Diary Of The Book Dragon

Top Ten Tuesday is weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.
Each week a new topic is chosen and book bloggers all around the world make a list of their top ten choices.

In Europe there is no Thanksgiving as Holiday, but we can still be thankful for great authors. :)

1. Brandon Sanderson because his Mistborn series made me say WOW so many times. I am even thinking about reading 11 chunksters in Wheel of Time series, just because he wrote book #12.
2. J. R. R. Tolkien because Lord Of The Rings is the first fantasy series I read. You know what they say - you never forget your first love... ;)
3. Arthur C. Clarke author, inventor and futurist. I love that his science fiction novels are based on actual science projects or studies.
4. Stephen King because I am a glutton for punishment. LOL Although I am scared most of the times, I can't stop reading his novels and always come back for more. It took me 4 years and 6 tries until I managed to read It until the end.
5. Douglas Adams because he gave me the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. And I'm gonna spoil the book for you and tell you what it is: 42.

In My Mailbox is weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren. The point is to list the books that you either purchased or received for review during last week.

Sorry, I know I am late with posting this, but the Xbox my husband ordered some time ago came Friday afternoon, so my weekend was spent playing and jumping. Jumping? Yeah, we got Kinect too so there was a lot of hand waving and hoping around. And of course all of our friends stopped by to try it out so I did not have any free time during the weekend. But it was fun. :)

As for the Book Fair I mentioned in my previous IMM, it turned out it was another case of false advertising. One of the bookstores from the city just moved some of their shelves to the center of the mall. There were no book signings or any discounts. So, although I went there with every intention of spending a lot of money on books in the end, I didn't buy any.
Such a big disappointment! I was so sad and determined to console myself by at least buying some ebooks during weekend, but I did not have enough time because of the gaming marathon.

Your Recommendations From Comments

If you have visited my blog before, you have probably noticed that at the end of IMM posts I ask what should I read first from that pile of books.

As for IMM5: the book that got most mentions/votes is Incarnation by Emma Cornwall, so I will squeeze it in during this week for read/review.

Thank you all for participating and pushing the good ones up my reading schedule. 'Iron King' was entertaining and quick read and I hope I will enjoy 'Incarnation' too.

Ebooks Received For Review During Last Week

A lot of new eBooks during last week. I will try to ban myself from using NetGalley during this week, because if I don't thin-out my to-review pile of books I'm gonna start panicking soon.

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking The Spine. The point is to spotlight one upcoming release that we're eagerly anticipating...

Neil Gaiman is one of my auto-buy authors. He's good at writing anything — children's: Coraline, young adult: Neverwhere, adult: American Gods, fantasy: Stardust, urban fantasy: The Graveyard Book, etc.

So this Wednesday I am waiting on...


The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
Genre: Fantasy
Publication Date: June 18, 2013
Goodreads ◊ Amazon

Summary:

A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. Although the house he lived in is long gone, he is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock, and her mother and grandmother. He hasn't thought of Lettie in decades, and yet as he sits by the pond (a pond that she'd claimed was an ocean) behind the ramshackle old farmhouse, the unremembered past comes flooding back. And it is a past too strange, too frightening, too dangerous to have happened to anyone, let alone a small boy.

A groundbreaking work as delicate as a butterfly's wing and as menacing as a knife in the dark, The Ocean at the End of the Lane is told with a rare understanding of all that makes us human, and shows the power of stories to reveal and shelter us from the darkness inside and out.

~ taken from Goodreads

Why Am I Waiting On The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman?

1. Neil Gaiman is one of my auto-buy authors, no matter the genre.
2. He's proven himself everywhere — children's (Coraline), YA (Neverwhere), adult fiction (American Gods), fantasy (Stardust), urban fantasy (The Graveyard Book) — I can't wait to see what he does next.
3. I was thrilled the moment I heard a new novel was on the way.

So, those are my reasons why I am waiting on The Ocean at the End of the Lane. What are yours? Did you read any of Neil Gaiman's books? Which one is your favorite?

Feel free to leave links in comments.

There are some things that I simply can not do without a list, like a weekly grocery shopping. And if I had to plan what would I want to have with me on deserted island, you could bet that I would make a list too. I will try to limit my list of books to just 10. :)

The Hoard Grows is where I show off whatever new treasure joined my collection this week — bought, borrowed, gifted, or won. Credit where it's due: this meme was inspired by 'In My Mailbox,' created by The Story Siren, and 'Stacking the Shelves,' hosted by Tynga's Reviews — thank you both for the inspiration!

If you've been around a while, you know that I ask at the end of each post what I should read first from the pile. For Week #44, most of you picked Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm by Philip Pullman — I bumped it up and loved it! For Week #45, The Iron King by Julie Kagawa won the vote, so I'll be squeezing it into this week's reading. Thanks for helping me pick — I can't wait to see what wins this time.

This week's haul is a big stack of ebooks — seventeen in total! All Kindle reads this time, split below by how they came into my hands.

