In My Mailbox: January 15, 2012

In My Mailbox (IMM) is a meme hosted weekly by Kristi at The Story Siren.

Here's what I got this week!

From the library,  I got Across the Universe by Beth Revis, Unison Spark by Andy Marino, Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins, and Legend by Marie Lu.

From the bookstore, I bought The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (an autographed copy!) and A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin.

From Net Galley, for review, I got Caught in Crystal by Patricia C. Wrede and Invasion by Jon S. Lewis.

From Pulse It, for review, I got Bittersweet by Sarah Ockler.

Since I haven't even read most of the books that I got last week, I have plenty of books to keep me busy for a while!  What's in your mailbox this week?  Leave me a comment and I'll stop by your blog!

In My Mailbox: January 8, 2012

In My Mailbox (IMM) is a meme hosted weekly by Kristi at The Story Siren.

This week, I purchased Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi and Prized (Birthmarked, #2) by Caragh M. O'Brien.

I have been waiting for Prized since I finished Birthmarked, the first book in the trilogy, last year.  I picked up Shatter Me because I've read rave reviews of it and decided I just had to read it myself!

My public library allows you to check out books for the Kindle, and this week I found out that a lot of books I've been wanting to read are available that way!  I borrowed Mastiff (The Legend of Beka Cooper, #3) by Tamora Pierce, The Declaration by Gemma Malley, Across the Universe by Beth Revis, and The Time Paradox (Artemis Fowl, #6) by Eoin Colfer.

Free from Amazon for the Kindle, I got Tortured:  A bridge story between Birthmarked and Prized by Caragh M. O'Brien.

From NetGalley, for review, I received Quest for the Scorpion's Jewel by Amy Green, Endworlds by Nicholas Read, Neurogastronomy by Gordon Shepherd, and The Kitchen as Laboratory edited by Cesar Vega, Job Ubbink, and Erik van der Linden.


I have a ton to read now!  Reviews are forthcoming (in the near- or, not so near, future) for most of these titles.

Book Blogger Hop (2/4-2/7/11)!

Book Blogger Hop is a weekly meme hosted at Crazy For Books.  Each week, a question is posted for bloggers to answer.  This week's question is:

What are you reading now and why are you reading it?

Well, if I had answered this yesterday, my answer would have been Paranormalcy by Kiersten White.  I won it from Georgia McBride during YA Lit Chat about a month ago and finally got around to starting it this week.  While I normally don't read paranormal, I do try my best to read every book I get.  Well, Paranormalcy was just so good that I finished it yesterday!  (Look for my review coming this week.)


So now I have a couple books waiting to be read, and I'm debating which to read next.  XVI by Julia Carr and The Eagle by Rosemary Sutcliff are up on the list- I bought XVI and received The Eagle from InGroup.  But I also have Dreams of Significant Girls waiting in the post office (can't get packages until Monday...) for an ARC tour, so I might wait until then to pick up a new book.


Until I decide, I'll probably continue reading My Favorite Band Does Not Exist by Robert T Jeschonek, which I got from NetGalley to review, and have downloaded onto my computer.  I just am not a big fan of reading off of my laptop, so I always like to have a "real" book that I'm reading, too.


Whew, that was long!  What are you reading?

"Waiting On" Wednesday: Prized by Caragh O'Brien

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a meme hosted weekly by Breaking The Spine to highlight upcoming book releases and spread the word about them.  This week, I'm featuring Prized by Caragh O'Brien.


If you've heard of Caragh O'Brien recently, it's because her first book, Birthmarked, made a big splash when it hit the YA market last March.  Prized is the sequel to Birthmarked, and it's due to be published in November, 2011.


(My review of Birthmarked is coming tomorrow!)


No synopsis has been released yet for Prized, but currently, it is known that it will pick up Gaia's story about two weeks after the end of Birthmarked.


Have you read Birthmarked?  What are you waiting on this Wednesday?

Book Blogger Hop (1/28-1/31)!

Book Blogger Hop is a weekly meme hosted at Crazy For Books as a way for bloggers to connect with each other over a common book-related question each weekend.  This week's question was submitted by yours truly =)

What book are you most looking forward to seeing published in 2011?  Why are you anticipating that book?

I submitted a hard question!  There are definitely a lot of books that I'm looking forward to reading in 2011.  But if I have to pick one, I'd have to say Mastiff by Tamora Pierce.  This is the third book in her Beka Cooper series.  Tamora Pierce is one of those authors that I've grown up with.  I started reading her books in middle school (6th or 7th grade) and even though that was over eight years ago (wow!) I still love her books.  Mastiff doesn't come out until November, and there's no synopsis released yet, but I'm sure it will be worth the wait!

Again, a huge thanks to Jennifer at Crazy for Books for featuring Des Absurdités this weekend!!

"Waiting On" Wednesday: Memento Nora by Angie Smibert

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Breaking the Spine to profile yet to be released books that we're eagerly anticipating.  This week, I'm featuring Memento Nora by Angie Smibert.  It will be released in April 2011.


It's a YA dystopian novel that I came across while perusing other book blogs.  It sounds like a really interesting take on the dystopian genre because it also deals with issues of memory.


Here is the synopsis from Goodreads:


A teen struggles to hold onto her memories-and her identity-in a world that wants everyone to forget-and keep on shopping. Three dynamic teens come together to create a comic book of their memories.


There was a better synopsis somewhere, but I can't find it at the moment.  Sorry =(


I was lucky enough to get selected for an ARC tour of this book from the wonderful Holly at Good Golly Miss Holly!  I'm fifth on the list so I should get the book around the middle of March.  But I am extremely excited to read this one; it's been on my list since I first heard about it!  Can't wait =)

In My Mailbox: Jan 10-16

In My Mailbox is a meme hosted by The Story Siren as a way to share what books we got over the past week.




