Down The TBR Hole #2

Where have the last two weeks gone? I’m getting a little concerned about how quickly time seems to be passing at this point. I might actually have fallen down my tbr hole and only just managed to claw my way back out. This is my second forray into my to-read list. Lia at Lost In A Story started this weekly post to trim down the Goodreads to-read list. And although I may not have actually made my tbr smaller this week, it’s given me the chance to look through the books that are there and remind myself why I wanted to read them!

The rules are simple:

• Go to your goodreads to-read shelf.
• Order on ascending date added.
• Take the first 5 (or 10 if you’re feeling adventurous) books. Of course, if you do this weekly, you start where you left off the last time.
• Read the synopses of the books
• Decide: keep it or should it go?

Gone Girl

Goodreads Summary:

On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy’s diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer?

I know, I must be one of three people in the world who haven’t read Gone Girl yet and I still haven’t watched the film either (I’ve been holding out until I read the book). I read Gillian Flynn’s Sharp Objects a couple of months ago and while I wasn’t hugely taken with it in general, I couldn’t really fault the actual prose. KEEP

Red Queen

Goodreads Summary:

This is a world divided by blood – red or silver.

The Reds are commoners, ruled by a Silver elite in possession of god-like superpowers. And to Mare Barrow, a seventeen-year-old Red girl from the poverty-stricken Stilts, it seems like nothing will ever change.

That is, until she finds herself working in the Silver Palace. Here, surrounded by the people she hates the most, Mare discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy the balance of power.

Fearful of Mare’s potential, the Silvers hide her in plain view, declaring her a long-lost Silver princess, now engaged to a Silver prince. Despite knowing that one misstep would mean her death, Mare works silently to help the Red Guard, a militant resistance group, and bring down the Silver regime.

But this is a world of betrayal and lies, and Mare has entered a dangerous dance – Reds against Silvers, prince against prince, and Mare against her own heart.

Red Queen was published not long before I worked in Waterstones and there was such a buzz of excitement around it. I found myself picking up the book to read the blurb and found the premise so intriguing. And then other books got in the way and now another two books have been published. I still find the plot as intriguing now as I did then. KEEP

Wuthering Heights

Goodreads Summary:

Wuthering Heights is a wild, passionate story of the intense and almost demonic love between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, a foundling adopted by Catherine’s father. After Mr Earnshaw’s death, Heathcliff is bullied and humiliated by Catherine’s brother Hindley and wrongly believing that his love for Catherine is not reciprocated, leaves Wuthering Heights, only to return years later as a wealthy and polished man. He proceeds to exact a terrible revenge for his former miseries. The action of the story is chaotic and unremittingly violent, but the accomplished handling of a complex structure, the evocative descriptions of the lonely moorland setting and the poetic grandeur of vision combine to make this unique novel a masterpiece of English literature.

I’ve slowly been making my way through the classics in between contemporary reads. All the Bronte sisters are on my tbr. I watched the documentary drama To Walk Invisible which follows the three sisters as they write their greatest works of fiction just after reading Jane Eyre and it just made me want to read their work more. KEEP

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

Goodreads Summary:

A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. A strange collection of curious photographs.

A horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive.

A spine-tingling fantasy illustrated with haunting vintage photography, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children will delight adults, teens, and anyone who relishes an adventure in the shadows.

I didn’t realise this was set in Wales until about five minutes ago, which I think speaks volumes for my habits of adding things to my tbr. That being said, this book has cropped up again and again, and every time I’ve wanted to read it. Now that I know my homeland is the backdrop of this story, I feel even more compelled to read it! KEEP

The Pillar’s of the Earth

Goodreads Summary:

Everything readers expect from Follett is here: intrigue, fast-paced action, and passionate romance. But what makes The Pillars of the Earth extraordinary is the time the twelfth century; the place feudal England; and the subject the building of a glorious cathedral. Follett has re-created the crude, flamboyant England of the Middle Ages in every detail. The vast forests, the walled towns, the castles, and the monasteries become a familiar landscape. Against this richly imagined and intricately interwoven backdrop, filled with the ravages of war and the rhythms of daily life, the master storyteller draws the reader irresistibly into the intertwined lives of his characters into their dreams, their labors, and their loves: Tom, the master builder; Aliena, the ravishingly beautiful noblewoman; Philip, the prior of Kingsbridge; Jack, the artist in stone; and Ellen, the woman of the forest who casts a terrifying curse. From humble stonemason to imperious monarch, each character is brought vividly to life.

The building of the cathedral, with the almost eerie artistry of the unschooled stonemasons, is the center of the drama. Around the site of the construction, Follett weaves a story of betrayal, revenge, and love, which begins with the public hanging of an innocent man and ends with the humiliation of a king.

Another link to Wales. I didn’t know Ken Follett was Welsh when I added The Pillars of the Earth to my tbr though, so no favouritism was involved. I actually watched the TV series a couple of years ago, and swooned over Eddie Redmayne (I’m only human). It was only afterwards I realised it was based on a  book. And it’s a book I really do want to read, but sometimes just remembering the size of it puts me off. I think its something that needs to be tackled on a holiday. KEEP