Tag: book

Bookish Christmas Book Tag! | Blogmas Day 13

Happy Day 13! Only 12 more sleeps until Christmas! I’m doing a tag today. I found it on Whimsically Meghan‘s blog, so go check it out!

Father Christmas: Name a book you received as a child that you treasure to this day.

I Choose You by Tracey West. This was one of the first ‘chapter’ books I owned. My parents got it for me when I was nine or so, and I still have it, along with most of the rest of the original series. As far as I know the series is still going and has like a million books in it now.

The Ghost of Christmas Past: Is there a book or series you like to revisit each year at Christmas time?

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson gets a reread from me every few years or so, and now that I have a kid I can read it to him too. It’s one of those beginner reader books, and honestly it could count as an answer for the first question, too.

Christmas Tree: Name a series that reaches new heights with every entry.

Robin Hobb’s Realm of the Elderlings series definitely does. Pictured on the right is book uh… eight, and my personal favorite. There are sixteen books total and every single one is worth the read. They’re wonderful.

Friends and Family: Name a book with fantastic characters.

The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie has such interesting characters. Like this first book honestly is mostly set up but the characters keep it interesting. Some of them I love and some I hate and some I hated and then grew to love.

Decorations: Name a book with a gorgeous cover you would proudly display on your shelves.

If We Were Villains by M. L. Rio – Just look how lovely it is!

Christmas Cards: Name a book that carries a great message.

Our Dining Table by Ori Mita does. It has love and togetherness and acceptance and recovery and all sorts of things. And it’s sweet to boot.

Ice and Snow: Name a book that you were hoping to love but which ultimately left you feeling cold.

I Hate Fairyland by Skottie Young I had really high hopes for. It’s so colorful and neat looking but I ended up not enjoying it.

Christmas Lunch: Name a book that was big and intimidating but oh so worth it in the end.

The Gene by Siddhartha Mukherjee comes in at just under 600 pages and normally that’s not too bad for me, but I chose it because it’s nonfiction, which is always intimidating to me. This book was super good though, very interesting.

Mince Pies: Name a book you found sweet and satisfying.

Senlin Ascends by Josiah Bancroft was really, really good. It ended up on my favorites list of… I don’t remember what year. It was at least a few years ago, but I still think about it. What I really loved about this book was the setting. It was just so neat!

Presents: What book do you wish you could give everyone to read?

Literally anything by Robin Hobb

Spreading the Festive Cheer: Tag some friends to help spread the festive bookish love.

Pbtbt!

If you wanna do this tag, you’re tagged.

Until tomorrow, peeps!

Collective Book Haul: March-August, and a buying ban!

So considering I disappeared in March, I haven’t hauled books in a while, so here’s what I’ve acquired over the last half year or so:

These are the books from March-April-ish. Five manga, four books. The Assassin’s Quest is signed!

From May-June or so. A lot of manga this time around. I ended up finding the rest of Saiyuki second hand and had to get it all. I also picked up some fantasy but when do I not.

A lot of manga again this time – I finished out Waiting For Spring and Saiyuki, and now own them all. I also picked up a book for a new buddy read and a new release and a book for reread and blah de blah.

These were two out of the three last books I bought before going on my ban. The other one – not pictured – is Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse.

The ban

As mentioned in the title, I’m doing a buying ban. I do one of these every year, usually for two to three months – there’s no real reason usually, aside from ‘just because’ but this year I have an actual reason. My book room is being dismantled and the books moved to the living room. I had to purge a bunch of them to downsize to fit, and I don’t want to bring any more into the house until after the move is complete, which will be at the end of this month, beginning of next month, roughly. So it’s a shorter ban than usual, but it’s still a ban.

And today is my birthday and it’s the first time in like a decade I didn’t go to the bookstore to celebrate :p I should have thought this through. It’s ok, I’ll live.

And that’s it! Happy reading

Bookshelf Tour 2021!

It’s second-to-last-day-of-Blogmas! Today’s post is my updated book collection!

Overview of book room:

I’m pretty happy with how it is. The nonfiction has been moved to the hallway, and honestly most of it is my husband’s, so I’m not gonna bother going over it. For the two piles shown in the last picture, the left two are books that have been purged. I’ll be dropping them off at my sister in law’s free little library. The two piles on the right are books I’ve borrowed from friends and family.

Manga and graphic novels

You can see my 10 in 2021 books on top in that last pic there. In addition to the manga shown, I have quite a few lent out. Not shown are: Ten Count 6, Rave Master 1-10, Demon Diary 1-7, Delicious in Dungeon 1-4, Inuyasha 1-5, The Way of the House Husband 1-2, Pandora Hearts 1, Trigun 1-2, Trigun Maximum 1-4, and Tokyo Ghoul 1-4 (though Tokyo Ghoul isn’t mine – it’s my husband’s).

