Stacking The Shelves: Holiday Edition

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews to showcase books that I have received for review, bought, borrowed, been gifted, or won to read.


I haven't participated in Stacking The Shelves in years, but I thought I would join in this week to share my great Holiday Haul because I'm very excited about all the books I received:

Vicious by V.E. Schwab (x2) - one copy from Sara of Just Another Story and one copy from Micheline of Lunar Rainbows
This is clearly a case of Great Minds Think Alike and These Ladies Know Me So Well because I received two copies of this book and I already know I'm going to LOVE it. At the moment, I'm feeling no need to get rid of one of these copies because I like both covers and want to keep both... Maybe I'll switch between the two when reading :p

Of Metal and Wishes by Sarah Fine - from Zahida of Musings of a YA Reader
Zahida surprised me with this book during our last meet-up before I left Toronto. It's one she loved so I'm stoked about it! I'm going to miss our regular catch-ups and book signing events together!

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland In A Ship Of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente - from Micheline of Lunar Rainbows
Yessss!! I've been wanting to read this one for YEARS and now I finally see it happening this year!

Eeny Meeny by M. J. Arlidge - from Lauren of Shooting Stars Mag
Lauren gifted me with this book with the knowledge that I love the Cormoran Strike books and this one is in the same vein as those - so that's definitely exciting! Something to tide me over until the next Cormoran Strike book is released!

Confess by Colleen Hoover - from Ambur of Burning Impossibly Bright
I remember mentioning to Ambur that I've never read anything by Colleen Hoover and I wouldn't know which book of hers to start with... and she surprised me with this one! I'm excited because Ambur is a big fan of hers and I def trust her opinion.

Roald Dahl Book Set - from husband
Roald Dahl was my J. K. Rowling before I read HP, but it's been many years since I've read any of my old childhood favourites. And now I can!!

Wolf By Wolf by Ryan Grandin - from husband
I had this one for review last year, but unfortunately I was so busy that the eARC period ran out before I could get to it. The premise has intrigued me since I first heard of it.

The Dark Days Club by Alison Goodman - from Penguin Canada via Goodreads Giveaway
I haven't really heard anything about this one yet, but I'm looking forward to finding out what it's about!

Harry Potter Colouring Book and Enchanted Forest Colouring Book - from husband
I will now be joining the recent adult colouring book craze with these two beauties - I hope I can stay within the lines!


How lucky am I to have so many people in my life who know my reading tastes so well and are so generous?! So lucky.

Waiting On Wednesday: HarperCollins Winter 2016 Catalog

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill of Breaking The Spine in which upcoming, eagerly anticipated releases are highlighted on the blog.

This week, I've chosen to feature a few picks from the HarperCollins Winter 2016 Catalog:

Shade Me by Jennifer Brown
Date: January 19, 2016

Add to Goodreads

Nikki Kill does not see the world like everyone else. In her eyes, happiness is pink, sadness is a mixture of brown and green, and lies are gray. Thanks to a rare phenomenon called synesthesia, Nikki’s senses overlap, in a way that both comforts and overwhelms her.
Always an outsider, just one ‘D’ shy of flunking out, Nikki’s life is on the fast track to nowhere until the night a mysterious call lights her phone up bright orange—the color of emergencies. It’s the local hospital. They need Nikki to identify a Jane Doe who is barely hanging on to life after a horrible attack.
The victim is Peyton Hollis, a popular girl from Nikki’s school who Nikki hardly knows. One thing is clear: Someone wants Peyton dead. But why? And why was Nikki’s cell the only number in Peyton’s phone?
As she tries to decipher the strange kaleidoscope of clues, Nikki finds herself thrust into the dark, glittering world of the ultra-rich Hollis family, and drawn towards Peyton’s handsome, never-do-well older brother Dru. While Nikki’s colors seem to help her unravel the puzzle, what she can’t see is that she may be falling into a trap. The only truth she can be sure of is that death is a deep, pulsing crimson.

Shade Me features a protagonist that has synesthesia, a condition in which stimulation of one sensory pathway results in the stimulation of another sense... in this case, the main character perceives emotions as colours. I've always found neurological conditions like synesthesia fascinating and I'm very curious to read Jennifer Brown's take on what it would be like to experience this phenomenon!

Revenge And The Wild by Michelle Modesto
Date: February 2, 2016

Add to Goodreads

The two-bit town of Rogue City is a lawless place, full of dark magic and saloon brawls, monsters and six-shooters. But it’s perfect for seventeen-year-old Westie, the notorious adopted daughter of local inventor Nigel Butler.
Westie was only a child when she lost her arm and her family to cannibals on the wagon trail. Nine years later, Westie may seem fearsome with her foul-mouthed tough exterior and the powerful mechanical arm built for her by Nigel, but the memory of her past still haunts her. She’s determined to make the killers pay for their crimes—and there’s nothing to stop her except her own reckless ways.
But Westie’s search ceases when a wealthy family comes to town looking to invest in Nigel’s latest invention, a machine that can harvest magic from gold—which Rogue City desperately needs as the magic wards that surround the city start to fail. There’s only one problem: the investors look exactly like the family who murdered Westie’s kin. With the help of Nigel’s handsome but scarred young assistant, Alistair, Westie sets out to prove their guilt. But if she’s not careful, her desire for revenge could cost her the family she has now.

