Bookish Gifts III

Posted on April 6, 2013 by janicu

My mind is so pooped at the end of the day by my new job that I’m not quite there yet with the mental fortitude and discipline I need to write reviews (I really am working on that though). Strangely, I seem to have no problems surfing the web and playing with MS Paint. I’ve been having a grand ol’ time putting together another Bookish Gifts post, where I collect cute reader themed things for your favorite book nerd (or for yourself). Here are the fruits of my labors. (As always, click for bigger versions of these pictures, and check the “bookish gift” tag for my previous Bookish Gifts posts).

1. Bookshelf Bandit Tote in Jane, Caterpillar, Anthony (see also Alice, Scott, Louisa;$17.99) 2. Penguin Drop Caps ($22 ea) 3. Stacked Paper Wallpaper ($198/roll) 4. Demeter fragrance in Paperback (from $6) 5. Vintage Book Vase ($39-$69) 6. The Definition of Darling Wallet ($52.99) 7. Vintage Book iPhone Charger ($68)

8. Libraries – Where Shhh Happens mug (£9.95) 9. Lumio Lamp (available for pre-order for Oct 2013 – $125) 10. Gold Bird Metal Bookmark (£4.00) 11. Customizable Wool Felt eReader Case ($44) 12. Reading Fox Bookends (€39.00 / about $51.70) 13. Bracket Bookends in velvety black (€34.00 / about $44.70) 14. Book Bookend (€19.00 / about $25.19) – many other styles of bookends available 15. Buttons: Second Breakfast and Weasly is our King ($1.70) 16. Chipboard Classic novel bookmarks ($1 each)

17. Bookrest Reading Lamp ($85) 18. Engraved ‘Words are for Nerds’ pencils (£3.50/ about $5.51, set of 3) 19. Lowercase Scarf ($58. Also available in Uppercase, Numbers, & Helvetica) 20. 2b Or Not 2b Pouch ($20) 21. Egar Allen Poe Art Doll ($120) 22. Bookworm Plush ($6.99) 23. Ring hand carved from a book ($17) 24. Bookworm Statement Socks ($10.99) 25. Novel Tea ($12.50/box or $2.50/pouch) 26. Furst Edition Sweatshirt ($50) 27. Hanging Book Rack ($210 fullsize, $110 MINI. All available in different finishes)

Bookish Gifts II

Posted on October 1, 2012 by janicu

Last year I had a lot of fun window shopping on the Internet for a post on gifts for book nerds. Since it’s been almost a year and I don’t really need much of an excuse to look at pretty things, I bring you even more booky things, the 2012 edition. (click to embiggen)

1. The Little Prince inspired pendants (€55.00 EUR/ about $73) (also available in silver and in ring form) 2. Literary Posters (€13.00 / about $17) 3. Wooden Book Necklaces (8 colors) (£9.00 GBP / about $15) 4. Handdrawn Literary Bookmarks (€8.00 / about $10.57) 5. Literary Scented Candles ($9.50-$18.50) 6. Metal Art Bookends ($49.99) 7. Wolf Slippers inspired by Where The Wild Things Are (Child: $35, Adult: $50)

8. NovelT Shirts ($24.95) 9. Paperback Book Covers (cotton $10, embroidered faux suede $24) 10. Jane Austen Quote Cameo – ($30 various colors) 11. Paper Passion ($98) 12. Dead Writers, a bookish blend of Heliotrope, Vetiver, Black Tea, Clove, Tabacco, Musk, & Vanilla (from $10) 13. In the Library (from $12) 14. Book scented candle ($49) 15. NYPL Building, metal bookmark ($9.95) 16. Quote Couture Earrings ($9.99) 17. the official Roald Dahl Stamps (from £3.04) 18. Hunger Games Lip Balm Tints ($19.50 set, $6.50 individual)

19. Mental Floss Tees ($19.97) 20. Olympia Le-Tan Book clutches and ipad mini-cases (€950.00) 21. Harry Potter Glasses & Scar jewelery (from $21) 22. round book ring ($84) 23. Sterling Publishing Classic Lines ($8.95 ea) 24. Kindle Paperwhite ($119) 25. Nook Simple Touch ($99, with GlowLight: $119) 26. Kate Spade book clutches ($325) 27. Go Away, I’m Reading mug (£9.95)

On the Wishlist…

Posted on April 15, 2012 by janicu

I usually don’t do many cover posts anymore (maybe I should?) but I couldn’t resist posting about the recent cover reveals for two books from a couple of favorite series. I was just updating my 2012 Wishlist with these.

