Tag: Stacking the Shelves

Unstacking the Shelves

Posted January 2, 2016 by Nicky in General / 26 Comments

For the first time in a long time — or possibly the whole time I’ve been doing the Stacking the Shelves meme via Tynga’s Reviews — I don’t have any new books from any source to share this week! It helps that the library is closed and I have a firm resolution to stick to a budget (see my Shelf Love participation post). Technically, my book ban from December is over, but I do want to try and be mindful of buying books this year.

So to celebrate, I have a new feature for this blog. Sort of. I remember someone else once posting “Unstacking the Shelves” posts, while they were trying to catch up with their backlog, and I’m going to shamelessly steal their idea. Whenever I have no books to report buying, I get to do an Unstacking the Shelves post, showing what I’ve read in the last week!

Which is, this week, the following six books:

Cover of Word Puppets by Mary Robinette Kowal Cover of The Masked City by Genevieve Cogman Cover of Murder in Montparnasse by Kerry Greenwood

Cover of The Parthenon by Mary Beard Cover of Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor Cover of The Mistletoe Bride by Kate Mosse

My favourite read this week was probably The Masked City, which I enjoyed more than I expected to based on my rating of the first book — I’m beginning to think I was overly cranky with that one! It was interesting to read Kowal and Mosse’s short stories, too; they’re very different collections. Lagoon, I’m still processing… So far, I still need to write reviews for the last four.

At the same time, I thought I might start highlighting my other posts this week for people who only come by on a Saturday via the link-up. That way, people just dropping by can get a better idea of my blog — and maybe some people will want to stick around!

Reviews this week:
Greenwitch, by Susan Cooper. This was my reread for the TDIR Readathon; it’s a very familiar book for me, so it was like visiting with old friends. I did have some new thoughts about Jane Drew this time, though. 5/5 stars
Charm, by Sarah Pinborough. Second in the series, this retells the story of Cinderella… with extra sex and links to all kinds of other fairytales. 3/5 stars
Word Puppets, by Mary Robinette Kowal. Received to review via Netgalley, this introduced me to Kowal’s non-Regency work. There are some forgettable stories, but for the most part it’s a strong collection. 4/5 stars
The Masked City, by Genevieve Cogman. So much fun! Magic and books and dragons and Fae… And did I mention that the main character is an operative for an organisation called the Library, and there’s an awesome magic system using the power of words? Sign me up! 4/5 stars
The Cutting Room, ed. Ellen Datlow. Unfortunately not really my thing, though there are some very memorable stories in the collection. Probably a case of ‘it’s not you’… 2/5 stars
The Blade Itself, by Joe Abercrombie. This was another reread, albeit one I wasn’t as familiar with as Greenwitch. I enjoyed it a lot; memory, if anything, had downgraded this from the rating it deserved. 4/5 stars
Flashback Friday: The House at the End of the Lane, by Neil Gaiman. This feature reposts old reviews I wrote before I had this blog. Neil Gaiman’s work is solidly entertaining, but I thought maybe I was exactly the wrong age to appreciate this one. 3/5 stars

Other posts:
Bout of Books Participation Post. For once, I’m on time to join in the Bout of Books readathon!
Top Ten Tuesday: Repeat Gifts. This week I went off-script and picked a theme of my own, talking about the books that I’m always giving to new people.
ShelfLove Participation Post. This challenge worked really well for me last year, and here’s my (rather ambitious) plan for 2016!

I’ve also just added a bunch of social media options to the blog, so you can now follow me on Google+ or Facebook. I have a Twitter as well, but it has more of a personal focus. Me being me, though, a personal focus still means a lot of book chatter.

Oh well, we’ll see! How’s everyone doing? Hope you’ve started 2016 as you mean to go on, with laughter and light and love and anything else your heart desires.

(Please please please do not comment telling me to enjoy my new books. It will make it obvious you haven’t read the text at all and will make me sad.)

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Stacking the Shelves

Posted December 26, 2015 by Nicky in General / 26 Comments

It’s Boxing Day already? Where’d the time go?! Anyway, I hope everyone had a good day yesterday, whether they celebrate Christmas or not. I always think of Christmas as a time when I get stacks and stacks and stacks of books… but luckily for my TBR, it didn’t really go that far. Dad and my aunt got me a load of Phryne Fisher books (yay!), and between my parents, my sister and my friends, I got plenty, haha.

Anyway, I also popped by the library this week, where I picked up a couple of books…

Cover of Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen Cover of Unnatural Creatures ed. Neil Gaiman Cover of The Stress of Her Regard by Tim Powers

I’ve been meaning to read all three of these for a while, so hopefully I’ll get round to them soon.

And here’s my Christmas haul!

Cover of Murder in Montparnasse by Kerry Greenwood Cover of The Castlemaine Murders by Kerry Greenwood Cover of Queen of the Flowers by Kerry Greenwood

Cover of Death by Water by Kerry Greenwood Cover of Murder in the Dark by Kerry Greenwood Cover of Murder on a Midsummer Night by Kerry Greenwood

 Cover of Dead Man's Chest by Kerry Greenwood Cover of Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo Cover of Darkwalker by E.L. Tettensor

Cover of Silver on the Road by Laura Anne Gilman Cover of Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman Cover of Black Wolves by Kate Elliott

Cover of Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen Cover of Firefight by Brandon Sanderson Cover of An Atlas of Tolkien by David Day

My sister also bought me some hard copies of Tanya Huff books that I’ve been failing to get around to on my Kindle. And since I like to show off my geekiness, here are some of my other gifts…

 Photo of my in my Star Trek jammies Wearing my Cap shield backpack

Photo of my gifts all together, including a stack of books and a shield backpack My Captain America bear, in dressing gown and bunny slippers

As you see, my Captain America bear got a dressing gown, and slippers too. And I got hedgehog slippers, and Star Trek TNG uniform pajamas. And a shield backpack, because I <3 Steve Rogers.

