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Imminent Arrivals and TBR #2
The first time I did an Imminent Arrivals and TBR post it turned out to be surprisingly popular with you guys. Yay! So I decided to continue doing them periodically.
Imminent Arrivals (books with the shortest estimated arrival from PaperBackSwap)
Top of the queue is Blindspot
Next is Poison Study
Third in line is Deadtown
TBR
I’m trying to dig down to the books that have been in my TBR pile the longest. First is S
Also sitting on the TBR shelf for a while is Parable of the Sower
Finally there’s Neuromancer
There we have it! Please tell me what you think, my lovely readers!
Imminent Arrivals and TBR
Since I didn’t quite manage to finish my current read on the bus this morning (I literally had to stop in the middle of the climax. I HATE IT WHEN THAT HAPPENS), I thought I’d do something a little bit different today. As you all know, I use PaperBackSwap for acquiring a lot of my books. It lets you sort your wishlist by estimated time to fulfillment, so I thought I’d share with you guys the books that are estimated to be mine shortly.
First up, I’ve been waiting for this book forever: The Forest of Hands and Teeth
Next is The Group
Third is yet another post-apocalyptic book: Life As We Knew It
Ok, so I also have books in my TBR pile, so I’m going to show you guys 3 random books from there. If there’s one you sorely want reviewed soon, tell me now!
I stumbled upon The Integral Trees 
A pretty recent arrival, I Am Not A Serial Killer by Dan Wells features an untrustworthy narrator with sociopathic tendencies who spends the book trying to convince us and himself that he’s not a serial killer. Kind of reminds me of Dexter
Finally, there’s Undead and Unwed 
That’s it! Please tell me what you think, my lovely readers!
PaperBackSwap
A while back I told you guys about a book swapping website I’ve been using called Swaptree. In the interim I started using PaperBackSwap, so I thought I should let you guys know about it too.
PaperBackSwap is slightly different from Swaptree. You acquire books using credits. (You are given some free ones when you start. I believe it’s 3) You can get credits either from sending someone else a book or you can buy them. The credits are $3.45 a piece, but if you buy larger batches of them they cost less. So even if you buy your credits instead of only using credits earned by sending books, you’re still getting books for $3.45 or less, which is wicked cheap.
Since PaperBackSwap doesn’t use a direct swapping method, you wishlist books you want. When a copy of the book becomes available, it is first offered whoever first wishlisted it. This sounds like a long wait, but I haven’t had to wait too terribly long for anything yet. Also if you put in a large wishlist, you tend to get a pretty steady flow of books being offered to you. Another cool feature of PaperBackSwap is PBS Market, which is basically an overstock shop of books. You can get these for super-low price either paying just money or just credits or a combination of money and credits. When a book you’ve wishlisted becomes available in PBS Market, they notify you but your position is also maintained in the wishlist unless you choose to buy the PBS Market book.
You should be aware though that PaperBackSwap leaves it up to the requester to set the specific condition requirements for books. The website generally requests that the book be in “good condition” with “no markings,” but anything beyond that is up to the requester. Say that you don’t want books that have been in a smoker’s home. You would say in your settings “No books from homes with smoke please.” This message would be visible to the giver when you request the book. They can then reject it for the “doesn’t meet requester’s requirements” reason. However, I found that you should put some sort of requirement in because it makes givers think twice about sending you an iffy copy. For mine I just reiterated PaperBackSwap’s “no excessive highlighting or writing.” Since then I’ve been receiving better quality books.
I like using both websites, because if there’s a book I really want, I can get it quicker for cheap on PaperBackSwap, but if I’m a bit more patient Swaptree ensures that I’m doing a 1 to 1 trade. Whereas on PaperBackSwap I’ve sent out 2 books but received 10. Oops, lol.
If you do choose to join PaperBackSwap, please let them know that I referred you as it will get me free credits. My username is tapcat16. Also, please check out the books I have available and see if you want any. You’ll know for sure that you’re getting your copy from a reliable giver and a super-speedy shipper, if I do say so myself. :-) I also frequently add books, possibly even ones I’ve reviewed here, so check back often. I’ve added a widget on the right-hand side of my blog that will link you directly to my profile for future reference. I like my books to find new homes. It makes me all happy inside.
