Book Haul and May Wrap Up!

I didn’t splurge too much this month but I did get some really awesome books I am excited to sink my teeth in. Some of them, I have read and wanted for my collection.

For Review

I’m excited to read Control both because of its author and the content. Emerald Green I have already read and loved. Review will be posted closer to release date. Gorgeous and Open Straight were both unsolicited copies from Scholastic Canada as were Tarnished, Mending the Moon and The Planet Thieves which were sent by Tor. A Fool’s Errand, the second one in Maureen Fergus’s Gypsy King series was sent by the publicist after I, you know, asked her for it. I’m quite excited about that one.

Gifted

Twilight, I bet some eyebrows rose at the book considering I haven’t made my disdain for it a secret. But it was given to me by friends in the MACL program because I’m going to be using it in my thesis and they found a secondhand copy at a thrift store. Zach’s Story was published by the CWC Society that I do editing work for and this is a student story that won a prize and they had it bound and illustrated. It’s a holocaust book and while I don’t know the literary merits of it, it’s quite beautifully bound.

Purchased

The Butterfly Mosque by G. Willow Wilson
I’ve been meaning to read this one for ages and I finally couldn’t resist it so I bought it!

Tiger Lily – Jodi Lynn Anderson
I’ve read this and adored it even though it broke my heart to so many pieces.

The Day Before – Lisa Schroeder
Read this one too and adored it so when I found it at a thrift store in new condition, I snatched it up for my collection.

The Queen of Attolia – Megan Whalen Turner
I’m a bit sad that the first two hardcovers don’t match the latter ones but now I have the first four, though I know two or more are still in the works. But since each book is a complete story on it’s own, I’ll probably start reading this sooner rather than later.

The Jewel of Kalderash – Marie Rutkoski
Rutkoski is a good writer, this much I knew, so I was utterly bemused by the insanity that was The Shadow Society. But that aside, I have now the complete trilogy and can read the second and third books. Eventually.

These all the books I got for this month. What’s new on your shelves?

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Now for the wrap up! 39 books read this month. They are, in no particular order,:

1. The Hallowed Ones – Laura Bickle
2. The Murmurings – Carly Ann West (ergh)
3. Transparency – Frances Hwang
4. Chantress – Amy Butler Greenfield
5. White Crow – Marcus Sedgwick
6. Basho and the Fox – Tim J. Myers
7. The Reluctant Dragon – Robert D. San Souci
8. The Ladder – Halfdan Rasmussen
9. Zen Ties – Jon J. Muth
10. The Ruby in the Smoke – Phillip Pullman
11. All Our Yesterdays – Cristin Terrill
12. The Girl with the Silver Eyes – Willo Davis Roberts
13. The Bitter Kingdom – Rae Carson
14. Spirit and Dust – Rosemary Clement-Moore
15. The Burning Sky – Sherry Thomas
16. Golden – Jessi Kirby
17. Love Among the Particles – Norman Lock
18. Zenn Scarlett – Christian Schoon
19. What I Did. – Jason
20. Outcast  – Adrienne Kress
21. Goodbye Tsugumi – Banana Yoshimoto
22. The First Escape – G. P. Taylor
23. Good as Lily – Derek Kirk Kim
24. Handbook for Dragon Slayers – Merrie Haskell
25. Fragments – Dan Wells
26. Courtney Crumrin and the Night Things – Ted Naifeh
27. You Don’t Know Me – David Klass
28. Night of the Gargoyles – Eve Bunting
29. The Pirate’s Wish – Cassandra Rose Clarke
30. Emerald Green – Kerstein Gier
31. The Sweet Dead Life – Joy Preble
32. India Black – Carol K. Carr
33. Bind Willow, Sleeping Woman – Haruki Murakami
34. The Shambling Guide to New York City – Mur Lafferty
35. Enchanted Inc. – Shanna Swendson
36. Mountain Echoes – C. E. Murphy
37. The Tiny Wife – Andrew Kaufman
38. Lady Lazarus – Michelle Lang
39. The Runaway King – Jennifer A. Nielson

April Book Haul!

I has books! I has plenty of books! I indulged a bit and these are the results.

For Review

Mythology – Edith Hamilton
Storm Bringers – Philippa Gregory
Revenge of the Girl with the Great Personality – Elizabeth Eulberg
Shattered Pillars – Elizabeth Bear
That Time I Joined the Circus – J. J. Howard
A Corner of White – Jaclyn Moriarty
Firebrand – Gillian Phillips
The Summer Prince – Alaya Dawn Johnson

Thanks to Macmillan, Tor, Hachette Canada, Simon & Schustar Canada and Scholastic Canada.

