It's my (Alethea's) turn to give some great gift suggestions for booklovers.
Must-have books published this year:
Top of my list was
Shadow & Bone by
Leigh Bardugo, which Thuy already picked yesterday, haha! So I had to come up with more choices.
This was a really hard choice--there were so many great picture books this year! This and Penguin & Pinecone are great choices especially if you want to let someone know that you think of them as your friend for always :)
Get the
audiobook if you can! It's SO good. I didn't expect there to be an actual murder in this middle grade mystery novel, but there is. It's equal parts funny and sad, and thoroughly entertaining.
I love, love, love
Jane Eyre, but a lot of the adaptation/spinoff novels are hokey.
The Dark Unwinding gives Charlotte Brontë's masterpiece a respectful nod while still remaining original and enthralling on its own. Give this to someone who loves gothic romance, steampunk, and swooning.
Must-have Classic:
Signature Shakespeare
The Signature Shakespeare series, illustrated with intricate papercuts by Kevin Stanton, debuts this year with four volumes including
Hamlet,
Macbeth, and
Romeo & Juliet. I love
Much Ado About Nothing's gorgeous, bright colors! (You can find
more photos at Elsa Mora's papercutting blog) For fans of art and theatre, this is a double-duty gift.
Bookish Things:
"booklover" on Etsy
I like
Etsy's search function a lot. You can find handmade things for people who love not just books, but specific books, too! One of my favorite searches is "
booklover", which also turns up my book buttons :) but I love it because I can find cool, unique items like the elastic bookmark above. I've bought everything from Kindle covers to Love your Librarian t-shirts for my bookish friends from Etsy sellers. Just be mindful that shipping takes time, so order early especially if it's shipping overseas.
Book-related jewelry
I don't wear jewelry, but if I did, I would love to get one of these awesome pieces! Viviane at
HebelDesign creates pieces inspired by fantastic YA novels, like Morozova's Collar inspired by
Shadow & Bone. One thing though--she can't guarantee holiday shipping, so order soon and be prepared to give your gift recipient an IOU in case it doesn't arrive in time.
There are also designs available for
Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke & Bone novels, and through January 31, 2013, she will be giving all of her proceeds to the Red Cross for Hurricane Sandy relief.
For the picture book lover, there's
Oliver Jeffers's line from
Digby & Iona, just be prepared to dig deep into your wallet. They are pricey!
Food... for your Belly, not your Mind!
Cookie Butter - If you didn't already know about this product, you are going to want to kill me in a minute. You can find this as
Trader Joe's Speculoos Cookie Butter or
Biscoff Spread (in creamy and crunchy--I have it on good authority that crunchy is better), and since it's basically crushed cookies with the consistency of peanut butter, you can bake with it or just spread it on whatever happens to be around. I usually just grab a spoon and tamp down my self-loathing. Luckily, this is easier to do when your mouth is full of cookie butter. Also, easy to eat while holding a book.
Seriously, just wrap it up and hand it over. I've mailed it to a friend without even a note of explanation. It's gift-giving gold.
Bakerella has a recipe for
Cookie Butter Fudge, if you really have to get fancy with your gift-giving.
I have to thank my husband for finding this one.
Adagio makes fandom blends of tea. Whatwhat?!? *mind blown*
Come back on Friday for more great gifts for booklovers!
So are
our lists good for figuring out what to give other people, or are they better for figuring out what you want to get for yourself? Answer in the comments on any of the three posts and you might win a set of Alethea's
book geek buttons!
Read by Rachel Botchan
ISBN 10/13: 1596436093 | 9781596436091
Keywords: World War II, Girl detective, friendship, mystery
Category: Young Adult Historical
Format: Audiobook, Hardcover, Paperback, eBook
It's the Fall of 1942 and Iris's world is rapidly changing. Her Pop is back from the war with a missing leg, limiting his ability to do the physically grueling part of his detective work. Iris is dying to help, especially when she discovers that one of Pop's cases involves a boy at her school. Now, instead of sitting at home watching Deanna Durbin movies, Iris is sneaking out of the house, double crossing her friends, and dancing at the Savoy till all hours of the night. There's certainly never a dull moment in the private eye business.
Alethea's review:
I'm not a Veronica Mars fan (as the marketing taglines for this series insist on singling out that demographic), but there's something about the spunky girl-detective novel that never fails to please me. I'll confess that I have fond memories of a hundred Nancy Drew novels, and am currently obsessed with vintage fashion, which might explain part of why I liked this book. Some of the credit definitely goes to the reader, Rachel Botchan. She really nails not just the New York accents but also the inflections from--has it really been that long?--seventy years ago. I think I would have enjoyed this less had I tried to read it myself.
