Stacking the Shelves: Lovely, dark, and signed dancers under the bell jar

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews to showcase all the books we got in the past week. Those can be bought, won, gifted, for review, borrowed, print or ebooks... no matter, just share what you got :)


This is my first StS post since the end of January, so obviously I bought A LOT of books during that time. Listing them up here would be tedious for all of us, so I'm only showing you a small selection. I'm also planning on writing mini-reviews or a quick spotlight on some of the books I've read during my time away from blogging. So today I'm showing you...

The Classics

 The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath

Les Fleurs du Mal, by Charles Baudelaire

Richard II, by William Shakespeare

The Tempest, by William Shakespeare

Arcadia, by Tom Stoppard

I picked up the Shakespeares and Arcadia from used books stores in New Orleans and San Francisco. I'm especially happy that I found Arcadia - my only copy was in my Norton Anthology of Literature, which weighs a ton and makes for a bothersome re-read. It's my favorite play (yes, I like it more than Shakespeare) and it's not that easy to get a hold of, unless you want to pay upwards of 40 bucks for a whole collection of Stoppard's plays.

I've also wanted to read Les Fleurs du Mal for a very long time, but I'm always a bit wary of translations, especially when it comes to poetry. This edition has the French original and the English translation side by side, which is awesome because I know French, but not well enough to read Baudelaire without a crutch. I bought this edition and The Bell Jar at City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco (they have a whole room just for poetry!) which was a special thing for me to do. I've wanted to go there ever since I first heard about it in class when we discussed the Beat poets. It's a wonderful place, and it made me wish I'd grown up in that city. Or maybe I'm just a bit morose because I finished The Bell Jar a few hours ago and it really left an impression on me. I wish I had already read when I was 18 or 19.

The Long-Awaited

 The Lovely and the Lost, by Page Morgan

Dancers at the End of Time, by Michael Morcock

Technically, only The Lovely and the Lost was long-awaited. I was writing my thesis when it came out so the release kind of went past me. I really loved The Beautiful and the Cursed though, so I hope I can read it soon.
I read a lot about Moorcock while I was writing my thesis (about Steampunk and it's 19th-century precursors) but I didn't feature any of his work in my thesis, so I was really happy to find this one at a bookstore in Amsterdam last Saturday! It contains three of his novels and it's all inspired by the fin-de-siècle and Wilde and the decadent movement ^^

The ARCs

The Darkest Part of the Forest, by Holly Black

Mortal Heart, by Robin LaFevers

I got both of these at ALA in Vegas and you can imagine my amount of inner (okay, and some outer) squeeee :D I've already read Darkest Part of the Forest and loved it! It's also signed ^^

I also got two ARCs from Edelweiss:

The Fall, by Bethany Griffin
The Cemetery Boys, by Heather Brewer
I've featured The Fall as this week's WoW post, and I'm very excited to finally have the opportunity to read something by Heather Brewer! This one is a standalone, so it's perfect. She also has two series, but somehow the number of books always daunted me a bit.

The Graphic Novels

The Good Neighbors series, by Holly Black

Coffin Hill: Forest of the Night, by Caitlin Kitteredge

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, by Alan Moore

The picture only shows book 2 and 3 of the Good Neighbors, but I have them all, and they're all signed :D I got them at Book of Wonders in New York. They had so many signed books! And that was before I actually met Holly Black, and I already thought things couldn't get better.

Coffin Hill was a spontaneous purchase at a comic store in the Castro district in San Francisco. I've heard about Kitteredge's other books, and the artwork looked cool. Also, I wanted something to remember the store by. As for the Extraordinary Gentlemen, I've wanted to read that one for a long time, so I had to have it.

The Signed

The Book of Life, by Deborah Harkness

Game, by Barry Lyga

The Shadow Society, by Marie Rutkoski

At this point, I need to thank Kelly from Effortlessly Reading again! She gifted me Game and The Shadow Society. Gifted! Signed books! Just like that o.O I was flabbergasted. And very, very happy! I'll tell you all about my Amsterdam trip to Deborah Harkness tomorrow, so I didn't take a picture of her signature, but here are the others:

The "Disturb the Universe" note makes me happy, because it's an important part of the book and also one of my favorite sections from my favorite poem ^^


Alright, that's it! Any comments on my haul? Does anyone even bother to read my accounts of how I got into possession of the books? Anyhow, I'm curious to see your own new shelf-pretties, so link me up :)

Top Ten of 2013: best book covers

Welcome back to another post for the Top Ten of 2013 event!

