The Sunday Post: May 12th

It’s Sunday Post time, but before I get started I just want to say Happy Mother’s Day to the moms out there!

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer ~ It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead

It’s been a really slow week here, slow as in one post. It was my last week in school and I had extra hours at work so when I was home I was pretty much pretending to read or outright passed out. On a happy note I’m almost recovered from the semester ending (super YAY!) and I have tonsssss of new books to dig into – as if I don’t already own hundreds of unread books, lol.

Recent Reads:

I did finish the Sweep series books that I was rereading this week.

Current Reads:

I’m still reading King of the Class which I hope to finish by Monday night and I’m reading Silver by Rhiannon Held.

Coming Up:

My (kinda) usual meme posts, since I have no excuse not to post, should be up Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday.

I’m also hoping to get a few more reviews polished and posted this week. Namely, One Bullet Away, Beautiful Bastard, and Walking Disaster. I think I started writing another review recently, but I honestly don’t remember which one. I just have notes all over the place… literally, in notebooks and post its and on the computer and stuff. It’s insanity. I feel some spring cleaning coming on. Anywhoodle… the best part.

The Book Haul:

As if I really needed to buy more books this week after hauling 57 new books last week, but I’m an addict and Amazon and Barnes and Noble are dangerous places. So… what did I get?

I guess you could say I bought a book or two (and this isn’t even all of them!)…. darn that free two day shipping on books that are already cheap.

I finally got Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn! I’ve heard so many good things about Gillian Flynn from tons and tons of people so I knew I had to get one of her books eventually.

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs: This is another book I’ve meaning to get my greedy bookworm paws on for a while and finally did! I mean, there’s a girl levitating on the cover…. what’s not to love?

The Map of Time by Felix J. Palma: This is the first book in the trilogy by Palma. I hauled the second book last week and finally got my copy of the first one. This to has a pretty cover.

War by Sebastian Junger: A couple of months ago, I had watched the documentary Restrepo (which was fantastic for those who are into military documentaries). Sebastian Junger is one of the journalists who was in Afghanistan making the documentary. Ever since I’ve been on the lookout for a copy of this book.

Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion: I’m betting most everyone has heard about this book by now. I finally hopped on the bandwagon and got my copy. I can’t wait to read it!

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt: My mom suggested this book to me a few weeks back and when I saw a copy on Amazon for just a few dollars I had to have it. Now I do. When I told my mom she actually squealed aloud which was kind of shocking for me, lol.

Just a warning… I may fangirl a little bit (or a lot) over this next purchase. So one day probably two years ago I was flipping through youtube and I found the vlogbrothers after watching this video. Even so, I still to this day have not read a John Green book. However, since The Fault in Our Stars he’s been EVERYWHERE. Blogs, bookstore sites, sites like goodreads…. errrwhere! So I finally decided I needed to buy one of his books and I ended up with this….

A box set of his four books. But that’s not the coolest part, not the fact that I got a seventy dollar box set for nearly half price. The coolest part is this:

HECK YEAHHH…. the copies of Looking for Alaska AND The Fault in Our Stars are signed. SO COOL, omigosh.

So yeah, that was an awesome surprise.

To finish up this haul, there are a few more books I got that aren’t pictured.

Silver by Rhiannon Held: I actually borrowed this from the library, but I didn’t finish it before my re-renew period was up XD, so I bought a copy. Why not, right?

Walking Disaster by Jamie McGuire: This is the companion novel to Beautiful Disaster. Regardless of my thoughts about Beautiful Disaster, I’m quite psyched for this read.

Dead Iron (Age of Steam #1) by Devon Monk: I’ve seen Devon Monk’s name all over, so why not dig in with steampunk. I love me some steampunk.

The Balefire omnibus by Cate Tiernan: Tiernan is the author of the Sweep series that I spent the last couple weeks rereading. I decided it was time to check out her other stuff and got all four of her Balefire books in one. Can’t. Wait.

The Poison Tree by Erin Kelly: To be honest I know nothing about this book other than it has a pretty cover and was a 5 dollar hardcover. I’ll have that thank you verry much.

And that does it for this week. Have you read anything good this week? Should I put any of these at the top of my list? Anything else you’d like to share? Have at it.

Bout of Books: More Read-a-thonning!!!

I’ve been seeing posts all around the blogosphere for a read-a-thon that’s coming up and I decided that with the end of my semester here it’s only right to reward myself by participating in a week long read-a-thon! Heck yeah.

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 13th and runs through Sunday, May 19th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 7.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team

I don’t have any goals as yet other than trying to read at least 5 hours a day. I only have one full day to myself this week and my work schedule is all over the place, but I’m going to do my best to hit that goal. If you’re curious, there’s more information about the Bout of Books read-a-thon here!

