Our February YA Speculative Fiction Recommendation is…
Every month we post one or two books that we feel are so good, everyone should try them as part of the 2012 Speculative Fiction Challenge.
Kris picked this month’s YA and it’s the first in a series that has captivated readers.
Dru Anderson has what her grandmother called “the touch.” (Comes in handy when you’re traveling from town to town with your dad, hunting ghosts, suckers, wulfen, and the occasional zombie.)
Then her dad turns up dead - but still walking - and Dru knows she’s next. Even worse, she’s got two guys hungry for her affections, and they’re not about to let the fiercely independent Dru go it alone. Will Dru discover just how special she really is before coming face-to-fang with whatever - or whoever - is hunting her? (Goodreads)
Why it was picked: There are two words which sum up my feelings about Strange Angels by Lili St. Crow and they are: Holy Cow. The first book in this paranormal young adult series blew me right off my feet from the get-go. With a beautifully realistic heroine, action that will constantly have you on the edge of your seat and amazing writing, this book will be an instant favourite. It’s not one of those paint-by-numbers books either, the story manages to remain fresh and exciting with an ending that leaves the reader gasping for more. - Kris
Reviews from around the web:
“The book was something out of this world. I enjoyed every single bit of it. The plot and the drama was a lot. Every page was definitely a pager turner only revealing more and more secrets.” Savy from Books With Bite
“Dru’s voice pulled me in from the beginning: it’s tough, smart and not a little sarcastic. But Lili St. Crow keeps it real by giving us flashes of Dru’s vulnerability… Fair warning, there’s some bad language, but if your dad was a zombie, you’d probably cuss, too.” Myra McEntire at Young Adult Books Central
Happy reading!
Lord of Light: Roger Zelanzy
Award winning American writer Roger Joseph Zelazny was known to snatch up existing mythologies for his own purposes. This one was no exception to the rule. Lord of Light was awarded the Hugo award for best novel in 1968 and apparently nominated for the Nebula for the same reason. It is also part of the SF Masterworks series, whose aim it was bring important books like this back into print. And if all that doesn’t convince you, George R.R. Martin called it ‘One of the five best SF novels ever written’.
Weird fact: It was announced in 1979 that there was going to be a film, but that fell through due to some ‘legal issues’. CIA agent Antonio Mendez stole the script and the production drawings to conceal a rescue mission. Sometimes facts really are stranger than fiction.
Zalazny’s novel is a bizarre blend of science fiction/fantasy with some Hinduism and Buddhism. Yama-Dharma, Tak, and Ratri have been cast down from the heavens cursed to live a mortal existence. Yama builds a massive prayer machine to call Mahasamatman, better known as Sam, back down from ‘Nirvana’ in hope that he may be able to help them in some way. He was the first to dare challenge the dictatorial ‘deocracy’ and, like Prometheus, try to bring knowledge and technology to the common people.
I thought the story was a little cheesy, but it was an enjoyable read. Zalazny’s gods are not much different from the ones that you read about in Greek mythology; using those puny mortals as their playthings and smiting anyone who doesn’t want to go with the flow. The gods seemed so human that early on the novel I began question their divine claims, it almost seems like they were just humans just posing as deities. There also seemed to be a religion versus reason debate going on as the gods attempt to cripple all technological advancements because they saw them as a threat to their power.
All in all, not my favorite novel, but an interesting read. Have you read this novel or any of Zelazny’s other books? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Kwame
Tags: Lord of Light Roger Zelazny science fiction lit
The Speculative Fiction Challenge: February Link Up
This is where you can link up your reviews, discussions and other Speculative Fiction type links. You must have already signed up as a participant in the 2012 Speculative Fiction Challenge to add your links and have your books counted towards your challenge goal. You can sign up until November 31st.
Each month we will select one or two books to be highlighted as our challenge recommendations to give you guys some ideas!
We will be choosing a couple of posts each month to be highlighted on our blog! Feel free to add posts other than reviews (discussions, author guest posts or interviews and the like), we want to see what you’ve been up to!
Game of Thrones Announcement(s)
So if you’re participating in our Game of Thrones readalong, you may have noticed that Kwame’s final readalong post has yet failed to appear. It will be coming up this weekend, he’s finished but sick.
I, however, am nowhere near finished. In fact, I think I’m back at update two someplace. That was kind of a fail. So what we’re going to do is…
Sunday: Readalong Part 4 from Kwame
Mid Feb: A general chat hosted by moi (Lisa) for those tragically far behind!
