In preparation of the upcoming season of Sherlock, I’m going to read a new adaptation on the Sherlock Holmes Stories.
What I’m Reading Now: A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro
Reply
My Top 10 Books I read in 2016
I will say this about 2016, I read a lot of good books this year. It was hard to narrow it down to just 10. So without further ado and in no particular order.
Hammer of Thor by Rick Riordan – So it was hard to pick between this one and his other book Riordan wrote, The Hidden Oracle, but I choose this one because of the characters. I love that Rick has added diverse characters to his worlds. Not to mention his characters get sassier with every book.- A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir – A cross between historical fiction and dystopian novel. It’s quite a thrill ride and it left a real cliffhanger as to how the series is going to end.
- A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas – After a so-so first book this one was a real game changer for the series as a hole. It delved into matters trauma and emotional abuse but still keep the story flowing.
- The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater – It’s Maggie and It’s Gansey, Blue, Ronan, Adam and Noah. It’s the perfect ending to a perfect story.
Half Lost by Sally Green – It was as beautiful as it was heartbreaking. Nate didn’t have an easy life and nothing about this book was easy too. It was very true to life. It doesn’t always turn out the way you expect and in war there are always painful loses.- Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard – Now this is a fun series. It’s a dystopian fantasy with X-Men qualities. Mare is not perfect. She’s complicated and conflicting but she means well and the writing only gets better with each book.
- Pyromantic by Lish McBride – This book doesn’t actually come out until next year so I’ll wait to tell you about it but let’s just say you are going to love it.
- Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo – It’s a crime caper and a fantasy. You root for the the thieves and the con men to win. It’s wonderful.
- Ms. Marvel No Normal by G. Willow Wilson – likable and charming, Kamala Khan is worthy addition to the Avengers. She proves that it doesn’t matter where you come from and what you believe, you can still be a superhero.
- The Midnight Star by Marie Lu – Another great ending to well thought out series. I may have qualms about who the real villain was but I think it was heartbreaking as it was beautiful.
Review: Ms. Marvel No Normal by G. Willow Wilson
You don’t need to be a girl, Muslim or a superhero to identify with Kamala Khan. She’s your typical teenage girl living in the world of social media and SAT’s. She wants to fit in with the kids at school but also please her family. She wants to be her own person and not be defined by her gender, race or religion. She wants to make a difference and help people and when she is given that chance she jumps right in. Kamala lives in Jersey City, NJ and loves the Avengers. She even writes fan-fiction about them, which I would really love to read. Are those anywhere online? Like all parents, her parents want the best of her and to them that means that she follows her Islamic teachings and listen to her parents. Kamala is a girl fof both worlds, she is a Muslim but also an American teenager. She wants to go to parties and do normal teenage things. One night she sneaks out of her house to go to a party when a mysterious fog rolls in. Soon Kamala is having a vision of Captain Marvel and she finds out that she has morphed into Carol Danvers old identity of Ms. Marvel. A not so nice girl from the party is in trouble she saves here. When the brother of his best friend, Bruno, gets into some big trouble Kamala uses her new powers to help. Bruno is also a genius and just so happened to developed a new compound that makes her clothes stretch when she does. To say that Kamala is likable would be an understatement. When she gains her powers she doesn’t shy away from them but embraces them. Just like her heroes, she doesn’t hesitate to help those in need. Even when of those is the girl that just made fun of her earlier in the evening. I’ve already bought the other volumes in this series. I can’t wait to read them.
What I’m Listening to: Field of Fight by Michael T. Flynn
Image
Our Top 5 Posts of 2016
2016 was a mix bag of a year but let’s focus on the positives,shall we? This year was a banner year for us at Stacks. In the last weeks of the year we are going to take a look back of some of our highlights. So here are our most viewed posts of the past year.
- Review: Half Lost by Sally Green Who knew this was going to be such big crowd pleaser? This book really broke my heart. The ending was so beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time. I originally reviewed this back in January but we are still getting views.
- Preview of the Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan So this post is originally from 2015 but the excitement over Riordan’s new book carried over into 2016. It’s views more then doubled my review of the book. I’ll try not to read too much into that. 😉
- Discussion: The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater Part 1 My excitement over the The Raven King was subtle. Okay, not so subtle. This was the first of a week long celebration of Stiefvater’s The Raven Cycle series. I examined different aspects of the series and tried to predict what was going to happen in the final book.
- Review: Endure by Sara B. Larson Another surprising addition to the list. This review from January about the final book in Sara B. Larson’s book was a pretty good series.
- Discussion: The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater Part 2 and rounding out our top five is Part 2 of my The Raven Cycle love fest.
