Cleaning Up My TBR With A Giveaway (US Only) - Down the TBR Hole #17

This meme was started by Lost in a Story.  Here is how it works:

• Go to your goodreads to-read shelf.
• Order on ascending date added.
• Take the first 5 (or 10 if you’re feeling adventurous) books
• Read the synopses of the books
• Decide: keep it or should it go?

Because I have so many to do, I'm going to try to do this weekly, and do 10 at a time.


1.  The Titanic series by Gordan Korman:

The Titanic begins its maiden voyage. There's plenty of danger waiting for four of its young passengers, including a secret killer who may be on board and a vital truth in jeopardy of being revealed. Then when an iceberg appears, the stage is set for the final scene. To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, bestselling author Gordon Korman plunges readers into the heart of the ill-fated ship with this ultimate action/adventure trilogy.  

My thoughts:
Yes, I'm obsessed with all things having to do with the Titanic. But, this is one that I probably won't get around to.

Verdict:  Toss 


2.  Echoes from Auschwitz:  Dr. Mengele's Twins: The Story of Eva and Miriam Mozes by Eva Mozes Kor and Mary Wright:

So, there is no synopsis for this one on Goodreads, or Amazon.  However, I think it is probably pretty close to another book I've read,  Surviving the Angel of Death, and I'm guessing it's really hard to get a copy of this one these days.  Really, I guess this part is my thoughts, and so we'll just move on to the verdict below.

Verdict: Toss 









3.  A Weekend with Mr. Darcy by Victoria Connelly:

Of course she's obsessed with Jane Austen...
Surrounded by appalling exes and fawning students, the only thing keeping professor Katherine Roberts sane is Jane Austen and her personal secret love for racy Regency romance novels. She thinks the Jane Austen Addicts conference in the English countryside is the perfect opportunity to escape her chaotic life and finally relax...
But then she encounters a devilishly handsome man at the conference who seems determined to sweep her off her feet. Is he more fiction than fact? Or could he be the hero she didn't know she was looking for?

My thoughts:
Sounds good, but, not sure when I'll get around to it, and maybe not that original.

Verdict:  Toss


   

4.  Mercy by Rebecca Lim:

Mercy wakes on a school bus bound for Paradise, a small town where everyone knows everyone else's business... Or thinks they do. But Mercy has a secret life. She is an angel, doomed to return repeatedly to Earth, taking on a new human form each time she does, in an effort to resolve a cataclysmic rift between heavenly beings.

In Paradise, Mercy meets Ryan, an eighteen-year-old whose sister was kidnapped two years ago and is presumed dead. When another girl is also taken, Mercy knows she has to act quickly and use extraordinary powers to rescue her, even if it means exposing her true identity.

An electric combination of angels, mystery and romance, Mercy is the first book in a major new series.

My thoughts:
I think I've mentioned before, I might be over the angel stories.  Also, this one is in my library if I ever want to read it, don't need to save it on a list.

Verdict:  Toss


5.  Flood series by Stephen Baxter:

It begins in 2016. Another wet summer, another year of storm surges and high tides. But this time the Thames Barrier is breached and central London is swamped. The waters recede, life goes on, the economy begins to recover, people watch the news reports of other floods around the world. And then the waters rise again. And again.

Lily, Helen, Gary and Piers, hostages released from five years captivity at the hands of Christian Extremists in Spain, return to England and the first rumours of a flood of positively Biblical proportions…

Sea levels have begun to rise, at catastrophic speed. Within two years London and New York will be under water. The Pope will give his last address from the Vatican before Rome is swallowed by the rising water. Mecca too will vanish beneath the waves.

The world is drowning. A desperate race to find out what is happening begins. The popular theory is that we are paying the price for our profligacy and that climate change is about to redress Gaia’s balance. But there are dissenting views. And all the time the waters continue to rise and mankind begins the great retreat to higher ground. Millions will die, billions will become migrants. Wars will be fought over mountains.    

Hundreds will live, six billion will die.

Our world ended in 2052, the year the last great flood finally overwhelmed the lands.

A desperate bid for survival began in America, in the years before the end. The project which could be our final act could also be an impossible dream: creating a starship to take a few hundred survivors on an epic journey to a new world.

As the waters rise, as savage wars are fought over the remaining high ground, the work goes on. Those who will live, of the billions who will die, are chosen. Families are torn apart and the resources of our drowning world are marshalled for one last gamble.

Ark is the story of three women, Grace, Venus and Holle, and their part in humanity's struggle to reach a new home. For the few survivors, the day of the launch will be only the beginning of the nightmare. 

My thoughts:
Both sound good. But I feel Stephen Baxter is a well enough known author that if I wanted to read, I might find him easily enough.

Verdict:  Toss both


6.  Treasures from the Attic:  the Extraordinary Story of Anne Frank's family by Mirjam Pressler:

The story is one that is envisioned by many: a relative, an old woman who has lived in the same home for a lifetime, passes away, her death prompting the inevitable task of sorting through her effects by her surviving family. But in the attic in this particular house, a treasure trove of historic importance is found. Rarely does this become an actuality, but when Helene Elias died, no one could put a price on what she left behind.

Helene Elias was born Helene Frank, sister to Otto Frank, and therefore aunt to Anne Frank. Ensconced upstairs in the house she inherited from her mother, and eventually passed on to her son, Buddy Elias, Anne’s cousin and childhood playmate, was the documented legacy of the Frank family: a vast collection of photos, letters, drawings, poems, and postcards preserved throughout decades—a cache of over 6,000 documents in all.
Chronicled by Buddy’s wife, Gertrude, and renowned German author Mirjam Pressler, these findings weave an indelible, engaging, and endearing portrait of the family that shaped Anne Frank. They wrote to one another voluminously; recounted summer holidays, and wrote about love and hardships. They reassured one another during the terrible years and waited anxiously for news after the war had ended. Through these letters, they rejoiced in new life, and honored the memories of those they lost. 

