Book Haul #116, Or How To Get Over A Life Slump...

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly event hosted on Tynga's Reviews where we can share what new books we've picked up this past week be they bought, borrowed or downloaded. There are also lots of other 'book haul' memes out there for you to choose from!

So... Hi! My name's Fi and I'm a very bad blogger. Actually I've been bad at everything recently and rather than write the same thing all over again see here for my heartfelt apology about being MIA. Moving on to the book side of things it would seem not having the energy or patience to do anything extends to buying books and, to a lesser extent, requesting review books! I have only bought three books since my last book haul post in September! One of those was my pre-order of The Vanishing Throne which I ordered on May 9 2014 and if I'm honest forgot all about...

Bought

The Boy Who Drew The Future

Harry Potter Illustrated Edition

The Vanishing Throne

Review

Beside Myself

The Book Of Storms

The Darkest Secret

Demon Road

Every Heart A Doorway

The Haunting

 

Crossed + One Hundred

Lawless & The Devil Of Euston Square

Lungdon

The Masked City

This Raging Light

Rebel Of The Sands

13 Minutes

Dead Ringers

Down Station

The Death House - Sarah Pinborough

Toby's life was perfectly normal... until it was unravelled by something as simple as a blood test.

Taken from his family, Toby now lives in the Death House: an out-of-time existence far from the modern world, where he, and the others who live there, are studied by Matron and her team of nurses. They're looking for any sign of sickness. Any sign of their wards changing. Any sign that it's time to take them to the sanatorium.

No one returns from the sanatorium.

Withdrawn from his house-mates and living in his memories of the past, Toby spends his days fighting his fear. But then a new arrival in the house shatters the fragile peace, and everything changes.

Because everybody dies. It's how you choose to live that counts.

The Death House is, at its heart, a love story. Unlikely I know for something that reads like a dystopian Gothic but it's the truth. Toby is one of a handful of residents of the Death House, an isolated big house on an island presumably somewhere in the British Isles.Sixteen years old and decidedly unlikeable Toby is waiting to die, like all the other residents of the Death House, from a mysterious illness that can only be picked up in a blood test and once you're found to have it you're whisked away - leaving your life, family and friends behind for good. One day though, something happens and Toby realizes that just maybe he wants to live. Clara, the new resident, turns everyone's lives upside down and suddenly little things that didn't matter? Now they do...

I'm a huge fan of Sarah Pinborough's writing and have been since I picked up a copy of A Matter of Blood way back when. The Death House is one for the favorite's list, it's beautifully written and the children in the house are vividly written as is the house itself. It should be a depressing, downbeat read but is actually quite wonderful in its description and the way that there's a layer of menace over everything, from the children themselves to the matron who is maybe just as dangerous as this disease they are all facing. Clara and Toby are two of the best written teenagers I've come across in a while. In fact it's quite easy to forget they are teenagers at times as they develop a sense of maturity way above those of their peers not on the island. The supporting cast of characters, Will, Louis, Jake, Eleanor and Ashley are all equally as well written and unique in their character too and play pivotal parts in the story of The Death House. It's a slow build to a most unexpected ending, especially when there's an element of hope throughout the latter part of the story that has you hooked to the very last page. I shall say no more but if you're anything like me you'll need a box of tissues handy...

The Death House - Sarah Pinborough

ISBN - 9781473202320

Publisher - Gollancz

Release date - February 26 2015

Find - Goodreads | Book Depository

Many thanks to Gollancz and Netgalley for a review copy!

Bookmarked... #8

The return of the (mostly) weekly post letting you all know what I'm reading and have lined up for the week! It's my own version of Sheila at Book Journey's It's Monday What Are You Reading and I have her permission to rename it for my own nefarious reasons :)


Well, I'm still reading what I was reading two weeks ago but have also picked up and/or finished a few other random books! A couple were library books that had to be returned as they had holds on them but mostly I've been picking up books and trying them to see if they hold my attention. This crazy method seems to be working as my reading has improved, especially over the last week.


Finished

The Death House

Hexed

Violent Ends

Currently Reading

The Edge of Reason

The Great Hunt

The Machinery

The Martian

The Quick

Sorcerer to the Crown

Up Next, Maybe

Hammered

Illuminae

Mythmaker

When I Was Me

Top Ten Tuesday #97 - Auto-Buy Authors

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the wonderful gals cover at The Broke & The Bookish. This week's topic is -

Top Ten Of Your Auto-Buy Authors

I managed to stick to ten authors this week as my list turned out to be quite selective, I'm absolutely certain that there are no surprises for any regular Bookish visitors. I'm sure my list of auto-buy authors used to be huge, if I saw they had a book coming out I ordered it. I have obviously learnt how to restrain myself though!

What authors are on your list?

Top Ten Tuesday #95 - Fairy Tales & Retellings I Have Read

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the wonderful gals cover at The Broke & The Bookish. This week's topic is -

Top Ten Twenty-ish Fairy Tales And Retellings

Once upon a time there was a book nerd called Fi who was slightly crazy obsessed with fairy tales. When the topic came up as a Top Ten Tuesday idea it was obvious to all in the kingdom that she would never be able to post a list of ten(!). And so the epic list of fairy tales was born with twenty-something titles, from Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, The Goose Girl, Bluebeard through to Hansel & Gretel, Tam Lin, The Brave Little Tailor and many more. After reading the list everyone lived happily ever after!

