Features | 5 Books on the Top of My Wish List

If you don't already know I've put myself on a book buying ban for 2019 and boy has it actually been way easier than I thought. I haven't been perfect, I may have bought 4 kindle books for a total of $22 this entire year so far. The problem I'm finding though is I'm mostly ignoring what books are coming out/have come out so today I've scrolled through Book Depository and my Goodreads wishlist to come up with 5 books that I really want to buy but are avoiding and will probably borrow from the library once it's back open again. (Our city library is currently indefinitely closed due to earthquake damage cry). Some of these totally haven't come out recently oops!

Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak (Out Oct 2018)

Love The Book Thief so totally want to try Markus' new book!

The breathtaking story of five brothers who bring each other up in a world run by their own rules. As the Dunbar boys love and fight and learn to reckon with the adult world, they discover the moving secret behind their father’s disappearance. At the center of the Dunbar family is Clay, a boy who will build a bridge—for his family, for his past, for greatness, for his sins, for a miracle. The question is, how far is Clay willing to go? And how much can he overcome?

Things Are What You Make Of Them by Adam J. Kurtz (out 2017 oops)

Adam has some of the best advice for creatives so can't wait to get stuck into this.

From the creative mind and heart of Adam J. Kurtz comes this quirky, upbeat rallying cry for creators of all stripes. Expanding on a series of popular guides he's created for Design*Sponge, this handwritten and heartfelt little book shares wisdom and empathy from one working artist to others. The advice is organized by topic, including: (How to) Get Over Comparing Yourself to Other Creatives, Seeking & Accepting Help from Others, How to Get Over Common Creative Fears (Maybe), How to Be Happy (or Just Happier). As wry and cheeky as it is empathic and empowering, this deceptively simple, vibrantly full-color book will be a touchstone for writers, illustrators, designers, and anyone else who wants to be more creative--even when it would be easier to give up act normal. 

Unconventional by Maggie Harcourt (Out 2017 again oops)

I swear this was to do with a comic con (hence unCONventional) but according to the blurb it doesn't seem like it, I guess I'll find out!

Lexi Angelo has grown up helping her dad with his events business. She likes to stay behind the scenes, planning and organizing...until author Aidan Green - messy haired and annoyingly arrogant - arrives unannounced at the first event of the year. Then Lexi's life is thrown into disarray. In a flurry of late-night conversations, mixed messages and butterflies, Lexi discovers that some things can't be planned. Things like falling in love...

The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman (Out 2017 I give up)

Can't deny another historical fiction novel, and this one includes a zoo!?

When Germany invaded Poland, Stuka bombers devastated Warsaw—and the city's zoo along with it. With most of their animals dead, zookeepers Jan and Antonina Zabinski began smuggling Jews into empty cages. Another dozen "guests" hid inside the Zabinskis' villa, emerging after dark for dinner, socializing, and, during rare moments of calm, piano concerts. Jan, active in the Polish resistance, kept ammunition buried in the elephant enclosure and stashed explosives in the animal hospital. Meanwhile, Antonina kept her unusual household afloat, caring for both its human and its animal inhabitants—otters, a badger, hyena pups, lynxes. With her exuberant prose and exquisite sensitivity to the natural world, Diane Ackerman engages us viscerally in the lives of the zoo animals, their keepers, and their hidden visitors. She shows us how Antonina refused to give in to the penetrating fear of discovery, keeping alive an atmosphere of play and innocence even as Europe crumbled around her.

Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell (out August 2019 woo)

A comic by Rainbow Rowell what more needs to be said?

Deja and Josiah are seasonal best friends. Every autumn, all through high school, they’ve worked together at the best pumpkin patch in the whole wide world. (Not many people know that the best pumpkin patch in the whole wide world is in Omaha, Nebraska, but it definitely is.) They say good-bye every Halloween, and they’re reunited every September 1. But this Halloween is different—Josiah and Deja are finally seniors, and this is their last season at the pumpkin patch. Their last shift together. Their last good-bye. Josiah’s ready to spend the whole night feeling melancholy about it. Deja isn’t ready to let him. She’s got a plan: What if—instead of moping and the usual slinging lima beans down at the Succotash Hut—they went out with a bang? They could see all the sights! Taste all the snacks! And Josiah could finally talk to that cute girl he’s been mooning over for three years . . . What if their last shift was an adventure?

If you have any recommendations of new books let me know, not that I can buy them but I sure can borrow them from the library!