Tag: Stacking the Shelves

Stacking the Shelves

Posted October 3, 2015 by Nicky in General / 20 Comments

Last Saturday I was at a convention, and there was a dealer’s room and a swap table, sooo… yeah, unsurprisingly, I have some new additions!

Bought

Cover of London Falling by Paul Cornell Cover of Shanghai Sparrow by Gaie Sebold Cover of The Pendragon Protocol by Philip Purser-Hallard

I’ve been meaning to read the first two for ages, and the latter involves Arthurian references, so I couldn’t resist.

Swap table/freebies

Cover of Smiler's Fair by Rebecca Levene Cover of King's Dragon by Kate Elliott Cover of Black Magic Woman by Justin Gustainis

Cover of Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi Cover of The Straight-Razor Cure by Daniel Polansky Cover of The Emperor's Blades by Brian Staveley

Sadly, I didn’t really have anything to contribute to the swap table, since I didn’t know it was there in advance, so I am paying it forward by using Bookcrossing to send some books on a new journey.

ARCs

Cover of Armada by Ernest Cline Cover of An Apprentice to Elves by Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear

I’m surprised I was allowed access to Armada, since it’s definitely out and has plenty of buzz, but I’m not arguing! And I need to read the first two books in Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear’s series first, but I’m excited to do so!

Library

Cover of Airs Above the Ground by Mary Stewart Cover of The Moonspinners by Mary Stewart Cover of Rose Cottage by Mary Stewart

Cover of Thornyhold by Mary Stewart Cover of Unseemly Science by Rod Duncan Cover of Luna: New Moon by Ian McDonald

Mostly a grab bag of my favourite comfort reads. My grandmother’s not very well, so I feel like I deserve it!

How’s everyone else doing?

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Stacking the Shelves

Posted September 26, 2015 by Nicky in General / 20 Comments

This week I was a little bit naughty and did some requesting on Netgalley, after doing a bit of a tidy-up of copies I can’t review because I didn’t download them in time, can’t find a library copy, etc, etc. But I’m still on 69% reviews-to-approvals, so I think I’m doing okay!

Received to review!

Cover of The Prophecy Con by Patrick Weekes Cover of The Paladin Caper by Patrick Weekes Cover of Tower of Thorns by Juliet Marillier

Cover of Badge, Book and Candle by Max Gladstone  Cover of The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu Cover of Made to Kill by Adam Christopher

I really need to read Dreamer’s Pool so I can read Tower of Thorns, and The Palace Job so I can read The Prophecy Con and The Paladin Caper. Oh, self, you do make work!

(Like I mind.)

Bought/gifted

Cover of Old Man's War by John Scalzi Cover of The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi Cover of The Last Colony by John Scalzi

Cover of Zoe's Tale by John Scalzi Cover of The Human Division by John Scalzi Cover of The End of All Things by John Scalzi

Cover of Unwrapped Sky by Rjurik Davidson Cover of Dragon Coast by Greg van Eekhout Cover of Binti by Nnedi Okorafor

Cover of Talking Hands by Margalit Fox Cover of The Fox Tower by Yoon Ha Lee

Many many many thanks to Lois and Amy, who have belatedly celebrated my birthday by showering me with bookishness. (Some of the Scalzi is from Lois, and Talking Hands is from Amy.)

Aaand the final issue of Captain Marvel and the Carol Corps…

Captain Marvel & The Carol Corps #4

By the time this goes live, I’ll be on the way to BristolCon with Robert from Bastian’s Books. So if you’re going, you might catch a glimpse of that rare sight — a wild Nikki. Bring a pokéball.

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Stacking the Shelves

Posted September 19, 2015 by Nicky in General / 33 Comments

It’s been a bit of a weird and wonderful week for me, as far as acquisitions go — which surprises nobody, really. My trip last weekend to a consciousness workshop in London was really interested, and prompted pretty much all the non-fiction I’ve picked up, and then I had a three hour monster exam on Wednesday on maths and science, and my mother provided a nice chunk of Amazon voucher to reward me, so… yeah. Books!

I don’t know if I mentioned I also got a new Kindle recently — a Kindle Voyage, which has been christened Glyph, and which I should write a review of soon.

Non-fiction

Cover of The Edge of Uncertainty by Michael Brooks Cover of 13 Things That Don't Make Sense by Michael Brooks Cover of The Technological Singularity by Murray Shanahan

Cover of The Tell-Tale Brain by V.S. Ramachandran Cover of Self Comes to Mind by Antonio Damasio Cover of A Portrait of the Brain by Adam Zeman

Cover of The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks

I know, I know, it’s a little unbelievable I haven’t read more of Sacks’ work already. Working on it!

On a side note, since this week covered my weird reading habits, here’s a weird blogging habit: I prefer multiples of three for covers in a row. Two is acceptable. That Oliver Sacks cover on its own is a travesty that, if I’d noticed before, I’d have fixed by getting out another library book on neurology.

