by Kay | Apr 3, 2014 | Shelf Absorbed |
To my everlasting disappointment, February and March were mild months with no snow and – tragically! – no excuses to stay home snuggled up with a book and tea! That said, there were still a few things that deserve highlighting – most especially, the conclusion to one of my all time favourite trilogies. 🙂
Horde by Ann Aguirre
This was, alas, my only real standout novel of February/March. Not that I haven’t been reading some great books, but nothing quite as stellar! It was a fantastic, ingenious conclusion to one of my all-time favourite trilogies by an all-time favourite author. Highly, highly recommend the Razorland series if you haven’t read it!
My new layout!
In case you haven’t been on the site itself in a while, I’ve got a whole new look going on! It took me forever to develop something I was completely happy with, but now I can’t imagine going back to some of my older styles. There are still a few tweaks to come – but come on over and take a look!
India
I spent 10 days in India and fell absolutely head-over-heels. This isn’t a travel blog, but two days into my trip I was tempted to make it one. It was such a stunningly beautiful country, with a radically different culture – but one I immediately connected to. I saw such a diverse amount of wildlife and met some of the most unique people. I absolutely cannot wait to return.
That’s all for now – hopefully April will be filled with more bookish goodness! I mean, a new Laini Taylor book? Divergent movie release? It is going to be stellar. 🙂
by Kay | Feb 6, 2014 | Shelf Absorbed |
Who else is NOT a fan of the first month of the year? I think it is the fall after the Christmas high that really makes January one of those months where nothing at all good can possibly happen. Book-wise, for me, that January fit the same pattern of horrendousness. I read nothing good and the few books I managed to get through took forever.
So: there are no bookish favourites this month. But there were others!
The Veronica Mars Trailer (!!!)
OMG THIS MOVIE. Just… wow. I absolutely adored the trailer. I don’t know what I was expecting from the Veronica Mars movie, but this was not it. This? This is so, so much better.
Pinterest
It’s not that I am late to board the Pinterest bandwagon… its more like I’ve been actively avoiding it every time it comes around. I am a Tumblr girl and proud. But, when it comes to finding newly released book covers, Pinterest is pretty fantastic. I still prefer goodreads for my bookish lists and tumblr will always be my go-to social platform, but Pinterest has let me discover some pretties that I might otherwise have missed! I’m follow-able on darlingbooks.
Though all its home decor crap still freaks me out.
Psych (in its last season *cries*)
If you haven’t been watching Psych these past eight years, you’ve been missing out on an AMAZING show. It’s funny, fun and just ludicrously entertaining. And its eighth season – which, it turns out, is its last (NOOOOOOOOO) – has been fantabulous. It is one of those rare shows that has just improved with time… and I don’t know what I am going to do without it. I’ve been watching it since the very first episode and I honestly thought it would go on forever.
*sniffles*
Well, that was a depressing way to end the month. In other complaints: I also miss the snow. So, February, please provide:
a) Some amazing reads
b) A “psych!” from USA regarding Psych
c) Snow
OK? Cheers.
by Kay | Nov 30, 2013 | Shelf Absorbed |
Instead of my “usual” monthly wind-up post, I thought I’d share my November favourites instead. This is primarily because I had a month chalk full of favourites: three five-star books read, two five-star films watched, and a whole new (smelly) addiction…
Outpost by Ann Aguirre
I read an astounding THREE five-star books* this month, but my favourite of the lot has to be Outpost by Ann Aguirre (review). I adore Aguirre’s writing as a general rule, but Outpost was a cut above. I cannot recommend this series enough: it is everything you can possibly want in an apocalyptic book. Dark but still hopeful.
* Outpost, These Broken Stars and Crash Into You – in case you were wondering. 😉
These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
Color me stunned. These Broken Stars (goodreads) makes my favourite list as the-book-that-made-me-eat-my-words. It is YA Science Fiction AND YET it is amazing. I am still not quite convinced by the whole genre, so I guess my opinions in Book Talk: Where did all these spaceships come from (and how can I make them leave)? still holds true. Only difference between then and now? After reading These Broken Stars, I am willing to be convinced.
Review will be up on book’s release date (Tuesday next week!). Go pre-order yours, er, NOW!
Gravity
OMG this movie. A friend of mine called me from 3 countries over to tell me he had seen it and I needed to go immediately… and he was so so right. It is just mesmerizing, and I genuinely don’t think there are any other films like it out there. It features many, many shiny stars and science… so I was bound to be a fan.
Official site / Trailer
Catching Fire
JFC this series. It’s been two years since I devoured the Hunger Games trilogy… and yet it felt like my second first time. I laughed, cried and actually enjoyed the love triangle. In fact, I might have enjoyed the experience of watching the movie slightly better than my first read of the book. Knowing that everything (kinda) works out really helped me get through the emotional roller coaster.
