Have I mentioned that I am GOING TO THE BOOKCON?!

This is my first book-related conference ever, and I am so incredibly excited! 

My hands holding my tickets that have Judy Blume's lovely face on it.

Though it's not Book Expo America aka BEA aka the Holy Land, it's a conference dedicated to books and pop culture. Lemme name drop a few people for you:

• Mindy Kaling
• BJ Novak
• Nick Offerman
• Aziz Ansari
• Jason Segal
• Paul Rudd
• John Green and the cast of Paper Towns
• Jenny Han, Gayle Forman, and Sarah Dessen
• Shannon Hale
• Charlaine Harris
• Patrick Ness
• Annie Barrows
• Sarah Dessen
• Maggie Stiefvater (I NEED TO MEET HER!)
• Carrie Ryan
• Felicia Day
• Meg Cabot
• Leigh Bardugo and Marissa Meyer
• Lauren Oliver
• Richelle Mead
• Rae Carson
• Sarah J. Maas
• Candace Bushnell
• Jennifer Weiner
• Jodi Picoult
• R.L. Stine (!!!)
• JUDY BLUME!
•  David Levithan <3

Those are just to name the people I'd love to glimpse/meet/talk to/touch hands with. There's a ton more authors and celebs slated to be there. There are so many signings and speaking events that I'm going to have to clone myself and/or wear a time-turner around my neck to get to them all. I AM BESIDE MYSELF WITH EXCITEMENT.

Will I see you there? I'd love to meet fellow bloggers and book lovers!

Waiting on Wednesday: Annie Barrows' The Truth According to Us

It's time for my second-ever Waiting On Wednesday. Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:  

The Truth According to Us

Annie Barrows

The Dial Press

Pub. Date: June 9, 2015

Summary:

From the co-author of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society comes a wise, witty, and exuberant novel that illuminates the power of loyalty and forgiveness, memory and truth, and the courage it takes to do what's right. Annie Barrows once again evokes the charm and eccentricity of a small town filled with extraordinary characters. Her new novel, The Truth According to Us, brings to life an inquisitive young girl, her beloved aunt, and the alluring visitor who changes the course of their destiny forever.

As you might recall if you've been a long-time reader of mine, I am such a huge fan of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, and even though Annie Barrows was a co-author on that book, I am very eager to give her newest book a try. Though I don't read historical literature as much as I'd like to, I still love it, and this book looks like an incredibly good excuse to delve back into the genre.

What's your Waiting on Wednesday pick this week? I'd love to hear from you. It's such a great way to learn about new books!

Mise-En-Scène: Eyes

Mise-En-Scène is a weekly bookish photography challenge created by What She Reads & Word Revel. To join in the fun, just take a bookish photo in correspondence to that week’s theme, and then link up your post. The challenge takes place on Fridays. I think it's a fun way to kick off the weekend, no?

This week’s theme is “eyes.” At first, I had no idea what direction I would take with that theme. Eyes and books? I couldn’t stop envisioning the spell book from Hocus Pocus: “Booooook, come to mummy!” But, alas, I don’t have access to a photo-op such as that one.

So, I walked over to my shelves for the next best thing, and lo and behold— inspiration struck in the form of various eyes staring back at me from the spines of my books.

• George Orwell’s 1984
• Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go
• Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke and Bone
• Alison Goodman’s Eon: Dragoneye Reborn

I threw in my favorite pair of cat-eyed frames for good measure. Don’t they look like they were plucked straight from the pages of The Far Side?

Did you participate in this week’s Mise-En-Scène? I’d love to see your bookish photos. If not, I’ll just leave you with this:

Waiting On Wednesday: David Levithan's Another Day

Another book-blogging first for me: Waiting On Wednesday. Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is: 

Another Day
David Levithan
Knopf Books for Young Readers
Pub. Date: August 25, 2015

Summary:
The eagerly anticipated companion to David Levithan’s New York Times bestseller Every Day. In this enthralling companion to his New York Times bestseller Every Day, David Levithan (co-author of Will Grayson, Will Grayson with John Green) tells Rhiannon’s side of the story as she seeks to discover the truth about love and how it can change you.

Even though I have yet to read Every Day, I figured once this book is released, it will give me even more motivation to read the first of the series. I love David Levithan’s work; Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares, co-written with Rachel Cohn, is one of my favorite contemporary YAs. And have you ever seen Levithan’s twitter account? He posts his own word definitions (like the kind you’d find in The Lover’s Dictionary). It’s absolutely beautiful and poetic. So, yes, I will definitely be waiting on his newest book.