I'm actually surprised this novel kept my interest, as the beginning of the novel felt really slow. Iris is coping with many changes--not just the typical girl-becoming-woman challenges we expect of a coming-of-age novel. She's transplanted from the posh part of town to the Lower East Side, hears whispers of disapproval and malicious gossip regarding her mother's suicide the year before, and is trying to form some sort of connection with her estranged and now disabled father. It's heavy stuff, lending gravity to the story, and I can't decide whether or not it saves the rest of the book from just being a plot-driven mess.
The main mystery involves the disappearance of a boy from Iris's new school. I really enjoyed the author's skill at portraying the secondary characters: Suze, queen bee of the charmingly named "Rainbow Gang", the high school's resident hooligans, and Pearl, the plump, quiet, and defensive schoolmate Iris struggles to befriend. There's no team of good girls versus the bad girls here: everyone seems to have some bad with the good, even Iris, who makes some really terrible decisions for occasionally noble reasons. Despite all the mistakes they make, I found the characters well-rounded and likable.
The solution of the mystery did leave something to be desired. I wouldn't call this a traditional whodunit--you're better off
reading the original (or even
playing the games--they're really good!) if a murder is what you're after. You'll enjoy this more if you like reading about relationships, teen problems and comparing those of today to those of yesteryear, or World War II nostalgia.
You can find the author online at
www.kathrynmillerhaines.com and on Twitter @
KathrynMHaines.
FTC disclosure: Only the Bookdepository.com link may generate revenue for this blog if you make a purchase by clicking the link. The other links in this post are not formatted with my affiliate IDs.
Category: Young Adult Fantasy
Keywords: Fantasy, romance, competition, assassins, spirits
Format: Hardcover, eBook
Source: e-ARC received from
NetgalleySynopsis:After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin. Her opponents are men--thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king's council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she'll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom.
Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilirating. But she's bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her... but it's the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best. Then one of the other contestants turns up dead... quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.
Alethea's review: I did not expect reading
Throne of Glass to be so laborious; I expected I'd fly through it like I did Robin LaFevers's
Grave Mercy, or Leigh Bardugo's
Shadow & Bone. Not so. It's not difficult reading in terms of language or complexity; it's more that I had trouble suspending my disbelief. This all stems from the most basic premise of the book: The King needs a champion; therefore the sponsors select as their candidates the meanest, baddest, scariest killers and sneakiest thieves in the land. Wait,
what?
The entire time I kept asking, wouldn't it have been more believable to have the sponsors select the most shining paragons of valor and heroism from their military personnel and private bodyguards? So you could, you know, have them be in the same room as the King or Crown Prince or important people you don't want dead
without having to slap the heavy duty chains or hiding all the silver? Why choose people least likely to honor a contract?
If you really had such a great military already that the infamous Adarlan's Assassin won't bother running away because you could easily hunt her down, why do you need her to try to win this contest? Just hire the guy she's afraid of and send her back to the salt mines already!
Not talking specifically about any one candidate, I get that a true champion might not be willing to overlook morality in favor of a nice fat paycheck for doing the King's dirty business. But I also don't understand how the King might think it's a good idea to let loose upon the land an unscrupulous rogue who
might have reason to disagree with the King's own politics, since some of the people vying for the position hail from countries he very recently conquered? In my mind, the King was the villain of the piece from the get-go, and he could have been craftier about selecting a champion. Why not rope some honorable and respected warrior into the job by letting him think he's really defending his king and country, then corrupt him with wealth and power or threats against the people he loves? For most of the book, I could not shake how backwards it all was in my mind. I couldn't justify people's motives and that made for a very slow, torturous read (with lots of breaks to go play with my new kitten, who has claws like freshly sharpened knives).
This book is not entirely without merit. Some of the secondary characters are well drawn and even likeable. I really enjoyed Celeana's friendship with another female who is, like herself, an outsider. The love triangle develops gradually enough not to be jarring, though Celeana mooning over Crown Prince Dorian still had me rolling my eyes often. I think fans who are new to fantasy and have not already read lots of it will really enjoy this book. Inexperienced noobs, you win this round.
Overall, I found the story derivative and not terribly well-plotted. I don't think the elements that I deemed derivative were intentionally copied; I just think the author is very much a fan of fantasy and that her debut ended up reading like a big fanfic mashup of some of my favorite fantasy worlds. I felt that Maas was pandering to her audience too much with Celeana and Dorian's book addiction. Also, if someone can please tell me the significance of the title, I'd dearly love to know what it was. It took me a week to read this book and that little bit of trivia still managed to elude me. While I wasn't completely disappointed,
Throne of Glass was still quite a let-down, and I hesitate to read the sequel.
*I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This, in no way, affected my opinion or review of this book.
Visit the author online at www.sarahjmaas.com and follow her on Twitter @SJMaas*FTC disclosure: I participate in the BookDepository affiliate program. Clicking on the link and making a purchase may result in revenue for this blog. I also participate in Indiebound, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble affiliate programs but the links from this post do not contain my affiliate code.
