Stacking The Shelves, Vol. 17: The Birthday Haul, Part 1

/ saraletourneau

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Stacking The Shelves is a weekly event hosted by Tynga’s Reviews that shares the books (both physical and virtual) that you recently purchased, borrowed from a fellow reader or the library, won from a giveaway, or received as gifts. Stacking The Shelves will post on Saturdays as new books are added to my shelves.

Some of you know my birthday was last weekend; and apart from other presents I was happy to receive (bed linens, an indoor-outdoor thermometer, a beach umbrella), I got MORE BOOKS. 😀  A couple more arrived after I finished preparing this post, so that’s why this is Part 1. (Part 2 could be up as early as next Saturday.) In the meantime, here’s what I’ve got so far:

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From top to bottom:

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (Fantasy): I feel like The Night Circus has been out forever, yet only now has it grabbed my attention. I’ve seen it on store shelves in Target, Barnes & Noble, and other places… But why I didn’t read the blurb or check out reviews of it until a couple months, I have no clue. Plus, Erin is originally from Massachusetts. Yay for MA speculative fiction writers!

The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell (Fantasy / Science Fiction): Adding The Bone Clocks to my wishlist was more or less a result of the same for Cloud Atlas (see below). Just as people recommended the latter book to me, the former had just been released, and I figured both might be worth checking out. I haven’t read David Mitchell’s work before, so I’m intrigued by the genre-bending implied in the reviews.

Siege and Storm (Grisha Trilogy, Book #2) by Leigh Bardugo (YA Fantasy): Reading this one right now! I loved both Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows, so I knew right away that I’d dive into this book after finishing Naomi Novik’s Uprooted. And with Leigh appearing at the Boston Teen Author Fest in 2 weeks, the timing couldn’t be more perfect.

Shadow of Night (All Souls Trilogy, Book #2) by Deborah Harkness (Paranormal Romance): Some readers adore this series. Others don’t, and I can see why. But despite the things that annoyed me about A Discovery of Witches, I still got sucked in (no vampire pun intended) and wound up really enjoying the first installment. Not sure when I’ll get to Shadow of Night, but I’m already looking forward to it.

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell (Science Fiction): Three people have recommended Cloud Atlas to me in the past year. That’s all it took to convince me that I need to read it. 😉 I’ll probably read this before The Bone Clocks, since this one is considered to be Mitchell’s masterpiece.

What books did you recently buy or acquire? Have you read or are planning to read of the books discussed above? Feel free to share your opinions and most recent hauls by commenting below.

25 thoughts on “Stacking The Shelves, Vol. 17: The Birthday Haul, Part 1”

  1. Wow nice haul! I’ve read The Night Circus, Siege and Storm and Cloud Atlas. I hope you’ll enjoy them! Cloud Atlas was really cool, though I probably didn’t like it as much as I thought I would, especially if it’s considered his masterpiece – I didn’t know that 🙂 I am actually much more curious about The Bone Clocks, it sounds really cool and more my type of story. I’ll be very interested to hear your thoughts!

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    • Thank you! 🙂

      Maybe “his most popular book” would have been a more accurate phrase to use. When anyone has ever mentioned David Mitchell to me, the first book that comes up has always been Cloud Atlas.

      I’m not sure when I’ll get to most of these. Might not be until next year, at the earliest. But I’m more than halfway through Siege and Storm right now, so I’ll share my thoughts on that pretty soon. 😉

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  2. Nice haul! I have the Grisha Trilogy, but didn’t have a chance to read them. Lots of people seemed to love them, so I had to give it a try.

    I’ve heard good things about Cloud Atlas, too, though I’m not sure that’s one I’m going to attempt to read this year.

    Happy Reading!

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    • Thanks! So many people who’ve commented on this have said how much they enjoyed The Night Circus. I may have to read it sooner rather than later.

      “Birthday books are the best present (and something people are resigned to giving me).”

      Ha ha! Same here. Although certain people (family, not friends) tell me I have enough books and don’t need to ask for more. (*raises an eyebrow*) But I keep putting specific books on birthday and Christmas wishlists nonetheless.

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  7. Happy belated birthday. 🙂 I haven’t heard of any of the books above, but you’ve got me intrigued about David Mitchell. I think it was the “genre bending” that sparked the interest. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Thank you, Phoenix! 🙂

      Yeah, it was difficult to appropriately “categorize” both of Mitchell’s books. The reviews make both Cloud Atlas and The Bone Clocks sound like they straddle science fiction and fantasy. Plus, the term “genre-bending” popped up quite a bit on Amazon and Goodreads for both books.

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  12. Pingback: Stacking The Shelves, Vol. 18: The Birthday Haul, Part 2 | Sara Letourneau's Official Website & Blog

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