Saturday, February 17, 2018

Stacking the Shelves 7



Stacking the Shelves is a weekly feature co-hosted by Tynga's Reviews and Reading Reality. It is a chance to showcase all the goodies you've collected in the last week, whether they're bought on-line or in-store, an ARC or a final copy, borrowed from a friend or the library, physical or digital, you get the idea. If nothing else, this weekly treat shows how much of an addiction I really have when it comes to acquiring my precious books.

Amazon
I got a gift card for Amazon for Valentine's Day from my momma, so naturally that meant a book-buying spree that surpassed the gift card amount because, duh.

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MISTY COPELAND!
I was privileged enough this week to attend the EN Thompson Forum on World Issues, where Misty Copeland, a principal dancer for ABT (and the first African-American woman to be promoted to that position), spoke on a variety of topics, the main focus being lack of diversity in classical ballet. All of her books were also for sale. I had already read her biography, Life in Motion, but I purchased the young readers edition for my daughter, as well as Firebird. I bought Ballerina Body for myself. And, not to brag or anything, but kind of definitely to brag: last night my daughter and I attended a performance of Firebird, with Copeland dancing the lead. It was one of the greatest nights of my life, a truly once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Misty is magnificent.

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What did you find this week?? Leave a comment and a link to your new treasures as well!

Happy Reading,
Sarah

36 comments:

  1. I had no idea that Buffy had inspired so much literature!

    I bought (for 99 cents) a collection of short stories called "Overclocked", which I zipped right through. Someone also donated a stack of Star Trek books to the library, to be given to whomever wanted them. I had most of them, but "Brinkmanship" (the Cuban missile crisis in space) was one I got, plus a novel based on Star Trek Online. Not really interested in that one, but I will give it a shot.

    I was tempted to buy a book about the psychology of music ("This Is Your Brain on Music", I think), but I remembered I'm technically under a book-buying interdict until I make more progress with the books I've got.

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    1. Sorry for the major delay in responding to this comment - Blogger had marked it as spam and I just happened to look at the spam comments to see if there were any. it's especially strange because it has never flagged any of your other comments. Weird!

      Buffy is quite involved, and it surprises a lot of people because they hear the name Buffy and see this tony blond girl and assume it is something entirely different from what it actually is. And that was the intention of Joss from the start. Instead of the pretty blond girl being helpless and dying in the first scene, she is the one kicking ass and saving everyone else.

      I have heard of that music book, I think I got it a couple months ago via BookBub. Of course, it could be one that I looked at and decided against. At this point, who even knows what is on my Kindle - I certainly don't!

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  2. As you're obviously into 'slaying' I can recommend:

    Slayers and their Vampires: A Cultural History of Killing the Dead by Bruce A McClelland

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  3. But... More importantly - my book buying trip.....

    Well, despite the persistent rain for most of the day I ventured out and hit 3 of my favourite bookshops (plus pizza).

    My haul consisted of:

    The first 5 books in The Expanse Series by James S.A. Corey

    Leviathan's Wake
    Caliban's War
    Abaddon's Gate
    Cibola Burn
    Nemesis Games

    My other fiction purchases where:

    The Massacre of Mankind by Stephen Baxter
    The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell
    A Strange Manuscript found in a Copper Cylinder by James De Mille
    Spartacus by Lewis Grassic Gibbon
    Cold Courage by Pekka Hiltunen
    Night Train to Jamalpur by Andrew Martin
    The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope
    The Lesser Bohemians by Eimear McBride
    The Gap of Time by Jeanette Winterson
    The Killing of Bobbi Lomax by Cal Moriarty
    The Vanishing Futurist by Charlotte Hobson

    The non-fiction where:

    Age of Anger - A History of the Present by Pankaj Mishra
    Ill Met by Moonlight by W Stanley Moss
    Odd People - Hunting Spies in the First World War by Basil Thomson
    1916 - Ireland's Revolutionary Tradition by Kieran Allen
    Austerity - The Great Failure by Florian Schui
    Negroland - A Memoir by Margo Jefferson
    The Unravelling - High Hopes and Missed Opportunities in Iraq by Emma Sky

    That's 23 in total. Not bad for a day out. I'm back there in April for my birthday book binge. [lol]

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    1. YES!! I have been waiting for this!! It will come as no surprise that I am unfamiliar with most of the fiction titles you picked up, but I am looking at many of the non-fictions ones. I had Age of Anger on my TBR a while ago and then removed it, but now I have added it again. Odd People looks great too, and anything about 1916 is an automatic read for me. My mom and I did the 1916 Walking Tour when we were in Dublin a few years ago and it was amazing. And seeing Kilmainham Gaol was utterly spellbinding. And our guide named Ben was super cute.

