TOP TEN TUESDAY: Books on My Fall TBR List

This week's theme from The Broke and the Bookish people is Top Ten Books on my Fall TBR List. I enjoy making these seasonal lists and have been doing well in getting to most of them. Sometimes the waiting list at the library plays havoc, but I base my list on some books I own, some library books, new releases, and ole stand-by series.

The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud

Library book 

The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith

#2 in Cormoran Strike series

own it

The Water Rat of Wanchai by Ian Hamilton

#1 in Ava Lee series

own it

The Last Policeman by Ben H Winters

#1 in The Last Policeman series

own it

The Trespasser by Tana French

new release

review copy requested

Queen of Hearts by Rhys Bowen

#8 in The Royal Spyness series

library book

Criminal by Karin Slaughter

#6 in Will Trent series

audiobook

Mislaid by Nell Zink

audiobook request #4 in line

The Wonder by Emma Donoghue

new release

I'm first in line when it comes in at library

I still have quite a few YA Sync audiobooks left to read, so I'll hope to listen to 4-5 of my remaining summer books. Juba!, The Young World, The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man, Most Dangerous, This Boy's Life, Words in the Dust, Donny's Brain, The Omnivore's Dilemma, Bone Gap

BOOK: Last Days of Night by Graham Moore

Last Days of Night by Graham Moore, 357 pages (review copy from Randomhouse Canada)

Legal thriller, inventors/scientists, Nikola Tesla, historical fiction, quotes and chapter titles for all the chapters.

This book is ticking all my boxes and was a wonderful, easy read. The narrative style reminded me of Erik Larson's books like Devil in the White City and Dead Wake. Larson's books are nonfiction and this is technically a fiction accounting, but the basic characters and plot line are true. Moore includes an afterward and specifies where he changed from order of events to make the story flow better.

I've mentioned here and here my interest in Nikola Tesla, so a book with Tesla as a main character? Emphasis on the character part. In the notes after, Moore mentions that in today's world, Tesla would probably be diagnosed as schizophrenic. He was inventing wireless telephones! in the 1880s!

Graham Moore is the young guy who won the Oscar for screenwriting The Imitation Game and gave a heartfelt speech. He's written a great book here and now I want to watch The Imitation Game with Benedict Cumberbatch. Cumberbatch plays Sherlock Holmes, and Moore has also written The Sherlockian. Woo, I'm going in circles here. Quality circles.

Plot Summary: (from randomhouse website)
New York, 1888. Gas lamps still flicker in the city streets, but the miracle of electric light is in its infancy. The person who controls the means to turn night into day will make history—and a vast fortune. A young untested lawyer named Paul Cravath, fresh out of Columbia Law School, takes a case that seems impossible to win. Paul’s client, George Westinghouse, has been sued by Thomas Edison over a billion-dollar question: Who invented the light bulb and holds the right to power the country?

While I read this book from the science perspective, enjoying the development of the electrical system and the debate between alternating current and direct current, it turns out Cravath the lawyer is famous in law circles for the design of modern law firm, which it is posited he based on the scientific firms of the day. Cool. As if I wasn't enjoying this enough, at one point Cravath takes a trip to talk to a scientist who has actually beaten Edison, and he goes to Cape Breton! to visit Alexander Graham Bell! Bell moved to Cape Breton after inventing the telephone, and his home, as all good Maritimers know, is in Baddeck, Cape Breton. (Now a Canadian National Historic Site)

I hoped it would be a little more suspenseful, but overall, I really enjoyed this book. It read very quickly and even included a little bit of a romance. Since all the characters are based on real people, there are no stereotypical characters and while my review makes it sound like it does too much, it flows nicely and relies on 'truth is stranger than fiction.'

 

TOP TEN TUESDAY: Favourite RIP books

This week's theme from The Broke and the Bookish people is Top Ten ALL TIME Favorite Books Of X Genre  Since we are in the middle of Readers Imbibing Peril season, those books of mystery, suspense, thriller, golthic, horror or dark fantasy, that's my genre: scary books. I'm only picking my favourite books that I've read during RIP season. I realize I read many suspense and thriller  and mystery books all year, so the only way to make this a bit easier is to limit to actual challenge books.

2007

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

Everything's Eventual by Stephen King (short stories)

never let me go by Kazou Ishiguro

The Thirteenth Tale Diane Setterfield

2008

Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith

2009 (both Canadians!)

Still Life by Louise Penny

No Time for Goodbye by Linwood Barclay

2010

Room by Emma Donaghue

Thirteen Hours by Deon Meyer

2011

Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King

And then there were none by Agatha Christie

The Distant Hours by Kate Morton

2012

Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane

Stiff: the curious lives of human cadavers by Mary Roach

The Calling by Inger Ash Wolfe

2013 (both audiobooks)

Mr Churchill's Secretary by Susan Elia MacNeal

The Treatment by Mo Hayder

2014

Sharp Object by Gillian Flynn

The Secret Place by Tana French

2015

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman  on audiobook again!

CHALLENGE: R(eaders) I(mbibing) P(eril) XI

After a year's break, Carl at Stainless Steel Droppings is back hosting RIP for the eleventh edition! I started at the second one, and these are my favourite type of books to read.

Mystery
Suspense
Thriller
Gothic
Horror
Dark Fantasy

R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril XI takes place from September 1st, 2016 through October 31st, 2016.

There are only two expectations if you want to participate with us:

1. Have fun reading (and watching*).
2. Share that fun with others.

Stay tuned for a Top Ten Tuesday of my favourite reads of RIP over the years

Read 4 books.

Possible books include:

Misbegotten by Katherine Webb - gothic, murder, mystery- 

The Last Days of Night by Graham Moore - suspense, mystery

The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith - murder, mystery, thriller

The Last Policeman  by Ben H Winters - apocalypse, mystery, crime

The End of Watch by Stephen King - thriller, mystery, suspense - 

The Water Rat of Wanchai - Ian Hamilton - mystery

The Trespasser by Tana French - murder, mystery

Books Read:

1. The Last Days of Night by Graham Moore - suspense, mystery 

2. The End of Watch by Stephen King - mystery, thriller, suspense

3. The Misbegotten by Katherine Webb - gothic, mystery, murder

4. Criminal - Karin Slaughter (audiobook) - mystery, police, murder

5. The Trespasser - Tana French - mystery, police, murder

I've just started watching Stranger Things on Netflix, and it definitely fits into the RIP category. My 13 year old has come to the living room to investigate the screaming she's been hearing when I watch this scary show. I plan to watch the last 5-6 episodes during this RIP season.