Weekly update #2

First things first, I’m sorry about the completely unplanned hiatus! A mix of Sherlock, school-work, and laziness meant I didn’t post anything all week. But I did do some reading! And I got a lot of good books...and I had a good trip in London!

So... what I got this week...

• Freshman Year and Other Unnatural Disasters by Meredith Zeitlin, for review. Thank you,  Anne Walls and G.P. Putnam’s and Sons. It’s not what I normally read, but still. I am trying to expand my  reading tastes (emphasis on the trying) and so... Let’s see if I like this!
• Professor Moriarty: Hound of the D'Urbervilles by Kim Newman. Forbidden Planet is a very bad place for me. As well as being the only place I have seen Anna Dressed in Blood, Dragonswood  and many other books actually in print in England, whenever I go, I come out with a small bag of books, less money and a much bigger to-read list. Well, when I saw this I thought "literary mash up? Awesome. Must read". And so I got it.
• Switched by Amanda Hocking. I didn't actually know she was signing, but I went in and there was a customer announcement "Amanda Hocking is signing at 1 o clock!". Cue my frantically searching for my dad and feeding the parking machine (those things are ridiculously expensive) so I could be there. Oh, and I found Ana from The Book Smugglers there too.

       

• A hug from Amanda Hocking. I love hugs. What can I say?

I think I did well.

And in news....

• YA imprint of Angry Robot (my favourite publishers who I swear only publish stuff I enjoy) Strange Chemistry have their first two authors! Kim Curran and Shift and Sean Cummings and Poltergeeks have been signed. Both books look great. More info here.
• We blacked out in a Sopa protest. Sopa could be a big deal if it passes, and we should do what we can to stop it. I understand that people have lost a lot of money from illegal downloads, but censoring the web is not the answer. 
• Scott Westerfeld's The Manual of Aeronautics has a cover!  Pretty? I think so.  

In My Mailbox 9 And Other Things

Going to have another go at updating the mailbox thing regularly...let’s see how well I do XD

Here’s my library stash... 

Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas-The Film, The Art, The Vision by Frank Thompson I love this film. 

Card Games by Collins. Long story, but you know our book club is also an "argue, eat, read, argue" club? Well, it's morphing into an "argue, eat, read, argue, play cards, argue" club. 

Shakespeare Made Easy Hamlet & The Merchant of Venice. No, not studying either. I just love it when people re-write Shakespeare into modern language. 

The Bookman by Lavie Tidhar. Had it on my to read list for a while, saw it in my library, picked it up. 

For Review

Lies Beneath by Anne Greenwood Brown via Netgalley. Mermaids don't get enough love. 

Witchblood by  Emma Mills. Vampires in Manchester? Sorry, but it's just that I don't think I read enough paranormal books set in England.

News (I'm also going to TRY and update with any news that I can think of. This may or may not work.)

• Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (review here) has been shortlisted for the Kitschies Golden Tentacle 2011 award for debut novels. For more de  tails, go here (sorry about the website name. It's not what you think and is perfectly safe for work), or here for info about what it's up against.
• There's an extract of Infamous!!! HERE! And I love our (The UK) cover!

Any other exciting things happen this week? 

In My Mailbox 8

I know I rarely ever do this, but seeing as my library was just so awesome, and had brought in almost all the books I'd reserved, I just have to share. And I will provide reviews of my Half Term Reading! At some point...

Here's what I got...

• Falling for Hamlet by Michelle Ray
• Ward Against Death by Melanie Card
• Luck of the Devil by Patricia Eimer
• Fitzwilliam Darcy, Rock Star by Heather Lynn Riguad
• Birthmarked by Caragh M O Brian
• And some other stuff which I can't remember off the top of my head.

I've already started on Falling For Hamlet and love it. The others have all been on my TBR list for quite some time so I'm glad I'm getting round to reading them! 

What did you all get? 

Half Term Holiday Reading aka In My Mailbox

It's Half Term for Katy and I! So as well as homework and preparing for one of the best days ever on Saturday, we'll be reading.
Katy will be reading books that we got for review, and some other stuff.
I will be reading books we got for review when on my computer. When I'm not, I'll be reading this stuff, which is the stuff I got from the library yesterday.

• Goliath by Scott Westerfeld (nearly finished this one. Love it to bits)
• The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson (the second book I ever added as to-read on goodreads. Been waiting for this a long time)
• Battle Royale by Koushun Takami (again. This is an awesome book. Re-reading so I can review it for the YA Japanese week I'm doing with Caroline-more on that later)
• L Change The World by M (again. Also for YA Japanese week. Loved the film. Book mediocre.)
• This Dark Endeavour by Kenneth Oppel (Frankenstein prequel- epic win.)

