Double-Stacked Bookshelves

Teaser Tuesdays:  Station Eleven Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by Jenn @ A Daily Rhythm . Here are the rules: grab whatever you're reading, open to a random page, select no more than two sentence (NO SPOILERS), share the title and author, and GO! Here's today's teaser: "There was the flu that exploded like a neutron bomb over the surface of the earth and the shock of the collapse that followed, the first unspeakable years when everyone was traveling, before everyone caught on that there was no place they could walk to where life continued as it had before and settled wherever they could, clustered close together for safety in truck stops and former restaurants and old motels." --page 37           Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel I'm really enjoying this book so far...though I'm only about 50 pages in. Happy reading!

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish and it's a way to share what you're loving in list form. The topic changes every week, so there is always something new to discover! This week's topic is:  Top Ten Books I've Recently Added to My TBR List .  I swear that I add books nearly every single day...and rarely clean up my list.  It's very hard for me to delete anything once it's made the list and I feel really bad if I do get rid of something.  Regardless, these are the newest books that have made it to my shelf...   Monster Hunter International (MHI 1) by Larry Correia Rain: A Natural and Cultural History by Cynthia Barnett Language Arts by Stephanie Kallos   The Truth According to Us by Annie Barrows At the Water's Edge Sara Gruen Honolulu by Alan Brennert Seraphina and   Shadow Scale by Rachel Hartman   The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro   Sweetland...

Yes!  Just as one Bookish Bingo reading challenge concludes, another begins.  I'm super stoked.  The challenge is hosted by Great Imaginations and is so much fun.  Here's the card for this challenge: Yeah new reading challenges!  And this will also count for Bout of Books 12.  What what!  I will be keeping track of my progress on this post.   If you would like to join in, here's the sign-up post .   BINGOS B3, I3, FREE, G3, O3 B1, I2, FREE, G4, O5 B1, B2, B3, B4, B5 G1, G2, G3, G4, G5   Finished   B1:  Forgotten Fridays Pick:  Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta B2:  Pretty Dress Cover:  The Elite by Kiera Cass B3:  Blue Cover:  A Sudden Light by Garth Stein B4:  PoC MC:  Golden Boy by Tara Sullivan B5:  Gold Lettering:  As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride by Cary Elwes   I1:  Start a Series:...

Teaser Tuesdays:  The Night Circus Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by Jenn @ A Daily Rhythm . Here are the rules: grab whatever you're reading, open to a random page, select no more than two sentence (NO SPOILERS), share the title and author, and GO! Here's this week's teaser: "In response, Celia goes to the wall and removes a thin Ottoman dagger with a jade hilt from where it hangs with its partner.  Holding it in her right hand, she places her left palm down on the billiard table, over the scattered cards.  Without hesitating, she plunges the blade into the back of her hand, piercing through skin and flesh and cards and into the felt underneath." --page 281           The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern Though the verdict's still out on how I feel about this book (roughly 95% finished), I'm holding out until the end to see how it all pans out before making up my mind completely... Happy reading!

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish and it's a way to share what you're loving in list form. The topic changes every week, so there is always something new to discover! This week's topic is:  Top Ten Books from my Childhood/Teen Years That I Would Love to Revisit .  As a rule, I do not like to revisit books often because it takes away from reading/discovering new books.  However, these are some books that I have read again as an adult and will probably do so in the future. The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi Wait Till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn   Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein Are You There God?  It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar The Babysitter's Club Series b...

Oh man, oh man!  It's nearly that time of year when an entire month is devoted to consistent blogging, hopping around visiting and discovering different blogs, and having a great time doing so!  This will be my fourth year participating in the A-Z Blogging Challenge and I have loved being a participant every time.  This year, there's a new feature popping up:  A Theme Reveal!  Today's the day when bloggers from around the world announce what their guiding theme will be for the month of April.  I made a rather extensive list of possible topics and it was incredibly difficult to narrow it down to one.  However, I now have topics for the next several years!  Moving on, and without further ado, here's my proposed topic:   Music That Has Inspired Me/Means Something to Me Posts will include the following: Artist and Title (obviously) Video (or video link) Best lyrics...or something Why this particular song means something to m...

