Category Archives: Bookish

Visits to book releases, signings and any author or book related event.

A Visit to Strand Book Store

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I stepped inside of Strand for the first time yesterday. I find it strange that I’ve lived in New York for 11 years and worked in Manhattan for 7 years, yet yesterday was the first time I’ve stepped foot in Strand. However, it had to be done, so when Anna suggested that we make our next meet up a visit to Strand I was excited.

Walking through the doors and seeing shelves and shelves and tables and shelves of books was enough to make this bibliophile happy. Anna and I perused the Young Adult/Children section, trying to find titles that caught our eye, also recommending books to each other as we moved along the aisles. I wanted to keep my purchases small, if possible, sometimes I can go overboard, but in the end I walked out with eleven books! I can’t wait to read them! Some are books I’ve never heard about, others are books I’ve been meaning to get for the longest while. These will probably last for quite some time, I’m so excited! Below are the books and descriptions, as well as links in case they sound amazing and you want to get them as well.

Just Listen by Sarah Dessen:

Annabel Greene is the girl who has everything. At least, that’s what she portrays in her modeling shoots. But Annabel’s life is far from perfect. Her friendship with Sophie ended bitterly, and her older sister’s eating disorder is weighing down the entire family. Isolated and ostracized at school and at home, Annabel retreats into silent acceptance. Then she meets Owen – intense, music-obsessed, and determined to always tell the truth. And with his guidance, Annabel learns to just listen to herself and gains the courage to speak honestly. But will she be able to tell everyone what really happened the night she and Sophie stopped being friends? 

This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen:

Remy always knows when to give a guy “the speech” – right after the initial romantic rush, but before anything gets too serious. She’s had her fair share of boyfriends, and she’s learned all there is to learn from her mother, who’s currently working on husband number five. So why is it that Remy can’t seem to dump Dexter? It can’t be his name. It can’t be that he’s messy and disorganized. And it certainly isn’t that he’s a musician – just like Remy’s father, a man she never knew because he left before she was born. Could it be that Remy’s romantic rules to live by don’t apply anymore?

The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen:

A long, hot summer … that’s what Macy has to look forward to while her boyfriend, Jason, is away at Brain Camp. Days will be spent at a boring job in the library, evenings will be filled with vocabulary drills for the SATs, and spare time will be passed with her mother, the two of them sharing a silent grief at the traumatic loss of Macy’s father. 
But sometimes unexpected things can happen – things such as the catering job at Wish, with it’s fun-loving, chaotic crew. Or her sister’s project of renovating the neglected beach house, awakening long-buried memories. Things such as meeting Wes, a bout with a past, a taste for Truth-telling, and an amazing artistic talent, the kind of boy who could turn any girl’s world upside down. As Macy ventures out of her shell, she begins to wonder, Is it really better to be safe than sorry?

The Visconti House by Elsbeth Edgar

Fourteen-year-old Laura Horton doesn’t quite fit in. She lives in a crumbling mansion that everyone calls “the haunted house,” and she has more in common with her parents’ eccentric artist friends than the girls at school. So when loner Leon Murphy moves in next door, Laura avoids him at first; she doesn’t need anything else different or weird in her life.
But when Laura becomes obsessed with uncovering the history of her house – the Visconti House – she finds that Leon understand her need to know what happened to the lonely Italian gentleman who built it. Together, Laura and Leon begin to unearth the mansion’s history, a history of elegant dances, thwarted love, and secret rooms. In their quest for the truth, the unlikely pair forms a deep friendship. But will their friendship, sparked by a shared interest in the past, survive in the present?

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Nobody Owens, known to his friends as Bod, is a normal boy. He would be completely normal if he didn’t live in a graveyard, being raised and educated by ghosts.
There are dangers and adventures for Bod in the graveyard. But it is in the land of the living that real danger lurks for it is there that the man Jack lives and he has already killed Bod’s family.

