Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Tell Me Tuesday #4 (In Which Elizabeth Checked Out The Entire Library)


Well this TMT is going to have a LOT of books since I went to the library yesterday to pick up a bunch of books to get me going on my self-imposed diversity challenge (and thank you all so much for the recommendations!)  I actually underestimated how many books I could fit into this GIANT duffle bag I took to the library...but maybe that's for the best.  One, because I've check out a ton of ebooks as well, and two, because I get the WEIRDEST looks when I check out more than like 3 books at the library.  Plus they have security so I have to unload all the books and have the guy check the receipt before I can load, so I feel like I get threefold the weird looks.  Anyway, here's what I'll be reading this month:


 Books I Own


Akata Witch (Akata Witch, #1)



I won Akata Witch in a giveaway from The Book Wars a couple months ago, so I'm really excited to get to this. One, because it keeps in my library ban (HA like I'm still doing that!) which makes me feel better, and two because it deals with an albino black girl who discovers she has magic and fights crime.  HOW AWESOME DOES THIS SOUND??




Legend (Legend, #1)



I also own the first book in Marie Lu's Legend trilogy, so I checked out the rest of the trilogy so I can just binge read it!




Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac





I also have owned this book for a year or so now. As you can see, I'm trying to make a priority of books that I own. Besides, I love Gabrielle Zevin and I honestly couldn't tell you why I haven't read this yet since it's one of the few books by her I haven't read yet. (Maybe that's why?)





Dragonfly in Amber (Outlander, #2)



My family friend mailed me out the rest of the Outlander series which is seriously awesome because have you SEEN the size of these books?!?  They're GIANT! And turns out Gabaldon is Mexican-American and this could just be that extra push I needed to forge through this series! (Or at least one book since these are monsters even by my standards)





Other books I'll be reading that I've only just discovered I own: 
The Map of Love by Ahda Soueif
The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafón (I had originally meant to listen to this on audiobook, but it turns out I already own this! How did I not know this?? Oh suitcase full of books. You are why I don't know things.)
Empress Orchid by Anchee Min
The Twentieth Wife by Indu Sundaresan
Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
The Calligrapher's Daughter by Eugenia Kim



Library Hardcopies

Unwind (Unwind, #1)



I have a friend who's been telling me for a solid year and a half (maybe longer) to read this series. I even promised I would (especially after I made him read The Newsflesh Trilogy), so if I am certain that I will get to ANY books on this list...it's these ones.





The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (Inheritance, #1)
 Ok, someone please tell me why I had never heard of this trilogy until this challenge??  It sounds so up my alley!  OH and I'm feeling super accomplished because of it at the moment - two of the copies of the last book in this trilogy were lost, so the librarian was like...huh. That's weird. I'll put in an order for some new copies!! So I ACTUALLY just monetarily supported this author by having the library order more copies :D  Luckily they had a copy in the African-American department of the library.  (I live in a city that is majority black, so there's a REALLY nice African-American department. Or I'm assuming it is.  It looked pretty fancy)



Angelfall (Penryn & the End of Days, #1)



So the library only has the first book in this series. I'm hoping that my checking this out will help nudge them to buy the next one? Especially since I'm pretty sure the third book is coming out soon...






It's Not Summer Without You (Summer, #2)



This will be my audiobook for the month (and if I finish it then the library has the third book on audio so I'm all set!).  And ok, confession - the audiobook is the ONE place I'm going to allow myself to cheat this month (ok excluding whatever books I'll be reading with the kids since they choose the books. I can guide it, but I doubt I can succesfully guide it THAT much).  I'm only a couple cd's into Bloodhound by Tamora Pierce that I waited for for MONTHS. So. I'm finishing it. No shame.



Other hardcopies
The New Moon's Arms by Nalo Hopkinson
Song of the Water Saints by Nelly Rosario
In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner



Library E-books
(Because it's always good to have a selection of books on your kindle in case you finish the one or two hard copies with you or they aren't working for you in the moment)


Every Tongue Got to Confess: Negro Folk-tales from the Gulf States


I remember being absolutely entranced by Zora Neale Hurston's writing in Their Eyes Were Watching God, so I'm a little disappointed in myself that I never sought out any of her other writing. I'm especially excited about this because I pride myself on being a bit of an aficionado when it comes to fairy tales and folk lore, and here's an entire collection (and I'm ashamed to say that outside of European/American fairy tales, I really don't know much folklore) by an author I really enjoy!



Good Enough




As someone who dates a Korean, I tend to relate to these stories in a second-hand sort of way.  Besides, it also features a musician! A CLASSICAL musician!!





Through the Ever Night (Under the Never Sky, #2)




I started this trilogy last month I think? So it's the perfect time to finish it!  Besides, I got a friend hooked on it, and she said the second book was way better than the first, so I'm feeling motivated :)





Additional ebooks I checked out

Island Beneath the Sea by Isabel Allende
The Lost Girl by Sangu Mandanna
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami - THIS BOOK WILL NOT DEFEAT ME THIS TIME.