And most importantly, a surprise from my dad — proper library steps which convert into a chair. You may remember my surprise giraffe, from last year…

Photo of a suspiciously wrapped object, with "not a giraffe" written on it Library Chair Library Steps

So all in all, pretty awesome haul! What’s everyone else been getting? Anything special?

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Stacking the Shelves

Posted December 19, 2015 by Nicky in General / 18 Comments

Just one library trip this week — partly because I have a book I really should return soon that I need to finish. So not many books picked up!

Cover of Beauty by Sarah Pinborough Cover of Fathom by Cherie Priest

Since you probably know me at least a little, you know that I’ve started Beauty already, because I can never wait and just read books I already have… At least it finishes off that trilogy!?

Oh, and I did get one review copy this week, via Edelweiss. Exciting!

Cover of This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab

What’s everyone else been getting, reading, or coveting? Reading-wise, I’m partway through Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater and The Cutting Room edited by Ellen Datlow, among others. I’m not sure a book of horror stories based around movies is really my thing, but at the same time I’m kind of mesmerised.

Also, yay! It seems I have reached my goal of getting 80% feedback submitted on Netgalley. Finally.

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Stacking the Shelves

Posted December 12, 2015 by Nicky in General / 18 Comments

A quiet week, since I haven’t gone to the library (yet)! I got a few books from Robert, but most of them I either had already in ebook or left at my grandmother’s house for now. I also got my early Christmas present from Robert, and that looks really interesting — fantasy/mystery set in Cardiff!

Cover of Star-Shot by Mary-Ann Constantine Cover of Moon's Artifice by Tom Lloyd

What’s everyone else been grabbing? And don’t forget, I still have a giveaway running here to celebrate my blog’s new home!

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Stacking the Shelves

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

First things first! You’ll no doubt have noticed that the layout of the blog has changed. Well, so has the host — The Bibliophibian is now self-hosted, courtesy of the amazing Lynn O’ Connacht (who provided the hosting and did the migration for me)! So you may find that you need to resubscribe, if you haven’t already. If you have any issues at the moment, that might be due to the DNS redirect still percolating through the system. If there’s anything wrong with the layout, please let me know so I can try to fix it — at the moment it’s been optimised based on my mother’s visual needs, as she has macular degeneration, but I want to do my best to make it accessible in general.

Anyway, to celebrate the new hosting, and the fact that I can now embed Rafflecopter, there’s a giveaway! There are several options for joining in, including following the blog, tweeting, commenting on a post and a freebie. So please do join in!

Back to the original purpose of this post. I’m still doing okay on not buying books for myself — two big boxes of books have come in for family members, though! I love getting ready for Christmas and buying people the perfect book.

Despite the buying ban, I did get some preorders arriving. These don’t count, since I ordered them before the ban came into place! (And with Amazon vouchers, at that.)

Cover of The Masked City by Genevieve Cogman Cover of Pantomime by Laura Lam Cover of Shadowplay by Laura Lam

Excited to read Laura Lam’s books finally, and The Masked City should be a lot of fun too. I did also get a couple of library books, though not as many this week as sometimes!

Cover of The Violinist's Thumb by Sam Kean Cover of Charm by Sarah Pinborough

I’ve been reading Sam Kean’s books one by one, so here’s the latest I’ve picked up. And I read Poison, so I wanted to pick up Charm. Annoyingly, the library had Beauty as well, but my library card was “maxed out”…

What’s everyone else been picking up? And it can’t just be me that “maxes out” their library card, right?

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Stacking the Shelves

Posted November 28, 2015 by Nicky in General / 10 Comments

Just library books this week — my resolution is holding good, so far! Here’s hoping I stick to it (though I have put some books on my Christmas list, of course).

 Cover of Feed by Mira Grant Cover of Deadline by Mira Grant

Cover of The Talisman Ring by Georgette Heyer Cover of Started Early, Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson

Feed and The Talisman Ring are rereads; the former so I can read the whole series, and the latter for sheer fun. Started Early, Took My Dog was a challenge read and ugh, I have not enjoyed it. It’s already winged its way back to the library.

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

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Stacking the Shelves

Posted November 21, 2015 by Nicky in General / 14 Comments

Hello, everyone! This week, I have a relatively small haul — I think it might be the first time in a while I’ve really shown any restraint! I’m now trying not to buy any books until Christmas, so it’ll hopefully just be library books from here on out… I have just one new-to-me owned book this week, and that came via Illumicrate (which I need to review).

Cover of Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin

I’ve heard a lot about this one, so I’m excited for it!

Library

Cover of The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie Cover of Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie Cover of Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie

Cover of Arrows of the Queen by Mercedes Lackey Cover of Arrow's Flight by Mercedes Lackey Cover of Arrow's Fall by Mercedes Lackey

Cover of Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater Cover of Wolfhound Century by Peter Higgins

The Abercrombie books are rereads; I’ve never read Mercedes Lackey and spotted the omnibus of those at the library and thought, eh, why not?; Cait @ Paper Fury demanded I read some Maggie Stiefvater; and finally, I had access to Wolfhound Century on Netgalley… many moons ago. It’s time I actually reviewed it.

How’s everyone been? Interesting hauls? Tell!

Incidentally, I recently passed my 1,000th post and my 1,000th follower, and this is my 100th STS post. Definitely time to celebrate! But, does anyone know of a giveaway widget that works with WordPress-hosted blogs? Rafflecopter does not, as I recall.

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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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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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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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