The reason I actually remembered this week to do IMM is because of this awesome pile of books. And the fact that by making it known that I have these, I'm slightly more likely to remember to review these. So keep checking back for the reviews.


And keep checking back this coming week for the Halloween week. Reviews, posts and a giveaway await anyone who comes by!

Enjoy the week ahead xxx

Summer reading update 3

Halfway through the holidays already...it's going by too fast. Here's what's happened this week

RECEIVED THIS WEEK (the IMM part of the post)

• Angel Sanctuary vol 1
• Texas Gothic
• King of Thorn vol 1
• Black Bird vol 9
• Black Bird vol 8
• Sakura Hime vol 1
• Fairy Bad Day (won from http://mykeepershelf.blogspot.com/)

READ THIS WEEK

• Angel Sanctuary vol 1 (review coming)
• Black Bird vol 8
• Black Bird vol 9
• Spooks Apprentice (review coming)
• Skin Hunger (review coming)
• Godchild (review coming)
• Think of a Number 
• Zombies of the World (review coming)
• The Invention of Murder
• Periodic Tales
• Virals (review coming)
• Undead and Unwelcome

READ BEFORE

• Teeth, Vampire Tales  (review here)
• The Bell Jar (review here)
• How to Be A Woman (mini review here)
• The Vampire Blog  (review here)
• Lord of the Flies (review here)
• Acadia (e-book) (review here)
• Vampire Doll vol 1 (review here)
• Dead Streets
• Mail vol 2
• Black Swan Rising (review here)
• Haruhi 3
• Haruhi 4
• Haruhi 5
• Much Ado About Nothing manga version
• Johannes Cabal the Necromancer  (review coming)
• Montmorency (reviewcoming)
• Tantalise (review coming)
• A Study in Scarlet graphic novel (review coming)

READING

• Descended by Blood (e-book)
• Monster Island

ON MY PILE TO BE READ

• Catalyst (e-book)
• Quest of the Demon (e-book)
• Dr Faustus
• Empire of the Rising Sun
• Pride and Prejudice
• To Kill A Mockingbird
• Carrie
• Pegasus and the Fight for Olympus
• Halo
• Wish Me Dead
• The Undertaker’s Gift
• Crescendo
• The Divine Comedy
• The Resistance
• Mercy
• Life as We Knew It
• Death-At Death’s Door (bought)
• Texas Gothic
• Sakura Hime vol 1
• Fairy Bad Day (won from http://mykeepershelf.blogspot.com/)
• King of Thorn vol 1

NOT GOT YET

• Hetalia 1

ALSO THIS WEEK...

• Mini review of Princosa
• Waiting for Flame of Surrender
• Review of Timeriders

Think we've had a good week? I think so.  Links to your mailboxes and anything I should know about please?

And also, do you think a weekly round up should be done every week, not just in the summer? 

Summer Reading Update 2/In my Mailbox

And again… listed  in pink is what I got this week…it’s kind of an In my Mailbox

READ

• Teeth, Vampire Tales  (review here)
• The Bell Jar (review here)
• How to Be A Woman (mini review here)
• The Vampire Blog (review to come)
• Lord of the Flies (review here)
• Acadia (e-book) (review here)
• Vampire Doll vol 1 (review to come)
• Dead Streets
• Mail vol 2
• Black Swan Rising (review coming)
• Haruhi 3
• Haruhi 4
• Haruhi 5
• Much Ado About Nothing manga version
• Johannes Cabal the Necromancer  (review coming)
• Montmorency (reviewcoming)
• Tantalise (review coming)
• A Study in Scarlet graphic novel (review coming)

READING

• The Invention of Murder
• Zombies of the World (e-book)

ON MY PILE TO BE READ

• Descended by Blood (e-book)
• Catalyst (e-book)
• Quest of the Demon (e-book)
• Dr Faustus
• Empire of the Rising Sun
• Pride and Prejudice
• To Kill A Mockingbird
• Carrie
• Pegasus and the Fight for Olympus
• Skin Hunger
• Halo
• Spooks-the Apprentice
• Monster Island
• Wish Me Dead
• The Undertaker’s Gift
• Godchild
• Think of a Number
• Crescendo
• The Divine Comedy
• The Resistance
• Undead and Unwelcome
• Mercy
• Periodic Tales
• Life as We Knew It
• Virals
• Death-At Death’s Door (bought)

NOT GOT YET

• Hetalia 1
• Texas Gothic
•  Angel Sanctuary

ALSO REVIEWED THIS WEEK

Nina

• Nekropolis
• Divergent

Katy

• Mostly Harmless
• Tins

Think I’m doing ok so far? 

Summer Reading list!

Giveaway ends later today!! If you win, you pick books from the Book Depository! For more details, click here and fill out the form! Good luck!