Official site / Trailer (as if you haven’t seen it)
Yankee Candles
I’ve been a big fan of the scented (or, as I like to say, smelly!) candles this year, but had never really tried Yankee Candles until this month. For some reason, I thought they’d be kinda… horrid. I am happy to be wrong. Yes, some smell hideous. But mostly, they do what they say on the jar. As someone who is not getting a Christmas tree this year, this candle has been the perfect alternative. It smells exactly like a Christmas tree – I kid you not.
That’s it for this month! As the candle might have given away, I am in a super Christmas-y mood this year… so December should be a treat! Although…
by Kay | Nov 6, 2013 | Shelf Absorbed |
In this month’s recap: I visit the glorious Gladstone Library, get some serious reading done and decide to feed my ebook addiction.
The Gladstone Library
This month, I spent a wonderful weekend at the glorious Gladstone Library in Wales. This is the UK’s only residential library (or so I’m told), so I actually got to sleep with all the books. It was bookworm’s dream come true. You could take books up to your room, visit in the wee hours, have a glass of wine in their honour bar, and dinner in their dining hall. I wanted to move in forever.
The primary Gladstone collection is made up of Prime Minister Gladstone’s books, so they date from the 1800s and cover mainly theology and politics. However, the Library is also living collection, with a special fund established by Gladstone to buy new books. So while I didn’t spend too long perusing the theology section, I was able to find plenty of fiction and non-fiction to satisfy my tastes.
The historic element of the Library did, however, allow me to handle original copies of the Strand magazine that featured the first publication of the Sherlock Holmes stories. It was insanely exciting for me.
Original Strand magazines from the 19th century. These featured the first publications of Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories.
Feed My Reader
Book blogging has had a serious impact on my shelves. I buy/receive/am gifted more books than I will ever read. Even though I always try to get rid of the copies I don’t need or want, space has become a serious issue.
So, I’ve made the executive decision to expand my e-book collection. Though you will still see “real” book hauls, I’m going to be doing many more e-book hauls on Dead Book Darling: they’ll be entitled “Feed My Reader”. Though still not my preferred method of reading, I do love the convenience and manageability of e-books.
Readathon Season
Hunting Ground by Patricia Briggs
I took part, once again, in the glorious Dewey’s 24-hour readathon. It was an absolute blast and really helped break me back into the reading habit! I loved the hourly challenges, my favourite, of course, being my own. Check out the Show it Off! Challenge I hosted for a peek at some bookish treasures that participants shared!
The Books
This month was a pretty good one (thank you readathon!). I read:
- Angelfall (Penryn & the End of Days #1) by Susan Ee (review here)
- The Adventures of Superhero Girl by Faith Erin Hicks
- Hunting Ground (Alpha & Omega, #2) by Patricia Briggs
- Blue-Blooded Vamp (Sabina Kane, #5) by Jaye Wells
- Rush (The Game, #1) by Eve Silver
My favourite was – surprise surprise – Briggs’ Hunting Ground. That woman can do no wrong (though her publishers can, a fact I covered in #Publisherfail). I was slightly disappointed by Blue-Blooded Vamp, which wasn’t quite as fierce as its predecessors. The Adventures of Superhero Girl wins the title of “most unexpectedly awesome book”. It was unexpectedly awesome – a fierce, feminist, generation 2.0 read. Loved it.
by Kay | Jun 21, 2013 | Shelf Absorbed |
In this month’s (double) wind-up: BEA-palooza, books continue to glare, and Marissa Meyer does the best version of Little Red Riding Hood known to man.
The Events
April and May were the best months of my literary year: not only did I get to meet the brilliant Michael Grant, I also attended Book Expo America. My recaps of these events were numerous and detailed. Check them out:
The Reads
My favourite book of the past two months was – by far – Scarlet by Marissa Meyer. I don’t know WHY I haven’t reviewed it yet, as I had so many overwhelmingly positive feelings about it. (Although, same goes for The Fault in Our Stars, which I am still trying to work out how to review coherently.) Scarlet came off of my April TBR pile and made everything else I picked up pale in comparison.
In May, I set out to read a whole tonne of books that were the final installments in my favourite series. Out of the TBR pile, I finished off the Vampire Academy series, the Soul Screamers series and… that’s it. I blame BEA for distracting me so thoroughly from this noble attempt of mine!! Still, I feel very good about having Last Sacrifice off of my TBR pile. That book has been glaring at me for years now.
The Non-bookish (ahem, TV)
I’ve been loving Elementary and Game of Thrones these past few months. The former I had hoarded on my computer awaiting my trip to New York – it was a great, Sherlockian preview of the city. As for Game of Thrones, who isn’t watching that? No really, if you aren’t watching it, let me know so that I can convince you of the error of your ways.
Summer Shorts
I had some very intense exams early June, hence the slow postings, but I shall be on full-time this summer starting with the return of the Summer Shorts. This is my weekly summer feature (every weekend, July and August), in which I review fantastic YA and Speculative Fiction short stories. The 2013 edition of Summer Shorts will have a bit of extra engagement in it, so look out for how you can participate!