So it turns out maybe not checking out the 25 hard copy books I was planning on ended up being a good thing. (Plus it's SO hard to track down specific copies in this library I swear! Most of them end up not being on the shelf anyway *scowls*. And who would have known I had so many diverse authors hiding out on my shelves?)  The likelihood of me making it through all these books is pretty slim, and I'm a bit sad because there were definitely a bunch more I REALLY wanted.  (I'm also a little scared by the number of adult novels here. It could turn out really well and remind me that I actually DO like reading for that audience, but it could also remind me that it can be reaaaalllyyy dreary.)  It's also exciting that I have so many more I want to get to because it means if I want to extend this another month (and just make a Sarah J. Maas exception) or do this another month, it's going to be really easy to do because I have so many more on my list PLUS all the great suggestions I got after I'd already gone to the library!  Thank you guys so much again for helping me out with suggestions, I really appreciate it - you were a huge help whether you see the books you suggested on what I've got so far or not because they'll definitely be showing up next time I do this :)



19 comments:

  1. Yaaassss!! So much goodness there. I am super interested in what you think about Legend. Here's what I think you need to keep in mind: it comes off a little middle grade. (And I don't believe they are 15. I mentally aged them up. That may also be because I have a slight crush on Day) BUT! The rest of the series just gets stronger, so keep reading! Also, Angelfall: I usually hate Angel books. They annoy me on a visceral level and I'm not sure why. But I LOVED Angelfall. The dialogue got a little too quippy at times for me, but I loved the action and how crazy pants it was. And Rafe doesn't hurt either. :D Lastly: Through the Ever Night was probably my favorite book of the series. I hope you like it too!!

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  2. I didn't know Veronica Rossi would work for a diversity challenge. (And I've been thinking about reading Under The Never Sky... Hmm...) Good luck with your reading - and I hope those adult books turn out well for you.

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  3. OMG! I am so excited for you to binge-read the Legend series! You must let me know when you're done! *fangirls*

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  4. You are one seriously ambitious bada$$ reader:). This is an amazing list of diverse books and go you for having a lot already on your shelves! I will be super interested in your opinion of Akata Witch as that author just got on my radar last year and I have another of her books calling my name (Lagoon).
    I will also be interested in how you feel about A Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. It has some serious love out there and I thought I was the only person in the whole wide world who didn't love it. Then I mentioned this on the blog and several folks chimed in saying they also had trouble connecting with it BUT they love the rest in series or another series by her. So I hope you love it but even if you just like it she apparently has lots of better stuff to offer!

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  5. I don't know if it's because I've been reading a lot of MG books, but Legend wasn't as young sounding as I was expecting (or maybe it's because I've seen it mentioned so many times in reviews). And yeah I'm definitely not an angel girl (but then I used to not be a vampire or werewolf person and that's been changing over the past few months. I don't seek them out...but I don't outright rule them out anymore). And if your biggest problem is the quippy dialogue, I will LOVE this! I am such a sucker for quippy dialogue (one of the things Cassandra Clare does sooo well. I think that's a big part of the reason I ended up going on with TMI considering they really, really weren't my thing).

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  6. Yep! She's Brasilian :) So far the adult books have....not been happening. But it's only been 5 days, so I've still got time!

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  7. I LOVED it!! I don't know if it's because I went in with not super high expectations or what, but I was really surprised how much I enjoyed the series. And man that woman kept throwing me for a loop! Every time I was like...ok event A. or event B. is going to happen...she'd give me an event C and I'd be like WHYYYYYYY I didn't think that could happen!! (A la, the ending haha)

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  8. I have to say I'm pretty impressed with myself for having quite a few on my shelves haha! A lot of that comes from my grandmother though (and my mom). I'm pretty sure my grandmother is the only person I know that I'd actually be SURPRISED if she read majority white authors. She tends to like historical/contemporary fiction about other places (particularly South America and Asia).


    I meant to read Akata Witch first, but I still haven't! I've not been doing so well with the reading of books I already own haha. It's good to know Jemisin has a large collection of works to choose from (although hopefully I like HTK as well)

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  9. Oh, it definitely isn't MG. But I think for YA it does read a little younger than other similar books in the genre. But I think that only applies to the first one. I think the tone deepens in the other two books. Have you read Young Elites? Julia and I really liked that one. And hahahahaha re: TMI. The quippy dialogue is what made me stop reading the series. I can handle banter. I cannot handle quippiness. It seems like the author is just trying too hard and adds a level of hyperactivity to the whole thing. Jace is the worst. LOL ;)

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  10. OMG THE ENDING! *rubs eyes* I'm okay, I just have this tree in my eye ...

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  11. I haven't! But I'm definitely adding it to my list now that I've read this! Jace IS the worst...but when he's being quippy and sarcastic I can't help but laugh. I am so easy to win over sometimes, I should be ashamed haha!

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  12. La La in the LibraryApril 7, 2015 at 7:34 PM

    Bwhahaha, you are CRAZY! I have not read a music related book in a long time, so Good Enough sounds interesting. Hmm... I am.going to look into A Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, too. I have read two of the Zevin standalones (and also the chocolate books) maybe I'll make MoaTA my next one. Akata Witch looks and sounds beautiful! Thanks for TMTing, sorry it took me so long to comment!

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  13. La La in the LibraryApril 7, 2015 at 7:38 PM

    I keep being told that even if you are not into angels (and I am not) that the Angelfall books are still intetesting. I'll listen to your opinion better than others , lol.

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  14. I have definitely heard that a lot too - so here's hoping they're right and we're not going to get a ragey grrr angels post haha!

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  15. Yeah, a little bit haha. You should see the looks I've been getting when my friends are recommending books for me to read RIGHT NOW. (This is very strange. I don't have reading friends irl. Or very few so it's kind of hit me by surprise all these people pushing books on me. I'm loving it!) Which two Zevin books have you read? (I could look it up on Goodreads but...) I think Elsewhere was my very first by her which I loved...it's kind of amazing how different all her books are from each other. And I just drool over that Akata Witch cover. SO. PRETTY.

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