Sunday, January 31, 2016

Outgrowing Your TBR!


Can you outgrow your book preferences the same way you might outgrow your favorite pair of shoes?  It certainly isn't the same connotation of "outgrow"--you're not physically growing out of anything.  But mentally, you are.

Friday, January 29, 2016

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

Publication Date:  August 29, 2006
Publisher:  HarperCollins 
Pages:  162
Series:  Stand Alone

Genre:  Fantasy
Synopsis:  In Coraline's family's new flat are twenty-one windows and fourteen doors. Thirteen of the doors open and close. The fourteenth is locked, and on the other side is only a brick wall, until the day Coraline unlocks the door to find a passage to another flat in another house just like her own.  Only it's different...  At first, things seem marvelous in the other flat. The food is better. The toy box is filled with wind-up angels that flutter around the bedroom, books whose pictures writhe and crawl and shimmer, little dinosaur skulls that chatter their teeth. But there's another mother, and another father, and they want Coraline to stay with them and be their little girl. They want to change her and never let her go.  Other children are trapped there as well, lost souls behind the mirrors. Coraline is their only hope of rescue. She will have to fight with all her wits and all the tools she can find if she is to save the lost children, her ordinary life, and herself.

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Top Ten Tuesday: Classics I Want to Read


Top Ten Tuesday is a meme created by The Broke and the Bookish.  This week I was granted the freedom to choose my topic, and I decided to list the classic novels I want to read sometime in the foreseeable future.

Saturday, January 23, 2016

Comic Book Reviews II


Umbrella Academy
Vol.1: The Apocalypse Suite
Author:  Gerard Way
Artist:  Gabriel Bá


Rating:  4.5

Umbrella Academy was unexpectedly genius.  The characters, the plot, the unique twists on science fiction combined with breathtaking art is a masterpiece of an idea.

Doctor Strange
No.1:  The Coming Slaughter
Author:  Jason Aaron
Artist:  Kevin Nowlan


Rating: 4.5

Doctor Strange is certainly, well, strange.  And I mean that in the best possible way.  It's fast paced, offers an intriguing insight to a world hidden within our own, and has solid artwork.  Admittedly, I'm hooked.

Pretty Deadly
Vol. 1: The Shrike
Author:  Kelly Sue DeConnick
Artist:  Emma Ríos 


Rating: 3

While Pretty Deadly offers some interesting takes on mythological aspects, the plot is overly convoluted.  You're thrown into the middle of this grand story, with its detailed art, and just expected to figure out what it is exactly that's going on.

Rat Queens
Vol. 1: Sass & Sorcery
Author:  Kurtis J. Wiebe
Artist:  Roc Upchurch


Rating: 2

I'm not sure what I expected, but it wasn't what I got.  The characters are diverse and it is good for a laugh, but if you want a creative, thought-provoking story, I would suggest looking elsewhere.  Also, the art style wasn't my favorite.

Cat Person
Author/Artist:  Seo Kim


Rating:  3

I'm not going to lie, I read this purely on a whim and because it involved cats.  Surprisingly, it turned out to be more autobiographical than cat focused.  I missed the cats.  And while the art is charming, it isn't my cup of tea.  Still rather adorable.

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I've Recently Added To My TBR


Top Ten Tuesday is a meme created by The Broke and the Bookish, and today I am tasked with listing the last ten books I added to my TBR (which is humongous--dangerously so).

Sunday, January 17, 2016

Reading Challenges!


Yet another year has passed, and to the bookish world, this means the end of the previous reading challenges (whether failed or achieved) and the start of a new goal. I've seen the numbers ranged from 15 to 350, and while it is admirable to see people excited to read so much, I seem to be one of the few who do not partake in the yearly challenges.

Saturday, January 16, 2016

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

Publication Date:  May 17, 1900
Publisher:  Penguin
Pages:  156
Series:  Oz #1
Genre:  Fantasy
Synopsis:  Follow the yellow brick road!

Dorothy thinks she's lost forever when a tornado whirls her and her dog, Toto, into a magical world. To get home, she must find the wonderful wizard in the Emerald City of Oz. On the way she meets the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman and the Cowardly Lion. But the Wicked Witch of the West has her own plans for the new arrival - will Dorothy ever see Kansas again?

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Top Ten Tuesday: 2015 Releases I Meant To Get To But Didn't


Top Ten Tuesday is a meme created by The Broke and the Bookish.  Today I am shamefully listing all the 2015 book releases I meant to get to...but never did.

Saturday, January 9, 2016

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Publication Date:  September 30, 2008
Publisher:  HarperCollins
Pages:  312  
Series:  Stand Alone
Genre:  Fantasy
Synopsis:  After the grisly murder of his entire family, a toddler wanders into a graveyard where the ghosts and other supernatural residents agree to raise him as one of their own.

Nobody Owens, known to his friends as Bod, is a normal boy. He would be completely normal if he didn't live in a sprawling graveyard, being raised and educated by ghosts, with a solitary guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor of the dead. There are dangers and adventures in the graveyard for a boy. But if Bod leaves the graveyard, then he will come under attack from the man Jack—who has already killed Bod's family...

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Top Ten Tuesday: 2016 Resolutions


Top Ten Tuesday is a meme created by The Broke and the Bookish.  Since 2016 has just begun (and I can't believe it has), it is time to prepare a new list of resolutions!  I have never been one to actually commit to these things, but it is a good tool to set goals for the year.

Friday, January 1, 2016

The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan

Publication Date:  October 6, 2015
Publisher:  Disney-Hyperion Books
Pages:  491
Series:  Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard #1
Genre:  Fantasy
Synopsis:  Magnus Chase has always been a troubled kid. Since his mother’s mysterious death, he’s lived alone on the streets of Boston, surviving by his wits, keeping one step ahead of the police and the truant officers.

One day, he’s tracked down by a man he’s never met—a man his mother claimed was dangerous. The man tells him an impossible secret: Magnus is the son of a Norse god.

The Viking myths are true. The gods of Asgard are preparing for war. Trolls, giants and worse monsters are stirring for doomsday. To prevent Ragnarok, Magnus must search the Nine Worlds for a weapon that has been lost for thousands of years.

When an attack by fire giants forces him to choose between his own safety and the lives of hundreds of innocents, Magnus makes a fatal decision.

Sometimes, the only way to start a new life is to die . . .