Gifted (thanks Pinky)

The Fox’s Window and Other Stories – Naoko Awa
Alif the  Unseen – G. Willow Wilson

Purchased

The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There – Cathrynne M. Valente
Skip Beat 3 in 1, vol 4 – Yoshiki Nakamura
I Sweep the Sun Off Rooftops – Hanan al-Shaykh
The Case of the Left-Handed Lady – Nancy Springer

Viva Jacquelina – L. A. Meyer
The Archived – Victoria Schwab
Etiquette and Espionage – Gail Carriger
The Piper’s Son – Melina Marchetta

The Diviners – Libba Bray
The Raven Boys – Maggie Stiefvater
The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom – Christopher Healy

New On My Shelves for the Month of January

So this was sort of an epic month where books are concerned. Between my shopping at bookcloseouts during boxing week and ala, my shelves overflowed. Here are the books I purchased and actually received in my mailbox.

The Horologican – Mark Forsyth (for review)

Thank you Penguin Canada and Scholastic Canada for these three review copies.

New On My Shelves for the Month of October

There is a lot. Bear with me.

For Review

• Casual Vacancy – J. K. Rowling
• Venom – Fiona Paul
• Ironskin – Tina Connelly
• Dark Star – Bethany Frenette
• Undead – Kirsty McKay

• Beta – Rachel Cohn
• Magisterium – Jeff Hirsch
• The Dark Unwinding – Sharon Cameron

Thank you Hachette Canada, Scholastic Canada Penguin Canada and Tor/Forge

Gifted

• Half the Sky – Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn (Thanks Rossi)
• A Walk on the Tundra – Rebecca Hainnu and Anna Ziegler (Thanks Vancouver Children’s Lit. Roundtable)

Purchased

(Signed)

• Seraphina – Rachel Hartman (met her at Word on the Street)
• This Dark Endeavour – Kenneth Oppel (met him at Roundtable event)

Sales etc

- The Ghost Child – Sonya Hartnett
- Midsummer Night – Freda Warrington
- Among Others – Jo Walton

• The Animals in that Country – Margaret Atwood
• Never Hit a Jellyfish with a Spade – Guy Browning
• The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie – Alan Bradley
• A Sending of Dragons – Jane Yolen
• Camille – Alexandre Dumas
• Lady Chatterley’s Lover – D. H. Lawrence
• Lord of the Flies – William Golding

• The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
• The Boy in the Striped Pajamas – John Boyne
• The Amber Spyglass – Phillip Pullman
• Words under the Words – Naomi Shihad Nye
• The Memory Keeper’s Daughter – Kim Edwards
• The Painted Veil – W. Somerset Maugham

• The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian – Sherman Alexie
• Godmother – Carolyn Turgeon
• The Cinnamon Peeler – Michael Ondaatje
• Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures – Vincent Lam
• Tales from Firozsha Baag – Rohinton Mistry
• Rivers of London – Ben Aaronovitch

1. Going Bovine – Libba Bray
2. Elsewhere – Gabrielle Zevin
3. A Curse as Dark As Gold – Elizabeth C. Bunce
4. Frankenstein – Mary Shelle
5. The Year of Secret Assignments – Jaclyn Moriarty
6. To The Lighthouse – Virginia Woolf

• The Black Book – Orhan Pamuk
• Gudrun – Alma Johanna Koenig
• Brightly Woven – Alexandra Bracken
• Fairy Tales of Ludwig Bechstein
• One-Time Dog Market at Buda and Other Hungarian Folk Tales
• Peter and the Shadow Thieves – Dave Barry

• The Last Hero – Rick Riordan
• The Murder of Bindy Mackenzie – Jaclyn Moriarty
• The Ghosts of Ashbury High – Jaclyn Moriarty
• The Wishing Ring – Erich Holle
• Thief Eyes – Jenni Lee Simner
• The Princess Bride – William Goldman

• Room – Emma Donoghue
• Read Aloud Myths and Legends – Various
• Dreams of Joy – Lisa See

Phew! What was your haul?

New On My Shelves

Okay, so the month of June was crazier than I thought it would be. I blame Book Rat Misty for letting me know of the sale at Bookcloseouts because I went absolutely nuts. Well okay, not really, I was pretty restrained considering my lack of moneys BUT then I found this secondhand store that has a decent selection (well it used to be decent until I eviscerated it) of YA books. Let me show you what’s new on my shelves.