ISBN 10/13: 1442423730 | 9781442423732
Category: Young Adult Fiction
Keywords: Young adult, fantasy, horror, family, friendship, vampires, unicorns
Format: Hardcover, eBook
Source: Purchased
Pearl is a sixteen-year-old vampire... fond of blood, allergic to sunlight, and mostly evil... until the night a sparkly unicorn stabs her through the heart with his horn. Oops.
Her family thinks she was attacked by a vampire hunter (because, obviously, unicorns don't exist), and they're shocked she survived. They're even more shocked when Pearl discovers she can now withstand the sun. But they quickly find a way to make use of her new talent. The Vampire King of New England has chosen Pearl's family to host his feast. If Pearl enrolls in high school, she can make lots of human friends and lure them to the King's feast -- as the entrees.
The only problem? Pearl's starting to feel the twi
In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by
The Story Siren and inspired by
Pop Culture Junkie.
This week we got some great books from
Lee and Low &
Albert Whitman.
First up is
Vodnik by
Bryan Moore. This is an intriguing paranormal set in present-day Slovakia. Thanks to Lee and Low for this advance reader copy.
From
Goodreads:
When Tomas was six, someone — something — tried to drown him. And burn him to a crisp. Tomas survived, but whatever was trying to kill him freaked out his parents enough to convince them to move from Slovakia to the United States.
Now sixteen-year-old Tomas and his family are back in Slovakia, and that something still lurks somewhere. Nearby. It wants to drown him again and put his soul in a teacup. And that’s not all. There’s also the fire víla, the water ghost, pitchfork-happy city folk, and Death herself who are after him.
If Tomas wants to survive, he'll have to embrace the meaning behind the Slovak proverb, So smrťou ešte nik zmluvu neurobil. With Death, nobody makes a pact.
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By: alethea aka frootjoos,
on 2/7/2012
Blog:
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Laddertop (Laddertop, #1) by Orson Scott Card,
Emily Janice Card / Illustrated by Honoel A. Ibardolaza
Publication date: 27 September 2011 by
Tor/Forge
ISBN 10/13: 0765324601 | 9780765324603
Category: Middle Grade Science Fiction Manga
Keywords: Science fiction, space, aliens, middle grade, friendship
Format: Paperback, audiobook (ARC received from Tor/Forge)
Alethea's synopsis:
Based on Orson Scott Card's
Ender's Game series, this first volume follows Robbi and her rambunctious friend, Azure, when they are recruited to Laddertop--one of four space towers suspended 36,000 miles over the earth by a benevolent alien race called The Givers. Fierce competition tests the relationships between friends and enemies both. As Robbi contemplates what she is doing at the Academy, she begins to ponder the question too few people seem to be asking: are The Givers truly friends of Earth?
Alethea's Review:
I really loved
Ender's Game and so was excited to find out that a related manga was in the works. I found
Laddertop entertaining, but a bit of a let-down. It's certainly not as deep or emotionally abrasive as the original story. This is understandable not because Azure and Robbi are eleven (Ender is younger still when he enters Battle School) but because of the format and audience chosen, but still, it's generally disappointing.
The story starts at a fair pace then comes to a quick halt--this is meant to be a series after all, and it wouldn't do to give it all away at once. But this first volume gives hardly any data to process--only query after unanswered query. Who are the Givers? What is the Scan? Why can only children work in the tubes--yes, we know the
I don't do memes all that often, but this week was a great book-acquisition week for me, so here goes!
In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren. It gives book bloggers the chance to share what they’ve bought/borrowed/received!
Received for review:
| The Fourth Stall Part II by Chris Rylander
You might not get the joke if you missed The Fourth Stall (which was basically The Godfather, but for elementary school ;), but I was really tickled to find this in my mailbox recently. I hope to read it this week!
Thanks, Walden Pond Press! |
Borrowed from library:
| The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson
Reading this for the YA Book Council's February meeting. I didn't like the snippet of it I heard on Audible.com, otherwise I probably would have gotten it on audio. I never thought I'd say this, but there's just too much to read this month! |
Bought:
| The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
I've been lusting after this for ages, especially since a lot of my blogger friends were getting the ARC last summer. It's OK though--I finally bought it, and it looks lovely!
Bought at Once Upon a Time in Montrose |
| The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab
I already have this on Kindle, but it's not quite the same as having the book in your hand--especially with that great eye-candy cover!
Bought at Dark Delicacies in Burbank (ever-so-slightly not-family-friendly website ;) |
| Never Sit Down in a Hoop Skirt and Other Things I Lear
|
| 
omg i love speculoos. laura's husband brought some back from spain a couple of years ago and we all got addicted to it. reminds me that i need to buy some more. awesome list. i love that shadow and bone necklace, too!
And you friend is very grateful for the cookie butter. She's currently concocting recipes in her head.
There is a Speculoos cookbook that has recipes for all kinds of stuff including how to make the cookies and cookie butter. I bought one for a gift but now I am in trouble and totally need to buy myself one :D