Fiction (bought)

Cover of The Golem and the Djinni by Helene Wecker Cover of The Boy Who Lost Fairyland by Catherynne M. Valente Cover of Chapelwood by Cherie Priest

Cover of The Heart of Valour by Tanya Huff Cover of Valour's Trial by Tanya Huff Cover of The Truth of Valour by Tanya Huff

Cover of Farlander by Col Buchanan Cover of Sunset Mantle by Alter S. Reiss

Sunset Mantle was blurbed by Jo Walton, so I’m very much looking forward to it. I noticed the Tanya Huff books were only £2.50 ish each on Kindle, so I grabbed ’em to complete my collection. Goodness knows when I’ll get round to all this reading…

Fiction (library)

Cover of The Gate to Women's Country by Sherri S. Tepper Cover of London Falling by Paul Cornell Cover of Hard to Be A God by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky

I have a challenge/resolution to read more of the SF Masterworks, and I’ve been meaning to try London Falling for a while, so they were my somewhat random choices at the library.

And that’s it! It’s been a busy ol’ week. How’s everyone else been doing? What have you been reading, acquiring, reviewing and squealing over? Do tell.

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Stacking the Shelves

Posted August 22, 2015 by Nicky in General / 34 Comments

It’s my birthday! Or, actually, it’s now two days after my birthday. I got some new bookish shirts (“high shelf esteem” being one of them; “I like to party and by party I mean read books” being another! They’re from LookHuman.com like the shirts I reviewed here) and a few new books. Hurrah.

Gifts

Cover of War with the Newts by Karel Capek Cover of Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe Cover of The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There by Catherynne M Valente

Cover of The Girl who Soared Over Fairyland by Catherynne M. Valente Cover of Sparrow Hill Road by Seanan Mcguire Cover of R.U.R. by Karel Capek

And there was a library trip, of course.

Library

Cover of Non-Stop by Brian Aldiss Cover of Magic Strikes by Ilona Andrews Cover of Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrews

Cover of A Maze of Death by Philip K. Dick Cover of Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs

I’m a little worried I’m going to blend the plots of the Mercy Thompson and Kate Daniels books if I read them at the same time… still, the library in Cardiff doesn’t have them, and the library at my parents’ does, so!

Comics

Cover of Hawkeye: Rio Bravo by Matt Fraction Cover of Silk issue 6

I was supposed to get Hawkeye for Christmas. Seriously! And now I finally have it and… I haven’t read volume three and my copy of volume three is not here. Gaaah.

What’s everyone else been grabbing?

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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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Stacking the Shelves

Posted August 8, 2015 by Nicky in Reviews / 16 Comments

It’s been a bit of a spree week for me again, I’m afraid. I’m going to blame the heady feeling of getting paid for freelance work several times this week!

Bought

Cover of The Fifth Season, by N.K. Jemisin Cover of The Rights of the Reader by Daniel Pennac Cover of A Slip of the Keyboard by Terry Pratchett

Cover of The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch Cover of Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch Cover of Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch

Cover of Shadows by Robin McKinley Cover of Burning Water by Mercedes Lackey Cover of A Brother's Price by Wen Spencer

Cover of Kitty and the Midnight Hour by Carrie Vaughn Cover of Kitty Goes to Washington by Carrie Vaughn Cover of Kitty Takes a Holiday by Carrie Vaughn

So excited to fiiiiinally have my hands on The Fifth Season. The Rights of the Reader was pretty interesting; I’ve been meaning to read it for a while. The Scott Lynch books were just because I didn’t have a physical copy of any of them, though I am intending a reread! The Lackey book is for a challenge to read a book published in the year I was born… The Kitty Norville books came as a bundle from The Works, always worth checking there for good deals like that.

Comics

Cover of Rat Queens vol 2 Cover of The Wicked + The Divine vol 2 Ms Marvel cover

Rat Queens… well, I wasn’t sure about the first volume, but I have been encouraged to try the second, so. I’ll try. The Wicked + The Divine was gorgeous in the first volume, so is probably just as stunning. And this issue of Ms Marvel is the one we’ve been waiting for, really: the team-up between Captain and Ms Marvel.

Library

Cover of Soul Music by Terry Pratchett 4788658 Cover of Built by Animals by Hansell

Cover of Luka and the Fire of Life by Salman Rushdie Cover of The Stainless Steel Rat omnibus by Harry Harrison

A somewhat random grab bag of library stuff, really. I blame The Stainless Steel Rat on Ryan from SpecFic Junkie, of course, and Soul Music on Cardiff’s SF/F bookclub — I figured I’d read it even though I won’t make it to the meeting.

What’s everyone else been getting their hands on? Anything particularly exciting?

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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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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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