Shelf Control #213: We Sold Our Souls by Grady Hendrix

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! For 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 guidelines at the bottom of the post, and jump on board!

Title: We Sold Our Souls
Author: Grady Hendrix
Published: 2018
Length: 337 pages

What it’s about (synopsis via Goodreads):

In the 1990s, heavy metal band Dürt Würk was poised for breakout success — but then lead singer Terry Hunt embarked on a solo career and rocketed to stardom as Koffin, leaving his fellow bandmates to rot in rural Pennsylvania.

Two decades later, former guitarist Kris Pulaski works as the night manager of a Best Western – she’s tired, broke, and unhappy. Everything changes when she discovers a shocking secret from her heavy metal past: Turns out that Terry’s meteoric rise to success may have come at the price of Kris’s very soul.

This revelation prompts Kris to hit the road, reunite with the rest of her bandmates, and confront the man who ruined her life. It’s a journey that will take her from the Pennsylvania rust belt to a Satanic rehab center and finally to a Las Vegas music festival that’s darker than any Mordor Tolkien could imagine. A furious power ballad about never giving up, even in the face of overwhelming odds, We Sold Our Souls is an epic journey into the heart of a conspiracy-crazed, paranoid country that seems to have lost its very soul…where only a girl with a guitar can save us all.

How and when I got it:

I bought it as a new release in 2018.

Why I want to read it:

If you happened to stumble across my blog earlier this week, you may have seen my review of Grady Hendrix’s newest book, The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires. I loved it, just like I’ve loved everything I’ve read by this author. And even though I bought a copy of We Sold Our Souls, I just never got around to reading it — maybe the heavy metal theme turned me off a bit, but for whatever reason, it’s still there on my shelf, unread. And that just won’t do.

Grady Hendrix’s book are always unique and strange and thoroughly entertaining. I’ve heard this one is great! Clearly, I have to fill in the gap in my reading by getting to this book ASAP.

What do you think? Would you read this book?

Please share your thoughts!

__________________________________

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!
If you’d be so kind, I’d appreciate a link back from your own post.
Check out other posts, and…

Have fun!

21Apr2020

Top 5 Tuesday: Top 5 Popular Books I Haven’t Read Yet

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Once again, I’m joining in with the Top 5 Tuesday meme this week! Top 5 Tuesday is hosted by Bionic Bookworm, who posts the month’s topics at the start of each month. Today’s topic is Top 5 Popular Books I Haven’t Read Yet. And of course, there are WAY more than the five (six) on my list. My TBR list will never be empty! Here are five (six) books that everyone seems to have read — except me.

1) Divergent series by Veronica Roth. Now that I’ve read her newest book (Chosen Ones), I’m wondering if I should finally give these books a try… except (a) I saw the first movie and didn’t care for it much, and (b) I keep hearing how let-down/angry fans were by the 3rd book. So, hard pass? Or not?

2) The Long Way To a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers: I’ve had this book on my shelf for ages, and I know people seem to love the trilogy. So this is one I really do mean to get to.

3) Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir: I absolutely want to read this book! I’m not sure why I haven’t yet.

4) The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss: I know, I know… I definitely need to read this! But I keep insisting that I’m not going to get involved in yet another unfinished series, and that I won’t start this book until there’s at least a publication date for the 3rd book. Maybe I’m being ridiculous, because everyone tells me I’ll love it!

5) Vicious and A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab: I haven’t actually read any of this author’s books, even though I know people loved them. And based on what I’ve heard, I think I’d love them too.

Have you read any of these? Let me know if you think I should READ or SKIP them!

And please share your Top 5 links too!

15Apr2020

Shelf Control #212: Bleaker House by Nell Stevens

Posted in Shelf Control by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

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

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

Title: Bleaker House
Author: Nell Stevens
Published: 2017
Length: 256 pages

What it’s about (synopsis via Goodreads):

On a frozen island in the Falklands, with only penguins for company, a young would-be writer struggles to craft a debut novel…and instead writes a funny, clever, moving memoir that heralds the arrival of a fresh new literary talent.

