Archives for December 2015

MONTHLY RECAP | The Joys of The Holidays (December 2015)

December 31, 2015 Comments : 3

december

Can you believe that 2015 is over? I can’t.

December was an awesome month—my third blogoversary, the YA Book Cover Choice Awards results, and my BFF being back—but it wasn’t so great (house issues, ugh), which dampened my holiday mood. I’m trying to stay positive because that’s all I can do at the moment. I’m hoping the New Year gives me lots of joy!

WHAT’S UP?

The Novel Hermit celebrated its third blogoversary!

That’s right! Three!

I’m so amazed that it’s been that long, and I’ll keep going on until I’m sick of books and blogging (which shouldn’t be any time soon). Thank you for all the love and support, guys. It means a lot to see you reading my posts and interacting with me.

Discussion

End of the Year Book Survey | 2015 Edition

December 31, 2015 Comments : 5

2015 end of the year book survey

At the end of the year, the End of the Year Book Survey (by Jamie @ The Perpetual Page-Turner) pops up onto my feed, and it always gets me giddy to do it.

Last year, I took a different approach because all my reads were subpar, and I didn’t want to put them into book survey categories when I was feeling lackluster about it. However, this year? I am all aboard, ready to complete every category (or most of it) because 2015 was a great reading year for me!

Reading Stats | Best In Books | My Blogging/Bookish Life | Looking Ahead

2015 READING STATS

Number Of Books You Read: 109+
Number of Re-Reads: 14
Genre You Read The Most From: Contemporary

(Not completely accurate since I forgot to count a lot of books I’ve reread nor did I count all the individual comic issues I’ve read.)

Discussion

2016 Reading Challenges · What Will I Be Doing?

December 30, 2015 Comments : 8

2016 READING CHALLENGES

Every year, I do one reading challenge: the Goodreads one, where I set a goal of 100 books to read for the entire year. This year? Not only will I participate in that, but I will unofficially participate in various 2016 reading challenges hosted by some lovely bloggers. What are those challenges?

Reviews

REVIEW | Oh, Those Scandalous Stars! (Radiance by Catherynne M. Valente)

December 28, 2015 Comments : 5

Radiance

Radiance is a decopunk pulp SF alt-history space opera mystery set in a Hollywood—and solar system—very different from our own, from the phenomenal talent behind the New York Times bestselling The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making.

Severin Unck’s father is a famous director of Gothic romances in an alternate 1986 in which talking movies are still a daring innovation due to the patent-hoarding Edison family. Rebelling against her father’s films of passion, intrigue, and spirits from beyond, Severin starts making documentaries, traveling through space and investigating the levitator cults of Neptune and the lawless saloons of Mars. For this is not our solar system, but one drawn from classic science fiction in which all the planets are inhabited and we travel through space on beautiful rockets. Severin is a realist in a fantastic universe.

But her latest film, which investigates the disappearance of a diving colony on a watery Venus populated by island-sized alien creatures, will be her last. Though her crew limps home to earth and her story is preserved by the colony’s last survivor, Severin will never return.

Aesthetically recalling A Trip to the Moon and House of Leaves, and told using techniques from reality TV, classic film, gossip magazines, and meta-fictional narrative, Radiance is a solar system-spanning story of love, exploration, family, loss, quantum physics, and silent film.[/note]

myreview

[note note_color=”#BFD1D1″ text_color=”#ffffff”]I received this book for free from Tor Books for review consideration. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.[/note]

First sentence: “Come forward.”

How do I even begin to describe to you the beauty of Radiance? This book left me incapable of articulating words that could perfectly convey to you its imaginative space world, different narrative forms, the old-timey radio quality, and the mystery of Severin Unck that troubles the book. I don’t think anything I could say would do this book a justice, but I will try because wow, this book, guys. Absolute book hangover.

Spanning from the 1920s to the late 60s, Radiance imagines an alternate universe where people live on the Moon and the film industry has barely made any progress due to Edison’s strict business practices that keeps motion picture technology from people. You’ll find: an epic space noir mystery about a headstrong documentary filmmaker, Severin Unck, who had disappeared after visiting Venus with her film crew to investigate the disappearance of a diving colony and the mysterious alien-like callowhales; old glamour Hollywood; layers and layers of characters performing and crafting stories, trying to make sense of the terrible; an alternate solar system where it’s like a playground for Severin to film and discover; different narrative techniques like gossip rags and movie scripts; a deep appreciation for storytelling and filmmaking; and so much more.

Blog News

Merry Christmas, Everyone! Happy Holidays!

December 25, 2015 Comments : 4

Whatever holiday you celebrate during this holiday season, I hope you have a lovely time with your family and friends! I am gonna try!

I’m dealing with some house issues that recently occurred, so my holiday spirit is not quite there, but that’s not gonna stop me from:

hanging with family.
listening to Christmas music and belting it from the top of my lungs.
wearing the hell out of my holiday sweater (though I’m not gonna stop until December ends).
watching my yearly holiday tradition of The Nutcracker (the 1986 version) + Charlie Brown Christmas specials.

I hope you have a jolly Christmas + holiday! What Christmas or holiday traditions do you have?

Holy Mother Cover

HOLY, MOTHER COVER | Trend: Vast Starlit Night Sky

December 24, 2015 Comments : 11

holymothercover

Inspired by What She Reads, Pure Imagination Blog, and Stacked.

I admit I’m a book cover snob. Who isn’t though?

Book covers are the first thing that attracts readers to a book. A good cover can draw someone is, just as a bad cover can easily draw someone away. It can essentially make or break a book. Holy, Mother Cover! is where I showcase the book covers that stand out (or make me cringe) and discuss cover changes.

(A big special thanks to Georgie at What She Reads for bestowing me this fabulous name and to Charlotte at The Simple Tales for creating the beautiful feature banner you see before you.)

Star light, star bright, you look mighty beautiful in that vast night sky!

I’ve noticed a book cover trend of the big night sky with people or structures below. I’ve picked the ones with stars on it because holy gorgeous stars! I love the way the stars twinkle and the way the covers are framed because you see how big the night sky is when you have the people and buildings at the bottom of the cover. It makes the scene even more epic, and to me, emphasizes how there’s so much out there in the sky, in the world, and in the books! It’s weirdly welcoming to me.

Let’s check out those covers!