Wishlist April

Lost and Found by Shaun Tan sounds so freaking fantabulous. Jenners over at Life...with Books turned me on to it. Had me hooked in fact when she said that the first story in the book, The Red Tree, is “a depressed person’s version of Dr. Suess’s Oh The Places You’ll Go.” That most certainly sounds like my cup of tea. I tried to be good and buy this at a Half-Price books, but alas, no luck. I can't find a cheap copy of the other Tan book on my wish list, The Arrival, either. I may have to suck it up and buy both online.

Nicole at Linus's Blanket mentioned The Uncoupling by Meg Wolitzer in a post prior to reviewing it. A post that made me quite curious as it mentions the withholding of sex as a primary plot line. The idea of sex as some sort of doggy biscuit fascinates me. Then her review pushed me over the edge when I found out about the fantasy element: "a spell slowly works its cold magic on the women of Stellar Heights, New Jersey, causing them to withhold sex and withdraw from their relationships shortly after a new drama teacher arrives and begins to stage a high school production of Lysistrata (the Aristophanes play detailing a sex strike to end war)...Keeping me on my toes through alternating uncertainty and speculation, was the nature of the spell, which struck at random. It can, as a matter of course, be taken figuratively and literally, and had a lot to say about women’s relationships with men and their ambivalence about those relationships." Fascinating.

Amanda over at The Zen Leaf wrote a description of The White Devil by Justin Evans which gave me little shivers of excitement: "British boarding schools, Lord Byron, and the ghost of a dead gay lover – can it really get any better than this?" No, Amanda, no it cannot. That sounds freaking awesome. Amanda pointed out that this one's up on NetGalley, so we shall see if HarperCollins is kind enough to let me review it!

Graveminder by Melissa Marr caught my eye for two reasons: first, look at that cover! It's seriously awesome. Second, Pam at Bookalicio.us had this to say: " It picks your judgmental “I’ve read all this before” ass up and slaps you in the face with a dose of the fascinating." I do so like to be slapped in the face by a book - and I mean that....I like the shock. And then there's the characters: "The characters are otherworldly...I was enthralled by Charlie’s world, the mission of the Undertaker and his Graveminder. I was enraptured by the zombie things that aren’t really zombie’s I just can’t find a better word for them. Probably the best way to describe them is by saying not zombie like but the true walking dead."

The Taker by Alma Katsu first of all has one kick-ass cover. Second, Nicole of Linus's Blanket got me all excited with her review in which she says she "literally had no words" after finishing the novel. Then she gave a sort of checklist to determine whether or not to read the book, and this awesome line was in there: "You love books that DON’T make you feel comfortable and that DON’T wrap up neatly in the end." I do so love a book which makes me feel a bit wrong. I'm not sure what that says about me, but there you have it.

Kim of Sophisticated Dorkiness is my go-to person for narrative nonfiction, and this month she wrote about one that got me really excited. This Life is In Your Hands by Melissa Coleman is a memoir about a family who homesteads in the woods in Maine (definitely not your typical family) and to make matters even more interesting, "the cost of the simple life — frenetic summers, long winters, and the daily pressure to get by — takes its toll on Sue and Eliot’s marriage. The dream of independence ends up with one daughter dead and the other abandoned by both parents. It’s a startlingly dark memoir about the cost of dreams." Sounds deliciously creepy and intense.

How can I not crave a book called The Psychopath Test? That just sounds fascinating. And when Nicole of Linus's Blanket says the following, I'm hooked: "I am about halfway through and so far I have read the interesting history and the original (sadly failed) treatments of psychopaths, a case of an institutionalized psychopath bent on proving to the world that he is sane, Scientology and the roots of the organization’s skepticism of psychiatry, and key points on the Robert Hare Checklist, which is “the” method these days for diagnosing psychopathy. I am expecting that this will be a good one all the way through."

Saint Joan is a play by Bernard Shaw, and while I don't typically go for plays - for some unknown reason - this one sounds fascinating. Amanda at The Zen Leaf writes: "This was a fantastic play. Joan is perfectly portrayed as sure of herself and yet definitely off her rocker a bit. The people around her are awed by her supposed power and secretly detest her at the same time. Even after her canonization, where all the characters revisit each other in a dream, Joan threatens to come back to life and all of her admirers quickly turn their backs on her. They love her, but only after she’s gone. She’s the sort of saint that is great to worship…now that she’s dead. One character even makes the statement that they would burn her again in six months if she came back to life. An interesting little ironic twist, I think." Sweet.

Amanda's review of The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist knocked my socks off, so I'll let it speak for itself. You should most definitely head over to The Zen Leaf and read her review. The quick version: dystopia, supremacy of economic productivity, "dispensables", extraordinarily powerful book, open-ended thematic questions, and "probably the best book [Amanda's] read all year".

I had never heard of Topology of a Phantom City by Alain Robbe-Grillet until reading James' review over at Ready When You Are, C.B. but man oh lordy did he get my cravings flowing. In his review, he offers five hypotheses for what the story is about. James claims that "whichever interpretation is right or best, the fact remains that Topology of a Phantom City is a mystery novel about interpretation. There is no solution.  Just evidence readers can use to come up with their own theories about what happened and about who done it."

Heather over at Raging Bibliomania consistently reviews really unique books, and the most recent to catch my eye is The Anatomy of Ghosts by Andrew Taylor: "John Holdsworth is having a tough time making ends meet. Living in 1780’s London, Holdsworth was once able to provide for his family through the ownership of a modest bookstore, supplementing that income from the authorship of a book called The Anatomy of Ghosts. But recently things have turned sour for Holdsworth, as both his wife and young son have drowned within weeks of each other, and his property has been taken from him. Just when he thinks all is lost, he’s granted an audience with Lady Anne Oldershaw, one of the most prominent members of society. In this gripping and intense historical mystery, Taylor takes us on a tour of 18th century London academia, grime and seediness notwithstanding." The story sounds wonderfully atmospheric.