Stacking the Shelves: Reaping the Runaway Spider Queen

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 week was pretty good! I unexpectedly won a book, and in case you hadn't noticed, I now have a shiny new banner, blog button (right sidebar) and new social media icons :) I'll also have a giveaway post up later today or tomorrow ;)

On to the books, though!

Won

Reaping Me Softly, by Kate Evangelista

Bought

The Runaway Queen, by Cassandra Clare & Maureen Johnson
Spider Wars, by Angela Carlie

Freebie

Catalyst, by Jennifer Snyder

Catalyst was free on Amazon yesterday, I don't know if it still is but I suppose so. Check first, though.

That's it :) Only ebooks this week... I'm still waiting for a hardcover and a paperback to arrive *sigh*
Have you read any of the books I got? Do I need to give one priority? And what did you add to your shelves this week?

Waiting on Wednesday: Steampunk Darcy, by Monica Fairview

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


This week's pick:

Release date: October 2013
Publisher: White Soup Press
Format: Paperback

Goodreads description:
William Darcy is obsessed with his ancestors. So much so that he intends to rebuild Pemberley (destroyed during the Uprising) stone by stone, and he wants to employ reconstruction expert Seraphene Grant to help him.

Or does he? Seraphene wasn’t born yesterday. She can smell a rat, particularly when it stinks all the way up to her airship. She knows Darcy is hiding something. But with the Authorities after her and her other options dwindling by the moment, the temptation of genuine English tea and a gorgeous Steampunk gentleman are very difficult to resist.

But what if Darcy’s mystery job courts nothing but trouble? What if Darcy is harboring a secret to kill for? When kiss comes to shove, will Darcy’s secret destroy Seraphene, or will it be her salvation?

Join us on a romantic adventure like no other in this whimsical Pride and Prejudice-inspired tribute, featuring Wickham, Georgiana, dirigibles, funky fish, and swash-buckling pirates.


This sounds like so much fun! I really like the sense of humor used in the description :) I'm not a huge Pride & Prejudice fan but I love Steampunk! Also, it promises airships and pirates, so how could I say no? ;)
Have you heard of Steampunk Darcy? And what are you spotlighting this Wednesday?

Top Ten Tuesday: books I would like to see made into a movie

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's topic is the top ten books we would like to see made into a movie... in a world where movie studios don't butcher our precious books.


Honestly? I'm not even so crazy about books I like being made into movies. Not because of casting choices and the like but because when I read, that already is like a movie in my head. I also never imagine characters modeled on certain actors - they look a certain way in my head, but it's not like any real people I know.
That being said, here are ten books/series I would like to see made into a movie or TV series, in no particular order.

Laini Taylor - Daughter of Smoke and Bone
There actually is talk of a movie! But anyway, it'll probably be years until it comes out. The world building here is just so amazing - I would love to see Karou's Prague and the exotic places she goes to, as well as Eretz of course! The special effects/make-up would have to be out of this world amazing to pull it off though.

Kendare Blake - Anna Dressed in Blood
This would actually be cool as a series! It would mean more time to develop characters, plus new episodes could be written, for instance about some of the ghosts Cas hunted before he met Anna. It would be awesomely creepy!

Cassandra Clare - The Infernal Devices
I know it's been optioned with the same studio that made City of Bones, but again, it'll take forever until there's a movie - if there is. I would love to see it though! I'm a sucker for Victorian London :)

Erin Morgenstern - The Night Circus
Okay, this is pretty much impossible to make into a movie, partly due to the narrative style and how much it relies on language as a medium, but wouldn't it be epic? It would be like 12 hours but whatever - while I was reading, I so wished I could see the circus for real and walk among the tents!

Holly Black - The Curse Workers trilogy
I know I feature this series all the time in my top ten lists! But it just somehow has a cinematic quality to it. It would have to be sharp, with quick cuts, an a lot of light and shadows - sort of in the style of old film noir movies!

