Currently Reading:
Finished: Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne and The Last Dragon by Silvana De Mari. I’ll be reviewing both sometime this week.
Challenges:
Total pages read for the week: 601
Total # of books for the year: 43. I’m trying out a new “system” so that my current reads don’t get out of hand. At any given time, I will only be reading one book each from my review books, physical TBR, ebooks, audio books, and library books. That means I won’t exceed five books, and I’ll probably get through each book faster. Basically, I’m trying to limit the amount of distraction from other books. We’ll see how long it lasts 😉
Top Commenters: This week my Top Commenters were Brenda @ Daily Mayo and Julie @ Chapter Break.
What are you reading this week?
Last night was the Boyfriend’s and my weekly date night. On our way to a cafe that has the best fries I’ve ever tasted in my life, we came across a bookmobile called Fifth Dimension Books. They specialize in Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Weird Tales, which are exactly the kind of books the Boyfriend and I both love to read. I can’t buy any books, but most bookstores carry more than just books, and so we got on the bus to check it out.
As far as I’m concerned, it’s the best local bookseller I’ve come across in Austin, TX. The boyfriend bought a “Big Damn Heroes” pin (for those who don’t know, it’s a “Firefly” reference), a book for him, and two books for me. One of the books he got me was a surprise (he didn’t tell me he was buying me a book). It’s a hardcover edition of The Immortal Prince by Jennifer Fallon. The other was one he let me pick out because it was a “Blind Date with a Book”.
I’ve seen the “Blind Date with a Book” idea in libraries, but I’ve never seen it in a bookstore of any kind. I’m very pleased with this idea, especially when I know I’m getting a book in a genre I enjoy, but it’s likely to be a book I wouldn’t normally take off the shelf. It allows me to stretch just a little out of my comfort zone, but not so much that I risk abandoning the book. The book I got is Primary Inversion by Catherine Asaro. Not only is this book written by a woman, but also a physicist! While female authors aren’t in any way outside my comfort zone, I read much more Fantasy than Sci-Fi. This book is one I would have never thought of looking at to see if I’d be interested. The blurb and praise on the back of the book make me think this will definitely be something I’ll like, and I’m looking forward to reading it.
I will be going back to Fifth Dimension Books. I want to get one of their t-shirts, but I’m also going to be a regular customer after this year’s No Book Buying Challenge. They’ll be my first stop whenever I have book money.
I received this book from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Sam Maggs mentions in The Fangirl’s Guide to the Galaxy that her book is the only one written for geek girls and fangirls; however, that’s not true. In 2011, Leslie Simon wrote a book called Geek Girls Unite. That being said, The Fangirl’s Guide to the Galaxy is much more up to date, includes even more geeky awesomeness, and is all around better suited as a guide to entering the geek world no matter what amount of knowledge you might have about it. I’ve been a geek my whole life, and I bookmarked multiple pages concerning things I had no idea existed.
Since the copy I received was an uncorrected ARC and I don’t have a published copy to compare it to, I won’t go into details as to what is or isn’t in the book. However, I will say that the one problem I had with it is that it assumes the reader can afford their fandom(s). As someone who often can’t afford to buy a graphic novel or materials to make a decent cosplay outfit, I would have appreciated the inclusion of something like what Omar and Mia do in their 2 Broke Geeks videos.
Overall, this is a great book for any geek girl, no matter what your fandom is or how knowledgeable you are about what the geek world has to offer. If you’re a broke geek, check to see if the book is at your local library and then take lots of notes. After you’re done, head over to the 2 Broke Geeks Youtube channel to find out how you can celebrate your geekiness without having to live off of 3 for $1 microwave burritos from the grocery store.
I purchased this book. Actually, the Boyfriend bought it for me as part of our deal to get me through the Spring semester. I read it as part of the Gentleman Bastards read-along.
I’m ambivalent about The Lies of Locke Lamora. On the one hand, there were quite a few parts of the story that kept me reading, but, on the other hand, there were several when I easily put it down to read other books. I sometimes cared about the characters, but I also felt that I hadn’t gotten to know them well enough to be invested in them. The world building was fantastic, but there are a couple graphically violent scenes that put me off my lunch and made me reconsider continuing. I could continue with the waffling, but I’ll spare you. The main issue I had with this book is that I was apathetic about the story and the characters more often than not.
