To Read Tuesday

I have to admit, over the past couple of months, my To-Read pile has been getting bigger and bigger. And I haven’t been doing much reading to tackle it. The holiday months seem to just be so busy that I don’t get to take much time out to read. Now that my calendar has slowed down a bit though, I’m getting back to it!

If you saw my Game of Thrones Book Club post, you know that I decided to finally read the book series. Game of Thrones was one of those incredibly rare times where I watched the show BEFORE reading the books. My husband and I both really enjoy watching the show and he didn’t want me to know what happens by reading ahead, so I agreed to wait. Aren’t I sweet?

Anyways – back to what else is on my To-Read list!

Here are two books that I received for Christmas that I can’t wait to dive into.

Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Book Store – 

Robin Sloan

Amazon’s Description:

The Great Recession has shuffled Clay Jannon away from life as a San Francisco web-design drone and into the aisles of Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore. But after a few days on the job, Clay discovers that the store is more curious than either its name or its gnomic owner might suggest. The customers are few, and they never seem to buy anything―instead, they "check out" large, obscure volumes from strange corners of the store. Suspicious, Clay engineers an analysis of the clientele's behavior, seeking help from his variously talented friends. But when they bring their findings to Mr. Penumbra, they discover the bookstore's secrets extend far beyond its walls. Rendered with irresistible brio and dazzling intelligence, Robin Sloan's Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore is exactly what it sounds like: an establishment you have to enter and will never want to leave.

Les Parisiennes – Anne Seba

Amazon’s Description:

Paris in the 1940s was a place of fear, power, aggression, courage, deprivation, and secrets. During the occupation, the swastika flew from the Eiffel Tower and danger lurked on every corner. While Parisian men were either fighting at the front or captured and forced to work in German factories, the women of Paris were left behind where they would come face to face with the German conquerors on a daily basis, as waitresses, shop assistants, or wives and mothers, increasingly desperate to find food to feed their families as hunger became part of everyday life.

When the Nazis and the puppet Vichy regime began rounding up Jews to ship east to concentration camps, the full horror of the war was brought home and the choice between collaboration and resistance became unavoidable. Sebba focuses on the role of women, many of whom faced life and death decisions every day. After the war ended, there would be a fierce settling of accounts between those who made peace with or, worse, helped the occupiers and those who fought the Nazis in any way they could.