It’s happened to all of us. You start a new book, and you wait. You wait for the magic to happen. You wait for that moment when something snaps into place, and you just get the main character. Lilac and Tarver from These Broken Stars. She was a major pain in READ MORE
Month: August 2015
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | LUCKIEST GIRL ALIVE – JESSICA KNOLL
Luckiest Girl Alive is unlike any other book I’ve read. Don’t get me wrong, there are elements to it that will feel familiar. But taken as a whole it completely surprised me. The book begins with a perfect girl. She’s got a high-powered job working for a magazine in New York, she’s pretty and READ MORE
STACKING THE SHELVES | #87
Is there anything better than book mail? That’s a bit of a trick question, because yes, there is – SURPRISE book mail! I received some awesome ARCs and review books from the wonderful folks at Penguin Random House this week, which will have me excitedly reading well past my bed time for the foreseeable READ MORE
I’M ON VACATION! | SAN FRAN 2015
As of tomorrow I’ll be in San Francisco! It’s just for a week (don’t worry, I’m not defecting) and I’ve got a few posts scheduled to go up while I’m away, but I might be a little slow to publish/respond to comments while I’m out of town. In the meantime, you can see what I’m READ MORE
BOOK THOUGHTS ON THURSDAY | BOOKJIGS BOOKMARKS
One of the biggest issues bookworms who read old school (i.e. paper) books face is how to remember where you got to. I’m not a big fan of dog-earing pages (though I do it occasionally if I’m reading a beat-up or used copy of a book), and while I used to be able to READ MORE
MY WEEK ON WEDNESDAY | #22
My last week of reading encompassed Bout of Books, which meant a lot of time spent reading for me! Unfortunately I overdid it and strained my eyes, so I had a few days when I couldn’t read as much as I would have liked, but I still managed to read a respectable number of READ MORE
TOP TEN TUESDAY | BOOKS I WOULD TEACH IF I TAUGHT…
This week’s topic is a really, really good one. We got to pick which top ten books would be on our syllabus if we taught x 101 – for example, historical fiction 101 or high fantasy 101. I’ve decided to cheat a little bit, because there were just too many possibilities to pick from! READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | WIND/PINBALL – HARUKI MURAKAMI
Haruki Murakami’s newest book is actually a set of two novels (or novellas) that were the very first stories he ever wrote. This is the first time in years these two stories have been available in print – much less in English – and they provide a fascinating glimpse of this venerable writer’s beginnings. READ MORE
STACKING THE SHELVES | #86
It’s been quite a bookish week this week, what with Bout of Books and the fact that my computer broke – both of which led to much more time spend with my nose in a book (or two or three). I’ve made great headway on a few, but I’ve also dabbled in some new READ MORE
BOOK THOUGHTS ON THURSDAY | BLOGGER’S BLOCK
This week you’re getting a post in GIFs because I’m a serious blogger but everyone needs to have fun sometimes, and also nothing else is working for me right now. #sorrynotsorry So as you all know, I’ve got a sparkly new blog. But it hasn’t been an easy transition. I’ll write about it (probably READ MORE
MY WEEK ON WEDNESDAY | #21
Well, it hasn’t been my biggest reading week ever, but it’s been an enjoyable one. In addition to finishing a couple of books, I did a bit of book shopping (what? Chapters-Indigo had an in-store deal where if you spend $40 you get a $10 gift card to spend later, so not taking advantage READ MORE
READING CHALLENGE | BOUT OF BOOKS 14
It’s that time again – time for Bout of Books! The 14th Bout began yesterday and runs to Sunday, August 23rd. For the uninitiated, here’s some background info from their website (find out more here): The Bout of Books Read-a-Thon was created by Amanda @ On a Book Bender on a complete whim in READ MORE
TOP TEN TUESDAY | AUTO-BUY AUTHORS
Every once in a while you discover an author whose work speaks to you on a level that goes beyond just the words on the page. Maybe their style appeals to you, maybe it’s their topics or the settings they choose. Maybe they just nail down the words you could never find to express READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | HYPERBOLE AND A HALF – ALLIE BROSH
I’ve been a fan of Allie Brosh’s blog, also called Hyperbole and a Half, for quite some time now. So though I was given this book a while ago (thanks, Martha!), I’ve been saving it and saving it. Not only are Allie Brosh’s drawings fantastic, but the words she puts with them have been READ MORE
STACKING THE SHELVES | #85
I had a fantastic week for books this week. Not only did I get some great books I’ve been dying to get my hands on, but I spent a few days with my cousin who loves books at least as much as I do. We visited two of my favourite local used book stores, READ MORE
TOP TEN TUESDAY | AUTHORS I’VE READ THE MOST BOOKS BY
This week’s prompt is all about authors we just can’t resist. Those authors on our auto-buy lists, the ones whose new books we literally count down to, and whose books we devour like a starving man attacks a box of jelly-filled doughnuts. These days my efforts to read widely have meant less diving into READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | ARMADA – ERNEST CLINE
Armada is the long-anticipated (by me, anyway) follow up to Ernest Cline’s futuristic video-game drama, Ready Player One. The first thing I need to tell you is that I’m not a gamer. I’m not even much into sci-fi. But I absolutely loved Ready Player One. Sure, there was a lot about video games, but READ MORE
STACKING THE SHELVES | #84
This wasn’t a prolific week, but it was an exciting one. I received two nearly-releases from Penguin Random House that I’m really excited to read: Wicked and Weird – Rich Terfry The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend – Katarina Bivald I’m looking forward to Rich Terfry’s (AKA Buck 65) book. I used to READ MORE