Top Ten Tuesday: Top ten bookish gifts I’d love to find by the light of my menorah (2016)

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Ten Books I Wouldn’t Mind Santa Leaving Under My Tree… but since I don’t expect a visit from Santa (even though I’ve been much more nice than naughty this year), I thought I’d make my post title a little more relevant to my life.

I have a tendency not to wait when there’s a book I really, really want… but then there are the more expensive, extravagant, or impractical items that I’d love to have, but just can’t justify spending money on. So, if any of my secret Hanukkah buddies out there are reading this post (just kidding, I have no such thing), here are the books and bookish items I’d really love to receive as gifts this year:

1. The Hamilton book! Now that I finally have tickets to see the show (May — hurray!), I’m trying to immerse myself in all things Hamilton. And I need this book.

2. The illustrated edition of Game of Thrones: Because having beat-up paperback editions on my shelf just isn’t enough. The book looks gorgeous.

3. The Outlander Kitchen: This is funny if you know me, because I absolutely DO NOT COOK. I’m sure my husband would be rolling on the floor laughing hysterically right now if he knew I put a cookbook on my wishlist. But look! It’s Outlander, and it’s so pretty!

4. Any of all of these new Penguin hardcover editions of classic sci fi novels. Don’t these look amazing?

5. I’ve had a 3rd generation Kindle Keyboard for years now, and it works perfectly, so there’s no reason to replace it. And yet… I’m so tempted by the Kindle Paperwhite, or if I wanted to get even crazier, maybe even the Voyage.

What I have…

What I want…

6. How about splurging on a set of great quality Hogwarts robes? Totally practical — I solemnly swear that I’ll wear them on my next trip to the Wizarding World at Universal!

7. This book won’t be released until the end of December, but I really want it — it’s a hardcover collection of John Scalzi’s short works. It’s a relatively small book at a pretty high price, so unless I see a sudden price break, it’s unlikely I’d treat myself.

8. I’d love to find a coffee table book of Moby Dick, with beautiful illustrations and complete annotations of the text. I haven’t actually seen one (although I haven’t looked at that hard either), but that’s what I want.

9. Moving on to the utterly frivolous, I’ve always enjoyed looking at the odds and ends in the Noble Collection, and would happily accept anything from their Harry Potter line.

10. And wrapping it all up, I think any sort of bookish piece of jewelry from Etsy would be awesome. Here’s a necklace I just found. Adorable, right?

Via Etsy: http://etsy.me/2h67x1P

Whatever you’ll be celebrating this holiday season, may the bookish gift fairies be very kind to you!

Happy Holidays!

If you enjoyed this post, please consider following Bookshelf Fantasies! And don’t forget to check out our regular weekly features, Shelf Control and Thursday Quotables. Happy reading!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Do you host a book blog meme? Do you participate in a meme that you really, really love? I’m building a Book Blog Meme Directory, and need your help! If you know of a great meme to include — or if you host one yourself — please drop me a note on my Contact page and I’ll be sure to add your info!

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19Dec2016

Serious series reading: A look behind and a look forward

Posted in The Reading Life by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Resolutions come, resolutions go… but one that I’ve been getting better and better about sticking to over the last few years has to do with reading book series.

Last year, one of my bookish resolutions was:

I resolve to (attempt to) read series as a whole — all books in a row — rather than reading them as they come out and then forgetting all the details in between volumes.

This was not meant to be an absolute, of course. I do have some ongoing series that I’m crazy about, and I’ll continue to read those whenever new installments become available. But the intent of the resolution is clear — whenever possible, I want to resist the urge to start new, incomplete series, and focus instead on series that are already published and complete, so I can enjoy them as a whole instead of in bits and pieces.

How did I do? Let’s take a look at the series I read in 2016:

Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs: I had read the first book in the trilogy years ago, but had lost interest by the time the 2nd came out. This year, I listened to the audiobook of book #1, then continued in print with the 2nd and 3rd. (These books really must be read in hard copy in order to get the full experience, since the illustrations are really a part of the story.)

The Kate Shugak series by Dana Stabenow: I got involved in this excellent series in 2015, and finished up the 20th and most recent book (as well as the four books in the spin-off series) by mid-2016. Such a fantastic reading experience — and I’m thrilled that #21 will be out in 2017!

