Tag: Stacking the Shelves

Stacking the Shelves

Posted November 15, 2014 by in General / 6 Comments

This week, I have been super restrained. No, I really mean it!

Review copies

I didn’t even request Brood — I’m not sure why Bookbridr sent me it, because it sounds like it might be a bit too gory for me. Maybe I clicked something by accident? But I’m glad to have an ARC of The Wicked + The Divine; I actually have a pre-order for the TPB anyway, but now I get to read it sooner.

Bought

I’m guessing I’m going to see a lot of Foxglove Summer around in the next couple weeks; it just came out on Thursday. I’m excited! And Do No Harm was something I spotted in the bookshop and ended up getting with what I had left of a book token: it’s all about brain surgery, which both icks me out and fascinates me. I can’t see myself as a brain surgeon, but neurology is fascinating…

Comics

Captain Marvel #9! I’m not caught up at the moment, but hey, it’s nice to support the Carol Corps.

What’s everyone else been getting?

Tags: Ben Aaronovitch, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Marvel, non-fiction, Stacking the Shelves

Stacking the Shelves

Posted November 8, 2014 by in General / 28 Comments

It’s been a very acquisitive week for me, even though I keep telling myself I mustn’t go over 365 books bought this year. Not that my book-buying urge has ever listening to such logical things, so there y’go. There’s been a fair amount of yarn buying, too, so I am predictably pretty broke already, even though it’s just the first week of November. Anyway! Some awesome stuff, this week.

Review copies

I was actually kindly lent a print copy of The Just City, which is in my Top Ten Books I Don’t Own and Want To Read post, by Robert. Then naturally Tor approved me for the ARC on Netgalley as well, even though they’ve never approved my requests before… Ah well, I’ll probably read the print copy anyway. I’ve heard mixed things about Robin LaFevers, but I thought I’d try. And queer fairy tales are right up my street.

Print books

I couldn’t resist getting The Sleeper and the Spindle, especially because of some of the art I’ve seen inside it. Claire North is apparently another pseudonym of Catherine Webb/Kate Griffin, whose work I’ve been following since she published her first novel. Excited! The other stuff is a mixture of random choice and stuff I’ve been meaning to pick up. I had an ARC of Elizabeth of York, and my guilt induced me to finally just buy it…

Anyway, as this goes live I’ll be heading out to the local Comic-Con. Looking forward to seeing what the dealers have! What’s everyone else been getting?

Tags: books, Jo Walton, Neil Gaiman, Stacking the Shelves

Stacking the Shelves

Posted November 1, 2014 by in General / 12 Comments

Aaand it’s Saturday again, already! Where does the time go? Here’s my Stacking the Shelves post for this week…

Comics TPBs

Sooo happy to have these TPBs. It’s awesome that Fraction has focused on Kate Bishop as well as Clint Barton; and of course I’m excited about Captain Marvel. Ms Marvel I’ve been intending to read for ages — I’ve actually been putting the comics covers in my STS posts as each individual issue released on Comixology, but now I own them in proper collected edition! Easier to read. The She-Hulk and Black Widow comics were impulse buys, but I love that I’ve had six superhero comics focusing on women hit my doormat this week. And hey, Captain Marvel film with Carol Danvers announced!

Just please don’t talk to me about the (probable? rumoured? I don’t even know anymore) casting of Dr Strange, because I’m not over the disappointment yet.

Dead tree books

I came home from visiting my partner last Saturday, and there was a “small” spree. Oops? But I’d never bought anything from the new bookshop in St Pancras before (Hatchard’s), so I had to have a look. And I’ve been meaning to try more Borges and Calvino, and I like Shirley Jackson already, and…

Contributor copies

Nah, I don’t have a story in here (though if you know my name, you can find it somewhere in Lightspeed) — I’m a slush reader for Lightspeed, and Wendy Wagner was kind enough to make sure I got my contributor copies despite not getting my original email response about it. I don’t actually think anything in either volume came through me first, but I did read/rate ~30 submissions for the two collections, so I have done my bit. (I’m on ~50 submissions read/rated for regular Lightspeed!)

Tags: books, comics, Kate Mosse, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Marvel, Shirley Jackson, Stacking the Shelves

Stacking the Shelves

Posted October 18, 2014 by in General / 2 Comments

Despite the fact that I have a £10 Kobo voucher to spend, I actually haven’t bought anything this week! Shocking, I know. I have received two books to review, though — the first via LibraryThing Early Reviewers, the second via the author.