That should cover everyone! If you are already done and desperately wanting to talk about what you’ve read, Jenn has been an awesome co-host and has her post up!
Much love and happy reading! L xoxo
NetGalley January Wrap Up
January is over and done with, which is kind of scary. That means that it’s time for some wrapping up!
I had 9 books on my list and read 2 of them before January had started, 2 others actually in January and 2 that weren’t on the list at all. My total number of books read in January is: 7. So more than half were from NetGalley which sounds nifty.
NetGalley books read:
- The Baker’s Daughter - Sarah McCoy
- Everneath - Brodi Ashton
- A Greyhound of a Girl - Roddy Doyle
- This Is Not A Test - Courtney Summers
NetGalley books reviewed:
- The Fallback Plan - Leigh Stein
- Everneath - Brodi Ashton
- All I Want Is You - Sherill Bodine
- May B - Caroline Starr Rose
All in all, pretty decent considering the busy start to the year! I’m happy with it anyway. To help keep up the momentum, I’ve joined Emily’s NetGalley Reading Challenge.
I’m going for gold (30 books) but realistically, 50 would be better because I kind of have a long request list… yay! I even made myself a fancy pants shelf on Goodreads to keep track of what I’ve got.
How did you do with your reading goals in January? L xoxo
Weekend Cooking with The Baker’s Daughter by Sarah McCoy
I was going write up my review with this post but I only finished late last night and this book was so, so good that I need a couple of days to ponder before reviewing. So instead, you guys get some weekend yumminess!
As one would expect in a book with ‘baker’ in the title, baking plays a central role in this book. It’s what brings characters together and, after much teasing, the epilogue provides the reader with several recipes that were used in the book. This one seemed the easiest but they all sound fabulous!
Reba’s Bread (Dairy free) by Elsie Schmidt (from The Baker’s Daughter by Sarah McCoy)
- 1 cup warm water
- 1 packed active dry yeast (rapid)
- 3 tablespoons white sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 tablespoon oil
- 3 cups all-purpose flour (I had/used bread flour)
- 3/4 raisins
Sprinkle yeast over warm water in a small bowl. In a separate bowl, combine sugar, salt, cinnamon, and oil. Stir in yeasty water and then beat in 1 1/2 cups flour. Add raisins and slowly add the remaining flour. Knead on floured surface for 10 minutes until dough is no longer sticky.
Form into a ball and place in greased bowl, making sure it’s evenly coated. Cover with a cloth and let double in size. Punch it down and shape. Place in greased bread pan. Cover and let rise for 30 minutes. Bake for 30 minutes at 400 F until the crust is golden brown. Cut and serve with butter (or jam!).
Notes: I had and used bread flour because it was what was in my cupboard. It seems to have come out fine (taste and texture is good). I don’t have a bread pan so I just plopped the ball of dough onto a tray… probably not the best technique but it worked out OK! Next time I’ll add some more cinnamon and maybe make one without raisins. Overall: awesome bread!
What are you cooking this weekend? L xoxo
Tags: recipies cooking food bread
Adventures In Letters: The Tigers Wife (Book Club Pick)
“In a Balkan country mending from war, Natalia, a young doctor, is compelled to unravel the mysterious circumstances surrounding her beloved grandfather’s recent death. Searching for clues, she turns to his worn copy of The Jungle Book and the stories he told her of his encounters over the years with “the deathless man.” But most extraordinary of all is the story her grandfather never told her—the legend of the tiger’s wife.”
Doesn’t that sound like something you’d want to read? I’m really excited for our first book club book. I’ve never been in a book club before so please bear with me as I try to figure out what I’m doing.
We know you guys like to talk so if you want to chat as you read you can use #ailbookclub on twitter. You can also join our facebook group. On each of our set dates a post will go up here on the old bloggity blog and I’ll be hosting chats on facebook and twitter.
We’ll have discussion questions for you each Sunday which you can talk about on twitter, facebook, in the comments or in a blog post of your own! Keep these spoiler free for people who aren’t reading or aren’t to the end of the section yet. You can discuss spoilers to your hearts content in our group facebook chat on the set dates!
Our sections and discussions will be:
12/02: Chapters 1-4 inclusive
19/02: Chapters 5-8 inclusive
26/02: Chapters 9-13 inclusive
I’m blatantly borrowing this outline from the Huffington Post readalong structure so, if it fails, we can always blame them…
You have two weeks until our first post, reading officially starts next Sunday but go ahead and start whenever you have time! I’ll post a reminder next week as well as mentioning the awesome in our newsletter.
Happy reading! L xoxo