Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Library Loot, Mailbox Monday, and Just One More Challenge!


Today's post is kind of a mess! With some hellish hours at work, I've only had a chance to post sporadically at best. So here is a little bit of everything compiled the last week!!

This week's trip to the library bore the fruit of the graphic novel!! I keep saying, "I've got to try the graphic novel!" So here goes nothing!! Book 1 in the Sandman series, Preludes and Nocturnes. I couldn't start reading the genre without a Neil Gaiman book, could I? And I'm so anal about reading in series order. Hence the first book!








I've read SO MANY good reviews on the Fables Series that I just couldn't pass it up. So many thanks to Chris, Nymeth, and most recently Kailana for my next book: Fables: Legends in Exile.










Although I did receive a few books in the mail this past week, the majority of the books listed here were purchases. Yes, that's right. I bought some books this week!! I haven't purchased a book in months, so this was a treat to myself for all the hard work I've done lately!! Besides, I have a few days off next week. Although the majority of my time will probably be spent doing some spring cleaning (seriously....I think I'm dangerously close to the border of living in a crack house! OK. Maybe it's not quite that bad, but it feels like it sometimes. I just haven't had the time nor desire to do a lot of cleaning lately). And I also want to spend some quality time with the kids. But after it's all said and done, I'd like to have a few hours to myself for a little vampire read-a-thon! That being said, here are my purchases:




Oh yeah. Like this is a surprise!! I've only been talking about Hunted: A House of Night Novel by PC Cast and Kristin Cast since I finished Book 4! The only surprise is, I haven't read it yet :( But like I said, I'm hoping for Vampire Read-a-Thon next week!!







The final book in Colleen Gleason's Gardella Vampire Series is As Shadows Fade. Another book I'm dying to read, and yet I'll be really sad when the series ends. But end it must, so at least I'm looking for a happy farewell!!








I also picked up the next 3 books in the Morganville Vampire Series by Rachel Caine:


Book 3, Midnight Alley









Book 4, Feast of Fools












and Book 5, Lords of Misrule. Should be an interesting week!!







Now, I haven't even finished the first book in Melissa Marr's Trilogy that started with Wicked Lovely. But somehow, I managed to wrangle an ARC of Book 3 called Fragile Eternity. Isn't the cover gorgeous?? I hope to get to all of these really soon too!!



Valerie Russo from Hatchette Books sent me an ARC of David Cristofano's novel, The Girl She Used to Be. It really looks good!












The Mighty Queens of Freeville by Amy Dickinson was sent to my by a publicist. It's a memoir, and I think it will be great in my quest to branch out into more non-fiction.








Finally, I picked up an ARC of Laura Lippman's new novel, Life Sentences. I've been wanting to read a Lippman novel for a long time, and this one looks like a great place to start!!





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Finally, I've decided to join yet another challenge. But this one should be easy. Becky from Becky's Book Reviews is hosting the End of the World Reading Challenge. I LOVE Dystopian books....I read The Host for this challenge last year and it turned out to be my favorite of the year!! So I'm really looking forward to the 2009 choices. Here is what Becky says:

"Name: It's The End Of The World II
Host: Becky (of Becky's Book Reviews)

Dates: March 10, 2009 - October 9, 2009

Books Required: at least four

Read at least four books about "the end of the world." This includes both apocalyptic fiction and post-apocalyptic fiction. There is quite a bit of overlap with dystopic fiction as well. The point being something--be it coming from within or without, natural or unnatural--has changed civilization, society, humanity to such a degree that it radically differs from "life as we now know it." (Aliens, evil governments, war, plague, natural disasters like earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, hurricanes, depletion of resources, genetic manipulation, etc.) Here is a wikipedia article on the subject. Also see here. These changes can be small-but-still-significant or huge-and-life-threatening.

Books can be classified as children's, young adult, and adult. (Not many children's books go there. But many teen books do. And they're great.)

Graphic novels can count for this challenge.

Audio books allowed.

Crossovers with other challenges are allowed."

So on to my choices (which I reserve the right to change at any time!!)