I purchased XVI by Julia Carr.

I also got a load of books from NetGalley!  (If you've never used it, it's an awesome site where you can get advance copies of books online.  You have to read them on your computer- no print copies- but if you don't mind that, then it's a great way to read a lot of books well before their release dates.)


The Atomic Weight of Secrets or The Arrival of the Mysterious Men in Black by Eden Unger Bowditch
My Favorite Band Does Not Exist by Robert T Jeschonek
Lost Voices by Sarah Porter
The Cellar by A J Whitten
Trickster's Girl by Hilari Bell


Sadly, I start classes again this week so I'm not going to have as much time to read as I did over the break.  I'm going to read the books I have but my blog posts are going to start being a mix of book posts and random life posts again.  This blog started out as a personal blog and I don't want to lose that aspect of it even as I post more book reviews and such.  =)

Book Blogger Hop (1/14-1/17)!

The wonderful blog Crazy For Books has a weekly feature called the Book Blogger Hop.  Each week, they post a question for bloggers to answer.  It's a great way for book bloggers to connect with one another.  This week's question is:

Why do you read the genre that you do?  What draws you to it?

I love reading YA fantasy or dystopian.  Even thinking back to when I was younger, some of my favorite authors to read were  Tamora Pierce, JK Rowling, and Libba Bray; I loved The Giver and The Magician's Nephew; The Guardians of Ga'hoole, Pendragon, and Artemis Fowl were the series I followed.


Now that I'm in college, I still find myself attached to YA fantasy.  While they're quick reads for me now, this genre still pulls me in for all the same reasons it did when I was younger.  I can't find novels in the adult section that I love quite the same way I love my YA.


Everyone always talks about how reading should be an escape.  In order for reading to have that effect on me, I need the story to be very distinct from reality.  I need to be able to pick up a book and have it transport me somewhere that doesn't remind me of the real world.  Being able to use a book as a vessel to imagine something totally new and exciting is something I find only fantasy is able to do for me.  Whether the new world that's created is better or worse than reality right now doesn't matter to me so long that it's different.  I find that YA fantasy and dystopian novels are full of avenues for me as the reader to explore different ideas, without being constrained by the laws of reality.


What's your take on YA fantasy and dystopian novels?  Do you have any all-time favorite books from these genres?

"Waiting On" Wednesday: My Favorite Band Does Not Exist by Robert T Jeschonek

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Breaking the Spine to profile yet to be released books that we're eagerly anticipating.  This week, I'm featuring My Favorite Band Does Not Exist by Robert T Jeschonek.  It will be released on July 11, 2011.


It's a YA fantasy novel that seems to also fall under the realm of metafiction.  While that's not normally what I read, I've been enticed by the idea of metafiction since I discovered the idea of it in November.  I'd really like to read My Favorite Band Does Not Exist to get some firsthand experience with reading metafiction.


Here is the summary from Amazon:


Sixteen-year-old genius Idea Deity believes that he exists only in the pages of a novel written by a malevolent, omnipotent author . . . and that he will die in chapter 64. Meanwhile, an older teen named Reacher Mirage sings lead vocals for the undercover rock band Youforia . . . a band that exists in Idea’s world only as an Internet hoax that Idea himself perpetuated. Then there’s beautiful and mysterious Eunice Truant, who links their destinies. When Idea and Reacher plunge into the reality ofFireskull’s Revenant, the twisted epic fantasy novel they’ve both been reading, chapter 64 bears down on them like a speeding freight train on an unstoppable collision course. Being trapped in a bad book can be a nightmare. Just ask Idea Deity.


I actually just received a galley of this book from NetGalley!  I'm super excited to read it, so make sure to check back a little closer to the release date for a review!  I'm swamped now with books on my "to read" list (especially because a bunch of them are library books that are due soon), but this is close to the top of the list because I want to read it so badly =)

Book Blogger Hop!

The folks over at Crazy for Books have a wonderful feature called the Book Blogger Hop, where people who blog about books answer a question each weekend.  It's a chance for book bloggers to connect with each other.  This week's question is:

What book influenced or changed your life?  How did it influence/change you?

The Giver, which I first read in middle school, has really made an impact on me.  Ever since reading it, I've had a different sense of the future, more questions about what is to come, and (not sure if I'm phrasing this correctly, but) a better understanding of how much speculation there really is in our day to day lives.  I still say that The Giver's impact has been a positive one.  Though I'm sure I understood the book better when I read it more recently than when I first picked it up, it still affects me the same way.  Is that really what the future of our species holds?  Why does every futuristic book portray such a controlled society?  Humans pride themselves on their power of choice; what does such a dystopian view say about us?  If anything, these questions have led me to be more discerning when deciding what to think about things, because any one choice could swing the future in a completely different direction.  It makes me ask more questions about things around me and my own life.  Finding a book such as The Giver at such a young age really changed my way of thinking about everything.


Writing that paragraph was actually a really pensive experience.  I guess in the back of my mind, I knew where certain ideas I have came from, but being able to say exactly what they are attributed to is a completely different experience.  For anyone that hasn't read The Giver- do it!  Even if you're not a fan of dystopian novels, this one goes so much deeper than most.  It was written much earlier than a lot of the other well-known dystopian YA novels, and speculates a lot more as opposed to spelling everything out for the reader.  It's as much a book to read as a book to think about.


*To everyone visiting from the Book Blogger Hop:  I write about pretty much anything on my blog; you'll find book posts mixed in with a lot of other topics.*