Stephen King - The Dark Tower series
Definitely would have to be a series, this is a couple thousand pages too long for movies. But god it would be soooo amazing! But Stephen King would have to have a lot of say on the set or it wouldn't work. Or maybe the scope is too big and the series is better off staying a book? Hm...

Kim Harrison: The Hollows series
Too epic for a movie - this would have a to be a series! I'd love to see Jenks, Rachel, and Ivy on the screen! And Kisten *gets all nostalgic* I don't think it'll happen though. I remember Kim Harrison saying a few years back that so far she always declined offers from producers and the like.

Lia Habel - Dearly, Departed
Steampunk costumes, airships, and zombie battles! I would love to see this amazing mixture of Victorian and digital age! It's somehow like being in the future and in the past at the same time. And it would be great visually!

Melissa Marr - Wicked Lovely series
There's also been talk of a movie or TV series but I have no idea where that's at. It's one of my top favorite fairie series though so I'd love to see it on the screen! The characters are some of my top favorites :)

Anonymous - The Book with No Name (the Bourbon Kid series)
This simply because it would be batshit crazy. Quentin Tarantino would have to direct it. It would be funny and gruesome at the same time.

I'm not sure that those are the top most amazing-est picks I could have made. In fact, I bet that I'll check out other blogs and think 'damn, how could I forget?!' - so link me up, and let me know what you think of my picks :)

Book Blogger Spotlight: Shannon from These Are But Shadows

Hey guys and welcome to the first Book Blogger Spotlight tour organized by Justine from The Closet Library and Jazmen from This Girl Reads A Lot!

I'm excited to be part of this event and today I'm hosting Shannon from These Are But Shadows here! Welcome, Shannon :) I'm very glad to have met you because we have a lot of favorite books in common.
Shannon started blogging to share her great love for disappearing into books in general, and because of her yearning for one book in particular - read the interview below to find out ;)
Some of her favorite authors are Patrick Rothfuss, Laini Taylor, A.G. Howard, Brandon Sanderson and George R. R. Martin.
You can also find Shannon on Twitter, Goodreads, and Facebook. 


Hi, Shannon! To give everyone reading this a chance to get to know you, how long have you been blogging and what made you want to start your own blog?
S: My first post was on May 10, 2013. You may laugh, but the reason I started my blog was because one of my favorite authors, A.G. Howard, had opened up a form where readers could sign up to be placed on a list to possibly receive an ARC of Book 2 of her Splintered series – Unhinged. Interested readers had to have a website or blog to be able to complete the form. Well, I LOVED Splintered, which is a dark and twisted retelling of Alice & Wonderland, and I was dying for a chance to get my hands on an ARC of Unhinged. So, I started These are but Shadows just so I could complete the form and be put on the list for a chance to get the ARC. A.G. Howard just posted on her blog that the ARCs have arrived and so – fingers crossed – hopefully I’ll be lucky enough to receive one!

Now, I’m a little addicted to it. I love posting reviews that are (hopefully) helpful to fellow readers. I’ve also met a lot of awesome readers and authors in the course of blogging! And THAT was an unexpected and pleasant surprise!

What are some of your favorite genres?
S: I’m a sucker for epic fantasy. My favorite series is the Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss. I also love Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin, Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan (& Brandon Sanderson), Daughter of Smoke & Bones by Laini Taylor, MindJack by Susan K. Quinn, Stonewiser by Dora Machado, . . . I could go on and on. Really, anything set in a world with magic – any kind of magic – and I’m game! Oh, I’m also a huge dragon fanatic, so I’ll read anything about dragons.

What is your favorite/least favorite thing about blogging?
S: My favorite thing about blogging is when I get a kind or funny comment on a review or anything else I’ve written. Next favorite would be when I meet a new blogger that I have a lot in common with – like the books we read, etc. One blogger even introduced me to cartoonizing myself – that was a really cool treat! I also love participating in blog tours, book blasts, and giveaways! Least favorite thing about blogging would be the whole formatting issue. There’s a lot I still want to put on the sidebars of my blog but I haven’t figured out how to do it yet – it’s so aggravating sometimes!