So there’s the inside scoop on PaperBackSwap. Cheers!
5 More Questions About Books
You guys may remember the previous meme post I did 5 Questions About Books, which I acquired from Syosset Public Library’s Readers and Reference blog. Well, the lovely Sonia of the library, contacted me with the complete list of questions they use in case I wanted to do another meme! So here’s 5 More Questions About Books, and as before, feel free to use the meme yourself.
What book is on your nightstand right now?:
The Angry Heart: Overcoming Borderline and Addictive Disorders: An Interactive Self-Help Guide by Joseph Santoro, PhD. It’s a great book, and I highly recommend it!
What is a book you’ve faked reading?:
Bleak House by Charles Dickens. It was assigned for a required course in British literature. I attempted to read it, but after a couple of chapters and with the other homework I had going on that semester, Sparknotes became my very dear friend. For the record, I aced the exam questions on it. ;-)
What’s a book that’s changed your life?:
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. I was raised in a very traditional, religious, patriarchal manner, and this book was what spurred me on to investigate other ways of looking at the world. Needless to say, I am no longer religious; I am a feminist. This book is what started me on the path to free-thought, and I will always love Margaret Atwood for that.
Can you quote a favorite line from a book?:
“…If death
Consort with thee, death is to me as life;
So forcible within my heart I feel
The bond of nature draw me to my own;
My own in thee, for what thou art is mine:
Our state cannot be severed, we are one,
One flesh; to lose thee were to lose myself.”
Adam to Eve, Paradise Lost by John Milton. One of my favorite quotes of all time.
What’s your favorite book genre?:
This should come as absolutely no surprise to anyone, but dystopian literature followed closely by scifi with horror a super-duper close third.
On Writing in Books
Growing up, I was taught that books are precious objects that we do not make any marks in. Of course, most of our books were borrowed from the library, so this made perfect sense.
Then university came, along with my two very text-heavy majors–American History and English and American Literature. I was encouraged to mark up my books, both the primary texts of my history courses and the literature of my English courses. At first I was hesitant, using post-it notes stuck to the pages to mark my ideas. After the course was over, I’d remove the post-it notes, leaving just a few highlighted passages.
Along came the year when I took two courses in a row that taught Paradise Lost. The first course was about heresy in history and literature (freaking amazing class, dudes). The second was on the Western Canon. I opened my copy of Paradise Lost in Western Canon and found myself devastated that all of my heresy observations were gone. Gone and never to return. To this day I wish I had the notations I made during the exquisite heresy lectures. Nothing taught me the vast possibilities in good literature like approaching Paradise Lost in these two different manners did. And nothing showed me better the value of writing in a book.
My experience reading isn’t just for shits and giggles, as the saying goes. I learn things about myself, about the world. My perceptions and ideas flux and change. There are the books that I read as a teen that I’ve re-read in my 20s, and I’ve wished that I could see on the page my reaction to the writing as a teenager.
The experience of reading a word or a phrase and having it strike you. Of wanting to underline it. Of wanting to note what it means to you right then. Expand this to include notations of things you’ve learned in relation to this word or phrase, such as the fact that you googled it and discovered it was dangerous for the author to write such a thing at the time. Or even just the definition of a word you didn’t know.
I know many people think it sullies a book to write in it, but I think it expands the book. I know people who are disgusted if they check out a book from the library and it’s written in, but I find that to be a wonderful treasure. I love seeing how someone else reacted to the same book. Someone who I will never know beyond the fact that they were so moved by a passage that they felt the need to write “omg!!” alongside it or that they knew so much about Greek mythology that they noted which goddess a passage is referring to.
Reading should be interactive, and books are necessarily a part of that. When I die and people clean out my personal library, I want the copies of my books to show the wear and tear that comes from truly interacting with the books you love. I want them to be worn from multiple readings and covered with notations and highlighting made in different colors throughout the course of my life. I want my books to reflect the impact that they’ve had on me, so I’ll continue to write in them. Even if it means that when I decide in my minimalist way to let a book go that I have a more difficult time finding someone to swap with.
