Used Bookstore Score!

I went to the used bookstore today and totally scored! I found seven gems! My faith in the used bookstore has been restored. The last few times there, I totally struck out. Either I couldn't find anything at all or I got duds, but not today! God bless the generous souls who have the ability to read a good book and then send it out into the world for some lucky person to buy at half price.

I found two Terry Pratchett books, Witches Abroad and Making Money. Super excited about this because I've read Weird Sisters, The Wee Free Men, A Hat Full of Sky, and Wintersmith by Terry and he is one of my favorite authors. His books are witty and full of hidden wisdom and unexpected beauty. Someday I hope to have all his Discworld books. That might take awhile though seeing as how there are 36 books! Busy guy, that Pratchett.

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. I read this one a long, long time ago, like listening to International Superhits! for the first time long. This is one story that never left me and I'm looking forward to getting reaquainted with it.

The Hobbit by Tolkien (duh). I have the LOTR in paperback from the same bookstore so I thought, "Why not complete my collection?" Of course, this isn't actually the completion of my Tolkien collection. There's still The Silmarillian. I'll probably read this book this summer when I reread LOTR for the third time. Oh yeah, that's like my ritual; every summer I reread LOTR and Harry Potter. Rereading LOTR is kinda a new one, but I've read the whole HP series every summer because I liked to get back into the story before the next book released, but now that the series is over, I think I'll keep it up.

 And the first three books of Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson & The Olympians; The Lightning Thief, The Sea of Monsters, and The Titan's Curse. I've already read the first two of this series, and I totally love it! I can't wait to read TTC. I love the Greek mythology in this series and how Riordan has adapted it to modern times. Example: flying sneakers from Hermes.

Whoop, whoop! *happy book dance* On top of that, I'm currently reading Trickster's Choice By Tamora Pierce. Here's a teaser:

"The waiting for others to act on your information will give you the belly gripes, but that's what agents do. And I advise you not to pray as you wait. You don't know who will answer, times like that."

I love this book, it unfolds at the perfect pace. The first chapter gives you just the right amount of back story to get you into Alianne's life. She's Alanna the Lioness' only daughter, and while she is very bright and talented in many facsinating and shifty ways, she lacks the support she needs to flourish in her field of choice, spy work. "Too dangerous," say ol' mom and dad, even though Alanna is Tamora's toughest character and George, Aly's dad, is the king's spy master. The story quickly picks up the main plot which has Aly playing the part of a humble slave in a tropical island nation. She has been chosen by a capricious god to keep a family safe from an insanely paranoid king. Political intrigue and espionage antics run rampant through this book and make it one of the most interesting fantasy books I've ever read. There's still the charachteristic scenery you expect in fantasy, lots of bushes and paths, but there's something just so different about Tamora's fantasy. Maybe it's the fact that she's written a series about spies and gritty cops all set in a midevil world, or maybe it's the fact that her protagonists are all females who embody all that women have faught for over the generations; equality, respect, and @$$ kickin' awesomeness.

Ratings later as I haven't yet finished anything new. Oh, and if I start talking funny, it's just because of what I'm reading. I'm always more verbose when I go on a fantasy kick.

Plus, plus, I've just entered a contest on Story Siren to win Crazy Beautiful by Lauren Baratz-Logsted. Sounds like a variation of Beauty and the Beast, but not in a fantasy kinda way, and I'm super duper excited and really hope I win! Wish me luck! P.S. That little picture of the mermaid is a link. :)

As you can see, my plate is very full for the forseeable future. Hurray!

Tootles!

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An Award? For Moi?

Holy moly! My second post, and I already got an award! Maggie from Bean Bag Books has graciously given me the One Lovely Blog award. Thanks, Maggie!
So I guess I gotta pass it on. This is the part I dread, I always have the hardest time choosing blogs because *sniffle* I love you all so much!
Da rules:
1) Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award and his or her blog link
2) Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you’ve newly discovered.
3) Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

Geez, 15! Does anyone else feel like that's a lot of blogs? Like, a lot, a lot? So let's see, I choose... wait, do they have to be new? Uhhh... Gimme a minute, okay? *surfs web madly*
Okey-dokey! Da winners!
Bloody Bookaholic
The Tainted Poet
Wondrous Reads

Okay, so I only picked three, but I picked them with care after much searching and browsing and now I have three new blogs to check up on! Yay! I guess that's like the whole point of these things, to help you find new blogs and stuff. Y'all should totally check these blogs out, they all have very good reviews and excellent rating systems. Plus, they're downright lovely.
Tootles,
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My Take On The Zombie Survival Guide

