New on the Stack || April Edition

The Deliberate Reader hosts the monthly linkup New on the Stack to share what you’ve added to your piles in the past month. I separated my acquisitions into "smart people books", novels, and graphic novels/manga. And goodness, I need to lay off the ARC requests. That will be my May resolution: no more ARCs!

Salad Anniversary by Machi Tawara
How I got it: Netgalley e-ARC
Why I got it: Poetry month was last month and I really wanted to enjoy it.

The Circle Game by Margaret Atwood
How I got it: library ebook
Why I got it: I had high hopes for reading a lot of poetry last month, but that really fell flat. I didn't finish this one though I adored the poems I did read.

Measure for Measure by William Shakespeare
How I got it: library audio drama
Why I got it: To do a review for the Bard on the Blogs event. You can see my guest post on Alexa Loves Books.

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
How I got it: library audiobook
Why I got it: This has been on my TBR for years (literally), and right when I needed a book to listen to, it was available.

Bream Gives Me Hiccups by Jesse Eisenberg
How I got it: Netgalley e-ARC
Why I got it: There is little I love more than idiosyncratic short stories.

The Star Side of Bird Hill by Naomi Jackson
How I got it: Netgalley e-ARC
Why I got it: Honestly, I'm a little burned out on YA lately. I've been wanting some heavier, more refined, subtler reads.

Neverland by Shari Arnold
How I got it: Netgalley e-ARC
Why I got it: The cover drew me in. Plus, it's a re-imagining of Peter Pan!

Barry Goupe: In the Midst of Lies by Sean P. McClure
How I got it: The author reached out to me and sent me an e-ARC.
Why I got it: Being a self-published author is tough, and I'm still keeping with my resolution to get over my prejudice against self-pubbed books.

Let’s Eat Ramen and Other Doujinshi Short Stories by Nagumo and Aji-Ichi
How I got it: Netgalley e-ARC
Why I got it: Doujinshi is, from what I understand, independently published manga. Like, manga for manga-creators. Zines of the manga world. I'm so in.

Shadow Show: Stories in Celebration of Ray Bradbury by Neil Gaiman and friends
How I got it: Netgalley e-ARC
Why I got it: Ray Brabury? Neil Gaiman? Graphic novel? No need to say more.

Low, vol. 1: The Delirium of Hope by Rick Remender and Greg Tocchini
How I got it: Netgalley e-ARC
Why I got it: Basically I love anything about the ocean, and the illustrations looked totally gorgeous (which they are, btw).

Twisted Dark, vol. 1 by Neil Gibson
How I got it: Netgalley e-ARC
Why I got it: This is a bunch of interconnected short stories that promised to be dark and...twisted.

Wayward, vol. 1: String Theory by Jim Zub, Steven Cummings, and John Rauch
How I got it: Netgalley e-ARC
Why I got it: It reminded me of a Miyazaki film, and boy was I right. A must-read if you like Miyazaki.





Did you read any good books that I should add to my stack in May?

New on the Stack || March Edition

The Deliberate Reader hosts the monthly linkup New on the Stack to share what you’ve added to your piles in the past month. Link up and envy all the books that you didn’t get your hands on! I had four library holds come through this month, plus my bad habit of browsing for e-books when I’m bored, adds up to mean that I got more books than I would have expected in March.

Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami

How I got it: audiobook loan from the library

Why I got it: I’m slowly making my way through all of Murakami’s books, and my library only has the audiobook of this. The narrator was SO ANNOYING and made the character sound condescending, so I decided to stop listening to it before the whole book was ruined.

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami

How I got it: e-book from the library

Why I got it: How could I keep calling myself a Murakami fan if I hadn’t read this yet?

The Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler

How I got it: e-ARC from Netgalley

Why I got it: In a relapse of my self-imposed Netgalley browsing ban, I requested this because I enjoyed In Search of Lost Time and the storylines are similar. Plus, ya’ll know I judge books by their covers!

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

How I got it: audiobook loan from the library

Why I got it: I was browsing available audiobooks right before I had to leave for work, and thought I should give this a try. I’ve always been intimidated by The Fountainhead because of memories of AP English friends moaning and groaning about how hard it is to read. So far, it’s not so dense that I can’t easily follow it while I’m commuting.

In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust

How I got it: kindle version from Amazon

Why I got it: References to this book keep popping up in my life, and I bet after I read it, I will notice them even more. I’ve never read anything by Proust, and I want to see if he’s as amazing as he’s made out to be.

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

How I got it: pdf from online somewhere (my library doesn’t have it and I’ve been wanting to read it for at least a year now, okay?)

Why I got it: So many of my smart phd friends have read it and recommended it. To be honest, I don’t know that much about the civil rights movement, or the prison system, or what the two have to do with each other. All I know is the US’s prison complex is out of control and no one is telling me why.