The Magicians by Lev Grossman: This is another series that I started years ago, and just came back to this year. Prompted by the TV adaptation, I decided to give The Magicians another chance, reread book 1 and then went through 2 and 3, and ended up loving the trilogy as a whole.

The Wrath & the Dawn and The Rose & the Dagger by Renee Ahdieh: I didn’t love this duology nearly as much as everyone else did, but I’m still glad that I read them together.

The Giver by Lois Lowry: My son read The Giver for school last year, and I realized that I remembered almost nothing about it — so I went ahead and reread The Giver, then read the rest of the books in the quartet.

And now, looking ahead…

Series I plan to read in 2017:

This is partially a plan, partially a wish list. I really do want to read all of these, but we’ll just have to wait and see how many I can actually commit to while still reading everything else that grabs my attention. My priority series for 2017 are:

Old Man’s War series by John Scalzi: I love Scalzi’s writing, and now that I’ve read all of his stand-alones (I think), it’s time to finally dive into the series that’s supposed to be his masterpiece!

Wayward Pines trilogy by Blake Crouch: After reading and loving Dark Matter this year, I absolutely have to check out this trilogy!

Bill Hodges trilogy by Stephen King: I’ve had Mr. Mercedes on my shelf since it was published. At some point, it seemed to make more sense to wait for all three books to be available before starting. And now, I’m out of excuses!

And maybe…

I have a few series openers that I’m interested in — but not quite ready to commit to at this point.

Last but not least…

Let’s not forget two series I’m already committed to, and look forward to continuing in the New Year:

The Poldark series by Winston Graham: I’ve read the first five books so far. That’s five down, seven to go! I find that I need to space these out, and I don’t want to get too far ahead of the TV show, so perhaps I’ll just tackle another one or two in 2017.

And my very, very favorite:

The Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs! Silence Fallen, the 10th Mercy book, will be out in March, and I cannot wait. I hope Patricia Briggs continues to create adventures for Mercy (as well as her spin-off series, Alpha & Omega) for many, many years to come.

Anyone else read series as a whole, rather than as they come out? What’s your preferred approach to reading book series? And what series are you most looking forward to in 2017?

Whatever your series-reading style, here’s wishing us all a fantastic year of reading!

19Dec2016

The Monday Check-In ~ 12/19/2016

Posted in The Monday Check-In by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

My Monday tradition, including a look back and a look ahead — what I read last week, what new books came my way, and what books are keeping me busy right now. Plus a smattering of other stuff too.

Life.

Today. Last chance for sanity in this country. I mean, I’m not really holding out hope for a miracle or anything, but still.

I think this SNL skit says it all:

What did I read last week?

Read and reviewed:

The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher: Done! My review is here.

After I Do by Taylor Jenkins Reid: Done! My review is here.

Read but not reviewed:

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones: I started the audiobook but didn’t care for the narrator, then finished this book the old-fashioned way. I can see, in a distant sort of way, why so many people consider it a must-read. The book is quite charming, and I wish I’d read it with my kids when they were the right age. Reading it as an adult, the tale just felt a bit simple and juvenile, although I did enjoy the clever word play and unconventional gender and age roles.

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway: I finished! I feel a bit like a cheater, though. I’ve been reading this with my book group, two chapters per week… and this week, I got to within the last ten chapters and just kept going. So yes, I finished the book early, but I’ll still be a good book group member and participate in the ongoing discussions, and I promise not to reveal any spoilers! So what did I think of it? Well, I’m glad to have finally read this one, but didn’t exactly love it. Objectively speaking, I can see why it’s considered a modern classic and appreciate Hemingway’s unique writing style, but as for my own preferences and enjoyment, it didn’t particularly rock my world or anything.

In short fiction, I read Everything But the Squeal by John Scalzi, a novella about a Biological Systems Interface Management worker (in other words, a pig farmer) in the high-tech walled city of New St. Louis. Great fun, especially if you’re already a Scalzi fan.

Pop culture goodness:

Despite finally catching the cold that everyone else in my household has already had, I did manage to get out to see a movie — and totally loved La La Land!

