2010 November » Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog

Do you know about Girlebooks?

Posted by Anastasia on November 29, 2010 11 Responses »

Nov 292010

Shame on me for never having mentioned Girlebooks before on this blog. It’s been one of my go-to places for ebooks ever since they started way back in 2007. Also, they’re (mostly all) free. Also, they’re all books written by women!

Yes! Girlebooks, in their own words, “aims to make classic and contemporary works by female writers available to a large audience through the ebook medium.” They get most of their texts from Project Gutenberg, but they’ve also started their own proofreading intitiative. I’ve always found Girlebooks’ ebooks to be nicely formatted, with beautiful covers (very important for public domain books) and, probably most importantly, excellent reads! They’ve got books by big name authors like Baroness Orczy, Jane Austen, and Louisa May Alcott, but they’ve also got books by small name authors that I would have never found just surfing idly through Project Gutenberg’s catalog.

It’s quite a nice thing that Girlebooks is doing, and I really enjoy getting their newsletters with whatever new book has been added to the catalog– it’s always more than just “here’s a new book.” It’s more like “here’s a new book and here’s why you’ll like it.” It’s obvious that the people at Girlebooks really care about what they’re doing and the books they’re working on, and I find that really refreshing.

So: Girlebooks. Check it out!

Note: I’m not getting anything for gushing about Girlebooks in this post. I’m merely doing it because I adore them so already and want more people to know about them.

TSS (Nov. 28) & IMM (6)

Posted by Anastasia on November 28, 2010 11 Responses »

Nov 282010

The Sunday Salon (Nov. 28)

So I had a really good Thanksgiving break! I read a lot, I relaxed, and I completely threw all my upcoming essays and tests and horribleness out of my mind. And then I forgot to do any review-writing. It was fun! The next three weeks won’t be fun, but once I get to the other side I’ll be free of college FOR-EV-ER! Or at least until I decide to go for my master’s. (Hint: It won’t be any time soon.)

I may be absent for the next few weeks, but then again I might not. Knowing me and my addiction to blogging, I probably won’t be. Although I might be less on Twitter than I normally am. (Or maybe I WON’T.)

Don’t forget! Send your Book Blogger Holidays Cards by FRIDAY, fill out my readership survey by whenever I decide to close it, and ENJOY YOUR LIFE, people who don’t have finals.

Books read this week:
221. Caliban’s Hour – Tad Williams [rating: Borrow it] %
222. The Amazing Maurice & His Educated Rodents – Terry Pratchett [rating: Buy it] %
223. The Spellman Files – Lisa Lutz [rating: TBD] %
224. Libyrinth – Pearl North [rating: Buy it] %
225. Middleworld (Jaguar Stones #1) – J & P Voelkel [rating: TBD] R
226. Chutes & Adders – Barbara Block [rating: TBD] %
227. The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril – Paul Malmont [rating: TBD] %

Books reviewed this week:
218. The Thief – Megan Whalen Turner [rating: Borrow it] %

Currently reading:
Plugging along at Atlantic and Mr Scarborough’s Family this week. Barely begun one, nearly finished the other. Huzzah!

In My Mailbox (6)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren (who was inspired by Alea of Pop Culture Junkie‘s This Week in Books). Basically you just post about new books that came into your house over the past week, whether in the mail or by getting them at the library or by buying them in a store. Capiche?

Only one new addition this week:

I bought it because the translation is supposed to be a really good one (the freebie version has an older translation that also cuts things out?), so hopefully I won’t have any problem reading it!

Give books for the holidays! Part 1

Posted by Anastasia on November 27, 2010 10 Responses »

Nov 272010

I LOVE giving books as presents, and it makes me really happy whenever I’ve given someone a book that they end up loving. Unfortunately none of the people I’m giving gifts to this year really LIKE receiving books as gifts, even when I try super hard to find them something they’ll like. (They prefer to steal my books instead.) However! I’m sure there are tons of people out there that DO like getting books as gifts and so I’ve decided to make up a post with ideas on what to buy them! I mean, yeah, you could always just buy them a gift card, but what’s the fun in that?

I went a bit insane in making up this list, so much so that I’m going to divide it into a few parts. Maybe three total? Meanwhile, here’s 18 gift ideas!

Doing this in pictures because visuals are awesome! Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page.

For adventurous youngsters:

For people who feel nostalgic a lot even when they didn’t do the thing that makes them nostalgic in the first place:

For people who wish they were explorers:

For people who like to think about symbolism a lot:

For people who like watching true crime shows:

For people who want to travel:

A second gift-idea post will be up sometime next week!

