Scanning the Backlist is a feature created by Julie over at Book Hooked Blog.  Julie's gone through all of the authors she's reviewed in the past, and explored their backlist titles.  Through this feature, she then highlights some of the backlisted books that she most wants to read.

I tagged along with this idea once before (post HERE), and today I'm excited to do it again!  This time around, I reached way back in my Goodreads history for some authors whose books I favorited way back in the day, but then never got around to reading any more of their work.

With that said, I have 2 authors to highlight today:

Kim Edwards

Most people I talk to either loved or hated Edwards' 2004 release, The Memory Keeper's Daughter .  I am in the LOVE camp for sure.  Unique storyline, excellent characterization, and plenty of good twists along the way.  However, after I read this one a couple of years after its release, I lost track of Edwards and have yet to seek out her other work.

Looks like she has two other books available: The Secrets of a Fire King (1997), which is a set of short stories, and The Lake of Dreams (2010), a novel about a woman who returns to her hometown (in upstate New York, WOOT WOOT) after her father's death and finds out lots of dark family secrets.  Hmmm, sounds right up my alley!  I may need to sift through my library's holdings and see if either of these are available.

(Bonus: her Goodreads page says Edwards is from Skaneateles, NY, not far from where my in-laws live.  Neat!  Also, big kudos if you know how to pronounce Skaneateles.)


Kazuo Ishiguro

Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go (2005) is an absolutely fabulous novel that I read shortly before I started blogging.  It makes me happy to see that he has a rather long backlist for me to choose from!  I didn't know he is the author of The Remains of the Day (which I've heard of, but never read), as well as four other novels and a set of short stories.  (I did see that he just released a new novel March 1 as well, The Buried Giant...hmm, must go hunt that down.)  Each of their synopses seem rather unique...lots of interesting material to tackle here.

Whose backlist are YOU interested in perusing these days, reader friends?

Guess what, y'all?  Today is Hubster and my 5-year wedding anniversary.  Woohoo!  We have officially been married 24 times as long as Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries.  If that's not cause for celebration, I don't know what is!



In honor of this hella-awesome day, I am flashing back to the books I was reading around our wedding day and during the honeymoon.  Here's what I read, and a mini-review of each.

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

Apparently, the beginning of my wedded life was also the beginning of my love affair with Jodi Picoult novels.  JP is one of my favorite authors, and this was the first book of hers that I read.  I actually picked it up from Hudson Booksellers in the airport on the way to our honeymoon (and I still read with the bookmark that came inside!).  Good decision, because I LOVED this book.  In case you live under a rock and haven't read it yet, it's about Anna, whose sister Kate has leukemia.  Anna was conceived by her parents to basically be a donor for Kate and help her stay alive.  Anna decides this isn't what she wants to do anymore--much to the despair of her family.  Well-written and an incredible ending that I did not see coming.  Don't watch the movie--Hollywood ruined this one.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards

Another book that ended up on my all-time faves list.  What can I say, in September 2007 I picked good husbands AND good books.  In 1964, Dr. David Henry helps his wife deliver their twins.  He notices that one of them has Down's Syndrome before his wife sees her, and so he secretly tells his nurse, Caroline, to send the baby away to an institution.  However, Caroline can't bring herself to do it, and ends up keeping the baby herself.  CRAZY premise, right?  The situation itself is so unique, I had a hard time putting this down as I got wrapped up in the story.  Plus, there are some amazing twists at the end.  I know other reviewers have not always been kind to this book, but I loved it.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Yeah, this was back when The Kite Runner was getting ALL the hype.  I won't give a full synopsis (because it's complicated, and most of you probably already know it), but the story is told by Amir, who grew up in Afghanistan during a time of great government upheaval.  The book is emotional, graphic, and gripping in its sense of reality.  A bit slow in parts, so I didn't think it was all that the hype said it would be, but still a very good novel, especially if you're interested in historical fiction.

There's your 2007 flashback!  Now, off to celebrate with my darling husband. :)