Gratitude 2015

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Image from Books on the Nightstand

 

Yesterday, Beth gave us her list of things she is grateful for this year and now I am going to share what I am grateful for.  I am so grateful for this blog.  Having this space to share my thoughts about the books I’m reading and knowing that other people actually read it is surprising and humbling and wonderful.  I love reading and I love talking about books and I’m so happy to have a place to do that.  Thank you for stopping by!

 

I am grateful for audible. In this past year I have doubled the number of books in my audio book library and I’ve listened to more books but I have read.  Being able to listen while I drive, cook, clean and work out at the gym has been a nice distraction from a whole bunch of necessary activity I don’t normally enjoy. As a PhD student, audio books have given me a way to keep up with something I love without feeling guilty about eating into time I could be working on my dissertation.  Multi-tasking, FTW!

 

I am grateful for the Buffalo and Erie County Public Libraries. Like Beth, I have eleventy billion books in my house and I do not need any more books in my house.  For now. The library has helped me keep my book habit in check by giving me so many options to check out. I love the library! I love the library’s website! I (mostly) have loved the books I have borrowed this year!

 

I am thankful for book groups and reading assignments.  I wouldn’t have read All the Light We Cannot See, Beauty Queens, Who Fears Death? (even though it was my pick for book club!), and all of Rainbow Rowell’s books if it had not been for book club and the pop culture homework assignment. I am so grateful for both of those things because I really enjoyed all of those books.

We hope that you have a happy holiday season! We also wish you happy reading! Thank you for sharing our reads with us!

Dark Reads for Black Friday

The day after Thanksgiving is a much advertised shopping holiday here in the States: Black Friday. It’s a day full of sales and, if you’ve ever worked retail, full of awful people who don’t know what they want and/or don’t know how to be nice about it. Depending on the side of the fence you are on, it can be a dark day full of dark deeds. To get us all in the spirit of this terrible and wonderful day, we’ve put together a cheeky little list of books you could be reading instead of being yet another warm body crushed into the mall. This list is part horror, part horrifying, part oddly hopeful: just like the holiday season.

1. The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories by H.P. Lovecraft
Scary monsters to haunt your nightmares from beyond the stars and below the sea. What could be worse than not finding the perfect gift this holiday season? Well, let Mr. Lovecraft tell you.


2. Coraline by Neil Gaiman
Coraline is a curious young lady exploring her family’s new apartment. What she finds is at first wonderful and strange. Then, it’s just strange. Maybe even dangerous and strange.

3. Fallen by Lauren Kate
Fallen angels, True Loves, and high school. What else do you need in your life? A Toaster?


4. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clark
In a world that is not our world two men try to restore magic in England. Don’t you wish there was magic in the world and you could just flick a wand and you’d be done Christmas shopping?


5. Dear John by Nicolas Sparks
This book might be the worst thing that ever happened to me. It’s hours worth of reading I can never get back. I don’t actually recommend reading it but if you wanted to know what real horror looks like to me its this: a lifetime trapped in Nicholas Sparks’ terrible and cliched prose.


6. Dracula by Bram Stoker
Dracula is a blood sucking fiend. Shopping is a soul sucking endeavor. You get the metaphor.

7. Hellblazer: Original Sins by Jamie Delano
John Constantine is the anti-hero’s anti-hero. He’s a terrible person. Hell, he’s more unlikeable than likeable. And, yet he’s necessary and compelling and chain smoking. If you’re seeing the devils of commerce everywhere, you may need a little Constantine in your life.


8. The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper

This is technically the second book in the cycle, but I’m not sure you’d actually miss the first book. Will Stanton must fight the Black Rider and a blizzard at the holiday season and find the six sign symbols. He’s only eleven years old, can he do it?

9. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Forgotten why we’re all doing this? Let Charles Dickens remind you in this classic tale. Bonus: The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come is the stuff of nightmares.

What I’m Thankful for 2015

Happy Thanksgiving to all who are celebrating today.  In keeping with tradition here at Stacks,  we are going to share what literary things we have been grateful for this year.  I’m going to go first.

I am thankful for my Nook Tablet.  Now this is something that I have never thought I would say.  I bought it because I got a heavy employee discount on it when it first came out but I haven’t used it all that much until this year.  Since leaving B&N, I’ve had to buy more books than I have ever had before.  I much prefer the real deal when it comes to reading but I have to admit the convenience of my Nook has its benefits.  The books themselves are cheaper.  I don’t have to get dressed to the bookstore.  I don’t have to wait for them to be delivered and they take up space in my apartment.  My place is already overrun with books as is.  Plus, my nook is a little easier to read on the train to work because it doesn’t take up as much space.  So thank you, Nook.  You will never fully replace books for me but you have come in handy.

