Stacking the Shelves

Posted August 23, 2014 by in General / 26 Comments

I’m gonna have to prepare this week’s Stacking the Shelves post (a la Tynga’s Reviews) pretty quickly, as my partner is visiting and she needs looots more sleep than me, and it’s already getting late. But hey, it’s been a good week: my 25th birthday was on Wednesday, and a shopping trip was had with my partner, my sister, and one of my closest friends. Books ensued, as you might’ve guessed if you’re around here often; some bought by me, some by them for me. Plus, the week started with a day at Worldcon, although admittedly I only bought two books — one of which was just so I could get it signed. (That one isn’t included here, but for bragging rights, I now have Jo Walton’s Lifelode and Among Others signed, and Tanya Huff’s The Enchantment Emporium.)

Oh, and re: that month of not-buying-books I had: it was successful, and in more ways than one, really. As well as just stopping me buying books and spending too much money, it seems to have changed my attitude a bit. I’m not (currently) buying books for the sake of it; only books I definitely want and intend to read.

Bought for myself

100680 Cover of Timelike Infinity by Stephen Baxter Cover of Flux by Stephen Baxter

Cover of Ring by Stephen Baxter Cover of The Sun and Moon and Stars by Steven Brust Cover of Lady Lazarus by Michelle Lang

Cover of The Long Tomorrow, by Leigh Brackett

Lady Lazarus is the only really impulsive purchase on this list; it grabbed my attention because of the setting (Budapest). Stephen Baxter is a new author for me, but his books are part of a list of “best SF” I’m trying to read.

Bought for me by my partner

Cover of Avengers Assemble: Science Bros Cover of Avengers Assemble: The Forgeries of Jealousy Cover of Guardians of the Galaxy: Angela

I’ve enjoyed the Guardians film, so between that and the opening pages where Tony singularly fails to impress Gamora, I decided to continue on with the comic. And the Avengers Assemble ones are by Kelly Sue DeConnick, therefore an inevitable buy for me. One thing about Worldcon that amazed me was that on a panel where the promo picture was Ms. Marvel, and it was supposed to be talking about new and exciting things in comics, it took forty minutes to mention a female character, forty-five to mention something with characters of diverse sexual orientations and ethnic backgrounds, and no female creators were mentioned at all.

Fuck that, I’mma talk about Kelly Sue and Gail Simone ’til I’m blue in the face.

Bought for me by my sister

Cover of The Jewel in the Skull by Michael Moorcock Cover of The Mad God's Amulet by Michael Moorcock Cover of The Sword of the Dawn by Michael Moorcock

Cover of The Runestaff by Michael Moorcock Cover of The Knight of the Swords by Michael Moorcock Cover of The Queen of the Swords by Michael Moorcock

Cover of The King of Swords by Michael Moorcock

I felt like reading some more Michael Moorcock, since I read GlorianaMy sis obliged.

Received to review

Cover of Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley Cover of The Bells of Times Square by Amy Lane Cover of Cosmocopia by Paul Di Filippo

For the first one, Lies We Tell Ourselves, I’m super-grateful to a friend who works at the publisher who managed to get me an ARC. Re: Amy Lane, I think I’ve read something of hers before, but it still weirds me out slightly since I went to school with someone of that name…

Comics (issue)

Cover of Ms Marvel #7

I really need to catch up with actually reading this run of Ms. Marvel.

So, what’s everyone else been up to? Any great hauls? Anyone been resisting most amazingly? Comment, link, share!

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26 responses to “Stacking the Shelves

  1. I’ve found Bendis’ Guardians of the Galaxy totally mediocre. It reminds me of his Avengers run – shallow characterization that’s mostly quip-based, and plots that have good ideas that aren’t really developed well. KSD’s Avengers Assemble, on the other hand, was awesome. She writes the most human characters in comics. Also, she writes the best friendships in comics. The Science Bros of Tony and Bruce are great, but the real highlight is Spider-Woman and the Hulk – a pairing I never knew I needed. Seriously, they’re so good together.

    Ms. Marvel’s been outstanding. Just stellar work. You should definitely get caught up.

    • Yeah, I wasn’t that sold on the first volume, but eh, it’s fun enough and I did appreciate the opening pages of this one, with Gamora soooo unimpressed by Tony. Kelly Sue is awesome, though; I love Captain Marvel, so I’m looking forward to her work on Avengers.

    • It took some choosing! I needed it, though; my old one looked silly on my wiiiiide screen. And yeah, Kelly Sue’s work is great and it looks like her line-up for the Avengers is an interesting one.

  2. not my typical read but i love the cover of the sun, the moon and the stars. it reminds of some of the old mercedes lackey covers which i wished were in poster size so i can hang them on my wall. happy reading and i hope you can stop by my StS Post.

    -michelle @ Michelle & Leslie’s Book Picks

  3. Great haul this week, you’ve got a nice mix of books. I enjoyed Guardians of the Galaxy the film, although I didn’t think it was as good as most of the other Marvel films. I have been tempted to try more comic books though, but not sure where to start. I hope you enjoy all of your reads 🙂

    • I enjoyed the film too, though not as much as Winter Soldier, which I think was amazing (and had a higher level of acting, too: Sebastian Stan is just so brilliant with so few lines). Comics wise, I began with Young Avengers and Kelly Sue DeConnick’s Captain Marvel, really; Brubaker’s run on Captain America was very good too.

  4. Wow, what a haul! Your loved ones are good to you. 🙂 Glad to see you had a good week. Thanks for stopping by my STS, and happy reading!

  5. Is it safe to assume that you are a big SFF junkie based on your haul alone? I must admit that I’ve never heard about any of these books but they really look awesome. I love your sister. My sister is like that too. From time to time, she sends me books but sadly, a lot of them are collecting dust because they do not belong to my preferred genre. T_T I am really horrible.

    • Pretty safe, yeah! I do read all kinds of genres, but especially SF/F. My sis normally has a pretty good handle on what I’ll read, but this time we just went shopping together and she let me pick, haha.

    • Thank you! And yes, me too, it’s not something I’d seen around anywhere so I picked it up to find out, y’know? Guardians is good popcorn fun with a great soundtrack (70s music and such).

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