Which book are you waiting for on this fine Wednesday?

Top Ten Tuesday: Covers that Made Me Buy the Book

This is my first time participating in Top Ten Tuesday, which is a really popular meme floating around the book blogosphere created by The Broke and the Bookish, where bloggers create a list of ten items pertaining to that week’s theme. Past topics include Top Ten Inspiring Quotes from Books, Top Ten All Time Favorite Authors, Ten Books You Recently Added To Your To-Be-Read List—simple and fun book-related lists, basically.

It looks like I picked a good week to start with because this week’s theme is “Top Ten Tuesday Freebie: Your Choice of Topic.” What I ended up doing was scrolling through the list of previous TTTs and was inspired by “Top Ten Books Whose Titles Or Covers Made Me Buy It” from October 2011 (wow, what a long-running meme!). I chose this one because of how I recently purchased Two Serious Ladies for its cover art. So, Two Serious Ladies would be my number one pick.

For the next three, I absolutely love the fonts and color schemes. They are all simple yet beautifully detailed at the same time. 

• The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman
• Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
• The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

I also really love silhouettes and hand-drawn illustrations on covers. I definitely purchased all three of these books based on their covers alone. I didn’t even bother with reading the back copy. I haven’t read any of these particular books yet, but I know Wonder got rave reviews.

 

• The Aviary by Kathleen O’Dell
• Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley
• Wonder by R.J. Palacio

The final three are all random wild cards. I found Silver Princess, Golden Knight on Book Outlet, knew it was completely obscure and potentially a total flop, but bought it because of the magnificent bird/human/angel hybrid on the cover. Some high-fantasies have cheesy covers, but this one is breath-taking. 

 

• Silver Princess, Golden Knight by Sharon Green
• Monstrous Beauty by Elizabeth Fama
• Whirligig by Paul Fleischman

Did you participate in this week’s Top Ten Tuesday? What was your freebie pick? I’m so curious to see the topics that everyone else chose.

I Read YA Week 2015 (#IReadYA)

I’ve kept it no secret, in fact, I say it proudly, that I read and love YA. Yes, I am an adult woman, and YA books may not necessarily be marketed towards me, but I enjoy them anyway. It’s hard not to, considering how many well-written and brilliantly developed stories there are out in the world. The YA genre is vast and limitless: contemporary, fantasy, historical… it goes on and on.

Scholastic’s This is Teen has been celebrating YA readers for the last few years through the I Read YA campaign, and I think it’s smart; let’s not shame people, especially adults, who love to read YA-- let’s celebrate them. Let’s celebrate people simply reading whatever they like. That’s my personal philosophy, after all.

So, #IReadYA week is here, and I agree that we should share how proud we are to read great stories. I checked out Scholastic's blog, and it looks like they have fun events planned for the week via social media:

• Monday 5/18: Share why you love reading and writing YA!
• Tuesday 5/19: Play #YAlliteration!
• Wednesday 5/20: #WOW Learn about exciting upcoming YA releases!
• Thursday 5/21: #tbt What is the book that got you into YA?
• Friday 5/22: Share your YA Book recommendations!

They’re even offering up prizes. Who doesn’t love book swag?

Keep in mind that I have no affiliation with Scholastic or This is Teen. I just think it’s a great concept that fosters pride in reading what you love. I don’t know how much time I’ll have this week to get involved with the campaign, but I hope to connect with fellow YA lovers and make new bookish friends.

Are you going to share your #IReadYA pride? If you like, you can follow my twitter to see what I’m up to. Share your handle with me, and I’ll do the same!

Stacking the Shelves: From Two Bookstores in Cambridge, MA

Recently, I went on a bookstore crawl all throughout Cambridge, Massachusetts. A bookstore crawl is like a bar crawl, only better, because BOOKS. 

Though I wanted to buy up any and all books that struck my fancy, I practiced pretty extreme self-control (at least, for me), and only bought two books. Two! That's got to be a personal record. I buy more than two books from ONE bookstore per visit, let alone five different stores in one night.

Perhaps I will post about all the shops I visited later. For now, I am just going to share the spoils of my crawl.

As you can see, I bought a discounted copy of Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose from the "Remainder" section of The Harvard Book Store.  

What are remainders, you ask? Remainders are specially priced editions of new books. Because they were no longer selling well, the remaining unsold copies were liquidated by the publisher at greatly reduced prices. They are like new and, in most cases, are identical to the full-priced versions. Alright, end of publishing lesson for today.

