[Waiting On Wednesday #9] Feedback by Robison Wells (2012)

Tags

adventure, book, dystopia, dystopian, fiction, prison, recommendations, young adult, young adult fcition

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

Feedback(2012)
by Robison Wells
Publication Date: October 2, 2012
Publisher: HarperTeen
preorder a copy via Amazon.
Goodreads.

Benson Fisher escaped from Maxfield Academy’s deadly rules and brutal gangs.Or so he thought.
But now Benson is trapped in a different kind of prison: a town filled with hauntingly familiar faces. People from Maxfield he saw die. Friends he was afraid he had killed.

They are all pawns in the school’s twisted experiment, held captive and controlled by an unseen force. As he searches for answers, Benson discovers that Maxfield Academy’s plans are more sinister than anything he imagined—and they may be impossible to stop.

Variant blew readers away with its breakneck pacing, flawless plotting, and impossibly high stakes. It earned starred reviews from both Publishers Weekly and VOYA, which described it as “an exciting, edge-of-your-seat read that combines psychological themes from works like Lord of the Flies, The Hunger Games, and Ender’s Game in a truly unique way.”
-description from Goodreads.

My Thoughts:
A BEA book. And I am green with envy from seeing it on so many haul posts. I was hesitant to feature it since it’s already been on quite a few blogs (thanks to BEA), and I like to be hipster–but I just had to give in to the temptation since it’s my most eagerly anticipated YA release of Fall 2012. Seriously. It’s also the sequel to Variant, which is definitely one of my favorite reads of the year! Sadly, I also think it’s one of the underrated “dystopian” books. Even though I wasn’t too keen on the character-development, nor the “gang” idea–I loved the pace, the plot twists which never failed to keep me on my toes in excitement. I’m not a fan of the covers (it makes it look like a horror novel)–but the story is just so addicting!

Do you have a book that is making you count down to its release date? Leave a comment, I would love to know.

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[Waiting On Wednesday #8] The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson (2012)

Tags

book, literary fiction, literature

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared (2012)
by Jonas Jonasson
Publication Date: September 11th, 2012 (US) / July 12th, 2012 (UK)
Publisher: Hyperion Books (US), Hesperus Press Ltd (UK)
preorder a copy via Amazon.
Goodreads.

Trailer:

The international publishing sensation–over two million copies sold

A reluctant centenarian much like Forrest Gump (if Gump were an explosives expert with a fondness for vodka) decides it’s not too late to start over…

After a long and eventful life, Allan Karlsson ends up in a nursing home, believing it to be his last stop. The only problem is that he’s still in good health, and in one day, he turns 100. A big celebration is in the works, but Allan really isn’t interested (and he’d like a bit more control over his vodka consumption). So he decides to escape. He climbs out the window in his slippers and embarks on a hilarious and entirely unexpected journey, involving, among other surprises, a suitcase stuffed with cash, some unpleasant criminals, a friendly hot-dog stand operator, and an elephant (not to mention a death by elephant).It would be the adventure of a lifetime for anyone else, but Allan has a larger-than-life backstory: Not only has he witnessed some of the most important events of the twentieth century, but he has actually played a key role in them.

Starting out in munitions as a boy, he somehow finds himself involved in many of the key explosions of the twentieth century and travels the world, sharing meals and more with everyone from Stalin, Churchill, and Truman to Mao, Franco, and de Gaulle. Quirky and utterly unique, ” The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared” has charmed readers across the world.
-description from Goodreads.

My Thoughts:
It’s the title enough to make you want to read this book already?
I first heard of this book over at Man Of La Book‘s review a few months back, and I was saddened to learn that it wasn’t translated into English yet. What’s taking it so long to get translated to English? How can 30 countries be ahead of the US or UK? I thought English was a popular language. Then I learned that it was optioned two years ago for an English translation–but rejected. Then about a week or two ago, I was ecstatic to learn that Hyperion would be publishing it via their Twitter feed. So here I am eagerly waiting. Plus, the covers for this book is absolutely AMAZING.

Do you have a book that is making you count down to its release date? Leave a comment, I would love to know.

[Waiting On Wednesday #7] Trojan Horse: A Novel by Mark Russinovich (2012)

Tags

book, recommendation, technology, war, world issues

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

Trojan Horse (2012)
by Mark Russinovich
Publication Date: September 4th 2012
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
preorder a copy via MacMillan.
preorder a copy via Amazon.
Goodreads.

It’s two years post-Zero Day, and former government analyst Jeff Aiken is reaping the rewards for crippling al-Qaida’s attack on the computer infrastructure of the Western world. His cyber-security company is flourishing, and his relationship with Daryl Haugen intensifies when she becomes a part of his team.

But the West is under the East’s greatest threat yet. The Stuxnet virus that successfully subverted Iran’s nuclear defense program for years is being rapidly identified and defeated, and Stuxnet’s creators are stressed to develop a successor. As Jeff and Daryl struggle to stay together, they’re summoned to disarm the attack of a revolutionary, invisible trojan that alters data without leaving a trace. As the trojan penetrates Western intelligence, the terrifying truth about Iran is revealed, and Jeff and Daryl find themselves running a desperate race against time to reverse it – while the fate of both East and West hangs in the balance.

