Armchair BEA: Library Love – Book Haul

Published on by Rachelle
Armchair BEA
Image: Amber Ostheimer

 

Last year I participated in a Summer Library challenge and wrote “Library Storytime”, which is the story of how libraries have been important to me throughout my life.  I had also started a book haul feature titled “You Only Spent How Much?!”, but once I began participating in the #ShelfLove No Book Buying Challenge, I had to discontinue it.  Since today’s other topic for Armchair BEA is “Library Love”, and I’ve been making use of my library in order to read the books I can’t buy, I decided to show you my most recent library book haul:

2015-05-27 10.49.16

As you can see, most of the books, are about my favorite genre, Fantasy.  Manifesta is a book I decided to check out after reading The Essential Feminist Reader, and On the Shoulders of Hobbits is one of the many books about Hobbits that I will probably want to buy my own copy of after I’m finished reading it, but will have to add it to my ever-growing wishlist instead.  What you don’t see is the ridiculous number of ebooks I regularly check out to avoid injury from lugging around so many books.  My library is great in that it often has both a physical and digital copy so I can spend some time in the library with the physical book to see if I want to continue reading it, and then download the digital edition later.

Armchair BEA: Introductions

Published on by Rachelle
Armchair BEA
Image: Amber Ostheimer
How did you get into blogging?
As many of you already know, I’ve been blogging for a little more than a year.  My Blogiversary was back in April, and in my Sunday’s Sundries post about it, I told the story of how I got into blogging in order to participate in read-a-thons, but it became so much more than that within a couple months.
What is your favorite genre and why?
My favorite genre has always been Fantasy, which is why most of my reviews are for books that fit in that genre.  I love Fantasy for several reasons:
  1. It provides an escape from reality into other worlds.
  2. At the same time, it deals with the realities of human existence in a way that other genres can’t because…
  3. Anything can happen and everything is possible.
  4. But, the adventure stays in the book so that I and other Hobbit-types don’t have to give up our favorite armchairs and tea at four.

What is one book everyone should read?  

I’ve discussed a couple of times how I don’t think that there is any one book that everyone should read, but if I absolutely had to pick one book, it would be one of the books on my Through the Magic Door list, and probably The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien or The Princess Bride by William Goldman.

What book are you reading right now?

I’m reading a couple of books, actually; A Crown for Cold Silver by Alex Marshall and The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon.

What is the top book in your TBR pile?

I don’t have a TBR pile; I have TBR shelves, but some of the books on those shelves have already been read, or they’re reference/companion books.  With that being said, if I were to look at the left side of the top shelf, the first book that I haven’t read yet is Steampunk: Extraordinary Tales of Victorian Futurism.

What book are you most looking forward to reading this Summer?

How am I supposed to pick just one?!  I have a whole list that I’m hoping I’ll get to this Summer, but with an even longer list of books that I have scheduled for review, along with taking 2 of my remaining college courses, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to find the time.  Just looking at my TBR shelves makes me want to read them all:

#ABEAShelfie

#FitReaders Check-In #21

Published on by Rachelle
Geeky Bloggers Book Blog
  • This check-in is for May 18th – 24th.  I know I said last week that I was making fitness a priority.  As I said yesterday in my Monday’s Minutes post, I had a large case of “I don’t want to do anything”, and that included making time for exercise. While the Boyfriend was off walking, I was gaming.  I did make it to a Hot Yoga class though.
  • Now that I spent some time being thoroughly lazy, I’m feeling considerably more productive, and I’m recommitting myself to reaching my goal of an average of 8K steps a day.
  • If you’d like to add me as a friend on FitBit, you can find me HERE.
  • Steps: 21,471
  • Distance: 8.83 miles
  • Flights of stairs: 9
  • Total Money Donated: $3.06

Tuesday’s Tunes #3: The Third Wave

Published on by Rachelle

Ever since I got to the Third Wave writings in The Essential Feminist Reader, back during Dewey’s 24 Hour Read-a-Thon, I’ve been listening to a lot of 90’s music by women. I decided to share my favorites with all of you.  Some of these songs are NSFW.

Third Wave Playlist

Monday’s Minutes #21

Published on by Rachelle

Currently Reading: A Crown for Cold Silver by Alex Marshall, a review book, and The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon.

Crown Fiery

Challenges:

  • Once Upon a Time IX Progress: 5 out of 5. All I have left is to read “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by Shakespeare.
  • Show Your Shelves Some Love Progress: 18 out of 51.
  • Outdo Yourself Progress: 30 out of 66.
  • Netgalley/Edelweiss Progress: 9 out of 50.
  • SF/F Bingo: Unless I figure out a new way of rearranging the books I’ve already read, Journey to the Underhill Gates and The Thrones of Fire and Stone by P.J. Owen, as wells as The Coffee Legacy, don’t fit on any of the remaining squares.

S&S Bingo2update10

Total pages read for the week: 468

Total # of books for the year: 31.  This week, though I did get some reading done, I had a giant case of the “I don’t want to do anything” and spent about half of my time gaming.  I think I was more burnt out from the Spring semester than I realized, and I’ve been trying to do too many things since it ended; many of which needed to get done before my Summer classes start next week.

