Skip to main content

Bookish (And Not So Bookish) Thoughts

Bookish (And Not So Bookish) Thoughts is hosted at Bookishly Boisterous.

1. I'm trying Rent the Runway for the first time. I know Meg at A Practical Wedding is a huge fan, and it's always recommended in the APW comments. I'm going to a friend's wedding in September, so it seemed a good opportunity to check it out. I wasn't overwhelmed by the choices, but it's better than going to a store and basically you can rent a $495 dress for $40ish AND you then return it after the event, which appeals to me hugely in terms of money and space saved. Not that I would spend $495 on a dress, but I could easily spend $100-$200 and then have few occasions to wear it again. If you're interested, try my referral link, which will give you and me $30 off: https://rtr.app.link/e/g9KBbsTPuP

2. Jamie at The Perpetual Page Turner inspired me to go grown-up back-to-school shopping! I always LOVED buying school supplies: notebooks, Post-Its, colored pencils, paper clips--it all made me so happy. My sister and I used to dump everything we'd picked out in the hallway and then 'trade' if we decided we liked the other's stuff better, which always worked out well for me, because she would pick the cutest notebooks and then decide she didn't want them all! This year, I actually need to buy clothes, shoes, and a haircut, but I'm branding it as 'back-to-school' shopping, and, as an educator, I am literally going to school anyway :-) AND I'm buying myself a cute notebook. Because.

3. I just finished Carry On by Rainbow Rowell, and I don't know why it hasn't blown up in popularity? It's purportedly the last canon book of Simon Snow, which Cath writes her fanfiction about in Fangirl. Simon Snow is clearly based on Harry Potter, but Harry Potter with a gay vampire, lots of other cool twists, and better writing (please don't shoot me). It clearly owes a debt to Harry/Draco Malfoy slash fic, but the World of Mages is completely its own, as are the four main viewpoint characters: Simon, Baz, Penelope, and Agatha--variations on Harry, Malfoy, Hermione, and Daphne from Scooby Doo, respectively. Everybody who likes Harry Potter and fanfic should be reading Carry On...I wish there were more books coming!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Book Review: The Speed of Clouds by Miriam Seidel

Book Review: The Speed of Clouds by Miriam Seidel *To Be Released from New Door Books on April 10, 2018* Mindy Vogel is haunted by the future. In frequent daydreams, she toggles between her real, wheelchair-bound life and the adventurous life of her fanfic alter ego, SkyLog officer Kat Wanderer. She's haunted by all that Kat can do which she cannot---belong to an organization of comrades, walk, and fall in love---yet. Because at twenty-four, Mindy's future is very much ahead of her, wheelchair notwithstanding. Through Mindy's "SkyLog" fanzine and related emails, Seidel evokes Star Trek fandom around the turn of the millenium, but also creates a new and compelling science fictional universe, similar to what Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl  does for the Harry Potter fandom with "Simon Snow." Mindy is among the pioneers transitioning fandom from print to digital, boldly encountering like-minded individuals from the comfort of her chair behind the monito...

Books with Single-Word Titles

Happy Top Ten Tuesday over at That Artsy Reader Girl! Books with Single-Word Titles These are all my favorite books that I could think of with one-word titles. A lot of fantasy, a few nonfiction (minus subtitles) and Kindred , whether you consider it scifi or historical fiction. Also two portmanteaus using the word "bitter." I suppose it's a word that lends itself to amelioration. 1. Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler 2. Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore 3. Fire by Kristin Cashore 4. Heartless by Marissa Meyer 5. Inheritance by Christopher Paolini 6. Meditations by Marcus Aurelius 7. Stoned by Aja Raden (has a subtitle) 8. Educated by Tara Westover 9. Fledgling by Octavia Butler 10. Kindred by Octavia Butler

Books Read in July 2024

 Pitch It by Evie Blum-- Kind of a weirdly suspenseful romcom but I enjoyed the perspective of a woman working in Silicon Valley,  which I don't see a lot. The business jargon was on point. The author is really talented at writing physicality too; be prepared for a lot of spicy scenes.  My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Bro di Ashton, and Jodi Meadows--I'd wanted to read this for a while (Tudor history nerd, hello!), and I just saw and loved the show on Prime and finally got the book from Kindle Unlimited.  Both are so, so good! Very tongue-in-cheek, intrusive narration, and so many riffs on Shakespeare, Tudor history, and more. Plus it's a surprise fantasy world with people who turn into animals instead of Protestants vs. Catholics--totally brilliant. Can't wait to read the rest! An Improper Situation by Sydney Jane Bailey-- On Stuff-Your-Kindle romance day, I took a chance on a lot of different books. This was the first one I tried. I really enjoyed the 19th century Sp...