     So, it's now the summer holidays. I won't be going to school until some time in September. I have six weeks of doing nothing of any importance.  Actually, I’ll be gone for a week to France. And I need to do all that sewing that's been piling up. And make that cosplay for October MCM and possibly Halloween. And the artwork I said I'd do and haven't. And write that story I came up with ages ago and never paid any attention to afterwards. And sort out all my files/emails on my computer and so on. But apart from that, I have six weeks of doing whatever else I want. Obviously that includes reading! And my school book club's Summer Challenge(at least from what I can make out-I wasn't paying the most attention as we discussed it during a Carnegie picnic and I cared slightly more about the food than the summer)   is to read anything that you've been meaning to read and haven't. Now for me, this is a long list. But I'm going to try. Here's my plan of reading for the summer. Links to Goodreads. PS. This doubles as an IMM for a few weeks. And the bottom part a On My Wishlist. And onwards...

• -Teeth, Vampire Tales. I've started it, and need to get through it.
• -Black Swan Rising by Lee Carroll. Had my eye on it a while, never read it.
• -The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. We also had to pair up with someone and read a boolk of their choice. I told my partner to read Divergent. She told me to read this.
• -The Vampire Blog by Pete Johnson. Picked up randomly, don't want it to go back to the library unread.
• -Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe. Read stuff based off of this, a friend saw the play, looks good.
• -Lord of the Flies by William Golding. At some point my school librarian said she wouldn't lend or recommend any dystopians to me until I read this and 1984. Read 1984a while back, now for this. I need my recommendations!
• -Empire of the Rising Sun by J.G.Ballard, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin and To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. The latter two because they're on my list of classics to read "someday", and all of the, because they're on the list of novels we might be taught next year and my incredibly nice English teacher, who I'll have next year too, gave Katy and I the list of books so we could read them and tell her what we thought of them so she could decide on what to teach us.
• -Carrie by Stephen King. I received this quite some time ago from Comacalm...and haven't read it yet. I really should though...and now it's summer, I should have time.
• -Pegasus and the Fight for Olympus by Kate O'Hearn. I read Pegasus and the Flame and enjoyed it, so this seems like a good read.
• -Tantalize by Cynthia Letitch Smith. I think I read Eternal, book 2, but never this...
• -Skin Hunger by Kathleen Duey. Her contribution to Zombies vs Unicorns was good, and the cover to this is interesting.
• -Halo by Zizou Corder. I remember reading the Lion Boy series and loving it, and this seems right up my street-Greek mythology and action!
• -Spooks the Apprentice by Joseph Delany. I've tried reading it quite a few times, and never got past the first few pages as other books turned up and I forgot about this...I've got to finish it this time!

And if that wasn't enough, here's the list of the reservations I have at my local library...I'm hoping some will come during summer...

• The Invention of Murder-how the Victorians revelled in Death and Detection
• Monster Island
• Johannes Cabal the Necromancer
• Dead Streets
• Wish Me Dead 
• Hetalia volume 1
• Much Ado About Nothing manga version
• Vampire Doll vol 1
• Virals
• Haruhi vols 3,4,5
• The Undertaker's Gift
• Angel Sanctuary
• Godchild
• Think of a Number
• Crescendo
• The Divine Comedy
• Montmorency
• The Resistance
• Undead and Unwelcome
• Mercy
• Periodic Tales
• Life as we Knew It
• A Study in Scarlet

Yes, that's at least 20 of them. No, I don't know when I'll have time to read them all...
So everyone, enjoy summer!

In My Mailbox 5 and other things...

In my Mailbox is hosted by The Story Siren, and is a great way of showing off what we’ve got this week.

I only ever do IMM if I got an amazing mailbox, so here it is!

From my library I got…

• -        The Vampire Blog by Pete Johnson
• -        Hell’s Bells by John Connolly
• -        Cloaked by Alex Flinn
• -        Divergent by Veronica Roth
• -        The Deadly Fire by Cora Harrison
• -        Mirror Mirror by Gregory Maguire
• -        The Declaration by Gemma Malley

From my trip to London I got…

• -        Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride
• -        Rosario and Vampire Season 2 Volume 4

And from TokyoToys, for Carnegie Day because otherwise my book club may metaphorically kill me

• -        1x pack of pocky
• -        1x pack of Hello Panda

Yes, Carnegie Day is coming round! My book club is having a picnic...I'm hoping that Monsters of Men will win, just for Patrick Ness, and I think that Prisoner of the Inquisition by Teresa Breslin was also great. But obviously, neither will win because we want them to.

This parody video seems to have been doing the rounds lately. Its an extremely accurate representation of the love triangle in the Hunger Games. The first part anyway...

In Forbidden Planet yesterday, I found what might possibly be a UK cover of the Girl in the Steel Corset. I'm assuming it is anyway. It was a poster on the New Releases in June noticeboard. If this isn't it, please don't blame me! I just saw it and wanted to share it with you...Its very different to the red dress we're used to seeing...I love both covers.

