I Should Read That

TBR Thursday is one of my favorite weekly posts from Bionic Book Worm’s lovely blog.  If you aren’t following her yet, well, you really should be.  Not only does she do great reviews and bookish posts, she’s an all-around lovely person.

All book summaries are courtesy of Goodreads.

Fantasy

The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon

9-year-old Paige is working in the criminal underworld of Scion London. Her job: to scout for information by breaking into people’s minds. It is raining the day her life changes for ever. Attacked, drugged and kidnapped. She is assigned to Warden, a Rephaite. He is her master. Her trainer. Her natural enemy. But if Paige wants to regain her freedom she must allow herself to be nurtured in this prison where she is meant to die.

This is one that has been kind of on my radar for absolute ages.  To be perfectly honest, I used to mix it up with Daughter of Smoke and Bone and hadn’t realised they were two different books for years!  I’m going to see V. E. Schwab and Samantha Shannon in conversation at Waterstones Piccadilly on the 4^th of August, so I’ve got to get cracking on The Bone Season!

Science Fiction

Neuromancer by William Gibson

Case had been the sharpest data-thief in the business, until vengeful former employers crippled his nervous system. But now a new and very mysterious employer recruits him for a last-chance run. The target: an unthinkably powerful artificial intelligence orbiting Earth in service of the sinister Tessier-Ashpool business clan. With a dead man riding shotgun and Molly, mirror-eyed street-samurai, to watch his back, Case embarks on an adventure that ups the ante on an entire genre of fiction.

I think it’s really hard to call myself a fan of science fiction while having never read Neuromancer.  The book that started a whole subgenre of sci-fi, Neuromancer is an absolute classic.  This was part of my Christmas book haul (remember that reading resolution?  Neither do I) and I haven’t quite been in the right mood to tackle this book.  I think the time is upon us – I shall soon be a true sci-fi fan.

History

The Romanovs: 1613-1918 by Simon Sebag Monteiore

The Romanovs were the most successful dynasty of modern times, ruling a sixth of the world’s surface for three centuries. How did one family turn a war-ruined principality into the world’s greatest empire? And how did they lose it all?

This is the intimate story of twenty tsars and tsarinas, some touched by genius, some by madness, but all inspired by holy autocracy and imperial ambition. Simon Sebag Montefiore’s gripping chronicle reveals their secret world of unlimited power and ruthless empire-building, overshadowed by palace conspiracy, family rivalries, sexual decadence and wild extravagance, with a global cast of adventurers, courtesans, revolutionaries and poets, from Ivan the Terrible to Tolstoy and Pushkin, to Bismarck, Lincoln, Queen Victoria and Lenin.

This is a monsterous book!  Clocking in at 784 pages, I bought it because the hardcover was too daunting.  The problem being that now the paperback is too daunting.  I think I’m ready to begin this one though.  I’m ahead on my reviews and can slot in some fast fantasy reads when things get tough.  Bring it on.

Contemporary YA

Wing Jones by Katherine Webber

With a grandmother from China and another from Ghana, fifteen-year-old Wing Jones is often caught between worlds. But when tragedy strikes, Wing discovers a talent for running she never knew she had. Wing’s speed could bring her family everything it needs. It could also stop Wing getting the one thing she wants.

If you’ve lurked around here, you know that I struggle with contemporary YA.  There have been book that I’ve loved (When Dimple Met Rishi, Geekerella) and books that just didn’t do it for me (Flight of a Starling).  Contemporary is a risky genre for me, but I couldn’t resist pulling the charming Wing Jones off the table at Waterstones.  I mean, look at the sprayed edges.  I’m looking forward to reading this one, probably sooner rather than later.  Plus, the author is lovely on Twitter.  What’s not to like?

That’s it for this week!  What is in your TBR pile?  What books are gathering dust on your shelf?  Have you read any of these?  Let me know!