Tag: Stacking the Shelves

Stacking the Shelves

Posted October 8, 2016 by Nicky in General / 12 Comments

How is it Saturday again already? It’s been a busy week for me, with work and travelling and my classes starting. How is everyone?

Books acquired:

Cover of Everything Belongs to the Future by Laurie Penny Cover of A Taste of Honey by Kai Ashante Wilson Cover of The Lost Child of Lychford by Paul Cornell Cover of Winter Tide by Ruthanna Emrys

cover91235-medium Cover of Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

Wow. Thanks, Tor.com, for all the review copies! The only thing I bought this week is Crooked Kingdom. I haven’t read Six of Crows yet, but I did enjoy the Grisha series…

Books finished this week:

Cover of Ultimate X-Men vol 3 Cover of Ultimate X-Men vol 4 Cover of The Fellowship of the Ring by Tolkien

 cover91235-medium Cover of The Lost Child of Lychford by Paul Cornell Cover of Everything Belongs to the Future by Laurie Penny

Reviews posted this week:
Heresy, by S.J. Parris. The setting works well, though I didn’t really enjoy the portrayal of Giordano Bruno — it was hard to sympathise with him, considering he was pretty much betraying people who showed him trust. I’m not continuing with the series. 3/5 stars
Captain Marvel and the Carol Corps, by Kelly Sue DeConnick. Oh, dear. I love DeConnick’s Captain Marvel, but this volume is just so pointless that it takes away from that. 1/5 stars
Predator’s Gold, by Philip Reeve. This continues the theme of the first book of being surprisingly complex in terms of character motivations. I enjoyed it as well, but I wish the female characters had been a bit less reprehensible in their behaviour. 3/5 stars
Strong Poison, by Dorothy L. Sayers. BBC Radioplay Version. I love it, of course. Ian Carmichael is just the perfect Peter. 5/5 stars
We Were Liars, by E. Lockhart. I’m not quite down with the hype, but I did enjoy reading it — “and if anyone asks you how it ends, lie.” 3/5 stars
Fadeout, by Joseph Hansen. Embarking upon a reread of these books, I fell in love with the characters and the prose all over again. If you’re lacking a gay detective in your hardboiled detective fiction, Dave Brandstetter might fix you up. 4/5 stars
Flashback Friday: The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights, by John Steinbeck. One of the few Arthurian stories that have ever made me feel Lancelot and Guinevere’s love in my gut. The retelling gets off to a shaky start but there’s so much beauty in it. 5/5 stars

Other posts:
Author opinions. Aka, do they get to have them? Answer: obviously yes, now stop telling them to stfu about politics, especially if you’re following them on Twitter.
Top Ten Tuesday: Villains. I went for a list about the things I need in a good villain. Uh. If that’s not an oxymoron.
What are you reading Wednesday? An update on what I’m reading this week!

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Stacking the Shelves

Posted October 1, 2016 by Nicky in General / 10 Comments

Another week gone! And this one brought me plenty of books. I’d say oops, but we all know I love it.

Books acquired:

Cover of Virus Hunt by Dorothy H. Crawford Cover of Connectome by Sebastian Seung Cover of The Interminables by Paige Orwin Cover of Rare Earth by Brownlee & Ward

Cover of Behind the Throne by K.B. Wagers Cover of All New Avengers Cover of The Book of Kells by R.A. Macavoy Cover of The Road to Avalon by Joan Wolf

All pretty impulsive purchases; my sister bought me the one on HIV for my birthday. (I promise, I find it an interesting topic.) Behind the Throne sounds like a lot of fun.

Books to review:

Cover of The Thread That Binds the Bones by Nina Kiriki Hoffman Cover of Creepy Crawly Crochet by Megan Kreiner Cover of The Miss Silver Mysteries by Patricia Wentworth

Thank you, Open Road Media and Dover Publications!

