Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga’s Reviews, which is all about sharing the books that you’ve acquired in the past week!

 

Here are the books I bought this week: 

Little Sister by Isabel Ashdown

I love Isabel Ashdown’s writing so as soon as this was available for pre-order I ordered it. It was a lovely surprise when it appeared on my Kindle on Thursday as I’d forgotten it was release day. I want to read this soon – just need to read a few review books first.

Synopsis:

After sixteen years apart sisters Jessica and Emily are reunited. With the past now behind them, the warmth they once shared quickly returns and before long Jess has moved into Emily’s comfortable island home. Life couldn’t be better. But when baby Daisy disappears while in Jess’s care, the perfect life Emily has so carefully built starts to fall apart.

Was Emily right to trust her sister after everything that happened before?

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

I’ve seen this book around on social media and thought it sounded like a fascinating novel. I spotted it on a deal for 99p this week so decided to give it a go. I didn’t realise until I bought it just how long it is (over 700 pages!) so it might be a while before I have the time to sit and read this, hopefully not too long though.

Synopsis:

Yeongdo, Korea 1911.

In a small fishing village on the banks of the East Sea, a club-footed, cleft-lipped man marries a fifteen-year-old girl. The couple have one child, their beloved daughter Sunja. When Sunja falls pregnant by a married yakuza, the family face ruin. But then Isak, a Christian minister, offers her a chance of salvation: a new life in Japan as his wife.

Following a man she barely knows to a hostile country in which she has no friends, no home, and whose language she cannot speak, Sunja’s salvation is just the beginning of her story.

Through eight decades and four generations, Pachinko is an epic tale of family, identity, love, death and survival.

Originals by Adam Grant

This is a book I spotted in Kindle’s recent sale and thought it sounded interesting. I’m enjoying non-fiction at the moment so am looking forward to reading this one.

Synopsis:

Author examines how people can drive creative, moral, and organisational progress—and how leaders can encourage originality in their organisations.

How can we originate new ideas, policies and practices without risking it all? Adam Grant shows how to improve the world by championing novel ideas and values that go against the grain, battling conformity, and bucking outdated traditions.

Using surprising studies and stories spanning business, politics, sports, and entertainment, Grant explores how to recognize a good idea, speak up without getting silenced, build a coalition of allies, choose the right time to act, and manage fear and doubt. Parents will learn how to nurture originality in children, and leaders will discover how to fight groupthink to build cultures that welcome dissent.

Told through dazzling case studies of people going against the grain, you’ll encounter an entrepreneur who pitches the reasons not to invest, a woman at Apple who challenged Steve Jobs from three levels below, an analyst who challenged secrecy at the CIA, a billionaire financial wizard who fires employees who don’t criticize him, and the TV executive who saved Seinfeld from the cutting room floor. Originals will give you groundbreaking insights about rejecting conformity and how to change the world.

Spark Joy by Marie Kondo

I can’t resist books about de-cluttering (yes, I know there’s an irony in that!) so I grabbed this one in the Kindle sale too. I enjoyed Marie Kondo’s first book so am really looking forward to reading this one.

Synopsis:

Spark Joy is an in-depth, line illustrated, room-by-room guide to decluttering and organising your home, from bedrooms and kitchens to bathrooms and living rooms as well as a wide range of items in different categories, including clothes, photographs, paperwork, books, cutlery, cosmetics, shoes, bags, wallets and valuables. Charming line drawings explain how to properly organise drawers, wardrobes, cupboards and cabinets. The illustrations also show Ms Kondo’s unique folding method, clearly showing how to fold anything from shirts, trousers and jackets to skirts, socks and bras.

The secret to Marie Kondo’s unique and simple KonMari tidying method is to focus on what you want to keep, not what you want to get rid of. Ask yourself if something ‘sparks joy’ and suddenly it becomes so much easier to understand if you really need it in your home and your life. When you surround yourself with things you love you will find that your whole life begins to change.

Marie Kondo’s first book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying, presents her unique tidying philosophy and introduces readers to the basics of her KonMari method. It has already transformed the homes and lives of millions of people around the world. Spark Joy is Marie Kondo’s in-depth tidying masterclass, focusing on the detail of how to declutter and organise your home.

Find a Way by Diana Nyad

This is my third Kindle sale purchase. I’m really drawn to books about human struggles at the moment, even if they’re not in any way related to what I’m going through it’s still really helping me to read about what other people have gone through and achieved. I really hope to get a chance to read this one soon.

Synopsis:

In the 1970s, Diana Nyad was widely regarded as the greatest long-distance swimmer in the world and set many world records, such as circling Manhattan Island and crossing the 102.5 miles between the Bahamas and Florida. But one record continually eluded her: becoming the first woman to swim between Cuba and the Florida Keys without a shark cage. Finally, in September 2013, after four failed attempts and at the age of 64, Diana completed the crossing after two days and two nights of continuous swimming-53 consecutive hours, 110 miles.

Millions of people watched her and cried and cheered and were dazzled and amazed by her tenacity and courage. This memoir is a dramatic, page turning account of the epic endurance quest that led to that moment, and is also a galvanizing call to live life boldly, in-the-moment-fearlessly, passionately, with no regrets.