List some of the best books you’ve read in 2013 so far.
S: Thinking about ONLY the books I’ve read in 2013 – like I mentioned above, Splintered by A.G. Howard is right up there, along with The Curse Giver by Dora Machado. I’ve also finally gotten around to reading The Hobbit for the first time ever (LOVED the movie by the way). Another classic I read for the first time was Cyrano De Bergerac by Edmond Rostand – SUCH a fantastic book! I really enjoyed Divergent and Insurgent by Veronica Roth, Debt Collector by Susan Kaye Quinn, Kojiki by Keith Yatsuhashi, The Raven and the Plague by M.M. Mancey, The Secret Star by K.C. Finn, The Girls by Victor Banis, and The Emblazoned Red by Dawn McCullough White.

Least favorite book I’ve read (EVER) would be Fifty Shades of Gray – it was so terrible that I couldn’t finish it.

I loved Splintered and I can't believe I waited so long to read Divergent and Insurgent! What upcoming books are you most looking forward to?
S: The book I’m most looking forward to is Doors of Stone (book 3 of the Kingkiller Chronicles) by Patrick Rothfuss [expected publication 2014]. Have I already mentioned that Rothfuss is my favorite author? Because it’s worth mentioning again – he’s Brilliant!

I’m also very excited for Dreams of Gods & Monsters (book 3 of Daughter of Smoke & Bone) by Laini Taylor [expected publication April 2014]. And, like I said above, I’m also anticipating Unhinged (book 2 of Splintered) by A.G. Howard [expected publication January 2014].

What book/series would most like to see turned into a movie?
S: I’m sorry for being a little repetitive, but I have ALWAYS wanted to see Rothfuss’ books turned into a movie. I also would love to see Howard’s twisted take on Alice & Wonderland on the big screen. Lastly, and I know I’m not alone on this one, Wheel of Time adapted for the big screen would be freaking amazing – I just don’t think anyone in Hollywood would be able to do Robert Jordan’s works justice!

A book you heard about, waited a long time to read, and then wish you would have read sooner?
S: I have SO many books on my virtual to-read shelf (I think the number currently stands at 920 – and that’s not including the physical books I’ve actually bought that are sitting on my real-life bookshelf at home – yeah, I may have a slight problem). There’s simply not enough time to get to them all. I haven’t read Cassandra Clare’s Infernal Devices series but they’re sitting on my real shelf. I’ve also heard really great things about Shine: The Knowing Ones by Amy Freeman, which is also staring at me from my bookshelf right now.

I'm also somewhere in the 900s. It's disheartening, really :/ Do you have a system for shelving your books?
S: I have NO system. They go wherever there’s space. I’ve thought about organizing my shelves, but I can’t decide which option to go with. Do I shelve them by author, genre, favorites to least favorites, size? Plus, I have two shelves that are in two different rooms because there’s no place in my house where the two will fit side by side. My next house (the 3 year plan is to move into a bigger house) will have a room that will become my own personal library! I think I’ll wait to develop my shelving system until then.

Do you have any book peeves or reading quirks?
S: Typos. I abhor typos; they distract me from the story. If a book is replete with typos, it give the impression that the author was in such a rush to put the book up for sale to make a quick buck, that they sully the waters for other authors who take the time to go through the revision process again and again to perfect their work. I’m also getting a little tired of the whole love triangle thing that’s in a lot of YA books. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVED Twilight, but it seems like a lot of copy cats have tried to put their own spin on the same tale.

