TBR Thursday 138…

Episode 138…

Aha! The Big Drop has begun! The TBR has fallen by an astonishing 2 this week to 216 – see? Totally under control! I don’t know why you ever doubted me…

You’re still judging me, aren’t you?

Here’s the next lot that will move to the Read shelf soon…

Factual

All my Russian reading has led me to think that I really ought to get to know Rasputin better – he sounds like such a fun guy! And this biography is being hailed as pretty much the definitive one…

The Blurb says: A hundred years after his murder, Rasputin continues to excite the popular imagination as the personification of evil. Numerous biographies, novels, and films recount his mysterious rise to power as Nicholas and Alexandra’s confidant and the guardian of the sickly heir to the Russian throne. His debauchery and sinister political influence are the stuff of legend, and the downfall of the Romanov dynasty was laid at his feet.

But as the prizewinning historian Douglas Smith shows, the true story of Rasputin’s life and death has remained shrouded in myth. A major new work that combines probing scholarship and powerful storytelling, Rasputin separates fact from fiction to reveal the real life of one of history’s most alluring figures. Drawing on a wealth of forgotten documents from archives in seven countries, Smith presents Rasputin in all his complexity–man of God, voice of peace, loyal subject, adulterer, drunkard. Rasputin is not just a definitive biography of an extraordinary and legendary man but a fascinating portrait of the twilight of imperial Russia as it lurched toward catastrophe.

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Thriller

Courtesy of NetGalley. As if the British Library wasn’t doing enough damage to my TBR with its Crime Classics series, now it appears to be doing a series of Classic Thrillers too…aarghhh!!!

The Blurb says: Leo Selver, a middle-aged antiques dealer, is stunned when the beautiful and desirable Judy Latimer shows an interest in him. Soon they are lying in each other’s arms, unaware that this embrace will be their last.

Popular opinion suggests that Leo murdered the girl, a theory Leo’s wife – well aware of her husband’s infidelities – refuses to accept. Ed Buchanan, a former policeman who has known the Selvers since childhood, agrees to clear Leo’s name. Selver and his fellow antique dealers had uncovered a secret and it is up to Ed to find the person willing to kill in order to protect it.

This exhilarating and innovative thriller was first published in 1976.

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Sci-Fi

Courtesy of NetGalley. From the guy who wrote the fabulous The Martian – need I say more?

The Blurb says: Jazz Bashara is a criminal.

Well, sort of. Life on Artemis, the first and only city on the moon, is tough if you’re not a rich tourist or an eccentric billionaire. So smuggling in the occasional harmless bit of contraband barely counts, right? Not when you’ve got debts to pay and your job as a porter barely covers the rent.

Everything changes when Jazz sees the chance to commit the perfect crime, with a reward too lucrative to turn down. But pulling off the impossible is just the start of Jazz’s problems, as she learns that she’s stepped square into a conspiracy for control of Artemis itself – and that now, her only chance at survival lies in a gambit even more unlikely than the first.

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Audible Original Drama

Courtesy of Audible via MidasPR. Audible are spoiling me rotten at the moment with these dramatisations of some of my favourite novels – how could I possibly resist this one? It’s due out on 1st November…

The Blurb says: What begins as a routine journey on the luxurious Orient Express soon unfurls into Agatha Christie’s most famous murder mystery. Onboard is the famous detective Hercule Poirot and one man who come morning will be found dead, his compartment locked from the inside.

This Audible Original dramatisation follows the train as it is stopped dead in its tracks at midnight. The train’s stranded passengers soon become suspects as the race to uncover the murderer begins before he or she strikes again.

This all-star production features lead performances from Tom Conti (The Dark Knight Rises, Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence) as Hercule Poirot, Sophie Okonedo (After Earth, Hotel Rwanda and Ace Ventura) and Eddie Marsan (Sherlock Holmes, V for Vendetta and Hancock) plus a full supporting cast and even sound effects recorded on the Orient Express itself.

Full cast of narrators includes Walles Hamonde, Paterson Joseph, Rula Lenska and Art Malik.

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NB All blurbs taken from Goodreads or Audible UK.

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So…what do you think? Do any of these tempt you?

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