The Iron Thorn by Caitlin Kittredge

In the city of Lovecraft, the Proctors rule and a great Engine turns below the streets, grinding any resistance to their order to dust. The necrovirus is blamed for Lovecraft’s epidemic of madness, for the strange and eldritch creatures that roam the streets after dark, and for everything that the city leaders deem Heretical—born of the belief in magic and witchcraft. And for Aoife Grayson, her time is growing shorter by the day.
Aoife Grayson’s family is unique, in the worst way—every one of them, including her mother and her elder brother Conrad, has gone mad on their 16th birthday. And now, a ward of the state, and one of the only female students at the School of Engines, she is trying to pretend that her fate can be different. 

Hannah by Kathryn Lasky

Hannah wants to be normal, but she’s not. The sea calls to her, and she can see a delicate tracing of scales on her legs. Billowing waves soothe her, but flat land makes her sick. She knows there’s something wild in her that’s different, wrong – and deeply thrilling.
Only one person seems to know who – or what – Hannah is. He’s a guest in the house where she works as a scullery girl, and his fascinated gaze follows her. She doesn’t understand his terrifying allure, or her longing. But even as the mystery deepens, Hanny is sure of one thing. A sea of change is coming.  

Jane by April Lindner

Forced to drop out of an esteemed East Coast college after the sudden death of her parents, Jane Moore takes a nanny job at Thornfield Park, the estate of Nico Rathburn, a world-famous rock star on the brink of a huge comeback. Practical and independent, Jane reluctantly becomes entranced by her magnetic and brooding employer and finds herself in the midst of a forbidden romance. 
But there’s a mystery at Thornfield, and Jane’s much-envied relationship with Nico is soon tested by an agonizing secret from his past. Torn between her feelings for Nico and his fateful secret, Jane must decide: Does being true to herself mean giving up on true love?

Life, After by Sarah Darer Littman

For Dani, life in Argentina hasn’t been very normal or happy for a long time. A terrorist attack, which killed Dani’s aunt and unborn cousin, has sent the country into economic ruin. When Dani’s family can’t hold out any longer, they move to New York. It’s suppose to be a fresh start, but when you’re living in a cramped apartment, have an angry father, and are going to high school where all the classes are in another language – and not everyone is friendly – life in America is not all it’s cracked up to be. 
Then Dani becomes friends with Jon – who isn’t like all the other students – and popular Jessica who is hiding a painful loss of her own. And then there’s Brian, the boy who makes Dani’s pulse race. In her new life, the one After, Dani finds the courage to heal and forgive and to love and be loved again. 

Ascendant by Diana Peterfreund

Astrid Llewelyn is now a fully trained unicorn hunter, but she can’t solve all her problems with just a bow and arrow. Her boyfriend, Giovanni, has decided to leave Rome, the Cloisters is in dire financial straits, her best friend’s powers seem to be mysteriously disintegrating, and Astrid can’t help but feel that school, home, and her hopes of becoming a scientist are nothing but impossible dreams. 
So when she’s given the opportunity to leave the Cloisters and put her skills to use as part of a scientific quest to discover the Remedy, Astrid leaps at the chance. Finally, she can have exactly what she want–or can she? At Gordian headquarters, deep in the French countryside, Astrid begins to question everything she thought she believed: her love for Giovanni, her loyalty to the Cloisters, and most of all her duty as a hunter. Should Astrid be saving the world from killer unicorns, or saving the unicorns from the world? 

La Petite Four by Regina Scott

La Petite Four are Lady Emily and her three best friends: Priscilla, Ariadne and Daphne. They’ve finally graduated from the Barnsley School for Young Ladies and can’t wait for the ball that will launch them into London Society.
Then detestable Lord Robert announces that he wants to marry Emily! This dreadful news threatens to prevent their ball from ever taking place! La Petite Four vow that no gentleman will come between them and what promises to be the biggest party of the season. Even if it means chasing Lord Robert all over town to discover his ugly secret, muddying their hems and constantly running into wickedly charming strangers like the mysterious James Cropper. Or could it be that James is following them?
But when La Petite Four uncover a deadly scheme, they realize they are the only ones who can put a stop to it. Now they don’t know who to trust – only that they must save the ball, and Emily, before it’s too late! 