Like Zero Day, Trojan Horse is a thrilling suspense story, a sober warning from one of the world’s leading experts on cyber-security, Microsoft’s Technology Fellow, Mark Russinovich. Trojan Horse demystifies the dangerously realistic threat of a cyber-terrorism attack on the Western world, while chronicling the lengths through which one man and will go to stop it.
-synopsis from Goodreads.

My Thoughts:
Trojan Horse is the sequel to Marks first novel, Zero Day (I can’t believe the entire library system in Hawaii doesn’t even have a copy.) Fighting with technology? Totally my thing!

Do you have a book that is making you count down to its release date? Leave a comment, I would love to know.

[Waiting On Wednesday #6] Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore: A Novel by Robin Sloan (2012)

Tags

book, books, bookstore, fantasy, fiction, literary fiction, literature, mystery, recommendations

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore: A Novel (2012)
by Robin Sloan (Twitter.)
Publication Date: October 2, 2012
Publisher: Macmillian: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
preorder a copy via Amazon.
Goodreads.

The Great Recession has landed Clay Jannon a new gig working the night shift at Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore. But after just a few days on the job, Clay begins to realize that this store is even more curious than the name suggests. There are only a few customers, but they come in repeatedly and never seem to actually buy anything, instead “checking out” impossibly obscure volumes from strange corners of the store, all according to some elaborate, long-standing arrangement with the gnomic Mr. Penumbra. The store must be a front for something larger, Clay concludes, and soon he’s embarked on a complex analysis of the customers’ behavior and roped his friends into helping to figure out just what’s going on. But once they bring their findings to Mr. Penumbra, it turns out the secrets extend far outside the walls of the bookstore.
Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore is exactly what it sounds like: an establishment you have to enter and will never want to leave, a modern-day cabinet of wonders ready to give a jolt of energy to every curious reader, no matter the time of day.
-description from Goodreads.

My Thoughts:
I originally scheduled this post for last week, but Dan Wells ruined my plans. From the cover I get the sci-fi vibe (I had to check if it was just a temporary cover), from the description I get the adventure vibe…and apparently it’s classed under literary fiction. Not only am I dying to explore Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, but I would love to see how Sloan blends these three genres, all of which I love together into one, fantastical journey in a mysterious bookstore.

Do you have a book that is making you count down to its release date? Leave a comment, I would love to know.

[Waiting On Wednesday #5] The Hollow City by Dan Wells (2012)

Tags

book, books, horror, meme, mystery, psychology, psychotic, schizophrenic, suspense, TBR, thriller, upboming books

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

The Hollow City (2012)
by Dan Wells (blog.)
Publication Date: July 3, 2012
Publisher: Macmillian: Tor Books.

preorder a copy via Amazon.
check out the book at Goodreads.

Michael Shipman is paranoid schizophrenic; he suffers from hallucinations, delusions, and complex fantasies of persecution and horror. That’s bad enough. But what can he do if some of the monsters he sees turn out to be real?
Who can you trust if you can’t even trust yourself? The Hollow City is a mesmerizing journey into madness, where the greatest enemy of all is your own mind.
-description from Macmillian.

My Thoughts:
I originally had another book (coincidently, another Macmillian book) I was planning to feature for this week’s Waiting On Wednesday since I already posted about Dan Well’s Isolation on last, last week’s WOW and it felt like I was violating my imaginary rule of “don’t post too much about one author, it will bore your readers.” I ended up shifting the book I planned to post this week over to next week because if I waited another week, this book would already be released, and that can’t happen–it would ruin my plans of being a hipster. And I ignored my imaginary rule because I don’t have readers anyway.
So what made me reschedule my post? Dan Wells’ podcast, Writing Excuses did. That podcast is oddly addicting…even if I have no plans to become a novelist. I happened to be listening to the episode about Pitching last week, when Wells presented his one-line pitch for The Hollow City: “the story a guy with schizophrenia who realizes that some of the monsters he sees are real.” And that sold me.

So in adherence to my imaginary rule, I will put myself on a Dan Wells posting ban until…well, the release of Isolation probably.

Do you have a book that is making you count down to its release date? Leave a comment, I would love to know.

[Waiting On Wednesday #4] Tenth of December by George Saunders (2013)

Tags

book, george saunders, humor, recommendations, satire, TBR, upcoming books, wit

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

Tenth of December
by George Saunders
Publication Date: January 8, 2013
Publisher: Random House Publishers.
preorder a copy via Amazon.
Goodreads.

One of the most important and blazingly original writers of his generation, George Saunders is an undisputed master of the short story, and Tenth of December is his most honest, accessible, and moving collection yet.

