books: my spring reading list.

To the best of my ability, I really do want to squeeze some quality reading time in during my maternity leave! Of course, I know I can't control how things go and there will be times when I'll be too tied up with baby to get much reading in. But I think if there's anything I can manage to squeeze in, reading time could theoretically be reasonable to shoot for. Between naps and multi-tasking during feedings, I think I'll be all set to at least get a couple of books ticked off my to-read list.

So, here are the books I'm presently very excited to dive into:

A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab

I think I first ran across this one in Publishers Weekly magazine here at my library, and then saw it pop up again in a review on NPR. This one sounds fascinating, and right up my alley. According to the NPR review it follows along a pretty common plot path for a fantasy novel of its type: evil magicians, evil object, potential for catastrophic effects on the world, heroes fighting against this potential disaster. But. The dense, rich world-building and setup grab you and hook you and make it all worthwhile, apparently. And, being the devotee that I am to stories set against a richly textured world that nearly upstages the story itself (*cough, Harry Potter, cough*), this sounds like one I could sink my teeth into. Throw in alt-London and parallel universes, as you also get with this one, and you have a read I'm instantly intrigued by. 



The Martian by Andy Weir

For once, I really do intend to try to read the next great sci-fi thriller (or speculative fiction, really, I hear) before its movie comes out! I've heard great things about this one from a lot of people, and I'm late to jump on the bandwagon but I'm still intending to jump on. I don't read much serious sci-fi, even though I'm a big nerd and a sci-fi fan, so I'm interested to see how I like this one.



The Guts by Roddy Doyle

I love, love, LOVE Roddy Doyle's Barrytown trilogy about a family in Dublin. The humor, the profanity, the zaniness--love it. So you can bet I was excited when I found out Doyle recently wrote a follow-up novel about Jimmy, the central character of the first book in the trilogy--The Commitments (also a great movie, by the way). Jimmy's still up to his old shenanigans, hustling in the Dublin music scene, but now he's older, has a wife and four kids, and is dealing with a cancer diagnosis. He reunites with old friends from his band, the Commitments, and this novel sounds like it will be another doozy of a lively, comical, snappy story.



Yes, Please! by Amy Poehler

I loved Parks & Rec, and grew to love Amy Poehler in it. Everyone says her book is amazing. And I'm sure the humor and personal narrative that includes her parenting experiences will all be quite refreshing and easy to dig into while I'm running on low sleep and infant-wrangling. So this one sounds like a great one for my maternity leave!



Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman

I've had this one on my bookshelf for several years, now, and have never gotten to it. Since Terry Pratchett recently died, I was reminded that I still hadn't made my way around to this one yet. A comedy-satire about religion, which sounds to be sort of in the vein with the movie I dearly love, Dogma? Count me in. Right up my alley.

I know I won't get to all of these bad boys during my leave, but I hope to knock out at least a couple of them!

What books are on YOUR spring to-read list??