Stuff I’m Liking

Posted in Bookish, Fashionista, Gadgets, Plateful, Thoughts by

As Blog Every Day in April comes to an end – I can’t believe I actually did it – I wanted to wrap things up with a post about the things I’ve found myself liking during the month of April.

Stuff I’m Liking — BEDA Edition

Steampunk Jewelry. In particular, my new Golden Snitch with working clock necklace. I don’t know what it is about this sort of jewelry that appeals to me. Perhaps it’s because it looks delicate, while still being tough. Perhaps it’s that antique vibe that it gives off. I don’t know, I just like them.

I’ve also found out that one of my favourite jewelry makers has opened a new website with jewelry based on Holly Black’s Curse Breakers trilogy! I loved Vivian Hebel‘s Mortal Instruments shop, now I’m loving her Curse Breakers shop. I’m especially liking her White Cat pendant, I might be getting it in the near future. Though the Curse Breakers shop isn’t steampunk, I’m still loving her designs.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you might not know that I have a new phone and that I LOVE IT! My HTC Thunderbolt is by far my favourite gadget this month! I have been finding new ways to make it work for me, from reading books to counting calories, this phone almost does it all.

I love the camera, it takes some really great shots! I also love the different Google apps that integrate seamlessly with the phone. If you’ve been living at the top of a mountain all alone, you might not know that I do almost everything with Google, so having a phone like this is a major advantage for me. My new favourite Google app? Why, that would have to be the Google Goggles. It’s a lot of fun to play with, I can’t wait to use it some more!

Twice. That’s the number of times I’ve been to Alice’s Tea Cup. Thrice. That’s the number of times I’ve had tea this month. Scones, tea, sandwiches and sweets. Those are a few of my favourite things all rolled up into the Tea Time Meal, how could I not like it!? I even got myself a bag of loose leaf so that I could make my own tea at home and yes, I do own one of those tea balls

Some great things happened at my book review blog this month. First I decided to do a Maureen Johnson themed week, since I follow her obsessively on twitter, and I was looking forward to the release of her Last Little Blue Envelope book. Also, she’s the creator of BEDA, so, I suppose that pretty much means that I think she’s cool.

Themed week was a great success! First, I was able to see Maureen’s craziness in person when I attended the Zombies vs. Unicorns debate and so I posted that video to the blog and Maureen retweeted it! Also, I created a map showing all the places Ginny went during 13 Little Blue Envelopes which she loved and retweeted as well. So with the help of Maureen, my little book blog had 1,035 unique visitors during that week! That might not seem like a lot to all the popular bloggers out there, but to an obscure blog that’s just a pet project for a year, it’s golden.

As a person not quite into fashion, I still found this site to be so much fun that once I stumbled on to it I signed up!

Polyvore allows you to create layouts with different fashion styles as though you were doing a magazine spreads. It’s really fun just to play around in and think of different outfits and pieces that go together. You can even try to search for things you’ve recently purchased and find accessories for them. Definitely a time waster for me, but a fun one nonetheless.

Did you watch the Royal Wedding? Were you up at 4a.m. to do so? Well, hats off to you, I preferred to sleep in a bit and look at pictures/video clips later. It was a cute wedding, but for some reason, even though it was a public affair, I didn’t feel fascinated by it. They don’t care about me, just the revenue I give to them by supporting the wedding. It wasn’t amazing in any way, just a normal ceremony and service steeped in tradition. I suppose my mind wasn’t blown by anything that went on there, and I think the biggest reason for that was that it wasn’t a wedding for someone I know and love. People get married every day, so what’s the big deal here?