Top Commenters: This week, my Top Commenters were Jen @ That’s What I’m Talking About, Berls @ Fantasy is More Fun, and Lark @ The Bookwyrm’s Hoard.

What are you reading this week?

Armchair BEA 2015

Published on by Rachelle
Armchair BEA
Image: Amber Ostheimer

I’m participating in Armchair BEA this year for the very first time!  Each day, from May 27th to June 1st, I’ll be posting about the daily topics, participating in Twitter chats, and making my way around the book blogosphere to comment on other participants’ blogs.

Are you participating?  Let me know in the comments! 🙂

Review: The Sparrow

Published on by Rachelle

Sparrow

  • Author: Mary Doria Russell
  • ISBN: 9780449912553
  • Publisher: Ballantine Books
  • Genre: Science Fiction/Speculative Fiction

I purchased this book.

I’ve managed to pull myself out of the emotional wreckage this book caused in order to write this review.  I considered not writing one, but this book is truly great.  I don’t know if it will continue to stand the test of time, but even with a small part of the story occurring in 2015, the technology still seems marginally possible.  This is a work of Science Fiction, though, so I had to be forgiving of the “science”.

Putting the science and technology aside (which is easy to do since the story is about the characters and their experiences interacting with the aliens they come in contact with), this book is difficult.  It took me several months to finish, and not just because I was reading five other books at the time.  It ran me through a wringer emotionally, so I had to repeatedly put the book down for a bit so I could process what I was feeling and thinking.  You quickly discover that Emilio Sandoz, a Jesuit priest, is the only survivor of the mission to make contact with an alien species, and something horrible was done to him, but you don’t really know what.  Clearly, he’s suffering from PTSD, survival guilt, and a whole laundry list of physical health issues, but it’s through the back and forth between the present and the past that you very slowly find out exactly what happened and why.  You don’t know the full extent of the horrors until near the end.  Much of Emilio’s thoughts and emotions hit far too close to home, and I bookmarked several passages so that I could go back later to re-read them.  In a way, his story was therapeutic, but as anyone who’s ever been through any mental or physical therapy knows, it’s rough going.  It’s never easy, and many of the characters who are trying to help Emilio recover from his experiences don’t seem to understand that, in much the same way as most people don’t understand just how difficult it is to deal with mental health issues.

I highly recommend The Sparrow, but not necessarily to just those who enjoy Science Fiction.  Rather, this book is more for anyone who loves Speculative Fiction or Literary Fiction.  Please understand that the story may take a long time to get through, though, and I recommend having something light and easy to read for when you need a break, or for when you’ve finished this book, in order to balance things back out.  I read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, which did the trick and kept me from getting deeply depressed.

Thursday’s Things #5

Published on by Rachelle
1001 Things
Original Image: Viktor Hertz

Review: The Coffee Legacy

Published on by Rachelle

Coffee

  • Author: Katharina Bordet
  • ISBN: 9781495943911
  • Genre: Fantasy

The ISBN is for the paperback edition, but I listened to the free audio version from podiobooks.com.

I really enjoyed The Coffee Legacy.  Each chapter begins with a different coffee recipe, and there’s one in particular that puts any iced mocha you could get in the US to shame.  Though she never says it, I will: we’re doing it wrong.  I can’t say much more than that without giving away major parts of the story, but most of it takes place in Vienna, Austria, there are some twists and turns scattered throughout, and the climax of it was unexpected.  When I first started listening I thought, “How is this Fantasy?”, but that changed within a couple of chapters.

I really wish I could say more, but I don’t want to spoil anything.  Not even the synopsis on Goodreads (click on the book cover above) or the author’s website, Wiener Blut, gives anything away.  If you love Fantasy, coffee, or both, you’ll love The Coffee Legacy!

Review: At the Water’s Edge

Published on by Rachelle

Edge

 

  • Author: Sara Gruen
  • ISBN: 9780385523233
  • Publisher: Spiegel and Grau
  • Genre: Historical Fiction

I received this book from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I loved Water for Elephants, but when I started At the Water’s Edge, I thought it might end up being a DNF.  I hated Ellis, Hank, and Maddie.  They’re spoiled American rich kids without a clue about reality and they decide to make a trip to Scotland to get proof of the Loch Ness Monster during WWII.  As the story progressed though, I found myself being more and more forgiving of Maddie, who comes off as more naive than anything else, and hating Ellis with a passion.  Hank is just an arrogant idiot, but Ellis reminded me of Pete Campbell from “Mad Men”, who reminds me of a supervisor I had many years ago.  I had the urge to snarl every time Ellis came into a scene.  The story and the setting are what got me past the point of only seeing them as people to be despised, except for Ellis of course, and I was grateful that the story began to focus on Maddie more than the other two.  I won’t give away the ending, but I will say that I was happy with it, even if a couple of the events were a bit convenient.

This is another solid, quality story from Sara Gruen.  The pace, plot, ease of reading, and the development of Maddie’s character all make this book worth reading past the beginning.  If you enjoyed Water for Elephants, you love any story that takes place in Scotland or during WWII, or you’re a fan of Historical Fiction, then I’m sure you’ll enjoy this book.