Happy ‘thonning!

Musing Mondays: May 6th

As per usual, Musing Mondays is hosted over at Should Be Reading…

Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…

• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• What book are you currently desperate to get your hands on? Tell us about it!
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!
• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it, then!

In the past couple of weeks, and even before then, I’ve always thought about reading books that are a part of a series. Personally, I really enjoy reading books that are a part of a series just because I love getting to know all the people involved with them and following all the things they go through and so on. That’s not to say that everything I read is from a series, but a lot of books are. Here’s what gets me about series though.

I have a tendency to gorge myself on a series. When I get that first book, if I like it I’ll buy every book from the series I can get my paws on and then I won’t stop reading them until I can’t stand them anymore. At that point, I’ll take a break and eventually I’ll go back to them. This doesn’t happen with every series I read, the getting sick of them part, but it happens enough that I’ve picked up on it.

The other thing that I’ve noticed about reading series, is that when a series ends, a lot of times I go into a mini ‘MY SERIES IS ENDING WHAT AM I GOING TO DO WITH MY LIFE?!?!?!?’ depression. In my mind its kind of like, I loved this series and I followed it and now I have to say goodbye to all these characters I love in a way. Whenever I read the last book in a series I actually have a tendency to be very jumpy about it. I don’t know how else to explain it. Maybe I’m just weird like that.

My question for you… Are you a reader of series? How do you read them – all at once, or do you break it up? Ever go into that sad-place when a series you love ends? Do tell.

The Sunday Post: May 5th

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer ~ It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead. 

It’s the first Sunday of May and I’m here with a mega post that will mostly be my mega book haul from my recent trip to my favorite used book store plus all the other books I got, lol. So… lets get going.

Recently on the Blog:

• I participated in Top Ten Tuesday and talked about my auto-buys for books. 
• I posted my April wrap-up and my tentative May stuff.

I’ve read:

On Friday I mentioned I’ve been re-reading a series that I loved when I was younger and at that point I had read through book 6. Well I’m currently on book 10, so in the last week I’ve read books 1-9 in the Sweep series.

I’ve also been reading King of the Class by Gila Green.

Coming Up:

I do know that I’ll be taking part in Musing Monday tomorrow and I know exactly what I’ll be talking about. I also intend to participate in Top Ten Tuesday and Booking Through Thursday. Other than that, I’ll be writing my last paper of the semester!!!!!

So I kept that short and sweet because… my book haul… it’s bad.

The Book Haul:

I was meaning to do pictures and stuff, but I forgot to do them earlier and quite honestly I’m too lazy to do it now, so there will be some cover pictures from the internet and LOTSA listing of book titles. I’m also going to try to separate my hauls so they’re not too confusing… or something. XD

Ready? Set? Go!

During a couple of recent Barnes & Noble trips I’ve gotten (Fiction first!):

• Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde – this book has been on my list for a while now and when I saw this in the bargain section I just had to have it. Plus, the cover is frickin’ awesomesauce.
• American Gods (The Tenth Anniversary Release) by Neil Gaiman – I’ll admit, I already own a copy of this book and even though I haven’t yet read it, I’ve heard enough good things that I decided to splurge on this version which is the author’s preferred text version and has a pretty cover. Now to decide which version to read first… help?!
• Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
• 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
• The Sweep series, Volume 1 (Books 1-3) by Cate Tiernan – they didn’t have the first three books at the used bookstore when I went so I ended up ordering it from B&N.
• Triangles by Ellen Hopkins – I read Crank by Ellen Hopkins when I was younger and LOVED it. Triangles is her first adult novel so I figured it wouldn’t hurt to give it a go.

Non-fiction from B&N:

• The Heart and the Fist: The Education of a Humanitarian, the Making of a Navy Seal by Eric Greitens
• Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain by David Eagleman – a book about the brain… however could I say no??

Moving on to my used book store haul… Prepare yourselves.

To start, I bought books 4-11 in the Sweep series by Cate Tiernan to fill in the ones that I lost…

• Dark Magick, #4
• Awakening, #5
• Spellbound, #6
• The Calling, #7
• Changeling, #8
• Strife, #9
• Seeker, #10
• Origins, #11

Quick story about this series just to illustrate how deeply I love it. I first read this series when I was about 13. OMG, did I love it. Well, I was reading it when my mom and I went to Ireland on vacation and I brought three of the books with me figuring that between the flights and the airport waits and the reading I would do before bed that would be the perfect number of books to have with me. Well… I finished them halfway through the trip, so part of my time touring Dublin was actually spent scouring bookstores so that I could keep reading this series… which was actually even funnier because I couldn’t seem to figure out that the series was released under a different name in Europe. So… yeah. Dedication right there. Moving on.