Books finished this week:

Cover of The Celts by Nora Chadwick Cover of Faro's Daughter by Georgette Heyer Cover of Lone Survivors by Chris Stringer Cover of In the Forests of Serre by Patricia McKillip Cover of Poems: Three Series by Emily Dickinson

0785107886.01._SX450_SY635_SCLZZZZZZZ_ Cover of The Wind off the Small Isles by Mary Stewart Cover of Creepy Crawly Crochet by Megan Kreiner Ultimate X-Men vol 2

Reviews posted this week:
A History of Ancient Egypt, by John Romer. When I think back to the stuff I knew about Egyptology as a kid, it was mostly about the later Pharaohs, despite the compellingness of the Great Pyramid. This book covers the early part of Egypt’s history, up to the end of the period where the pyramids were built. Very worth it, even though it might not be what people expect from a history of Egypt. 4/5 stars
Stories of Your Life and Others, by Ted Chiang. I’ve found myself wanting to suggest this collection to several friends since I finished it, and I’m very interested to see what the movie version of the title story does with a very linguistically based plot. The writing impressed me, even when I wasn’t a huge fan of the stories themselves (and mostly I did enjoy them). 4/5 stars
Off the Map, by Alastair Bonnett. I enjoyed that he referenced fiction, including China Miéville’s work, but in the end this was just too light and not what I wanted from the subject. 2/5 stars
The Door into Sunset, by Diane Duane. It probably doesn’t say anything positive that I was glad to get to the end of the series, but really, it just kind of… wore out its welcome with me. I still love the casual queerness, and in this book, the shades of grey that were introduced. 3/5 stars
Chalice, by Robin McKinley. I realised, rereading this again, that this is one of those warm and mostly positive fantasies which I feel so badly in need of sometimes. And if you end it without craving honey, I don’t know what you are. 5/5 stars
Mortal Engines, by Philip Reeve. If you can read the first line and not be hooked, this might not be your thing. “It was a dark, blustery afternoon in spring, and the city of London was chasing a small mining town across the dried-out bed of the old North Sea.” 4/5 stars
Flashback Friday: The Moon of Gomrath, by Alan Garner. I apparently enjoyed this more than the first book; I’m kind of curious to reread it now for the mythology. 3/5 stars

Other posts:
Survey: What’re you here for? For regular readers, a survey on the content you’re interested in around here.
Classics via daily serial. I’ve started using the app Serial Reader to explore some classics I hadn’t got round to. How am I finding it? [Cheesy promotions voice] You’ll have to click to find out.
Top Ten Tuesday: Fall TBR. What’s coming up for me? WELL.
What are you reading Wednesday. Resurrecting a feature I used to do every week, which covers what I’ve just finished reading, what I’m reading now, and what I might read next.
Totally Should’ve A meme I picked up all about things some books/series should (or should not have done). Unfortunately, I am mostly predictable and occasionally obscure.

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Stacking the Shelves

Posted September 24, 2016 by Nicky in General / 24 Comments

Another week of modest shelf-stacking — I knew the Unstacking couldn’t last! And I know I’m going to a bookshop this afternoon, with my sister, who hasn’t yet bought me a birthday present…

Books acquired:

Cover of Blackout by Mira Grant Cover of The Graces by Laure Eve Cover of Winterwood by Jacey Bedford

Cover of The Deeper Genome by John Parrington Cover of Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas Cover of Nevernight by Jay Kristoff

A couple of these were waiting for me at my parents’ house, since I’ve been away — my preorder of Empire of Storms, and Nevernight and The Graces from the last Illumicrate. Hurrah!

Books read this week: 

Cover of The Borgias by Christopher Hibbert Cover of Dinosaurs Without Bones by Anthony Martin Cover of From Elvish to Klingon, by Michael Adams Cover of The Hollow Earth by Steven Sevile Cover of The Girls at the Kingfisher Club by Genevieve Valentine

Not much reading this week — I blame the fact that I actually had quite a bit of work. And that I kept starting books and not finishing them…

