Book Haul #42: My Last

That is I hope this will be my last for a very long time because my plan at the moment is to spend less so I can pay off a good portion of my student loans so I can go live my life and do what I want. I tell this to everyone I know, so I’m saying it here too to get it out my system and hopefully make it a reality. So no unnecessary spending. I’ll only purchase a book when I have a coupon AND if there’s a book I really want. With that said, here’s the last of the books I purchased this year.

Comic books

Niobe: She Is Life by by Sebastian A. Jones and Amandla Stenberg, illus. by Ashley A. Woods

I probably mentioned this comic book series in a book haul or something earlier this year (or was it last year?) when I joined the Kickstarter campaign for it, but I FINALLY GOT MY COPY!!! 😀 I’m so excited because it’s so beautiful. It’s “a coming-of-age tale” about a female half-elf who is a “warrior–bounty hunter.” I learned about it from this review over on Rich in Color and decided to support the Kickstarter campaign because the main character is a woman of color. The comic book is described by this article in Vogue as “the first internationally distributed comic with a black female author, artist, and central character,” which made me even more happy for getting it. I like the illustrations I glimpsed in it and I hope I’ll like the story too.

Btw, co-writer Amandla Stenberg is an actress and activist and has appeared in films such as The Hunger Games and the movie adaptation of Nicola Yoon’s Everything, Everything. Sebastian A. Jones is head of Stranger Comics, which published Niobe: She Is Life. Stranger Comics seems to support stories that promote diversity in comics.

Run for It: Stories of Slaves Who Fought for Their Freedom by Marcelo d’Salete (illus.)

A graphic novel about “Brazil’s hidden history of slavery” by Brazilian cartoonist Marcelo d’Salete. I was recommended this book through NPR’s Book Concierge app, which is the best thing ever. If you’re an avid lover of books and need recommendations or just want to play with a book app while bored at work, go check it out.

Books on art and creativity

Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking by David Bayles and Ted Orland

This is an inspirational nonfiction book on the process of making art. I think it’s one that all artists, writers, actors, dancers, and everyone else who engages in some form of artmaking should read. I started reading it soon after purchasing it and am grateful I did. It’s a slim book, but a great read. I didn’t even go to the bookstore to get it. I was there to get this book:

The Secret Lives of Color by Kassia St. Clair

I learned of this one through Literary Hub. They had a giveaway for it that I didn’t win. Since I’ve always wanted a book about colors, or to take a class on it if I could, I decided to purchase the book when next I got a Barnes & Noble coupon. B&N didn’t disappoint. They gave out 25%-off coupons nearly every week between Black Friday and Christmas.

Short Stories

Dreadful Young Ladies and Other Stories by Kelly Barnhill

I’ve never read a book by Barnhill before, but the praise for her novel, The Girl Who Drank the Moon, intrigues me so when I saw a giveaway for an ARC of her book of short stories slated for publication in February 2018, I entered. Dreadful Young Ladies is an adult book and I believe the stories in it are all fantasy. I haven’t yet read it, but if you’d like to know more and read a sample, check out this Entertainment Weekly article.

The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle

A horror novella that retells H.P. Lovecraft’s short story, “The Horror at Red Hook,” from the perspective of a Black man. This is another one I read as soon as I got it and was surprised I liked it. I just wish it was longer, and apparently AMC plans to adapt it for TV in 2018. (I’ll be looking out for it.)

Supernatural, maybe

Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix, illus. by Michael Rogalski

Aaahhh!!! 😀 😀 I’m sooo happy to FINALLY have a copy of this edition of the book. I’m excited to read it too, so I hope I’ll do so soon. It’s a horror novel that’s set at a furniture superstore that looks a lot like Ikea, and the novel itself is designed to look like an Ikea catalog, so I already like it. I hope the story is good too. I like the first sentence:

“It was dawn, and the zombies were stumbling through the parking lot, streaming toward the massive beige box at the far end.”

It brings me back to high-school and college days when I worked in retail and thought of early morning customers as zombies because some looked like they just rolled outta bed and came to the store and I’d wonder WHY are they here so early to annoy me. (I’m not a morning person.)

The Witches: Salem, 1692 by Stacy Schiff

A history book about the Salem witch trials that I attempted to read earlier this year but was unable to complete because I kept falling asleep. I blame that on the reading slump I was in and that I read the ebook, which was a chore for me because there are lots of footnotes and I hate having to skip to a footnote page on an ereader. It gets confusing. So hopefully I’ll have better luck with the physical copy, though it’s hardcover, ugh!

Fantasy!

The Summer Dragon by Todd Lockwood (illus.)

I’ve wanted this book every since reading Lashaan’s wonderful review of it over on Bookidote. It’s the first in a fantasy series about a girl who wants to get her own dragon and there seems to be a lot of political intrigue in it, but I’m just interested in the dragon parts and the illustrations. Lockwood is the illustrator of The Memoirs of Lady Trent series by Marie Brennan.

Blood of Elves by Andrzej Sapkowski

The first novel in the Witcher series, which is based on a fantasy video game. I think two short stories precede this, so if I feel lost while reading this, I’ll go dig up those stories. Don’t ask me why I bought the book, though. I’ve never played the game and I don’t know anything about it, but the synopsis of this book sounds interesting.

Glass Town by Steven Savile

I’ve never heard of this book before…at least, I don’t think I did. I got it in my first PageHabit box, which is a monthly book subscription box that offers “author-annotated new release books” in a variety of genres. Part of the proceeds is donated to charity to support literacy. I’m not crazy about box subscription boxes, but I’m willing to try this one for a while.

Assassin’s Creed 😀

Assassin’s Creed: The Complete Visual History by Matthew Miller

I was inspired by Trang over at Bookidote to get this. She doesn’t play video games either, but she likes the World of Warcraft and picked up a book on it, so I was like, “Hey, I should find something like that for Assassin’s Creed.” Then I went to B&N and found this book on discount. Guess who was beyond happy. I like the artwork and history used in Assassin’s Creed, so this was a great buy.

Assassin’s Creed: Renaissance by Oliver Bowden

I’d like to know more about the story in the video game, so I picked this up too. I wonder if it will be a good read, though. Totally taking a chance here because I not very familiar with the game: never played it and never seen it played, and have only seen the movie.

Boom! BAM!

Di year dun!

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