Category: General

Top Ten Tuesday

Posted January 19, 2016 by Nicky in General / 12 Comments

This week’s theme with Top Ten Tuesday is “Books I’ve Recently Added To My TBR”, which is a pretty easy one to do — and possibly a little boring for regulars, if you see my Stacking the Shelves posts, since mostly I only count something as being on the TBR once I’ve acquired it. But it does give me a chance to review the list and see what’s coming up, and I’ll include a couple of wishlisted books.

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I’ve Recently Added to my TBR

Cover of In The Labyrinth of Drakes by Marie Brennan Cover of Kingfisher by Patricia McKillip Cover of Silver on the Road by Laura Anne Gilman Cover of Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo Cover of Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen

  1. In the Labyrinth of Drakes, Marie Brennan. Technically that’s a lie — this one automatically goes on my TBR — but I recently added it to my wishlist, so we’re going to say it fits, okay? I’m so excited for more of Lady Trent’s adventures. And hey, if you know where to get an ARC… let me know.
  2. Kingfisher, Patricia McKillip. Gimme. Gimme. Gimme. I’ve basically come to love everything by McKillip.
  3. Silver on the Road, Laura Anne Gilman. I’ve read some enthusiastic reviews of this book, and the cover looks great. And hey, look, I got it for Christmas.
  4. Six of Crows, Leigh Bardugo. I more or less just finished reading the Grisha books, so I’m excited to get round to reading this one.
  5. Scarlet, A.C. Gaughen. My friend Tom bought me this and Six of Crows, and I am generally excited to get to them! I blame Kaja @ Of Dragons and Hearts for my eagerness to read this one, I think?
  6. Darkwalker, E.L. Tettensor. I can’t remember quite who was doing positive reviews of this — looks like it was Pabkins @ Not Yet Read — but I wishlisted it and recently got it for Christmas from my friend Amy.
  7. Star-shot, Mary-Ann Constantine. Bought for me (again, for Christmas) by Robert @ Bastian’s Book Reviews, this is set in Cardiff, which really intrigues me. Must get to it soon!
  8. Vengeance Road, Erin Bowman. I’ve heard some good things, so I’m looking forward to this one. There seems to be a trend of YA Westerns and the Western influence in general. I enjoyed True Grit, so why not?
  9. A whole bunch more Phryne Fisher books. I almost have the whole series (so far) now! And I’m looking forward to it.
  10. The Imposter Queen, Sarah Fine. Looks like My Friends Are Fiction sold me on this one…

Cover of Darkwalker by E.L. Tettensor Cover of Star-Shot by Mary-Ann Constantine Cover of Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman Cover of Murder on a Midsummer Night by Kerry Greenwood Cover of The Imposter Queen by Sarah Fine

So what’s everyone else been adding to their TBRs recently? And since I’m thinking about it — what do you count as adding something to Mount TBR? Are you like me and only really count it once you’ve acquired it, or do you count your wishlist? I think I don’t count my wishlist because even without those books, it’s already at 1,200 books. Ish…

So many books, so little time. Why will no one pay me to read?

Looking forward to seeing other people’s posts for this Top Ten Tuesday theme!

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Stacking the Shelves

Posted January 16, 2016 by Nicky in General / 13 Comments

Not quite an Unstacking the Shelves week, but that’s okay because I don’t have many books finished, either! I’ve been trucking along with reading City of Stairs, but haven’t finished it. As you might expect, given my goal is to finish 365 books this year, I’m now behind! I’ve made my partner promise that tomorrow is all for reading (except for the bit where we go for a walk — I’ve just got a Fitbit, and I’m determined to get my 10,000 steps!).

Still, I haven’t bought any books this week, just received one ARC:

Cover of Different Classes by Joanne Harris

I’m excited to have got this, as I usually enjoy Joanne Harris’ work and this has the same setting as Gentlemen & Players and blueeyedboy, if I recall correctly. Looking forward to reading it.