The other book I bought was Two Serious Ladies by Jane Bowles at The Coop. I was scanning the face-out books in one of the aisles, and I was completely drawn in by the book's cover art (I keep it no secret that I constantly judge books by their covers). As I pick up the book, I noticed that Tennessee Williams himself blurbed it, calling it his favorite book! Of course, without another thought, I bought it. Tennessee Williams has yet to steer me wrong.

I can't wait to dig into these books, especially Two Serious Ladies, which I meant to read for the #BoutofBooks Readathon, but I really don't think I will get to it this week.

Which books have you added to your shelves lately?

Linking up here and here.

Bout of Books 13: Favorite Read Photo Challenge

The Bout of Books 13 Readathon is winding down. How is it Day 6 already? I barely accomplished any of my reading goals. I started three books, but I haven't finished any yet. Ah well, it's not over till it's over.

For today's challenge, I had to take a photo of my favorite read so far and then share it with you fine people. I took a picture of Marcus Sedgwick's Midwinterblood. 

What do you think? It is rather late (2:00 a.m. as I write this), so I might just be delirious, but I think it looks cool and creepy and matches the tone of the novel.  And I think the shadows and knives perfect the vignette.

Thanks to Bout of Books and Once Upon a Chapter for yet another creative challenge. I like being given an excuse to bust out my camera. 

Have you taken a photo of your favorite #boutofbooks read? Share it in the comments! I love me a good book pic.

Bout of Books 13: Cover Color Challenge

Ready for another #BoutofBooks 13 post? Good, because I am. And as a cover art geek, I ADORE this challenge! 

The Rules: Pick two colors, find four book covers that are at least two-thirds similar, and list 'em. I overachieved and found six because, like I said, I am obsessed. The colors I chose are turquoise and yellow-- two of my favorite colors.

Yellow first:

Now Turquoise:

Note that every book listed above are books that I actually own (and love) and scouted out among my own overly crowded shelves.

Ah, that was so very satisfying. Maybe I will get involved in the design and production end of publishing one day. Sky's the limit.

Again, thanks to Bout of Books and Wishful Endings for hosting the Day 5 Challenge. Did you participate? I won't complain if you share your covers with me.

Bout of Books 13: Book Haiku Challenge

I’ve hit Day 3 of the #BoutofBooks 13 Readathon, and I like today’s challenge quite a bit: write a haiku about whatever book you’re reading right now.

Well, I’m reading Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain. So, here goes nothin’:

Introversion is
Empowering. Now just be
Quiet. I’m reading.

I don't want to toot by own horn (toot-toot), but not only does my haiku capture the essence of the book, but it sums up my own personal philosophy in 3 short sentences.

Thank you to Bout of Books and Kristina Horner for organizing such a fun challenge.

How are you doing with the readathon? I’d love to see your haikus.

Bout of Books 13: Bookish Survey Challenge

Alright, time for my first #BoutofBooks 13 Readathon Challenge. A Bookish Survey— my favorite kind.

1. How do you organize your shelves?
   I am an odd shelver. I like to organize my books by genre, then author, then height, then color. Basically, whatever looks and feels right and makes sense in my brain alone.


2. What is one of your favorite book that’s not in one of your favorite genres?
   A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams. It’s a play. I read dramas every now and then, but I wouldn’t call it a favorite genre. I just love anything by Tennessee Williams.


3. What is the last 5 star book you read?
   Agonizing Love: The Golden Era of Romance Comics by Michael Barson. It’s a collection of romance comics from the 40s and 50s. Highly entertaining, especially the really chauvinist parts.


4. What book are you most excited to read during the read-a-thon?
   Every single one of the physical books I have mapped out on my TBR for the readathon (but maybe Mrs. Mike a little more than the others).


5. What book do you recommend the most?
   Tough one. All of my recommendations are situational. Probably To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. A true literary masterpiece.

Thanks to Bout of Books and Writing My Own Fairytale for the challenge.

Have you taken the survey? Feel free to share yours with me in the comments.

Bout of Books 13: Readathon TBR

Because I'm so very excited to participate in my first ever readathon, I couldn't sleep and thought a good use of my time would be drafting up a (probably unrealistic) TBR list.

