Top Ten Tuesday & a Small Announcement

Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. This week's topic is 

- Top Ten Most Anticipated Books of 2011 -  

I wasn't going to do this week's Top Ten Tuesday, since I have far less than 10 books I'm currently looking foward to coming out in 2011, but I wanted to publish something today for a special reason which you can see at the end of this review.  So, without further ado, my Top Ten Three Most Anticipated Books of 2011 (so far)!

1Q84 - Haruki Murakami: I have talked about this book a few times before.  Haruki Murakami is easily one of, if not my current, favorite novelist.  I'm trying not to learn too much about the book, but in his native Japan it's been published in three volumes and it's likely, do to length, that something similar will happen here.  Murakami's work is at times Kafkaesque, magical-realism, but always human and interesting to read.  

According to one of the fountains of collective knowledge on the internet, 1Q84 (part 1) is scheduled to be released in the United States (and presumably the rest of the English-speaking world) in September 2011; however, it could always be held back a bit since the book is being translated.

photo credit, Amazon.com

Unfamiliar Fishes - Sarah Vowell: I probably will talk about this book a few more times before it's released.  I love Hawai'i and when I heard a rumor that the funny, witty, Sarah Vowell's next book would take on that topic, I was instantly sold.  I only wish the book was coming out in time for Christmas 2010 so I could get it earlier.

From Amazon.com:

From the bestselling author of The Wordy Shipmates, an examination of Hawaii, the place where Manifest Destiny got a sunburn.


Many think of 1776 as the defining year of American history, when we became a nation devoted to the pursuit of happiness through self- government. In Unfamiliar Fishes, Sarah Vowell argues that 1898 might be a year just as defining, when, in an orgy of imperialism, the United States annexed Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Guam, and invaded first Cuba, then the Philippines, becoming an international superpower practically overnight.

Among the developments in these outposts of 1898, Vowell considers the Americanization of Hawaii the most intriguing. From the arrival of New England missionaries in 1820, their goal to Christianize the local heathen, to the coup d'état of the missionaries' sons in 1893, which overthrew the Hawaiian queen, the events leading up to American annexation feature a cast of beguiling, and often appealing or tragic, characters: whalers who fired cannons at the Bible-thumpers denying them their God-given right to whores, an incestuous princess pulled between her new god and her brother-husband, sugar barons, lepers, con men, Theodore Roosevelt, and the last Hawaiian queen, a songwriter whose sentimental ode "Aloha 'Oe" serenaded the first Hawaiian president of the United States during his 2009 inaugural parade.

Unfamiliar Fishes will be released on March 22, 2011 and is currently avaliable for pre-order.

photo credit: Amazon.com

Exit the Actress - Priya Parmar:  I've heard of this book for a while, almost since I started blogging on here.  A number of other, trusted bloggers have helped build up the suspense for the book's publication, probably in no small part to the author having her own blog, The Plum Bean Project. 

From Amazon.com: "While selling oranges in the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, sweet and sprightly Ellen "Nell" Gwyn impresses the theater’s proprietors with a wit and sparkle that belie her youth and poverty. She quickly earns a place in the company, narrowly avoiding the life of prostitution to which her sister has already succumbed. As her roles evolve from supporting to starring, the scope of her life broadens as well. Soon Ellen is dressed in the finest fashions, charming the theatrical, literary, and royal luminaries of Restoration England. Ellen grows up on the stage, experiencing first love and heartbreak and eventually becoming the mistress of Charles II. Despite his reputation as a libertine, Ellen wholly captures his heart—and he hers—but even the most powerful love isn’t enough to stave off the gossip and bitter court politics that accompany a royal romance. Telling the story through a collection of vibrant seventeenth-century voices ranging from Ellen’s diary to playbills, letters, gossip columns, and home remedies, Priya Parmar brings to life the story of an endearing and delightful heroine."

Exit the Actress will be released on February 1, 2011 and is currently avaliable for pre-order.  

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       And why did did I want to publish on my blog today?  Well, because it's my birthday!!! 



Yes, having a birthday entitles me to usenot one, but three exclamation points in the sentence. Image Source



       Also, a small announcement.  Due to the holidays (and *cough* a need to catch up on my reading and writing reviews *cough*), while I will try publishing in this blog at least once a week, there may be a bit fewer postings through the end of the year.  Plus there will soon be a list of reviews and a list of books.    Thank you for your understanding.