And now for the weekly roundup:

Reviews this week:

The Grey King, by Susan Cooper. An old favourite, and set in Wales, so no wonder it gets… 5/5 stars
The Parthenon, by Mary Beard. Interesting, even if it didn’t focus on what I was expecting it to focus on. 4/5 stars
Ruin and Rising, by Leigh Bardugo. Last book of the trilogy, and definitely worth it in my view. Loved the moral ambiguity at some points. 4/5 stars
Murder in Montparnasse, by Kerry Greenwood. Another solid instalment of Miss Fisher solving mysteries, though not my favourite. 3/5 stars
Lagoon, by Nnedi Okorafor. I found this interesting, but ultimately the pacing didn’t work for me, nor the treatment of LGBT characters. 3/5 stars
The Mistletoe Bride & Other Haunting Tales, by Kate Mosse. Some interesting stories, but overall it felt kind of overwritten. 2/5 stars
Flashback Friday: Young Avengers: Family Matters, by Allan Heinburg and Jim Cheung. A reminder to reread this whole series soon, I think! 4/5 stars

Other posts: 

Top Ten Tuesday: 2015 Releases. Just shows you how behind I am, really…

Hope everyone’s well and reading more than me! Totally feel free to explore the week’s posts and comment, or go further back if you like — I always try to return comments!

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Top Ten Tuesday

Posted January 12, 2016 by Nicky in General / 10 Comments

I was a little worried I was going to get to this Top Ten Tuesday post and have some major books on here — like Ancillary Mercy — and have to ‘fess up failing to get to a load of ARCs and… Fortunately, I did keep up better than I feared. But there are still some books I should get round to! This week’s theme is…

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten 2015 Releases I Meant To Get To But Didn’t

Cover of Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo Cover of Carry On by Rainbow Rowell Cover of An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir Cover of The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh Cover of Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas

  1. Six of Crows, Leigh Bardugo. I only read the Grisha trilogy this year, and in the last two months of the year at that, so I’m not kicking myself too hard. But I would’ve liked to get round to this.
  2. Carry On, Rainbow Rowell. I wanted to read it as soon as it came out. Then I… I don’t know… got distracted?
  3. An Ember in the Ashes, Sabaa Tahir. Someone even bought this for me. Why, self? Why?
  4. The Wrath and the Dawn, Renee Ahdieh. I got a copy of this within a month of release. And yet.
  5. Queen of Shadows, Sarah J. Maas. To be fair, I didn’t read the book before it, either.
  6. The Darkest Part of the Forest, Holly Black. I even had/have it out of the library!
  7. Illuminae, Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff. At least I didn’t have a copy of this one?
  8. Tower of Thorns, Juliet Marillier. Not helped by the fact that I didn’t get round to Dreamer’s Pool either.
  9. Armada, Ernest Cline. I’m, uh, partway through it? Maybe I’ll even have finished it by the time this post goes up!
  10. A Crown for Cold Silver, Alex Marshall. Haven’t got my hands on this one, yet! Though maybe now there’s a paperback…

Cover of The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black Cover of Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff Cover of Tower of Thorns by Juliet Marillier Cover of Armada by Ernest Cline Cover of A Crown for Cold Silver by Alex Marshall

Quite a mix, really. Maybe I’ll get to them this year — one can hope, right?

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Stacking the Shelves

Posted January 9, 2016 by Nicky in General / 8 Comments

It’s not quite an Unstacking the Shelves week, but I haven’t bought anything, so here’s a quick peek at what I’ve finished!

Cover of Unnatural Creatures ed. Neil Gaiman Cover of A Portrait of the Brain by Adam Zeman Cover of Impulse by Dave Bara

Not as good a reading week as last week, but still, progress!

My haul this week is all via Netgalley. I’m so excited to have got Kingfisher, and I’m looking forward to trying Adrian Tchiakovsky’s work. I need to read City of Stairs pronto so I can get to City of Blades

Cover of Kingfisher by Patricia A. McKillip Cover of City of Blades by Robert Jackson Bennett Cover of The Tiger and the Wolf by Adrian Tchiakovsky

I’m especially glad about Kingfisher, because I wasn’t sure if I was going to get it — they normally only grant ARCs to people with over 1,000 followers, and the Bibliophibian lost around 400 in moving from WordPress hosting to self-hosting. So hurrah! Hurrah!

And what else has been going on? Well, here’s the weekly roundup:

Reviews this week:

The Dark Arts of Blood, by Freda Warrington. Deliciously self-indulgent. I remain so glad I picked the first book up on a whim. 4/5 stars
Siege and Storm, by Leigh Bardugo. Not as compelling as the first book, but I did enjoy it. 4/5 stars
Before They Are Hanged, by Joe Abercrombie. I knew I’d enjoy this, as it was a reread, and it definitely stood up to it. 4/5 stars
Genes, People and Languages, by Luigi Cavalli-Sforza. Interesting, but lacked focus. 3/5 stars
Death Before Wicket, by Kerry Greenwood. Probably my least favourite of the series so far, alas. Maybe I just hold Phryne to really high standards. 2/5 stars
Beauty, by Sarah Pinborough. Slightly darker again than the other two books, this wraps up the trilogy… and leaves a lot of things open. 3/5 stars
Flashback Friday: Young Avengers: Sidekicks, by Allan Heinburg and Jim Cheung. A favourite series of mine, this was the first Young Avengers comic I read! 5/5 stars

Other posts:

January TBR. Check out what I’m planning to read this month!
On Deadlines, GRRM and Consequences. The POV of a freelance ghostwriter on the issue of Martin’s announcement that The Winds of Winter will be late.
Top Ten Tuesday: Resolutions. Check out my bookish resolutions for the year.
Bout of Books Progress. Follow along and see how I’ve been doing.

