Top Ten Books on My Winter 2017 TBR // Top Ten Tuesday

There is nothing that puts me more in the spirit of my former college final cram sessions, than trying to accomplish my Goodreads reading goal by the end of the year. #stress. Super pleased that I am well within meeting that mark this go around, and my excitement to read these ten books will certainly help me achieve it. Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. Each week there is a new theme, and this week the theme is - top ten books that are on my winter TBR. Keep reading to find out what books made my list!

Ten Books to Read This Winter

Anne of Green Gables
by L. M. Montgomery 

goodreads // amazon // library

L. M. Montgomery's novel Anne of Green Gables recounts the adventures of Anne Shirley, an 11-year-old orphan mistakenly sent to a pair of siblings who intended to adopt a boy to help work on their farm in Prince Edward Island. Yet Anne's quirky personality and good-natured spirit causes the siblings to grow to love her anyway, and soon the entire town falls for the precocious little girl with bright red hair. Cherished by both children and adults, Anne of Green Gables is a celebration of fierce individualism, and the families we create, rather than the ones we are born into. This Deluxe edition is enhanced with a foreword by bestselling author J. Courtney Sullivan, and an introduction and suggestions for further reading by Benjamin Lefebvre, as well as reviews and a selection of early writing by L. M. Montgomery about the process of writing Anne. 

Why I Want to Read It
Along with Little Women, Anne of Green Gables reminds me of the holidays. All of my Green Gables exposure has been through the film ( the classic 1985 version) and almost all of those viewings took place between November and January. I was so excited when Penguin reached out to me asking if I would read their newest edition in exchange for an honest review. Of course, I want to experience Anne's world through the original novel and how cute are the illustrations on the front cover!


A Darker Shade of Magic
by V.E. Schwab

goodreads // amazon // library

Kell is one of the last Antari—magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel Londons; Red, Grey, White, and, once upon a time, Black. Kell was raised in Arnes—Red London—and officially serves the Maresh Empire as an ambassador, traveling between the frequent bloody regime changes in White London and the court of George III in the dullest of Londons, the one without any magic left to see. Unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world they'll never see. It's a defiant hobby with dangerous consequences, which Kell is now seeing firsthand. After an exchange goes awry, Kell escapes to Grey London and runs into Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She first robs him, then saves him from a deadly enemy, and finally forces Kell to spirit her to another world for a proper adventure. Now perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, they'll first need to stay alive.

Why I Want to Read It
I have been seeing the Darker Shades trilogy all over the bookish internet spaces this year! I read "This Savage Song" last year and struggled with enjoying it. There were aspects of the writing that I really appreciated though, and several other readers commented that I should try one of her adult fantasy novels. I don't read fantasy very often, but this is definitely one I want to try as I know the entire series is well loved by the reading community. I have this one checked out from the library currently and I hope to get to it by the end of the year!



Beneath A Scarlet Sky
by Mark Sullivan

goodreads // amazon // library

Pino Lella wants nothing to do with the war or the Nazis. He’s a normal Italian teenager—obsessed with music, food, and girls—but his days of innocence are numbered. When his family home in Milan is destroyed by Allied bombs, Pino joins an underground railroad helping Jews escape over the Alps, and falls for Anna, a beautiful widow six years his senior. In an attempt to protect him, Pino’s parents force him to enlist as a German soldier—a move they think will keep him out of combat. But after Pino is injured, he is recruited at the tender age of eighteen to become the personal driver for Adolf Hitler’s left hand in Italy, General Hans Leyers, one of the Third Reich’s most mysterious and powerful commanders. Now, with the opportunity to spy for the Allies inside the German High Command, Pino endures the horrors of the war and the Nazi occupation by fighting in secret, his courage bolstered by his love for Anna and for the life he dreams they will one day share.

Why I Want to Read It
I LOVE historical fiction, so this book is right up my alley. I'm intrigued by this book also because of the Goodreads ratings, which I admittedly look at too much before reading a book :/ BUT the reviews for this book are very mixed. Some readers absolutely loved it giving it five stars for being beautifully written, and others gave it two stars with criticisms of the boring writing. So far this book has 49k ratings and has almost 4.5 stars on average so clearly more readers are loving it than not. I'm interested to see what I think of this book, and I hope I get to read it before 2017 ends.