Today is about the best covers of books released in 2013!


Again, this was really hard, though not as hard as I had feared. There are quite a few beautiful covers I haven't included though, partly because I think they'll be getting enough exposure elsewhere and partly because I've already featured many of those books (and their covers) elsewhere.
I have read most of the following ones, though not all of them. There is no particular hierarchy to the covers. 

 

The Beautiful and the Cursed, by Page Morgan

Dance of the Red Death, by Bethany Griffin

Splintered, by A.G. Howard

Paper Valentine, by Brenna Yovanoff

Ashes and Ice, by Rochelle Maya Callen

Winter Queen, by Amber Argyle

Delia's Shadow, by Jaime Lee Moyer

Ink, by Amanda Sun

MILA 2.0, by Debra Driza

Sins & Needles, by Karina Halle

Honarable mentions:

Phoenix, by Elizabeth Richards

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, by April Genevieve Tucholke

Pivot Point, by Kasie West

Chantress, by Amy Butler Greenfield

What do you think of my pics? Are there any glaring absences? And what book covers of 2013 do you find most beautiful?

Top Ten Tuesday: 2014 releases I'm dying to read

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week they post a new topic that the participants come up with a top ten list for.

This week is about which of next year's releases we're most excited about


Aaah, I love this topic! :D I always marvel at how many great books are coming out. Here's the ten that look best to me, though there are many more I could have included.
I hope the slideshow works, if you're reading this as an email you might want to open it on the actual blog.





Unhinged (Splintered #2), by A.G. Howard
I loved Splintered so much and really hoped there'd be a sequel! I need more Morpheus and I felt that Alyssa had unfinished business.

The Retribution of Mara Dyer (Mara Dyer #3), by Michelle Hodkin
It was supposed to be published this October but got pushed back to June 2014. I. Need. It. Now!!! Seriously I just want to see Mara kick ass and, well, get her retribution. Because does she ever deserve it.

Fiendish, by Brenna Yovanoff
I really like that Brenna Yovanoff writes standalones! It's a nice change from the usual YA, which seems to be all series. I love the look of this one. Creepy houses and girls... yes please!

Oblivion (Nevermore #3), by Kelly Creagh
I've seen three versions of this cover so far and I'm not happy with the coloring of any of them quite yet. No matter what though, the content will be fantastic and is very likely to rip my poor heart to pieces.

Talon, by Julie Kagawa
New series! With dragons! And an order tasked with finding and destroying them. Can't wait for it to get a cover and a more precise description.

Throne of Glass #3, by Sarah J. Maas
Again, no cover, no title. But I need this sequel!! The end of book 2 suddenly made the world of this series so much bigger, I can't wait to see where it all goes from here.

Between the Spark and the Burn (Between #2), by April Genevieve Tucholke
I'm not quite happy with the font here. I think they should have stuck with the one from the first book. Bug again, as long as I get more of that lovely prose, I'm not about to get all huffy ;)

The Winner's Curse, by Marie Rutkoski
I really enjoyed Rutkoski's The Shadow Society and I love the concept of this one! I also remember reading a very early review and it was extremely positive, so my hopes are high.

Dreams of Gods & Monsters (Daughter of Smoke & Bone #3), by Laini Taylor
Duh. Who doesn't want to know how this all pans out?!

The Lovely and the Lost (The Dispossessed #2), by Page Morgan
The description is very vague as of now but I love the Gargoyle lore and glimpses of further world building, and I'm very curious to see where this  series is going.

Runners-up: Cruel Beauty (by Rosamund Hodge, I have an ARC), Tell the Wind and Fire (by Sarah Rees Brennan, apparently a modern retelling of A Tale of Two Cities), Strange and Ever After (Susan Dennard).