I know, I know, it’s a miracle as far as my usual stacks are concerned. What’s everyone reading? Anybody doing the readathon? My stack is here, and my post will be up later in the day in time for the start. Also, if you drop by around hour four, I’m running a challenge!

Tags: books, Stacking the Shelves

Stacking the Shelves

Posted October 11, 2014 by in General / 36 Comments

Hello everyone! I’m late with Stacking the Shelves this morning because my partner’s internet doesn’t want to access WordPress. I seem to have it sorted now — fingers crossed… So anyway, it’s not been a bad week, though I’ve so far resisted buying any books in the local shops (though I do know the location of just about all the publicly accessible English-language books in Leuven).

From the library

I feel like I should like Mary Stewart’s Arthurian work more than I did the first time I tried it, so I’m going to try again, and the library provided that excuse. I’m pretty sure The Bone People was recommended to me by Jo Walton, so I was excited to find that. And there’s some other sci-fi stuff I should read, and The Old Ways by Robert MacFarlane because the title makes me think of The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper.

And a gift from the author…

x ecd6mm2aqwe““““““““““““““““ asz,.jupy[;ol <— That was my partner’s bunny’s commentary on the matter. Here’s a picture of her in her tunnel.

And if y’all beat my record for number of comments on an StS post, my partner says I can give her a treat, and maybe we’ll take a video of that.

Anyway, I did also pick up some books on the Kobo store, as you might’ve expected.

Clariel is obviously one I’ve been waiting for a loooong time, and Kobo messed me around a lot in getting it. Hot Key Books, the publisher, were really great, though. They recced me Tribute, so I picked that up too. Megan Whalen Turner is a reread for me. The others have been recommended by various people and so on.

Okay, that’s it. Remember, every comment increases Hulk’s chances of getting a treat. She ecd6mm2aqwes you!

Tags: books, Garth Nix, Megan Whalen Turner, Stacking the Shelves

Stacking the Shelves

Posted October 4, 2014 by in General / 10 Comments

Good morning, folks! Shortly after this goes live, I’ll be on the way to Belgium again, whoo. So I’ll be around to check out your posts later than usual. This one is a short one by my usual standards, anyway — just three books to review!

Yep, that really is it. I’ll be buying a few more books for my Kobo before I set off, but I haven’t picked ’em yet, and I don’t have time to add them later. So they’ll be in next week’s post!

Tags: Alan Bradley, books, Elizabeth Bear, Stacking the Shelves

Stacking the Shelves

Posted September 27, 2014 by in General / 12 Comments

I haven’t gone on such wonderful buying sprees this week, but I did go to two different libraries (go on, guess how many library cards I have). So it is not particularly a small haul, all the same. And I did get some books — my partner spoils me.

Ebooks

I read Graceling a few years ago, and liked it well enough, but I wasn’t bowled over. I’m going to give Kristin Cashore another chance, evidently; my ex-housemate Ru will be pleased with me. The Language of Spells was a somewhat random choice, while Fair Game is necessary for me to read last week’s review copy of Fair Play.

Review copies

I tried to have restraint this week, see?

Library books

More Heyer, which surprises no one; I keep meaning to read Sarah Addison Allen and since I’ve misplaced Garden Spells, I may as well start there; archaeology! paleontology! and… Matt Fraction. My usual hectic mix.

What’s everyone else been up to?

Tags: books, comics, non-fiction, SF/F, Stacking the Shelves

Stacking the Shelves

Posted September 20, 2014 by in General / 18 Comments

I have lots of excuses for a big haul this week, I promise. Reacquiring books I want to reread but have given away, ARC requests being granted all at once, book vouchers, etc. I won’t bore you with the excuses, but I promise, I’m still actually 0/10 on my until-November acquisitions allowance, and even my partner agrees. I will probably ruin that tomorrow, going shopping with my sister. Ah well!

Library

Because hey, Georgette Heyer. I’ve actually read two of these already — The Wild Girl is the only one I haven’t touched yet.

ARCs/review copies

A very mixed batch, I know! Some of them I really didn’t expect to be approved for, like Lauren Beukes’ Broken Monsters. I still haven’t read The Shining Girls… ach. But yeah, some I’m very excited about here: Josh Lanyon always works as brain candy for me, though I need to pick up Fair Game first… Such a hardship, heh.