What advice would you give to new bloggers?
S: I would say, starting out, keep things simple. I found what helped me most was reading Wordpress’ tutorial (http://learn.wordpress.com/) because it was filled with helpful hints and steps to follow to develop my blog. Also, make sure you set up a blog that’s easy on the eyes. It’s important for anyone who looks at your blog to be able to easily navigate through it (I’m constantly trying to find ways to improve and streamline my blog).

Use tags and categories so search engines will pull your blog when people run searches. I also submitted a link to my site to Google, Yahoo and Bing so their search engines would pull keywords from my blog for this very reason. This link has a list of places you can submit your site to.

If you want to increase your followers, then you’ll need to find and follow other blogs you like, comment on their postings, and get to know other bloggers. Make friends and the followers will come! It also helps to sign up for book blitzes, blog tours, and giveaways (I put a link to my current Contests & Giveaways on my sidebar).

Most importantly: Blog about something you’re passionate about! And stick with it! The more you blog, the more chances people will find you.

I’ve recently become a moderator on the Goodreads – Making Connections  & Making Connections – YA Edition groups. These are FABULOUS sites for getting free advanced read and review copies of books from authors, finding blog tours to sign up for, meeting other readers with your same interests, making friends, finding giveaways, and many other awesome things. I highly, highly recommend people check it out and join up! It’s free, so what’ve you got to lose? :)

I agree, passion is the most important thing or it's easy to get burnt out! And I will definitely check out those Goodreads groups :) It's great to have met you, Shannon! Thanks for writing such extensive and awesome answers to my questions! And also thanks again to Justine and Jazmen for hosting the whole tour!

So, dear readers, do you have anything to say to Shannon or anything you'd like to ask? Books in common? Advice to share? Let me know in the comments :)

Stacking the Shelves: when the cards go wild

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 week was very quiet. I got some reading done but not really much on the blog, I'm afraid. Real life interfered. If you want to see how I spent my Thursday, check back tomorrow for my first 'Get To Know Me' post in quite a while :)

From Netgalley

Wild Cards, by Simone Elkeles

This is my first Simone Elkeles book. I've already read it and liked it a lot :) My review won't be up before December though because I got the UK version which is published in January 2014. I thought the story worked very well as a standalone, but according to Goodreads, it's a series which is fine with me ;) I want to hear more about the Derek and Ashtyn!

Have your read Wild Cards? Can you recommend other Simone Elkeles books? And have you gotten in the past week?

Waiting on Wednesday: The Winner's Curse, by Marie Rutkoski

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


This week's pick:

Release date: March 4, 2014
Publisher: Farrar, Strous and Giroux
Format: Hardcover, 368 pages

Goodreads description
In the tradition of Kristin Cashore and Cassandra Clare comes this brilliant, unputdownable, star-crossed romance about the curse of winning.

Seventeen-year-old Kestrel is an aristocratic citizen of Valoria, a vast empire that revels in war and enslaves those it conquers. Here, a girl like Kestrel has two choices: join the military or get married. Despite her skills in military strategy, Kestrel’s real passion is music.Which is why she feels compelled to buy Arin, a slave with a talent for singing, at auction. It’s not long before she finds herself falling in love with Arin, and he seems to feel the same for her. But Kestrel quickly learns that the price she paid for Arin is much higher than she ever could have imagined.

Set in a new world, The Winner’s Curse is a story of wicked rumors, dirty secrets, and games where everything is at stake, and the gamble is whether you will keep your head or lose your heart.


Okay, not going to lie, what first drew my attention was the cover. GORGEOUS. One of my favorites of the year so far! Furthermore, I read Rutkoski's The Shadow Society last October and it was amazing! (review) The world sounds intriguing and I like the conflict of music/art/love vs. the military/duty/power that I see forming here.
What do you think of my pick, and what are you waiting for this Wednesday?

