Posted February 28, 2015 by in General / 31 Comments
Hey everyone! I’ve been very good this week, and have nothing really new to report — just an ARC, and some titles from my pull list. I’m impressed by how long I’m keeping up my resolutions this year! How’s everyone else doing?
Review copy
I found the last book a little too predictable in theme, plot and character, so I’m hoping this breaks the mould a little. I have loved Maitland’s books, but I fear she may be stuck in a rut… One more chance, and then I’ll give her books a rest for a while. Still, excited to get the ARC!
Pull list
Working on a post to go up soon about my pull list, and how people lie when they say there’s no cool female superheroes… (Not, Marvel, that I’m saying there’s enough. Did you seriously put back the date of your Captain Marvel movie for Spider-man? Really? I’ve seen Spider-man. I need you to have the guts to give us a female superhero front and center. Black Widow would work too.)
And just to finish up, here’s a photo of the bunny in total relaxation, since I’m currently staying with her and my partner!
Tags: books, comics, Karen Maitland, Marvel, Stacking the Shelves
Posted February 24, 2015 by in General / 10 Comments
This week’s topic from The Broke and the Bookish is a great one: top ten heroines. Let’s see…
- Yeine, from The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin. Seriously, seriously kickass lady who navigates politics, would prefer a fair fight, and becomes a goddess. Why not?
- Tenar, from The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula Le Guin. That was always my favourite book of the bunch. I can’t quite put my finger on why, but Tenar is strong in a way that has nothing to do with physical strength.
- Mori, from Among Others by Jo Walton. Because she’s quite a lot like me, only she really can see fairies and she has a streak of pragmatism I could really use.
- Harriet Vane, from the Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries by Dorothy L. Sayers. Bit of a change of pace from the first three, being a different genre. But she’s a woman in a man’s world, pursuing both writing and academia, a strong woman who knows her own mind and sticks to her principles. But at the same time, she’s not perfect: she snarls at Peter, she’s unfair, etc, etc.
- Phèdre nó Delaunay de Montrève, from Kushiel’s Dart by Jacqueline Carey. If there’s anything that can hold her back, I don’t know what it is. She’s gorgeous, she’s a spy, she manipulates politics and gets involved in all kinds of stuff on behalf of her country.
- Katherine Talbert, from The Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kushner. Even if she doesn’t want to learn to fight at first.
- Ki, from Harpy’s Flight by Megan Lindholm. Practical, determined, fierce, and good to her animals, to her friends.
- Caitrin, from Heart’s Blood by Juliet Marillier. She doesn’t seem like she’s going to be a strong person at first, yet she learns to face her fears — without it ever seeming too easy.
- Mirasol, from Chalice by Robin McKinley. She’s thrown in at the deep end, with very little gratefulness or support from those around her, and she pushes through it to do whatever she has to do.
- Csethiro Celedin, from The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison. She basically says that if anyone hurts Maia she’ll duel them and gut them. Like!
I’m gonna have to look at loads of posts on this one, because stories with good heroines are definitely of interest to me!
Tags: books, Dorothy L. Sayers, Ellen Kushner, Jacqueline Carey, Jo Walton, Juliet Marillier, N.K. Jemisin, Robin Hobb, Robin McKinley, Top Ten Tuesday, Ursula Le Guin
Posted February 21, 2015 by in General / 15 Comments
Quite a busy week! But I’m still sticking to my goals, fear not.
Bought
A Darker Shade of Magic was, of course, a pre-order; I had Half a King as an ARC and never got to it, so now I have the paperback; my sister bought me Impulse because we both love a bit of space opera. Obviously it sounds rather Star Trek-ish, but it could be fun anyway.
Received to review
One word: eeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Library
I’m going away! I had to stock up! Annihilation is so weird; I had to grab the next two to see if there are any answers… Susanna Kearsley, I read and liked The Rose Garden not long ago, so I’ve grabbed some more of her work.
Comics
Tell me again about the lack of female superheroes?
So there we go! Quite a busy week for me… How’s everyone else been doing? Any exciting acquisitions?
Tags: books, comics, Marvel, Stacking the Shelves
Posted February 18, 2015 by in General / 4 Comments
I promised an update on the #ShelfLove challenge today, so here it is! The discussion this month is around budgets, which means I can pretty much stick to the same format as my extra updates for last month.
- 7/51+ already owned books read
- Spent: £21 out of ~£30 budget (budget is 10% of my income) for January
- Spent: £5 out of ~£25 budget for February
As for my other resolutions:
- No books impulse-bought
- Read every day
- Bed before midnight… mostly
- 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 January, February tithe not done yet
- Done 18 hours volunteering total
- Reading/reviewing books from NG/etc… in progress
As for the money I save, mostly it’s going to my savings account. I am planning a slightly more complex budget so I can also save up separately for my next games console, but the main goal is just to build up my reserves a bit. It’s working well so far; I’ve shunted at least £200 into my savings so far this year, which may not be a lot for everyone but certainly is a respectable amount for me!
