It’s time to play “guess that book” and also watch our TBRs weep.

Book Beginnings is hosted by Rose City Reader and is all about the first line of a current/upcoming read. Friday 56 is a meme hosted by Freda’s Voice, where you turn to page 56 (or 56%) in what you’re reading a find a snippet that jumps out at you.

Click To Reveal The Book

No one believes in them. But soon no one will forget them.

It’s 1889. The city is on the cusp of industry and power, and the Exposition Universelle has breathed new life into the streets and dredged up ancient secrets. Here, no one keeps tabs on dark truths better than treasure-hunter and wealthy hotelier Séverin Montagnet-Alarie. When the elite, ever-powerful Order of Babel coerces him to help them on a mission, Séverin is offered a treasure that he never imagined: his true inheritance.

To hunt down the ancient artifact the Order seeks, Séverin calls upon a band of unlikely experts: An engineer with a debt to pay. A historian banished from his home. A dancer with a sinister past. And a brother in arms if not blood.

Together, they will join Séverin as he explores the dark, glittering heart of Paris. What they find might change the course of history–but only if they can stay alive.

✿ Delightfully sarcastic characters with dry humor.
✿ Squad vibes with hilarious and fun interactions.
✿ Heist trope!
✿ Interesting world filled with magic known as Forging.
✿ Based on the destruction of the Tower of Babel.
✿ Shadiness and secrets galore.

This is a weekly meme hosted by E. @ Local Bee Hunter’s Nook meant to take place on Mondays, but since Fridays tend to be my TBR-focused post, I’ve decided to combine them here. Next Monday’s prompt is: classics.

I’m not sure what exactly constitutes a classic, per se, so I’m just going to go with older books that are vaguely popular that I still want to read eventually.

               

I read The Haunting of Hill House and enjoyed it (though not as much as the show) so I figured I should give We Have Always Lived in the Castle a try, since I’ve heard similarly positive things about it.

Minion got The Secret Garden in one of her OwlCrate Junior book boxes, and I realized I’ve somehow never read it? So I’d like to rectify that at some point.

I absolutely love Le Petit Prince. It’s one of my all-time favorite books. So after reading it about 50 times, I decided to check out the author’s other work, which led me to Vol de Nuit, or Night Flight is the English title. I actually bought this in both English and French, and I’m curious to read the two together to see how the translation differs.

Several years ago, I was on a kick of reading through various religious books, just out of curiosity, and I stumbled upon the Tibetan Book of the Dead. My version is absolutely gorgeous, as it sits on my shelf judging me, because I never did pick it up after I got it.

I’ve only just stumbled across Things Fall Apart recently, but I was really interested in giving it a try. It’s considered the “archetypal modern African novel in English,” which makes me all sorts of curious about it. I’ve read a lot of Western European/American classics and would really like to branch out a bit.