There is one aspect of the Royal Wedding that I did find interesting and that was the parade of hats! I’ve always loved hats. I wish they were back in style, I’d wear them everyday! But in lieu of hats, I love the fascinator! The one pictured there is from Dillards.com. I hope this is one style that begins to trend again.

So it’s been a long month, I’ve posted a total of 38 posts, at least one post every day so I deem this a success. I have successfully completed BEDA.

There were days where I struggled to figure out what write about and would browse my RSS feed for some inspiration. There were days where I had so much that I wanted to write but not enough time to do so. I doubt I’ll be able to keep this every day momentum up. However, it’s been fun. April has been better for it. So much so that I finally got the domain shanella.com! Woot!

Fare thee well and have a lovely May.

I’m a fangirl

Posted in Bookish, Media, Social Media, Thoughts by

Fangirl; n.: a female who supports an idea, trend, company etc, with an intensity bordering crazy.

Here’s the deal, I’m not crazy (sorta, kinda). I just love books, and because I love books, I love the people who write those books. With the entry of Twitter to the world of Social Media, it’s become easy to have a conversation with authors who were otherwise unreachable – except when they tour. So when one of my favourite authors respond to my tweets well, I usually have a moment of excitement, then I carry on with whatever I’m doing.

So when Scott Westerfeld retweeted my Behemoth tweets? *yay*

BTW, the last book in that trilogy comes out this Fall! I hope Mr. Westerfeld goes on tour with his wife!

Then Justine Larbalestier responded to me when I made a comment about her name. I like Justine for a lot of reasons, she’s the reason I got into YA lit as  much as I currently am. I was looking for a Harry Potter fix between books and one of my friends mentioned a controversial book geared towards young people and of course, I had to check it out. After reading Magic or Madness, I decided to read the rest.  It’s also where I picked up the word widdershins. That’s a cool word.

Once I was finished with the Magic or Madness trilogy I found her blog and realised that she was the wife of Scott Westerfeld, whose Uglies books I remembered seeing on the shelves in the bookstores, but always passing them by because the name sounded superficial (yes, I was judging the book by its name). However, realising that Justine was made of awesome, I decided that her husband was probably made of awesome as well and bought the first Uglies book. I’ve been devouring his stuff ever since. Scott is most definitely made of awesome.

Then I started reading Scott’s blogs, and reading the blogs of the authors Justine and Scott recommended and the rest is history.

I’m not sure who did it, but somewhere along the line Libba Bray’s A Great and Terrible Beauty was recommended. I bought it. I read it. I loved it! Then I became a Libba Bray fan. I don’t know what goes on in the mind of Libba Bray, but I can hypothesis and it’s scary but wonderful. After reading her Going Bovine novel, I wondered if that wasn’t more an autobiography than a work of fiction. She’s insane. She’s funny. She’s ingenius.

Enter Holly Black. I saw her books in the bookstore a number of times, then one day started thumbing through Tithe. I got as far as the title page, I’ve been reading Holly’s books ever since. She’s a master of world crafting, faery lore and now, mobster fantasy. Wow. Impressed. *hat off* *confetti*

This can go on, but I’ll conclude now with …

Two fangirl moments etched into my brain.

2nd moment: I cannot tell you how happy I was that Maureen saw my Ginny European Tour map and loved it! I spent a lot of time on that map and I seriously want to visit all the places she described in her book 13 Little Blue Envelopes. So, to see your work appreciated by an author who worked hard to present a good book? Priceless.

1st moment: Not only did Holly Black say that she loved my steampunkesque necklace during the ZvU debate signing, but Justine Larbalestier, yes, THE Justine, recognised my twitter handle (first name) and even remembered my profile picture. I might have been smiling like a loon, I don’t know, but it was the best. fangirl. moment. ever.