Tags: books, Shelf Love
Posted February 17, 2015 by in General / 12 Comments
This week’s theme from The Broke and the Bookish is “top ten book related problems I have”. This is, ahaha, not at all difficult for me.
- I had to modify my ereader to fit more books on it. No really, I even made a post to show other people how.
- I have over 1,000 books on Mt. TBR. I don’t actually dare count. And that doesn’t really include ARCs and library books.
- I don’t have enough shelves. See #2.
- Nobody ever knows what books to buy me because I might’ve got them already. Though now I have a wishlist, so there’s no excuse.
- I really like lists. This can sometimes get in the way of actually reading the books on said list.
- There are some books I daren’t share with my partner in case she hates them. This is rare, but she doesn’t, for example, share my love for Cherie Priest’s Bloodshot and Hellbent, and it makes me pout.
- My books are never in the right place. I travel a lot. You know I’m gonna want to read something as soon as I leave it somewhere for a few months.
- Why isn’t it out in ebook? I like instant gratification, and ebooks are the easiest way. What do you mean I can’t get most of Patricia McKillip’s books on Kobo?!
- Why isn’t it out yet? Impatient!
- I preordered it, I was really excited… and a year later, I haven’t got to it yet. Um. Oops.
What’re your problems, guys?
Tags: books, Top Ten Tuesday
Posted February 15, 2015 by in General / 23 Comments
I think this would be a nice one to go viral: a post in which we celebrate the tropes we love instead of griping about the ones we don’t (which are, no doubt, someone else’s favourites). So thanks to Kaja from Of Dragons and Hearts, here is a post about tropes which are, so to speak, my cup of tea.*
- The loveable rogue. Locke Lamora, I am looking at you right now, but also looking further back into my reading past: Jimmy the Hand, Crowley from Good Omens, Gaiman’s Marquis de Carabas… And perhaps best of all, though not from books: Captain Malcolm Reynolds.
- The paladin. Joscelin Verreuil. Captain America.
- The second son. Faramir. Arutha. Verity Farseer. Josua from The Dragonbone Chair. I don’t know what it is, but I tend to prefer the younger brother.
- Heists. You have a really clever plan, you say? Morally dubious, you say? As long as it’s fiction, I’m along for the ride.
- Superheroes. Uh. I’m not sure this even needed to be said. But not just guys like Steve Rogers, who have been altered for it, but the people who make themselves into heroes, too, like Hawkeye.
- Moral ambiguity. Nobody’s perfect, and while a character who is a total bastard just isn’t fun for me, it’s nice when a character isn’t a total angel.
- Guilty conscience. Perhaps especially when it’s not really that person’s fault. Like, say Steve Rogers blames himself for Bucky’s death — it’s not really his fault, he’s in no way a bad guy, but the fact that he can believe this makes him that bit more human and believable.
- Dragons/elves/aliens are nothing like humans. Capricious, commanding, nothing like the regal/wise/enlightened creatures we expect? Interesting!
- Friends like brothers. “I’m with you till the end of the line.” Gaaah. Gaaaaaah. Or Marcus and Esca, Locke and Jean, Fitz and Nighteyes, Dean and Castiel…
- Secretly in love. Shut up, I am not a ginormous softie. I’m not!
*I may be British, but I don’t actually like tea. Chamomile tea or fruit teas, maybe. Mostly not.
Tags: books, comics, Jacqueline Carey, Marvel, Robin Hobb, Rosemary Sutcliff, Scott Lynch, Tad Williams
Posted February 14, 2015 by in General / 16 Comments
How’s everybody now? I really need to post an update on the #ShelfLove challenge — I’ll probably schedule that for Wednesday, since Sunday is going to be about celebrating the things I love in fiction, a la Kaja’s ‘Totally My Cup of Tea‘ post. In short: I’m still doing well. No books bought by me this week, though my Valentine’s gift from my partner was one (one!) book which I’ve been wanting for a while… Tahdah!
I’ve also had quite a few review copies this week, which was cause for plenty of squee:
And if anyone is mouthing off about the lack of female superheroes, they should just take a look at my pull list — this is stuff that came out just this week.
Which reminds me that I should post about my pull list sometime. And see if I can get hold of some more comics featuring Anya Corazon/Spider-girl. Not long till the first issue of Spider-Gwen!
Lest we forget, I’ve also been to the library. I worked out how many library books I had last week and went on the attack this week, but somehow I always seem to find another book I want.
The Mary Stewarts and Michael Moorcock I’ve read before, but I’m trying to take in all of Elric so I’m starting from the beginning, and Mary Stewart is just comfort reading for me. The Galaxy Game I received a while ago as a review copy and didn’t get round to, so I’m making sure to show my interest now. And Mr Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore is a book I’ve meant to read for a while, and even own — somewhere.
How’s everyone doing? Still sticking to your resolutions and behaving yourselves now 2015’s in its second month?
Tags: books, comics, Marvel
Posted February 10, 2015 by in General / 12 Comments
This week’s theme from The Broke and the Bookish is ‘Top Ten Things I Like/Dislike When It Comes To Romances In Books’.
Top Five I Like:
- Intensity. I like to see some give and take. The ability to say ‘you’re wrong’, yell at someone, and still have them respect you.
