As my to-read shelf on Goodreads is
slowly getting bigger and bigger, so does my list of things to do. As a result,
I have less time to read and more time to add books to my reading list. Oh well…
So, I thought I would round up 10 of
the books that are coming up in 2015 and that excite me the most. Without
further ado, here they are, in no particular order…
First off, any book that is about
Sisi, the Austro-Hungarian Empress, has my attention. Seriously, if you haven’t
heard of her you really should. There are of course plenty of films, tv series,
even a cartoon series, dedicated to the Empress, but reading a book about her
is always a bit more informative. Anyway, reading the synopsis for The Accidental Empress already got me
excited for this historical fiction:
“Fifteen-year-old Elisabeth, “Sisi,” Duchess of Bavaria, travels to the
Habsburg Court with her older sister, who is betrothed to the young emperor.
But shortly after her arrival at court, Sisi finds herself in an unexpected
dilemma: she has inadvertently fallen for and won the heart of her sister’s
groom. Franz Joseph reneges on his earlier proposal and declares his intention
to marry Sisi instead.
Thrust onto the throne of Europe’s most treacherous imperial court, Sisi
upsets political and familial loyalties in her quest to win, and keep, the love
of her emperor, her people, and of the world.”
What I love equally as much as
reading books, is reading books dedicated to the lives of novelists. After all,
who wouldn’t want to know a bit more about the saucy/dramatic/tragic/funny
lives of the people who have created hundreds of pages, to make us feel all
those things? A novel about the ever so scandalous George Sand? Yes, please.
“George Sand was a 19th century French novelist known not only for her
novels but even more for her scandalous behavior. After leaving her estranged
husband, Sand moved to Paris where she wrote, wore men’s clothing, smoked
cigars, and had love affairs with famous men and an actress named Marie. In an
era of incredible artistic talent, Sand was the most famous female writer of
her time. Her lovers and friends included Frederic Chopin, Gustave Flaubert,
Franz Liszt, Eugene Delacroix, Victor Hugo, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and
more. In a major departure, Elizabeth Berg has created a gorgeous novel about
the life of George Sand, written in luminous prose, with exquisite insight into
the heart and mind of a woman who was considered the most passionate and gifted
genius of her time.”
Yet another piece of historical
fiction and yet another book dedicated to a popular writer. What can you do…
This one though quickly grabbed my attention as it is the story of Virginia
Wolf told by her sister, Vanessa. Plus, some insight into the Bloomsbury Group.
Cannot. Wait. To. Read.
“London, 1905: The city is alight with change, and the Stephen siblings
are at the forefront. Vanessa, Virginia, Thoby, and Adrian are leaving behind
their childhood home and taking a house in the leafy heart of avant-garde
Bloomsbury. There they bring together a glittering circle of bright, outrageous
artistic friends who will grow into legend and come to be known as the
Bloomsbury Group. And at the center of this charmed circle are the devoted,
gifted sisters: Vanessa, the painter, and Virginia, the writer.
Each member of the group will go on to earn fame and success, but so far
Vanessa Bell has never sold a painting. Virginia Woolf’s book review has just
been turned down by The Times. Lytton Strachey has not published anything. E.
M. Forster has finished his first novel but does not like the title. Leonard
Woolf is still a civil servant in Ceylon, and John Maynard Keynes is looking
for a job. Together, this sparkling coterie of artists and intellectuals throw
away convention and embrace the wild freedom of being young, single bohemians
in London.”
Did you read the title of this book?
Did you read the title of this blog? Ok, I am just going to drop the synopsis
here:
“Monsieur Perdu calls himself a literary apothecary. From his floating
bookstore in a barge on the Seine, he prescribes novels for the hardships of
life. Using his intuitive feel for the exact book a reader needs, Perdu mends
broken hearts and souls. The only person he can't seem to heal through literature
is himself; he's still haunted by heartbreak after his great love disappeared.
She left him with only a letter, which he has never opened.
After Perdu is finally tempted
to read the letter, he hauls anchor and departs on a mission to the south of
France, hoping to make peace with his loss and discover the end of the story.
Joined by a bestselling but blocked author and a lovelorn Italian chef, Perdu
travels down the river, dispensing his wisdom and his books, showing that the
literary world can take the human soul on a journey to heal itself.”
I know I must be getting a bit
repetitive with all those historic novels but I just love a bit of nostalgia
(and a bit of French charm), so bear with me. Coco Chanel is just one of those
enigmatic women that you always want to learn more about. Idolised, loved by many,
questioned by even more, and always raising someone’s eyebrows, she is the
epitome of style.
