In My Mailbox » Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog

TSS (Apr. 17): Book Budget Totals (Jan-Mar) & IMM (23)

Posted by Anastasia on April 17, 2011 1 Response »

Apr 172011

The Sunday Salon (April 17)

You may remember two posts I did last year, on how to keep buying books even when you don’t have a lot of money? Yeah, I’ve been putting my own advice into good use. I thought maybe it’d be a good idea to show how much I’ve saved on my book-buying habits since the beginning of the year, to sort of…inspire? Maybe?

Keep in mind that I’m ONLY buying ebooks this year, so all (except two) of my acquisitions are ebooks. I still get paper books for reviews and whatnot, but I’ve put myself on a paper book ban (except for that one time)– and anyway, review books aren’t counted in the totals. So! Continue reading »

TSS (Apr. 10): Post-readathon & IMM (22)

Posted by Anastasia on April 10, 2011 8 Responses »

Apr 102011

The Sunday Salon (April 10)

So! The readathon was pretty awesome, right? I only read one book, myself, but I had a FANTASTIC time cohosting and being in charge and HAVING THE POWER to, like, do stuff. It was fun! Thanks so much to everyone who came and visited the readathon blog and left such nice comments! And especially thanks to my fellow readathon volunteers, cohosts and cheerleaders, who put so much work into making the ‘thon awesome!

I suppose I didn’t realize it before, but the hours I was cohosting (and the hours before and after when I was helping out) were really exhausting as well as fun. It all went so quick but I’ve been left tired and out of sorts. I think this happens to everyone who participates in the readathon, so I’m not overly worried about it. It’s just a little annoying, I guess.

How are you feeling in this post-readathon time? Are you really, really tired as well? All booked out?

Books read this week:
32. No Wind of Blame – Georgette Heyer [rating: Bin it]
33. Dragon and Thief – Timothy Zahn [rating: Buy it] e
34. Dragon and Soldier – Timothy Zahn [rating: Buy it] e
35. The Goose Girl – Shannon Hale [rating: Buy it] e

Books reviewed this week:
27. Dead End Gene Pool – Wendy Burden [rating: Buy it] R
32. No Wind of Blame – Georgette Heyer [rating: Bin it]
Continue reading »

TSS (Apr. 3): Book buying blahs & IMM (21)

Posted by Anastasia on April 3, 2011 4 Responses »

Apr 032011

The Sunday Salon (April 3)

On Monday, during the tiny roadtrip to Sante Fe, we stopped at one of those discount stores that sell everything under the sun and I very foolishly browsed through their book section. All the books were $3 and under, and I very nearly bought about 10 of them. Luckily I stopped myself in time– both because I’m actually on a paper book-buying ban and because I’m saving what money I can for BEA– and I ended up just adding them to my TBR wishlist instead. But I was kind of bummed out about it, because $3 for hardcover books is a really good price, and I’ve been wanting new books anyway.

Not that I need new books. Just that I want some. Plus, acquiring new ebooks isn’t as much fun as browsing through discount book bins and pulling out something fabulous, though I do save a lot of money by sticking to ebooks. Mostly because I get them when they’re free and/or cheap.

But it’s not the same.

Books read this week:
30. No One Belongs Here More Than You – Miranda July [rating: TBD]
31. Gosick vol. 1 – Kazuki Sakuraba [rating: Bin it]

Books reviewed this week:
16. Postmortem – Laurel Saville [rating: Buy it]
26. Bloodshot – Cherie Priest [rating: Borrow it]

In My Mailbox (21)

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?

Bought/Downloaded:

TSS (Mar. 27): Road trip! & IMM (20)

Posted by Anastasia on March 27, 2011 3 Responses »

Mar 272011

The Sunday Salon (March 27)

I’m going on a road trip tomorrow! Sort of. I guess it doesn’t count as a proper road trip if the trip lasts only an hour each way. But it’s still a long-ish time spent in a car, and I’m going to bring at least two books because I can. (So there!)

The first one is going to be whatever book I don’t finish reading today, and the other one is going to be The Dracula Dossier because I feel like reading another vampire book. I’ll probably also end up bringing my Kindle, “just in case.” Over-prepared? Me? Nah.

I actually wish we were driving for a longer amount of time, long enough for our trip to be counted as an actual road trip instead of just a baby one. One of my favorite things to do is pack up a bunch of books, a blanket, and some snacks and read in the car while someone else is driving. It’s a nice way to get in some solid hours of reading without any distractions!

Do you like reading on road trips? What sort of books do you bring with you?

Also, Diana Wynne Jones died yesterday. It actually kind of hurts more than I thought it would, so I’ll just say this: I’ll miss you, DWJ.

Books read this week:
27. Dead End Gene Pool – Wendy Burden [rating: Buy it] R
28. More Than Mortal – Mick Farren [rating: TBD]
29. Journey to the River Sea – Eva Ibbotson [rating: Buy it]

Books reviewed this week:
23. Human.4 – Mike A. Lancaster [rating: Buy it] R
24. The Bloomswell Diaries – Louis L. Buitendag [rating: Borrow it] R

Currently reading:
I’m about 100 pages in To A Mountain in Tibet, a travel memoir about a trip to a mountain in Tibet. It’s nice, although the writing and pacing is so ponderous I think it’s actually making me feel tired. To wake myself back up I started reading No One Belongs Here More Than You, a collection of strange and entertaining short stories by Miranda July.

In My Mailbox (#20)

For review:

Bought/Downloaded:

Also: A whole bunch of Mercedes Lackey books from Baen’s newest CD full of free books!