5 Questions About Books
I stumbled on this fun meme over at Readers and Reference, and I really liked the questions it asks, so I bookmarked it for future use. I tweaked it a little bit to be in question format and to be a bit clearer. If you decide to do the meme yourself, please post a link in the comments here so we can all check it out and get to know you better too!
What’s a book you most want to read again for the first time?:
Hmmm, there’s a lot of books that have meant so much to me in my life, but I think I’d have to say The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. I had seen the movie and absolutely hated it. My nerdier friends at university told me over and over again to read the “trilogy,” and I would love it. I refused to for years, but then one day I decided to take a whack at it. I can’t remember why. Anyway, I was cracking up reading it, which hadn’t happened to me in years at the time. It really reminded me why I love to read.
What was one of your favorite childhood books?:
Absolutely no doubt On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I loved the whole series growing up, but this was my favorite entry. In it Laura lives next to a creek, and I lived next to three beaver ponds, so I felt a bit of camaraderie. I also was completely obsessed with the sod house for some reason. I wanted to live underground just like Laura in a house that plants grew out of and, best of all, that I could walk on. I also enjoyed their problems with cows, since I was frequently sent out to chase cows back into their pastures. Plus, Laura’s relationship with her father, Pa, I identified with as it reminded me of mine with my father. Also, not gonna lie, I wished repeatedly that I had a mother like Ma.
What’s a book that you were assigned in school that you were expecting to be bad, but that turned out to be really good?:
I was a US History major in undergrad (my other major was English and American Literature). We were required to take two courses that gave you an overview of all of US history. I was dreading the Civil War portion, because I just don’t like that war. Every historian has a time period within their specialty they don’t like. Anywho, so this professor assigned us Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe to read, as it was one of the big stimuli for the Civil War. She wanted us to see beyond the modern controversy and read it with historian’s eyes to see why it had such a big impact on the abolition movement. I was expecting it to be fingernails-on-chalkboard bad, but, you guys, it is so good. It really demonstrates how abolitionists saw African-Americans as equally human, just downtrodden as the victims of slavery. It also shows the high expectations placed on Christian women at the time. It’s a heart-wrenching book, and I encourage you to read it and judge it for what it is and not for the racist movies and plays that followed it.
What’s your “guilty pleasure” read?:
This is a tough question for me, because I don’t tend to feel guilty about anything that I read. I’d have to say though that British chicklit books like Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella probably count. The cheesey, romcom storylines annoy the heck out of me, but for some reason, I still read them periodically. I guess it’s kind of like watching Teen Mom on MTV. I can’t look away from the train wreck.
What’s a book you feel you should read, but haven’t yet?:
I’m not sure it quite counts as a book, but Beowulf. I took this AMAZING class in undergrad on ancient mythology, and we mentioned it umpteen times, but didn’t have time to read it. I absolutely love ancient myths, like The Odyssey is one of my favorite books of all time, so really there’s not much of an excuse for the fact that I have yet to read Beowulf. Hm, except maybe that I’m not sure which translation is the best, and we all know how much translation matters in the ancient myths.
*waves* Hope you enjoyed the meme!
Movie Review: Matilda (1996)
Summary:
Matilda has the unfortunate luck of being a smart kid born to not only stupid, but annoying and neglectful, parents. They leave her alone for extended periods of time at a young age, time she fills by reading books from the public library. When she’s six and a half, her father finally sends her to a private school with a bully of a principal. However, her sweet teacher tells her she’s special, and Matilda’s mind stretches to be even more powerful than she ever thought it could.
Review:
This movie sounds serious, but it’s actually quite funny. Danny DeVito directs and acts–both as the narrator and Matilda’s father. Rhea Perlman, known like DeVito for comedic roles, plays Matilda’s mother. Matilda’s telekinetic abilities are played mainly for laughs, and she tends to use them in a child-like manner.