Daughter of the Forest | Heart's Blood | Wildwood Dancing

Poison | Beauty | Charm

A Curse Dark As Gold | Thorn | Uprooted

The Fairest of Them All | Ophelia & The Marvelous Boy | The Real Boy

Egg & Spoon | Jack of Kinrowan | Jasmyn

Bitter Greens | The Bloody Chamber | Enchanted

Fire & Hemlock | Sweetly | Valiant

Carabas | Deerskin | A Long Long Sleep

Book Haul #109, Or The One Where I Had An Unplanned Holiday...

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly event hosted on Tynga's Reviews where we can share what new books we've picked up this past week be they bought, borrowed or downloaded. There are also lots of other 'book haul' memes out there for you to choose from!

I'm starting this week's book haul a day late and on a sad note. As I was sitting typing this post out I discovered that Jonathan Crombie had passed away at the young age of 48 due to a brain haemorrhage. Anyone who grew up in the 1980's and 1990's and watched the television adaptation of Anne of Green Gables knows that Jonathan played Gilbert Blythe. Gilbert was my first real bookish crush so to see Jonathan play him onscreen was amazing and he will never be replaced by any other schmoe they may get to play Gilbert in the future.

On to other news now! I had a bit of an impromptu holiday over the last two weeks with near enough nothing planned for the blog so apologies for that! There was plenty going on though...

Now for the books... I was a bit naughty as I was in London! Even though I have copies of A Darker Shade of Magic and Skin Game I had to get signed copies, obviously. I did mean to take my copy of ADSoM with me but forgot and getting to the Jim Butcher signing was a last minute skin-of-the-teeth thing so was excited to get anything signed and annoyed that I forgot my phone charger. My phone gave up just before I got there so no pictures :( That's the only picture of Sarah Pinborough, Deb Harkness and Victoria Schwab I managed to get that doesn't feature either the arm or the back of the head of Jim at YA Yeah Yeah.

Bought

 A Darker Shade of Magic (signed)

Vicious (signed)

The Book of Life (signed)

Skin Game (signed)

Netgalley/Edelweiss

Ash & Bramble

The Devil & Winnie Flynn

Killer Within

Redemption Road

Walk On Earth A Stranger

Wylding Hall

From Publishers/Author

Alien Resurrection (thanks to Titan)

The Silence (thanks to Titan)

Lies Like Love (for a blog tour - thanks Louisa!)

Renegade x 2 (for a blog tour & giveaway - thanks to Sam at Macmillan)

The Fatal Flame (thanks to Headline)

Top Ten Tuesday #83 - Books You Would Classify As ALL TIME FAVORITE BOOKS

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the fabulous gals cover at The Broke & The Bookish. This week's topic is -

Top Ten Books You Would Classify As ALL TIME FAVORITE BOOKS (from the past 3 years!?)

Seriously? Who are you trying to kid? Ten books from the last three years? Or even five years? I can think of fifty from the last year... And what to include? Re-reads? All the books in a series or just one? I really don't know what this list will feature but I suspect I will cheat and completely forget how to count to ten.

Book Haul #97

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly event hosted on Tynga's Reviews where we can share what new books we've picked up this past week be they bought, borrowed or downloaded. There are also lots of other 'book haul' memes out there for you to choose from!

Seventeen days! That's how long I have gone without buying a book, this must be a new world record for me... I think my postman is worried I've had some sort of breakdown because he knocks on the door even though there's not a prolific amount of parcels to hand over! I forgot Ensnared was out this week so was very happy when that was the one new book that arrived, the good thing about pre-ordering from Book Depository is that you pay at the time of ordering so this was paid for last year and doesn't count! More great review books this week, mainly because a lot of publishers seem to be checking out requests that have been in weeks (or months in a couple of cases) and saying yes!

Next Saturday is my birthday so if I'm going to slip it will be then, especially knowing that I'll have birthday money!

PreOrder

Ensnared

 Review - Netgalley/Edelweiss/Publisher

Conspiracy Girl - Sarah Alderson

The Death House - Sarah Pinborough

Flex - Ferrett Steinmetz

A Reunion of Ghosts - Judith Claire Mitchell

The Pocket Wife - Susan Crawford

The Damned - Andrew Pyper 

Normal - Graeme Cameron

The Uninvited - Cat Winters

Blackout (Annum Guard #2) - Meredith McCardle

The Eighth Guardian (Annum Guard #1) - Meredith McCardle

The Creeping - Alexandra Sirowy

Dead To Me - Mary McCoy

The Fire Sermon - Francesca Haig

Invasion of the Tearling - Erika Johansen

Adult Fiction To Look Forward To In 2015

These is just a selection of some of the adult fiction I can't wait to get my hands on this year. I want to try and read more this year, I barely read any adult fantasy last year which is normally my most popular genre. The last couple of titles are wishful thinking, who knows when they actually may appear but I know 2015 is the year I would love them to!

January

February

March

February

March

February

August

August

February

July

September?