Comments for On My Wishlist: August 07, 2010

Memoirs of a Master Forger by William Heaney (Recommended by Realms of Speculative Fiction )

From the back cover:

William is a dissolute book-forger. A talented writer in his own right he would rather scribble poems anonymously for an asian friend (who is becoming increasingly successful as a result), and create forgeries of Jane Austen first editions to sell to gullible collectors. He's not all bad. The money from the forgeries goes straight to homeless hostel and William's crimes don't really hurt anyone. And there are reasons William hasn't amounted to more. He did something he was ashamed of when he was a student, he drinks far too much and he can't commit to any relationships. Oh and he sees demons. Shadowy figures at the shoulder of everyone around him (except the woman who runs the hostel, she remains untouched), waiting for a moment's weakness. Or is just that William can see the suffering of the world? And then an extraordinary woman, who may just be able to save him from the world's suffering, walks into his life. This is William's own story. But who can believe a master forger?

Ragtag by Karl Wolf-Morgenländer (Recommended by Pickled Bananas)

GoodReads description:

Warring birds battle over the city of Boston in an action-packed fantasy.

In this engrossing story for older middle-graders, hundreds of birds of prey have been driven out of the Berkshires by encroaching human development. They head toward Boston, which is already occupied by the birds of the city—but that won't stop the raptors. Soon the Talon Empire and the Feathered Alliance are at war, and as the battle ensues, an unlikely hero emerges to defend his home: a young swallow named Ragtag

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi (Recommended by i09)

GoodReads description:

Set initially in a future shanty town in America's Gulf Coast region, where grounded oil tankers are being dissembled for parts by a rag tag group of workers, we meet Nailer, a teenage boy working the light crew, searching for copper wiring to make quota and live another day. The harsh realities of this life, from his abusive father, to his hand to mouth existence, echo the worst poverty in the present day third world. When an accident leads Nailer to discover an exquisite clipper ship beached during a recent hurricane, and the lone survivor, a beautiful and wealthy girl, Nailer finds himself at a crossroads. Should he strip the ship and live a life of relative wealth, or rescue the girl, Nita, at great risk to himself and hope she'll lead him to a better life. This is a novel that illuminates a world where oil has been replaced by necessity, and where the gap between the haves and have-nots is now an abyss. Yet amidst the shadows of degradation, hope lies ahead.

Clementine by Cherie Priest (Recommended by i09)

Maria Isabella Boyd's success as a Confederate spy has made her too famous for further espionage work, and now her employment options are slim. Exiled, widowed, and on the brink of poverty…she reluctantly goes to work for the Pinkerton National Detective Agency in Chicago.

Adding insult to injury, her first big assignment is commissioned by the Union Army. In short, a federally sponsored transport dirigible is being violently pursued across the Rockies and Uncle Sam isn't pleased. The Clementine is carrying a top secret load of military essentials—essentials which must be delivered to Louisville, Kentucky, without delay.

Intelligence suggests that the unrelenting pursuer is a runaway slave who's been wanted by authorities on both sides of the Mason-Dixon for fifteen years. In that time, Captain Croggon Beauregard Hainey has felonied his way back and forth across the continent, leaving a trail of broken banks, stolen war machines, and illegally distributed weaponry from sea to shining sea.

And now it's Maria's job to go get him.

Tuesday Tells it Slant by Holly Christine (Recommended by BookNAround)

GoodReads description:

Tuesday Morning has always been a little different. She's kept a diary since 1989 and while researching for her English Lit thesis in 2003 on Emily Dickinson's transcendental tendencies, finds a poem that will change her life. Haunted by a past that she considers less than desirable, Tuesday recreates her history with the stroke of a pen. Page by page, year by year, she rewrites her painful memories as she has always fantasized. Bullied and discontented with her body before, she now becomes popular, thin and desired. Throughout this cleansing process, she consciously decides what to keep and what to toss. She scans her old diary entries for words that trigger painful and unpleasant thoughts: Fat Tuesday (her nickname in high school), Katie (her childhood neighbor turned bully), Writer (her dream of becoming) and Monday (her identical twin sister). Tuesday finds herself in an odd place six years later, unknowingly spending each day of her life as someone that she was never meant to become. With each breath of her new life, Tuesday obliviously loses more of herself. When a special person of her past returns to her present, Tuesday is forced to choose between the life that she had once desired and her true self. We all have deep secrets and skeletons in our closets. Imagine having the ability to not only change the past, but also completely alter the present and future. How far will Tuesday go to erase her past? And how much of herself will she lose in the process?

The Boy with the Cuckoo-Clock Heart by Mathias Malzieu (Recommended by Celi A)

GoodReads description:

A fantastical novel, a wildly inventive tale—by turns poignant and funny, lusty and wrenching—about love and heartbreak.

Edinburgh, 1874: born with a frozen heart, Jack is near dead when his mother abandons him to the care of Dr. Madeleine—witch doctor, midwife, protector of orphans—who saves Jack by placing a cuckoo clock in his chest. It is in her orphanage that Jack grows up, amid tear-filled flasks, eggs containing memories, a man with a musical spine.

As Jack gets older, Dr. Madeleine warns him that his heart is too fragile for strong emotions: he must never, ever fall in love. And, of course, he does: on his tenth birthday and with head-over-heels abandon. The object of his ardor is Miss Acacia—a bespectacled young street performer with a soul-stirring voice. But it’s not only Jack’s heart that’s at risk, it’s his very life—and doubly so when he injures the school bully in a fight for the affections of the beautiful singer.

Now begins a wild journey, of escape and pursuit, from Edinburgh to Paris to Miss Acacia’s home in Andalusia, where Jack will finally learn the great joys, and ultimately the greater costs, of owning a fully formed heart.

Shadow of the King by Helen Hollick (Recommended by Marg)

Amazon description:

Arthur is dead. His widow, Gwenhwyfar, left at Caer Cadan with their small daughter, faces overthrow by the powerful council headed by Arthur's uncle. But, unknown to her, events in France and Germany mean that a far mightier battle lies ahead. This is the third volume in the "Pendragon's Banner" trilogy.