Moxie
by Jennifer Mathieu

goodreads // amazon // library

Moxie girls fight back! Vivian Carter is fed up. Fed up with her small-town Texas high school that thinks the football team can do no wrong. Fed up with sexist dress codes and hallway harassment. But most of all, Viv Carter is fed up with always following the rules. Viv’s mom was a punk rock Riot Grrrl in the ’90s, so now Viv takes a page from her mother’s past and creates a feminist zine that she distributes anonymously to her classmates. She’s just blowing off steam, but other girls respond. Pretty soon Viv is forging friendships with other young women across the divides of cliques and popularity rankings, and she realizes that what she has started is nothing short of a girl revolution. 

Why I Want to Read It
A recent release that has been all over the online book community lately, I am very excited to read"Moxie". Although I didn't go to high school in Texas, I have lived in the lone star state for over a decade, and enjoy books set here. I don't typically read YA, but every now and then a book from that genre grabs my attention. And what is it with so many mixed reviews on the books that I am excited to read, but this one definitely fits that bill as well. Also, Jennifer Mathieu is scheduled to appear at book festival I may attend in 2018, and is one of the few author's attending whose book I am interested in, so I definitely want to get her book read before then!


 
A Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens

goodreads // amazon // library

A CHRISTMAS CAROL is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London on December 1843. The novella met with instant success and critical acclaim. A Christmas Carol tells the story of a bitter old miser named Ebenezer Scrooge and his transformation into a gentler, kindlier man after visitations by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come. The book was written at a time when the British were examining and exploring Christmas traditions from the past as well as new customs such as Christmas cards and Christmas trees. Carol singing took a new lease on life during this time. Dickens' sources for the tale appear to be many and varied, but are, principally, the humiliating experiences of his childhood, his sympathy for the poor, and various Christmas stories and fairy tales.

Why I Want to Read It
There are few things more Christmas-y to read that "A Christmas Carol" and I haven't read it...yet! This is the perfect December read, and at 125 pages it will be a quick and enjoyable way to get me into the holiday mood. Also I feel like reading this book might be a prerequisite to reading the next book on my list. As an added bonus, "A Christmas Carol" is available to read for free through Amazon Kindle. Click here to check it out!



Mr. Timothy
by Louis Bayard

goodreads // amazon // library

It's the Christmas season, and Mr. Timothy Cratchit, not the pious child the world thought he was, has just buried his father. He's also struggling to bury his past as a cripple and shed his financial ties to his benevolent "Uncle" Ebenezer by losing himself in the thick of London's underbelly. He boards at a brothel in exchange for teaching the mistress how to read and spends his nights dredging the Thames for dead bodies and the treasures in their pockets. Timothy's life takes a sharp turn when he discovers the bodies of two dead girls, each seared with the same cruel brand on the upper arm. The sight of their horror-struck faces compels Timothy to become the protector of another young girl, Philomela, from the fate the others suffered at the hands of a dangerous and powerful man. A different kind of Christmas story, this breathless flight through the teeming markets, shadowy passageways, and rolling brown fog of 1860s London would do Dickens proud for its surprising twists and turns, and its extraordinary heart.

Why I Want to Read It
This book while slightly off the beaten path has been on my radar for a while. It is one of my father's favorite book's and one he reads each year to get in the holiday spirit. After reading "The Christmas Carol", I think this will be a fun book to follow up with! I was surprised by how many books exist with imaginative fiction


Rebecca 
Daphne du Maurier

goodreads // amazon // library

Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again . . . With these words, the reader is ushered into an isolated gray stone mansion on the windswept Cornish coast, as the second Mrs. Maxim de Winter recalls the chilling events that transpired as she began her new life as the young bride of a husband she barely knew. For in every corner of every room were phantoms of a time dead but not forgotten—a past devotedly preserved by the sinister housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers: a suite immaculate and untouched, clothing laid out and ready to be worn, but not by any of the great house's current occupants. With an eerie presentiment of evil tightening her heart, the second Mrs. de Winter walked in the shadow of her mysterious predecessor, determined to uncover the darkest secrets and shattering truths about Maxim's first wife—the late and hauntingly beautiful Rebecca.