I also bought a few books in Jacquelyn Frank’s Nightwalkers Series:

• Gideon, #2
• Damien, #4
• Noah, #5

Funny thing… I was positive that Damien and Noah’s books were 3 and 4 respectively so I’m all like… ‘yeah man I can continue this series.’ Turns out I’m wrong so I’ll probably be hauling the real book three in the near future. Whoops.

I also bought the Hannibal Lecter books (which I hope I have in the correct order) because I felt like it, lol…

• Red Dragon, #1
• Silence of the Lambs, #2
• Hannibal, #3
• Hannibal Rising, #4

To add to my Zebra Horror collection, I bought:

• Haunted by Tamara Thorne

In Sci-fi/Fantasy, I bought:

• The Map of the Sky by Felix J. Palma – so this is technically the second book of a trilogy and I was looking for book 1, but they didn’t have book one and the cover was just so pretty… so I bought it.
• Homeland (Dark Elf Trilogy #1) by R.A. Salvatore – this was actually suggested to me by a friend of mine.
• Dracula in London edited by P.N. Elrod – This is a series of short stories about Dracula I guess… It looks interesting though I’ll wait until I actually read Dracula since I haven’t yet. XD
• Godmother Night by Rachel Pollack
• The Presidents Vampire (Nathaniel Cade #2) by Christopher Farnsworth
• Red, White, & Blood (Nathaniel Cade #3) by Christopher Farnsworth

Other Fiction Books:

• Esperanza by Trish J. MacGregor
• Ghost Key by Trish J. MacGregor
• Imajica by Clive Barker
• A Case of Exploding Mangoes by Mohammed Hanif
• The Unnamed by Joshua Ferris
• Sleeping with Soldiers by Rosemary Daniell
• The Passage by Justin Cronin
• Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire
• The Remedy by Michelle Lovric
• The Watchers by Jon Steele
• The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian
• The Celibate by Michael Arditti
• The Effects of Light by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore
• Gaijin by Marc Olden
• The Information Officer by Mark Mills
• The Reincarnationist by M.J. Rose

Last but not least, Non-fiction!

• Lords of the Sea by John R. Hale
• The Salem Witch Trials by Marilynne K. Roach
• Courtesans & Fishcakes: The Consuming Passions of Classical Athens by James Davidson – Okay… how do you not buy a book called Courtesans & Fishcakes? I mean really? This book could have been about sewage or  a blade of grass or whatever and I still would have bought it just for the awesome title.
• Darwin Among the Machines: The Evolution of Global Intelligence by George B. Dyson
• On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War & Society by  Lt. Col. Dave Grossman
• In the Rose Garden of the Martyrs: A Memoir of Iran by Christopher de Ballaigne
• The Ethical Slut by Dossie Easton and Catherine Liszt – This book was actually mentioned a few times in Sex at Dawn and went on my list way back then so I’m glad to finally have found a copy
• Homosexuality & Psychoanalysis edited by Tim Dean and Chris Lane – this has psychology nerd written all over it… bring it on.
• Appetites: Why Women Want by Caroline Knapp
• Seductress: Women Who Ravished the World & Their Lost Art of Love by Betsy Prioleau

So… that should be all 57… yes… fifty-seven books I’ve recently purchased. I can admit that I have a problem and no… I don’t intend to do anything about it, lol.

Anything look good here? Anything you’ve read that I should knock up to the top of the TBR? Let me know.

April 2013 Rundown and Upcoming in May

So… April was an interesting reading month for me. With the end of the semester I’ve been spending lots of time on papers and presentations and the like and less time reading for fun sadly. What I did manage to read was an interesting batch though.

The first book I read was a continuation from March, Nobody’s Perfect, the fourth book in the Rescue Me series by Kallypso Masters. I was really excited when I actually got to this book and I have to say it didn’t let me down.

The second book I read was Fever by Maya Banks, the second book in the Breathless trilogy. I knew this book would be… gritty, is the best word I’ve got, but it was amazing, I loved it. Now I’m stuck waiting until AUGUST for the third book. I hate waiting.

Suicide Note by Teresa Mummert was the third book I read which was less than fantastic, unfortunately. I’ve reviewed it here, along with another of her books if you’re interested.

I also read Beautiful Bastard by Christina Lauren in April. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great. I’m kinda ‘ehh’ about the book to be honest.

Around the middle of the month I got an itch to read some more of Lora Leigh’s Breed books, so I read four of those this month, one of which was a re-read. I read:

• Mercury’s War, #16
• Christmas Heat, #17 (which is actually a novella)
• Styx’s Storm, #22
• Navarro’s Promise #24 (the re-read)

I’ve been jumping around in this series for the last couple of years, but I’m finally filling in some gaps and forcing myself to go in order for the rest of it, because OMIGOSH, the stuff that happens. O.O

In April I also read Things Are Going to Slide by Rangeley Wallace as part of a book tour and I loved it!