Meeting The Pioneer Woman

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Ree Introduced

I’ve recently started reading Ree Drummond’s blog → The Pioneer Woman. I have crossed it a few times in thepast, one post was about her daughter and their love for each other, which I found endearing, and a few of her recipes. However, I didn’t get pulled in by her charm until I decided to make Chocolate Truffles for Christmas. After a successful run with the Truffles, I decided to check out some more recipes, which lead to me checking out her confessions section, which lead to me reading about her lodge renovations which ultimately lead to Pioneer Woman joining my RSS feed.

Ree speaks

After Christmas she mentioned the release of her book, From Black Heels to Tractor Wheels. I saw that herbook was being released Feb 1st and that Barnes and Noble in Union Square was hosting her for a book signing, so I just had to go!

Ree and I

Ree was very pleasant, witty and even though she seemed somewhat nervous she still manage to answer a few of our questions with the same charm that you canfind on her blog. You can read the first two parts of Black Heels to Tractor Wheels on her website, I’ve read it and it’s a great story of how she met and married her husband.

Definitely looking forward to reading this book! I’m happy I got to go to the signing.

A Tea Party and a Book Release

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The day started out pretty normal. Gloomy weather, tons of traffic and many sighs of frustration as I navigated my way into Manhattan. An hour and a half later, I was at work. Work was as wonderful as work could be, then we found out that the rail – which I usually take – was suspended, and later operating with serious delays. The work day ended and as I walked to my car, being rather thankful that I sat through the extra hour of traffic to have my car with me, I couldn’t help being a little charged for the tea I was about to consume.

I met with Anna, Christina and Rebecca; we sat for tea at Tea and Sympathy, on Greenwich (pronounced GREH nich) Avenue. Tea and Sympathy is a pretty small store, they seat 21 people in the entire restaurant, so going on a Monday evening has the two perks of finding a great parking stop right in the front of the store, as well as being able to get a seat rather quickly.

We shared our meal of scones with jam and clotted cream (yum!!), bangers and mash and chicken and leek pie (pretty much the yummiest pie I’ve ever tasted!). I had the blackcurrent tea, which I like to take without milk and sugar. For dessert we shared the spicy ginger cake with a bit of whipped cream on the side and a treacle pudding immersed in custard.

Around 8 p.m., Anna and I walked over to Books of Wonder and stood in line for an hour and a half. Frans joined us and we passed the time talking with the 7th grade teacher behind us about YA books and what we liked/disliked about different series. Harry Potter is everyone’s all-time favourite and, if you’re familiar with the YA world, you wouldn’t have to think too hard to figure out which series was the least appreciated. We discussed the overuse of love triangles in books and of course, discussed the series of the night, the Hunger Games.

When we finally made it inside, we had to wait in another line to receive the welcome package that included a raffle ticket (#214), a number for collecting the book at midnight (#262) and a certificate showing that I did receive the book and it was stamped by Suzanne Collins (#321). There were jugglers, a tarot card reader, a spinning board(?) trivia game and a make up artist who was painting mockingjays and other such things on people’s body parts. We took part in the eating of cupcakes in the attached bakery. Frans had to leave, but Anna and I stayed and talked about books!

They gave out raffle prizes throughout the entire night. In the first batch the called #213, in the last batch they called #218! The probability of my number being called was pretty low, then about a minute later, they called #214 and I whooped! I got a Mockingjay bag clip, it’s just a little dangler that you put on your bag.

At 11:30 p.m. David Levithan, editorial director at Scholastic and one of the authors of Will Grayson, Will Grayson, introduced Suzanne Collins. Suzanne read a few lines from Katniss’s interview in Catching Fire, and then she read the first chapter of Mockingjay. By then it was midnight and they set up tables and called everyone up by number to receive the book and then get it stamped by Suzanne. She didn’t do a signing because she had hurt her hand. Anna took a picture while I was at the table, but I’m a bit unsure of the posting policy, there were people taking photos, but there was one point where they said something about not taking photos/videos; I’m not sure if that only meant during the reading, but I figure I’ll just post a picture and if I need to take it down I will.

IMG_0527

Thus concluded an epic Monday night and my first book release and book signing.