Girl!Reporter: Showcase Sunday

Showing posts with label Showcase Sunday. Show all posts

Sunday, 6 April 2014

The Sunday Post (#39) and Showcase Sunday (#25)

The Hangman's Son by James Oswald
If I Should Die by Matthew Frank (proof copy)
After the Silence by Jake Woodhouse
Eeny Meeny by M. J. Arlidge
The Boy That Never Was by Karen Perry
I also got a lovely Penguin notepad in the goody bag, and a deck of cards done up with Penguin's 2014 crime releases and authors.

I also brought home my copy of Sara Crowe's Campari for Breakfast, which is hilarious, and Deon Meyer's Cobra, which I need to read since I'm going to a dinner for him next week.

Next week is London Book Fair, which will be absolute madness, so see you on the other side, and let me know what you added to your shelves in the comments below.

Sunday, 23 March 2014

The Sunday Post (#38) and Showcase Sunday (#24)

Em and the Big Hoom by Jerry Pinto
Half Bad by Sally Green
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
Popular by Maya Van Wagenen
A Song for Issy Bradley by Carys Bray
Munich Airport by Greg Baxter
The Chimp Paradox by Dr Steve Peters
Thrive by Arianna Huffington
Who is Tom Ditto by Danny Wallace
Mary Berry Cooks
Succession by Livi Michael
Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey
Love, Nina by Nina Stibbe
The Moon is Down by John Steinbeck
One Step To Far by Tina Seskis
A Delicate Truth by John le Carre
A Girl Called Jack by Jack Monroe (not pictured because it's in my kitchen)

Phew!

I'm looking forward to them all, but especially Thrive because I loved Lean In; Half Bad, because I've heard it's so good; ditto for Elizabeth is Missing; and Popular, which is by a 15-year-old girl (!) and is about her experiences of trying to become cool after she finds a 1950s guide to popularity. I've read Love, Nina (look out for a review soon) already, and both the cookbooks are pretty fantastic.

I also got sent a few other books, including a copy of Attachments by Rainbow Rowell.

What did you add to your shelves?

Sunday, 16 March 2014

The Sunday Post (#37) and Showcase Sunday (#23)

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer, and Showcase Sunday is hosted by Books, Biscuits and Tea and inspired by Pop Culture Junkie and the Story Siren. They're a chance to share news, a post to recap the past week on your blog, highlight our newest books and see what everyone else received for review, borrowed from libraries, or bought.

It's been a few weeks since my last one of these, so on the blog covers a larger time period than the last week.

On the blog
Review: Knightley and Son by Rohan Gavin
Review: The Enchanted by Rene Denfeld
Review: Landline by Rainbow Rowell
International Women's Day post
Review: Her by Harriet Lane
Review: Heist Society by Ally Carter
Review: The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan
Review: The Awakening of Miss Prim by Natalia Sanmartin Fenollera

Added to my shelves

It's been an extremely busy week of events. On Monday I went to the announcement of The Folio Prize, and my goody bag contained a copy of Rachel Kushner's shortlisted The Flamethrowers.

I read Harriet Lane's Her recently and absolutely adored it, so the publisher sent me Alys, Always by the author, which I'm trying very hard to resist reading until I've read other books I've got in my unread piles.

I unashamedly love The Musketeers, the BBC's adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers. You have to watch it without expecting it to be faithful to the book, and take it for the fun piece of television it is. BBC Books has done a new translation of the original novel, so Ebury sent me a copy of that.

Allan Boroughs sent me a copy of his book Ironheart, which looks really interesting and has what sounds like a great female protagonist.

I brought home The Apple Tart of Hope by Sarah Moore Fitzgerald, which was given to me by the lovely Felicity at Orion.

And I went to The Night of the Storytellers last week, Hodder & Stoughton's sales conference for 2014. They've got some amazing looking stuff coming up this year, and I got to hear Davids Nicholls and Mitchell read from their new books as part of the evening. In the gorgeous goody bag I got copies of The Secret Place by Tana French, A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman, The Art of Baking Blind by Sarah Vaughan (Vaughan was also there and read aloud from her book) and Smiler's Fair by Rebecca Levene.

I also went to the Orion author party at the Royal Opera House, and Orion gave us special author party editions of The Distance by Helen Giltrow and Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch. The books, when put side by side, have an image of the Royal Opera House on the front and OG on the back (for Orion Group). Inside, they're each identified as one of 500 copies.

What did you add to your shelves?

Sunday, 16 February 2014

The Sunday Post (#36) and Showcase Sunday (#22)

We had a presentation by Transworld at work, and I nabbed a few books from them:
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes
Wake by Anna Hope
The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan
The Thing About December by Donal Ryan (it chucked it down with rain on the way back from our visit, so my copy of this got a little spoilt, boo)

And finally, after attending Orion's women's fiction party, I got a couple of proofs through from the publisher:
Her by Harriet Lane (looks super creepy and very interesting)
The Fair Fight by Anna Freeman (about female fighters in Bristol)

What did you add to your shelves?

Sunday, 9 February 2014

The Sunday Post (#35) and Showcase Sunday (#21)

I went to the OUP blogger evening for Joss Stirling and Nikki Sheehan a couple of weeks ago, and got finished copies of Storm and Stone by Stirling and Who Framed Klaris Cliff? by Sheehan (which I can't find right now). OUP also gave us two new proofs, Replica by Jack Heath, and The Private Blog of Joe Cowley by Ben Davis. I also got a gorgeous notepad in my goody bag, but I seem to have shelved that somewhere I can't find it as well!