Why I Want to Read It
Every now and then an older classic gains traction again, and "Rebecca" has been popping up a lot the last few months. I am impressed by all of the positive things I have heard about this book and its readability. Since graduating from college, I don't tend to pick classics up that often anymore, but the positive reviews for this one make me want to give it a shot.


The Mountain Between Us
by Charles Martin

goodreads // amazon // library

On a stormy winter night, two strangers wait for a flight at the Salt Lake City airport. Ashley Knox is an attractive, successful writer, who is flying East for her much anticipated wedding. Dr. Ben Payne has just wrapped up a medical conference and is also eager to get back East for a slate of surgeries he has scheduled for the following day. When the last outgoing flight is cancelled due to a broken de-icer and a forthcoming storm, Ben finds a charter plane that can take him around the storm and drop him in Denver to catch a connection. And when the pilot says the single engine prop plane can fit one more, if barely, Ben offers the seat to Ashley knowing that she needs to get back just as urgently. And then the unthinkable happens. The pilot has a heart attack mid-flight and the plane crashes into the High Uintas Wilderness-- one of the largest stretches of harsh and remote land in the United States.
 
Why I Want to Read It 
I am a total sucker for book to film adaptations. Obviously, an adaptation gone wrong is the bane of our reader existence, but an adaptation done right? - that is one of the most fulfilling things that occurs in my reading life. I know that I can not convince everyone to sit still for 10-15 hours to read a book, but I can usually convince them to sit still for 2-3 to watch the film version of a much loved story I have read. Seeing what I imagined up on the screen is also wonderfully surreal and so, I tend to read a lot of books that are adapted because I enjoy the experience. The trailers for this adaptation look intense, and as someone who already hates flying this might not be the best reading material before hopping on a cross country flight to visit family, but oh well!


The Boston Girl
by Anita Diamant

goodreads // amazon // library

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Red Tent and Day After Night, comes an unforgettable novel about family ties and values, friendship and feminism told through the eyes of a young Jewish woman growing up in Boston in the early twentieth century. Addie Baum is The Boston Girl, born in 1900 to immigrant parents who were unprepared for and suspicious of America and its effect on their three daughters. Growing up in the North End, then a teeming multicultural neighborhood, Addie’s intelligence and curiosity take her to a world her parents can’t imagine—a world of short skirts, movies, celebrity culture, and new opportunities for women. Addie wants to finish high school and dreams of going to college. She wants a career and to find true love. Eighty-five-year-old Addie tells the story of her life to her twenty-two-year-old granddaughter, who has asked her “How did you get to be the woman you are today.” She begins in 1915, the year she found her voice and made friends who would help shape the course of her life. From the one-room tenement apartment she shared with her parents and two sisters, to the library group for girls she joins at a neighborhood settlement house, to her first, disastrous love affair, Addie recalls her adventures with compassion for the naïve girl she was and a wicked sense of humor.

Why I Want to Read It  
One of the best things about the bookish online community? Having fellow book lovers whose opinions you trust. I can't even begin to list the number of trusted reviewers who have loved this book! I love historical fiction as well, so this book seems right up my alley. I also have another book by this author on my physical TBR so I'm hoping that by picking this book up at the library, maybe, just maybe, I'll be motivated to read a book that I already own!



Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine
by Gail Honeyman

goodreads // amazon // library

Meet Eleanor Oliphant: She struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she’s thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life of avoiding social interactions, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy. But everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office. When she and Raymond together save Sammy, an elderly gentleman who has fallen on the sidewalk, the three become the kinds of friends who rescue one another from the lives of isolation they have each been living. And it is Raymond’s big heart that will ultimately help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one. Smart, warm, uplifting, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine is the story of an out-of-the-ordinary heroine whose deadpan weirdness and unconscious wit make for an irresistible journey as she realizes. . .  The only way to survive is to open your heart.

Why I Want to Read It 
You know what I wish I had time to do before the end of the winter? Read *all* of the books on the Goodreads Choice Awards list. That list is always just a reminder to me of all of the books I wanted to get read the past year and didn't. It's a bit of a bummer. "Eleanor Oliphant" is one in particular though that I really want to get to this year. Her character sounds fascinating and I can't wait to see why this book is just so well loved!

So that is some ( most ) of my reading plans for the rest of 2017! What books are you hoping to get off your TBR list by the end of the year? Let me know below in the comments!