Reviews posted this week:
The Wolf in the Attic, by Paul Kearney. The underlying mythology felt pretty confused, or at least, not properly explained, and I felt like the appearances of Tolkien and C.S. Lewis were just gimmicks. Still, I found it somewhat enjoyable. 3/5 stars
Thinking, Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman. I agree with the theories, I think, and find it all very interesting, except when he starts talking about statistics. Then not only my eyes but the rest of my mind too glazes riiight over. 3/5 stars
Planetfall, by Emma Newman. I was pleasantly surprised with how quick a read I found this, after being warned that it might make me feel a little anxious, since it portrays anxiety-related disorders very prominently. I somewhat expected the resolution of the mystery plot, and even the ending reminded me of something, but overall I really enjoyed it. 4/5 stars
The Goblin Emperor, by Katherine Addison. Still got hearts in my eyes over this book, always. 5/5 stars
Seafoam and Silence, by Lynn E. O’Connacht. The verse novel format isn’t quite my thing, but the storyline and retelling aspects are really interesting. 3/5 stars
A Winter Book, by Tove Jansson. The stories are well written, with a sort of quiet, clear prose, but I’m not a big fan of the collection as such. 3/5 stars
Flashback Friday: The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, by Alan Garner. There are bits of this that I remember enjoying, but the overall impression wasn’t very cohesive. I did read the second book, and my review of that will be on the blog next Friday… I’m even sort of thinking about trying them again now. 3/5 stars

Other posts:

Top Ten Tuesday: Audiobooks. Want some recommendations? Come see me geek about the awesomeness of BBC radioplays…

How’s everyone else been doing? Anything exciting going on?

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Stacking the Shelves

Posted September 17, 2016 by Nicky in General / 16 Comments

What’s this? I actually did buy two books this week! I kind of couldn’t help it — I’ve had Revenger on preorder, of course, and I’ve been hearing so much about the upcoming film based on the women in Hidden Figures. But I’ve still got vouchers left to use… I’m trying to save them for something really good, or maybe a series of books I’ll enjoy.

Books bought:

Cover of Revenger by Alastair Reynolds Cover of Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly

Yep, my sister is so jealous right now. Well, until she gets to Waterstones… probably a little later today. Then she’ll have her own copy of Revenger.

Books finished this week:

Cover of Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy L. Sayers audio version Cover of The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers, audio version Cover of Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers, audio version Cover of Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy L Sayers, audio version Cover of To Explain the World by Steven Weinberg

Cover of Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch Cover of Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch Cover of Oxygen: The Molecule that Made the World by Nick Lane Cover of Anthem by Ayn Rand Cover of In the Land of Invented Languages, by Arika Okrent

Woe is me, I’ve finished the Peter Wimsey audiobooks, again. Highly recommended, though, and Audible is only missing one of the series (Gaudy Night).

Reviews posted this week:
Magic Breaks, by Ilona Andrews. As usual, a fun outing with Curran and Kate. And I want this series to last forever. 4/5 stars
Fair Game, by Josh Lanyon. Non-stereotypical gay people being stupid at each other, decent mystery, and one of the leads is even dealing with disability. Hurrah! 3/5 stars
Two Boys Kissing, by David Levithan. I did enjoy this, but I did have some questions about the male-centricness of the story. 3/5 stars
A Maze of Death, by Philip K. Dick. This is… very Philip K. Dickian. Which means it made very little sense to me. 2/5 stars
Seven Skeletons: The Evolution of the World’s Most Famous Human Fossils, by Lydia Pyne. An interesting survey of hominid fossils and what they mean for our understanding of human evolution. 4/5 stars
Fair Play, by Josh Lanyon. The sequel to Fair Game, which develops the relationship between Eliot and his father interestingly. 4/5 stars
Flashback Friday: The Art of Racing in the Rain, by Garth Stein. This didn’t ring totally true to me, but it did get to me surprisingly much. 3/5 stars

Other posts:
Top Ten Favourites. My little tour of the fantasy genre!

What have you been reading? Got your hands on any good books?

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Unstacking the Shelves

Posted September 10, 2016 by Nicky in General / 11 Comments

Wow, it’s been another Unstacking week! Can you believe it? I really can’t, especially since I know I have a ton of Amazon vouchers. I’m just finding it so hard to make decisions! As soon as I think “yeah, I’ll get this”, I think about saving my vouchers for the next thing I desperately want… Which is good for my TBR pile, I guess, but not so fun for instant gratification.

Anyway, here’s what I’ve been reading this week. Once again: please don’t tell me to enjoy them! I’ve read them already! Instead, let’s celebrate me clearing the stacks a bit.