Fiction:

Right now, my shelves are ordered by read and unread, followed by author (more or less). The last pic is what I’m currently reading and a couple books on the back-burner. Like the manga, I also have a lot of fiction lent out. Not shown: Uprooted, The Bear and the Nightingale, House of Leaves, Assassin’s Apprentice, Assassin’s Quest, Senlin Ascends, The Traitor Baru Cormorant, The Poppy War, Six of Crows, Crooked Kingdom, King of Scars, Throne of Glass, and Isle of Blood.

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And that’s it! Those are my books as of today. Tomorrow is Blogmas day Last!

 

The book addiction tag!

Hi! A tag today! I wasn’t tagged but I found the thing here!

1. What is the longest amount of time you can comfortably go without picking up a book?

Honestly, months. It hasn’t happened in years though, that I’ve gone that long without reading.

2. How many books do you carry on your person (physical or device) at any one time?

Usually just one. I read more than one at once, but I tend to only have one on me.

3. Do you keep every book you buy/receive or are you happy to pass them on to make space for more?

I purge like crazy. I keep a book if I either really liked it or if it’s something I can’t stop thinking about, even if I disliked it. Otherwise I get rid of ones I disliked and don’t care about, or ones I haven’t read but lost all interest in.

4. How long would you spend in a bookshop on a standard visit?

Assuming I don’t know what I want ahead of time, anywhere between 30 minutes and 2 hours

5. How much time per day do you actually spend reading?

Between 0 minutes and 12 hours, depending on the day. During the work week maybe about a half hour a day? On the weekends I can get in a lot more.

6. Where does the task “picking up a book” appear on your daily to-do list?

It doesn’t. It’s not a task. If it was I wouldn’t enjoy it as much.

7. How many books do you reckon you own in total (include ebooks)?

Over 1000. With ebooks though I’m not sure of the exact number. It might add 20 or 30.

8. Approximately how often do you bring up books in conversation?

It depends on who I’m talking to! If it’s a friend I know reads, a lot. If it’s not, I don’t.

9. What is the biggest book (page count) you have finished reading?

According to Goodreads, A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin, coming in at 1179 pages. This one took me a bit.

10. Is there a book you had to get your hands on against all odds (searched bookstore, online digging, stalked author, etc.)?

Fruits Basket vol 23 by Natsuki Takaya. It’s the final volume in the series and out of print. When the anime was rebooted, the manga went from hard to find to downright impossible. I found this one though. I paid four times list price for it, but I did find it.

Four times might sound like a lot, but now the price has shot up way more. So I’m glad I bought it when I did.

Also wtf, who thinks it’s ok to stalk an author?

11. Is there a book you struggled to finish because you refused to DNF?

Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James. It was not a book for me, but I finished it. It even sparked a discussion post on DNF-ing books. I was so torn.

12. What are 3 (some) of your main book goals for 2020 or 2021 (if you’ve started planning)?

For 2021, read at least 40 novels and as many manga as I can manage (I’ll probably set my Goodreads goal to 100 total), knock my physical fiction TBR down to 170, and knock my manga TBR down by 50 (I have no idea what it’s at now).

13. Have you ever had the privilege of converting someone into a reader (by inspiration or your incessant nagging)?

I’ve gotten non-readers to read books, but didn’t fully convert them, no.

14. Describe what books mean to you in FIVE words.

They keep me pretty entertained.

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And that’s it! If you’d like to do this tag, consider yourself tagged!

Fantasy Bingo 2020-21 | Update 3

Copy of Book Tag(1)

It’s October now! Back in August, I made an update 2, and in June, an update 1 to a post I originally made in April when r/Fantasy’s Fantasy Bingo began.

If you’re interested in participating and want to know the full details, here is the 2020 announcement thread about it. And here is the list of recommendations, crowd sourced by all the participants!

New additions:

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson – This one only filled one category, and that was the Goodreads readalong one. Apparently the group read it back in October of 2018, so I lucked out.

The Harp of Kings by Juliet Marillier – This one fits in two places: politics and feminist, so it might get moved around before the end of the bingo challenge – it’ll all depend on what else I read in the meantime.

Only two new additions here. I read a lot of books but unfortunately they are from an author I’ve already used on the bingo card, don’t fit any categories, or plain just aren’t fantasy/sci-fi books. So I’m hoping after the new year to really focus on this so I can finish it by the end of March. I’d really like to do it this time around.

