Category: General

Stacking the Shelves

Posted November 14, 2015 by Nicky in General / 18 Comments

I’ve been pretty stressed out this week keeping up with work stuff, but fortunately I had a library trip last weekend! This was a library I’ve only just joined, where I found they let me have 20 books at once! So naturally, that’s what I did — though many of the books I borrowed are ones I technically own but can’t access right now. These are the new ones!

Fiction

Cover of Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs Cover of Bone Crossed by Patricia Briggs Cover of Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs

Cover of River Marked by Patricia Briggs Cover of Frost Burned by Patricia Briggs Cover of I Am J by Cris Beam

Cover of Blood and Feathers by Lou Morgan Cover of Wolves by Simon Ings Cover of Wolfsbane Winter by Jane Fletcher

Yep, so glad they have the Patricia Briggs books so I can catch up a bit! The others are mostly stuff I’ve been interested in for a while.

Non-fiction

Cover of Grave Secrets of Dinosaurs Cover of The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean

I liked Sam Kean’s book about neurology, so I’m planning to read The Disappearing Spoon and The Violinist’s Thumb, the latter whenever my reservation comes in. And the other book? Well, dinosaurs!

Hope everyone’s well, getting good books, and that any followers in France are safe and secure after the attacks of Friday night.

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Top Ten Tuesday

Posted November 10, 2015 by Nicky in General / 2 Comments

This week’s theme is about book to movie adaptations, and I’m not that interested in cinema. So instead I’m going to talk about what I’d like to see adapted into audiobook format, with a full cast!

  1. The later Dark is Rising sequence books, Susan Cooper. Preferably with the original cast from the BBC adaptation of the first two, but the kids will all have grown up and some of the actors might even be retired or dead, so I’m aware this is totally mad.
  2. Sunshine, Robin McKinley. Come on, it’d be amazing. And they could have the sound effects of the kitchen work and make everyone hungry.
  3. Chalice, Robin McKinley. I love this even more than Sunshine. You could do this really well as something short and atmospheric, I think…
  4. Ben Aaronovitch’s books. I have no idea if a full casGt audio adaptation exists, but it would be awesome if it did.
  5. Seaward, Susan Cooper. It’d be beautiful, I think. You wouldn’t need a big cast — keep it minimal. Five or six actors.
  6. Anything by Patricia McKillip. It might make them more accessible to an audience who don’t so much like her prose style!
  7. Gifts, Ursula Le Guin. With the oral storytelling stuff in this trilogy, surely this’d make a good one.

And existing ones which I need to listen to include the BBC’s versions of Neverwhere and Good Omens, and Ellen Kushner’s Swordspoint. If they’re not perfect, they can go down as numbers 8-10!

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Stacking the Shelves

Posted November 7, 2015 by Nicky in General / 25 Comments

Well! This week has certainly been a busy week for me. I spent the first part of the week in London with my partner, laying waste to Forbidden Planet, Waterstones Piccadilly and Foyles… not to mention the British Museum’s bookshop. (There were some museums, too, yes!) Then I spent the latter half of the week (re)acquainting myself with the libraries local to my parents, since I’m going to be staying here almost all the time I’m not with my partner in Belgium.

Fiction purchased

Cover of Spin State by Chris Moriarty Cover of The Silver Metal Lover by Tanith Lee Cover of Blindsight by Peter Watts

Cover of Conservation of Shadows by Yoon Ha Lee Cover of On Basilisk Station by David Weber Cover of The Honor of the Queen by David Weber

Cover of Radiance by Catherynne M. Valente Cover of Our Lady of the Ice by Cassandra Rose Clarke Cover of Library of Souls by Ransom Riggs

Cover of Library of Souls by Ransom Riggs Cover of Newt's Emerald by Garth Nix Cover of A Legend of the Future by Agustin de Rojas

I’m looking forward to quite a few of these. And thanks to Forbidden Planet, my copy of Newt’s Emerald is signed.

