Given that I have severely cut back on new book purchases and have become a regular fixture at my local library it has been a long time since I have posted about books that have come my way. I’m really excited about my recent treasures, including two from the library, so I decided to go ahead and post about them here. And who doesn’t like to talk about books?!?!

Jeff recently went to a bookstore in his neck of the woods that sells overstock and remaindered books. While there he came across these three excellent hardback copies of Alastair Reynolds books. His novel Chasm City, which I read late last year, made the list of the Top 20 novels I have read over the last decade.

The Prefect is a stand alone mystery/police procedural set in the same universe as Chasm City, the Revelation Space universe.

Galactic North is a collection of Reynolds’ short stories. I have seen several really good reviews of this collection.

Continue reading Recent Goodies →

(Image taken from Flickr, property of Courtney McGough)

With the Once Upon a Time Challenge IV winding down (only one week left),

*pause for Public Service Announcement*

“Stay tuned this week for an artist interview and giveaway”

and with temperatures and humidity rising, my thoughts have naturally strayed to summer.

Summer reading to be exact.

Signs are cropping up in libraries all over announcing Summer Reading Programs. I remember the first time I ever heard about them. A neighbor of ours was participating and keeping a list of the books she was reading. It was one of those lightbulb/angels singing moments. Although I wasn’t officially participating in it, I started then and there keeping a list for myself. My best guest, based on where we were living at the time, is that this occurred the summer before I entered the third grade. It is quite possible that my sometimes neglected love of making lists was birthed in that very moment. Certainly the seed was sown for the attraction of keeping lists of books read. That list making has become as natural as breathing to those of us who consider ourselves book bloggers.

Thus it seems only natural that as summer approaches I would find myself making a list of books that I feel, at the moment, an interest in trying to get to this summer. I tried to keep the list from being too long, while knowing all too well that the stars would have to align perfectly for me to get through all these before the fifth annual R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril Challenge (R.I.P.) begins on September 1st.

Continue reading Summer Dreams, make me feel…ambitious →

(image cropped from this picture…cannot find the source)

…Yes, it is a post about Books and Reading.

Jeff S. posed an interesting question in one of his comments in the book review post for A Game of Thrones by author George R. R. Martin: Who are your favorite authors and how did you discover them?

Rare is the book lover who doesn’t love to talk about their books, their inspirations, etc. and I thought it was a capital idea to pose his question to the blog community at large. Some of us have discovered life long favorite books/authors because of the timely intervention of a skillful tour guide, someone whose passionate recommendation of that author caused us to give him/her a try. Others have blazed their own path, picking up a book from a heretofore unexplored author only to discover that they have laid their hands on a precious treasure–there’s gold in them there books! Truth be told, I imagine that most readers over a certain age have favorites that they tried based on the referral of another reader AND have been an intrepid explorer in their own reading lives.

So I am splitting up Jeff’s “Who Are Your *Favorite Authors?” question into two parts:

A. Those that entered your life because of the referral of another person.

and

B. Those that were your very own discovery.

While I am more than happy with a brief list, I love details, so feel free to either answer in the comments section with a quick list, or write a small novel. Your choice. You can see my answers after the jump.

Continue reading Guided Tours and Intrepid Exploration… →

(Banned Book Weeks Banner. Click image for larger version. Click here for photo credit)

Literature is my Utopia. Here I am not disenfranchised. No barrier of the senses shuts me out from the sweet, gracious discourses of my book friends. They talk to me without embarrassment or awkwardness.
~Helen Keller

I have no idea what has happened thus far this year, but I’ve been a reading fool. I’ve read almost my annual average already. I have not done anything consciously to increase my reading time, it just seems to be happening. The month of May was the most prolific month I’ve had. Granted, I read a number of very short books, and listened to one on audio, but the length of the books overall has not varied widely from the mix of what I normally read.

Continue reading May in Review →