  • Uglies by Scott Westerfield (and maybe a couple of the others in the series)
  • The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
  • The Dead and the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer
  • The Rising by Brian Keene
  • Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
  • Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
  • The Road by Cormac McCarthy

That should be enough to keep me busy for awhile!!

16 comments:

Lisa said...

Stephanie, I had to laugh aloud at your description of your house at the moment. I know exactly what you mean! There are just not enough hours in the day. It looks like you have some nice reading ahead of you, though. Enjoy!

chrisa511 said...

Lord Steph! You flooded your house with new books this week, huh? lol...I've really been enjoying the vampire kick that you've been on :) Keep it up!

Debi said...

You know I still can't stop laughing over the title of your post! "...and Just One More Challenge!"...hahahahahahahaha...yeah right, that will be the day, girl! OUaT's just around the corner, and I KNOW you won't be saying "no" to that! Oh, it's so nice to be in such good company!

Serena said...

that's a great list of books!

Carl V. Anderson said...

I certainly support you reading the Sandman graphic novels in order. They would make no logical sense otherwise. I hope you enjoy them. The story just gets better and better as it goes along.

Stephanie said...

Lisa - Unfortunately, it's a rather fitting description!! Hopefully, I can change that a little next week!

Chris - It was a good week, what can I say!! Of course, they come in a lot faster than I can actually read them!

Debi - Ummmmm, yeah. I kind of forgot about the Once Upon a Time and the RIP. Besides...this is your fault anyway!! I say your posting, and couldn't help myself!

Serena - Thanks!

Carl - Well...I'm going to give it a go. Everything in me says I'll love them, but I just haven't sat down and actually READ them yet!

Melody said...

You go, Stephanie!
Great haul! I'll have to check out those books, they sound really interesting to me! :D

Kailana said...

Yay for taking a shot at reading Fables! I LOVE Fables! I'm buying the last two in the series very soon... I am so jealous you got Fragile Eternity! I think I will end up buying that one and not waiting for the library. I will be interested to see what you have to say about the first book in the Sandman series. I didn't like it... I have the first book in the House of Night series out from the library right now... No idea when I will get around to it, but I am going to try! I think I am going to read the last two books in Colleen's series for the OUaT challenge. That gives me a chance to track the last one down. I will probably have to order it in. I also have to order a copy of the latest Morganville Vampire book so I can get caught up in that series! If my bookstore here would just get a better fantasy section, I would be all set!

Anonymous said...

Enjoy your days off and don't clean too hard. Isn't it funny how a clean house makes you feel better? Well, for a few days at least;-)

Trish @ Love, Laughter, Insanity said...

Good luck with the challenge! I really loved it last year but just can't seem to get myself to sign up for many challenges this year. The Road is perfect for this one, though!!

samantha.1020 said...

You got some great books this week! I just got a call from the library that the first book in the Gleason series is in for me and I actually just finished Glass Houses by Rachel Caine. Enjoy all of these wonderful books :)

Iliana said...

Good for you for treating yourself to some new books. Just keep thinking of that vampire read-a-thon to get you through the crazy work hours!

And have fun with the challenge too of course! Just one more, yea right :)

Jason Pratt said...

Since you've already read CoJ (um... review? {g}), and since CoJ technically counts as an apocalyptic series (page 1 reveals from the outset that the story is leading up to the total destruction of Mikon), it might count as an easy score for your apocalypse challenge. (Though I suspect the genre requires that the apocalypse be realworld. {wry g})

Just a strategic option to think about, if the reading list gets too heavy. {s}

JRP

Unknown said...

A vampire girl after my own heart! I haven't read Hunted yet, but I'm looking forward to it.:)

And I'm ashamed to admit that I only discovered Neil Gaiman a few months ago, but I'm devouring every book and graphic novel I can get my hands on. I even queued up "MirrorMask" on Netflix!

Anna said...

Don't work too hard and enjoy all your new books!


--Anna
Diary of an Eccentric

Ladytink_534 said...

I just picked up Hunted, read all of the Fables, and recently caught up on all of the Morganville Vampires books too.