Non-fiction purchased

Cover of Britain BC by Francis Pryor Cover of Britain AD by Francis Pryor Cover of Britain After Rome

Cover of A History of Ancient Egypt by John Romer Cover of The Undivided Past by David Cannadine

A fairly random selection, all from the British Museum’s bookshop. I love getting my hands on new non-fiction.

Library

Cover of Railhead by Philip Reeve Cover of The Accident Season by Moira Fowley-Doyle Cover of the Book of the Damned by Tanith Lee

Cover of the Book of the Beast by Tanith Lee Cover of The Book of the Dead by Tanith Lee Cover of Book of the Mad by Tanith Lee

Cover of Catastrophes and Other Lesser Calamities by Tony Hallam Cover of Freaks of Nature by Mark Blumberg Cover of The New Wild by Fred Pearce

Another interesting mix, of course! I have no idea when I think I’m going to get round to all this, but it’s fun anyway.

How’s everyone else doing?

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November TBR

Posted November 5, 2015 by Nicky in General / 2 Comments

What do you mean it’s already November? Gaaah!

So I’m not going to be too proscriptive about what I read in November, because it’s still a pretty high stress time for me. So here’s a bunch of books I want to get read, in moderately disorganised categories!

ARCS

  • Of Sorrow and Such, Angela Slatter.
  • Armada, Ernest Cline.
  • The Palace Job, Patrick Weekes.
  • The Seventh Bride, T. Kingfisher.
  • Of Bone and Thunder, Chris Evans.

Phryne Fisher

  • Blood and Circuses, Kerry Greenwood.
  • Ruddy Gore, Kerry Greenwood.
  • Urn Burial, Kerry Greenwood.
  • Raisins and Almonds, Kerry Greenwood.
  • Death Before Wicket, Kerry Greenwood.
  • Away With the Fairies, Kerry Greenwood.

Other in-progress series

  • Siege and Storm, Leigh Bardugo.
  • Ruin and Rising, Leigh Bardugo.
  • Ancillary Mercy, Ann Leckie.
  • The Dark Arts of Blood, Freda Warrington.
  • The Boy Who Lost Fairyland, Catherynne M. Valente.
  • Dragon Coast, Greg van Eekhout.

Rereads

  • A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula Le Guin.
  • The Tombs of Atuan, Ursula Le Guin.
  • The Furthest Shore, Ursula Le Guin.
  • Tehanu, Ursula Le Guin.
  • The Other Wind, Ursula Le Guin.
  • Tales from Earthsea, Ursula Le Guin.

Random

  • The Better Angels of Our Nature, Steven Pinker.
  • Newt’s Emerald, Garth Nix.
  • London Falling, Paul Cornell.
  • Badgerlands, Patrick Barkham.
  • Catastrophes and Lesser Calamities, Tony Hallam.
  • The Mirror World of Melody Black, Gavin Extence.
  • At the Edge of Uncertainty, Michael Brooks.
  • The Accident Season, Moira Fowley-Doyle.

There may well be other stuff, which I will probably add under ‘random’ once I’ve consumed it!

 

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Top Ten Tuesday

Posted November 3, 2015 by Nicky in General / 8 Comments

Of the options for this week, the theme is “Top Ten Debut Authors Who Have Me Looking Forward To Their Sophomore Novel” or “Top Ten Sophomore Novels That I Loved Just As Much If Not More As The Author’s Debut”. Because I’m fickle, I’m going to do this one somewhat randomly based on both prompts.

