My Wish List

After a cycle of shame and guilt over the half-read, overdue library books sitting on my shelf, I have finally come to terms with my unfortunate dilemma of what to read first and wether I have to finish one book before starting another; I have made my decision. The official candidate for the Library's first book review is I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak, which I am still the process of reading, so please bare with me until then.
To pass the time, I have decided to make a wish list of all the books that I want to read, but probably will never get around to. Provided below is a list of titles and authors, a story about how I came across them, what what makes me want to read them, and a link to their amazon pages for summaries. Enjoy!

1. I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak (obviously)
This book was presented to me by the Houston Public Library's personalized book recommendation service, where you answer a lot of pleasantly specific questions about the books you like and what you're in the mood to read at the moment, and in a couple of days a librarian will send you a list of books they think you should read. This book was at the very bottom of my list and the summary totally intrigued me, so I checked it out. That was over two weeks ago. Now it's overdue. *sigh*

2. Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link
I have seen this book several times in my local book store but never gotten a chance to buy it or check it out. I guess you could say it was the cover that caught my eye, with it's black and yellow color scheme and the two, slithery looking heads. I stood in the same spot for thirty minutes reading the first short story right there in the book store. Ok maybe not thirty minutes-I don't read that slow! But anyway it made me want to read more.

3. North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headley
Another book I see frequently in book stores. I love the cover-the light and the girl and the compass overlay- awesome! (if you haven't already figured out, I usually judge books by their covers) I also read some reviews of it recently and most people said it was very good.

4. The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
Yay! The first classic on the list. I have always enjoyed classics. When I was in the 4th or 5th grade I read Treasure Island, and didn't realize until 7th grade, when we had to read it for english, that most people my age didn't like classics.  My other favorites include: The Wind in the Willows, Alice in Wonderland, The Secret Garden, A Little Princess, Adventures of Tom Sawer, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Around the World in 80 Days, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, The Grapes of Wrath, and Travels with Charlie. And most of these were read before I was old enough to really appreciate them. I guess the reason I want to read this book is that it has always seemed mysterious. I didn't actually know much about it until a few weeks ago when there was a reference to it in an article I was reading.

5. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The truth is, I don't have a good explanation for wanting to read this book. I've seen the movie, which is amazing, and this book has been on my reading list ever since.

6. The Replacement by Brenna Yovanhof
I saw this book on the Hip Librarian's Book Blog and thought it looked very interesting. The link to their blog is in the sidebar.

7. A Week at the Airport by Alain de Botton
As I said before, I will read just about anything. This book came to my inbox in a book newsletter called Armchair Travel. The idea of the author as "writer in residence" at Heathrow Airport caught my attention, and I can't wait to read it!

8. The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale
I have been wanting to read this book for a long time. First of all, Shannon Hale is one of my favorite authors. My friend and I read The Goose Girl in elementary school after the beautiful cover artwork (NOT the new covers, which are too un-original) grabbed my attention. I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to be swept up in beautiful writing and scenery and characters and- well just about everything. But, I digress. Though the idea behind A&H (as us fans call it) is kind of unrealistic, I'm confident that Shannon Hale will take me on a trip I never would have expected and that's a journey I'm willing to undertake.

9. The House of Discarded Dreams by Ekaterina Sedia
Um...best title ever! This book was sent to me through a fantasy newsletter. Though I don't read too much fantasy, and I am kind of picky about what I like in a good fantasy novel, this looks intriguing.

10. Something Wicked this Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
I saw the movie for this book, which was an utterly eerie and moving film. Also, I love Ray Bradbury's work, especially Fahrenheit 451 and R is for Rocket. I cannot wait to fall into another magical and scary story!

Of course there's more. There will always be more books to read. But for now, I will leave you with this list. What books are on your wish list?