Weekly roundup: Showcase Sunday #5

Showcase Sunday is a weekly meme hosted by Vicky at Books, Biscuits and Tea, allowing bloggers to share any books they've received recently.

It was my birthday this week. I have reached a certain age. That certain age is the unfortunate-rockstar age. (No, I am not the same age as Mick Jagger.) I also received some books for my birthday, as well as one that I ordered a while ago and that finally arrived!

Received as gifts:

Riding The Magic Carpet: A Surfer's Odyssey to Find the Perfect Wave by Tom Anderson

I don't surf, but I've always had a fascination with it from being a kid. Blame all those Beach Boys records my dad gave me. Even if the only Beach Boy who actually surfed was Dennis Wilson. But I'm getting off track.

Oh hi guys.

Anyway. I've actually started reading this book, and so far it's great. Anderson has written another book called Chasing Dean, which seems to be a kind of surfing/travelogue around the US, which I'll definitely be picking up if this book continues to be as good.

The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach

This has had some great reviews, and was blurbed by Jonathan Franzen, whose novels I really like. It's set in a US college, and revolves around the baseball season and the lives of a handful of characters. This sounds exactly like the kind of book I love, so I'm excited to get started with this!

Touching The Void by Joe Simpson

I have a strange fascination with mountaineering books, even though (like surfing) it's not something I actually partake in. I am a huge fan of Jon Krakauer's books, and while he now writes on varied subjects as an investigative journalist-type writer, he used to be a mountain climber and wrote a couple of books about mountaineering, including one on the Everest disaster of 1996 (Into Thin Air). Simpson's book is meant to be one of the classics.

Bought:


Girl, Missing by Sophie McKenzie

This is a young adult book about a girl who is adopted, and who finds out that she might not be who she thinks she is. I am a few chapters into this at the moment. McKenzie is a British author and it's a novelty to have some familiar slang in there!

Reviews posted this week:

A Feast For Crows by George R. R. Martin (7/10)
Just Listen by Sarah Dessen (6.5/10)

This week on the blog:

I am off to the Isle of Wight Festival to see Pearl Jam (!!), Bruce Springsteen (!!) and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, as well as Feeder, Ash, Madness, Joan Armatrading, and a whole host of terrible pop acts who I will be avoiding. This is my fourth time seeing Pearl Jam (the last time was twice in the summer of 2010), but my first ever time seeing The Boss. EXCITED. As a result, posting will probably be sparse, but I'm hoping to get up my review of Bill Bryson's The Lost Continent before I go.

Let me know what you picked up this week! Happy reading. :)