Snowflakes and Spider Silk

Title:  Sleeping Giants Author:  Sylvain Neuvel Genre: Science fiction My rating: 5 of 5 stars Goodreads Summary: A girl named Rose is riding her new bike near her home in Deadwood, South Dakota, when she falls through the earth. She wakes up at the bottom of a square hole, its walls glowing with intricate carvings. But the firemen who come to save her peer down upon something even stranger: a little girl in the palm of a giant metal hand. Seventeen years later, the mystery of the bizarre artifact remains unsolved—its origins, architects, and purpose unknown. Its carbon dating defies belief; military reports are redacted; theories are floated, then rejected. But some can never stop searching for answers. Rose Franklin is now a highly trained physicist leading a top secret team to crack the hand’s code. And along with her colleagues, she is being interviewed by a nameless interrogator whose power and purview are as enigmatic as the provenance of the relic. What’s cle...

I don't read non-fiction very often. According to my Goodreads, I've read over 1,100 books and only 14 of them are non-fiction. I read to escape reality and get my mind off of whatever is bothering me, and fiction is always the way to go for me. But sometimes, I'm more in the mood to learn or think. Even then, I don't always head straight for non-fiction. I might read a historical fiction book to learn more about a time or place in history that I am not familiar with. I might read a news article or an editorial or two online.  I've found that when I do pick up a non-fiction book, it's a very specific kind  of book. I hardly ever read biographies or autobiographies; the only ones I've read are the ones from my biography projects or book reports in elementary school! I don't know why, but reading about the experiences of any one person isn't that interesting to me. There are exceptions, I really do want to read Malala's story s...

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by  The Broke and the Bookish . This week's theme:  Top Ten Books I recommend but Haven't said much about recently If you have been following my blog semi-regularly and you didn't know I was a Sanderson fan, I'm impressed! I feel like nearly every TTT of mine involves a Sanderson book in some way shape or form. Another series I love to death and push on everyone I know is the Gentleman Bastards series by Scott Lynch. It's freaking fantastic, and I NEED BOOK FOUR LIKE I NEED TO BREATHE. I really hope it actually gets published this year... So it comes as no surprise that my "Books to recommend" list is going to be full of Sanderson and Lynch. But there are some other awesome books I highly recommend, so here is my attempt at recommending a wide variety of books for you genre-fiction lovers :)   Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson genre: Fantasy Why: This is the backbone of the cosmere,...

Title:  Of Metal and Wishes Author:  Sarah Fine Genre: Historical fiction, retelling My rating: 5 of 5 stars Goodreads Summary: There are whispers of a ghost in the slaughterhouse where sixteen-year-old Wen assists her father in his medical clinic—a ghost who grants wishes to those who need them most. When one of the Noor, men hired as cheap factory labor, humiliates Wen, she makes an impulsive wish of her own, and the Ghost grants it. Brutally. Guilt-ridden, Wen befriends the Noor, including their outspoken leader, a young man named Melik. At the same time, she is lured by the mystery of the Ghost and learns he has been watching her... for a very long time. As deadly accidents fuel tensions within the factory, Wen must confront her growing feelings for Melik, who is enraged at the sadistic factory bosses and the prejudice faced by his people at the hand of Wen’s, and her need to appease the Ghost, who is determined to protect her against any threat—real or imagined....

Sorry I've been AWOL for a bit! It's finals week now and I was hardcore studying last week. We also had a lot of final presentations, including a symposium where we presented our bioengineering senior design projects to a panel of judges. It was really intimidating because these judges were professors, physicians, and entrepreneurs, but my group ended up winning in our category so that was really exciting! The nice thing about finals week is that I use books as my study break, so I actually end up reading a lot more than usual. I just don't have time to write many reviews, but I will crank those out over spring break :) Anyways, here are the awesome books that are getting me through finals. I'll have full reviews of them up soon! And I Darken This book was so, so  good. It's a historical novel with absolutely no fantasy in it, so don't be tricked by Kiersten White's usual fantasy/paranormal books. I'm a little confused as to why it's...

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by  The Broke and the Bookish . This week's theme:  Top Ten Books if you're in the mood for Sci-fi and Fantasy Detective stories Yeah, that's an oddly specific set of recommendations, but I really enjoy a good mystery and I feel like adding fantasy and sci-fi elements only makes the mystery even cooler! Not all of these are strictly detective stories, but they feature a very curious/resourceful person trying to find out who's behind the shady goings-on in their world.               Ferragost  by Melina Marchetta