How’s everyone else been? Any awesome discussion posts you want to share? Any exciting ARCs hit your doormat?

I may be slow to reply today, as I’m getting on the train at ridiculous o’ clock to head to Belgium for a month with my partner. So yay for that, and feel free to mob my inbox while I’m out…

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Bout of Books Progress

Posted January 5, 2016 by Nicky in General / 0 Comments

Bout of Books Readathon

Bout of Books Progress

Whoa, the last couple of days went by in a flash. I almost forgot that Bout of Books started yesterday! Luckily, I’ve been reading anyway (well, that’s no surprise). So this is my progress post! You can find my sign-up post here, too.

Day one: 

Books read: One.
Total pages: 410.
Titles: Unnatural Creatures, ed. Neil Gaiman.
Challenge: Introduction in six words — “TBR pile taller than I am”.

Day two:

Books read: Two in progress, none finished.
Total pages: 200.
Titles: The Last Argument of Kings, by Joe Abercrombie; A Portrait of the Brain, by Adam Zeman.
Challenge: From here. I would rather: lend books to someone who dog-ears pages than to someone who reads with Cheeto fingers, meet a character than meet an author, never be allowed in a bookshop rather than not be allowed in a library, have to choose a couple to break up in a book rather than a character to die (but really it depends on the book!), and be required to read The Scarlet Letter once a year for the rest of my life than Twilight.

Day three:

Books read: One finished.
Total pages: 150.
Titles: A Portrait of the Brain, by Adam Zeman; Guardian of the Dead, by Karen Healey.
Challenge: Pass.

Day four: 

Books read: One in progress.
Total pages: 150.
Titles: Impulse, by Dave Bara.
Challenge: Pass.

Day five: 

Books read: One in progress
Total pages: 100.
Titles: Impulse, by Dave Bara.
Challenge: Pass.

…And it’s over and I barely read anything at all on the last day, though somewhere in there I read The Frog Princess and finished Impulse. Sigh. Just too busy, I guess!

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Top Ten Tuesday

Posted January 5, 2016 by Nicky in General / 8 Comments

This week’s theme is, of course, about your Top Ten resolutions. I’m trying to keep mine bookish this year — let’s see how I do.

  1. Read 200 books bought pre-2016.
  2. Beat buying average from 2015.
  3. Listen to audiobooks instead of music when out walking.
  4. Write reviews immediately.
  5. Remember to read non-fiction when I’m anxious — curiosity is the antidote to anxiety.
  6. Don’t keep library books more than two months.
  7. Review ARCs before release date.
  8. Finish all series in progress.
  9. Don’t buy duplicate copies (e.g. a paperback when I have the ebook) until I know whether I like and want to keep the book.
  10. Put a book on Bookmooch or the donation pile if I’m not likely to reread it within five years.

That’s not a bad list! What’s everyone else resolving?

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On deadlines, GRRM and consequences

Posted January 4, 2016 by Nicky in General / 8 Comments

This weekend, I saw George R.R. Martin’s post about the next book in his series, The Winds of Winter, apologising for further delays to the deadlines and explaining what’s going on. You can find that here. Not shockingly, I have opinions on this.

I’m a freelance writer. I have deadlines and they’re pretty set in stone. I have to get up and go to the computer no matter how I feel when there’s a deadline coming up, or there’ll be a penaCover of The Winds of Winter by George R.R. Martin, to illustrate my post about missed deadlineslty: bad feedback, no re-employment, cuts in pay. If I have copy to write, I don’t get to run out of ideas. If I say I’ll deliver an article on a topic, I can’t change my mind (at least not without consulting my client, and being prepared to deliver the article I originally pitched anyway). When I’m ghostwriting, I don’t get the luxury of saying that the inspiration isn’t there. It’s as stark as that: I don’t deliver, I don’t get paid.

So I totally feel the argument that if you commit to deadlines, you should deliver by the deadlines or face the consequences.