I have quite a few ebooks downloaded from NetGalley that need to be read before they expire, so they get priority, and I don't think they should take too much time to read, so this list of six ARCs seems feasible:

• Shadow Show: Stories In Celebration of Ray Bradbury by Joe Hill and others
• Page Count: 128
• Spread: No Hope (Vol. 1) by Justin Jordan
• Page Count: 160
• Low: The Delirium of Hope (Vol. 1) by Rick Remender
• Page Count: 144
• Jupiter's Legacy (Vol. 1) by Mark Millar
• Page Count: 136
• Monster Motors by Brian Lynch
• Page Count:  86
• Let's Eat Ramen and Other Doujinshi Short Stories by Nagumo
• Page Count: 120

Then, of course, there are the lovely physical books I own and have been meaning to read for ages. It will take much more time and effort to knock out these four:

• Mrs. Mike by Benedict and Nancy Freedman
• Page Count: 320
• Two Serious Ladies by Jane Bowles
• Page Count: 240
• Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick
• Page Count: 288
• Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain
• Page Count: 352

This may just be a pipe dream, but I'd love to read all ten of these books this week for the readathon. That would bring me to an average of 282 pages a day over seven days, hitting a total page count of 1974 pages! Ow. 

Wish me luck!

Bout of Books 13: My First Read-a-thon!

I found out just in time that Bout of Books 13 is taking place this week, so I decided to give it a try and join in!

 

What is Bout of Books, you ask?

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 11th and runs through Sunday, May 17th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 13 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

Since I am officially on summer break, I finally have free time to dedicate to my reading goals. I'm very excited to sit down, read, and chat with fellow bookworms.

Will you be participating in #BoutOfBooks? Keep me updated on your progress!

Minerva Magazine Launches

Exciting news, everyone. Minerva, the online magazine I have been collaborating on, launched this week!

Minerva is a new online magazine for obsessive geeks that gives women a voice in a male-centric community. Founded by a group of graduate students at Emerson College, Minerva is staffed by self-proclaimed geeks who own Harry Potter scarves, regularly attend Shakespeare performances, and cosplay as characters from The Legend of Korra.

There’s a gap when it comes to coverage of geeky things. Other sites might acknowledge that female geeks do exist (shock!), but the sad fact remains that we have to scour the internet to find material featuring them. Every news outlet in the country will cover The Avengers, but Emily Caroll? Not so much. When girl geeks express their dissatisfaction, they’re often met with scorn for overreacting. Minerva serves as the antidote. We promote female-driven projects that highlight women’s experiences in geekdom.

Highlights from the magazine’s launch include:

• The Case for Complex Female Characters – “Strong” does not equal characterization. Women in fiction should be funny, flawed, emotional, and yes, even strong. You know– like real people.
• Bardolatry – In this podcast, three Shakespeare geeks discuss his cross-dressing leading ladies and how they find empowerment.
• A Geek Love Story – A personal essay that delivers the message that every geek needs to remember: don’t change who you are; find someone whose obsessions complement your own.
• Ban the Ball Gown – Why do so many YA book covers feature girls in fancy dresses? A plea for publishers to stop (Written by yours truly!).

Minerva Magazine can be found online at www.minervamag.com. We’re also on Facebook and Twitter.

Please check it out, find my pieces (there are three live right now), and comment & share!

Luxurious Leatherbounds

So, it was admittedly a bit ambitious to promise a post a day during the semester's final week of grad school classes. But I'm back with some beautiful leather-bound classics, each one from Easton Press-- the same publisher of my Jane Austen collection. I want to note that I only purchased one of these books myself (used from a second-hand bookshop), and the rest were gifts from generous family members who enable my book addiction.

• Herman Melville's Moby Dick
• Edgar Allan Poe's Tales of Mystery and Imagination
• Donald Trump's How to Get Rich (signed by the Donald himself)
• Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass
• Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
• The Poems of Robert Frost
• William Shakespeare's The Comedies
• Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird
• William Makepeace Thackeray's Vanity Fair
• F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby
• Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn
• Charles Dickens' Great Expectations

I am not sponsored by or affiliated with Easton Press in any way-- I just really adore the high-quality of their books. The spines are inlaid with 22kt gold; the pages are gilded in gold and silver; the paper is acid-neutral and sewn (not glued) into the spine; the end papers are made of moiré fabric; each book contains an attached satin-ribbon page marker. There is so much detail and craftsmanship that goes into each book, I know I'll be able to read them and handle them over and over throughout the years without them getting worn-out or damaged. I love the idea that I own books that will stand the test of time and become heirlooms for my children and my children's children.

Own any Easton Press leather-bounds? Which books do you consider the crème de la crème of your collection?