Top Ten Tuesday: books I think should be taught in schools

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's topic is either top ten contemporary books that would be great paired with a required reading book (e.g. Catcher in the Rye with Perks of being a Wallflower) OR top ten books we wish were taught in schools


I am listing books I think would be great taught in schools because I simply don't know what's required reading for Americans/UK citizens. I'm also trying to limit myself to new-ish books because I guess the Classics are usually taught and I think this is about highlighting books that are not taught but should be?

In no particular order...

John Green - Looking For Alaska
This is the only Green books I've read so far but I enjoyed it a lot! It poses a lot of big questions but it's still very much a teen book, with authentic voice and a fairly realistic depiction of boarding school life and the kind of stuff teens get up to. It would certainly provide plenty of stuff for class discussion (drugs, alcohol, sex, sticking together vs ratting)

Markus Zusak - The Book Thief
I think a lot of schools might teach Anne Frank's Diary but The Book Thief would also be a great choice when it comes to talking about World War Two. It has a very broad perspective, it's humorous as well as serious and it discusses the persecution of more groups than just the Jews.

Douglas Coupland - Generation X
This is a wonderful book about the power of stories as well as about how we work ourselves to the bone for nearly nothing - overeducated and underemployed. It really makes you think about your own life!

Gayle Forman - If I Stay
It's such a powerful book and it asks so many hard questions!

Laurie Halse Anderson - Speak / Wintergirls
I've only read Wintergirls and I don't know if that one would be very good for class discussion (some of the things that might be said could have negative effects on girls who already have an eating disorder) but I know that Speak is about date rape, and I think that's a topic that should definitely be discussed openly! There are WAY too many people who still think there is such a thing as 'asking for it'.  - BS.

Trish Cook & Brian Halpin - Notes from the Blender
First of all, Notes is so much fun! Second, it tackles a lot of teen problems like patchwork families, crazy hormones, depression. Also, it has a male and a female POV so both 'parts' of the class would have someone to identify with (you know, if they still think that guys can't identify with girl characters and vice versa).

Susanna Kaysen - Girl, Interrupted
I admit I've only seen the movie, but I found it very powerful!


Generally, I think that is should be books about characters who deal with real problems such as families broken by divorce, bullying, questioning beliefs, and topics like depression and suicide. I don't think teens need to be shielded from that - many live with these things on a day to day basis, others could profit from gaining some perspective on these issues. I think the books should also feature characters from different ethnic backgrounds and LGBT characters. Seeing the way such characters are portrayed in books might help to do away with prejudice.
Or maybe I'm just way too optimistic *shrug*
What do you think of my picks? Anything you think is glaringly missing or absolutely unsuitable?

Stacking the Shelves: Moving Castles and Endless Hunts

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 was a fairly quiet but nonetheless nice week for me! Forgive the late post, I kind of took the weekend off from the internet.

Bought in print

Howl's Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones
The Wilde Hunt, by Karen Mahoney (signed)

I've wanted to read something by Diana Wynne Jones for a long time and have meant to see the anime even longer (I've seen parts but never the whole thing). So here's my chance :) I love the new cover!
The Jennifer Wilde comic is something Karen's been talking about on her blog for a long time so when it was finally in print I just had to have it! It's about a young woman solving murders with the help of Oscar Wilde's ghost. You can get it from her site and she'll even sign it :) Thanks again Karen! Also for the two pretty stickers :D


For review

Endless, by Amanda Gray

I'm on the tour for this one and I'm very excited to read it! The cover is a real beauty and it's about past lives and Romanov Russia and mesmerization.


Ebooks

Buried Secrets, by Emme Rollins
Blood Past, by Samantha Young

Buried Secrets is a New Adult dark suspense about a girl trying to solve the mystery surrounding her twin's murder. It sounds like it's less focused on the romance than many other NA books at the moment so I thought I'd give it a try. Blood Past is the second book in Samantha Young's Warriors of Ankh series and I've been meaning to read it for over a year! I really enjoyed the first book!

That's it for me :) Have you heard of/read any of these books? What did you think? Also, link me to your own book hauls so I can check them out :)