I am thankful for #Weneedmorediversebooks movement.  It has made me aware of my own privilege which I never really thought about.  I’m sure if you look through the books that I read you will noticed that they are mostly all women but you also will noticed that they are also mostly all white.  And their characters are also mostly white as well.  I’ve been trying to be find more authors of color, who are from different backgrounds from me but also look for books with protagonists who are from different cultures.  I’ll admit that I still have work to do but I am trying.  Thank you for Sabaa Tahir, Marie Lu, Julie Kagawa and Nnedi Okorafor just to name a few.  I hope that 2016 will bring new authors and new voices.

I am thankful for book clubs because it forced me to read books that I probably would never have read on my own.  Also, it’s also fun to talk books with friends.

I’m thankful for J.K. Rowling’s twitter.  I’m thankful for her in general but following her on twitter just reaffirms everything I have ever thought about her and that I really want to be her friend.   She’s smart, quick, funny and does not suffer trolls.  She truly is a bright spot on the internet.

And finally I’m thankful for all you reading.  Kate and I started this blog for fun.  A way to keep connected and talk books but I think it’s fair to say it has passed our own expectations.  I thought that maybe a few of our real life friends would read it and comment but to have complete strangers from all over the world, like our blog and leave comments has been so much fun for us.  If it wasn’t for you, I’m not sure that Kate and I would have been as motivated to keep updating the blog.  So with complete sincerity, thank you.

Extra Reality This Month: Girl in a Band by Kim Gordon

I never felt cool enough to be a Sonic Youth fan. Or, I’m not sure I’ve ever really understood their music and I attributed my lack of understanding to how utterly uncool I am. But, I’ve always respected them as a band (and more than once my lack of understanding because me an opportunity to flirt with a musically inclined cutie.) Plus, Kim Gordon has always been kind of a feminist icon to me. She was a shining example of how a woman could succeed in a profession dominated by men. And, the fact that she succeeded and managed to maintain a relationship with talented hottie Thurston Moore just made her even more iconic. It’s a little unfair to pin so much hope to a relationship but I know a lot of people who looked at their marriage and thought, “If they can do it, we can do it.” and the world seemed surprised and disappointed when they announced they were divorcing. I was also disappointed. It seemed like the end of a era and maybe it was. I don’t know. So, when I heard that Gordon was writing a memoir I knew I had to read it.

The book chronicles her life starting with her childhood in California and takes us all the way to the present day with a kid in college in new projects post-band. Gordon talks a lot about her relationships with her parents and brother and her mentors and how that shaped who she was and how she ended up in a band. Kim Gordon, you may not know, went to art school and studied painting. (I didn’t know that.) So, this memoir is not just a story about a band or a story of how her marriage came together and fell apart. It is also an interesting look into the art world and how the New York of today grew up.

This was a really, really neat book that made me crave 90s music and to wander around Manhattan. It was really interesting to read what Gordon had to say about the music scene and the growing gallery culture of that time period. It was also really interesting to get a perspective from an older feminist on the world then and now. As I mentioned in on periscope, Kim Gordon is the same age is Beth’s and my mother and her feminism and my feminism are not the same. It is nice to be reminded that the movement has moved.

So, if you are interested in the music and art of the 80s and 90s, I definitely recommend it.

Fan Art

This post contains spoilers for Maggie Stiefvater’s Raven Cycle and Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke and Bone series.
I’ve been listening to Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater and I’ve really been enjoying it.  This is no surprise; I’ve read it before and Beth and I are avowed Maggie Stiefvater fan girls. One of the things that I really enjoy about rereading a book is that you get a chance to notice all the little things that the author sets up to sign post the direction of the narrative.  Noah is the smudgy boy, which at first I took to mean that he was like Pig Pen but now I’m starting to wonder if his smudge was more than that?  And, does the tension between the psychics mirror the tension that develops between the raven boys or foreshadow the covering and uncovering of secrets as the time goes on.  And, I didn’t notice the first read through that Blue is the page of cups (“So full of potential” they say.)  Coincidence that the one person that makes the leyline powerful is the one that is full of potential?  I think not. Oh, and there’s some nice, not-at-all subtext about Chain Saw and Ronan Lynch.  Anyway, today, I got to the part in Raven Boys where the death is.  And, it was heartbreaking again.  After that I thought for a minute about what kind of fan art I could make, if I wanted to, to honor this fallen soldier in the narrative. I’m a knitter and a tatter so my fan art would have to be something made with needles, shuttles and fiber.
This isn’t the first time I’ve thought about knitting something for a character.  If you’ve been with us for the full year you’ll know that Beth and I once had a…disagreement? moment of upset?  over a character’s death.  Back when the second Daughter of Smoke and Bone came out I fell in love with Akiva’s angel sibling Hazael.  And, while I read the book I sent a series of texts about my new book boyfriend to my sister who politely engaged my new obsession without a hint of what was to come.  She’s good about not ever spoiling anything, including your inevitable heartbreak. So, I was devastated when Hazael was slain at the end of the second book.  And, a little angry at my sister for not even a tiny hint that it was coming.  (I got her back for it, though.) After reading that I book I started my first fan art knitting project: a shawl I’m calling My Fallen Angel.
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For the knitters in the room, I am using the dreambird pattern by ravelry user Nadita Swings.  It is completely shaped by short rows, so it looks complicated but is pretty easy (as long as you don’t lose your place in the pattern).
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I am knitting it up in fingering weight palette yarn from knitpicks in the colors seraphim and hazelnut for the feathers and fairytale for the body.
Since I’ve been reading Raven Boys, in addition of thinking about what I could do for the dead, I’ve been musing about what a Blue Sargent sweater would look like.  I think it would need to have design features that look like rips and it would have to be made in bright colors.  In the meantime, if you’re as excited for the upcoming release of the fourth book as we are and you’re also a knitter you can try your hand at Alasdair Post-Quinn’s corvus pattern.
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It is double knit, so that can be challenging at the beginning and at the edges.  But, It is a cool pattern that’ll up your chart reading fu.
Are you the kind of fan that makes fan art? What is your favorite fan made piece? Hit us back in the comments!