Reacquired to reread

I’ve enjoyed Trudi Canavan and Maria V. Snyder’s work as light reading whenever I’ve tried it, but I gave away all my copies a while ago. Now I have them on my Kobo! And Robin Hobb, well, I haven’t given away my copies of her books, but I haven’t got the heart to get my dad to drag them all down from where I grew up to where I live now, either. Besides, having copies on my Kobo is no bad thing. Ditto for Good Omens, plus, I was reading my paperback copy to bits.

And finally, what you were all waiting for…

New acquisitions

Yep, I finally gave into the hype. Sarah J. Maas and Stephanie Perkins better be as much fun as you guys tell me! Mind you, Throne of Glass was only 99p on the Kobo Store, so it’s not like it was a major investment, particularly for a book everyone seems to adore.

What’s everyone else been getting their hands on? Link me, chat to me, let me know what you’re thinking. (Aside from the bit about my blatant addiction to books. You don’t know the half of it, guys.)

Tags: books, Georgette Heyer, Karen Lord, Lauren Beukes, Maria V. Snyder, Neil Gaiman, Robin Hobb, Stacking the Shelves, Terry Pratchett, Trudi Canavan

Stacking the Shelves

Posted September 13, 2014 by in General / 58 Comments

You know how I was talking about only three books, this week? Well, it’s a multiple of three? — Why are you looking at me like that? I just felt like an adventure, okay, and my adventures involve books (and awesome second-hand bookshops). And… you couldn’t expect me to leave a bookshop without buying anything, right? Right?

So yeah. Big haul; twenty-seven books in all, counting books from publishers, not counting comics, though Ms Marvel and Captain Marvel both came out in the last week (eee!).

Wait, I just redid the total. Twenty-eight? Man, I dunno. Just look at the pretties.

ARCs/review copies

I’ve heard good things about the middle two, particularly City of Stairs, and I’ve read some of Lukyanenko’s work before. Plus, with a title like The Genome, no one’s surprised my ears pricked up. I’ve read other work by Helen Castor and enjoyed the way she writes. And Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling are just… legendary editors and it’s high time I read their anthologies.

Freebie

I’ve been hearing a lot of good things about Benjanun Sriduangkaew, so when I was alerted to this being a freebie, off I went at speed. And that’s the end of the modest sections: onto the rest of my acquisitions!

Dead tree

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly was mentioned a lot in the neurobiology class I took on Coursera (a class I recommend if it comes round again, by the way). Lots of classics, otherwise; stuff from the 101 best SF novels list I’m reading; Steven Brust and Patricia McKillip are tried and true for me…

Ebooks

Most of these, though not all, are for the aforementioned 101 best list I’m reading my way through. I swear.

And finally…

Comics

That Captain Marvel cover had better make a lot more sense in context, because I am not a fan of Carol Danvers looking like a cringy heroine from a horror movie who is about to get eaten. The lady kicks ass, people. Steve Rogers is disapproving of you right now. Right now.

Anyway! Anyone been sticking to resolutions better than me?

Tags: book reviews, books, bookshops, Patricia A. McKillip, Stacking the Shelves, Steven Brust

Stacking the Shelves

Posted September 6, 2014 by in General / 34 Comments

Stacking the Shelves time! I know I keep saying each week is going to be more conservative, etc, etc, and I guess I’m not doing too badly on that. I only bought three books…

Yessss finally got Maplecroft. And then a book linked to one of my Coursera courses arrived too — I pre-ordered it somewhere back in August…

…Which should be very interesting. And then I happened to drop by the charity shop to see if they’re looking for anything in particular to sell at the moment. They’re not, but they were looking to unload some of their books that people weren’t buying…

Yep, those first three are ones people have been nagging me to read for ages. Technically I already had The Eye of the World in my Hugo Voters’ Packet, but this was free, so, eh.

And finally, of course, I got some review copies.

Non-fiction, mostly! Or it was until I got approved for Willful Child. I’m gonna probably flick through Rewire Your Anxious Brain and review it briefly: I want to know if it’s something genuinely useful or something fluffy and unscientific. I’m guessing it will be pretty scientific given the authors’ qualifications, but you can have a PhD in a lot of things, so it’s not sure and certain.

What’s everyone else been getting? And here’s a goal for next week: no more than three books in my post. That might get spoilt if people suddenly decide to grant old Netgalley requests, but we’ll see!

Tags: books, Coursera, Stacking the Shelves