Bunheads – Sophie Flack
As I am sure you will have discerned on your own, the book deals with ballet. Krystle gave this a pretty good review and I paid like $2 for this. Sweet deal all around.

The Princess Curse – Merrie Haskell

This is a beautiful book. One of my favourite fairytale retellings. I had been wanting to own it for a while but was too poor to shell over the $15 Bookdepository wanted for it so when I saw at Bookcloseouts, I was stoked. Stoked, I tell you. Oh, it’s a retelling of Twelve Dancing Princesses. Look for a review on BM for this.

A Conspiracy of Kings – Megan Whalen Turner

This is the third of fourth book in The Queen’s Thief series and I aim to get my grubby hands on the first two as soon as I can find them. I want The Thief in paperback with the cover that matches the other ones but for some reason, I cannot find one less than $20. :\ Woe is me.

Revolution – Jennifer Donnelly

Aleeza has been telling me to read this one for ages and ages. I don’t even know what this one is about but I paid like $3 for this and you can hardly do wrong with that, right?

Bad Girls Don’t Die – Katie Alender

I read it, I liked it so now I own it. Good stuff.

The Ring of Five – Eoin McNamee

I featured this “On My Radar” a few weeks back and when I saw this on Bookcloseouts for 99 cents, I couldn’t resist.

A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Many Waters, An Acceptable Time – Madeleine L’Engle

I have to read A Wrinkle in Time for a class and when these caught my eye, I thought, why not? Now I have to get the first two and my set will be complete.

The Murder of Bindy Mackenzie – Jaclyn Moriarty

I’m a great fan of Jaclyn Moriarty and I’ve been meaning to read this for a long while.

Please Look After Mother (Mom in North America) – Kyung-Sook Shin

We talked about this book in my Korean translation class and the prof recommended it and I have been meaning to read it for a while so…there you go.

Rootless – Chris Howard

For review. Unsolicited. Scholastic sent this. It seems rather gritty,  dystopocalytic fiction. Not really what I read usually but for some reason this sounds interesting.

Perchance to Dream – Lisa Mantchev

I shall not lie. My greatest interest in this trilogy are the covers. Haha.

The Girl with Borrowed Wings – Rinsai Rossetti

For review. Unsolicited (but very much appreciated). Thanks Penguin Canada. I’ve read this and I will try to write up a review that accurately expresses the contradictory and conflicting feelings this book evoked in me.

Grim – Anna Waggener

Another unsolicited novel for review. Sent by Scholastic Canada (thank you). I’ll try reading this though I’m not sure whether it really is my thing. I guess you never know until you try, yeah?

Devine Intervention – Martha Brockenbrough

This sounds like pure fluff. And it has angels. I’m allergic to angels but I’ll save this one for when I need some fluff.

Cinderella (As If You Didn’t Already Know The Story) – Barbara Ensor

I’m a sucker for Cinderella stories. And this one sounds like it’ll be amusing.

Nowhere Girl – A. J. Paquette

The cover of this one is gorgeous and this one is also touted as a Cinderella story. I’m in.

Deathless – Cathrynne M. Valente

This one is also a retelling of some Russian folktale. And it’s Cathrynne M. Valente. The woman writes like a dream.

The Gift of the Magi – Joe Priddy/O’Henry

This is an adapted/graphic version of the original story. It looks good.

Kingdom of Strangers – Zoe Ferraris

Requested review copy from Little Brown. Have read and reviewed this.

The Night She Disappeared – April Henry

A Macmillan title, a debut I believe. I really liked this one.

Fire and Hemlock – Diana Wynne Jones

I’m working on building a DWJ collection and this one was like $2.

A Northern Light – Jennifer Donnelly

Aleeze would be proud of me. I now have both of Donnelly’s YA books.

Nevermore – Kelly Creagh

I did a little dance when I found this in Sue’s Bookshop. I was pleased to say the least.

Girl Interrupted – Susanna Kaysen

I got this from another thriftstore that my friend Jassie took me to. Yes, this is what we do. Troll stores for books cuz we’re cool like that.

Hexwood – Diana Wynne Jones

Another addition to my DWJ collection

The Foresaken – Lisa M. Stasse

Accepted review copy. A 2012 debut coming from Simon and Schuster. Thanks Lisa.

And this is it for the month of June. I have a feeling July will be much much much quieter. What’s new on your shelves?

In My Mailbox for the Month of March

And ladies and gentlemen, what an epic month it was. Since it was my birthday in February, I got books that all arrived in March (but of course!). Anyway, here is what I got.

