top 5 wednesday: Books I Didn’t Get To In 2017

Top Five Wednesday was created by Lainey from gingerreadslainey and is currently hosted by Sam from Thoughts on Tomes. Check out the goodreads group to learn more.

January 10th: Books You Didn’t Get to In 2017: These are books you didn’t end up getting to in 2017, but really want to prioritize in 2018.

Himself by Jess Kidd.  I bought this on a total whim a few months back, but I’ve been excited to read it ever since.  I’d wanted to read it around Halloween time, as it’s supposed to be very atmospheric and creepy, but oh well.  It’s about a young man living in Dublin who was orphaned at birth, who goes back to his remote Irish village to find out the truth about his birth mother.  It sounds exciting and compelling – hopefully I’ll get to it soon.

 

The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware.  I got this off the free shelf at the library a few months back, and I meant to read it immediately and return it (I don’t really feel the need to own thrillers, because I only ever read them once) but I haven’t gotten around to it yet.  Maybe I’ll bring it to Houston with me.  Anyway, my mom just read it and quite liked it, and we have pretty much the exact same taste in books, and it was recommended to me again in the comments on my review of The Woman in the Window… so all things considered, I’m excited!

The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan.  I’ve owned this for a while but felt no immediate urge to read it, and then I read Donal Ryan’s novel All We Shall Know and was blown away by it, so I meant to read The Spinning Heart right after.  Sadly I didn’t get around to it, but hopefully soon.  It’s supposed to be a candid look at rural Ireland post-financial collapse, which sounds fascinating to me.  I loved Ryan’s style of prose so much in All We Shall Know, so I’m especially curious how this will compare.

The Power by Naomi Alderman.  This is one of those books that I feel like I should read, more than I actually want to read it.  I’d been curious about it since it won the Baileys prize earlier this year, so I ended up choosing it for my October BOTM (I think it was October?), but then I just didn’t get a chance to read it.  I always read my BOTM picks straight away, but I think I was busy with War and Peace at the time… anyway, after not getting the chance to read it immediately, I read some negative reviews (including Steph’s, and we agree on just about everything) so my desire to read it kind of plummeted… but I do own it, so I still want to give it a try.

This House is Haunted by John Boyne.  After adoring The Heart’s Invisible Furies I made it my mission to read another John Boyne novel, and then after adoring The Absolutist I made it my mission to read all of John Boyne’s novels.  I’ve heard mixed things about This House is Haunted, but I have to say, I’m excited – I love a haunted house story.  And I’m fascinated by the fact that John Boyne writes across so many genres.  His literary and historical fiction has wowed me, so I’m excited to see how he handles horror.

What books are you hoping to read this year?  Comment and let me know!