I can’t believe we’ve already been in 2014 for six months and June is gone. It was another busy month. I crossed four things off my 30 x 30 list: spend a week in NYC with Tara, visit the de Cordova sculpture Park and Museum, spend a day at the beach and take a day hike. There was a fifth I really wanted to do, but I just couldn’t quite get to it, oh well I’m mostly on track, but will need to pick up the pace if I want to finish everything by December 21st!
Books and Bookish
It was a VERY bookish month. I got my very first Book Riot Quarterly (right). I was impressed with what all I got, but was a bit overwhelmed with the books. I’m not so sure the four books was necessary, but I loved the smaller book related gifts like the literary playing cards (below) and the library card pencil pouch! Mostly I was peeved that one of the books we received was the start of a series. I’m all for series, but don’t send one book in a series regardless of if the author provides it, it smacks of “buy the rest of my books,” and just irks me. If it ends up being a great book I’ll gladly eat my words. Regardless, as everyone else has previously noted I got much more than what I paid for in the box.
Whereas I reigned in my galley requests in May, they exploded in June! I requested five galleys, to be published throughout the summer. I was approved and received five of them, haven’t heard about one and have a bone to pick with the last.
I won’t say the publisher and I won’t say the title but needless to say I filed a grievance/aka through shit-fit about it. I received an approval for the requested book at 7pm and that evening before 10pm I went in to download the galley and it had been archived. It was archived almost 24 hours early. I contacted the publisher and they refused to send out a digital copy but offered a physical copy, which I didn’t want, AFTER they didn’t answer my questions in the first two emails. I then contacted NetGalley and they provided a basic excuse and when I further pointed out why it was wrong they said they would definitely let the publisher know my thoughts about it. I was appreciative of the response I finally got from NG, but the interactions with the publisher definitely left a bitter taste in my mouth.
The other big bookish thing I did was I binge watched The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. If you weren’t aware of my obsession with Jane Austen and the photo above didn’t give it away, welcome to the blog, you should probably read my fan-boy letter…
It was RIDICULOUS. I was aware of its existence but had never put much thought into it. After an article on Bitch I finally watched them and ended up watching all 102 episodes in the main story line in one go. I was up until 1:30am and didn’t regret a second of it! I even rewatched a few the next night and will most definitely look into the side stories the producers/creators did. They were so incredibly creative and I loved the vlog aspect of the stories, as a Jane Austen adaptation it is definitely up there in the top few I’ve experienced.
Recent Acquisitions
As I said above the galley requests in June went got a bit out of control, but on the other hand I only bought two books and received a third from my friend Tara in NYC!
In case there wasn’t enough Jane Austen in this post, I purchased the second book of The Austen Project, Northanger Abbey by Val McDermid and yet another copy of Wuthering Heights! Tara gave me her copy of Murakami’s Norweigen Wood which apparently EVERYONE has troubles reading. I strangely look forward to the challenge as I’ve loved everything I’ve read by Murakami so far.
As for reading this month I read four books: two library and the final two books in the Hyperion Cantos (over 1300 pages worth!).
What’s Next?
I’ve made no progress on the reading portion of my 30×30, but I will! I’m also (still) hoping I’ll make progress on my TBR, but as of now between the library books and galleys I keep requesting it’s a struggle. Thankfully, I’m planning to read “light and fluffy books”/”easy reads” over the summer! So keep an eye out for the remainder of my Coelho books and a lot of romance and fiction!
Sounds like a busy month! I’ve never heard of the book riot quarterly before. Interesting idea! Do you think you’ll subscribe again (it looks like you pay for one at a time, right)? I’ve heard of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries but I’ve never checked it out…maybe I should!
You should definitely check out LBD!! And I’ll get at least one more Book Riot box. The real plus is that they are all books I wouldn’t necessarily Cochise and one was a bonus book. But it was overwhelming getting four books to add to my already daunting TBR shelf.
I’m not sure how I haven’t watched The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, but I need to remedy that!
Norwegian Wood is one of my all-time favorite books, so I’m excited you’re going to read it.
I’m so glad to hear someone liked NW! And definitely check out LBD, so good.