Stacking the Shelves

Posted March 12, 2016 by Nicky in General / 22 Comments

You know how I said last week there was a bookalanche? Well, it seems to have… set off another? Plus I got some review copies. And I joined a new library. At least I read quite a lot too?!

Books to review: 

Cover of Passenger by Alexandra Bracken Cover of Too Like The Lightning Cover of Demon Road by Derek Landy

Between being a fan of Ada Palmer’s work with Sassafrass and Jo’s praise, I couldn’t resist picking up the latter, and I’ve seen so much enthusiasm about Passenger, so I thought I’d give it a try. And Demon Road, well, the hardback from the library is a beast so glad to have the ebook. Thanks Tor, Hachette and HarperCollins!

Library books:

Cover of House of Suns Cover of Century Rain by Alastair Reynolds Cover of Red Moon by Benjamin Percy Cover of A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan

Cover of Saturn's Children by Charles Stross Cover of The Dark Heroine by Abigail Gibbs Cover of The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater Cover of Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater

Grabbed the Stiefvater books since it’s the first time I’ve seen them both on the shelves, and I don’t know when I’ll next swing by that library. The Alastair Reynolds books are for my epic reread with my sister; we’re starting with Century Rain, which is the book we both started with way back when (and the book which got my sister to read again after years of refusing). A Natural History of Dragons is for a reread and Saturn’s Children because I don’t feel like reading in ebook lately. The other two I was just randomly curious about.

Books bought: 

Cover of Regency Buck by Georgette Heyer Cover of Faro's Daughter by Georgette Heyer Cover of Frederica by Georgette Heyer Cover of Watch the Wall, My Darling, by Jane Aiken Hodge

Cover of Forest of Memory by Mary Robinette Kowal Cover of The Devil You Know by K.J. Parker Cover of The Drowning Eyes by Emily Foster Cover of Bryony and Roses by T. Kingfisher

Cover of Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds Cover of Redemption Ark by Alastair Reynolds Cover of Absolution Gap by Alastair Reynolds Cover of Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds

Cover of The Prefect by Alastair Reynolds Cover of Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days by Alastair Reynolds Cover of Zima Blue by Alastair Reynolds Cover of Magic Shifts by Ilona Andrews

A-Force: Warzones Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Captain Marvel and the Carol Corps

Um. My only excuse is that some of these were secondhand and thus very cheap or free, and then the novellas were from my partner via our Valentine’s Day agreement (for me: £10 ish for books, no questions asked, each month; for her: at least one nap, no pouting allowed, each month). You can see four distinctive sections — romance novels, fantasy novellas, Alastair Reynolds, and kickass ladies in comics. And then an Ilona Andrews one tacked on that I almost forgot to list.

Books read: 

Cover of Winter Rose by Patricia McKillip Cover of Sorcerer of the Wildeeps by Kai Ashante Wilson Cover of Ex-Machina: The First Hundred Days Cover of The Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu

Cover of Alex + Ada Vol 1 by Sarah Vaughn and Jonathan Luna Cover of Clean Sweep, by Ilona Andrews Cover of Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay by Simon Napier-Bell Cover of Junk DNA by Nessa Carey

Reviews this week: 

Tolkien: An Illustrated Atlas, by David Day. Mostly worth it for the art included. 3/5 stars
An Earthly Knight, by Janet McNoughton. A reread I appreciated more than I did the first time, based on the ballad of Tam Lin. Lots of historical detail. 4/5 stars
The Last Enchantment, by Mary Stewart. It felt like Stewart tried to see the best in all the traditional characters, which didn’t always work. 3/5 stars
The Paper Menagerie, by Ken Liu. Interesting collection of stories, and my only real problem was something about the tone. Probably very idiosyncratic! 3/5 stars
Murder in the Dark, by Kerry Greenwood. One of the weaker entries in the series, I think, with a weird cult thing going on. 3/5 stars
Vicious, by V.E. Schwab. Loved it, loved it, loved it. Morally dubious superpeople and a fun story structure. 5/5 stars
Flashback Friday: Before I Go To Sleep, by S.J. Watson. Fairly typical amnesiac thriller, and rather predictable too. 2/5 stars

Other posts:
Spoilers! A post on why I like spoilers and why I might not be alone in that.
Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Characters Everyone Likes But I Just Don’t Get. Apparently it’s unpopular opinions time again?

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22 responses to “Stacking the Shelves

  1. OK that is quite a pile! I find that if I deprive myself of books for a while, when the willpower crumbles, it goes big time and takes a while to get plugged! A bit like a crumbling dam I guess! I just can’t seem to stop finding new books-I have about 100 still to be added to tbr but I’m doing it as I add them to each STS so I can pretend things are under control…!

    • That’s exactly it! I’m catching up with three months of not buying! Hopefully I’m done for now, though — my TBR just ballooned! And oh, wow, at least your acquisitive tendencies make me feel better: I’m totally going to tell my family your totals to make them feel better about mine!

  2. I love the phrase Bookalanche! It’s perfect! You had a great haul this week. I hope you enjoy your books this week! I loved Passenger, but quite a few people didn’t like it at all. I think it one of those you either hate it or you love it books, but I loved it and hope you do to!

  3. I really want to get my hands on A Natural History of Dragons. I’ve heard the images in the book are fabulous. I’m behind on my Ilona Andrews. Only two books. I’ve been hording them for a rainy day when nothing grabs my interest. I’m curious to see what you think about Maggie Stiefvater’s books.

    Great haul. Happy reading!!
    Stacey Brutger recently posted…Stacking The Shelves [39]My Profile

    • I’m not 100% sold on the idea, since it takes a real Welsh hero and moves him to America, but we’ll see! Thanks for dropping by.

  4. Wow, amazing haul! And hey, I can’t resist good deals and cheap books either, so no need to explain to me 😉

    I also recently got an ARC of Too Like the Lightning, but I’ve never read her books before. Hearing that you’re a fan makes me optimistic I’ll like her too, since many of your reviews and ratings resonate with me!

    • Yeah but my family read this blog!

      I haven’t read anything by Ada Palmer, but I know her work on Norse mythology in the Sundown song cycle Sassafrass did. Amazing interpretations of the stories and subtleties in putting together the story. Between that and Jo’s recommendation, I’m hopeful!

    • It looks like a lot of Joan Aiken Hodge’s work is now available as ebooks on Amazon — and quite cheaply, too! So I thought I’d explore.

  5. Wow, that is a beast of a book haul! I think it would take me the better part of a year to read that much. I LOVE the Raven Boys series by Maggie Stiefvater. I can’t wait until The Raven King comes out in April. Have a wonderful week.

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