      23 is not too shabby at all, I am quite impressed. Hope you enjoyed your pizza and I look forward to your birthday haul too, lol

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    2. The 'Odd People' book is part of a series of works originally published between the wars on Espionage (another one of my areas of interest). I always find it interesting to read books about an era actually written during or soon after the events.

      The Easter Rising pushes a number of my buttons not least because my father was born a little distance from Dublin so I have that connection. I'm 2/3 Irish (and technically Catholic to boot!) so my sympathies are with the South.

      Sitting with the pile of books next to me I'm wondering how I managed to get them home in a backpack and a plastic bag! Guess my bag must be part TARDIS! My birthday haul probably won't be as big but I do tend to go a bit 'mad' in April. After all what are birthdays for if you can't splash out on yourself?

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    3. I too enjoy books written closely in time to the subject they care about.

      I find so much of Ireland's history in general to be interesting, but especially the events of 1916. It's unusual for me because I am rarely interested in anything from the 18th century-on anymore.

      Birthdays are the best reason for books. A TARDIS book bag would be A-MAY-ZING. You'd never have to be able to worry about carrying all your books!

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  4. All those Buffy books - I am so jealous. I love that show, it's my childhood favourite and I recently rewatched it.

    It seems like you had a great time at the Forum and Firebird. Sounds like a great week!

    Andreea @ cheekylines.wordpress.com

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    1. Hey Andreea, thanks for coming by. I love Buffy and started watching during the second season. I even remember the first episode - Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered. To this day it is still one of my faves. Such a good show and one that still resonates today. I love that younger generations have discovered Buffy after us.

      It was pretty much an A-MAY-ZING week, especially getting to take my daughter to Firebird. She is four and a half, and she sat for almost 3 hours through four performances. I hope it is a memory she holds onto!

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  5. Ooh the Buffy stuff looks fun! Can you believe I've never seen Buffy? And yay for the Firebird performance- sounds like you had an amazing time!

    Happy reading this week!

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    1. I CAN NOT BELIEVE YOU HAVE JUST TYPED THOSE WORDS! I will promptly begin putting together a top ten list of episodes you must watch. Though I should warn you, I tried to do this once before and it basically became a list containing every episodes. And then things were out of order, so it got confusing when the show really hit its stride with long story arcs. My best advice is to start watching it ASAP. The first season is a little rough, it was a mid-season replacement and is still working out the kinks a little, but still great. Season 2,3, and 5 are the best. 1 and 4 were good. 6 was awful, for many reasons, and 7 was, well, the end :'(

      Firebird was so beautiful. I can't even. The Pas de Deuxs from Swan Lake were equally as riveting, and the solos within were great too. Such an amazing experience. I am still smiling from it.

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    2. I haven't seen Buffy, either. I keep looking for it on Netflix or a cheap DVD set. I do want to watch it for Joss Whedon and Ms. Hannigan. She was a ball on How I Met Your Mother.


      I posted a comment today from a public computer, but I don't think it made it through the anti-social media filter. I was surprised that Buffy had inspired such a literature! As for me, I only bought one book, a collection of short stories on sale for 99 cents. I also picked up a couple of Star Trek books for free from a pile of used paperbacks donated to the library -- one is called "Brinkmanship" and is basically the Cuban Missile Crisis in space. The rest of the books I already had, so I left them alone...

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    3. I don't understand these words!!!! Okay, mostly kidding, but I am 100% biased because it is my favorite show of all time, tied with Friends. Joss is a genius and I will love him forever despite the fact that he tortures me so with the fact that Buffy and Angel will never be together, even though there were so many opportunities as Buffy got older.

      I absolutely LOVE Alyson Hannigan. Her evolution as Willow is one of the most well-done aspects of the show, despite the fact that I could not stand her girlfriend Tara. The marginally redeeming aspect of season 6 (which I hated mainly because it brought Buffy and Spike together and I am all kinds of not in favor of that garbage) is seeing Willow become the villain. It is phenomenal.

      Not sure about now, but I know for a long time there were college courses dedicated to dissecting the show, feminism, etc. I have a ton of great non-fiction texts about Buffy and these are some of the last few I did not own.