• Out of Oz  – Greogory MaGuire (gifted)
• The Invention of Hugo Cabret – Brian Selznick (gifted)
• The Fault in Our Stars – John Green (for review. Thanks Penguin Canada!)

• Katniss the Cattail – Valerie Estelle Frankel (for review)
• The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath (Gifted. Thanks Jane!)
• Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World – Haruki Murakami (gifted. Thanks again, Jane!)

My friend, Rossi, gave me a very special gift, this birthday. She made me a book filled with all my original writing! And since it’s a gorgeous, gorgeous piece of work, I must show you pictures!

Thanks Rossi!

• A Perfect Blood – Kim Harrison (purchased)
• Graceling – Kristin Cashore (purchased)
• Fire – Kristin Cashore (purchased)
• Graffiti Moon – Cath Crowley (purchased)
• Much Ado About Nothing – Shakespeare (gifted, thanks Rossi!)
• Twelfth Night – Shakespeare (gifted, again, you are awesome Rossi but you know that already.)

• Hollow Pike – James Dawson (for review, thanks Hachette UK)
• Wake – Amanda Hocking (for review, not my thing so I’m passing it on.)
• The Hunt – Andrew Fukuda (review, thanks Caitlin and Crystle from Raincoast Books)
• Fated – Alyson Novel (review, see above.)

• Out – Natsuo Kirino (purchased)
• Grotesque – Natsuo Kirino (purchased)
• Circle of Cranes – Annette LeBox (for review, thanks Penguin Canada)

• The Boy Recession – Flynn Meaney
• A Midsummer’s Nightmare – Kody Keplinger
• Revived – Cat Patrick
• My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece – Anne  Pitcher

  All these are from Hachette Canada for review. Thank  you!

• A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers – Xiaolu Guo (purchased)
• Arafat’s Elephant – Jonathan Tel (purchased)
• Storybound – Marissa Burt (for review. Thanks Shannon!)
• Freud’s Alphabet – Jonathan Tel (purchased)

• The Perfumed Garden – Translated by Sir Richard Burton (purchased)
• Cherie – Colette (purchased)
• Skip Beat vol 1-3 – Yoshiki Nakamura (purchased)

• The False Prince – Jennifer A. Nielson (review copy, thanks Scholastic Canada)
• Hidden Warrior – Lynn Flewelling (purchased)
• The Oracle’s Queen – Lynn Flewelling (purchased)

Wheww! That was a LOT. My hands, they ache but it’s not over yet. I also got an ebook from Smashwords called Adventures in Funeral Chasing by Milda Harris. It sounds quirky enough that I had to get it. What was in your mailbox?

 

 

 

 

In My Mailbox for the Month of February

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi from The Story Siren (.com). See her site for more information and whatnot. February was a good enough month for me. As far as physical books go, I bought some extremely awesome books and I got one for review.

Castle in the Air – Diana Wynne Jones
Book 2 of the Howl’s Moving Castle trilogy.

Spectyr – Philippa Ballantine
Book 2 of the Book of the Order series.

The Bone Doll’s Twin – Lynn Flewelling
Book one a fantasy series I know nothing about but was recommended by a blogger friend. Thanks!

The Girl with the Silver Eyes  – Willo Davis Roberts
Been meaning to read this forever and it was only $4 at BD.

Shadow and Bone – Leigh Bardugo (requested for review)
This one seems seriously amazing and I can’t help squealing my glee that I have it.

The Puzzle Ring – Kate Forsyth
I’ve heard so many good things about this so I’m tremendously happy to have this.

The Poisonwood Bible – Barbara Kingsolver
It was only $2 at a library sale and it’s been on my reading list forever so…

The Book of Wonders – Jasmine Richards
Arabian Nights retelling, dudes. I am not going to miss out on this one.

Paul’s Case and Other Stories – Willa Cather
I was supposed to get the one by Lynn Crosbie by the name but oh wells.

Bullfinch’s Mythology – Thomas Bullfinch
I love myths. I guess you know that now.

I checked out so many books from the library that I literally do not have the energy to list them all but heed me well, they are many and they are gorgeous and I hope I can find to read them all.

What’s in your mailbox?

 

In My Mailbox and Checked Out for January

IMM – Meme – Kirsti from The Story Siren (.com).

