Help me pick a book, Internet

It’s Monday, and our weekend was filled to bursting with Doing All The Things That Families with Kids Do (plus hockey). In other words, at the moment I’m tired, sore, tired, headache-ridden, and (did I mention?) tired.

What I’m saying is that bedtime tonight is going to be about as welcome as a barrel of Purell at an OCD group therapy session.

However, I find myself in between books at the moment, which is never a good thing.  The problem, though, is that I just can’t decide what to read next.  Rather than attempt to wrestle a decision out of my already-embattled brain stuffs today, I figured this might be a good time to enlist some help from the interwebs, where, at any given moment in time, everyone has an opinion (regardless of whether or not said opinion holds any validity whatsoever).

So I hatched a nefarious lazy plan, puddintopians. I’m going to post the top three books I’m considering along with a short bit about why it’s at the top of my list.  Then, you kids get to take the poll at the bottom here and tell me which to read next.  You’ll have until midnight, Wednesday October 23 to render your official opinion (that’s actually still kind of Tuesday, if you ask me, but no one did).  So, late tomorrow night, I’ll be making the purchase.  I will buy whichever book is the top vote-getter in the poll.

Also, when I’m finished reading said book, I’ll follow up with a “Look, I read a book” post about it. In case you happen to give anything more significant than a flying rat’s ass what I think of the novel in question.

Dreadnought – The third in Cherie Priest’s unique Civil War alternate history series, The Clockwork Century, Dreadnought (Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound) has been on my list for far too long. I loved the first two installments in the series and have been a fan of Priest’s work since finding her gothic horror novel, Four and Twenty Blackbirds, one day at Borders when I should have been at work.

The Shining – I’ve read a lot of Stephen King in my day.  A lot. Maybe more than any other author. In fact, King is one of my predominate influences as a writer. Yet somehow, over the years, I’ve managed to not read The Shining. I don’t know about you, but as far as I’m concerned, that’s about as unforgivable as a self-proclaimed Star Wars fan who has only seen the prequel trilogy. I mean, it’s the very definition of “travesty”. Seriously, it is; I just added it to Urban Dictionary. Why read The Shining (Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound) now? Well, SK’s new book, Doctor Sleep just hit and is, by all accounts, classic King. Of course, that makes me want to read it so hard I could boil water for tea with nothing but fervent anticipation. But there’s just no way I can read Doctor Sleep without finally giving its predecessor it’s due first. The time, then, to read The Shining is thus at hand. Oh, plus it’s October, and if that’s not the perfect month for reading King, I don’t even know things anymore.

Vicious – I tend to follow a lot of writer types of twitter, which, I guess makes sense since I’m one of those writer types.  I started following Victoria Schwab (also, V. E. Schwab) on twitter way back in 2010, when she was still waiting (im)patiently for her debut YA novel, The Near Witch, to release. While she’s delightful people and exactly the writerly sort I enjoy following, up until now her work just hasn’t been my cup of Earl Grey.  But, her latest novel (her first adult one, I believe), Vicious (Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound) sounds right up my alley.  And if that’s not reason enough to add it to my TBR pile, Chuck Wendig, who possesses both a voice and an opinion I trust, told me I wanted to read it. And believe me, you really don’t want to argue to Chuck. He’ll send a platoon of rabid, clown-dressed rhesus monkeys to give you a visit (as well as a lifetime of nightmares).

So that’s it. There are you options. Make a choice from the poll below and let me what you think I should read next.

Remember, you have just under a full day to vote, so don’t squander this opportunity to tell me exactly what to do with myself!

Pud’n