      Kudos for only hauling a few - and all but one being free. Hope you enjoy your new treasures!

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    4. Well, there are college courses for everything these days....it's one of the reasons I take a dimmer view of what tuition buys with every passing year! But I will definitely try Buffy...it's just a matter of finding the time. At the moment I'm watching The Wonder Years. :-D I used to see scattered episodes on TV, but now I can watch whole seasons...

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    5. True, but the classes weren't just dissection of some chunk of pop-culture. There is some (unsurprisingly to me because I love the show so much) really great work out there about Buffy.

      I ran through all of The Wonder Years a couple years ago on Netflix. It was just as I remembered it and made my heart happy.

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    6. Totally LOVED Buffy & Angel (mostly). Some of the best TV *EVER*. Agree with your assessment of the series. Bought the DVD box set ages ago (to replace my videos - remember them?). I cycle through them from time to time but am presently going through Agents of Shield Series 2.... I have a way to go to catch up with the rest of the world!!!

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    7. I can even do you one better on the videos - I recorded the episodes on my VCR and cut out the commercials and put them in blank movie boxes and designed covers for them. I was kind of obsessed. I don't think I have ever been as obsessed with anything as I was with that show and the characters and world Joss built. I have the individual seasons on DVD, but would like to update to the new boxed set, the formatting is terrible on the early DVDs and you can only watch one episode at a time and it takes forever to move from screen to screen to select an episode.

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    8. I loved Angel the Series for a while, but the whole Angel/Cordelia thing really bugged me a lot. I also really hated that it ended like it did. I know the show continued in comics but I want a special or a movie and to ignore the seasons in those comics. I wish Joss owned the rights :'(

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    9. I just got back around and saw this- thanks for the recs! I do have plans to watch Buffy at some point- I mean soon!!!- and your season guide there will help me stick it out if S1 seems iffy. I mean I've always loved the concept of it- I'll have to move this show up on my list! :)

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    10. Oh yes, stick with it and you won't regret it!! I personally love season 1, because I knew beforehand all the great things to come. I probably still would have watched it even if I had been there from the beginning, but I do have a couple friends who didn't keep watching, but came back to it later on when things were a little cleaner and smoother and ended up loving the series anyway. So I guess what I am trying to say it, trust in Joss Whedon, all is good (except part of season 6. Ugh, season 6).

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  6. I'm guilty of surpassing the gift card amount also ;) I loved Buffy the Vampire Slayer the tv series, but I have never read any of the book. I hope you enjoy all your new reads.

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    1. Hey Jovita, always glad to meet another Buffy fan. There have been some really great academic-type works about the show. I have read quite a few and these are some of the last ones I needed for my collection. I highly recommend most of them, if you are ever interested I can get you specific titles. Happy Reading!

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    2. Also, it is suuuuuper easy for me to pass those gift cards amounts because I can justify pretty much any book purchase, haha.

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  7. Wow, you must be a serious Buffy fan. My hubby loved the show. I wasn't a fan so much. I hope you enjoy all your books! Have a great week of reading!

    Mary #SundayRoundup

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    1. Hi Mary, thanks for stopping by. Buffy was such an integral part of my teenage years and the show was so well-crafted. While on the surface it looks like a show about demons and monsters, it was really a mirror reflecting our own world.

      I am very excited to get these started, happy reading to you as well!

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  8. Your Buffy fandom rocks! I love Misty Copeland. I remember Prince being so enamored with her and appreciating how hard she worked - and Prince is my fave! Just as bad as you and Buffy :)

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    1. Thank you, Barb :) I think I will be obsessed with BtVS forever, it is so imprinted on me from my teenage years! Misty is amazing, and to see her not only perform live, but to perform Firebird, I can't even describe it. It was a once in a lifetime chance and I am so glad I got to see her live. I am from the Twin Cities, so I grew up knowing Prince's music from an early age. He was such a talented artist and he brought out the best in other artists, no matter their medium.

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  9. I loved Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The covers for the Misty Copeland books are lovely. I really like the cover for Firebird. Hope you enjoy!

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    1. I still love Buffy - as you can tell! The show was so intelligent and I appreciate the fact that it is not dated (save some of the weird late 90s fashion choices Joss made). I love the the next generation is falling in love with the show like we did.

      Firebird is magical - I highly recommend it!!

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  10. I really need to find time for another Buffy DVD binge watch...

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Thanks for visiting my little book nook. I love talking books so leave a comment and let's chat!