Ashes of Honor is book 6 of the October Daye series. From what I can tell from Seanan McGuire’s hints on her blog, this book will bring Toby and Quentin back to Tamed Lightening, and we will see April O’Leary and familiar characters from A Local Habitation once again.

Endgame is also the 6th book in a series (Sirantha Jax), but in this case it is also the final book. “As part of a grass-roots resistance, Jax means to liberate the La’hengrin. Political intrigue and guerrilla warfare are new to her; this will be the most dangerous game she’s ever played—spies and conspiracies, a war of weapons and hearts, and everyone might not make it out alive…” An excerpt can be found here.

Click for Ann Aguirre’s giveaway for the first 5 books!

I also found out about a new series starting and this is definitely going on my wishlist..

A Confusion of Princes by Garth Nix uk edition

A Confusion of Princes by Garth Nix. “You’d think being a privileged Prince in a vast intergalactic Empire would be about as good as it gets. But it isn’t as great as it sounds. For one thing, Princes are always in danger. Their greatest threat? Other Princes. Khemri discovers that the moment he is proclaimed a Prince. He also discovers mysteries within the hidden workings of the Empire.”

* * * * *

I have created a Pinterest board for books I’m eying. Wishlist books are books I’m definitely buying, these books are books to be considered

So are you on Pinterest? If you are a book blogger, did you know there is a Directory of Book Bloggers on Pinterest at the Well Read Wife? Looks like a nice resource. I just asked to be added to it.

Bookish Gifts

Posted on November 12, 2011 by janicu

This is a post that I wanted to do last year, but I got lazy. Seeing as it’s November, and the Book Holiday blogger swap has begun again, I finally got around to showing you some shiny pretty bookish things. Really, it’s an excuse for me to window shop on the web. (Click on images for bigger versions).

1. Tillybloom bookmarks ($13 each) 2. Miniature books 3. Book Journal ($15) 4. Penquin Hardcover Classics ($20 ea) 5. Jane Austen action figure ($8.95) 6. Spineless classics (from £39.99) 7. Sterling silver block letter initial necklace ($72)

8. read sign ($42) 9. Penguin Classics mug (£7.95 and up) 10. Oh for a Book print ($25) 11. I like Big Books bag ($14.95) 12. Eat, Sleep, Read shirt ($29.99) 13. Barnes and Noble Leatherbound Classics ($18 ea) 14. Penguin Threads ($16 ea)

15. Pride & Prejudice vintage subway print ($50) 16. Book Book case ($79.99-$99.99) 17. A Book Lover tee ($20) 18. Kindle/nook cases (from $45) 19. White Rabbit ring ($7) 20. Nook Tablet ($249) 21. Kindle Fire ($199) 22. We’re All Mad Here necklace ($22) 23. Books tote bag ($16)

Being giddy about Doubleblind & June releases

Posted on June 2, 2009 by janicu

oubleblind (Sirantha Jax, Book 3)

Ann Aguirre

Just a quick post here:

I’m a big Ann Aguirre fangirl and every time I hear news about any of her new books I’m all a-tizzy. So I wanted to point out that over the weekend ocelott has put up the very first review anywhere of Doubleblind. She says:

“if you haven’t read the previous two books, here there be spoilers. If, however, you’ve glommed the first two and are waiting impatiently for Doubleblind to release, you’re safe. I give out no plot twists.”

And with that- – the Doubleblind review is here
I am looking forward to this one because I kind of have a thing for the “ambassador in a strange land/world” trope. Love it.

Mark of the Demon

Diana Rowland

There’s a whole BUNCH of new books coming out today. Sci Fi Guy posted June releases on his website and about 80% of the books there I want to read. Which is so bad when I just hauled back 40 some books from BEA. I have the sickness.

Amongst the list (coming out June 23rd) is Diana Rowland’s debut The Mark of the Demon. I’m currently reading it and it is GOOD. Also – the cover is really gorgeous – I gasped aloud when I saw the coverflat. Seriously – it has shiney patterns on it and I am mesmerized by it’s beauty.

