Snowflakes and Spider Silk

Since it's getting to be the last quarter of the year, I filled out the books that I plan to read for the letters I haven't read yet. I also started counting author's name for a few letters that I had trouble finding titles for, like K and Y. For letters X and Z, it was too hard to find titles/authors that started with those letters so I decided to include any title or author that had the letter in there somewhere! A: And I Darken by Kiersten White (2/26) B: The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson (2/8) C: Court of Thieves by Kate Elliott (1/12) D: The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater (4/3) E: Emperor Mage by Tamora Pierce (TBR) F: Fall of Giants (8/30) G: A Great Hunt by Robert Jordan (1/22) H: His Majesty's Dragon (3/30) I: The Immortal Heights (1/5) J: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell (8/26) K: Ghost Talkers by Mary Robinette Kowal (8/23) L: Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (TBR) M: Me Before You by JoJo Moyes (3/21) N: Nevernight...

Title:  This Shattered World Author:  Amie Kaufman  and Meagan Spooner Genre: Science fiction, young adult My rating: 4 of 5 stars Goodreads Summary: Jubilee Chase and Flynn Cormac should never have met. Lee is captain of the forces sent to Avon to crush the terraformed planet's rebellious colonists, but she has her own reasons for hating the insurgents. Rebellion is in Flynn's blood. Terraforming corporations make their fortune by recruiting colonists to make the inhospitable planets livable, with the promise of a better life for their children. But they never fulfilled their promise on Avon, and decades later, Flynn is leading the rebellion. Desperate for any advantage in a bloody and unrelentingly war, Flynn does the only thing that makes sense when he and Lee cross paths: he returns to base with her as prisoner. But as his fellow rebels prepare to execute this tough-talking girl with nerves of steel, Flynn makes another choice that will change him foreve...

Title:  Ghost Talkers Author:  Mary Robinette Kowal Genre: Fantasy, Historical fiction, mystery My rating: 4 of 5 stars Goodreads Summary: Ginger Stuyvesant, an American heiress living in London during World War I, is engaged to Captain Benjamin Harford, an intelligence officer. Ginger is a medium for the Spirit Corps, a special Spiritualist force. Each soldier heading for the front is conditioned to report to the mediums of the Spirit Corps when they die so the Corps can pass instant information about troop movements to military intelligence. Ginger and her fellow mediums contribute a great deal to the war efforts, so long as they pass the information through appropriate channels. While Ben is away at the front, Ginger discovers the presence of a traitor. Without the presence of her fiance to validate her findings, the top brass thinks she's just imagining things. Even worse, it is clear that the Spirit Corps is now being directly targeted by the German war effort....

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by  The Broke and the Bookish . This week's theme: Top Ten Books that have been on my TBR the longest! I'm generally pretty good about trimming down my TBR and making sure it never gets over 50 books. I know that if I ever let it grow bigger than that, I'll never actually read all the books on my TBR! I also don't usually include upcoming books in a series I'm reading on my TBR, I kind of just assume I'm gonna read them and they jump straight to "currently reading" on goodreads. So a few of the top ten longest books haven't actually been there for too long... It turns out most of the books that have been on my TBR the longest are the "classics" or the more "literary" books I've wanted to read but am hardly in the mood for. I love sci-fi, fantasy, mysteries, and historical fiction, so I usually get those books off my TBR pretty quickly!   Added to TBR: Ju...

This morning while I was shopping for groceries, I had an epiphany. I looooove cooking and baking, and I also love trying out new recipes and foods from around the world. I also love books that feature interesting places and cultures, so I figured why not combine both loves ? I'm going to start a Bookish Eats feature, where I cook or bake something that's inspired by a book I've read and loved. It'll probably be really sporadic to start, maybe once a month or so, just to see if it's something I can actually do. I'm really excited to brainstorm recipes that might fit the mood or culture of some of the books I've read recently. Nevernight was really dark but quite a bit of fun ...maybe I'll bake something with dark chocolate? Orange is the New Black might be a fun book to cook or bake for in Halloween! Think of all the pumpkin recipes, yum :D   ACOMAF featured magical fairies, shadows, and shapeshifting...maybe I should shapeshift some ca...

Title:  Morning Star Author:  Pierce Brown Genre: Science fiction My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars Goodreads Summary: Darrow would have lived in peace, but his enemies brought him war. The Gold overlords demanded his obedience, hanged his wife, and enslaved his people. But Darrow is determined to fight back. Risking everything to transform himself and breach Gold society, Darrow has battled to survive the cutthroat rivalries that breed Society’s mightiest warriors, climbed the ranks, and waited patiently to unleash the revolution that will tear the hierarchy apart from within. Finally, the time has come. But devotion to honor and hunger for vengeance run deep on both sides. Darrow and his comrades-in-arms face powerful enemies without scruple or mercy. Among them are some Darrow once considered friends. To win, Darrow will need to inspire those shackled in darkness to break their chains, unmake the world their cruel masters have built, and claim a destiny too long denied—a...

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by  The Broke and the Bookish . This week's theme: Top Ten Books on the sea I am a huge fan of nautical-themed books and I love the beach, so here's a list of books that take place in the middle of the ocean or on the sands by the sea! Some of them are favorites from when I was little and some are more recent, and for once my list has a more genres than my usual sci-fi and fantasy :)   Brian Jacques was one of my favorite authors in elementary school. I loved Redwall, but I also really enjoyed his less well-known Flying Dutchman series, featuring an immortal boy and his talking dog as they have adventures with pirates!   The Gentleman Bastards series is one of my absolute favorites, and this book is the most fun of the lot! Featuring everything from a mythical casino to a lady pirate captain who happens to be a badass mother of  two, this book is best described as a romp :) ...

Title:  Carry On Author:  Rainbow Rowell My rating: 3 of 5 stars Goodreads Summary: Simon Snow just wants to relax and savor his last year at the Watford School of Magicks, but no one will let him. His girlfriend broke up with him, his best friend is a pest, and his mentor keeps trying to hide him away in the mountains where maybe he’ll be safe. Simon can’t even enjoy the fact that his roommate and longtime nemesis is missing, because he can’t stop worrying about the evil git. Plus there are ghosts. And vampires. And actual evil things trying to shut Simon down. When you’re the most powerful magician the world has ever known, you never get to relax and savor anything. Carry On is a ghost story, a love story, a mystery and a melodrama. It has just as much kissing and talking as you’d expect from a Rainbow Rowell story — but far, far more monsters. I feel like Rainbow Rowell is just not my thing. Sorry friends! This is the second Rainbow Rowell book I've read, and...