In TV news, I finished watching season 3 of Mozart in the Jungle, which continues to be fabulous. Although I’ve been grumbling… I hate waiting all year for a new season, then bingeing it all in about 4 days and having to wait another year for more new episodes. Grumble, grumble…

Fresh Catch:

I hadn’t been on NetGalley in a while… and went a bit overboard with requests. These requests all came through in the past couple of weeks:

What will I be reading during the coming week?

Currently in my hands:

A Perilous Undertaking by Deanna Raybourn: This is the second book in the quippy, fast-paced Victorian-era Veronica Speedwell mystery series. (Check out my review of A Curious Beginning, the first in the series).

And just for fun, I’m also read William Shakespeare’s Star Wars, which is totally silly and a great diversion. Yea, verily, ’tis a pleasure to read.

Now playing via audiobook:

Just finished: “I Give You My Body”: How I Write Sex Scenes by Diana Gabaldon. I’m a completist, okay? If Diana Gabaldon writes it, I pretty much have to read it. I’m not a writer, but I did find DG’s explanations of technique quite interesting, and I’d imagine someone trying to write effective sex scenes would find something to learn from this book. The audiobook is narrated by Herself, and includes lengthy selections from various works in the Outlander world with the original audiobook narrators, so all around, lots of fun.

For my next audiobook, I’m about to start Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger. I read Etiquette & Espionage when it first came out, and didn’t love it enough to continue with the series. However, after my Gail Carriger binge last week, I thought I should give the Finishing School books another try, and audio seems like a good approach.

Ongoing reads:

My book group is STILL reading Written in My Own Heart’s Blood by Diana Gabaldon — 2 chapters per week — and will be until June 2017!

So many books, so little time…

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18Dec2016

Book Review: After I Do

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Warning: This review will include some minor spoilers. Don’t worry — I’ll flag the spoilery parts!

From the author of Forever, Interrupted comes a breathtaking new novel about modern marriage, the depth of family ties, and the year that one remarkable heroine spends exploring both.

When Lauren and Ryan’s marriage reaches the breaking point, they come up with an unconventional plan. They decide to take a year off in the hopes of finding a way to fall in love again. One year apart, and only one rule: they cannot contact each other. Aside from that, anything goes.

Lauren embarks on a journey of self-discovery, quickly finding that her friends and family have their own ideas about the meaning of marriage. These influences, as well as her own healing process and the challenges of living apart from Ryan, begin to change Lauren’s ideas about monogamy and marriage. She starts to question: When you can have romance without loyalty and commitment without marriage, when love and lust are no longer tied together, what do you value? What are you willing to fight for?

This is a love story about what happens when the love fades. It’s about staying in love, seizing love, forsaking love, and committing to love with everything you’ve got. And above all, After I Do is the story of a couple caught up in an old game—and searching for a new road to happily ever after.

I definitely have mixed feelings about this book. I’ve now read all of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s books currently available, and I think she’s an amazing writer. She never fails to convincingly capture the inner lives of seemingly ordinary people What makes her books and characters so special is her knack for revealing what goes on beneath the surface. What’s really happening in the heart and mind of a young woman experiencing first love? What does it feel like to be so annoyed with one’s partner that it’s almost impossible to remember even liking the person, let alone loving them?

Lauren and Ryan have been together since age 19, when they met in college. For all intents and purposes, Ryan is Lauren’s only love and only relationship. She had a high school boyfriend, with whom she lost her virginity, but that’s it. So Lauren entered adult life partnered with Ryan, and her entire experience of being in a committed relationship is with Ryan.

And once the heady rush of lust and wonder and romance starts to wear off in the face of daily irritations like disagreeing over restaurants or calling the plumber, it’s hard for Lauren and Ryan to see a reason for their marriage any longer.

As the synopsis explains, they decide to separate for a year. Neither utters the word “divorce”. They’re going to take a year apart, with no contact whatsoever, to see if they can reset, explore their own lives on their own, and figure out how to reconnect.

SPOILERS AHOY! I can’t talk about the book any further without getting more specific, so skip this part if you’d rather not know.

As Lauren and Ryan are splitting, Lauren asks if this means that they’ll date other people, and Ryan confirms that this is part of the deal. There are no rules at all about their behavior while they’re apart. And not only do they date other people — they sleep with other people. A lot. And somehow still expect to have a marriage to come back to.