Twenty-seven-year-old Nell Stevens was determined to write a novel, but somehow life kept getting in the way. Then came an irresistible opportunity: she won a fellowship to spend three months, all expenses paid, anywhere in the world to research and write a book. Did she choose a glittering metropolis, a romantic village, an exotic paradise? Um, no. Nell chose Bleaker Island, a snowy, windswept pile of rock off the Falklands. There, in a guesthouse where she would be the only guest, she imagined she could finally rid herself of distractions and write her 2,500 words a day. In three months, surely she’d have a novel, right?

It’s true that there aren’t many distractions on Bleaker, other than sheep, penguins, paranoia and the weather. But as Nell gets to work on her novel–a delightful Dickensian fiction she calls Bleaker House–she discovers that an excruciatingly erratic Internet connection and 1100 calories a day (as much food as she could carry in her suitcase, budgeted to the raisin) are far from ideal conditions for literary production. With deft humour, this memoir traces Nell’s island days and slowly reveals details of the life and people she has left behind in pursuit of her art. They pop up in her novel, as well, as memoir and novel start to reflect one another. It seems that there is nowhere Nell can run–neither a remote island nor the pages of her notebook–to escape herself.

A whimsical, entertaining, thought-provoking blend of memoir and travelogue, laced with tongue-in-cheek writing advice, Bleaker House brilliantly captures the hopes, fears, self-torture and humour of being young and yearning to make a creative life. With winning honesty and wit, Nell’s race to finish her book emerges as a fascinating narrative in its own right.

How and when I got it:

I bought it a year or so ago.

Why I want to read it:

I really don’t remember how I stumbled across this book, but it sounded so quirky and charming that I just had to have it. I’m not necessarily a fan of reading about the writing process, but the idea of being so isolated in such a strange location really piqued my interest.

What do you think? Would you read this book?

Please share your thoughts!

__________________________________

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!
If you’d be so kind, I’d appreciate a link back from your own post.
Check out other posts, and…

Have fun!

14Apr2020

Top 5 Tuesday: Top 5 Books That Made Me Laugh

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Whoa, I’m actually doing something different! I’ve been participating in the Top Ten Tuesday meme (hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl) for years, but just wasn’t feeling the topics for the next few weeks. So this is me, shaking things up, and doing the Top 5 Tuesday meme instead! Top 5 Tuesday is hosted by Bionic Bookworm, who posts the month’s topics at the start of each month. For April, the topics are “positive, happy, motivating, and distracting” — works for me!

Today’s topic is Top 5 Books That Made Me Laugh.

Just thinking about this topic makes me happy! Here are my top 5:

1) Texts From Jane Eyre by Mallory Ortberg: Such awesome, literary silliness. (review)

2) Heads Will Roll by Kate McKinnon: Okay, this isn’t technically a book… but it’s an Audible Original production, and it’s hilarious, so that’s good enough for me. (review)

3) My Lady’s Choosing by Kitty Curran & Larissa Zageris: What could be more fun than a choose-your-own-adventure Victorian romance? It’s a blast, and it made me giggle. (review)

4) P is for Pterodactyl by Chris Carpenter: A super-fun alphabet book that’s sure to baffle and amuse all sorts of readers. I loved it.

5) A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore: I could have gone with almost any Christopher Moore book, but this one especially delights me and always makes me laugh. I mean, there are squirrel people! Among other weird things…

What books have made you laugh recently?

Please share your Top 5 links… or just share a few great recommendations!