Thing is, for me, the consequences aren’t a horde of angry fans with whom I have no contract, no agreement, no protection. The consequences are between me and my employer, and possibly potential future employers. There are rules which govern the way I interact with my clients, and if they break those rules, I have recourse.

Not so much for Martin. He’s got this big amorphous group of fans who he is palpably worried about upsetting, in addition to his publishers. And it’s fandom, which has proved itself fully capable of all kinds of insanity in revenge for slights real or imagined. I wouldn’t want to be the person sorting through his email inbox: I’m willing to bet there’s abuse, threats, all sorts, because this has just got that big.

But look. He owes his readers nothing.

There’s no contract binding him to entertain them at their command. He no doubt has a contract to deliver the work to his publisher, who will have given him an advance, and they’re the only ones who have any right to hold him to a deadline. The deadline argument is a fair enough one to make… if you’re his publisher.

If you’re not, then please consider this: you’re adding additional pressure. As well as having to negotiate with his publisher, with HBO, with anyone else who has a financial stake in the books, now Martin has to be his own public relations department. And speaking from experience, having even one person chasing you up for work sucks your energy, your motivation, your time. Nobody is actually sanguine about missing deadlines. We know there are consequences.

I would be willing to lay money that the additional fan pressure, the constant speculation that he’ll die before finishing the books, the rumours that he hasn’t written anything… that all of that is contributing to making it more difficult for Martin to write, not less. That all this pushing and shoving is hindering progress.

This isn’t about financial consequences, it’s a sense of entitlement. False entitlement. Authors don’t owe us new books on a regular basis. Leave the consequences to the publishers — as fans, we should surely support the authors instead of adding more resistance.

Obviously, supporting the authors can include wanting to read their next book, being excited about it, being disappointed when it’s not going to come out on time. But authors are people and have lives, and we’re not their employers. Personally, I would rather my favourite authors be okay, be satisfied, and write good books, than deliver to a deadline.

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January TBR

Posted January 3, 2016 by Nicky in General / 4 Comments

Wait, it’s already the 3rd? Okay, clearly I need to do my January TBR post already! My 2016 goal is actually to read a book a day, on average, but I’m not going to pick too many books I have to read — I’m just going to pick out library books, challenge books and ARCs that I definitely need to get on with.

So, the list?

  • This Savage Song, Victoria Schwab. ARC! Not releasing until May, I think? So I do have time, but I might as well try and keep ahead of the game!
  • The Frog Princess, E.D. Baker. This is for the Ultimate Reading Challenge on Habitica, a book recommended by my sister. A nice easy one to polish off.
  • Silver on the Tree, Susan Cooper. Last one for the TDIR readathon!
  • Guardian of the Dead, Karen Healey. Needs to go back to the library. Plus, one of the main supporting characters is ace!
  • The Furthest Shore, Ursula Le Guin. Should’ve finished this by the beginning of January. Oops.
  • Tehanu, Ursula Le Guin. Likewise.
  • Tales from Earthsea, Ursula Le Guin. Aaaand ditto.
  • The Other Wind, Ursula Le Guin. Yep.
  • Last Argument of Kings, Joe Abercrombie. Last in the trilogy, and due back at the library.
  • Unnatural Creatures, ed. Neil Gaiman. It looks like an interesting, diverse, and very readable collection. And it needs to go back to the library.

I have a bunch of other books which I’ll probably get round to, especially since I’m taking a limited number of print books with me to Belgium to visit my partner. That includes Jacqueline Carey’s Santa Olivia and Saints AstraySignal to Noise by Silvia Moreno Garcia, City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett… But I’m only going to push myself about the ten above. Anything else is a bonus!

Crossing things out as I get to them!

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Unstacking the Shelves

Posted January 2, 2016 by Nicky in General / 26 Comments

For the first time in a long time — or possibly the whole time I’ve been doing the Stacking the Shelves meme via Tynga’s Reviews — I don’t have any new books from any source to share this week! It helps that the library is closed and I have a firm resolution to stick to a budget (see my Shelf Love participation post). Technically, my book ban from December is over, but I do want to try and be mindful of buying books this year.

So to celebrate, I have a new feature for this blog. Sort of. I remember someone else once posting “Unstacking the Shelves” posts, while they were trying to catch up with their backlog, and I’m going to shamelessly steal their idea. Whenever I have no books to report buying, I get to do an Unstacking the Shelves post, showing what I’ve read in the last week!

