chapters.

I can't say that I really enjoyed this one.  However, it wasn't totally awful, and if you're the type of reader who's really into series and doesn't mind having to wait through a few books before getting some answers, you might get some enjoyment out of Unearthly.  Personally, though, I think I'm done with this particular angel series.

Plot: 2/5
Characters: 3/5
Pace: 2/5
Writing: 3/5
Editing: 3/5
Originality: 2/5
Enjoyment: 2/5

Overall: 2.43 out of 5