Checked Out From Various Libraries

Breadcrumbs – Anna Ursu (such a great book)
The Blue Bamboo – Osamu Dazai
The House of Sleeping Beauties – Yasunari Kawabata
There is no Dog – Meg Rosoff
George and Rue – George Elliott Clark
Memento Nora – Angie Smibert
From Bad to Cursed – Katie Alender
Please Ignore Vera Dietz – A. S. King
A Monster Calls – Patrick Ness
The Poison Diaries: Nightshade – Mary Wood
Across the Great Barrier – Patricia C. Wrede

The Fox Inheritance – Mary E. Pearson
Jasper Jones – Craig Silvey
Supernaturally – Kirsten White
Peter Nimble and his Fantastic Eyes – Jonathan Auxier
The Taker – Alma Katsu

For Review/Purchased

The Elephant Vanishes – Haruki Murakami
Abarat: Absolute Midnight – Clive Barker
Black Heart – Holly Black (for review)
The Disenchantments – Nina LaCour (won)
Darkness Falls – Cate Tiernan
The Penelopiad – Margaret Atwood
Dead to You – Lisa McMann (for review)
Three Month Fever – Gary Indiana
1Q84 – Haruki Murakami

 

In My Mailbox and Checked Out for December

IMM is a meme started by The Story Siren (.com, without spaces). And it’s a monthly feature here at the Bibliophilic Monologues because I’m cool like that. Hoho.

This month was a big month for books simply because bookcloseouts were having a sale and I can’t resist a book sale to save my soul. I also bought some books and swapped a book from my friend, Jessica. Thanks Jess.

Books Bought

• The Wild Wood – Charles de Lint
• Lightbringer – K. D. McEntire
• Darkborn – Alison Sinclair
• My Bonny Light Horseman – L. A. Meyer
• The Magicians and Mrs. Quent – Galen Beckett
• Finnikin of the Rock – Melina Marchetta
• Slumdog Millionaire – Vikas Swarup
• The Mockingbirds – Daisy Whitney
• Dead Witch Walking – Kim Harrison
• Madapple – Christina Meldrum
• Ghostland – Jory Strong
• Why I Let My Hair Grow Out – Maryrose Wood
• Ruby Red – Kersten Gier
• Five Flavors of Dumb – Antony John
• The Half Life of Planets – Emily Franklin and Brendan Helpin
  The italicized titles were purchased from Bookcloseouts.

 

• The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest – Stieg Larsson
• Angel Arias – Marianne de Pierres (Thanks Jess)
• A College of Magics – Catherine Stevermer

Won

(not pictured)

A signed ARC of Cinder. Thanks Macmillon

Checked Out from Various Libraries

• The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms – N. K. Jemisin (read)
• The Broken Kingdoms – N. K. Jemisin (read)
• Zorgamazoo – Robert Paul Weston (read)
• The Kingdom of Gods – N. K. Jemisin
• Enclave – Ann Aguirre
• Faery Rebel – R. J. Anderson
• The Last Unicorn – Peter S. Beagle
• Thirteenth Child – Patricia C. Wrede

And that, my lovelies, is all I got for this month. What did you get?

IMM

안녕하세요. 오늘은 나는 한국어만 써야 겠다. 진심…아니예요! ^___^

Anyway, IMM is a meme started by The Story Siren and you should visit her blog (just add .com) for more info. I got quite a number of books because I’m clearly insane and cannot resist book sales for the life of me. So here, without further ado, (I don’t know why people say that) they are:

For Review/Won

Won:
Tyger, Tyger – Kersten Hamilton
(Thanks Lucy, I was *very* happy to win this. :D)

For Review:
Fever – Lauren DeStefano
The Times in Between – Marie Duenas

Bought

Bookcloseouts were having a sale and I went nuts. In my defense, I got most books for two dollars and shipping was free.

Devil’s Kiss – Sarwat Chadda*
The Wild Wood – Charles de Lint*
I Coriander – Sally Gardener*
The Awakening and Other Short Fiction – Kate Chopin*
The Folk Keeper – Franny Billingsley
Liar’s Moon – Elizabeth C. Bunce
Starcrossed – Elizabeth C. Bunce
Sing You Home – Jodi Picoult
Inheritance – Christopher Paolini
Wayfarer – R. J. Anderson*
Almost Moon – Alice Sebold*

Brida – Paulo Coelho*
The Concubine’s Daughter – Pai Kit Fai*
Anxious Hearts – Tucker Shaw*
The Splendor Falls – Rosemary Clement-Moore*
Green – Jay Lake*
The Poison Diaries – Maryrose Wood*
Prospero Lost – Jagi Lamplighter*
Five Odd Honors – Jane Lindskold*
Nine Gates – Jane Lindskold*

Liesl & Po – Lauren Oliver
The Girl Who Played with Fire – Stieg Larsson
Shatter Me – Tahereh Mafi

* – bought from Bookcloseouts.