  1. Pacific Fire, Greg van Eekhout. I wasn’t sure about California Bones, but Pacific Fire won me over and I just had to get Dragon Coast.
  2. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien. I mean, The Hobbit was okay, but I think it’s The Lord of the Rings that really cemented Tolkien’s reputation.
  3. Moon Over Soho, Ben Aaronovitch. Every subsequent book has made me more of a fan of the series.
  4. Crown of Midnight, Sarah J. Maas. I wasn’t sure if I was into the series until I read Crown of Midnight.
  5. Red Seas Under Red Skies, Scott Lynch. I loved The Lies of Locke Lamora, and I wasn’t sure if Lynch could keep it up. He could.
  6. The Wrong Goodbye, Chris F. Holm. I was worried the second book would be too much like the first, that the fun wouldn’t hold out. It did!
  7. Huntress, Malinda Lo. I liked this waaaay more than Ash.
  8. The Blasted Lands, James A. Moore. This is a second book that I’m looking forward to. I know it’s out and has been a while. Shush. I’m behind.
  9. Jacqueline Koyanagi. There’s gonna be more after Ascension, right? Right??
  10. Seth Dickinson. Gimme more Baru!

I’m really bad at keeping track of debut authors and so on, so I’m gonna be interested to see what other people have come up with this week. Maybe I’d better keep some paper at the ready for taking notes…

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Stacking the Shelves

Posted October 31, 2015 by Nicky in General / 15 Comments

Totally unsurprisingly, this week has involved me grabbing as much Phryne Fisher as I can… I even started watching the TV series, via Netflix. Gah, love it so much.

Library books

Cover of Blood and Circuses by Kerry Greenwood Cover of Ruddy Gore by Kerry Greenwood Cover of Urn Burial by Kerry Greenwood

Cover of Raisins and Almonds by Kerry Greenwood Cover of Death Before Wicket by Kerry Greenwood

Cover of Away With the Fairies by Kerry Greenwood Cover of The Last Enchantment by Mary Stewart

And I actually got some Amazon vouchers, but I’m probably going to save them for some more Phryne book. Just one book purchased, and that was a Kindle Daily Deal.

Cover of Omens by Kelley Armstrong

So really, I’ve been quite good this week! What’s everyone else been getting?

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Top Ten Tuesday

Posted October 27, 2015 by Nicky in General / 22 Comments

This week’s prompt from Top Ten Tuesdays is a seasonal one — a Hallowe’en themed freebie. So here’s some things that scare me in books… perhaps not all traditionally scary.

  1. When you just know a character is going to make the wrong decision. You know better than them, or you’re just smarter than them, and you can see them about to make a big mistake…
  2. Tense moments in books in third person/multiple first person. You know the character can actually die, because they haven’t had to survive to tell you the story!
  3. Knowing something a character doesn’t. Especially when there’s miscommunication going on. This one ranges from heartbreaking to embarrassing…
  4. Temptation. You know, like Frodo with the One Ring. Gaaah. You can’t help them because they’re allegedly not real. You just have to watch.
  5. Atmospheric moments. Suddenly, you’re getting a description of the weather, the atmosphere, the darkness pooling between the street lights…
  6. When you know an author is not afraid to kill characters. Scott Lynch, I can’t trust you.
  7. When a character betrays principles for a dubious higher cause. Aka the entirety of The Traitor Baru Cormorant. Gah.
  8. Revelation to another character. “I accidentally killed your best friend and we fell in love and now I’m telling you that and you’re going to hate me.”
  9. Misunderstandings. Like the above, only someone doesn’t stay to hear the full story, or somehow something else garbles the story.
  10. That moment when you hear it’s going to be a movie. Right?

Yep, I’m a giant wuss and I’m not really into actually scary books, so a Hallowe’en theme for me was a bit of a stretch!

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A Book Blogger’s Manifesto

Posted October 26, 2015 by Nicky in General / 5 Comments

There’s been a couple of manifestos floating about in the wake of Joanne Harris’ Writer’s Manifesto. It got me thinking about what I promise as a blogger and reviewer, what I think is important. So I thought I’d do a quick manifesto myself.