- Communication. Talk. To. Them. (The flipside, miscommunication, tends to really embarrass me — I’m easy to embarrass.)
- Forbidden love. Actually, this has to be done right, but I spent most of my academic study on Lancelot and Guinevere, Tristan and Isolde. Rosalind Miles’ take on both failed for me, but Steinbeck did Lancelot and Guinevere in a lovely way, and I’ve played with both stories in my own writing.
- “I see who you really are.” The classic is, of course, Beauty and the Beast.
- Equal partnership. Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle might not be the most popular couple in the Arthurian canon, but they’re my favourite by far. Challenged to tell another knight what women want most or be killed, Arthur flounders. A really ugly woman comes to court and says she will give the answer — if Sir Gawain marries her. He says yes, of course, and she gives the answer that saves Arthur’s life: “sovereignty”, the power to choose for oneself, is what women most want. So the wedding goes ahead, but on their wedding night, Ragnelle turns out to be a beautiful young maiden. She asks Gawain whether he would rather she be a beautiful woman in the daytime, when everyone can see her, or at night, when only he can. He lets her choose — which breaks the whole spell she’s under, because he has given her “sovereynté”. It’s maybe the most equal partnership in Arthurian literature, because it’s not from courtly literature where a knight is supposed to worship his lady, and yet it still gives power to the female partner, and shows him respecting her.
Top Five I Dislike:
- “You are a precious little flower and I will protect you.” Enough said.
- Stalking = love. Just say no.
- Keeping secrets. I guess that’s often related to #1, but yeesh, come on, be honest. (Circumvented if this has consequences, though. Like in The Forgotten Beasts of Eld.)
- Insta-love. Still needs saying, apparently. Which is actually where people fall down for me even if the things I mentioned above are alright!
- “I’m too low/high in station to marry you.” This can be played well (come on, I like Jane Eyre), but after a certain era, the class implications become too awful.
And if you’re really curious, you can read ‘The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle’ for yourselves here; someday I will both translate the original into modern English, and write my own novel based on it, if I get all my dreams.
Tags: Arthurian, books, Patricia A. McKillip, Top Ten Tuesday
Posted February 7, 2015 by in General / 37 Comments
And another week gone! This year is flying by already… which in a way is fortunate, because I was excited for the two books I picked up this week, both out on 03/02 (coincidentally, my mother’s birthday). Now it’s just A Darker Shade of Magic to go and then I’ll have the books I’m most eagerly coveting…
Bought
The cover of Karen Memory is just perfect. I’m already partway through — might even have finished it by the time this goes live — and enjoying it very much. I’ve already finished Trigger Warning…
Library
Guess who’s onto the chemistry section of their Open University textbook? And Stonehenge, well, who can resist archaeology about Stonehenge?
For review
I still haven’t read a single book by Ian Tregillis. I have them. I just need to, you know, read them. Oops.
Comics
Peggyyyyy. I really need to watch Agent Carter, too. Mind you, I still really need to watch Agents of SHIELD and, uh, Norton’s Hulk (though really Mark Ruffalo is the only Bruce Banner for me, sorry).
Anyway, this was quite a big haul for me, but I’m still keeping to my resolutions! For now, at least. I do need to hurry up and get reading my review copies, though. How’s everyone else been doing? Any massive hauls?
Tags: books, comics, Neil Gaiman, non-fiction, Stacking the Shelves
Posted February 5, 2015 by in General / 14 Comments
This week’s Tough Travels theme is “lairs”:
The evil lair is where a great fantasy villain will spend the plurality of his or her time.
Now of course, there are some really iconic ones — Saruman’s Isengard, Sauron’s Mordor, even Shelob’s Cirith Ungol and Smaug’s Lonely Mountain — but I’ve been racking my brains to think of something a little off the beaten path. So I remembered a quote I read somewhere quite recently, about the people who ultimately do the most evil being the people who are unshakeably sure they’re right.
Which gave me…
- Roke, from The Earthsea Quartet and The Other Wind. It’s a stagnant world, not willing to bend with the times and let in new people (particularly, women). It’s the Establishment, really. With the best of intentions, they make a total mess of things. I think that goes for a lot of magic regulating bodies in fantasy…
- Malthus and Aracus’ strongholds/camps/etc from Jacqueline Carey’s The Sundering. I could’ve picked Satoris for this without twisting it even slightly, since most people view him as the bad guy — essentially this world’s Sauron. And yet, his side are more accepting of grey areas and outcasts, while Malthus and Aracus’ forces are completely self-righteously convinced that they’re on the side of right. That’s more dangerous, to me.
- Sky, in N.K. Jemisin’s The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. There are some good people trapped in the system there, mostly kept turning by Itempas’ injustice…
- 10 Downing Street, circa Tony Blair’s stint as prime minister. Oops. That’s not fantasy.
Looking forward to seeing what other people came up with, here; hoping it won’t make me want any new books, because I don’t have a debit card to buy them with at the moment!
Tags: books, Jacqueline Carey, N.K. Jemisin, Tough Travels, Ursula Le Guin