TSS (Mar. 20): BEA Prep & IMM (19)

Posted by Anastasia on March 20, 2011 6 Responses »

Mar 202011

The Sunday Salon (March 20)

It is now about two months until Book Expo America happens! I’m still going, of course, and I’ve started planning and prepping for the trip. I like planning trips– it’s one of my favorite things to do– and since this is my first big trip on my own, I want to do a really good job of planning and preparing so I don’t bring shame down upon my super-organized family.

So far I’ve picked a hostel and reserved a room, I’ve bought my plane ticket, and I’ve made a travel journal for the trip! Next I’m going to put together a binder of Important Information: locations of street carts, which of the tourist places are free, and how to get from my airport to my hostel. I’m tempted to pick out a book for the journey (I’m not bringing my Kindle because, er, I won’t need it. It’s a BOOK convention, duh) and start packing my suitcase, but even I know it’s too early for that.

Are you going to be at BEA? Have you started planning yet?

In other news, I have made some fancy headers for the blog! They rotate whenever you go to a different page (or just refresh the page you’re on), which is pretty nifty.

Books read this week:
26. Bloodshot – Cherie Priest [rating: TBD]

Books reviewed this week:
22. The Great Perhaps – Joe Meno [rating: Borrow it] e

Currently reading:
Still on Madre! Read my Thursday Tea post for more of my thoughts on it. Continue reading »

TSS (Mar. 13): While I was on break & IMM (18)

Posted by Anastasia on March 13, 2011 6 Responses »

Mar 132011

The Sunday Salon (Mar. 13)

So I’m back! I think. Yesterday I was somewhat enthusiastic about posting again, but today I’m more ambivalent. Possibly that’s because of my allergies, which have become rather horrific over the past few days. Anyway, after thinking about it, I’ve decided to change some things around here.

Basically I’m going to:

post only two reviews a week (instead of three).
cut out the bi-weekly Free (& Cheap) Reads meme. Since I really only post about books I bought or downloaded anyway, this’ll be covered by my weekly In My Mailbox post.
Thursday Tea, Birdwatching, Out Soon and Classroom Takeover posts will still be posted on their original schedules.
I’m also not going to accept books for review from now until…some other time.

Hopefully by cutting down on posting a bit I’ll be able to keep from getting stressed out again for a while, and I’ll have more time to do other things!

Meanwhile, here’s what I did while on my blogging break:

I didn’t read a single books (although I did read bout 200 pages).
I watched a lot of TV shows (including all of Royal Pains, That Mitchell and Webb Look, the newest Doctor Who season, some Seventh Doctor Who episodes, and Misfits).
I made one and a half collages– I finally got some gesso! So that’s exciting. Also got some watercolor stuff and too many scrapbook pages.
Saw two musicals: The Music Man and Legally Blonde. They were fun! Well, Legally Blonde was fun. The Music Man suffered from some dismal singing and a half-broken sound system.
Applied for my passport!
Went to Build-a-Bear and built a bear.
Entered 52 contests/giveaways (no wins yet).
Played an entire video game on my Nintendo DS and got a decent amount into the newest Pokemon game.
Cleaned out my bedside table.

Currently reading:
I’m about halfway through Bloodshot, Cherie Priest’s newest book. It’s got vampires and werewolves and a government conspiracy! I’m also about 11% into Madre by Liza Bakewell, which is so far pretty interesting. Continue reading »

TSS (Feb. 27): No more worries & IMM (17)

Posted by Anastasia on February 27, 2011 2 Responses »

Feb 272011

The Sunday Salon (Feb. 27)

Remember when I was all freaked out about my TBR pile and how I’d have to store them and whatever? Well! I’ve come out on the other side now. I don’t give a crap any longer about how big my TBR pile is, and I’m not even going to worry about having to keep them in storage somewhere (along with all my other stuff). Once I actually go have to move them I may worry again, but right now everything’s fine.

I’m not sure how I came to this understanding. I think it helped that my parents said I could keep my stuff with them while I was away (as long as I have it all boxed up), which means I don’t have to worry about really expensive storage fees.

Also, my TBR pile has been so wittled down by now that it’s not even really that big. I think it’s probably only really two or three boxes worth, and that’s hardly anything. Plus, I can only worry about a certain number of things in my life before I implode, and worrying about my TBR pile is one of the more silly things to obsess over.

So I’m not.

I AM going to have to do something about all these books I’m trying to get rid of, though. I’d like to sell them, but no-one seems to want my books. A yard sale would be great, but we live in an apartment which makes doing that tricky. I think what I’ll do is keep trying to sell them online (especially my old textbooks), and whatever’s left whenever I’m ready to go abroad I’ll donate. What do you think?

Sidenotes:
- I’m 23 now. Woohoo!
- I’ve redone the color scheme on the layout. I’ve still got to redo the header, though, to make it fit in better and to make the whole thing more Spring-y.
- I haven’t used my Kindle since Amazon updated the software, but have any of you? What’s it like? Good?

Books read this week:
23. Human.4 – Mike A. Lancaster [rating: TBD] R
24. The Bloomswell Diaries – Louis L. Buitendag [rating: TBD] R

Books reviewed this week:
17. Skating to Antarctica – Jenny Diski [rating: Buy it]
21. Sandman Slim – Richard Kadrey [rating: Borrow it] e

Currently reading:
In the beginning chapters of I Lost My Mobile at the Mall by Wendy Harmer, an adorable Australian YA book that reminds me of The Year of Secret Assignments.