If you’re participating, do let me know! Happy reading!

Top Ten Tuesday: Book Quotes!

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by ThatArtsyReaderGirl!

Today’s topic is quotes! Honestly this one’s kind hard for me: I don’t typically tab my books or anything, nor do I underline quotes or whatever. So I don’t have ten, I have seven, pbtbtbt. Also, these are in no particular order, except the last, which is my favorite.

When you tear out a man’s tongue, you are not proving him a liar, you’re only telling the world you fear what he might say.

George R. R. Martin, A Clash of Kings

Could there be irony crueler than this? How, upon his rescue, the truth had brought him here, to a house for the mad, for only a madman believes what every child knows to be true: There are monsters that lie in wait under our beds.

Rick Yancey, The Monstrumologist

My mother said I broke her heart…but it was my integrity that was important. Is that so selfish? It sells for so little, but it’s all we have left in this place. It is the very last inch of us…but within that inch we are free.

Alan Moore, V For Vendetta

When considering a man’s motives, remember you must not measure his wheat with your bushel. He may not be using the same standard at all.

Robin Hobb, The Assassin’s Apprentice

The internet is amazing because it connects us with one another. But it’s also horrific because . . . it connects us with one another.

Felicia Day, You’re Never Weird on the Internet

More than anything else in the universe, more than power to dictate law at Taranoke, more than the knowledge of the count of stars in the sky, Baru wanted in that moment to speak the truth.

But she had no tongue for it. She had burnt all her truth away. Alloyed it into the machine.

Seth Dickinson, The Traitor Baru Cormorant

Senlin loved nothing more in the world than a warm hearth to set his feet upon and a good book to pour his whole mind into. While an evening storm rattled the shutters and a glass of port wine warmed in his hand, Senlin would read into the wee hours of the night. He especially delighted in the old tales, the epics in which heroes set out on some impossible and noble errand, confronting the dangers in their path with fatalistic bravery. Men often died along the way, killed in brutal and unnatural ways; they were gored by war machines, trampled by steeds, and dismembered by their heartless enemies. Their deaths were boastful and lyrical and always, always more romantic than real. Death was not an end. It was an ellipsis. There was no romance in the scene before him. There were no ellipses here. The bodies lay upon the ground like broken exclamation points.

Josiah Bancroft, Senlin Ascends

September book and manga haul #44 – and a book buying ban!

So September, I got more books – particularly manga – than I planned. I mean, I planned on getting them anyways, don’t get me wrong, but a good chunk of these I was planning on getting in August. They just didn’t come in time. I turned 30 last month and in lieu of a party (plague aaaaah) I made myself two huge book orders online. I made these orders in July mind you, so I could have them for my bday. But the one didn’t show up until mid-September, so technically they’re birthday books. So keep that in mind. I’ll point them out when I get to them.

The rest though? Yeah no totally went nutso this month, hence the ban, which I’ll get to at the end of the post.

This is everything I got this month:

The Books

  • The Dark Mirror by Juliet Marillier – Honestly I don’t know what this is about. It’s Juliet Marillier though and she’s basically auto-buy for me. I’m positive I’m gonna love this, considering I’ve loved every other book I’ve read by her.
  • The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling – This one I’ve heard pretty creepy things about. It’s like a scifi horror thriller? Halloween read? If anyone has this and wants to buddy read, do let me know!
  • I also got a cat bookmark. I like it, it’s a cat.

  • A Dance With Fate by Juliet Marillier – Again, Juliet Marillier. I bought this on release day with my buddy and we’re currently buddy reading it – should be finishing up within the next day or so!
  • A Reaper at the Gates by Sabaa Tahir – I’ve been waiting for this one to come out in paperback. When it did I picked it up right away, and now I can binge the three books that are out so far. I’ve already read the first one but it’s been years. I remember loving it though so hopefully I like the next two as well.

  • The Tyrant Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson – This is one of my most anticipated books of the year, man. I love this series so far, and with my ban coming up, I knew I wanted to get this one before it started, so I did. I do need to reread the second book before getting into this one, but man I am so excited. It arrived today and it’s so thiiiiiiick ❤

  • Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer – This one has been on my radar for literally years. I saw it used and about gasped. I snatched up this puppy so fast, man.
  • My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand – Again, a used purchase. I’ve heard this book is pretty funny, and that it’s based off of historical events? Should be entertaining.

The Manga

  • Waiting For Spring vols 5-7 by Anashin – I really enjoyed vols 1-4 of this, so I’m hoping it keeps being all fluffy like it has been! These were all birthday manga.
  • Spy x Family vols 1-2 by Tatsuya Endo – This is a new one for me: I’ve heard only good things about it so my hopes are high! Vol 1 of this was birthday manga.

