Friday, January 9, 2015

Libraries are awesome!

Have I mentioned how much I love libraries? They're free for everyone to go in, and they're just full of books! And you can take out as many books as you like, for free! And if you don't finish reading all of them when they're due back, you can renew them. Or if you started one and didn't like it, you can just take it back, and it's okay, because it was free!

Sort of stating the obvious here. And preaching to the converted, I'm sure. But every once in a while someone needs to cheer for libraries; they're one of the good things in the world. I love the feeling I get, walking out of a library, arms piled high with potential: "a sweet humming anticipation against my ribs." (That's from The Last Policeman, by Ben Winters, an example of his most excellent writing.)

This is what's got me humming with anticipation on this trip to the library:

Ancillary Justice, by Ann Leckie. Actually got this one a few days ago and I'm finished already. Loved it! So cool, so interesting. Breq, the single surviving remnant of the spaceship Justice of Toren, is such an amazing character. My review on Goodreads here.









Just started The Last Policeman, by Ben Winters, and I love the main character already. The world is ending in 6 months, but eager young Detective Hank Palace still thinks solving murders matters.









Heard a lot of buzz about Annihilation, by Jeff Vandermeer. Should I go from pre-apocalyptic to post-apocalyptic and read this one next?










Or should I cleanse my palate with something a little more lighthearted, like The Clue of the Linoleum Lederhosen, by M. T. Anderson. How can you resist a title like that? Second book in the series that began with Whales on Stilts. This author has quite the sense of humour!








But I also have Greenglass House, by Kate Milford, one of my fave new-to-me authors of 2014, and the cover looks awesome, and the first few pages are intriguing, so I might have to dive right into this one.









And from my trip upstairs to the teen section, Avalon, by Mindee Arnett, which I'm pretty sure is on my TBR, and how could it not be: teenage mercenaries in a spaceship!









Also When We Wake, by Karen Healey, which I've never heard of, but has a great cover and a cool premise: girl wakes up unexpectedly a hundred years in the future, part of a government experiment in cryogenics. Plus, set in Australia, and I don't think I've ever disliked a book by an Australian author. (Oh, wait, Healey's from New Zealand. I bet I like New Zealand authors, too!)







Lastly, picked up because of its catchy pink cover and fun title, How To Say Goodbye in Robot, by Natalie Standiford. Friendship between two oddballs: I always love stories like that.









So I have quite enough to be going on with for the next little while. But oh, oh oh! Guess what else I got my hot little hands on:

Yes, I have an ARC of the sequel to Seraphina! Very excited about this one. Will be reviewing it soon. Stay tuned!