Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Wishlist Wednesday - July 28th

My weekly wrap-around to help me highlight great books I've heard about on other blogs, or newsletters, or from my fellow librarians or readers on LT. This will help me keep track of books I see that I want to read, and give me some clue in the future about why I said I wanted to read them!  This week I'm drooling over:

 The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, by David Mitchell


Gwen at Literary License gives a great review of this one. Set in Japan, the blurbs I've been reading have it sounding similar to SHOGUN, a book I loved. I'm always interested in learning about the beautiful country where we lived for almost 5 years.




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How to Be an American Housewife
by Margaret Dilloway
Another book focusing on Japanese traditions, this one was highlighted by, among others,  Alyce of At Home with Books.

The addition of a story about relationships gives this one an added reason to hunt it down for future reading.

Besides....................the cover is gorgeous!

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The Good Pyschologist
by Noam Shpancer

I saw this one on Shelf Awareness earlier this week, and it looks like a stunner.
From the sale page: "Noam Shpancer portrays the oft-hidden world of psychotherapy with unparalleled authenticity, compassion, and wit.  More important, his literary gifts are profound.  Beautiful language, an evocative sense of place, and an acute understanding of the human condition have combined to produce a deeply moving, compelling novel.  The Good Psychologist is an astonishing debut."--Jonathan Kellerman
I always enjoy novels which feature good strong characters.
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Disappearing Spoon
by Sam Kean
And Other True Tales of Madness, Love,
and the History of the World from
the Periodic Table of the Elements
I first saw this on Shelf Awareness, and then noticed there's a giveaway on Bingo's site going right now. I'm entering, because the math major in me, and the frustrated chem major in my husband both want to read this one.   The publisher says:
The Periodic Table is one of man's crowning scientific achievements. But it's also a treasure trove of stories of passion, adventure, betrayal, and obsession. The infectious tales and astounding details in THE DISAPPEARING SPOON follow carbon, neon, silicon, and gold as they play out their parts in human history, finance, mythology, war, the arts, poison, and the lives of the (frequently) mad scientists who discovered them.
 This would also help me in my lifetime Dewey Decimal Challenge, i.e., to read one book in each Dewey Decimal category - that's 1000 books and I'm nowhere near!

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 So what are you wishing would fall into your lap, or hop on your shelves, this week?

3 comments:

  1. I think the Disappearing Spoon looks good too, and have to say that the cover of the American Housewife book was part of what drew me in.

    I have to ask about Shogun, what makes it so good in your eyes? I tried reading it last month and gave up after about a hundred pages. Does it get better or different after that?

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  2. I read Shogun years ago and I loved it too. I really must read something by David Mitchell though - that's my husband's name but he doesn't write books!

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  3. Alcye....I think I enjoyed Shogun so much because we were living in Japan at the time, and I could relate to the places, the language, and the beauty. Haven't read it in 20 years, so it would be interesting to look at it 20 years out.

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