Silent Blade by Ilona Andrews

The book I’m FOR SURE going to get this week is Ilona Andrew’s Silent Blade which just became available from Saimhain today. I’m all over it. It’s a short story and costs just $2.50. It will be mine, oh yes, it will be mine.

Steampunk – the Next Big Thing?

Posted on May 24, 2009 by janicu

Steampunk

Above artwork is “Steampunk” by John Coulthart

Is Steampunk the new trend in the fantasy genre? I’m beginning to see it everywhere I look. But what is it? The image above has tongue-in-cheek a formula Jeff VanderMeer came up with: Mad Scientist Inventor [invention (steam x airship or metal man / baroque stylings) x (pseudo) Victorian setting] + progressive or reactionary politics x adventure plot = Steampunk.

Some books to look out for:

I just read and reviewed (LJ / vox / wordpress) Dru Pagliassotti’s Clockwork Heart. She’s busy working on the second book tentatively titled Obstruction Currents. She has also been working on a third novel with the working title King’s Monster, but I don’t know if that is also steampunk.
Karin Lowachee is working on The Gaslight Dogs (she’s the author of an amazing science fiction trilogy Warchild, Burndive, and Cagebird). I haven’t seen much about this one so it may be coming out later from orbit books:
“Very different from her previous military science fiction novels, this is a Victorian era steampunk novel in the style of Philip Pullman taking us from the Arctic North to steeped rooftops of civilization and the savages to the east. (Fall/Winter 2009)”
Liz Maverick is working on Crimson and Steam, which should be out January 2010 and which is set in her Crimson city universe.

The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker

Katie MacAlister is working on a Steampunk series that will have it’s first book out in 2010. Her website has this announcement: “I’ve just received the cover to Steamed, the first in a new series of Steampunk romances, which will be out February 2010. The cover isn’t quite finished (you can view a large version of it here), but you can get a sneak peek at it and the back cover copy to see what all the fuss is about. Fluff up your bustle, polish your pocket watch, adjust your goggles, and crank up the Abney Park! It’s steam time, ladies and gentlemen! ”
The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker by Leanna Renee Hieber is coming out from Dorchester on 09/09/09 and has a lovely cover. The author calls it a “ghostly, gothic Victorian fantasy”. Looks promising. Link to the book trailer. The cover blurb:

“What fortune awaited sweet, timid Percy Parker at Athens Academy? Considering how few of Queen Victoria’s Londoners knew of it, the great Romanesque fortress was dreadfully imposing, and little could Percy guess what lay inside. She had never met the powerful and mysterious Professor Alexi Rychman, knew nothing of the growing shadow, the Ripper and other supernatural terrors against which his coterie stood guard. She knew simply that she was different, haunted, with her snow-white hair, pearlescent skin and uncanny gifts. But this arched stone doorway offered a portal to a new life, an education far from the convent—and an invitation to an intimate yet dangerous dance at the threshold of life and death….”
Gail Carriger has a book out September from Orbit: Soulless (The Parasol Protectorate): “Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations. First, she has no soul. Second, she’s a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social etiquette. Where to go from there? From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire — and then the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate. With unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing, everyone seems to believe Alexia responsible. Can she figure out what is actually happening to London’s high society? Will her soulless ability to negate supernatural powers prove useful or just plain embarrassing? Finally, who is the real enemy, and do they have treacle tart?SOULLESS is a comedy of manners set in Victorian London: full of werewolves, vampires, dirigibles, and tea-drinking.”
Meljean Brook has twittered about a steampunk book with pirates. Research reveals she’s got a new series in the works called the Iron Seas

The books coming out should be interesting. I see both authors with a background in romance and science fiction/fantasy coming into the same genre. I’m really looking forward to the results.

