Down the TBR Hole #19

This meme was created by Lia at Lost in a Story as a way to tackle the gargantuan To-Read shelves a lot of us have on Goodreads.

The rules are simple:

1. Go to your Goodreads To-Read shelf.
2. Order on ascending date added.
3. Take the first 5 (or 10 if you’re feeling adventurous) books
4. Read the synopses of the books
5. Decide: keep it or should it go?
6. Repeat every week until the entire list has been filtered (hmm, quite a few weeks then!)

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Here are ten more books on my To-Read shelf who need to justify their continued presence.

First of the Tudors by Joanna Hickson (added 10th December 2016)

Jasper Tudor, son of Queen Catherine and her second husband, Owen Tudor, has grown up far from the intrigue of the royal court. But after he and his brother Edmund are summoned to London, their half-brother, King Henry VI, takes a keen interest in their future.

Bestowing Earldoms on them both, Henry also gives them the wardship of the young heiress Margaret Beaufort. Although she is still a child, Jasper becomes devoted to her and is devastated when Henry arranges her betrothal to Edmund. He seeks solace in his estates and in the arms of Jane Hywel, a young Welsh woman who offers him something more meaningful than a dynastic marriage.

But passion turns to jeopardy for them both as the Wars of the Roses wreak havoc on the realm. Loyal brother to a fragile king and his domineering queen, Marguerite of Anjou, Jasper must draw on all his guile and courage to preserve their throne − and the Tudor destiny.

Verdict: Keep – I’ve read two other books by Joanna Hickson – The Lady of the Ravens and The Queen’s Lady – and I still like the sound of this one.

The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley by Hannah Tinti (added 28th December 2016)

After years spent living on the run, Samuel Hawley moves with his teenage daughter Loo to Olympus, Massachusetts. There, in his late wife’s hometown, Hawley finds work as a fisherman, while Loo struggles to fit in at school and grows curious about her mother’s mysterious death. Haunting them both are twelve scars Hawley carries on his body, from twelve bullets in his criminal past – a past that eventually spills over into his daughter’s present, until together they must face a reckoning yet to come.

Verdict: Keep – I’m still intrigued by the premise of this one so it stays.  

Bridge of Spies by Giles Whittell (added 31st December 2016)

Bridge of Spies is a gripping, entertaining, hair-raising and comical story, which moves effortlessly from the hardware of high-flying planes and new missiles to the geopolitics of the nuclear stand-off and through the poignant personal stories of its central protagonists: Powers, the all-American hero, blacklisted for not having killed himself on his descent to earth; a KGB spy who has spent aimless and lonely years achieving nothing in the US; and the opposing leaders Khrushchev and Eisenhower, both trapped in a spiral of confrontation neither wants.

Telling the true story that inspired Le Carré’s famous scene, Bridge of Spies is a brilliant take on the absurdity and heroism of the Cold War days that will appeal to a new generation of readers unfamiliar with the history but drawn in by the compelling and vividly recreated narrative.

Verdict: Dump – I added this immediately after watching the film and although the mention of John le Carré grabs my attention I think I’m more likely to re-read The Spy Who Came in from the Cold or watch the film again than I am to read this. 

The Witchfinder’s Sister by Beth Underdown (added 31st January 2017)

‘The number of women my brother Matthew killed, so far as I can reckon it, is one hundred and six…’

1645. When Alice Hopkins’ husband dies in a tragic accident, she returns to the small Essex town of Manningtree, where her brother Matthew still lives. But home is no longer a place of safety. Matthew has changed, and there are rumours spreading through the town: whispers of witchcraft, and of a great book, in which he is gathering women’s names.

To what lengths will Matthew’s obsession drive him? And what choice will Alice make, when she finds herself at the very heart of his plan?

Verdict: Dump – First of all I hope you notice we’ve now reached books I shelved in 2017! This is one I would have kept had I not recently read The Manningtree Witches by A. K. Blakemore which covers the same events albeit from a different angle. 

The Du Lac Chronicles (The Du Lac Chronicles #1) by Mary Anne Yarde (added 1st February 2017)

“It is dangerous to become attached to a du Lac. He will break your heart, and you will not recover.” So prophesies a wizened healer to Annis, daughter of King Cerdic of Wessex. If there is truth in the old crone’s words, they come far too late for Annis, who defies father, king, and country to save the man she loves.

Alden du Lac, once king of Cerniw, has nothing. Betrayed by Cerdic, Alden’s kingdom lies in rubble, his fort razed to the ground and his brother Merton missing, presumably dead. He has only one possession left worth saving: his heart. And to the horror of his few remaining allies, he gives that to the daughter of his enemy. They see Annis, at best, as a bargaining chip to avoid war with her powerful father. At worst, they see a Saxon whore with her claws in a broken, wounded king.

Alden has one hope: When you war with one du Lac, you war with them all. His brother Budic, King of Brittany, could offer the deposed young king sanctuary – but whether he will offer the same courtesy to Annis is far less certain.

Verdict: Dump – I added this after reading the second book in the series, The Du Lac Devil, obviously intending to read the series from the beginning. I don’t think I have the inclination to do that now. 

