Snowflakes and Spider Silk

It's Sci fi month hosted by  Oh, the Books!  and  Rinn Reads ! Sci-fi month is almost over, but it has been a really fun month! I've gotten to talk about all sorts of things with other book lovers and sci-fi enthusiasts, from favorite books to pet peeves to awesome TV shows and movies. I wanted to close with a look at how my sci-fi bingo challenge went, since I think it does a pretty good job of encompassing most of the things I did this month. The yellow squares are the ones that I have completed. A lot of them are from TV shows and short stories, since I didn't have much time to read many books this month. Here's what I've been up to this month: 1. Steampunk – Rogues Anthology: “A Year and a Day in Old Theradane” by Scott Lynch 2. Absent-minded professor 3. Space opera 4. Immortality 5. Floating city 6. Superheroes – AGENTS OF SHIELD: Pilot 7. Apocalypse/world disaster – DOCTOR WHO: In the Forest of the Night 8.

It's Sci fi month hosted by  Oh, the Books!  and  Rinn Reads ! I read my first HP Lovecraft short stories (and novellas) this month, and it was an interesting experience. I hadn't heard much about Lovecraft and his work until last year when a friend recommended his stories to me, and I honestly had no idea what a Cthulu was until this month! Reading Lovecraft was an interesting experience. I think I have decided that I really love Lovecraft's ideas and imagination, but I absolutely hate his writing style . For me, the way something is written is just as important as what's being said, so it was a bit of a struggle to get through some of his stories. I've discovered that I enjoy Lovecraft best in small doses - my favorite stories were the shortest ones. What was it about his writing style that drove me nuts? It's remarkably wordy. Paragraphs will go by describing how terrible some unseen horror is, but after all those paragraphs, you never reall

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by  The Broke and the Bookish . This week's theme: Top Ten Books On My Winter TBR This is a list of books I plan on reading starting December. The books on the right are rereads, because I've been meaning to do a bunch (some on audio and some paperback). I figured winter was the best time to cuddle up with a familiar good book :D  TBR  rereads   I think it's high time I get back into the Mistborn universe, don't you?   Audio reread -  I liked parts of this book and other parts really rubbed me the wrong way. I want to do an audio reread to see if I like it better the second time around!   I've heard that Scalzi is funny and clever, and I figured this would be a good book to start with. Any thoughts?   I read this for the first time last December, and now that I own a copy I really should read it again! Maybe this will be my annual holiday reread b

Title:  Wool Omnibus Edition Author:  Hugh Howey Genre: Science fiction, dystopia My rating: 4 of 5 stars Goodreads Summary: This is the story of mankind clawing for survival, of mankind on the edge. The world outside has grown unkind, the view of it limited, talk of it forbidden. But there are always those who hope, who dream. These are the dangerous people, the residents who infect others with their optimism. Their punishment is simple. They are given the very thing they profess to want: They are allowed outside. When I first encountered this book, it was in one of the book club groups I was in. Someone was saying something about how this book was really good, so good that it became popular enough to go from self-published to big publishing. Then I just kept seeing it around, and everyone who had read it had nothing but good things to say about it. This book was on my radar for months before I actually read it, and I had really high expectations. I was definitely not di

DiverSFFy is a new feature hosted by yours truly! The goal is to get the word out about books in science fiction and fantasy that do a good job of portraying people from diverse backgrounds and perspectives - be it race, sexual orientation, gender, socioeconomic levels, etc. I'd love it if you joined in - just link me to your posts in the comments or on twitter (@spidersilksnow)! This week's pick:  Ash  by Malinda Lo The Rundown Title: Ash Author: Malinda Lo Genre: Fantasy, retelling, LGBTQ fiction Full synopsis and my review here ! So what's so diverse about this book? This is a gorgeously written retelling of Cinderella, with a twist. Ash, this story's Cinderella, doesn't want to marry the prince. Ash ends up falling in love with someone else - Huntress, a respected member of the King's court. Yes, this is a lesbian romance. It may make some people uncomfortable, but I highly encourage those people to read this book anyway. When

It's Sci fi month hosted by Oh, the Books! and Rinn Reads ! I was reading a book recently that decided that it would try and explain someone's superpowers with science. That's great, and being an engineer, seeing science in my books makes me very happy. Usually. In this case, the book's attempt at science made no sense, and was also completely unnecessary. It seems like a lot of books lately are deciding to explain the inexplicable with the blanket excuse, "Because science!" and I'm getting a little tired of it. YA is most guilty. I don't know if it's because the authors feel like their audience isn't interested or smart enough to deal with actual science, or if it's because YA authors just don't like doing their research, but this excuse just seems like lazy writing to me. I decided that I'd make a list of books that don't do the science in their science fiction justice, and pair them with books that do  do a go

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by  The Broke and the Bookish . This week's theme:  Top Ten Sequels I Want to Read This week's post is pretty much my flailing fangirling about how awesome all these series are and how much I'm dying to get my hands on these sequels, so I think I'll just stick to pictures :) Some of these are books that aren't out yet, but some are books that I just haven't gotten my hands on yet.   The Thorn of Emberlain  by Scott Lynch ( Gentleman Bastards #4 ) Skybreaker by Brandon Sanderson ( Stormlight Archive #3 )   Undivided by Neal Shusterman ( Unwind Dystology #4 )   Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein ( Code Name Verity #2 )   Lirael by Garth Nix ( Abhorsen #2 )   Visitors by Orson Scott Card ( Pathfinder #3 ) Untitled by Maggie Stiefvater ( Raven Cycle #4 )   Untitled by Marie Lu ( Young Elites #2 )     Before They