“Born into rural poverty, Gabrielle Chanel and her siblings are sent to orphanage
after their mother’s death. The sisters nurture Gabrielle’s exceptional sewing
skills, a talent that will propel the willful young woman into a life far
removed from the drudgery of her childhood.
Transforming herself into Coco—a seamstress and sometime torch singer—the
petite brunette burns with ambition, an incandescence that draws a wealthy
gentleman who will become the love of her life. She immerses herself in his
world of money and luxury, discovering a freedom that sparks her creativity. But
it is only when her lover takes her to Paris that Coco discovers her destiny.”
Second World War. France. At this
point I might just give up and leave you with the synopsis. There is no hope
for me. I should have graduated in French and Francophone studies instead…At
this rate, I might just be awarded the degree anyway.
“In the quiet village of Carriveau, Vianne Mauriac says goodbye to her
husband, Antoine, as he heads for the Front. She doesn’t believe that the Nazis
will invade France...but invade they do, in droves of marching soldiers, in
caravans of trucks and tanks, in planes that fill the skies and drop bombs upon
the innocent. When France is overrun, Vianne is forced to take an enemy into
her house, and suddenly her every move is watched; her life and her child’s
life is at constant risk. Without food or money or hope, as danger escalates
around her, she must make one terrible choice after another.
Vianne’s sister, Isabelle, is a rebellious eighteen-year-old girl,
searching for purpose with all the reckless passion of youth. While thousands
of Parisians march into the unknown terrors of war, she meets the compelling
and mysterious Gäetan, a partisan who believes the French can fight the Nazis
from within France, and she falls in love as only the young can...completely.
When he betrays her, Isabelle races headlong into danger and joins the
Resistance, never looking back or giving a thought to the real--and
deadly--consequences.”
This one I find interesting as it
is one of those books that connect its characters through time, entwining past
and present. The story sounds compelling, so let’s hope it was executed
perfectly.
“When Sarah Brown, daughter of abolitionist John Brown, realizes that her
artistic talents may be able to help save the lives of slaves fleeing north,
she becomes one of the Underground Railroad’s leading mapmakers, taking her
cues from the slave code quilts and hiding her maps within her paintings. She
boldly embraces this calling after being told the shocking news that she can’t
bear children, but as the country steers toward bloody civil war, Sarah faces
difficult sacrifices that could put all she loves in peril.
Eden, a modern woman desperate to conceive a child with her husband,
moves to an old house in the suburbs and discovers a porcelain head hidden in
the root cellar—the remains of an Underground Railroad doll with an
extraordinary past of secret messages, danger and deliverance.”
Now, this is a bit more different to
the previous titles (is that a sound of relief I hear?). Still set in the past
but offering a refreshing concept, Funny
Girl is a book I cannot wait to pick up from my local bookstore.
“Set in 1960's London, Funny Girl is a lively account of the adventures
of the intrepid young Sophie Straw as she navigates her transformation from
provincial ingénue to television starlet amid a constellation of delightful
characters. Insightful and humorous, Nick Hornby's latest does what he does
best: endears us to a cast of characters who are funny if flawed, and forces us
to examine ourselves in the process.”
A group of tourists celebrating the
holidays in a French chateau? Yes and yes.
“A group of hedonistic tourists--from Algeria, England, Poland, Germany,
Italy, France, and America--gathers to celebrate the holidays in a remote
French chateau. Then a woman is brutally murdered, and the sad, eerie child
Tatiana declares she knows who did it. The subsequent inquiry into the death,
however, proves to be more of an investigation into the nature of identity,
love, insatiable rage, and sadistic desire. The Unloved offers a bold and
revealing look at some of the events that shaped European and African history,
and the perils of a future founded on concealed truth.”
A good wife that gets her life
complicated due to a number of secret affairs. Need I say more.
“Anna Benz, an American in her late thirties, lives with her Swiss
husband, Bruno—a banker—and their three young children in a postcard-perfect
suburb of Zürich. Though she leads a comfortable, well-appointed life, Anna is
falling apart inside. Adrift and increasingly unable to connect with the
emotionally unavailable Bruno or even with her own thoughts and feelings, Anna
tries to rouse herself with new experiences: German language classes, Jungian
analysis, and a series of sexual affairs she enters with an ease that surprises
even her.
But Anna can’t easily extract herself from these affairs. When she wants
to end them, she finds it’s difficult. Tensions escalate, and her lies start to
spin out of control. Having crossed a moral threshold, Anna will discover where
a woman goes when there is no going back.”
What books are you looking forward to? Do give me recommendations for some more modern novels by any means...would be most welcome and truly needed. In the meantime, will be stuffing my face with macarons, crisp baguettes and smelly cheese. Ta!
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