I’m sorry, but while I love the writing and zipped through this book, I just cannot buy the premise. This is so unhealthy and dysfunctional. SEPARATING FOR A YEAR, NOT COMMUNICATING FOR A YEAR, AND SLEEPING WITH OTHER PEOPLE IS NOT HOW YOU SAVE A MARRIAGE.

They go straight from admitting that they can’t stand each other and don’t think they love each other any more to deciding to separate. What about couples counseling? They never even give it a try. Granted, going to counseling would be a fairly lame plot for a romantic novel, whereas the separation thing is much more dramatic… but in real life? This is a recipe for disaster.

If the goal is to get back together after a year, you do not sleep with other people! No matter how much their separation teaches them about being supportive and respectful and communicating, how do you get past knowing that your spouse spent a year having sex, including some great sex, with other people?

In Lauren’s case, her sex life with Ryan was all she knew, and it wasn’t very satisfying. So she has a no-strings, friends-with-benefits arrangement with a recently divorced man who’s not over his ex-wife, and through their encounters, she learns more about asking for what she wants in bed. Fair enough — but again, counseling, people!

In a key plot element, neither Ryan nor Lauren bother to change their email passwords during their year apart, so they end up reading each others’ draft emails throughout the year, thereby learning about the things that made them bonkers during their marriage as well as their current sexual encounters.

So, no, I don’t believe that they could have actually picked up the pieces of their marriage after all this, or that a year apart without every working on things together would enable them to realize what they need to do to have a healthy relationship going forward.

END OF SPOILERY BITS

What I did find convincing was the fact that Lauren grew up in a household with a single mother. Lauren’s mother raised her three kids marvelously and clearly devoted herself to them. But at the same time, Lauren never saw her mother in a relationship (she kept her boyfriends hidden from her kids), and never had a healthy adult marriage to model her own after. Which is kind of a debatable point, by the way — I by no means believe that children of divorce can’t grow up to have great marriages of their own, as a general rule. But in After I Do, this does seem to be a factor in Lauren’s unhealthy marriage, especially when compounded by the fact that her relationship with Ryan is all she’s ever experienced, and it seems as though the two of them were unprepared for the realities involved when transitioning to adulthood as a couple.

This may all sound very negative, so I want to be sure to point out all the good too. I loved Lauren’s family — her super-close relaitonship with her sister, her flighty younger brother who finds his own unconventional love over the course of the book, the amazing grandmother who influences Lauren’s life, and the family’s oddball quirks and traditions that make them feel unique and special. Likewise, Lauren’s best friend Mila adds another view of adult relationships to Lauren’s perspective, and helps her come to understand that love and commitment transcend daily drama and household nonsense.

As I mentioned to start with, I really enjoy this author’s writing. She has a knack for making her characters feel real. No one is perfect, and even our point-of-view characters are quite openly flawed. She does a great job of breathing life into her characters’ emotional traumas, as well as their silly fixations and disagreements, and realistically shows how relationships either grow or fall apart under the stress of ordinary life.

Do I recommend After I Do? I do, actually! While I disagreed with many of the plot elements, I still found it highly readable and engaging. If you enjoy reading about young adults dealing with the realities of love and romance in the modern world, try After I Do and other books by this author.

Check out my reviews of other books by Taylor Jenkins Reid:
Maybe In Another Life
One True Loves
Forever, Interrupted

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The details:

Title: After I Do
Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
Publisher: Washington Square Press
Publication date: July 1, 2014
Length: 352 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Library

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15Dec2016

Kate update!

Posted in Books & Authors by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

The 21st Kate Shugak book has a release date!

From Dana Stabenow’s newsletter:

Can you hear me shouting with glee?

The Kate Shugak series is one of my all-time favorites, and I can’t wait to get my hands on #21!

Excuse me while I go do a happy dance…

At least in the world of books, 2017 is definitely going to be a good year!

14Dec2016

Thursday Quotables: Howl’s Moving Castle

Posted in Thursday Quotables by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Welcome to Thursday Quotables! This weekly feature is the place to highlight a great quote, line, or passage discovered during your reading each week. Whether it’s something funny, startling, gut-wrenching, or just really beautifully written, Thursday Quotables is where my favorite lines of the week will be, and you’re invited to join in!