What I’m Also Reading Now: Ms. Marvel No Normal by G. Willow Wilson
B&N had a sale on Marvel and DC comics, buy 2 get the 3rd one free. So, I got this one, the latest collection of Black Panther and Vol. 1 of A Force. Super excited to read about new and different heroes!
Supporting Small Presses
Last year, completely by accident, I discovered that small presses sometimes offer subscriptions. What better way to support books, publishing and literacy? You buy a subscription and they send books as soon as they come out! Amazing!
So, I did some googling around and here are three small presses who offer subscriptions.
Sibling Rivalry Press is a publisher of poetry. They are a publisher devoted to “[promoting] underground artistic talent – those who don’t quite fit into the mainstream.” I’ve not read anywhere near enough of this year’s subscription, but everything I’ve read I’ve really enjoyed.
Above/ground press seems to have their fingers in a lot of different publishing pies. (That’s exciting if you, like me, like to read around.) Their subscription includes a number of different types of things (chapbooks and broadsheets and who knows what else?) It seems pretty cool.
Burrow Press‘s subscription includes their physical books, ebooks and a membership pin. There are four titles listed at the link that are slated to come out in 2017 and who knows what else will be added?
The only one that I have subscribed to before was Sibling Rivalry and that was delightful. The other two look pretty good as well. Have you done a subscription to a small press before? Did you like it? Do you have any subscription suggestions for us? Take to the comments and let us know!
Diverse Stacks, Diverse Lives 2016
Kate and I have given updates on our Challenges and well we are not doing as well as both of would like. We want to know, dear readers, how many of you attempted our Diverse Stack, Diverse Lives Reading Challenge? With only 31 days left how many books have you read and how many more do you need to complete yours? We are thinking of doing this again next year but changing the focus to only on sub-challenge instead of three. We are open to suggestions. What should we add to next years challenge? What should we leave off? Let us know how we can make next year’s challenge more accessible while still helping us all reach our goals of diversifying our reading lists.
Only 32 Days left in 2016, How are your other reading goals going?
With only 32 days left I’ve pretty much conceded that I will not finish my Diverse Stacks, Diverse Lives Challenge. Sigh. I will obviously have to work harder next year but I am only 3 books away from my Goodreads Challenge of reading 65 books this year. I’ve actually read more then 65 books this year but since Goodreads only counts you are reading for the first time and not books you’ve read before. That’s kind of a bummer but whatever. It is what it is. I’ve been doing the Goodreads Challenge since 2011 and every year I’ve read a little less every year. In 2012 I read 94 books and last year only read 68. I’m a little sad that I don’t read as much as I used too. I don’t read at home as much as I have in the past. I mostly only read on the ride too and from work. I think that explains why my book totals have lowered in the last couple of years. That being said, reading an average of 77 books a year for the last 5 years is pretty good. And the whole point of the challenge is to set a goal and try to complete it and I am 3 books away from this year goal and only 32 days to finish it. So this a long ranting post and round about way to ask how close are you to any of your reading goals or challenges? Have you finished any of yours yet? Give us a shout at let us know.
Review: First Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones
I knew this before but my Mom has good taste because this book was delightful. Charley Davidson is not just a Private Investigator, she’s also a Grim Reaper. Sorry, not just a Grim Reaper, she’s THE Grim Reaper. Which isn’t such a terrible job one might imagine. She just helps the departed cross over to the other side. Also being the Grim Reaper and a PI, she is also her detective uncle’s secret weapon when it comes to solving crimes since she can see the dead and you know, ask them who killed them. It sort of cheating but whatever. When we meet Charley, she’s been called by her Uncle Bob to help her with a new homicide. It soon develops into more then just a simple triple homicide but something all together. Too complicate things even more, Charley has been having these super realistic dreams that may not be something more supernatural. Charley now in a race of time to solve a mysterious deaths of her dead clients, figure out her dreams and stop people from trying to kill her over and over again. Charley is smart, funny and sarcastic. My kind of person. The cast of characters are fun and fill out the story but Charley is the real star of the story. She is strong and independent but still carries the scars of years people thinking she was crazy but it doesn’t stop her from keep trying to help people, dead or alive. There is one case in here that is truly sad and heartbreaking and you really feel for not only Charley who truly felt she was helping but for her client as well. Sadly, just like in real life not everything turns out the way we want them too. That said, I’m really looking forward to the next book. If anyone is on the fence about this one, I say just jump in! Especially fans of Sookie Stackhouse. There may not be Vampires, Werewolves and such but fill of supernatural beings, colorful cast of characters and wonderful female protagonist.
