The Top 10(+) Books On My Spring To-Read List

Hello, bookish friends -- or should I say aloha? This is the first blog post I've written since we left for our glorious Hawaii vacation at the end of February. It was so nice to spend two wonderful weeks without thinking about work or Ohio or anything else except relaxing and soaking up sunshine and having fun. (Plenty of vacation pictures to come soon!) And what better post to start back on than Top Ten Tuesday, created by my fellow list-loving read-a-holics at The Broke and the Bookish!

 

 

Can you believe it's time to put together a spring TBR list already? Not that I'm complaining -- I'm more than ready for warmer temperatures and sunshine and flowers and green grass. But it's weird to think we're already halfway through the third month of 2015! This is a big year for us -- it's our last year in Ohio before the Air Force sends us somewhere else and I have so many things planned; I have a feeling the whole year is going to feel like it's going too fast!

So onto the BOOKS! I've somehow managed to pare down a list of the 10 books I most want to read this spring (well, sort of -- you'll see). It was a tough decision! I'm having one of those moments where I'm just completely overwhelmed with the impossible number of (hopefully) awesome books I want to read -- new releases, old titles that've been gathering dust on my shelf for years, recommendations and books I've only just discovered. I want to READ ALL THE BOOKS and since that's just not humanly possible (it would take over 5 years to read all the books currently on my Goodreads to-read list) I kind of feel like my head is going to explode from all the choices -- and I'm sad thinking about all the gems I'll miss out on. Does that ever happen to you? What books are you planning to read in the next few months? One thing I know -- it'll be nice to sit out in my hammock with a good book on sunny afternoons again!

 

(I dare you to lie in this hammock for more than 20 minutes without dozing off!)

 Golden Son by Pierce Brown

I'm very anxious to get my hands on this sequel to "Red Rising," which was quite possibly the best book I've read so far this year.

Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper

I first read about this book several months ago and was hooked instantly just by the quirky title and cover art. It's about an elderly woman who decides to walk to the ocean.

Fiercombe Manor by Kate Riordan

This cover is beautiful and the story of secrets and fate -- written in dual narrative -- sounds intriguing.

 The Marauders by Tom Cooper

One of my favorite book bloggers loved "The Marauders" and a co-worker at the library is also reading and enjoying this novel, which tells the interconnected stories of several different characters in the Louisiana swamp following the BP oil spill.

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

Another interesting cover and an intriguing plot about magic in parallel-universe Londons.

 The Great Zoo of China by Matthew Reilly

Two of my fellow library co-workers have read and liked this book, about a Jurassic Park-style attraction featuring dragons.

Still Alice by Lisa Genova

This novel about early-onset Alzheimer's disease has been on my to-read list forever! It sounds like a fantastic -- if heartbreaking -- read and I'd like to take in the novel before I see the movie. I've been warned that I will probably cry.

 Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

Non-fiction writer Larson has a new book out this month, "Dead Wake," about the sinking of the Lusitania -- which is also on my to-read list. But first I want to read his book about the 1920 Chicago World's Fair. I've heard nothing but good things about this work.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

I'm pretty late to the game on this one, I know. But I'm fairly sure I'm going to really like "Ready Player One" and I think I was sort of saving it for the right time -- like our vacation to Hawaii! Except that it stayed in my suitcase the whole time... It's on the to-be-read-very-very-soon-list though!

The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy

Now, who could resist that title? This is another recommendation from a friend at work. "The Dud Avocado" is about a single twenty-something American moving to Paris in the 1950s. I'd been planning to read this novel for a while, but just the other day I ran across a "re-read" review of it on The Guardian's website and it convinced me to read this "hoot" of a book sooner rather than later.

And I also really want to make sure I get to the three books from my Winter TBR list I haven't read yet:

And, as if that's not plenty of books to keep me occupied for a long while, I also need to get busy working on my New Year's resolution list of 12 books I must read this year. (Here's the list.) It's mid-March and I've only read one-half of a book from this list so far (I'm currently working on "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society"), so I have a lot of catching up to do! Maybe I'll try "Watership Down" next -- rabbits and springtime go together well!