In the taut opener, “Victory Lap,” a boy witnesses the attempted abduction of the girl next door and is faced with a harrowing choice: Does he ignore what he sees, or override years of smothering advice from his parents and act? In “Home,” a combat-damaged soldier moves back in with his mother and struggles to reconcile the world he left with the one to which he has returned. And in the title story, a stunning meditation on imagination, memory, and loss, a middle-aged cancer patient walks into the woods to commit suicide, only to encounter a troubled young boy who, over the course of a fateful morning, gives the dying man a final chance to recall who he really is. A hapless, deluded owner of an antiques store; two mothers struggling to do the right thing; a teenage girl whose idealism is challenged by a brutal brush with reality; a man tormented by a series of pharmaceutical experiments that force him to lust, to love, to kill—the unforgettable characters that populate the pages of Tenth of December are vividly and lovingly infused with Saunders’s signature blend of exuberant prose, deep humanity, and stylistic innovation.

[Waiting On Wednesday #3] Isolation by Dan Wells (2012)

Tags

book, dan wells, dystopian, recommendations

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

Isolation (2012)
by Dan Wells
Publication Date: August 28, 2012
preorder a copy via Amazon.
Goodreads.

Two decades before the events of Partials, the world was locked in a different battle for survival: a global war for the last remaining oil reserves on the planet. It was for the Isolation War that the American government contracted the ParaGen Corporation to manufacture the Partials—our last hope in reclaiming energy independence from China. And it was on these fields of battle that the seeds of humanity’s eventual destruction were sown.

Isolation takes us back to the front lines of this war, a time when mankind’s ambition far outstripped its foresight. Heron, a newly trained Partial soldier who specializes in infiltration, is sent on a mission deep behind enemy lines. What she discovers there has far-reaching implications—not only for the Isolation War, but for Partials and humans alike long after this war is over.

A powerful take of our world on the brink, Isolation gives readers a glimpse into the history from which Partials was born—as well as clues to where the Partials Sequence is heading next.
-description from Amazon.

My Thoughts:
Just because the wait for Fragments is too long…
I am mildly disappointed with the cover though, but I guess Ebooks always get the short end of the stick in the cover department.

Do you have a book that is making you count down to its release date? Leave a comment, I would love to know.

[Waiting On Wednesday] Broken Universe (Universe #2) by Paul Melko (2012)

Tags

book, meme, sci-fi

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

Broken Universe (Universe #2) (2012)
by Paul Melko
Publication Date: June 5th, 2012
Publisher: Tor Books; First Edition Edition
preorder a copy via Amazon.
Goodreads.

When Possessing technology that allows him to travel across alternate worlds, John Rayburn begins building a transdimensional commercial empire, led by him, his closest friends, and their doppelgängers from several different parallel universes. But not every version of every person is the same, and their agendas do not always coincide.

Despite their benign intentions, the group’s activities draw unwanted attention from other dimensional travelers who covet their technology and will kill anyone to control it, a threat that culminates in a nuclear standoff for dominance throughout the multiverse.
-description from Goodreads.

My Thoughts:
Well, since this book’s release date is released today, I don’t know if it counts…but I just found out about this book today, and I just had to share it. The plot, the idea of multiple universes reminds me of a story out of David Eagleman’s Sum, which I loved to pieces. Apparently, this is the second book in the series; the first in the series is The Walls of the Universe (Universe, #1). I am likin’ the cover as well!

Do you have a book that is making you count down to its release date? Leave a comment, I would love to know.

[Waiting On Wednesday] Let’s Pretend This Never Happened: (A Mostly True Memoir) by Jenny Lawson/The Bloggess (2012)

Tags

bloggess, book, humor, memoir, recommendations, stalking, stuff that is actually funny, the bloggess

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

Let’s Pretend This Never Happened: (A Mostly True Memoir) (2012)
by Jenny Lawson aka The Bloggess
Publication Date: April 17, 2012
preorder a copy via Amazon.
Goodreads.

When Jenny Lawson was little, all she ever wanted was to fit in. That dream was cut short by her fantastically unbalanced father (a professional taxidermist who created dead-animal hand puppets) and a childhood of wearing winter shoes made out of used bread sacks. It did, however, open up an opportunity for Lawson to find the humor in the strange shame spiral that is her life, and we are all the better for it.
Let’s Pretend This Never Happened is a poignantly disturbing, yet darkly hysterical tome for every intellectual misfit who thought they were the only ones to think the things that Lawson dares to say out loud. Like laughing at a funeral, this book is both irreverent and impossible to hold back once you get started.
-description from Goodreads.

My Thoughts:
This book has actually been on my stalk-like-a-deranged-metal-chicken-on-steroids list. I am so grateful my thirst for The Bloggess’ unique wit and humor will be quenched in less than a month. I love her blog, I have been reading and loving it for years: from the metal chickens, William Shatner trolling, and her voice-of-practicality of a husband. I literally danced like an egyptian when she answered my question on her advice column (I asked for advice on how to solve my Dad’s incessant farting problem, she told me to tell my dad his junk was too small. I didn’t heed her advice, I think I would be disowned if I did.) Times like these I wish I was a librarian, professional book critic, or just the bigwig at Penguin, just so I can get myself a copy. And if you didn’t know, she has a blog, read it. It cures cancer.

Do you have a book that is making you count down to its release date? Leave a comment, I would love to know.