Belzhar by Meg Wolitzer

How I got it: e-book from the library

Why I got it: I’ve seen so many reviews of this book that I decided it was time to see what everyone is talking about. (ps I reviewed it already!)

A Bride’s Story, Vol I by Kaoru Mori

How I got it: scannable from Manga Rock

Why I got it: Ana at Read Me Away said the author is one of her international favorites, and I was looking for manga to read shortly after that.

Akira, Vol I by Katsuhiro Otomo

How I got it: scannable from Manga Rock

Why I got it: I want to read the manga classics, and I was drawn in by promises of post-WWIII Tokyo, sci-fi, and amazing storytelling.

New on the Stack || February Edition

The Deliberate Reader is hosting a monthly link-up to share what you’ve added to your reading piles in the past month. I’m always drooling over new (or new-to-me) books, so this link-up is a perfect match for me!

Extraordinário (Wonder) by R.J. Palacio
How I got it: I bought it at Livraria Cultura.
Why I got it: Reading The Silkworm in Portuguese is a liiittle too hard for me at the moment, so I decided to shelve it for a while. I still need to read every day, so I decided to pick up something that interested me—YA lit—and was a little easier. It turns out this is perfect because it's dialogue-driven, and before, I was having trouble with descriptions.

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
How I got it: I checked out the audiobook from the library.
Why I got it: The cover attracted me (sue me: I am a chronic judger-by-the-cover), and I like Japanese fiction (or in this case, Japanese American fiction). The narration and prose are beautiful.

Cleo by Lucy Coats
How I got it: e-ARC from Netgalley
Why I got it: The cover, mostly. But also because when I was younger I went through an intense period of loving historical fiction set in Ancient Egypt, and clearly, I still have trouble resisting.

Fragile Bones: Harrison & Anna by Lorna Schultz Nicholson
How I got it: e-ARC from Netgalley
Why I got it: I was kind of interested in it based on the typography on the cover, but I decided to request it after I read a good review on a book blog (I'm sorry I don't remember where I read it!).

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab
How I got it: I got a sneak preview from Netgally and am in line at the library to borrow the full e-book. I hope those other people know how to return an ebook early.
Why I got it: It looked intriguing, and boy was my hunch correct.

New on the Stack || January Edition

The Deliberate Reader is hosting a link-up to share what you've added to your book pile in the past month. Such a fun idea, and I'm planning to continue it. I've added a few books, but I've mostly mourned the fact that I won't be reading as fast as I usually do because I'm reading in a second language - Portuguese!


Bíblia Vida Melhor Jovem
How I got it: I bought it at Cultura Livraria (a giant bookstore here in São Paulo)
Why I got it: Even though it's easy to get a Portuguese Bible for my phone or ipad, you retain more if you read on paper. I'm reading the book of John in Portuguese, one chapter per day, writing down all the new words in a notebook, and I'm already seeing a huge improvement in my vocabulary.

O Bicho-da-Seda (The Silkworm) by Robert Galbraith
How I got it: I bought it at Cultura Livraria.
Why I got it: I wanted to buy a book that was a little bit above my current reading level in Portuguese, something that wasn't too "literature-y", and I have been wanting to keep up with JK Rowling's career.

Jane Austen Cover to Cover by Margaret C. Sullivan
How I got it: My boyfriend, Silas gave it to me as a Christmas present.
Why I got it: He knows I love book design and Jane Austen.

Piteco: Ingá by Shiko
How I got it: borrowed it from Silas
Why I got it: Graphic novels are easier to read than normal novels, for me, because I understand most words used in dialogues, but not in descriptions. The descriptions are drawn! Also, this book is part of a series of homages paid to one of Brazil's most famous illustrators, Mauricio de Sousa, and I want to understand more about why his characters are so beloved.

Bidu: Caminhos by Eduardo Damasceno and Luís Felipe Garrocho
How I got it: borrowed it from Silas
Why I got it: Another in the series paying homage to Mauricio de Sousa.

Astronauta: Singularidade by Danilo Beyrouth
How I got it: borrowed it from Silas
Why I got it: Another in the series paying homage to Mauricio de Sousa.

The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
How I got it: My bestie Qadria gave me the audio broadcast as a travel gift (audio books are awesome going-away gifts, btw)
Why I got it: I like sci-fi, and I was moving across the world, so Qadria knew that I would like something entertaining and small.

The Shadow Over Innsmouth by H.P. Lovecraft
How I got it: My bestie Qadria gave me the audio version.
Why I got it: Sci-fi, mystery, entertainment, and the only space it takes is a few megabytes on my phone.

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
How I got it: Again, Qadria is to blame!
Why I got it: Because Agatha Christie.