Friday, June 29, 2012

Stacking the Shelves #3 (and ALA recap)

Stacking The Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga of Tynga's Reviews and here's a post summarizing what it's about. (Or if you'd prefer, I'll just summarize and say that it allows everyone to show what they've gotten in the past week in terms of books--whether they're physical copies, e-books, books borrowed, etc.)

So on Thursday I attended Leigh Bardugo's signing at Mysterious Galaxy (their Redondo Beach location) and honestly? If you get a chance to meet her, definitely do so. On a similar note, if you haven't read Shadow and Bone yet, you might want to get on that. I've been wanting to buy a finished copy for a while now and let's face it, Shadow and Bone had a seriously gorgeous cover.


And then here's a picture of my top six books from ALA.

The Archived by Victoria Schwab
Okay, go read the synposis and then come back--if you haven't read the synopsis already yet, that is. I think that pretty much explains why I want to read The Archived so badly. Also? I adored The Near Witch. In short, I have a feeling that I'm just in love with the books that Victoria puts out.

Embers & Echoes by Karsten Knight
This is book two in the trilogy--the first book being Wildefire. So, if you've read Wildefire then you know that there was a cliffhanger and that cliffhanger? It did its job.

Prodigy by Marie Lu
Loved Legend and am equally excited about Prodigy. Do I really need to say more?

Crewel by Gennifer Albin
Weaving matter? Yes please! It also happens to come out on my birthday and I have a feeling that this is going to be a book that I absolutely love.

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
Alright, not only is this written by Maggie Stiefvater, but the plot sounds amazing. I mean, seriously. Plus the cover is lovely as well!

Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes
High fantasy and I've heard nothing but good things about it!


As for ALA itself, it was absolutely amazing and if you get a chance to go, it's worth it. On Saturday, Gianna from Books to Infinity and Beyond found me at Penguin Group's booth and we got in line for Marie Lu's signing. It was so awesome to finally meet her after chatting with her on Twitter for so long and I had a blast. We went to a couple of other signings that day and unfortunately I was way too exhausted to attend either of the blogger gatherings that evening. No, really, I had a horrific headache and could barely keep my eyes open. I also ran into Ishita from The Reading Fish, Zareen from Reach for the Stars... and the Books, Jill from Swimming in YA, Molly aka Usagi from Birth of a New Witch, Stephanie from Poetry to Prose (who I also ran into again at Leigh Bardugo's signing on Thursday), and very briefly I saw Katie from Katie's Book Blog. I also met Kristi who I talk with sometimes on Twitter. Overall? It was amazing! I honestly miss everyone right now and meeting bloggers was definitely my favorite part of ALA.

As for books that I picked up from ALA, I made a video in which I go through all of the titles. They are all books that I'm genuinely interested in and intend to read (as well as hopefully review). For the most part, this is how I decided what books to pick up: Was it a title I was already interested in? If so and I hadn't e-mailed the publisher yet, I was more likely to pick up the title. Was this a publisher that I normally work with? If so, take as little as possible. If it wasn't out, I wasn't asking for it. If I was told that they didn't have a book, I thanked them and moved along. Admittedly while I still prefer print galleys to e-galleys, I also factored in what publishers I can (with relative ease) request books from via NetGalley or Edelweiss. In short, I tried to keep the number of books that I took home to a not-so-large number.

I missed the mad dash on Friday by about ten minutes (I went in, but I didn't see any pushing or shoving), had a blast on Saturday and Sunday, and on Monday I had a great time too! I really do suggest going all four days if you can--at least to hang out with other bloggers because honestly that was my favorite part of ALA--and putting your blog title on your badge (honestly my biggest regret). Also, Marissa Meyer sort of recognized me which was absolutely insane! (We'd met briefly before when she came to speak with Mysterious Galaxy RB's YA book group--which I'm a part of.) But the fact that other bloggers and readers recognized me (I didn't have my blog on my badge)? It blew my mind!

There you have it, my ALA 2012 experience! It was so much fun and I'm extremely thankful that non-ALA members are allowed to attend (and in this case, wander the exhibit floor).
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9 comments:

  1. Great recap! Sounds like such a great time and I hope I can have such a experience soon! I cannot wait to read all of these books! I have Embers and Echoes on my shelf right now and I'm so tempted to drop everything and just read it :D Enjoy

    Shortskie's Shelf

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  2. Ah, so jealous! I really really want to read Prodigy and all the other books you got in your stack - but mostly Prodigy! Sounds like you had an awesome time at ALA!

    Here's my Stacking the Shelves!

    Happy reading!

    -Lexi, the Literature Lion
    http://www.theliteraturelion.blogspot.com

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  3. I was at ALA, too! :) Sounds like you had a great time!! And The Archived is one that I'm really looking forward to, as well. :)

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  4. Great haul! So glad you had a great time. I would love to go to something like that :)

    Here's my post:

    http://collettaskitchensink.blogspot.com/2012/06/stacking-shelves-63012.html

    Colletta

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  5. I'm so glad you had an awesome time at ALA! I really want Prodigy, Crewel, and Shadow and Bone! I hope you enjoy them! I might ask the publishers for an ARC later since I sent out a request a while ago but I think they probably turned me down LOL. I'll try again maybe next month. ;) Enjoy your books!

    Check out my Stacking the Shelves!

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  6. WOW You got some great stuff. I wish we had stuff like BEA and ALA in the UK. New follower via GFC Here is my Stacking the shelves

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  7. Great haul! I am ridiculously jealous of Prodigy and Crewel both of those books look AMAZING! Can't wait to see what you think of them =)

    My Stacking The Shelves

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  8. Great selection! I really would like to attend ALA some day. Next year it is nearer to me. I have Crewel on my stack and can't wait to get to it. My new book posts are at Ms. Martin Teaches Media and at Inside of a Dog. Happy reading!

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  9. Great haul! The archived, crewel and Falling kingdoms are my favorites ^^ can't wait to read them! Happy reading!

    http://thedailyprophecy.blogspot.nl/2012/07/showcase-sunday-6-netgalley.html

    ReplyDelete

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