And finally, just want to say that if you like this blog, please follow! We're currently on 92...if we ever get to 100, we'll do a giveaway! Promise!


Thanks for coming to Death Books and Tea. We love you. Tea all round.

In My Mailbox 4

In my Mailbox...

Not on Sunday! Because I didn't have the time then...well, its here now. Also features books I got a while ago but did not do IMM then so they didn't get featured...its hosted by The Story Siren, weekly for most but whenever I get round to it for me... enjoy...

In My Mailbox (3)

 In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by the Story Siren where we get to show off what books we got. 

Once again, I got a large collection of books. At this rate, I’m not going to be able to keep up....

From the library

-          Full Metal Alchemist vol 1 by Hiromu Arakara

-          Forsaken by Jana Oliver

-          Once Dead, Twice Shy by Kim Harrison

-          Bloody Kiss vol 1 by Kazuko Furumiya

-          Pegasus and the Flame by Kate O’Hearn

-          The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service

-          The Death Defying Pepper Roux by Geraldine McCaughrean

-          Prisoner of the Inquisition by Theresa Breslin

And this is what I bought when I went to London.

-          Lenore Rebirth vol. 1 by Roman Dirge

-          Grand Guingol Orchestra vol. 1 by Yuki Kaori

-          Alice in the Country of Hearts vol. 5 by QuinRose

-          Hetalia vol. 2 by Hidekaz Himaruya

My thoughts.... I’m already halfway through the Death Defying Pepper Roux and I’m really enjoying it....I’ve already read Alice in the Country of Hearts and will review it some day....I got Hetalia vol.2 because I’m still waiting for the library to process volume 1...I’m taking Grand Guingol Orchestra on holiday so I won’t review that until some time in June...I got The Death Defying Pepper Roux and Prisoner of the Inquisition because they’re shortlisted for the Carnegie Award....I’ve been waiting for ages to read Forsaken and Once Dead Twice Shy so I’m looking forward to that...I know Lenore isn’t really a book (its got about 30 pages, if that) because its a comic, but there are collections (Noogies, Wedgies, Cooties) that I’ll review some day.

Thats my mailbox this week. What did you get this week?

And on a side note, have you noticed the banner? Big thanks, hugs and cake goes to Emily Happywise and Miley Madwise, who drew the Grim Reaper enjoying a book and a cup of tea. We (Katy and I) attempted to do this, but both looked funny and Emily offered to draw one for us. Which turned out much much  better. Anyway, Emily, (and Miley), we love you! Check out their blog here!

In My Mailbox (2)

In My Mailbox is a meme hosted by the Story Siren where we show off all the books we have obtained in the past week.

I don't normally do it, as I don't normally have a very interesting haul, but this week my library was good and actually sent me the books I reserved. [Plus, this is a note to self to remember to post the reviews] Anyway...

From the library I got

• Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
• 666 Park Avenue by Gabriella Pierce
• My So called Afterlife by Tamsyn Murray
• Puppet Master by Joanne Owen
• Scarlett Dedd by Cathy Brett
• White Crow by Marcus Sedgwick 
• Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce

Above links lead to Amazon.

And from the fabulous E.J. Stevens, as a late Teen Lit Day prezzie...

• She Smells the Dead
• Spirit Storm

I've started She Smells the Dead and Clockwork Angel, and absolutely love both of them. I also want to get started on Scarlett Dedd- I've already looked at the blog, and it looks really good.

 I'm pretty pleased with what I've got this week. Easter holidays too, so I have a lot of reading time.
What did you get this week? Leave a link and I'll find the time to stop by eventually. Eventually being the key word.

TEA TIME TALK: 50 followers already? We've only been going for two months...THANK YOU! Tea and cake all round!

In my Mailbox (1)

In my Mailbox is a weekly bookish meme hosted by The Story Siren, in which we show off what new books we have received each week.

This week, I got:

·         Nura: rise of the Yokai Clan vol 1 by Hiroshi Shiibashi

·         Black Butler vol 3 by Yana Toboso

·         Loveless vol 1 by Yun Kouga

·         Matched by Ally Condie

·         Revolution by Jennifer Donnely

·         The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

·         The Gates by Samuel Johnson

·         Ghost of a Chance by Rhiannon Lassiter

I have already read Black Butler 3 and really enjoyed it. I’m especially looking forwards to Revolution and Matched, because I’ve heard great things about them, and The Gates because it seems original.

Not sure exactly when I’ll get time to read them....oh well....

Nina xxx

Ps. Katy's internet is down, and she's not sure when she'll be back.  Apologies for lack of reviews on her part. She's written them, and doesn't know when she'll be able to post.