Library Loot: 6-25

Library Loot is a weekly event hosted by A Striped Armchair that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library.

I hit the jackpot on new fiction releases! Here's what came into my house this week:

Commencement by J. Courtney Sullivan

Queen Takes King by Gigi Levangie Grazer

Trouble by Kate Christensen

The Finishing Touches by Hester Browne

The Pretend Wife by Bridget Asher

Summer House by Nancy Thayer

The Fixer Upper by Mary Kay Andrews

"Waiting On" Wednesday: The Promised World

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted here, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

The Promised World

By Lisa Tucker

Publication Date: September 1

From Publishers Weekly:

"Engrossing and suspenseful, Tucker’s remarkable fourth novel unveils the motives behind the curious behavior and superfluous lies of unusually close-knit fraternal twins. Brilliant but mercurial Billy Cole, estranged from his wife, Ashley, commits suicide after losing visitation rights to his children. After Billy’s death, his fragile twin, Lila, immediately begins to break down, recalling bizarre incidents and feeling overwhelmed by dread. Once her husband, Patrick, who always prized reason over emotion, hears from Ashley that the twins lied about their parents being dead, he connects with Lila’s mother, Barbara, and gets a very different picture of the twins’ past. By rotating points of view between Lila, Patrick, Billy and Ashley, Tucker fleshes out the story, leaving readers understanding how both guileless and malevolent actions can be misconstrued."

What's your "waiting on" pick this week?

Want to participate? Grab the logo, post your own WoW entry on your blog, and leave a link in the comments section!

"Waiting On" Wednesday: Remedies

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted here, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

Remedies

By Kate Ledger

Publication Date: August 20

From Amazon:

"Simon and Emily Bear look like a couple that has it all. Simon is a respected doctor. His wife, Emily, shines as a partner in a premier public relations firm. But their marriage is scarred by hidden wounds. Even as Simon tends his patients’ ills, and Emily spins away her clients’ mistakes, they can’t seem to do the same for themselves or their relationship. In a debut novel on par with today’s top women writers, Remedies explores the complicated facets of pain, in the nerves of the body and the longings of the heart. Depicting modern-day marriage with a razor-sharp eye, Remedies is about what it takes, as an individual and as a couple, to recover from profound loss."

What's your "waiting on" pick this week?

Want to participate? Grab the logo, post your own WoW entry on your blog, and leave a link in the comments section!

"Waiting On" Wednesday: Bird in Hand

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted here, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

Bird in Hand

By Christina Baker Kline

Publication Date: August 11

From Amazon:

"It was an accident. It was dark, it was raining, Alison had only had two drinks. And the other car ran the stop sign. But Alison finds herself trapped under the crushing weight of grief and guilt, feeling increasingly estranged from her husband . . .

Charlie, who has his own burdens. He's in a job he doesn't love so that Alison can stay at home with the kids (and why isn't she more grateful for that?); he has a house in the suburbs and a long commute to and from the city. And the only thing he can focus on these days is his secret, sudden affair with . . .

Claire, Alison's best friend. Bold where Alison is reserved, vibrant where Alison is cautious, Claire has just had her first novel published, a thinly veiled retelling of her childhood in North Carolina. But even in the whirlwind of publication, Claire can't stop wondering if she should leave her husband . . .

Ben, an ambitious architect who is brilliant, kind, and meticulous. And who wants nothing more than a baby, or two—exactly the kind of life that Charlie and Alison seem to have. . . .

Bird in Hand is a searing novel about friendship, love, marriage, loss, and the choices we make that irrevocably alter everything we believe to be true."

What's your "waiting on" pick this week?

Want to participate? Grab the logo, post your own WoW entry on your blog, and leave a link in the comments section!

Endings: Books vs. Movies

USA Today has an interesting blurb in its latest Book Buzz post:

"Jodi Picoult's My Sister's Keeper vaults to No. 6 on USA TODAY's Best-Selling Books list this week, thanks to the movie version opening June 26. Released May 19, the movie tie-in edition has almost 350,000 copies in print. The heartbreaker about a family coping with a leukemia-stricken child has logged 186 weeks in the top 150 since its 2004 debut but has never cracked the top 20 before. The decision to change the novel's ending has angered some fans, and "it would not have been my personal choice," says Picoult. But she has seen the movie and praises the actors."

This is hands-down my favorite Picoult book, and I hate to think they have changed the ending. I haven't read anything else about this movie, so I don't know how they have altered this story...but reading this disappoints me.

It made me think...what other books have had their endings changed in the movie version? And, for the better or worse?

"Waiting On" Wednesday: So Happy Together

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted here, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

So Happy Together

By Maryann Mcfadden

Publication Date: July 7

From Amazon:

"Claire Noble gave up on her dreams a long time ago. A single mother and respected history teacher, she has also been caring for her aging parents. But now it's finally Claire's turn. She has fallen in love with Rick Saunders, who is offering her both security and the opportunity to travel. Before their fall wedding, she will be leaving for a summer on Cape Cod, where the fabled light has been luring artists for a century; and the chance of a lifetime to study with one of the most noted photographers in the country. But just as Claire is about to step into her new life, her estranged daughter suddenly shows up with a backpack full of problems.

So Happy Together is the story of three generations of women who find their lives, and dreams, suddenly transformed in ways they never could have imagined. But ultimately, it is the heartbreaking and joyful journey of one woman who comes to realize that when you're a mother, or a daughter, you are never truly free."

What's your "waiting on" pick this week?

Want to participate? Grab the logo, post your own WoW entry on your blog, and leave a link in the comments section!