Okay, that's it! Do we have any picks in common? I'm very curious to see what people came up with and add some more to my TBR of upcoming books :)

Top Ten Tuesday: sequels I can't wait to get my hands on

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week they post a new topic that the participants come up with a top ten list for.


This week is about sequels we can't wait to get our hands on, and there are definitely more than enough of those >.<



Unhinged, by A.G. Howard (Splintered #2)
Need more Morpheus. He and Alyssa have unfinished business. I tried my best to get an ARC, but no luck. Two more months...

The Retribution of Mara Dyer, by Michelle Hodkin (Mara Dyer #3)
Because the ending of book 2 was a mindfuck. Seriously. And then to find out it's been pushed back 9 months?! Ugh. I want Mara to bring down havoc and get her revenge.

Oblivion, by Kelly Creagh (Nevermore #3)
Probably one of my favorite serieses ever, so I'm sad to see it end... but I need more Varen and Isobel. Kelly Creagh's world is just so beautiful and creepy and dark. And that wonderful prose *sigh*



City of Heavenly Fire, by Cassandra Clare (Mortal Instruments #6)
I prefer The Infernal Devices to TMI, but I want to see how it all ends.

Hunting the Dark, by Karen Mahoney (Moth #2)
I really enjoyed Falling to Ash. Moth is a great character and I loved the support cast as well. There's no cover for this one yet, but you guys should check out Karen's writing anyway :) Oh, and if goodreads is to be trusted, this one will be out on my birthday ^^

Dreams of Gods & Monsters, by Laini Taylor (Daughter of Smoke & Bone #3)
Laini Taylor is a magician with words. And of course I want to know how Karou and Akiva and Ziri forge their way onwards.



The Next Throne of Glass novel by Sarah J. Maas
Crown of Midnight was so, so good!! Seriously. I thought it was a trilogy and at the end I was like 'how is she going to wrap this up in just one more book?!' but then I saw that there are about six planned, so yay! No cover or description yet though.

Strange and Ever After, by Susan Dennard (Something Strange & Deadly #3)
I love the characters and the world! I own book 2 but haven't read it yet (need to get to that) but I know that once I finish, I'll crave the next one.

The Forever Song, by Julie Kagawa (Blood of Eden #3)
Because Allie is kickass and the ending of book 2 was just meeeeeaaan. Plus I want to see more of Kanin. Very intriguing character. Again, no cover, but at least there's a description.

The Lovely and the Lost, by Page Morgan (The Dispossessed #2)
Again, I want to go back to the world and learn more about gargoyles and all the rest that's going on. The writing was great as well. No description yet though *sigh*


What do you think of my picks, and what books made your own list?

Waiting on Wednesday: The Beautiful and the Cursed, by Page Morgan

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine to spotlight upcoming book releases that we're excited for.


My pick this week:

Release date: May 14, 2013
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Format: Hardcover, 400 pages

Goodreads description:
After a bizarre accident, Ingrid Waverly is forced to leave London with her mother and younger sister, Gabby, trading a world full of fancy dresses and society events for the unfamiliar city of Paris.

In Paris there are no grand balls or glittering parties, and, disturbingly, the house Ingrid’s twin brother, Grayson, found for them isn’t a house at all. It’s an abandoned abbey, its roof lined with stone gargoyles that could almost be mistaken for living, breathing creatures.

And Grayson has gone missing.

No one seems to know of his whereabouts but Luc, a devastatingly handsome servant at their new home.

Ingrid is sure her twin isn’t dead—she can feel it deep in her soul—but she knows he’s in grave danger. It will be up to her and Gabby to navigate the twisted path to Grayson, a path that will lead Ingrid on a discovery of dark secrets and otherworldly truths. And she’ll learn that once they are uncovered, they can never again be buried

If you've been following me for any length of time, you know that I love historical YA! And creepy, gothic houses. Also, this one is apparently about gargoyles - though I've heard about some books with gargoyles, I've never read one where they play a big role (that becomes more obvious in the description for the audiobook of this novel). So yeah, I'm very curious about this book! And just look at the gorgeous cover :)