Out Soon (December 2010)

Posted by Anastasia on November 23, 2010 4 Responses »

Nov 232010

Just a new thing I’m trying, wherein I list a bunch of interesting-looking books that are coming out next month. This is not EVERY book coming out in December, only the ones I’m personally interested in. Partially inspired by The Story Siren’s New Reads feature, except I’m not ambitious enough to do it weekly.

You can also find this list on the sidebar, which is updated somewhat more frequently and includes months other than December!

It mostly seems like it’s sequels and conclusions to series being published in December, which is somewhat problematic for me because I haven’t read most of these series (although I may own the first book). And it seriously took me AGES to put this list together, even though it’s tiny. Where’s all the books?! Continue reading »

Review: The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

Posted by Anastasia on November 22, 2010 7 Responses »

Nov 222010

218. The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner
Publication: Greenwillow Books (December 27, 2005), Paperback, 304pp / ISBN 0060824972
Genre: MG Fiction
Rating: Borrow it
Read: November 13-15, 2010
Source: Bought (almost a year ago exactly)
Summary from Amazon:

After Gen’s bragging lands him in the king’s prison, the chances of escape look slim. Then the king’s scholar, the magus, needs the thief’s skill for a seemingly impossible task — to steal a hidden treasure from another land.

To the magus, Gen is just a tool. But Gen is a trickster and a survivor with a plan of his own.

Review

The Thief wasn’t exactly what I was expecting. I think I was assuming it was something like a Robin Hobb novel mixed with a Kevin Crossley-Holland book, and really it’s more like a Patricia C. Wrede book. Not that that’s a bad thing, but when you’re expecting a pseudo historical fiction/fantasy book with a darkish tone to it, and it’s really more of a lighthearted romp through a fictional country with a character who could have been one of the clowns in Shakespeare’s comedy plays…it’s a little jarring.

I spent much of my time wondering why the other characters didn’t hit Gen more because he was so frickin’ annoying. He was whiny and a braggart and all he did was sit on his butt and talk about how awesome he was. I didn’t really like him, and I did a LOT of scoffing– mostly whenever he was bragging about his mad elite thieving skillz. It was also a somewhat slow beginning, and this didn’t help me enjoy the story. Continue reading »

TSS (Nov. 21) & IMM (5)

Posted by Anastasia on November 21, 2010 7 Responses »

Nov 212010

The Sunday Salon

It’s Thanksgiving break this week here in the US, and for me that means three (and a half) extra days of readin’ books and…doin’ homework…and readin’ books! With the weekend it’s five (and a half) days, and I am going to make a BIG EFFORT to read at least three books. I keep getting distracted by the computer, and by my email, and by Twitter and Facebook and all that stuff, and then I turn the TV on and get distracted there, too. So for my Thanksgiving break I’m going to make a conscious effort to spend at LEAST three hours away from the computer and away from the TV every day. I think I can do that! I do that every day when I’m going to school anyway, so it should be easy. Right?

I’m planning on just picking books off my TBR shelves and reading them, but I also want to finish my second Trollope book on my Kindle if I can (and then write my Classics Circuit post. I’m posting December 6th!) and at least one review book.

Do you have Thanksgiving vacation this week? Are you planning on reading something special?

(Also, have you filled out my readership survey yet?) Continue reading »

Free (& Cheap) Reads (3)

Posted by Anastasia on November 20, 2010 5 Responses »

Nov 202010

As you may know, I am somewhat obsessed with finding legal free books, music, and other things to keep me entertained. Since I’ve gotten my Kindle, I think I’ve downloaded somewhere around 300 legally free books– mostly from Project Gutenberg, which shall forever hold the key to my spendthrift heart.

But there are other places to get free books besides Project Gutenberg, and that’s where this bi-weekly report will come in. I’ll be posting about freebie downloads I find throughout my internet travels that interest me the most; it’ll be somewhat skewed towards Kindle books, since that’s what I have, ~~but I’ll also let y’all know if other formats are available as well.~~ and for this post I’ve been very lazy and only linked to the Kindle version for most books. Please note, though, that usually what’s free on Amazon shows up free at B&N or elsewhere.

I’ve also added a section for books under or around $3, because that’s the pricepoint that tempts me the most. They’re all at Amazon because that’s where I use my gift cards. Self-centered, I know, but I hope it’ll help out some of y’all who want cheap reads, too. Enjoy!

Legend 
[format, DRM/no DRM, location restricted to]

This post is frickin’ huge so it’s under a cut: Continue reading »