I wanted to love The Lies of Locke Lamora. I’ve read nothing but great things about it. It even has praise from George R.R. Martin right on the cover of the paperback edition I have. I looked forward to reading it, and I got excited when I heard about the read-along. Now I just feel “meh” about it, and I’m probably not going to bother checking out the next book from the library. It’s very rare that I feel this way about a book. I either like it, love it, or hate it, and I usually have lots of opinions as to why. This book, however, is like one of those relationships you stay in far past their expiration date because you don’t have a good enough excuse to end it. I actually feel kind of guilty.
Due to a lack of solid feelings one way or another about this book, I’m not sure who to recommend should read it. I love Game of Thrones, and so I assumed I would love this book too, but I didn’t. If you’re a fan of darker, grittier Fantasy like Game of Thrones, try this one out for yourself. I sincerely hope you have better luck with it than I did.
This Tuesday’s Tunes is a little different. Instead of a Spotify playlist, I’ve put together a playlist of book-related videos on Youtube. Click on the image and enjoy!
What are you favorite book-related videos? Leave a link in the comments 🙂
Currently Reading:
Finished: The River Between by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, The Origins of the Modern World by Robert B. Marks, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare. The first two I read for my World History class, and the third I read just in time to complete the Once Upon a Time IX challenge. I also finished The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch and The Fangirl’s Guide to the Galaxy by Sam Maggs, both of which I’ll be reviewing sometime this week.
Challenges:
Total pages read for the week: 1,111
Total # of books for the year: 41. A stomach bug and a three-day weekend allowed me to knock my page count out of the water. I start my second class of the Summer today, which means I’m that much closer to completing my degree. It also means I’m closer to having to spend the majority of my free time job hunting. My anxiety about the transition from college to being an adult again is ramping up, so my reading is probably going to shift to old favorites and comfort reads, most of which are middle-grade Fantasy. While I definitely need a break from the academic world (I’m so tired of having most of my time taken up by class work), my inner kid is throwing a tantrum and screaming,”I DON’T WANT TO ADULT!!!” Also, I’ll be leaving behind an amazing library. Excuse me while I curl up in a ball, put my fingers in my ears, and sing “La la la, I can’t hear you.”
Top Commenters: This week my Top Commenter was Shaina @ Shaina Reads.
What are you reading this week?
Felicia at The Geeky Blogger’s Book Blog has been working on a project to get her books in order. Her updates on her progress inspired me to finally get my book life more organized, too. I scanned all of my physical TBR books into Goodreads and then worked on getting all of my books (including my ebooks) into a spreadsheet. I chose to do that instead of manually adding most of my ebooks, which aren’t Kindle books (Goodreads has an option to add all your Amazon book purchases without having to look them up one at a time). It still took most of a day, since I copied and pasted the information from my order histories into a spreadsheet and then had to straighten it all out.
I was shocked to discover how many ebooks I have. I figured that I had maybe 150 or so, but I found out I have over 400 ebooks that I’ve never read. Over half of them were free, and 100 of those were bought within the past 12 months. In fact, from the very first ebook I’ve ever bought, up to today, I’ve acquired more free ebooks in the past year than I have at any other time. I’m certain that’s because I’m participating in the #ShelfLove No Book Buying Challenge. I can’t pay money for books, but I can get all the free books I want. Apparently, my brain took this to mean I was in a book famine and therefore I had to hoard all.the.books.
Since I can’t see my ebook collection in the same way as my physical books, I decided to make a TBR jar for them. I also did the math on how long it would take me to read all those books and decided to unsubscribe from the daily emails I receive full of free ebooks being offered. If I continue to read 65 books a year like I did last year, it will take me over six years to finish my mountain of a TBR pile. If I also continue adding 100 new ebooks every year, that mountain will continue to grow. The phrase “When I die, I’ll be found next to a stack of books I was meaning to read” is very fitting to this stage in my book life.
I also made a TBR jar for my physical books, but for a different reason. Do you ever stand in front of your TBR pile/shelf undecided about which book to read next? I spend at least 10 minutes waffling between books I know I’m likely to send to the used bookstore and books I’ll probably want to keep forever. The TBR jar takes the question out of what to read next. Whatever comes out of the jar is what I’m reading.
I don’t know where I got the image that I used for the labels, but I used “Algerian” font and named them “The Hobbit’s TBR Library” because the boyfriend nicknamed me Hobbit ages ago. I used sticker printer paper to make the labels but then had to use a bit of clear tape on each end because it apparently doesn’t like sticking to acrylic. I then spent hours cutting up the printed spreadsheet pages into strips so they would look like shredded newsprint. I probably spent way too much time on these, but I figured they’re going to be in my life for at least the next six years so they might as well be pretty.
Do you have a TBR jar? Leave a link to a picture of it in the comments.
