Hello and welcome to my Top 5 Wednesday post!
T5W is a weekly meme is hosted by Sam @ThoughtsOnTomes. You can visit the Goodreads T5W group for more info.
This week’s theme is…
August 24th: Books You Want to Read Before the End of the Year
Can I just say all the books?! Ideally I would like to read another 25 books before the end of the year, but that may be a little ambitious… We shall see how it pans out. Since there are a ridiculous amount of books that I would like to read before the end of the year, I am going to narrow this down to books that were released in 2016. Here are 5 books that I want to read before 2017 rolls around…
» A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab
It has been four months since a mysterious obsidian stone fell into Kell’s possession. Four months since his path crossed with Delilah Bard. Four months since Prince Rhy was wounded, and since the nefarious Dane twins of White London fell, and four months since the stone was cast with Holland’s dying body through the rift – back into Black London.
Now, restless after having given up his smuggling habit, Kell is visited by dreams of ominous magical events, waking only to think of Lila, who disappeared from the docks as she always meant to do. As Red London finalizes preparations for the Element Games – an extravagant international competition of magic meant to entertain and keep healthy the ties between neighboring countries – a certain pirate ship draws closer, carrying old friends back into port.
And while Red London is caught up in the pageantry and thrills of the Games, another London is coming back to life. After all, a shadow that was gone in the night will reappear in the morning. But the balance of magic is ever perilous, and for one city to flourish, another London must fall.
» Miller’s Valley by Anna Quindlen
Filled with insights that are hallmarks of Anna Quindlen’s bestsellers, this extraordinary novel is about a woman coming of age, as she unearths secrets about her family and her town, and surprising truths about herself.
For generations the Millers have lived in Miller’s Valley. Mimi Miller tells about her life with intimacy and honesty. As Mimi eavesdrops on her parents and quietly observes the people around her, she discovers more and more about the toxicity of family secrets, the dangers of gossip, the flaws of marriage, the inequalities of friendship and the risks of passion, loyalty, and love. Home, as Mimi begins to realize, can be “a place where it’s just as easy to feel lost as it is to feel content.”
Miller’s Valley is a masterly study of family, memory, loss, and, ultimately, discovery, of finding true identity and a new vision of home. As Mimi says, “No one ever leaves the town where they grew up, even if they go.” Miller’s Valley reminds us that the place where you grew up can disappear, and the people in it too, but all will live on in your heart forever.
» The Girls by Emma Cline
Northern California, during the violent end of the 1960s. At the start of summer, a lonely and thoughtful teenager, Evie Boyd, sees a group of girls in the park, and is immediately caught by their freedom, their careless dress, their dangerous aura of abandon. Soon, Evie is in thrall to Suzanne, a mesmerizing older girl, and is drawn into the circle of a soon-to-be infamous cult and the man who is its charismatic leader. Hidden in the hills, their sprawling ranch is eerie and run down, but to Evie, it is exotic, thrilling, charged—a place where she feels desperate to be accepted. As she spends more time away from her mother and the rhythms of her daily life, and as her obsession with Suzanne intensifies, Evie does not realize she is coming closer and closer to unthinkable violence, and to that moment in a girl’s life when everything can go horribly wrong.
» Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
Winter, 1945. Four teenagers. Four secrets.
Each one born of a different homeland; each one hunted, and haunted, by tragedy, lies…and war.
As thousands of desperate refugees flock to the coast in the midst of a Soviet advance, four paths converge, vying for passage aboard the Wilhelm Gustloff, a ship that promises safety and freedom.
Yet not all promises can be kept.
Inspired by the single greatest tragedy in maritime history, bestselling and award-winning author Ruta Sepetys (Between Shades of Gray) lifts the veil on a shockingly little-known casualty of World War II. An illuminating and life-affirming tale of heart and hope.
» Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Two half-sisters, Effia and Esi, are born into different villages in eighteenth-century Ghana. Effia is married off to an Englishman and lives in comfort in the palatial rooms of Cape Coast Castle. Unbeknownst to Effia, her sister, Esi, is imprisoned beneath her in the castle’s dungeons, sold with thousands of others into the Gold Coast’s booming slave trade, and shipped off to America, where her children and grandchildren will be raised in slavery. One thread of Homegoing follows Effia’s descendants through centuries of warfare in Ghana, as the Fante and Asante nations wrestle with the slave trade and British colonization. The other thread follows Esi and her children into America. From the plantations of the South to the Civil War and the Great Migration, from the coal mines of Pratt City, Alabama, to the jazz clubs and dope houses of twentieth-century Harlem, right up through the present day, Homegoing makes history visceral, and captures, with singular and stunning immediacy, how the memory of captivity came to be inscribed in the soul of a nation.
I need to get around to A Gathering of Shadows too! Might get the audio when my credit comes through.
Also Salt to the Sea is amazing!
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I listened to the audiobook version of A Darker Shade of Magic and the narrator is fantastic!!! I assume it’s the same one for AGOS
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Brill! I hate when you get those dull narators I think it ruins the book ever so slightly but I’ll definately listen to AGOS 🙂
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I need to check out one of the Shwab’s books, everyone seems to be in love with them 😀
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You 100% should! Her writing and world building are second to none!
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A Gathering of Shadows is phenomenal. Perhaps one of my favorites of the year. Schwab really stepped up her game with that one. Can’t wait for the finale! 😀 I’d like to read Salt to the Sea by the end of this year too, I’ve heard such brilliant things!
~ Aimal @ Bookshelves & Paperbacks
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Oh man! Way to lay on the guilt trip that I haven’t read it yet 😜. I just read The Nightingale, so I think my heart needs a break from WWII fiction for a little bit 😢
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I just started Homegoing tonight!
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Ooooo I can’t wait to see what you think!!! I’ve heard nothing but good things 😁
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my husband and I are reading it at the same time – he got a paper copy from the library and I got the e-book version.
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Oh how fun!!! Unfortunately my husband doesn’t read. We are polar opposites, but it works for us 😊. Happy reading to you and your hubby!
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Thanks! We generally read very different books so this is unique that we are reading the same book. He likes the thriller/mystery/spy novels which I generally stay away from 🙂
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I want to read Salt to the sea too! Read Miller’s Valley first ❤
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Yes ma’am! 😉
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The Girls has been my favourite read so far this year! I’m also keen to check out V. E. Schwab–I’ve been hearing so many glowing reviews. I’ve got a bunch on my TBR, but I’m particularly keen to read Nevernight by Jay Kristoff and at least the first Raven Boys book.
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Schwab is the Queen 🙌🏻 Her writing is exquisite and the world building is incredible! He writing is more slower paced though, just a heads up! I’ve heard great things about Nevernight! I think it is more a whirlwind of action and violence. I enjoyed the first 3 books of The Raven Cycle very much, but again it has a very different feel. Stiefvater is a very atmospheric writer and her characterization is on point! Basically, I don’t think you could go wrong with any of these! It will just depend on what reading mood you are in 😊
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Good to know! I’ve read Kristoff before (huge Illuminae fan right here), so I’m pretty sure I’m going to love Nevernight. And the others sound amazing too. I love a good character-based story!
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Illuminae is on my shelf right now. I’ve been pretty hesitant to read it, but I feel much better after you mentioned you are a fan!! I’m going to try and get to it before the end of the year too 😅
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