Category: General

Top Ten Tuesday

Posted August 18, 2015 by Nicky in General / 2 Comments

This week’s theme is auto-buy authors! I think I did this topic the last time it came round, but these things are prone to change. It’ll be interesting after I’ve made the list to look for the old one!

  1. Scott Lynch. Even seeing a short story of his is in a collection is enough to prompt me to at least consider picking it up.
  2. J.R.R. Tolkien. I’m not sure he’d even approve of the state of the stuff Christopher Tolkien is putting out for him is in, but I will always be fascinated with every word the guy wrote.
  3. Jo Walton. If I can’t get the ARCs, at least… Jo is my friend as well as a favourite author.
  4. N.K. Jemisin. I think I knew she’d be an auto-buy author from the first page of The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms.
  5. Jacqueline Carey. I’ve seen her deal with stuff I wouldn’t be that interested in ably, in a way that comes out fun. Yeah, I’ll buy anything.
  6. Guy Gavriel Kay. Person most likely to make me cry at his work, except possibly Jo.
  7. Garth Nix. I haven’t even read all his backlist yet.
  8. Patricia A. McKillip. It took me a while to get into some of her books, but I think I’m securely hooked now. I’m glad there’s still a whole bunch of backlist titles I haven’t got to yet.
  9. Neil Gaiman. Okay, I’m not 100% a fan of everything the man says, and the title of his latest collection of short stories didn’t work for me, but if he writes a book, I’ll probably get it. Maybe not immediately. But in the end.
  10. Rainbow Rowell. It surprised me, but I just preordered Carry On and realised that yeah, I probably will automatically buy anything by her. Something about her style just… works for me.

What about you guys?

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Stacking the Shelves

Posted August 15, 2015 by Nicky in General / 26 Comments

Nice little haul this week — slightly more manageable than last week’s…

Cover of Scardown by Elizabeth Bear Cover of Worldwired by Elizabeth Bear Cover of Califia's Daughters by Leigh Richards

 Cover of Five Flavors of Dumb by Antony John Cover of Solstice Wood by Patricia McKillip Cover of The Book of Atrix Wolfe by Patricia McKillip

Cover of The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell Cover of Children of God by Mary Doria Russell

Five Flavors of Dumb is Cait @ Paper Fury‘s fault; she mentioned how amazing she found it, and hey, it has a deaf main character, I’m intrigued. The Sparrow will be a reread — it’s amazing, but serious and heartbreaking.

What’s everyone else been getting their grubby little mitts on?

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Top Ten Tuesday

Posted August 11, 2015 by Nicky in General / 14 Comments

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday theme is Top Ten Authors we’ve read the most books from. It’s hard to tell on this one — Goodreads will only show me the authors I own the most books by, but let’s have a wild stab at it…

  1. Jacqueline Carey. I own and have read almost all her books, which makes at least… 13 in total. That’s a good number!
  2. Guy Gavriel Kay. I’ve only got one book by him I haven’t read yet, River of Stars.
  3. Robin Hobb/Megan Lindholm. I’ve read books by her under both identities, and there’s at least 13 on my shelves that I know I’ve read, so she’s probably high on the list.
  4. J.R.R. Tolkien. I think I’ve read everything put out by either him or by his son after his death. I’m not sure how much that is, but I’ve read his academic work as well, so we’ll say he counts.
  5. Jo Walton. I’ve read all but her most recent book, so she definitely counts.
  6. Garth Nix. I haven’t even read all his books, but there were the seven Keys to the Kingdom books, the Old Kingdom series, another series… Yep, probably the most read author.
  7. Tad Williams. I’ve read two quartets by this guy, he’s got to qualify.
  8. Brian Michael Bendis. Ultimate Spider-man and some other comics.
  9. Alistair Reynolds. Long due a reread, but yeaaaah, I read most of his books at one point.
  10. Brian Jacques. I used to read the Redwall books exhaustively. I haven’t touched them in a long time, but there were at least a dozen. This one has to count! Tempted to do a nostalgia reread, too.

What about everyone else? This was surprisingly hard to think of…

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Top Ten Tuesday

Posted August 4, 2015 by Nicky in General / 12 Comments

Fairytale retellings! That’s this week’s theme from The Broke and the Bookish, and one of my favourite genres.