8Apr2020

Shelf Control #211: Shades of Milk and Honey (Glamourist Histories, #1) by Mary Robinette Kowal

Posted in Shelf Control by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

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

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

Title: Shades of Milk and Honey (Glamourist Histories, #1)
Author: Mary Robinette Kowal
Published: 2010
Length: 306 pages

What it’s about (synopsis via Goodreads):

The fantasy novel you’ve always wished Jane Austen had written

Shades of Milk and Honey is exactly what we could expect from Jane Austen if she had been a fantasy writer: Pride and Prejudice meets Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. It is an intimate portrait of a woman, Jane, and her quest for love in a world where the manipulation of glamour is considered an essential skill for a lady of quality.

Jane and her sister Melody vie for the attentions of eligible men, and while Jane’s skill with glamour is remarkable, it is her sister who is fair of face. When Jane realizes that one of Melody’s suitors is set on taking advantage of her sister for the sake of her dowry, she pushes her skills to the limit of what her body can withstand in order to set things right—and, in the process, accidentally wanders into a love story of her own.

How and when I got it:

I bought all five books in the series last year at my favorite local bookstore. They look so perfect together!

Why I want to read it:

True confession: I’ve actually read this book! But I read it back in 2010 when it first came out, having borrowed it from the library, and somehow didn’t become aware of the rest of the series until a few years had passed by. And while I remember liking the book a lot, I don’t remember any of the details (except for the basics — Jane Austen with magic!). In any case, reading the whole Glamourist Histories series has been on my to-do list for a couple of years now, and I really do want to make it happen in 2020. But to do that, I’ll need to start at the beginning, so that’s why a re-read is making a rare appearance as a Shelf Control book!

What do you think? Would you read this book?

Please share your thoughts!

__________________________________

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!
If you’d be so kind, I’d appreciate a link back from your own post.
Check out other posts, and…

Have fun!

25Mar2020

Shelf Control #210: Amanda’s Wedding by Jenny Colgan

Posted in Shelf Control by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

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

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

Title: Amanda’s Wedding
Author: Jenny Colgan
Published: 1999
Length: 288 pages

What it’s about (synopsis via Goodreads):

From New York Times bestselling author Jenny Colgan comes the debut novel that made her the sensation she is today—a hilarious, unforgettable story of one woman’s mad dash to put a stop to the wedding of her old school friend who’s the complete opposite of the sweet Scottish lord she’s marrying.

Amanda’s old school friends, Mel and Fran, are shocked when the social-climbing queen of mean announces her engagement to a laird (Scottish lord). It doesn’t matter that Fraser McConnald has worn the same pair of Converse sneakers for the last three years and that his castle is a pile of rubble with one gas heater—she’ll be the wife of an actual laird! But Mel and Fran can’t just sit back and let the sweet and gentle Fraser marry Amanda, especially since Mel had a huge crush on him back in University. Something must be done!

Joining forces with Fraser’s adorable younger brother Angus, they set out to sabotage this mismatch of the century. So between fighting off the attentions of a love-crazed accountant, keeping Fran’s deadly maneuvers’ with the opposite sex under control and trying to win her own war of love with her aspiring rock-star beau, Mel finds herself preparing for a wedding that’s everything you’d wish on your worst enemy.

How and when I got it:

I picked up a used copy a couple of years ago, after falling deeply under the spell of the author!

Why I want to read it:

Jenny Colgan has become my go-to sweet escapes author — her books are light and fun, very human, very bubbly, and even when presenting difficult scenarios, there’s always more sunshine just around the corner. Amanda’s Wedding is her debut novel from 1999, and I’m eager to see how she got started. I still have a few of her more recent books to read as well, but I do like the sound of this one (I mean, come on! There’s a Scottish laird!), so one of these days when I need a pick-me-up (which could be any day now), I’m finally going to give this a try.

What do you think? Would you read this book?

Please share your thoughts!

__________________________________

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!
If you’d be so kind, I’d appreciate a link back from your own post.
Check out other posts, and…

Have fun!