Which is, this week, the following six books:

Cover of Word Puppets by Mary Robinette Kowal Cover of The Masked City by Genevieve Cogman Cover of Murder in Montparnasse by Kerry Greenwood

Cover of The Parthenon by Mary Beard Cover of Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor Cover of The Mistletoe Bride by Kate Mosse

My favourite read this week was probably The Masked City, which I enjoyed more than I expected to based on my rating of the first book — I’m beginning to think I was overly cranky with that one! It was interesting to read Kowal and Mosse’s short stories, too; they’re very different collections. Lagoon, I’m still processing… So far, I still need to write reviews for the last four.

At the same time, I thought I might start highlighting my other posts this week for people who only come by on a Saturday via the link-up. That way, people just dropping by can get a better idea of my blog — and maybe some people will want to stick around!

Reviews this week:
Greenwitch, by Susan Cooper. This was my reread for the TDIR Readathon; it’s a very familiar book for me, so it was like visiting with old friends. I did have some new thoughts about Jane Drew this time, though. 5/5 stars
Charm, by Sarah Pinborough. Second in the series, this retells the story of Cinderella… with extra sex and links to all kinds of other fairytales. 3/5 stars
Word Puppets, by Mary Robinette Kowal. Received to review via Netgalley, this introduced me to Kowal’s non-Regency work. There are some forgettable stories, but for the most part it’s a strong collection. 4/5 stars
The Masked City, by Genevieve Cogman. So much fun! Magic and books and dragons and Fae… And did I mention that the main character is an operative for an organisation called the Library, and there’s an awesome magic system using the power of words? Sign me up! 4/5 stars
The Cutting Room, ed. Ellen Datlow. Unfortunately not really my thing, though there are some very memorable stories in the collection. Probably a case of ‘it’s not you’… 2/5 stars
The Blade Itself, by Joe Abercrombie. This was another reread, albeit one I wasn’t as familiar with as Greenwitch. I enjoyed it a lot; memory, if anything, had downgraded this from the rating it deserved. 4/5 stars
Flashback Friday: The House at the End of the Lane, by Neil Gaiman. This feature reposts old reviews I wrote before I had this blog. Neil Gaiman’s work is solidly entertaining, but I thought maybe I was exactly the wrong age to appreciate this one. 3/5 stars

Other posts:
Bout of Books Participation Post. For once, I’m on time to join in the Bout of Books readathon!
Top Ten Tuesday: Repeat Gifts. This week I went off-script and picked a theme of my own, talking about the books that I’m always giving to new people.
ShelfLove Participation Post. This challenge worked really well for me last year, and here’s my (rather ambitious) plan for 2016!

I’ve also just added a bunch of social media options to the blog, so you can now follow me on Google+ or Facebook. I have a Twitter as well, but it has more of a personal focus. Me being me, though, a personal focus still means a lot of book chatter.

Oh well, we’ll see! How’s everyone doing? Hope you’ve started 2016 as you mean to go on, with laughter and light and love and anything else your heart desires.

(Please please please do not comment telling me to enjoy my new books. It will make it obvious you haven’t read the text at all and will make me sad.)

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ShelfLove Participation Post

Posted January 1, 2016 by Nicky in General / 6 Comments

ShelfLove Challenge 2016

ShelfLove challenge

So last year’s ShelfLove challenge went really well and I finished up the year by meeting pretty much all my goals on not buying books. In fact, this is the first year since 2011 that I kept the average under buying a book a day. I am seriously addicted to books — for one thing, when I’m sad, I want new books — so this was pretty good. And I kept it quite a ways under that average, too, with only around 240 books bought or acquired before my Christmas presents, vouchers, etc, joined the list.

My goals this year? Beat this year’s buying average, stick to the budget I maintained in 2015 (no more than 10% of my income on books in any given month), and read 200 books acquired before 2016. I know, I know — the actual highest number suggested by the challenge is 51+. But I’m ambitious. I have no idea how attainable this is as a goal, but I usually read 300+ books a year, so I think it’s doable if I can just keep focused.

Another side-goal is getting my Netgalley ratio to 100%, after finally reaching that coveted 80% juuust at the end of December. Obviously I’m okay with this being via finally reading and reviewing the books, or accepting that it’s not going to happen: that’s how I got to 80%, after all. I also want to finish series that I’m partway through — like Kerry Greenwood’s Phryne Fisher books — and get on top of my library addiction a bit. I currently have 30+ books out of the library and a special shelf to keep them on. I like having them there to look at, but I’m not keeping up with them properly. Time to fix that!

Ready? Let’s get reading!

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