Revenge and the Wild initially caught my eye because it's been a while since I've read steampunk, which is a genre I've always loved. More recently, I've been hearing some murmurings from reviewers who really loved this debut from Michelle Modesto, so sign me up!

The Girl From Everywhere by Heidi Heilig
Date: February 16, 2016

Add to Goodreads

Heidi Heilig’s debut teen fantasy sweeps from modern-day New York City to nineteenth-century Hawaii to places of myth and legend. Sixteen-year-old Nix has sailed across the globe and through centuries aboard her time-traveling father’s ship. But when he gambles with her very existence, it all may be about to end. The Girl from Everywhere, the first of two books, will dazzle readers of Sabaa Tahir, Rae Carson, and Rachel Hartman.
Nix’s life began in Honolulu in 1868. Since then she has traveled to mythic Scandinavia, a land from the tales of One Thousand and One Nights, modern-day New York City, and many more places both real and imagined. As long as he has a map, Nix’s father can sail his ship, The Temptation, to any place, any time. But now he’s uncovered the one map he’s always sought—1868 Honolulu, before Nix’s mother died in childbirth. Nix’s life—her entire existence—is at stake. No one knows what will happen if her father changes the past. It could erase Nix’s future, her dreams, her adventures . . . her connection with the charming Persian thief, Kash, who’s been part of their crew for two years. If Nix helps her father reunite with the love of his life, it will cost her her own.

The Girl From Everywhere is another 2016 debut, but I'm not entirely sure what to make of its premise... All I know is it sounds super original and that's almost always a plus in my book. So I say bring on the time-travelling ships!


How about you? Are you waiting on any of these HarperCollins Winter 2016 reads? Are there any upcoming books from the HarperCollins Winter 2016 Catalog that I didn't include here that you feel I should add to my list?

My 2015 Bookish Stats

I love breaking down my year in reading into different stats based on rating, genre, etc. The results always interest me! I did this last year, as well. I don't know if anyone really cares about these stats except for me, but I find that it's a good way to keep track of trends in my reading and certain things I might want to change for this year.

If you're wondering: no, I did not just compile all this information recently. I've been keeping track of my 2015 books all year long in a spreadsheet, so this didn't take me as long to do as you might think!

Total books read in 2015: 150

Number of rereads in 2015: 21

I hope I don't sound too full of myself when I say that I am quite proud of these numbers. It's taken me a lot of practice and prioritizing to be able to get my number of books read in a year up to 150. What's more is I've successfully challenged myself to read 25 books more each year than the year previous:

So the question becomes: can I really keep this trend up and read 25 more books for 2016 (ie. 175 books total)?!. I'm not counting on it. I would say that would be an unnecessary pressure to put on myself just to follow some trend. Instead, my goal for this year will be more conservative (relatively) at 100 books. And I think I will be perfectly satisfied with that number should I accomplish it.

Note: To make this easier, I've rounded UP all .5 Star Ratings. So 4.5 Stars is lumped in with 5 Stars, 3.5 Stars is lumped in with 4 Stars, etc.

2015 Breakdown By Rating: I didn't read as many books this year that I was *in love* with as I did last year, but overall 2015 was a pretty solid year in books, I would say! It's pretty rare these days that I pick out a book to read that I end up disliking completely.

2015 Breakdown By Genre: Now this is surprising: 2015 is the year that contemporary fiction officially became my most read genre over fantasy. Granted, only by a little bit, but still. I don't think anyone who knows me would have ever expected this to happen... But I think it has to do with the fact that I largely read via audiobook in 2015 and I'm not the best at listening to stories with complex world building like you might find in fantasies. I find it much easier to follow non-speculative-fiction audiobooks.

2015 Breakdown By Type: And here's the audiobook statistic that I mentioned above: 2015 was truly the year of listening to books rather than reading them, for me. This was purely because of the limited time I had to read physical books for pleasure. The majority of my physical reading time was devoted to scientific papers as part of my research for my thesis... I had to turn to audiobooks to get in my pleasure-reading. This year, I truly hope I can make my return to physical reading for pleasure. It's not that I dislike audiobooks - I love my experience with them - but I've missed the times when I could snuggle in for the night with a good book and a mug of tea.

2015 Breakdown By Author Gender and Protagonist Gender: I'm feeling quite pleased with these stats! I would say that's a pretty even spread between both author genders and protagonist genders.