18Mar2020

Shelf Control #209: Over Sea, Under Stone (The Dark Is Rising, #1) by Susan Cooper

Posted in Shelf Control by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

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

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

Title: Over Sea, Under Stone (The Dark Is Rising, #1)
Author: Susan Cooper
Published: 1965
Length: 196 pages

What it’s about (synopsis via Goodreads):

On holiday in Cornwall, the three Drew children discover an ancient map in the attic of the house that they are staying in. They know immediately that it is special. It is even more than that — the key to finding a grail, a source of power to fight the forces of evil known as the Dark. And in searching for it themselves, the Drews put their very lives in peril. This is the first volume of Susan Cooper’s brilliant and absorbing fantasy sequence known as The Dark Is Rising.

How and when I got it:

We’ve had a copy of this book in my house for at least 15 years or more!

Why I want to read it:

I was looking for something relatively happy and light for this week’s Shelf Control post (to contrast with how dismal and dark real life is these days…) — and while this doesn’t exactly scream sunshine and roses, it’s a classic children’s fantasy series, which sounds like lots of fun.

True confession time — I actually started this with my son about six years ago, and we quit after the first few chapters. Neither of us felt much interest at the time, but that may be because it just didn’t suit our mood or wasn’t a great pick to read aloud together. In any case, we put it aside, but I’ve always felt like I should go back to it and see it through.

What do you think? Would you read this book?

Please share your thoughts!

__________________________________

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!
If you’d be so kind, I’d appreciate a link back from your own post.
Check out other posts, and…

Have fun!

11Mar2020

Shelf Control #208: The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters

Posted in Shelf Control by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

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

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

Title: The Paying Guests
Author: Sarah Waters
Published: 2014
Length: 599 pages

What it’s about (synopsis via Goodreads):

It is 1922, and London is tense. Ex-servicemen are disillusioned; the out-of-work and the hungry are demanding change. And in South London, in a genteel Camberwell villa—a large, silent house now bereft of brothers, husband, and even servants—life is about to be transformed, as impoverished widow Mrs. Wray and her spinster daughter, Frances, are obliged to take in lodgers.

With the arrival of Lilian and Leonard Barber, a modern young couple of the “clerk class,” the routines of the house will be shaken up in unexpected ways. Little do the Wrays know just how profoundly their new tenants will alter the course of Frances’s life—or, as passions mount and frustration gathers, how far-reaching, and how devastating, the disturbances will be.

Short-listed for the Man Booker Prize three times, Sarah Waters has earned a reputation as one of our greatest writers of historical fiction.

How and when I got it:

I bought a copy when it first came out.

Why I want to read it:

Fingersmith is one of my all-time favorite books, and while I haven’t loved other Sarah Waters books quite as much as I love that one, I think she’s an amazing writer. Fun fact: Way back when I started doing Shelf Control posts, a Sarah Waters book (Affinity) was the 4th book I featured! And before you ask — no, I haven’t read that one yet either. Sigh. In any case, I do want to read The Paying Guests — I really want to know what the disturbances are that the synopsis mentions! I guess I just haven’t yet found myself in the mood to start this book, despite reading several really good reviews.

What do you think? Would you read this book?

Please share your thoughts!

__________________________________

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!
If you’d be so kind, I’d appreciate a link back from your own post.
Check out other posts, and…

Have fun!

4Mar2020

Shelf Control #207: The Lost City of Z by David Grann

Posted in Shelf Control by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

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

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

Title: The Lost City of Z
Author: David Grann
Published: 2009
Length: 352 pages

What it’s about (synopsis via Goodreads):

A grand mystery reaching back centuries. A sensational disappearance that made headlines around the world. A quest for truth that leads to death, madness or disappearance for those who seek to solve it. The Lost City of Z is a blockbuster adventure narrative about what lies beneath the impenetrable jungle canopy of the Amazon.

After stumbling upon a hidden trove of diaries, New Yorker writer David Grann set out to solve “the greatest exploration mystery of the 20th century”: What happened to the British explorer Percy Fawcett & his quest for the Lost City of Z?