Matilda’s parents aren’t mean to their daughter on purpose; they just don’t understand her. They think it’s fun to watch terrible game shows on tv and are offended when she says she’d rather read Moby Dick. Matilda doesn’t hate them, but she also knows she doesn’t belong.
The message of the movie really is that family is what you make of it, not what you’re born into. Matilda could have dumbed herself down to fit in with her family, but she doesn’t. Her parents could have insisted that she belongs with them, but they don’t. Sometimes people are born into the right family; sometimes they’re not, and there’s nothing wrong with fixing that.
If you want some giggles and a heartwarming message that doesn’t have a love interest for once, give Matilda a shot.
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4 out of 5 stars
Source: Netflix
Book Review: All I Want For Christmas Is a Vampire By Kerrelyn Sparks (Series, #5)
Summary:
Toni never meant to wind up working as a daytime security guard for vampires. She meant to be spending her December focusing on finishing up her masters degree so she and her best friend Sabrina would be one step closer to their dream of running a high-quality orphanage. But Sabrina was attacked and her claims that vampires orchestrated the attack has led to her uncle locking her up in a mental institution. Toni is determined to prove to Sabrina’s uncle that vampires are real, so she has gone undercover guarding the good vampires seeking some definitive way to prove their existence. Much as she wants to hate vampires, a certain Scottish highlander vamp named Ian has a way of making her feel very much alive.
Review:
Since I received this book as a present and there was no indication on the cover, I had no idea it’s the fifth book in the series until I was partway in and did a little bit of investigating. So, I haven’t read any of the other books in the series.
Of course, I don’t particularly think I would want to. The book starts out strongly. Toni is a character who it is easy to identify with. She’s a young adult with dreams and struggling with her self-esteem via a list of positive affirmations she says every morning. She is fiercely loyal and intelligent. Toni’s character does develop throughout the book, unfortunately not in a good way. Instead of realizing her own strength, she now has a whole new set of people–vampires and shape-shifters–to feel inferior to.
The vampire world that Sparks creates is simply not appealing. She sets up two groups of vampires–the good guys and the bad guys, or as the good vampires call them, the “Malcontents.” The Malcontents enjoy making others feel fear and pain and want to kill off all of the good vampires. The good vampires, no kidding, have their own priest and Mass. Yeah, you read that right, the vampires are Catholic. WTF?! That’s almost as bad as vampires that sparkle.
Additionally, the good vampires seem to have a thing for marrying mortals, and the leader of the good vampires has come up with a way to splice male vamps’ genetic material so that the mortal mother can give birth to a child who is half-vampire. Naturally these children have super-human abilities, such as levitating, but they also seem to be able to miraculously heal the sick. Reading these scenes gave me the same feeling as fingernails on chalkboard.
On the other hand, the romance portion of the plot is actually quite good. Toni’s and Ian’s witty banter reads realistically, and their sex scenes are fun.
If you’re just after the romance element and won’t mind the world Sparks has created, you’ll enjoy the book. All others should stick to Charlaine Harris and Nora Roberts.
2.5 out of 5 stars
Source: Gift from a friend
Previous Books in Series:
How to Marry a Millionaire Vampire
Vamps and the City
Be Still My Vampire Heart
The Undead Next Door
Book Review: All Together Dead by Charlaine Harris (Series, #7)
Summary:
Against her fairy godmother’s better judgment, Sookie accompanies the Louisiana vampire contingency to Rhodes, Illinois for the vampire summit to work for the queen reading human minds at the various wheelings and dealings. She is excited that Quinn will be there as well, but a wrench is thrown in the works of their relationship when she is forced to exchange blood for a third time with Eric. To top it all off Sookie and fellow telepath Barry have the odd sensation that something isn’t quite right at the summit. It’s a lot for small-town girl Sookie to handle in one week in the north.
Review:
I want to say the action in this entry into Sookie’s adventures is excellent, but it isn’t quite there. The minor side-mysteries are quite good, but they are meant to distract from the main event, which frankly I had figured out way way way before Sookie. It was pratically hitting her in the face, and she didn’t get it. So the mystery leaves a little to be desired.