Sealskin by Sue Bristow (added 12th February 2017)

Donald is a young fisherman, eking out a lonely living on the west coast of Scotland. One night he witnesses something miraculous, and makes a terrible mistake. His action changes lives – not only his own, but those of his family and the entire tightly knit community in which they live. Can he ever atone for the wrong he has done, and can love grow when its foundation is violence?

Based on the legend of the selkies – seals who can transform into people – the book evokes the harsh beauty of the landscape, the resilience of its people, both human and animal, and the triumph of hope over fear and prejudice.

Verdict: Keep – I’m in two minds about this book because the fantasy element rather puts me off but on the other hand it’s published by Orenda whose books rarely let me down. On balance it stays for now.

Regicide: Peter Abelard and the Great Jewel by David Boyle (added 15th February 2017)

England, 1100. King William Rufus is killed with an arrow on a hunt. Rumours start immediately that he was murdered.

Nineteen years later in France, Hilary the Englishman is dismissed from his position as tutor when his student, Alys, a young girl with whom he has fallen in love, dies of fever. Turned out in the street Hilary meets a strange man offers to buy Hilary a meal if he does him a favour. He gives Hilary a pouch of silver, and a message to be delivered to Count Fulk in Anjou. But by morning the man is dead, and the crows feasting on his body. Fearing he will be accused of murder, Hilary flees. But he owes a debt of honour to deliver the message. Hilary knows only one man can help him. His former teacher, the brilliant Peter Abelard.

Much has happened to Abelard in the years since Hilary knew him. Although he may not be the man he was, he comes to the aid of his former student, deciphering the message… A message about the death of King William Rufus all those years before. A message about who benefited from that death and about the Great Jewel of Alfred the Great… a jewel which rested in the crown used at the coronation of kings, but has been missing since 1066.

Hilary and Abelard’s journey will take them through France, England, and Jerusalem as they race against time to save their own lives, and the fate of the monarchy. For there is a mysterious Saxon claimant to the throne.

Verdict: Keep – I love a good historical mystery and although it doesn’t have many reviews most of them are good. Also, I think I may have been sent this as a review copy by the publisher so feel kind of obliged to keep it.

So Much Owed by Jean Grainger (added 22nd February 2017)

When Dr. Richard Buckley returns home to his wife and beloved hometown of Dunderrig, his mind is wearied by the ravages of The Great War. Disillusioned by the horror and pointlessness of battle, his civilian transition strains more than just his state of mind, as his marriage crumbles beneath the weight of duty.

Out of the rubble of this doomed relationship, twins James and Juliet arrive – born into an uncertain and hostile new world. Against the backdrop of this idyllic town, this story takes you to the furthest reaches of Nazi occupied Europe. James and Juliet come of age in a world on the brink of chaos, where the remnants of rebellion at home have snowballed into the horrors of yet another world war.

Historically rich and moving, the tale of two children from the Irish countryside caught in the throes of wartime Europe is a testament to the strength of the human spirit and its willingness to endure.

Verdict: Dump – Although there are elements of this that appeal, for some reason I just can’t get excited about the prospect of reading it.  

Captain Paul by Edward Ellsberg (added 23rd February 2017)

1773. When Tom Folger’s father is lost during a whaling expedition, the young Nantucketer is forced to put aside thoughts of his printer’s apprenticeship to support his mother. In keeping with the family’s sea-faring tradition, he joins a whaler’s crew and sets out on his first cruise, but an encounter with a bull sperm whale changes everything. Not only does Tom find himself promoted third mate, a position not without its difficulties, but it leads to a chance encounter with the enigmatic Captain Paul.

An ex-slaver and merchantman, the fugitive Scottish buccaneer’s path becomes entwined with that of Tom. With conflict brewing the two join the fledgling Continental Navy. Through trials and tribulations, politicking and treachery, Tom sails with Captain Paul from Nassau to France and on into the home waters of the feared Royal Navy. As the Revolutionary War rages on, a legend will be born.

Verdict: Dump – It turns out John Paul Jones is an actual historical figure so it’s really a fictional biography. There are aspects of the book that sound intriguing but it’s over 500 pages long and one review refers to the narrative style as being quite difficult to get on with.

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders (added 1st March 2017)

The American Civil War rages while President Lincoln’s beloved eleven-year-old son lies gravely ill. In a matter of days, Willie dies and is laid to rest in a Georgetown cemetery. Newspapers report that a grief-stricken Lincoln returns to the crypt several times alone to hold his boy’s body.

From this seed of historical truth, George Saunders spins an unforgettable story of familial love and loss that breaks free of realism, entering a thrilling, supernatural domain both hilarious and terrifying. Willie Lincoln finds himself trapped in a transitional realm – called, in Tibetan tradition, the bardo – and as ghosts mingle, squabble, gripe and commiserate, and stony tendrils creep towards the boy, a monumental struggle erupts over young Willie’s soul.

Verdict: Keep – This is the sort of book I find it difficult to make a decision about. On the one hand, it won a plethora of prizes and has had some brilliant reviews but on the other hand it has a fantasy element that is not something I’m usually drawn to.  I’m going to be influenced by the positive reviews and keep it for when I feel like a bit of a challenge. 

The Result – 5 kept, 5 dumped. I think I’m getting a little more ruthless. Would you have made different choices?