  1. I promise to give you my real opinion. Even if I’m friends with the author or the publicist or someone’s feelings might get hurt.
  2. I promise to remember that everyone has feelings. I’m not going to attack someone, tweet a critical review directly at the author, etc. Everyone has feelings, and it’s just courtesy to do your best to avoid hurting them.
  3. I promise to reply to comments and return your visits. You put in effort to engage with me, and I’ll make the same effort to engage with you.
  4. But, when I’m stressed out and things are hard, I reserve the right to take time off. Even if my scheduled posts are still going ahead. Even if I post something that generates a lot of discussion. I’m a human being, and I need time off too.
  5. I promise to let you know of my bias. When a book is by a friend or I’m doing something as a favour, then I will let you know. If I’m not aware of my bias, then I can’t tell you, but…
  6. I promise to be open to criticism. It’s not easy, but I know I’m as fallible as any other creature. I may react badly, but I promise I will think about what you say.
  7. I promise to be open to new things. I’m sure there’s things I’m neglecting and things I haven’t tried yet, many of which I may love. I’ll be open to them when they come my way.
  8. I promise to review books that I’m given for that purpose. Whether I like them or not.

I’m sure once this goes live I’ll think of something else, so I might add to this. Feel free to borrow the idea, the wording, link to this, whatever you like, if it speaks to you.

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No Book Buying Challenge: Organisation

Posted October 25, 2015 by Nicky in General / 8 Comments

 

I keep almost forgetting to do this post! Here’s October’s one. This month’s prompt is about how you organise your shelves. Well, right now I have permanent shelves with books I’m keeping at my parents, while I have books I haven’t read yet mostly at my grandmother’s, since I’ve been here the last couple months for healthcare and now to take care of her. In both places they’re sorted by genre — poetry, non-fiction, SF/F, crime/mystery, historical, general. Within that, they’re sorted by author’s last name and within that, by order of publication.

I enjoy occasionally overhauling that and shaking everything up, though.

Here’s my general updates on the #ShelfLove challenge and my New Year’s Resolutions. The colour scheme should be familiar by now…

  • 49/51+ already owned books read from prior to 2015 (last one recorded: Moon-Flash, 25/10)
  • Spent: £21 out of ~£30 budget (budget is 10% of my income) for January
  • Spent: £20 out of ~£25 budget for February
  • Spent: £22 out of ~£25 budget for March
  • Spent: £15 out of ~£16 budget for April
  • Spent: £45 out of ~£30 budget for May
  • Spent: £18 out of ~£40 budget for June, plus stuck within holiday budget
  • Spent: £45 out of ~£50 budget for July
  • Spent £51 out of ~£60 for August
  • Spent £30 out of £40 for September
  • Spent ~£20 out of £20 for October

Not good pay at all this month — somehow the billing cycle means I barely earn anything this month. Sigh.

Here’s my more general progress on resolutions:

  • No books impulse-bought 
  • Read every day 
  • Bed before midnight
  • Up before ten every day
  • Only bought one book from a series at a time
  • Posted to the blog every day
  • Commented on at least one other blog every day
  • Tithed 10% in every month so far
  • Done 8o hours volunteering total
  • Reading/reviewing books from NG/etc (70%!)

Not bad at all, right?

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Perhaps YOU should…

Posted October 24, 2015 by Nicky in General / 2 Comments

This isn’t so much book-related, but hey, this blog is the platform I’ve got, so I’ll use it. And it can be related to books, since it comes up when people advocate for buying more books by authors of any minority identity, or for more books of a certain topic. It’s that argument I’m sure you’ve seen around…

“If you want [x], then YOU should do it.”

Which makes two assumptions: one, that when somebody wants something, it’s their responsibility to go and get it for themselves — even if they’re in a difficult position for that, even if what they want is fairness and equality, even if other people are in a position to help them. And two, that the person advocating for this thing is a hypocrite and is not campaigning in their own life for these things.

If you believe that fairness is not your responsibility, or the responsibility of anyone else, that’s fine, but I’m gonna sit here and judge you for it all I want.

But the second assumption — look, even if I was a hypocrite, all that says is that I’m a hypocrite, not that what I’m arguing for is wrong. And you better be damn sure while you’re at it that I am actually a hypocrite, or you look really fucking silly.

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