  • Kakuriyo vols 4-6 by Waco Ioka – This is a series I’ve been raving about recently. I wrote a blabber on the first two volumes if you’re interested. I am very, very happy to have these. These were all birthday manga.
  • Silver Spoon vols 5-6 by Hiromu Arakawa – This is a series I’ve been slowly making my way through for a while. I wrote a blabber on vol 1 back when I first started it. Since then it’s only gotten better! These were all birthday manga.

  • Noragami vol 4 by Adachitoka – This is another series I’m slowly making my way through. I hasn’t 100% gripped me yet but it’s interesting and definitely has potential, so I know I could still end up loving it!
  • Kamisama Kiss vol 1 by Julietta Suzuki – This is a new one, purchased totally on a whim, if I’m being honest. I find some of the best manga that way so hopefully this is one of those.
  • The Way of the House Husband vol 4 by Kousuke Oono – Continuing this series, I love it. It’s so wholesome and hilarious.

  • Candy Color Paradox vols 3-4 by Isoku Natsume –  Another series I’ve grown rather fond of. It’s nice and cute. These were all birthday manga.
  • Yarichin Bitch Club vol 3 by Tanaka Ogeretsu – This is a series that’s so entertaining. It’s absolutely insane, so don’t go into expecting like… plot. Hah. This was a birthday manga.
  • Given vols 2-3 by Natsuki Kizu – This is the opposite though: Lots of plot and wonderfulness. I really, really like this series. These were all birthday manga.

  • Takane & Hana vol 4 by Yuki Shiwasu – This is another one of those ‘has potential but not 100% sold’ series. I’m getting this one vol at a time because of that. It’s decent so far though.
  • Graineliers vol 1 by Rihito Takarai – This was a really, really interesting one, I’m glad I picked it up. It’s definitely not quite what I was expecting, but I ended up really liking it at the same time. Definitely gonna get more of this one after the ban.
  • Act-Age vol 2 by Tatsuya Matsuki – This one I picked up after rather enjoying the first one. I ended up liking this one too, though not quite as much as volume 1. We’ll see if vol 3 ever is even translated.
  • A Man & His Cat vol 2 by Umi Sakurai – This one I was really looking forward to. Volume 1 was so sweet and cute and wholesome, and I’m sure those themes continue here.

And that’s it for books and manga! As you can see, I got a fair few. Hence:

The Book Buying Ban

So, for the last few years, I made it a reading resolution to do a 2-3 month book buying ban. I think a few years ago, I even did a 4 month one. I’m actually really good at sticking to the bans. I figured I’d give myself a break this year, and didn’t schedule one, didn’t think I needed one.

Well, apparently, I do. My TBR goal this year is in danger of being failed, so this ban is to help me out with that.

I’ve never broken one, and I don’t expect it to change this time either. After this latest haul, my unread physical novels number at 241. My goal for end of year is 200. So obviously if I keep buying books I’m not gonna make that. (And honestly I might not make it now. In addition to needing to really focus on reading more, I will also likely need to do a purge.)

If I do a purge, I can already think of a handful of books I’ll probably drop: ones I’ve owned for literal years and never picked up. We’ll see what happens.

Regardless, I need to just not buy anymore books for a while.

So from today until December 15th, I’m on a ban. And because of that there won’t be any hauls in October or November. December will likely have one because of Christmas, but I’ll be off my ban by then anyways, and won’t be counting Christmas gifts towards this year’s goal. I’ll throw them on Jan 1st for next year’s goal instead.

As stated, I’ve never failed one of these. If you go through my post history, you can see past bans and see that I’ve always completed them. So if you do see me hauling books this fall, do call me out on it. I mean I’m pretty certain I’ll be fine, but there’s nothing like the threat of internet shame to keep me in line, right?

So lemme know what you think about these books! Lemme know what you think about the ban! Happy reading!

 

Coffee Time: The fate of my book haul books #9

Happy Saturday! Today’s topic is another fate of my book haul books post. In this, I look at book hauls of the past and see if I ever actually read them, and whether I still even own them.

Today is the ninth post of this variety, so we’ll be looking at book haul #9, posted back on June 2, 2016. If you want to look at past book haul fates, check out my list of Coffee Time posts.

This is what I hauled back then:

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Old Man’s War by John Scalzi – Owned, unread

I honestly don’t remember where I bought this, I’ve had it so long. I am still interested in reading it though, so I won’t be getting rid of it any time soon.

Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham – Owned, unread

This is a nonfiction book, and we all know how slow I am about picking those up. I think it’ll be interesting though. I have a post in mind that I wanna do at some point that this book would be included in, so I think I’ll save it for then.

I Used to Know That Science by Marianne Taylor – Unhauled, unread

I think I picked this up for a dollar or two at an overstock store, thinking ‘hey maybe someday’. And then I had to do a purge because I was running out of shelf space and suddenly ‘someday’ wasn’t pressing enough, haah.

Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson – Owned, unread

I own a lot of Stephenson books weirdly, but have only read a couple. This is one of the ones I still haven’t got to – it’s book one in a trilogy of huge, fat books, so it’s a bit intimidating if I’m being honest.

Embassytown by China Mieville – Owned, read

This one, I have read. And honestly I still think about it. It was just so… strange. In a good way, mind you. But the world it created has really stuck with me, and it pops into my head on occasion still, regardless of the fact that I read it years ago.

A Million Suns and Shades of Earth by Beth Revis – Owned, unread

So this one’s hard. The reason I haven’t read these yet is because they’ve been in my purge pile a few times now, and I only pulled it back last second. I own all three, and have read none. I want to at least give the first one a try, but it never actually enters my head to do so. If you’ve read this series, do let me know what you think.

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Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb – Owned, read

Man, have I read this book. Little did I know at the time that Robin Hobb, through this series, would become my favorite author. I loved this book, and all the ones she’s written since then. Augh if I could go back and read these again for the first time. auuuuugh.

Caliban’s War by James S. A. Corey – Owned, mostly read

So, this is ‘mostly read’ because I’m about three fourths of the way through it, yet I haven’t picked it up in months. This is why I didn’t mark it ‘currently reading’ because I’m not currently reading it. I am reading it though, and liking it. I do plan on continuing the series – it’d be nice if I could get so far that I was ahead of where the tv show is. That’s why I set this aside – I ended up watching the tv show and didn’t want the repeitition of plot so close together. But I will pick this back up and finish it at some point.

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And that’s it! If you’ve read any of the above, do let me know. This one was a pretty bad one – only a few read. But on the plus side, there was only one or two unhauled, so at least I’m still interested in the majority of them, right? RIGHT?

Over 30 book tag!

Happy Saturday! A tag today, now that I’m old enough to do it. This tag was created by Inknotblood.

1. Name one of your favorite books that features a protagonist who is thirty years old or older.

I didn’t like how hard it was to answer this question. Out of the hundreds of books I’ve read, I found like four or five that actually fit this prompt, and on top of that, none of the protagonists were women.

I need me some 30 year old lady books, please recommend some.

So I picked Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames. This book was rather entertaining.

2. Name a book that represents who you were when you were younger.

For this one I chose Inuyasha by Rumiko Takahashi, because it was such an integral part of my teenagerdom. Both through the manga and the anime, I gained a lot of friends who I’ve traveled the world to meet, I became involved in online fandom, and it was definitely a gateway series into my now huge interest in manga and anime.

Man at 15, this was my jam. (It still is my jam, let’s be real)

3. Name a book that represents where you are in your life now.

The first one that came to mind is Wotakoi by Fujita. Granted I’m about five years old than the characters, and I’m married while they are in the dating stage, but the themes of this manga match my life pretty well.

The characters have desk jobs which take up a large part of their day, and then in the evenings they either play video games or read manga and drink beer.

And like, that’s pretty much it, to be honest. Hah.

4. Name a book that represents something that has never changed about you.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, and this is for the simple reason that ever since I was little I’ve loved Christmas. If you’ve followed my blog for any length of time I’m sure you’ve picked up this tidbit of information. I do blogmas every year and do holiday theme stuff and all sorts.

I love getting into the season and I always have.

5. Name one of your favorite classics.

I don’t read too many classics, which is a shame, because when I do read them I tend to like them. I feel like I need a buddy read to get me motivated, bwah.

One of my favorites though, is Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. I read this back in high school for an English class (huge buddy read, makes sense in retrospect) and really liked it.

 6. Name a book you like or would like to read that was published in the year you were born.

I’ve got three! All of these were published in 1990, and all three I physically own in some capacity (the middle one is technically my husband’s but same diff). The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan, which is the start to the well known huge, intimidating Wheel of Time series, Nightfall by Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg, which is a sci-fi novel based on I believe a short story of Asimov’s, and Dragon Wing by Margaret Weis, which I picked up in the midst of my 90s fantasy kick but never actually got to. I have a sneaking suspicion that I’ll love it, though.

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And that’s it! If you’re 30 or older, I tag you. Peer pressure, do it.