In 1925, Fawcett ventured into the Amazon to find an ancient civilization, hoping to make one of the most important discoveries in history. For centuries Europeans believed the world’s largest jungle concealed the glittering kingdom of El Dorado. Thousands had died looking for it, leaving many scientists convinced that the Amazon was truly inimical to humans. But Fawcett, whose daring expeditions inspired Conan Doyle’s The Lost World, had spent years building his scientific case. Captivating the imagination of millions round the globe, Fawcett embarked with his 21-year-old son, determined to prove that this ancient civilisation–which he dubbed Z–existed. Then his expedition vanished. Fawcett’s fate, & the tantalizing clues he left behind about Z, became an obsession for hundreds who followed him into the uncharted wilderness.

For decades scientists & adventurers have searched for evidence of Fawcett’s party & the lost City of Z. Countless have perished, been captured by tribes or gone mad. As Grann delved ever deeper into the mystery surrounding Fawcett’s quest, & the greater mystery of what lies within the Amazon, he found himself, like the generations who preceded him, being irresistibly drawn into the jungle’s green hell. His quest for the truth & discoveries about Fawcett’s fate & Z form the heart of this complexly enthralling narrative.

How and when I got it:

I picked up a used copy over five years ago, I think.

Why I want to read it:

I had planned to read this book years ago! Every once in a while, I’m in the mood for a really good true-life adventure story, and I’d heard such good things about this one! I know there was a movie within the last couple of years (which I didn’t see), but I’ve always meant to read this book, and I probably should get to it already. It sounds like a great combination of action/adventure/exploration/mystery, which should keep things moving right along. Plus, I’ve read one book by this author, Killers of the Flower Moon, and thought it was so well researched and put together.

What do you think? Would you read this book?

Please share your thoughts!

__________________________________

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!
If you’d be so kind, I’d appreciate a link back from your own post.
Check out other posts, and…

Have fun!

26Feb2020

Shelf Control #206: A Map of Days by Ransom Riggs

Posted in Shelf Control by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

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

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

Title: A Map of Days (Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children, #4)
Author: Ransom Riggs
Published: 2018
Length: 480 pages

What it’s about (synopsis via Goodreads):

The #1 bestselling series returns with a thrilling new story arc set in America!

Vintage photographs reveal the never-before-seen world of peculiar America with a stunning addition—full-color images.

Having defeated the monstrous threat that nearly destroyed the peculiar world, Jacob Portman is back where his story began, in Florida. Except now Miss Peregrine, Emma, and their peculiar friends are with him, and doing their best to blend in. But carefree days of beach visits and normalling lessons are soon interrupted by a discovery—a subterranean bunker that belonged to Jacob’s grandfather, Abe.

Clues to Abe’s double-life as a peculiar operative start to emerge, secrets long hidden in plain sight. And Jacob begins to learn about the dangerous legacy he has inherited—truths that were part of him long before he walked into Miss Peregrine’s time loop.

Now, the stakes are higher than ever as Jacob and his friends are thrust into the untamed landscape of American peculiardom—a world with few ymbrynes, or rules—that none of them understand. New wonders, and dangers, await in this brilliant next chapter for Miss Peregrine’s peculiar children. Their story is again illustrated throughout by haunting vintage photographs, but with a striking addition for this all-new, multi-era American adventure—full color.

How and when I got it:

I bought myself a brand-new copy right when the book was released in 2018.

Why I want to read it:

I really enjoyed the original Peculiar Children trilogy when I finally got around to reading it… but the story had a definite ending, or so I thought at the time, and was surprised to hear that there would be another three books in the series. When #4, A Map of Days, was released, I had to have a copy, but then I never felt particularly in the mood to read it. Book #5 just came out last month, so I suppose I should go ahead and jump back into this world. The odd photos add so much to the story, and I am interested in seeing how the new adventures play out.

What do you think? Would you read this book?

Please share your thoughts!

__________________________________

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