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
(first published 1986)

How is it possible that I’ve never read this middle grade magical tale before now? Howl’s Moving Castle has some very clever, quippy use of words that makes it extra enjoyable, even for an adult reader. Here’s a bit of dialogue that’s given me my favorite new insult:

For a moment it seemed as if he he [Howl] was going to lose his temper too. His strange, pale eyes all but glared at Sophie. But he controlled himself and said, “Now trot along indoors, you overactive old thing, and find something else to play with before I get angry. I hate getting angry.”

Sophie folded her skinny arms. She did not like being glared at by eyes like glass marbles. “Of course you hate getting angry!” she retorted. “You don’t like anything unpleasant, do you? You’re a slitherer-outer, that’s what you are! You slither away from anything you don’t like!”

Ha! Take that, you slitherer-outer!

What lines made you laugh, cry, or gasp this week? Do tell!

If you’d like to participate in Thursday Quotables, it’s really simple:

Write a Thursday Quotables post on your blog. Try to pick something from whatever you’re reading now. And please be sure to include a link back to Bookshelf Fantasies in your post (http://www.bookshelffantasies.com), if you’d be so kind!
Add your Thursday Quotables post link in the comments section below… and I’d love it if you’d leave a comment about my quote for this week too.
Be sure to visit other linked blogs to view their Thursday Quotables, and have fun!

14Dec2016

Book Review: The Princess Diarist

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Spending time inside the mind of Carrie Fisher is never dull.

In her newly published memoir, the author takes us back to a galaxy long, long ago… to share her experiences portraying the unforgettable Princess Leia — she of the cinnamon bun hairstyle and metal bikini — in a little indie movie called Star Wars.

Prompted by her recently unearthed journals, Fisher revisits her experiences as a 19-year-old actress — one of several unknowns or relative unknowns cast in this strange movie, created by a guy from Modesto, filming on a shoestring budget in London.

As the headlines proclaimed when this book came out in October, in The Princess Diarist, Fisher confirms what many suspected for years — that she and Harrison Ford had an affair during the filming of Star Wars. At the time, she was a teen with one previous relationship in her recent past, and Ford was in his mid-30s, married, and a father. Their relationship lasted a few months only… but apparently was a huge part of Fisher’s overall experience as she entered the world of movie stardom.

The Princess Diarist has transcribed pages from her diaries at its center, and is framed by chapters before and after describing her introduction to acting, the experience of filming Star Wars, and the fan frenzy that has defined her life ever since.

Fisher’s writing is both funny and weird, as she creates the oddest descriptions and twists her sentences around in all sorts of unexpected ways that made me pause, re-read, and laugh. Here are some prime tidbits from among the many, many Post-It flags I used to mark amazing passages from the diary section of the book:

So he assumes his apathetic poker face and I sit practicing wry knowing looks somewhere in his periphery. I don’t dare pick a topic for fear that it won’t be funny enough or interesting enough for his awe-inspiring judgment. With his silence he establishes himself as a sort of trapped audience and so you break your ass to meet the enormous challenge of entertaining him, frantic with worry that his teeth might suffocate.

I’ve got to learn something from my mistakes instead of establishing a new record to break. Maybe stop fooling around with all these human beings and fall in love with a chair. It would have everything that the immediate situation has to offer, and less, which is obviously what I need. Less emotional and intellectual feedback, less warmth, less approval, less patience and less response. The less the merrier.

Chairs. They’re always there when you need them and, while their staying implies total devotion, they still manage to remain aloof, noncommittal and insensitive. Immovable and loyal. Reliable and unconsoling. Chairs it is. I must furnish my heart with feelings for furniture.

If anyone reads this when I have passed to the big bad beyond I shall be posthumorously embarrassed. I shall spend my afterlife blushing.

And a few more, from the non-diary portions:

My hope aren’t high, and neither, as it happens, am I.

I think boys may have been attracted to my accessibility. Even if I did have some princessy qualities, I wasn’t conventionally beautiful and sexy, and as such was less likely to put them down or think I was too good for them. I wouldn’t humiliate them in any way. Even if I teased them in the context of running around with laser guns dodging bullets, I wouldn’t do it in a way that would hurt them.