Rereading Cinder by Marissa Meyer

cinderEarlier this month, we posed the question, should you reread the previous books before reading the final book in the series or just dive in.   Kate on the other hand has gone back to the beginning of The Raven CycleOf course, she still has five months until the final book The Raven King comes out.     I decided to go ahead and read Winter, the final book in the Lunar Chronicles.  Which was fantastic! I loved it so much that I decided to take my friend Valerie’s advice and read the last book and then go back to the beginning.  So I did and there were some things that I didn’t noticed or didn’t think were important at the time that now that I’ve read the whole series seems silly.  So let’s the observations begin. Obviously spoilers will follow.

  1. In almost every scene that has Sybil or Levana in it the narrative always points out that the blond guard behind them.  This of course is Jacin.  We don’t know that, in fact he is only named once in Cinder. It does bring up the question, if he’s just a guard then why spend so much time reminder the reader that he’s there.  It should have been the first clue that he would play a bigger role.
  2. How nonchalant Dr. Erland was in hearing that droids were harvesting id chips from letumosis victims. We learn in Cress that he is responsible for the genetics behind the Luna’s Wolf army so he probably knows or at least on some idea as to why the androids would be taking the chips, more then what he said.
  3. Adri selling off Iko.  She’s been sitting on a goldmine for years and didn’t know it.  I guess that is partly her husband’s fault for not telling her about his work, you know just in case something happens like catch the plague.  It also makes me wonder how involved she was in his work or in his life?  She seems to be like someone who married for comfort then love.  She is lucky that Cinder saved Iko.
  4. Why doesn’t anyone ask why Levana is so insistent on catching Cinder?  If Levana is so sure that she is just a shell or just another Lunar then why would she threatened war over her?  These are red flags people! did no one think, maybe we should look further into Cinder’s background, like how she got to earth in the first place.

Stay tuned for more observations for Scarlet.

What Would You Do?

I’m going  completely off topic but we said we were going to post a blog every day of November in honor of NaNoWriMo so I got post something.  I have to say we’ve been doing really well. With the exception of the one day that we sorta missed because technically one day we posted after midnight but I’m totally counting that since I doubt anyone noticed besides us.  Of course not now that I have pointed it out.  Anyway, I digress.  Recently my boss asked me, “What would I do if I was fired tomorrow?”  Which is kinda a scary question to asked by your boss.  Is she asking me because she’s going to fire me soon and wants to know I have plan? Am I being paranoid? After being assured that she wasn’t going to fire me, she was just curious.  She would probably go back school for culinary studies.  Not really surprising since I know she loves to cook.  Check out her blog.  Now for me, I have no idea.  I’m pretty sure if I were fired tomorrow, there would be a lot of panicking and a lot of crying.  It took me forever to find a job that paid enough for me to live off of here in New York.  The thought of having to go through that all over again is terrifying.  Would I move back to Iowa? Or move to Chicago?  It’s a lot closer to home then New York.  Maybe move in with Kate for a bit.  Go back to work for Barnes and Noble?  I have no idea what I would do.  She then asked,” what I would want to do?” If I could do anything, no matter how improbable, what would you do?  Hmm.. I would love to parlay this blog into a job?  Anyone want to pay to read and review books all day? When I was younger, I thought about a being a sportswriter. Why not start a sports blog or podcast?  I’ve been thinking about this question for about a week now and I still don’t know.  I guess I’m still going to have keep thinking.  What would you do if you were fired tomorrow?