Books read this week:

Cover of Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers Cover of The Technological Singularity by Murray Shanahan Cover of The House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Bodard Cover of How To Traverse Terra Incognita by Dean Francis Alfar Cover of Truthwitch by Susan Dennard

I thought I’d read more this week, but I guess I’ve been really busy. Oh well!

Reviews posted this week:

Gillespie and I, by Jane Harris. Slow but intriguing, sort of a mystery, with a very unreliable narrator. 4/5 stars
Home: A Time Traveller’s Tales from Britain’s Prehistory, by Francis Pryor. I found this less coherent than other work I’ve read by Pryor, but it’s an interesting survey of what homes were like — even if it doesn’t stick that closely to home life. 3/5 stars
Saga Volume Four, by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples. Married life is not a perfect dream for Alana and Marko, even without the whole intergalactic fugitives thing… Entertaining, as always. 4/5 stars
Magic Rises, by Ilona Andrews. It has a bit too much of Kate and Curran being total idiots at each other, but it also goes further into the plotline about Kate’s father, which is very welcome — and this volume definitely brings the feels. 4/5 stars
Feed, by Mira Grant. This was a reread for me and I appreciated it a lot more this time. Although it is weird reading about such a reasonable Republican candidate when you think of the current political climate! And of course, there’s zombies… 4/5 stars
The Heart of Aces, by various. This is a collection of romance stories about asexual people having relationships and compromising and all those lovely things. The quality is very uneven, but it’s nice that such a collection exists. 2/5 stars
The Incorruptibles, by John Hornor Jacobs. Some cool concepts, but it doesn’t come together well for me. 2/5 stars
Flashback Friday: Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro. Like the other Ishiguro books I’ve read since, this has an easy pace — deceptively calm. I found it very skillfully written, and very worth the time. 4/5 stars

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Unstacking the Shelves

Posted September 3, 2016 by Nicky in General / 19 Comments

Tah-daahhh! The world didn’t think I could do it, but lo and behold, I have actually gone a week without buying, borrowing or requesting any new books. Thus, unStacking the Shelves: displaying the books I managed to finish this week.

Eveeery week, people seem to get confused and tell me to enjoy books which I’ve actually finished reading, and I sense that’s gonna happen a ton this week. So please! I have no new books to enjoy! I sort of wish I did, but nope. I love getting comments, but if you’re not going to bother reading the post — and I do clearly mark the sections in these posts — please don’t bother commenting…

Books read this week:

Cover of Epigenetics audiobook by Richard Francis Cover of Strong Poison by BBC audio Cover of Five Red Herrings by BBC audio Cover of Have His Carcase by BBC Audio

Cover of Fadeout by Joseph Hansen Cover of Death Claims by Joseph Hansen Cover of Troublemaker by Joseph Hansen

Cover of The Ides of March by Valerio Massimo Manfredi Cover of Owain Glyndŵr by Terry Breverton Cover of The Surgeon of Crowthorne by Simon Winchester

A busy week, as you see — I’ve been doing a lot of crocheting, so I’ve been listening to a bunch of audiobooks, and I’ve also done a fair bit of other reading. Though a lot of it has been rereading, since I found the Joseph Hansen books available for Kindle, to my glee.

Reviews posted this week:
Spider-Gwen: Greater Power, by Jason Latour, Robbi Rodriguez and Chris Visions. With great power comes great responsibility, whether you’re Peter Parker or Gwen Stacy. And sometimes you get blamed for things you couldn’t have helped. Greater Power follows Gwen as she struggles with her reputation for trouble… and also includes a visit from an awesome version of Captain America. 4/5 stars
Batgirl: A Knight Alone, by Kelley Puckett et al. I love the idea of Cassandra Cain, but unfortunately the execution hasn’t worked for me at all in these comics. 3/5 stars
The Undivided Past, by David Cannadine. Do you wanna build a strawman? 2/5 stars
Magic Slays, by Ilona Andrews. Chaos continues in Atlanta, and no one is surprised. 4/5 stars
Uprooted, by Naomi Novik. It can be a bit too slow in places, but for the most part I loved Uprooted; it grows out of fairytales, but with a very serious slant. 4/5 stars
Reading in the Brain, by Stanislaw Dehaene. Distractingly, the model of reading posited here doesn’t fit me very well. Nonetheless, I found it an interesting read and well backed up by the evidence. 4/5 stars
Flashback Friday: The Man Who Loved Books Too Much, by Alison Bartlett. I had serious questions about the ethics of the writer, and I don’t think this book is actually about a love of books — certainly not as I would understand it. Rather, it’s a love of objects, which happen to be books. 2/5 stars