It was one movie. It wasn’t supposed to do what it did — nothing was supposed to do that. Nothing ever had. Movies were meant to stay on the screen, flat and large and colorful, gathering you up into their sweep of story, carrying you rollicking along to the end, then releasing you back into your unchanged life. But this movie misbehaved. It leaked out of the theater, poured off the screen, affected a lot of people so deeply that they required endless talismans and artifacts to stay connected to it.

Honestly, I wish she’d spent a little more time on behind-the-scenes, making-of type reminiscences — but I suppose there are plenty of those around for the true Star Wars fans. The beauty of The Princess Diarist is seeing an unvarnished picture of a woman who was unprepared for stardom and for the impact of her “little” film, who at the same time was trying to make sense of a bizarre, strained relationship with a taciturn man who was sexy as hell.

I can’t help but wonder how Harrison Ford feels about Fisher’s revelations (and I haven’t looked that hard, but I don’t recall seeing any reactions from him). I guess after 40 years, it’s not exactly earth-shattering, especially as Ford is no longer married to the woman he was married to at the time. I suppose too that they’ve been sharing each others’ orbits on the Star Wars circuit for so long that it all must feel like ancient history by now.

Carrie Fisher is a funny, open writer who isn’t afraid to show her true, flawed face. I had a great time reading The Princess Diarist. It’s a quick read, and maybe isn’t exactly deep, but it kept me entertained and gave me yet another way to think about the Star Wars cultural phenomenon and what it might have meant to be a part of it all from the beginning.

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The details:

Title: The Princess Diarist
Author: Carrie Fisher
Publisher: Blue Rider Press
Publication date: October 18, 2016
Length: 240 pages
Genre: Memoir
Source: Library

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13Dec2016

Shelf Control #63: Conversion

Posted in Shelf Control by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Welcome to Shelf Control — an original feature created and hosted by Bookshelf Fantasies.

Shelf Control is a weekly celebration of the unread books on our shelves. Pick a book you own but haven’t read, write a post about it (suggestions: include what it’s about, why you want to read it, and when you got it), and link up! Fore more info on what Shelf Control is all about, check out my introductory post, here.

Want to join in? Shelf Control posts go up every Wednesday. See the guideline sat the bottom of the post, and jump on board!

My Shelf Control pick this week is:

Title: Conversion
Author: Katherine Howe
Published: 2014
Length: 402 pages

What it’s about (synopsis via Goodreads):

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane comes a chilling mystery—Prep meets The Crucible.

It’s senior year at St. Joan’s Academy, and school is a pressure cooker. College applications, the battle for valedictorian, deciphering boys’ texts: Through it all, Colleen Rowley and her friends are expected to keep it together. Until they can’t.

First it’s the school’s queen bee, Clara Rutherford, who suddenly falls into uncontrollable tics in the middle of class. Her mystery illness quickly spreads to her closest clique of friends, then more students and symptoms follow: seizures, hair loss, violent coughing fits. St. Joan’s buzzes with rumor; rumor blossoms into full-blown panic.

Soon the media descends on Danvers, Massachusetts, as everyone scrambles to find something, or someone, to blame. Pollution? Stress? Or are the girls faking? Only Colleen—who’s been reading The Crucible for extra credit—comes to realize what nobody else has: Danvers was once Salem Village, where another group of girls suffered from a similarly bizarre epidemic three centuries ago . . .

Inspired by true events—from seventeenth-century colonial life to the halls of a modern-day high school—Conversion casts a spell. With her signature wit and passion, New York Times bestselling author Katherine Howe delivers an exciting and suspenseful novel, a chilling mystery that raises the question, what’s really happening to the girls at St. Joan’s?

How I got it:

I bought it.

When I got it:

Last year.

Why I want to read it:

I’d had my eye on this book since I first heard about it as an upcoming new release. I thought Katherine Howe’s earlier novel, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, was pretty terrific! Conversion is another witchy book, and I love the sound of The Crucible being incorporated into a contemporary YA story.

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Want to participate in Shelf Control? Here’s how:

Write a blog post about a book that you own that you haven’t read yet.
Add your link in the comments!
And if you’d be so kind, I’d appreciate a link back from your own post.
Check out other posts, and…

Have fun!