The Galaxy Express: Steampunk Romance Watch

The Galaxy Express: Steampunk Is The New Black

Sflare: 10 steampunk novels you ought to read

Aieeee

Posted on March 6, 2009 by janicu

Must Love Hellhounds

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Wishlist 2009

Posted on February 3, 2009 by janicu

OK, I decided to update my wishlist of books coming out this year. I need to keep track of whats coming out when. Of course I have a HUGE TBR I need to wittle down too…

2009

**** January ****

Lord of Misrule (The Morganville Vampires, Book 5) by Rachel Caine (Buy: Amazon | B&N)

**** February ****

Made to Be Broken (Nadia Stafford, Book 2) by Kelley Armstrong (Buy: Amazon | B&N)
Hope's Folly by Linnea Sinclair (Buy: Amazon | B&N)
Bone Crossed (Mercy Thompson, Book 4) by Patricia Briggs (Buy: Amazon | B&N)
Undone (Outcast Season, Book 1) by Rachel Caine (Buy: Amazon | B&N)

**** March ****

Magic Strikes (Kate Daniels, Book 3) by Ilona Andrews (Buy: Amazon | B&N)

**** April ****

Salt and Silver by Anna Katherine (Buy: Amazon | B&N)
Blue Diablo: A Corine Solomon Novel by Ann Aguirre (Buy: Amazon | B&N)
The Trouble With Demons by Lisa Shearin (Buy: Amazon | B&N)
Dayhunter (Dark Days Book 2) by Jocelynn Drake (Buy: Amazon | B&N)

**** May ****

Endless Blue by Wen Spencer (Buy: Amazon | B&N )
Bad to the Bone by Jeri Smith-Ready (Buy: Amazon | B&N)

**** June ****

Carpe Corpus by Rachel Caine (Buy: Amazon | B&N)

Mark of the Demon by Diana Rowland (Buy: Amazon | B&N)

Silent Blade (ebook) by Ilona Andrews (Buy: Amazon )

**** July ****

The Cold Kiss of Death by Suzanne McLeod (Buy: Amazon )

Strange Brew by Jim Bitcher, Charlaine Harris, and Patricia Briggs (Buy: Amazon | B&N)

**** August ****

Cast In Silence by Michelle Sagara (Buy: Amazon | B&N)
Unbound by Kim Harrison, Vicki Pettersson, Melissa Marr, Jeaniene Frost, and Jocelynn Drake (Buy: Amazon | B&N)

Hunting Ground (Alpha & Omega Book 2) by Patricia Briggs (Buy: Amazon | B&N)
Mercy Thompson Homecoming by Patricia Briggs/Francis Tsai (this is the graphic novel by the Dabel brothers) (Buy: Amazon | B&N)

**** September ****

Must Love Hellhounds

Heroes at Risk by Moira J Moore (Buy: Amazon | B&N)

Must Love Hellhounds by Charlaine Harris, Nalini Singh, Ilona Andrews and Meljean Brook (Buy: Amazon | B&N)

Doubleblind by Ann Aguirre (Buy: Amazon | B&N)

Dawnbreaker (Dark Days, book 3) by Jocelynn Drake (Buy: Amazon | B&N)

Soulless (The Parasol Protectorate) by Gail Carriger (Buy: Amazon | B&N)

**** October ****

The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance 2 by Jennifer Ashley, Dawn Cook, Caitlin Kitteredge, Diane Whiteside, Eileen Wilks, Ann Aguirre, et al. Edited by Trisha Telep. (Buy: Amazon | B&N)
On the Edge by Ilona Andrews (Buy: Amazon )

**** Late 2009 ****

Grave Secret by Charlaine Harris (November 09) (Buy: Amazon | B&N)

Take a Chance by C.E. Murphy (graphic novel with the dabel brothers) (November 09) (Buy: Amazon | B&N)
Skin Game by Ava Gray (December 09) (Buy: Amazon | B&N)

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A Couple of links

Posted on November 11, 2008 by janicu

I have reviews to post but I'm feeling lazy. So instead:

1) According to US Weekly – Obama is reading the Twilight books with his daughter (via MTV movies blog):

"President-Elect Barack Obama truly has a full plate. Revitilize a sinking economy. Energize a nation. Rehabilitate America’s fragile standing in the world. Oh, and get through four “Twilight” books with his youngest daughter.

Yes, according to the latest issue of US Weekly, Stephenie Meyer has a couple fans who will be moving into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in a couple months. The magazine reports that the President-Elect and his ten-year-old daughter Malia often bond over addictive book series, “They read all the Harry Potter books together and have moved on to the Twilight series.”

2) Holly Blacks hidden library @ The Steampunk Home (thanks for the link Angiegirl!). What's crazy is I saw an episode of Extreme Makeover Home edition with something like this *yesterday* and have been talking about it since.