2015 Breakdown By POC and LGBT Presence: Somewhat good proportions... or at least an improvement over previous years. My goal this year will be to exceed the proportion of books I read with a POC and LGBT presence from 2015.

2015 Breakdown of Series Vs. Standalones: Nothing surprising here. And though it may be most people's goal to read more standalones, I'm okay with having read mostly series in 2015. Actually, one of my goals for 2015 was to work on completing some of the many, many series I am currently in the middle of. And I would say I succeeded that! I've gotten my number of WIP Series down to only 6 (from 20 or so)!

Life Update Again

Happy New Year everyone! As I mentioned in my last post, I have been very busy these past few months due to some major life changes. BUT I think life is finally starting to slow down for me again (I HOPE). So hopefully this means a return to a regular reading and blogging schedule soon.


In case you were curious about what has been keeping me so busy, here are some updates:

1. I have successfully defended my thesis. I am currently working away on my revisions and I am hoping to get my manuscript in top shape so that I can get my chapters published.

2. I got married to my boyfriend of five years. We ordered an officiant off the internet, got her to edit down the ceremony to the bare legal minimum, and had it over and done with in five minutes. It’s not that I don’t take the institution of marriage seriously; it’s just that the hubbub, stress, and cost of a wedding do not suit my husband or me at all. Later, we celebrated with family and friends:

3. I am moving back to Alberta, maybe for the long-term. My husband has accepted a full-time permanent job in his field in Alberta, and those positions don’t come around too often in palaeontology. Moving is always a tremendous amount of work, but moving across the country is something else and it has been the focus of my attention these past weeks, along with my thesis.

We bought a car (first ever), packed it with some belongings and the ferrets and set off on our road trip. It's faster, cheaper, and safer to cross the continent via the U.S. in the winter than it is to go through Canada, so that's what we did. We got to see some great sights along the way:

Ghostly Presidents at nighttime - Mt. Rushmore, South Dakota

Wicked cool natural rock structure - Devils Tower, Wyoming

It seems like I only just moved to Toronto, so it’s crazy to think that I’m moving away again so quickly. There are many people here in Ontario that I will miss!


And to come:
1. A return to a more regular blogging schedule. This might not happen immediately as I still need to finish revisions on my thesis, get settled in my new place, and find a job, but it should hopefully happen soon and I’m looking forward to it!
2. A return to reading for pleasure. As with blogging, I haven’t had a ton of reading time to myself either, sadly. There were quite a few 2015 reads that I had been dying to get to when they were first released, but I found I couldn’t make the time for them last year. Finally I will get to read them in 2016!

So that’s it for me. 2015 was a pretty exciting year for me, but I am honestly looking forward to a less exciting, but still pleasurable, 2016 with some quiet time. Best wishes to everyone in the upcoming year!

Life Update: I'm Still Alive, Just Busy

Just your typical "I'm Still Alive, Just Busy" life update blog post. My last post was on September 1st and there have been many things that have happened in my life since, including a potential MAJOR life change coming soon... I think I'll try to keep it brief though.

After the horror that was my $6,000 mistake, I began my new job as a university prof trying to get students interested in palaeontology! It is loads of work, but it honestly hasn't felt too overwhelming because I've been genuinely enjoying preparing and giving lectures. Teaching can be frustrating if the students are unwilling to be taught, but very rewarding with enthusiastic participants!

My (empty) view of my lecture room from the podium

I've also been diligently working on my thesis and am hoping to defend at the beginning of December. In mid-October, I presented the research that comprises the third chapter of my thesis at a palaeontology conference in Dallas. I think my presentation went pretty well! It's pretty crazy how far I've come with public speaking to large audiences... from utterly terrified to nearly comfortable!

Conference room where I gave my talk

X marks the spot: my hotel was only a brief walk from the site where JFK was assassinated, noted by an "X" on the road

In between my work, I've had some inkling of a social life: going out to dinner with friends, attending a Paint Nite meeting with Ambur (which was fun!), and even having my dad come visit so that he could attend one of my lectures (which was nice!).

Paint Nite with Ambur: fun times! Just don't look at our "birds" too closely...

As for reading, well that's unfortunately fallen by the wayside quite a bit. I have been trying to keep up with my reading goal for the year by listening to more audiobooks whilst doing other tasks, but the reading of physical books has been lacking for some time. I keep telling myself that I just need to push for a few weeks longer, get my thesis and teaching work done, then hopefully I'll have much more free time to read to my heart's content!

During my morning commute, I've been catching up on everyone's blog posts with my feed reader, but I admit it's not quite the same as getting to really interact with you guys. I hope I can get back to a regular blogging schedule soon. After all, I need to fangirl over the new Fantastic Beasts set pics and my thoughts on the new Cormoran Strike novel (which was excellent, btw!).

Anyways, that's me. I'd love to know what you guys have been up to lately!