Review: Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy by Cassandra Clare, Sarah Rees Brennan, Maureen Johnson and Robin Wasserman

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For the last 10 months, Cassandra Clare, Robin Wasserman, Maureen Johnson and Sarah Rees Brennan have been treating us with Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy. A set of short stories that follows one of Clare’s heroes, Simon Lewis, as he tries to learn how to be a Shadowhunter. I wrote about it a little but after the first book, Welcome to Shadowhunter Academy, came out.  This week marked the release of the tenth and final story in the series.  For those who are not familiar with Simon or Clare’s Mortal Instruments series, let me catch you up.  *Spoilers* When we first met Simon in City of Bones he was just a normal teenage boy in love with his best friend Clary.  Throughout the series, he goes from normal boy to normal boy among supernaturals beings to becoming a supernatural being himself, a Vampire, saving the world and then returning to a normal teenage boy with no memory of the supernatural world or his friends.  That is where we are now.  Simon, has been once again become aware that vampire, werewolves, warlocks, fairies and Shadowhunters exist.  After the wars of the two Mortal Instruments books are over, the Shadowhunters are depleted in numbers so they have reopened their academy and invited children of Shadowhunters as well as a few Mundanes to Ascend and join their ranks.  That is what Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy is about.  In 10 shorts stories, we follow Simon and his fellow students as they learn how to fight like a Shadowhunter and how to be like a Shadowhunter.  Special appearances from other characters from the Mortal Instruments as well as Clare’s other series, The Infernal Devices and upcoming series’ The Dark Artifaces and The Last hours, we learn more about the history of the Shadowhunters but also clues into what to expect in her new series.  It’s really just a good excuse to fill in a few gaps between the end of The Mortal Instruments and beginning of The Dark Artifaces. Also to give Clare’s readers something to read since the last book, City of Heavenly Fire came out last year and Lady Midnight doesn’t come out until Spring of next year.  However, I don’t think you are going to hear much complaining from fans.  They were fun, quick reads that give more insights to how the Clave, who govern Shadowhunters work, also gave us more time to hang out with one my favorite characters, Simon.  As expected with a collection like this not all the stories were good.  I felt some they didn’t know what to they put together a quick story with a couple of fan favorites and call it a day but others I felt were worth it.  One story I liked a lot was Bitter of Tongue.  In it, Simon is kidnapped by fairies and is saved by Mark Blackthorn, who has been stuck with faries since the last book.  Mark, who is half Shadowhunter and half fairy and because of this and what happened in the last war, the Shadowhunters have left him there and banished his sister, Helen to exile.  When Simon comes back he goes to Helen’s wedding.  It’s a heartbreaking story as they are being punished for no other reason then an accident of both.  Truly relevant to what is going on in the world.  It also gives Simon more motivation to become a Shadowhunter and make a change from the inside.  You can buy all 10 stories individually as ebooks or you can wait until next year where they will be combined together but for fans for Clare’s work it’s a must.

A Quick Series You Should Check Out: Chaos Walking Trilogy by Patrick Ness

knife neverI don’t remember what panel at Book Riot Live where they talked about what books they wanted to see turned into a movie but The Chaos Walking trilogy by Patrick Ness was one of their suggestions.  I full heartedly agree with this pick  The Chaos Walking Trilogy is cinematically epic story that it would make for a visually stunning filmed.  If done right of course.  The Chaos Walking Trilogy is made up of The Knife of Never Letting Go, The Ask and the Answer and Monsters of Men. Each is a tense, action packed novel that you will be thinking about long after you finish.  Todd is shy of his birthday that will make him a man.  He lives in Prentisstown, where everyone can hear each other’s thoughts, including the thoughts of his dog Manchee.  It’s a stream of constant noise and no privacy.  Everything for Todd is about the change when he meets Viola.  He can’t hear her thoughts.  Together they learn the terrifying secret of their world and together fight to change it.  It goes on many twists and turns and at times you love and hate both of them but you never stop rooting for them.  All I can say is that you really should read it.

Review: Winter by Marissa Meyer

Featured image*Beware of Spoilers*

This was everything that I wanted it to be.  It was thrilling, romantic, action packed and yes it had some happy endings.  It is a fairy tale after all.  Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, Winter, Kai, Wolf, Throne and Jacin go through quite a lot in this but I think even they would say it was worth it.  As a whole this has been a very satisfying.  I don’t think you can say one book was weaker then the other.  They were all pretty solid.  All the heroines were strong in their own way and can I give props to Marissa Meyer for giving them all jobs commonly associated with men.  Cinder is a mechanic.  Scarlet is a farmer and pilot and Cress is a computer programmer.  Winter is the only one that follows the stereotypical fairy tale occupation of Princess but it doesn’t diminish her in any way.  While they do have the help of their male love interests, the girls are not damsels in distress and in Winter they prove it.   Continue reading