Monday, July 21, 2014

What's New On The Shelf?

I don't have any new reads to tell you about- I'm still reading all the same books I was reading last week (maybe I need to just read one book at a time?) so I thought I would tell you about some new things that I've bought or found lying around.

Red Joan, by Jennie Rooney, is a newish book from Europa Editions based on a true spy story, about an elderly woman who was found to be one of the oldest living KGB operatives at age 87. It sounds really great! Europa sent this to me for review and I'm going to start just as soon as I finish Take This Man.

Naming the World is a book of writing exercises edited by Bret Anthony Johnston, author of Remember Me Like This and husband of my friend Jennifer. I'm hoping that it will help me get my own writing kick-started.

The Patron Saint of Ugly, by Marie Manilla, is about a red-haired Italian-American girl living in Sweetwater, West Virginia, who becomes the object of both veneration and fear for her healing powers and a trauma visited on her town. It seemed quirky and different and the reviews have all been glowing, so I decided to give it a chance.

Fluent Forever is a galley I found at work. Gabriel Wyner's book is a how-to on learning a foreign language efficiently and well. I've read the first few chapters and it's really interesting. I'm going to finish reading it and put its suggestions to use- and then report back to you! Language learning is a hobby of mine and I'm fascinated by different approaches and I definitely believe anyone can do it if you only put in the effort. So we'll see!

That's it! My book-accumulating has slowed to a trickle lately.  What are you reading today, or what have you picked up lately?

4 comments:

bermudaonion said...

You'll finish them all at once!

Sandy Nawrot said...

You always find interesting stuff! I'm listening to "Sinful Folk" on audio...a historical mystery set back in the 1300's in England, told in the voice of a single mother posing as a mute man! Pretty darned awesome. Also reading "The Strain" and trying to get out ahead of the series.

(Diane) Bibliophile By the Sea said...

I'm having a slower month than normal. Summer has a way of doing that I think.

Anonymous said...

I'm intrigued by Red Joan!