I satiated another bookish curiosity by reading a cheap-o copy of Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire that I picked up during my trip to the used book store recently (look out for the book haul this Sunday ’cause…. ZOMG). It was good even if that book will win every single award for most dysfunctional relationship ever. It was good enough that I’d like to pick up the companion novel Walking Disaster if I can find it cheap enough.

And last but not least… I started re-reading a series that I first read about ten years ago because I finally replaced the books I was missing and then I just HAD to read them. So last month I got through the first two books of the Sweep series:

• Book of Shadows, #1
• The Coven, #2

I’m unsure how I’ll review these books at this point, but I’d like to because of the different way it looks at witches (as opposed to say, Harry Potter).

What will May bring?

I’m reading a few books right now actually, I’m on book 7 of the Sweep series… yes I’ve read books 3-6 in the first two days of May, lol. I’m also reading King of the Class by Gila Green which is really interesting. I’m definitely liking that one. The last book I’ve got going right now is Coyote’s Mate, the 18th book in the Breeds series.

To be honest, I don’t know exactly what else I’ll be reading this month yet because I have my last two weeks of school and SO many new books and there’s so much temptation and feelings of, ‘I MUST READ THIS!!!!’ I can say that I’ll probably finish the Sweep series seeing as I read them in a couple hours a piece and because they’re addicting! Other than that, it’ll be a surprise for all of us I suppose, lol.

What did you read last month? Anything good? Anything in particular you’re looking forward to this month? Inquiring minds would like to know.

Top Ten Tuesday: What Makes Us Auto-Buy Books

Top Ten Tuesday, as always, is hosted over at The Broke and the Bookish! This weeks topic is ten words or topics that will automatically make us read or buy a book.

1. Zombies. I love me some zombies, all day, every day. Anything with a hint of zombies I just have to get my hands on.

2. Horror. I absolutely love the genre that is horror. Honestly, most of it doesn’t freak me out, but there are still amazing stories out there and when I find those gems that do give me chills… I just can’t get enough.

3. Psychological thrillers. I’m separating this from horror just because horror comes in many forms and here I’m talking specifically about the books that mess with your head. When a book pulls you in so deep you realize it’s actually messing with your brain. Love it. Love it. Love it.

4. Magic. I love pretty much anything that has to do with magic and I love all the different ways it has been written about. Two of my long time favorite series (Harry Potter and Sweep) are centered around magic and I just adore them. They’re such great books to relax to and read.

5. Mythological. Ever since I first learned about mythology in middle school I have been hooked. The myths themselves are so interesting, not to mention all of the books, movies, etc that have come of these myths. Any book that uses mythology, either following original myths or forming their own new ones, is a must have in my opinion.

6. Other worlds. I love the idea of other worlds being out there, so when a book takes place on another planet or in another universe I’m so there.

7. Romance. I am a sucker for romance. I can’t help myself. If there is rumored to be some sort of romance, I’m probably there, lol.

8. True crime/Justice. Being a criminal justice major, I have a major soft spot for stories of true crime, stories based on true crimes, and books about my and other countries justice systems. If I come across a book with any of those threads, it’s quite likely to at the very least catch my eye.

9. The brain. The brain is another of those things that I could just learn about nonstop for the rest of my life and never get sick of it. Any book that has a picture of a brain of some sort on it or mentions the human brain will get at least a few looks from me, likely before I take it home with me.

10. Kick-ass leading women. This is one of my favorite things to see in books, strong women characters, so when I see a book that looks like it has a kick-ass leading female or someone says there is one in a review, whatever the way, once I hear about it I must have it.

So there are ten things that will make me buy a book without thought. What are your auto-buy topics? Do share!

Booking Through Thursday: Sports

This weeks BTT asks:

1. Do you read books about sports?
2. How about AT sporting events? (Kid’s soccer practice?)

While I am a fan of some sports, primarily soccer, football, NASCAR and hockey, I don’t generally read books about those or any other sports. That’s not to say that I wouldn’t read a book about them if it caught my eye, but to this point I haven’t found anything that has really caught my interest. I have read books with characters who are athletes, but those weren’t really about the sports.

As far as reading at sporting events, that’s something I haven’t done either. When I go to the races or hockey games, etc I’m generally there for that event and I’m not likely to break out a book while I’m there – not to mention it would be so loud and crazy that it would be tough to focus on a book. However, were I to say, take my brother to his sports practice, yeah I’d probably break out a book. Other than that, the only time I’ll read during a sporting event is if I’m watching it at home. Then I can read during commercials and such and if I miss anything… well I can rewind and watch it. Oh the joys of technology, lol!

What’s your take on sports books and reading while observing them?