I just finished reading Max Brooks' Zombie Survival Guide, and if I had a rating system, I would give it a five out of five. In fact, in honor of this book's awesomeness, I'm going to make a rating system! I give The Zombie Survival Guide... Five zombies for it's practicality and humor. The most important lesson I gleaned from this very handy guide is prepare, prepare, prepare! Sure, people may laugh at you, call you crazy, and call the men in white coats for preparing for something as "unlikely" as a zombie apocalypse, but I'm sure people made fun of Noah when he built the arc, and who got the last laugh in that instance, huh? Noah, that's who. Because he was prepared. *nods solemnly*
Thanks in part to this book's wealth of knowledge in coalition with my overactive imagination and wandering mind, I have now, with extreme care and consideration, chosen the place where I will hide out if the world is ever overrun by the walking dead. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault.As pointed out in TZSG, this location is optimal for survival because it is A) remote, 2) chocked full o' seeds for growing food, and B) located in the tundra, a place where zombies freeze solid into harmless zombie-sickles who can then be easily dispatched through some means of decapitation or incineration. Of course, I would need reading material to keep my spirits up. I think I would take World War Z. The stories of survival from people all over the world, told in their own distinct voices, would surely help me to see that even in the bleakest situations, there is always a glimmer of hope. But to keep my mind off the moaning horde beating at my vault door, I would take something light and funny like Rhymes With Witches, by Lauren Myracle.

A very good read. It has the perfect balance of magic and witchiness. I liked how unexpected the ending was, I don't know about y'all, but I did not see that coming! The fast paced, funny, and enthralling story would draw my right in and distract me from the crumbling world around me. I think I'll give Rhymes With Witches...
Four of five zombies. This is the first book by Lauren Myracle that I've read, and I can't wait to read her newest book, Peace, Love and Baby Ducks. I think me and the protagonist, Carly, have a lot in common. We've both been labeled "hippies" because, well, we are, we both wear Jesus-sandals, and we both have the worst experiences at the salon. My bad experiences stem from anxiety over trusting my hair to a stranger, her's from a very, very, bad hair cut. *shudder*

Until we meet again,

tootles,

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Inaugural Post

Welcome, readers, to my new blog where I'll talk about books I've read, authors I love, and probably ramble incessantly. I won't write reviews per se, because I really don't think my opinion on books is all that important, but I will talk about what I like and what I don't. If you wanna call that a review, go right on and do that, but I'm just gonna call it my take on things and hope that y'all don't take my (re)views too seriously because (A) I sure don't, too much in life is serious if you ask me, and (B) I'd hate to discourage someone from reading a book simply because it didn't appeal to little ol' me. But worry not, bloggers and lurkers, I can usually describe my favorite book as the one I am currently reading, so I'm not likely to discourage anyone in any way from any book. I think all books have merit and thus all books should be read. It's an amazing thing when people write down their thoughts, and the only way to honor such a personal form of expression is to partake in it. I also feel that books are merely a starting point for your imagination and I often mentally edit stories as I'm going along and live in that story for days, weeks, or even years after I've finished reading it.
I guess I should say before we really start this thing that I made this blog because I had a lot of fun writing about how zombies are in vogue right now on my other blog, In Stitches, which is supposed to be about drawings and crafts and the like and not books. But now I can totally see why the internet is so saturated with book blogs. Because it's fun! So for my first post I think I'll talk about the first author that I ever really got hooked on, Tamora Pierce.
Back story: I first started reading Tamora Pierce when I was in my early teens, such a tumultuous time. The first book I read by her was Squire, from the Protector of the Small Series (embarrassing title, great story!). I was instantly hooked, even though it was the third of the quartet. It was just what I needed at that point in my life, a strong, take charge, ballsy heroine named Kel. She could have been named Sheila, but that wouldn't have mattered to me. I wanted to be her! Since then I have read all but her first two series, Song of the Lioness and The Immortals Series. I don't know why I haven't read them, it just seems weird to go back on the whole story I guess, because all the books are connected and POTS is the third quartet in the whole series, but I totally want to get them, especially TIS. It all takes place in one of the greatest fantasy worlds I have ever visited, Tortall, whose shining capital city is Corus, and all the people like know each other and appear in each other's stories and stuff, and there's references to previous stories but it's not like you have read them all, which I love, because I haven't.
So anywho! Her most recent work is The Beka Cooper Series whose newest book is Bloodhound, numero dos in the series. So far her books have taken place in and revolved around the upper crust of Tortall, but not this series! It's a flash back to Corus 600 years before Kel took on the boys at knight training school and takes place in the lowest, most corrupt slum. Beka, the protagonist, is training to be a beat cop in the first book, and is in her first year of coptitude in the second. It's written in journal form, which initially turned me away from the series because I'm wishy washy about new things like that, but I finally said screw it! and bought the book anyway. I am so glad I did! This is so far my favorite series by Tammy (yes, I'm a first name basis with her, what of it?) because it's so gritty and different from her other books, and I cannot wait to get the second book! My plan was to wait for it to come out in paperback, but my will might not be strong enough to wait that long, I need to read it! I can't wait a whole year!
In the mean time, I'll be catching up on the Tortall books I already own; Protector of the Small, The Trickster's Choice, The Trickster's Queen, and of course, book one in The Beka Cooper Series, Terrier.
I'll keep y'all posted on what I'm reading, what I'm thinking, and how much longer I can hold out before I absolutely must buy Bloodhound.
Tootles for now,
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