Other posts:
Top Ten Tuesday: Back to School. A bunch of non-fiction recommendations for you all!
The Princess Who Didn’t Eat Cake, by Lynn O’Connacht. A promo post for a friend’s book.
ShelfLove Update and TBR. An update on my reading goals, and some goals for the next month.

How’s everyone’s week been? Anything exciting going on?

ETA: May be slow to reply to comments and visit you back today; my baby bunny just died. Sorry.

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Stacking the Shelves

Posted August 27, 2016 by Nicky in General / 23 Comments

Good morning! How’s everyone doing this week? I’ve read more than I thought I was going to, and even cleared some books that have been on my backlog for a long time. Of course, I’ve also been fretting wildly over our baby bunny, but she seems to be doing okay despite my panics.

New books

Cover of Necrotech by K.C. Alexander Cover of The Crown's Game by Evelyn Skye

Necrotech is a review copy from Angry Robot (thanks again, guys!), and The Crown’s Game was a gift from my wife, A++ wife that she is.

Finished reading this week:

Cover of Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve Cover of Predator's Gold by Philip Reeve Cover of Heresy by S.J. Parris Captain Marvel and the Carol Corps

Cover of Saga vol 4 by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples Cover of Saga vol 5 Cover of We Were Liars by E. Lockhart Cover of Saga Volume 6

Mortal Engines, Predator’s Gold and Heresy are books I’ve had since 2011; Saga volume four and We Were Liars are from 2014. Take that, backlog! …Wait, now I’m caught up on Saga… oh no! Now another agonising wait for more volumes.

Reviews posted this week:
The Jewel and Her Lapidary, by Fran Wilde. Intriguing world, but I felt like I needed more background to really understand what the characters were doing. 3/5 stars
One Ostara Sunrise, by Elora Bishop. Cute, but I could wish for more plot. 3/5 stars
The Devil You Know, by K.J. Parker. Not as great as Parker’s other Tor.com novella, but an intriguing story nonetheless. Might help if you read the other book including the main character… 3/5 stars
Batgirl: Silent Running, by Kelley Puckett et al. Sadly not my thing, despite me being a fan of the idea of Cassandra Cain. 2/5 stars
The Drowning Eyes, by Emily Foster. I felt like this really trailed off, but there is some really amazing imagery in this story. Stones for eyes… 3/5 stars
The Celts: Search for a Civilisation, by Alice Roberts. A really interesting overview of Celtic history and identity — and yes, it does engage with that troubled question of whether Celtic identity is really a thing you can point to, as well. 4/5 stars
Flashback Friday: The Surgeon, by Tess Gerritsen. This is a perfectly good crime novel, but it’s too explicit and nasty to be the sort I enjoy.

Other posts:
Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Still Haven’t Read. This is a list of books I’ve been meaning to get to for, quite literally, years — since before I started this blog.

What’ve you been reading this week? Anything you’re dying to get your hands on? Let me know!

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Stacking the Shelves

Posted August 20, 2016 by Nicky in General / 22 Comments

Happy birthday to meeee! If you wish to join in the festivities, it seems that we’re planning to celebrate by eating cake for every meal. (Sometimes stretching the definition to pastry.) My wife is even going to make Welsh cakes for me, for the first time in a while.

Also, we have a new bunny. Her name is Cinnamon, and she fits in my hand. I hope so much she’s going to settle in and stay with us for a good long time. <3

Photo of a tiny bunny hiding in a big basket

Received to review:

Cover of Once Broken Faith by Seanan McGuire Cover of The Family Plot by Cherie Priest Cover of Den of Wolves by Juliet Marillier

Eeeh! All of these are awesome, and I’m very excited.