  1. Heart’s Blood, Juliet Marillier. A retelling of Beauty and the Beast, with a lot of extra stuff. I love this a lot.
  2. Iron and Gold, Hilda Vaughan. Not a commonly known retelling, nor even a common fairytale. Well worth reading, though — and it’s set in Wales.
  3. Cuckoo Song, Frances Hardinge. A good changeling-child story.
  4. Redemption in Indigo, Karen Lord. It’s not a Western story, but it’s still a great retelling.
  5. Rose Daughter, Robin McKinley. McKinley’s great at fairytale retellings in general. Beauty might be my favourite, though.
  6. A Court of Thorns and Roses, Sarah J. Maas. Beauty and the Beast seems to be a thing, huh?
  7. Deathless, Catherynne M. Valente. A retelling of Russian stories. Beautifully written and strange.
  8. The Owl Service, Alan Garner. I’m not sure anyone would consider the story of Blodeuwedd a fairytale, but this is a chilling retelling anyway.
  9. The Wrath and the Dawn, Renee Ahdieh. The others so far were ones I’ve read; this is one I want to read. I’ve heard so much about it.
  10. Bitter Greens, Kate Forsyth. Want to read this one, too. I love that it’s a retelling of Rapunzel woven with history.

Share your favourites, please!

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August TBR

Posted August 1, 2015 by Nicky in General / 6 Comments

I mentioned the first month I made a TBR list that I like making lists, but I have trouble sticking to them. I’ve been through half a dozen iterations of this list, and each one I’ve sulked about more than the last, so I’m going to go with a free for all month. Instead of telling you what I’m planning to read, I’m gonna tell you what I’m packing for my holiday at my parents’ — which might come to the same thing.

  • Ben Aaronovitch, Foxglove Summer.
  • Elizabeth Bear, One-Eyed Jack.
  • Holly Black, The Darkest Part of the Forest.
  • Susan Cooper, Ghost Hawk.
  • Chris Evans, Of Bone and Thunder.
  • Kazuo Ishiguro, The Buried Giant.
  • Emily Lloyd Jones, Illusive.
  • Sarah J. Maas, Assassin’s Blade.
  • Sarah J. Maas, Heir of Fire.
  • Gail Z. Martin, Deadly Curiosities.
  • Maureen F. McHugh, Mission Child.
  • Rainbow Rowell, Landline.
  • Freda Warrington, The Dark Blood of Poppies.
  • Freda Warrington, The Dark Arts of Blood.
  • G. Willow Wilson, Alif the Unseen.

Naturally, I wouldn’t be in the slightest bit surprised if I take my bat home and refuse to read a single one of these during August, but, well, I tried.

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Stacking the Shelves

Posted August 1, 2015 by Nicky in General / 18 Comments

Just two books bought so far this week — I couldn’t resist it, since it’s N.K. Jemisin and set in her The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms world. And there’s Terry Pratchett’s essay on death, which supports assisted dying, a subject I’m very interested in, even if it’s a little morbid sat here in my STS post!

Cover of Shades in Shadow by N.K. Jemisin Cover of Shaking Hands with Death by Terry Pratchett

I’m excited for The Fifth Season, too. I’ve got a preorder, so hopefully I’ll get that one as soon as it’s out.

Library

Cover of The Dark Blood of Poppies by Freda Warrington Cover of Of Bone and Thunder by Chris Evans Cover of Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

Hurrah, so glad The Dark Blood of Poppies came in for me at the library before I had to leave for my holiday. Relief! Now I can get on with that.

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Top Ten Tuesday

Posted July 28, 2015 by Nicky in General / 8 Comments

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday celebrates characters who are fellow book nerds.

  1. Adrien English, Fatal Shadows. He owns a bookshop and it sounds awesome.
  2. Matilda Wormwood, Matilda. Well duhhh.
  3. Hermione Granger, Harry Potter. Oh Hermione.
  4. Cath Avery, Fangirl. She writes fanfic!
  5. Jo March, Little Women. One of my favourite characters when I was a kid. I wanted to sell my hair to be just like her, at one point.
  6. Jo Bettany, The Chalet School. Who else read these books? It can’t just be me??
  7. Celaena Sardothien, Throne of Glass. May have been the first thing I related to about this character.
  8. Beauty, Robin McKinley. Booooks. I want that library.
  9. Anne Shirley, Anne of Green Gables. Honestly, probably the originator of my hankering for red hair.
  10. Harriet Vane, Strong Poison. She’s a writer as well as a reader!

I always need more bookish characters to be friends with; who’ve I missed out?

