In My Mailbox is one of them there memes thats all the rage with the young folk. A lot of bloggers get free books from publishers and use IMM to rub it in our faces, but it's cool. Its not like I've been sending hundreds of letters of Penguin, HarperCollins, and Simon and Shuster, each one begging for just one lowly ARC, each envelope sealed with the tears of my dismay.
No, it's not like that at all.
BUT I did find a bookstore here in Austin that sells overstock library books for the price of Ramen noodles. So against the wishes of a TBR pile that would make most World of Warcraft fanatics say, "Dude, you need to get out more," I stocked up.
Here are some of my TBR highlights:
I've been excited about this one for a while. It came highly recommended to me by my brain. It's been described as Oceans Eleven meets Robin Hood.
For those of you unfamiliar with Gaiman's work, he wrote "Stardust" and "Coraline." This is the companion to "American Gods" which is one of my favorite fantasy books ever. VERY excited about this one.
Please, holster your judgement guns for the moment. And no, I didn't upload the wrong image. Tahereh Mafi and Veronica Rossi (Under the Never Sky) did a signing at the bookstore by me, and I really wanted to network a bit and see if I could get either of them to come to one of the author breakfasts we're having. I didn't want to seem as poor as I am by going up to them empty handed, so I sucked it up and bought both books. Veronica was super nice and I'm actually really enjoying her book. This book however, came in as an advance copy to Barnes and Noble , and I tried a few pages and it certainly wasn't for me. I don't like to badmouth books that I haven't read more than 10 pages of, so I wont. But 17.99 got me a personalized copy and a chance to ask her about the BEA.
Which neither are going to. Go figure.
THE GIVER HAS A COMPANION NOVEL?!?!?!? BUH-WHATTT! WHY DID I NOT KNOW? If anyone needs me I'm going to be in my shame corner for the foreseeable future.
What about you? What's in your TBR pile?
are you serious??? the giver has a companion novel??? really???
ReplyDeletei love the cover for the lies, and neil gaiman *sigh* can't go wrong there, huh?
I KNOW RIGHT! And to blow your mind even further, it's actually the Giver TRILOGY! There's a third one called MESSENGER and a forth called SON coming out this year.
DeleteHow did I not know this?
DUDE!!! i just came by that tidbit like fifteen minutes ago, i was gathering new for emily and my forthcoming podcast and i saw this about SON and i was like!?!?!? WHAT THE HELL!?!??!?!?!!? craziness.
Deletei wonder if it unambiguates the ending of THE GIVER?
Okay, you have to tell me why Shatter Me isn't for you. I have an ARC on the back of my couch that I traded another book for, and I have to know if I made a bad call. (Probably.)
ReplyDeleteAs for The Anansi Boys - it is sooooooo good! Drop everything and read it RIGHT NOW! I listened to the audiobook, which was beyond amazing. *swoons* Maybe I'm a little biased because I adore the Anansi fables, but Gaiman did them justice.
Anywho, here's my IMM if you're interested. It's mostly YA stuff, but hopefully they're good.
Ok, I knew saying that about Shatter Me was going to get me in trouble :)
DeleteIt's really just the hate in me bubbling for something to do. First, Mafi admits that the cover has nothing to do with the story. I get it (because that cover sure sold a lot of copies) but I just don't really like pandering like that. I know, hater right?
Second, and the main reason, is because when the ARCs came in I flipped to a random page and found this:
His lips
His lips
His eyes
His lips
His eyes
His lips
His lips
It wasn't that exactly but it was something close to that. And my biggest problem in YA books like these (i know you're going to think I'm up the wall because I write YA) are nauseating romances for nauseating romance's sake. I like originality. And truth in my fiction. I like even the most outlandish stories to feel real. And it seems to me like all this romance is so freaking fake and stolen right from other works and just used to sell books.
I don't know. Maybe it's because I was in a long term relationship where the romance was gone, or maybe I'm just jealous.
But i will give her credit for the strikethroughs, because I hadn't seen that in YA before
No, I'll allow it. You can have problems with YA books. In fact, I have the exact same problems. I don't read the books that have romance as the main focus (that doesn't knock out many *rolls eyes*) because they instigate my gag reflex. I can't relate to that silliness. (Hell, I don't even remember what it's like to be in love.) I do appreciate a good story, though. So yes, I am a bitter old hag, but I buy books for myself and choose them for my library. I won't waste time or money on stuff that isn't believable. And science fiction/fantasy/whatever CAN be believable if the author goes about it correctly.
DeleteLove, love, love Neil Freaking Gaiman! My favorite book of his is The Graveyard Book. Nice haul of books, my friend. I am currently reading The City of Lost Souls and Angelina's Secret.
ReplyDeleteDARBY!!!!!
DeleteThanks for stopping by.
Neil Gaiman is my new hero. If he asked me to jump off a bridge I'd ask "how high?"
I think I just mixed metaphors, but yeah you get the point. And I've been trying to get my hands on a used copy (I'm very poor) of the Graveyard Book for ages now. It refused to come into my used bookshop. UGH
But so good to see you supporting SHP authors. Lisa is a fantastic person.
Dan: I bet you could pick up The Graveyard Book at your local library if you can't find it used.
ReplyDelete