Bought:

Cover of Ghost Talkers by Mary Robinette Kowal Cover of Persona by Genevieve Valentine Cover of City of Wolves by WIllow Palacek Cover of The Emperor's Railroad by Guy Haley

Fiiiinally, Ghost Talkers is out. <3 I need to get reading it nooow. Mind you, I say that, but there’s so much else I want to read now, too…

Finished this week:

Cover of Cold-Forged Flame by Marie Brennan Cover of The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe by Kij Johnson Cover of Chalice by Robin McKinley Cover of Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang Cover of The Door into Sunset by Diane Duane

Reviews posted this week:

The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe, by Kij Johnson. A satisfying story set in Lovecraft’s world, with a capable female character. It actually really charmed me. 4/5 stars
One Imbolc Gloaming, by Elora Bishop. Cute, but the plot doesn’t go where I hoped it would, which is kind of sad. 3/5 stars
Cold-Forged Flame, by Marie Brennan. I think this might be my favourite of the Tor.com novellas so far. It’s definitely up there. I find the setting fascinating, and Marie Brennan writes as well as ever. 4/5 stars
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl: Squirrel Power, by Ryan North and Erica Henderson. Fun, though not 100% my thing. You’ve got to love that Doreen solves several big issues with supervillains by talking to them. 4/5 stars
Runtime, by S.B. Divya. A lot of interesting stuff here, though the core of the setting reminds me heavily of other dystopian stories. 3/5 stars
Dancing With Bears, by Michael Swanwick. Not my thing at all, despite the heist part. That and the setting are about all that were my thing. So much sex stuff. 1/5 stars
Flashback Friday: Beowulf on the Beach, by Jack Murnighan. I don’t always agree with the author on what you should try and what you should skip in the Greatest Hits of Dead White Authors, but it was kind of entertaining anyway. 2/5 stars

Other posts:
Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books in Post-Disaster Settings. What it says on the tin!

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Stacking the Shelves

Posted August 13, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 14 Comments

So I’ve spent most of the last week on my honeymoon, in Dublin, and I’m here to tell you they have some amazing bookshops. I strongly recommend Dubray Books on Grafton Street, Chapters on Parnell Street, and Hodges Figgis on Dawson Street. My wife would like to put in a word for a lovely knitting shop, too: if you’re in Dublin and you like yarn and knitting and friendly awesome people, we loved This Is Knit, in a shopping centre on South William Street.

And if you like archaeology, particularly Irish/Celtic stuff, I think I can also recommend the National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology. They currently have an exhibit of Irish bog bodies, which is worth a look.

But now for my haul! Not all of them are from Dublin; I got given some as wedding and birthday presents. A+++ work, friends. <3

Books:

Cover of Children of Earth and Sky by Guy Gavriel Kay Cover of The Dragons of Heaven by Alyc Helms Cover of Chalice by Robin McKinley Cover of Riding the Unicorn by Paul Kearney

Cover of On the Edge by Ilona Andrews Cover of Steel by Carrie Vaughn Cover of The Celtic Revolution by Simon Young Cover of The Floating Admiral by the Detection Club

Cover of Doppelganger by Marie Brennan Cover of Goblin Moon by Teresa Edgerton Cover of The Way to Babylon by Paul Kearney

Cover of The Bone Queen by Alison Croggon Cover of Off the Map by Alastair Bonnett Cover of A Promise Broken by Lynn O'Connacht

Cover of The Demonists by Thomas E. Sniegoski Cover of The Waking Fire by Anthony Ryan Cover of Sea Foam and Silence by Lynn O'Connacht

There’s a lot that I’m excited about here, or have been meaning to read for ages! Especially Guy Gavriel Kay’s Children of Earth and Sky; I was doing a reread of his work in order, but that means I still haven’t got to River of Stars or this new one. Hmm…

Comics:

Cover of Captain Marvel: Alpha Flight Cover of Ultimates: Omniversal

Yep, these two were listed on my Top Ten Tuesday post about books I wanted to grab right away. Hurrah! I wanted Spider-Women and The New Avengers: A.I.M: Everything Is New, but I didn’t find the latter and I could only find the former for a ridiculous price.