What makes this book special is that it not only recounts an astonishing and hard won triumph, though it does tell the story of an extraordinary and improbable victory. What makes this book, and Nyad herself, so incredible is the fact of her monumental courage in the face of failure. Nyad failed, and failed, and failed, and failed, but never gave up, and this memoir shows her unwavering belief in the face of overwhelming odds. It is about perseverance, tenacity, and commitment on an epic scale.

Faceless by Alyssa Sheinmel

I’ve had this book on my wish list for ages and decided to go ahead and buy it this week. 

Synopsis:

When Maisie is struck by lightning, her face is partially destroyed. She’s lucky enough to get a face transplant, but how do you live your life when you can’t even recognize yourself any more? She was a runner, a girlfriend, a good student … a normal girl. Now, after a single freak accident, all that has changed. As Maisie discovers how much her looks did and didn’t shape her relationship to the world, she has to redefine her own identity, and figure out what ‘lucky’ really means.

 

I also received four review books:

Idaho by Emily Ruskovich

I’d forgotten that I’d requested this on NetGalley as it was such a long time ago, so it was a nice surprise this week to get an approval email. I’m very keen to read this book so I don’t think I’ll be too long getting to it.

Synopsis:

One hot August day a family drives to a mountain clearing to collect birch wood. Jenny, the mother, is in charge of lopping any small limbs off the logs with a hatchet. Wade, the father, does the stacking. The two daughters, June and May, aged nine and six, drink lemonade, swat away horseflies, bicker, sing snatches of songs as they while away the time.

But then something unimaginably shocking happens, an act so extreme it will scatter the family in every different direction.

In a story told from multiple perspectives and in razor-sharp prose, we gradually learn more about this act, and the way its violence, love and memory reverberate through the life of every character in Idaho.

Don’t Close Your Eyes by Holly Seddon

I really enjoyed Try Not to Breathe so have been eagerly anticipating this new book by Holly Seddon, it’s great to have a review copy to read and I can’t wait to read it.

Synopsis:

Robin and Sarah weren’t the closest of twins. They weren’t even that similar. But they loved each other dearly. Until, in the cruellest of domestic twists, they were taken from one another.

Now, in her early 30s, Robin lives alone. Agoraphobic and suffering from panic attacks, she spends her days pacing the rooms of her house. The rest of the time she watches – watches the street, the houses, the neighbours. Until one day, she sees something she shouldn’t…

And Sarah? Sarah got what she wanted – the good-looking man, the beautiful baby, the perfect home. But she’s just been accused of the most terrible thing of all. She can’t be around her new family until she has come to terms with something that happened a long time ago. And to do that, she needs to track down her twin sister.

But Sarah isn’t the only person looking for Robin. As their paths intersect, something dangerous is set in motion, leading Robin and Sarah to fight for much more than their relationship…

The Night Visitor Lucy Atkins

I’ve heard so much praise for this book on Twitter recently that I was very keen to read it myself. I’m happy to have a review copy now and hope to read it very soon.

Synopsis:

Professor Olivia Sweetman has worked hard to achieve the life she loves, with a high-flying career as a TV presenter and historian, three children and a talented husband. But as she stands before a crowd at the launch of her new bestseller she can barely pretend to smile. Her life has spiralled into deceit and if the truth comes out, she will lose everything.

Only one person knows what Olivia has done. Vivian Tester is the socially awkward sixty-year-old housekeeper of a Sussex manor who found the Victorian diary on which Olivia’s book is based. She has now become Olivia’s unofficial research assistant. And Vivian has secrets of her own.

As events move between London, Sussex and the idyllic South of France, the relationship between these two women grows more entangled and complex. Then a bizarre act of violence changes everything.

The Night Visitor is a compelling exploration of ambition, morality and deception that asks the question: how far would you go to save your reputation?

 

Making Space by Sarah Tierney

I was contacted by the publicist for this book to ask if I’d like to read it and take part in the blog tour next month. I jumped at the chance as I’d already heard of the book and thought it sounded like my kind of read. I’ll be reading this in the next couple of weeks ahead of my tour date.

Synopsis:

Why do we hold onto things we don’t need? And let go of the things we do? Miriam is twenty-nine: temping, living with a flatmate who is no longer a friend, and still trying to find her place in life. She falls in love with Erik after he employs her to clear out his paper-packed home. They are worlds apart: he is forty-five, a successful photographer and artist and an obsessive hoarder still haunted by the end of his marriage. Miriam has an unsuccessful love life and has just got rid of most of her belongings. Somehow, they must find a way to reach each other.

Giveaway Win:

 

Blood Sisters by Jane Corry

This book arrived in the post yesterday and was a total surprise. There was no note with it so I wasn’t sure where it had come from. I then remembered entering a Goodreads giveaway and it turns out I won a copy. I’ve been wanting to read this book for ages so I’m going to try and make time to read it soon.

Synopsis:

Two women. Two versions of the truth.

Kitty lives in a care home. She can’t speak properly, and she has no memory of the accident that put her here. At least that’s the story she’s sticking to.

Art teacher Alison looks fine on the surface. But the surface is a lie. When a job in a prison comes up she decides to take it – this is her chance to finally make things right.

But someone is watching Kitty and Alison.
Someone who wants revenge for what happened that sunny morning in May.
And only another life will do…

 

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So, that’s all of my new books from the past week. Have you bought any new books recently? Tell me all in the comments below, or if you have a stacking the shelves post on your blog feel free to post the link below too.

My weekly wrap up post will be on my blog tomorrow so please look out for that.