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Stacking the Shelves

Posted July 25, 2015 by Nicky in General / 10 Comments

Sooo, it’s been a nice week for books for me. I did buy a few more that aren’t here just to have physical copies, but I’ve featured them here before.

Bookshop haul

Cover of Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine Cover of Half the World by Joe Abercrombie Cover of Half a War by Joe Abercrombie

Cover of The Godless by Ben Peek Cover of The Child Eater by Rachel Pollack Cover of Dark Run by Mike Brooks

Dark Run basically sounds like Firefly. Colour me hopeful. The Godless, I, uh, had to review. Long ago. The Child Eater just caught my attention.

My copy of Half a War is actually signed, too! It’s not as special to me when I don’t actually meet the author/get a personal inscription, but it’s still kind of cool. And hurrah, I can take Half the World back to the library for whatever poor person wanted it after me… Speaking of!

Library

Cover of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling Cover of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling Cover of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

Cover of Deadly Curiosities by Gail Z. Martin Cover of The Dark Arts of Blood by Freda Warrington Cover of Hollow Crown by Dan Jones

 Cover of The Bone Dragon by Alexia Casale Cover of The Thinking Woman's Guide to Magic by Emily Croy Barker Cover of Lockstep by Karl Schroeder

I don’t think I ever owned these Harry Potter books, though I might’ve had Order of the Phoenix. So, raided the community library for them. Order of the Phoenix, though, the size of the thing! Did Rowling’s editor quit? Heh. I haven’t got the third of Freda Warrington’s books — The Dark Blood of Poppies — so I’m really hoping the library gets it in before I go away… Other than that, a round up of stuff I’ve been recommended.

Comics

Spider-woman

Just one comic this week; most of the comics on my pull list seem to be on hiatus or something? Probably a good thing, I’m spending enough money… Thinking I’ll pick up Bitch Planet soon, though.

What’s everyone else been getting? C’mon, show off your hauls.

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Top Ten Tuesday

Posted July 21, 2015 by Nicky in General / 10 Comments

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday celebrates diversity! So I’m gonna pick out some of my favourite diverse characters of all kinds.

  1. Yeine, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. She’s a minority (or at least lower-class) character in her own world and she’s from a matriarchy.
  2. Bran Davies, The Dark is Rising. An albino and a Welshman, how could I ignore him?
  3. Dave Brandstetter, Fadeout (and others). A gay detective — sorry, insurance claims investigator — in 1970s California.
  4. Alana Quick, Ascension. She’s a badass female mechanic (sky surgeon). And she’s got a chronic illness, and she’s queer. Wooo.
  5. Billy Kaplan (Wiccan), Young Avengers. Gay, Jewish, total geek. What’s not to love about this wiseass?
  6. Roshanna Chatterji (Tremor), The Movement. Asexual character!
  7. Peter Carmichael, Farthing. A gay detective in a Nazi society.
  8. Reese Holloway, Adaptation. A bisexual teenage girl, who also happens to have alien DNA!
  9. Savedra Sevaros, The Bone Palace. A trans* character, who is portrayed in a loving sexual and romantic relationship.
  10. Priya Darshini, Karen Memory. And Karen herself, of course. Lesbian heroes of a steampunk world!

Looking forward to seeing other people’s posts this week!

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No Book Buying Challenge: Best So Far (Part 2)

Posted July 20, 2015 by Nicky in General / 4 Comments

I already did this month’s prompt for the #ShelfLove challenge last month, but what the hey — I’ll do it again. My favourite book since I picked Tropic of Serpents last month has to be Ancillary Justice, by Ann Leckie. It swept the awards when it came off, and swept a lot of my friends off their feet. I bounced off the first time I tried to read it, but once I got into it, I gobbled it up and immediately read the sequel, Ancillary Sword. You can find my review here!

As for a general update, here goes. Green is for good progress or sticking to a target; orange is for marginal or in progress things. Red is for an uh-oh.

  • 32/51+ already owned books read (last one recorded: Fire, 20/07)
  • 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

Here’s my more general progress on resolutions:

  • No books impulse-bought (despite a recent spree, that was still books I considered for at least a day first!)
  • Read every day 
  • Bed before midnight (couple of issues lately with work)
  • 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 (back on the wagon with this now)
  • Tithed 10% in January, February, March, April, May & June; not picked a charity for July
  • Done 55 hours volunteering total
  • Reading/reviewing books from NG/etc (63% ratio; still making steady progress)

So that’s pretty good progress, as long as I behave myself for the last eleven days of July! Yay me.

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