Books finished this week:

Cover of Seven Skeletons by Lydia Pyne Cover of Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman Cover of Planetfall by Emma Newman Cover of The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison

Cover of The Wolf in the Attic by Paul Kearney Cover of Off the Map by Alastair Bonnett Cover of Sea Foam and Silence by Lynn O'Connacht

Reviews posted this week:

One Solstice Night, by Elora Bishop. A reread so I could get on with reading this series finally. This is sweet and basically a little bit of spun sugar. 3/5 stars
The Lifted Veil, by George Eliot. A surprisingly speculative novella from a classic author. 3/5 stars
Broken, by Susan Bigelow. We know the main character feels broken, because she’s renamed herself Broken, the book is called Broken, and she tells us that she’s broken. Brokenly. 1/5 stars
Lud-in-the-Mist, by Hope Mirrlees. A classic fantasy that doesn’t feel like the stuff that is traditional for the genre now, and is very beautifully written. I loved it. 5/5 stars
Geek Feminist Revolution, by Kameron Hurley. I do love Hurley’s essays and her no-bullshit way of writing, but I wished there was more new content in this collection. A lot of it was familiar. 4/5 stars
Brother Jacob, by George Eliot. A short and rather moralistic story that really didn’t demonstrate the greatness of Eliot’s prose for me. 1/5 stars
-Flashback Friday: The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle. I read this for the first time when I was already 20. I felt I’d missed out! 5/5 stars

Other posts:
Top Ten Tuesday: Pet Peeves. My pet peeves in fiction, let me show you them!

How’s everyone been? I think I’ve caught up on the blogs I usually follow, but if you have something you think I’ll be interested in, link away! I’d hate to miss out.

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Stacking the Shelves

Posted August 6, 2016 by Nicky in General / 29 Comments

So this week has been super important, and yesterday I married my partner of the last eleven years.

Photo of our wedding rings

I got books, too.

Received to review

Cover of Ninth City Burning by J. Patrick Black Cover of Magic Binds by Ilona Andrews Cover of American Monsters by Derek Landy

Cover of Seven Skeletons by Lydia Pyne Cover of The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe by Kij Johnson Cover of Cold-Forged Flame by Marie Brennan

Magic Binds!! I’m excited.

I did also get books from my friends as wedding/birthday presents (my birthday is on the 20th!), but I’m too tired to put them all up now. Next week it is!

Books finished this week:

Cover of A Maze of Death by Philip K. Dick Cover of Fair Play, by Josh Lanyon Cover of Magic Shifts by Ilona Andrews

Reviews posted this week:

The Copper Promise, by Jen Williams. A traditional-feel fantasy, I found this a really comfortable, feel-good read for the most part. It just reminded me of all the fantasy books of my childhood, in a good way. 4/5 stars
The Book of Atrix Wolfe, by Patricia A. McKillip. Probably one of my least favourite of McKillip’s books so far. It’s beautifully written, but I didn’t quite follow. 2/5 stars
Hex, by Thomas Olde Heuvelt. Horror normally isn’t my thing, but the icky bit of this for me was the way people acted, the things they decided to prioritise. I just didn’t get on with it at all. 1/5 stars
Little, Big, by John Crowley. On the surface it sounded like something I’d be interested in, but in the end it took too long to get nowhere very satisfying. 2/5 stars
The Falling Woman, by Pat Murphy. This book is great, full of interesting (mostly female) characters who bounce off each other in realistic ways, and who really work hard at what they do. It helps that it’s atmospheric and involves archaeology, but overall I just found it really satisfying to read. 5/5 stars
Under the Skin, by Michel Faber. Another one that didn’t really work for me — now I think about it, it may have had better payoff as a short story. 2/5 stars
Flashback Friday: Sunshine, by Robin McKinley. A longtime favourite, with a genuinely creepy vampire who you can root for anyway, and a lot of awesome descriptions of food and baking. 5/5 stars

Other posts:
Top Ten Tuesday: Books I’d Buy Right Now. Probably a fairly predictable bunch!

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