Anne’s family believed themselves to ordinary members of Germany’s bourgeoisie. That they were wrong is part of history, and we celebrate them here with this extraordinary account.  

My thoughts:
Anne Frank is another person that I am fascinated to real all about her life and just to get to know her.  I feel like this would be such an interesting book.

Verdict:  Keep


7.  Are You Going to Kiss Me Now? by Sloane Tanen:

Being marooned on an island somewhere off the coast of Madagascar with five celebrities sounds romantic and glamorous, right?
Wrong.

You couldn't find people with fewer survival skills if you tried. Seriously. Cisco may have centerfold abs, but he can't even spell SOS. At least super-sexy Jonah seems to have a clue (too bad about the purity ring). If I'm stuck here much longer, these self-involved head cases might drive me crazy-assuming they don't insult each other to death first. It's like a group therapy edition of Survivor.
At this point, I'm pretty convinced that all celebrities should be caged in Hollywood and confined to the pages of US magazine. And, btw, if you're there, God, it's me, Francesca, and I really want to go home.

Help! 

My thoughts:
I don't remember adding this one, but it still sounds like one I'd enjoy, especially with the snarky like about "Are you there God?" in the synopsis.

Verdict:  Keep



8.  All the Lives He Led by Frederik Pohl:

Two thousand years after Pompeii’s destruction, a thriller of upheaval—volcanic and political—as only SF Grandmaster Frederik Pohl can write it!

With a keen eye for the humanity in any situation, science fiction icon Frederik Pohl has crafted a compelling new novel of a not-too-distant future we can only hope is merely science fiction.

When Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D. it gave so little warning that Pompeiians were caught unawares, and many bodies were preserved in volcanic ash. Two thousand years later, in 2079, Pompeii is a popular theme park eagerly anticipating Il Giubeleo, the Jubilee celebration of the great anniversary. But Vesuvius is still capable of erupting, and even more threatening are terrorists who want to use the occasion to draw attention to their cause by creating a huge disaster. As the fateful day draws near, people from all over the world—workers, tourists, terrorists—caught in the shadow of the volcano will grapple with upheaval both natural and political. 

My thoughts:
Hmm, kinda sounds good, but eh.

Verdict:  Toss  



9.  The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt:

A spellbinding novel, at once sweeping and intimate, from the Booker Prize–winning author of Possession, that spans the Victorian era through the World War I years, and centers around a famous children’s book author and the passions, betrayals, and secrets that tear apart the people she loves.

When Olive Wellwood’s oldest son discovers a runaway named Philip sketching in the basement of the new Victoria and Albert Museum—a talented working-class boy who could be a character out of one of Olive’s magical tales—she takes him into the storybook world of her family and friends.

But the joyful bacchanals Olive hosts at her rambling country house—and the separate, private books she writes for each of her seven children—conceal more treachery and darkness than Philip has ever imagined. As these lives—of adults and children alike—unfold, lies are revealed, hearts are broken, and the damaging truth about the Wellwoods slowly emerges. But their personal struggles, their hidden desires, will soon be eclipsed by far greater forces, as the tides turn across Europe and a golden era comes to an end.

Taking us from the cliff-lined shores of England to Paris, Munich, and the trenches of the Somme, The Children’s Book is a deeply affecting story of a singular family, played out against the great, rippling tides of the day. It is a masterly literary achievement by one of our most essential writers.  

My thoughts:
I honestly have no idea why I put this on my to read list  This sounds like such a literary book, it even mentioned being shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, totally not my kind of book.  Maybe I picked it for the cover?

Verdict:  Toss



10.  The Periodic Table by Primo Levi:

A chemist by training, Primo Levi became one of the supreme witnesses to twentieth-century atrocity. In these haunting reflections inspired by the elements of the periodic table, he ranges from young love to political savagery; from the inert gas argon - and 'inert' relatives like the uncle who stayed in bed for twenty-two years - to life-giving carbon. 'Iron' honours the mountain-climbing resistance hero who put iron in Levi's student soul, 'Cerium' recalls the improvised cigarette lighters which saved his life in Auschwitz, while 'Vanadium' describes an eerie post-war correspondence with the man who had been his 'boss' there. All are written with characteristically understated eloquence and shot through with deep humanity.

My thoughts: 
This is a very interesting book, one that I do know I want to read some day.

Verdict:  Keep



 Final Thoughts:
Only keeping 3 this week, so that's a good thing!  Have you read any of these?  Would you suggest I keep any I'm tossing?  And if you're inspired to do this on your blog, please feel free to join in and share a link in the comments, since it's not really catching on, I'm not going to waste time with the link up this week.  It will also get you an extra entry into my giveaway at the bottom of this post.    


Giveaway:
Once again this is a US only giveaway, unless you are International and see a book here you really want and would be willing to pay for the difference in the shipping through Paypal or some other way.  This week I'm upping the prize, you get to pick any two books from the pictures below, as long as they don't get traded away, or picked by last week's winner, and I will pick a surprise book from the piles to add to your choice.  Here are your choices:     

2018 ARCs:

2017 ARCs:

2014-2016 ARCs:

Once again I'm going to let you pick two, along with me throwing in a surprise third book!  Just enter the Rafflecopter below. 

  a Rafflecopter giveaway