Bram Stoker's Dracula Logistics Title:  Dracula Author:  Bram Stoker Published:  1897 Publishing Company:  WW Norton & Company (1986 edition) Page Count:  488 Summary via Goodreads Jonathan Harker, incarcerated in a Transylvanian castle, has an alluring but terrifying dream of three women, eager to prey upon him. His host and jailer is none other than Count Dracula, or Nosferatu, the Un-Dead, controller of the wolves. My Thoughts A short and very vague summary, but this book (the 1986 edition especially) has so much to offer the reader.  Nearly everyone knows the base story of Dracula, but what is discovered when finally reading the book is the strength (to a certain extent) of the female characters, especially Mina, the madness of Seward, the hell-bent determination of Van Helsing and Jonathan, the humor of Quincey, and so much more.  And, of course, the fear that Count Dracula inspires in everyone.  There is mystery,...

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish and it's a way to share what you're loving in list form. The topic changes every week, so there is always something new to discover! Today's topic is:  Top Ten Books on My Spring TBR List .  I always have insurmountable goals for my seasonal reading lists...and they continually change because I see something out of the corner of my eye and randomly pick it up.  Really, I shouldn't even make a seasonal list because I just go with whatever strikes my fancy.  Regardless, here are my ten choices: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel Yes Please by Amy Poehler A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin This I Believe:  The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women by Jay Allison and Dan Gediman (Editors) Moloka'i by Alan Brennert Beautiful You by Chuck Palahniuk   Playlist for the Dead by Michelle Falkoff The Boston Girl b...

R.L. Stine's Red Rain Logistics Title:  Red Rain Author:  R.L. Stine Published:  October 9, 2012 Publishing Company:  Touchstone Page Count:  371 Summary via Goodreads In Red Rain, Stine uses his unerring knack for creating terror to tap into some very grownup fears. Travel writer Lea Sutter finds herself on a small island off the coast of South Carolina, the wrong place at the wrong time. A merciless, unanticipated hurricane cuts a path of destruction through the island and Lea barely escapes with her life. In the storm’s aftermath, she discovers two orphaned boys – twins. Filled with a desire to do something to help, to make something good of all she witnessed, Lea impulsively decides to adopt them. The boys, Samuel and Daniel, seem amiable and immensely grateful; Lea’s family back on Long Island – husband Mark, a child psychologist, and their two children, Ira and Elena – aren’t quite so pleased. But even they can’t anticipate the tw...

Steven Galloway's The Cellist of Sarajevo Logistics Title:  The Cellist of Sarajevo Author:   Steven Galloway Published:  May 15, 2008 Publishing Company:  Riverhead Hardcover Page Count:  235 Summary via Goodreads In a city under siege, four people whose lives have been upended are ultimately reminded of what it is to be human. From his window, a musician sees twenty-two of his friends and neighbors waiting in a breadline. Then, in a flash, they are killed by a mortar attack. In an act of defiance, the man picks up his cello and decides to play at the site of the shelling for twenty-two days, honoring their memory. Elsewhere, a young man leaves home to collect drinking water for his family and, in the face of danger, must weigh the value of generosity against selfish survivalism. A third man, older, sets off in search of bread and distraction and instead runs into a long-ago friend who reminds him of the city he thought he had lost, and ...

Recently, I've received a number of blogging awards (despite my pseudo-lack of blogging consistently on topics that are not pre-planned and really easy to construct).  However, I want to thank Lori @ Palmer's Page Turners for the nominations.  Here's the lowdown: The Very Inspiring Blogger Rules Thank and link the amazing person who nominated you. List the rules and display the award. Share seven facts about yourself. Nominate 15 other amazing blogs and comment on their posts to let them know they have been nominated. Optional: Proudly display the award logo on your blog and follow the blogger who nominated you. Random facts will be combined with the Versatile Blogger Award below.   The Versatile Blogger Rules Nominate 10-15 other bloggers relatively new to blogging  Let the bloggers know that you've nominated them.  Share 10 random facts about yourself.  Thank the blogger who nominated you either by leaving a comment o...

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish and it's a way to share what you're loving in list form. The topic changes every week, so there is always something new to discover! This week's topic is:  All-Time Favorite Books from the Past Three Years .  Luckily these don't have to have been published in the last three years, so this should be pretty easy! Here are my top ten faves (in no particular order): Life of Pi by Yann Martel Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith   A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin   Let's Pretend this Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir)  by Jenny Lawson Cinder by Marissa Meyer Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden   The House of Special Purpose by John Boyne The Walking Dead, Compendium I by Robert Kirkman Honorable Mentions Fangirl by ...