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12Dec2016

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Can’t-Wait Books for the 1st Half of 2017

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Top Ten Books I’m Looking Forward To For The First Half Of 2017.

In no particular order, here are the books I can’t wait to read during the next six months:

1) The Sleepwalker by Chris Bohjalian: This author’s books never disappoint!

2) Silence Fallen by Patricia Briggs: It’s Mercy! The Mercy Thompson series is one of my favorite things ever. Simply cannot wait for the newest installment.

3) The Mother’s Promise by Sally Hepworth: Her previous novel, The Things We Keep (review) was heartbreaking and beautiful. I’m really looking forward to her newest.

4) Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day by Seanan McGuire: Even the title of this novella gives me the chills.

5) A Perilous Undertaking by Deanna Raybourn: The 2nd Veronica Speedwell mystery! I really enjoyed the first (review), and I’m delighted to have won this one in a Goodreads giveaway.

6) The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid: Wow, can this author write a love story! This new book seems like it’ll be very different from her previous works, and sounds amazing.

7) Martians Abroad by Carrie Vaughn: Who doesn’t love a good Martian adventure? I’ve really enjoyed the pieces I’ve read so far by this author, and this book’s synopsis sounds right up my alley.

8) The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden: I love the sound of this Russian-flavored fairy tale.

9) Almost Missed You by Jessica Strawser: Something about the description of this contemporary mystery really grabbed my attention.

10) Seven Stones to Stand or Fall by Diana Gabaldon: It goes without saying — last but not least! I can’t wait for this story collection, even though I’ve already read five of the seven stories. If it takes place within the Outlander-verse, I want it.

seven-stones-lg

What books are you most eager to read in 2017? Please share your links!

If you enjoyed this post, please consider following Bookshelf Fantasies! And don’t forget to check out our regular weekly features, Shelf Control and Thursday Quotables. Happy reading!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

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12Dec2016

The Monday Check-In ~ 12/12/2016

Posted in The Monday Check-In by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

What did I read last week?

I went a little crazy with Gail Carriger’s short fiction this week. I’d intended just to read her newest novella, Poison or Protect (which was terrific), but couldn’t stop myself, and ended up reading all of her short stories and novellas. I wrote a wrap-up post, here.

The Black Moon by Winston Graham: Book #5 in the Poldark series. This was a longer one (500+ pages), and parts dragged a bit, especially in the middle. Still, it ended on an intense note, and I’m dying to know what happens next (although I think I’m going to wait a bit before moving on with #6 — so much else to read, you know.)

Pop culture goodness:

Between staying home with a sick kid for a couple of days and then a rainy weekend, there was plenty of time to appreciate some pop culture-ish moments.

First, have you ever cried happy tears over a comic strip? Or am I the only soppy marshmallow-hearted softie? If this week’s Luann wedding doesn’t give you at least a hint of a tear, then your heart must be made of stone.

via http://www.gocomics.com/luann

Beyond that, I watched season three of Transparent on Amazon… and thought it was just meh. There didn’t seem to be much of a story or character arc this season, just scattered moments that didn’t really hang together. Still, I’ll keep watching, and hope for better when season 4 roles around (assuming there will be a season 4).

My son and I watched Keanu, which was maybe a little inappopriate for him — but still, it was just the perfect mix of silly and dumb for a grey, wet day. And listen, if you’re a Key & Peele fan, this is a must-watch.

I’m really excited for the 3rd season of Mozart in the Jungle, which is now streaming on Amazon. I loved seasons 1 & 2, and season 3 is getting stellar reviews!

And speaking of Amazon originals, The Man in the High Castle returns at the end of this week! Season 1 was terrific — can’t wait!

Elsewhere on the blog:

I realized that I hadn’t written an Outlander post in quite a while… so an update was in order! Check out my post about the latest in the world of Outlander books and TV.

Fresh Catch:

I won a Goodreads giveaway! There’s nothing like waking up to a “you won” email to start the day off right. Thank you, Goodreads!

What will I be reading during the coming week?

Currently in my hands:

The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher: Just starting!

Now playing via audiobook:

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones: One of those books that falls into the “I can’t believe I still haven’t read this” category. I’ve listened to about half so far, and it’s really clever and fun.