On the other hand, the plot point where Andre is trying to force Sookie to exchange blood with him, and Eric steps up to exchange blood with her instead is excellent. Quinn is unjustifiably angry, and Sookie discovers that trading blood three times is a magical number. She is more closely tied to Eric than she is comfortable with, and she is left incredibly confused about her feelings for him vs her feelings for Quinn. This is a love conflict that is bound to prove interesting because she has feelings for Eric but intellectually believes Quinn is a wiser choice. Now this is juicy romantic conflict!
Something that has been bugging me about the series that is featured epicenter of this book though is the whole idea of the vampires arranging their kingdoms based on the states. There’s the King of Tennessee and the Queen of Louisiana, and they even call each other simply by the state (as in, “Oh hi, Louisiana”). This makes zero sense. Why would the super-powerful and, for the majority of existence, hidden vampires arrange themselves based on arbitrary human dividing lines? Sure having multiple kingdoms in the US makes sense, but not arranged based on the human-created state lines. It doesn’t fit into the characterization of what a vampire is.
I think what really bothered me about this book though was that it made me dislike Sookie. I don’t like how she behaves, her superficial focus on clothing, or her prejudiced view of northerners. (Not a single northern woman she runs into does she view as anything other than a rude bitch). I don’t always need to like my main characters, but I think in a paranormal romance that’s problematic.
Overall, the action is excellent, even if some of the world-building doesn’t make sense and the characterization can be off-putting. I think this may be a set-up for a major, character-changing circumstance in Sookie’s life, which would make it more understandable. We’ll see if I’m right.
3 out of 5 stars
Source: Bought on Amazon
Previous Books in Series:
Dead Until Dark
Living Dead in Dallas
Club Dead
Dead To The World
Dead as a Doornail
Definitely Dead
The Electronic vs. Print Books Debate
The eBook debate has been fairly consistently humming in my virtual world –twitter, GoogleReader, listserves, etc… Frankly I’m starting to wonder at the vitriol being spewed by both sides of the debate.
We have the print people who are absolutely certain that the electronic people are out to kill any and all print books leading to some sort of Big Brother society where The Man can delete our censor our books whenever he sees fit.
Then we have the electronic people who firmly believe print books are horrible for the environment and anyone who wants to still read them is a backwards, ancient person trying to hold society back.
Um, people, what planet are you living on?
I really believe the eBook vs. print book situation, if allowed to naturally play out, will lead to a world where print and electronic books coexist gracefully. A world where some people will still prefer print books in most cases but electronic books in others, and other people will prefer electronic books in some cases but print books in others. Consumers as a group are actually far more flexible than anyone is giving them credit for. Sure, there’ll be the die-hard hold-outs who will refuse to read anything not in print, and there will be the obsessive electronic fans who will refuse to read anything not on a screen, but in between these two extremes are everybody else. From what I have seen, people choose which option is best for the situation. Most people I know have a few books in each format, depending on what they need them for. Consumers aren’t busy spewing vitriol at each other. They’re busy saying “Well, I want this genre book on my iTouch for my commute, and this nonfiction book in print so I can write my thoughts in it as I go reading it in the evening.”
The reason for all the angry commentary is plain and simple: fear. People are afraid of change. Booksellers are afraid their stores will become obsolete or at least not profitable anymore if people are downloading their books. Electronic vendors are afraid the print folks will shout them down before they ever even get a chance. Then there’s the snobs who think their way is always the best way and are afraid of anything else.
Well, you know what? I doubt either scenario will happen. I see a future where booksellers have print books and stations where people can download new electronic books to their reader, and possibly even charge their reader for a small fee. I see a future where people still have a bookshelf of beloved print books, but also a charging station for their eReader. I see a future (hell, I’m already living this) where morning commutes feature people reading on eReaders and reading print books they own and reading library books and listening to audiobooks.
So, really, people, calm down and just let the change happen. It’s not going to kill anyone or anything.
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Opinions of a Wolf 