Offered by Allies

• Incarnation by Emma Cornwall — Edelweiss — Steampunk & Victorian London, two of my favorite book settings combined. Lucy Weston with the help of Bram Stoker (author of Dracula) seeks a vampire who transformed her.
• City of Dark Magic by Magnus Flyte — NetGalley — When music student Sarah Weston gets a summer job at Prague Castle cataloging Beethoven's manuscripts, she has no idea that she will also: get arrested, have tantric sex in a public fountain, discover a time-warping drug and catch the attention of a handsome prince.
• The Rise of Ransom City by Felix Gilman — NetGalley — This book wasn't marked as part of a series on Goodreads, so I requested it, but then I saw on Amazon that it's actually part of the Half-Made World series. Guess I'll have to buy and read the previous books first — it'll probably take a while until I review this one.
• The Ruling Sea (Chathrand Voyages #2) by Robert V.S. Redick — NetGalley — Last week I was approved for the first book in this epic fantasy series, and this week I got the second and third too! Can't wait to read them, I'll have to make time in my schedule soon.
• The River of Shadows (Chathrand Voyages #3) by Robert V.S. Redick — NetGalley — Same story as above — got this one along with the second book this week. This series is quickly climbing my tbr pile.
• The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination by John Joseph Adams — NetGalley — Just the title is recommendation enough to read it. :D This is a collection of stories about mad scientists and evil geniuses from their own point of view.
• Brave New Worlds by John Joseph Adams — NetGalley — Stories in this anthology explore the question: what happens when civilization invades and dictates every aspect of your life? Some of my favorite authors contributed: Ursula K. Le Guin, Neil Gaiman, Cory Doctorow, Philip K. Dick, etc.
• Great North Road by Peter F. Hamilton — NetGalley — Peter F. Hamilton combines the nail-biting suspense of a serial-killer investigation with "a future that seems not merely plausible but inevitable." I like reading how authors imagine our world will develop. Do you?
• The Water Witch (Fairwick Chronicles #2) by Juliet Dark — Edelweiss — I just loved the first part of this series, 'The Demon Lover' — it was like adult Harry Potter. The heroine is a college professor who discovers that her colleagues and students aren't completely 'normal'. There's a real mix of mythical creatures here and a lot of funny adventures.
• Demon's Curse (Imnada Brotherhood #1) by Alexa Egan — Edelweiss — "A fast-paced and captivating debut — the first in the dark and sexy Imnada Brotherhood series about shape shifters in Regency-era England." I hope the accent is more on paranormal than romance, but I won't know until I read it. :)
• A Shimmer of Angels (Angel Sight #1) by Lisa M. Basso — NetGalley — What a beautiful cover, don't you agree? "Sixteen-year-old Rayna sees angels, and has the medication and weekly therapy sessions to prove it. Now, in remission, Rayna starts fresh at a new school, lands a new job, and desperately tries for normalcy."
• Persephone by Kaitlin Bevis — YA Bound — I just love the myth of Persephone and Hades, so when the YA Bound website offered me a review copy of this book I accepted right away. Can't wait to read this one!

Kindle Freebies

• The Sundered by Ruthanne Reid — Amazon Freebie — "Harry searches for artifacts left over from the time before the water came. When he's given the chance to find a mysterious device that might fix everything, he jumps at it - but this Hope isn't what it seems. In his broken, flooded world, every hope has a price."
• Zombie Bitches from Hell by Zoot Campbell — Amazon Freebie — The title alone made me lol. The summary promises a good old trashy zombie novel: a plague has turned all the world's women into brain-eating zombies, and Kent Zimmer searches for both his girlfriend and a cure — encountering hungry undead, psychotic doctors, evil nuns, racist militias, and drag queens with machine guns along the way.
• The Road to Nowhere by Lee Argus — Amazon Freebie — Another zombie novel, but with my favorite type of opening: the hero wakes up in a room with no memory of where he is or how he got there.
• Beguiled (Immortal Essence #2) by RaShelle Workman — Amazon Freebie — I have the first book of this series on my Kindle but haven't read it yet. When I saw the second part was free I grabbed the chance to get it — maybe that'll push it up my tbr...
• The Medium (Emily Chambers Spirit Medium Trilogy #1) by C.J. Archer — Amazon Freebie — What a scary and weird hairstyle. :) But it sounded interesting: 17-year-old Emily is a medium who accidentally released a shape-shifting demon into the mortal realm, and together with Jacob Beaufort she must send him back... did I mention that Jacob is a sexy ghost? :)

Well, I hope your fingers don't hurt (again) after scrolling through this epic pile of books. :) Maybe there are fewer books than last week, but there are some real chunksters in this pile. I need to speed up my reading and clear up my to-review-asap pile (well, at least a little bit).

There's a Book Fair on Friday, so if I manage to review 4 books before then I'll treat myself with something nice. Oh, who am I kidding? I'm gonna buy a pile of books either way. LOL :D

What do you think I should read first? Did you already read something from this pile? What did you get this week?