I went to the Headline fiction party, and got a goody bag full of stuff as I left. I'm really excited about reading Someone Else's Skin by Sarah Hilary - I've heard a lot of good things about it. I also got a proof of The String Diaries by Stephen Lloyd Jones and a finished copy of A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. The goody bag also contained an Oyster card holder, a pencil and post-it note stack for the Headline Eternal brand, and a bar of Tasmina Perry-branded chocolate.

I went to the pre-publication launch party for Joanne M. Harris's The Gospel of Loki, and got to meet her. Harris is one of my favourite authors, so it was very exciting. I got a copy of the new book, which Harris signed for me. I'll be storing it away carefully and continuing to read my proof copy!

And finally, I got sent a finished copy of The Collected Works of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin. I love this book, look out for my review tomorrow. I also got a copy of The Enchanted by Rene Denfeld, and proofs of Northanger Abbey by Val McDiermud from Borough Press (thanks) and The Son by Jo Nesbo from Harvill Secker (thanks).

What did you add to your shelves?

Sunday, 26 January 2014

The Sunday Post (#34) and Showcase Sunday (#20)

First up, I met with two of the editors from the Virago, Abacus and Blackfriars imprints. They gave me:
The Fields by Kevin Maher
Mother. Wife. Sister. Human. Warrior. Falcon.Yardstick. Turban. Cabbage. by Rob Delaney
The Walk Home by Rachel Seiffert
Never Mind Miss Fox by Olivia Glazbrook
The Pink Suit by Nicole Mary Kelby
The Spring of Kasper Meier by Ben Fergusson
Friendship by Emily Gould

From the same people I also got The May Bride by Suzannah Dunn, which I'm showing separately because the cover is beautiful (although you can't tell from my rubbish picture!).

From the guys at Orbit, I got The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North, which looks like it'll be a genre-busting novel, and I also got Blood Song by Anthony Ryan, the first in an epic fantasy series.

And finally from Little, Brown, I got sent Salvage by Keren David, which looks like a great YA novel.

And last but not least, I picked up a couple of books from the spare books room at work.

First up is Oksa Pollock: The Forest of Lost Souls by Cendrine Wolf. This series is being billed as a French adventure series to rival Harry Potter, with a plucky heroine. This is the second book in the series, I need to get my hands on the first.
And I also picked up Jojo Moyes The One Plus One, which I've been hearing so much about. I read a couple of chapters on the train on the way home from work, and am enjoying it so far.

What have you added to your shelves?

Sunday, 19 January 2014

The Sunday Post (#33) and Showcase Sunday (#19)

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer, and Showcase Sunday is hosted by Books, Biscuits and Tea and inspired by Pop Culture Junkie and the Story Siren. They're a chance to share news, a post to recap the past week on your blog, highlight our newest books and see what everyone else received for review, borrowed from libraries, or bought.

I haven't done one of these posts in a couple of weeks, so there's been a bit going on.

On the blog
Book review: Cress by Marissa Meyer
Book review: It Felt Like a Kiss by Sarra Manning
Book review: Inferno by Dan Brown
Film review: The Wolf of Wall Street
Book review: The Arab Uprisings by Jeremy Bowen
Book review: A Hundred Pieces of Me by Lucy Dillon
Top 10 Tuesday (#17) - top 10 bookish resolutions
Reading challenge 2014 - I lay out the rules for myself

Added to my shelves

I went to visit an agent this week, and he gave me a few books by authors he represents: Secrecy by Rupert Thomson, Barracuda by Christos Tsiolkas, and Idiopathy by Sam Byers (not pictured).
I also got Cress by Marissa Mayer after sending a begging email to the publicist, while another publicist sent me Sue Monk Kidd's The Invention of Wings (she sent it before Christmas but it's only just arrived). I also met a PR for coffee and she brought along Matthew Reilly's The Tournament for me. And finally, I popped to the library and picked up a copy of The Engagements by J. Courtney Sullivan (not pictured),

What did you add to your shelves?

Sunday, 5 January 2014

The Sunday Post (#32) and Showcase Sunday (#18)

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer, and Showcase Sunday is hosted by Books, Biscuits and Tea and inspired by Pop Culture Junkie and the Story Siren. They're a chance to share news, a post to recap the past week on your blog, highlight our newest books and see what everyone else received for review, borrowed from libraries, or bought.

Happy new year everyone. I hope you had a pleasant festive period and managed to get lots of reading done. It's been a while since I did one of these, so here are a few links to what's been happening on my blog since then:

Book stuff
2014 wishlist - to read and to see
2013 End of Year Book Survey
Top 10 Tuesday (#16) - best books I read in 2013
Reading challenge 2013 - the results
Review: Dedicated to... compiled by W B Gooderham
Review: The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie
Review: Very British Problems by Rob Temple
Review: Front Row, Anna Wintour: The Cool Life and Hot Times of Vogue's Editor in Chief by Jerry Oppenheimer
Review: How to be a Heroine by Samantha Ellis

Added to my shelves

Not a whole lot, but since I'm having a clear out that's a good thing.

I did get sent this film tie-in edition of The Wolf of Wall Street by Jordan Belfort. I won't have time to read it before I see the film (on Tuesday) but it looks good. Thanks Hodder!

What did you add to your shelves?

Sunday, 22 December 2013

The Sunday Post (#31) and Showcase Sunday (#17)

Very British Problems by Rob Temple
It Felt Like a Kiss by Sarra Manning
The Collector by Nora Roberts
The Girl With All The Gifts by M. R. Carey
The Verdict by Nick Stone
The Martian by Andy Weir

Thanks to the guys at Transworld, Ebury, and Little, Brown for all of these.

What have you added to your shelves?

Sunday, 8 December 2013

The Sunday Post (#30) and Showcase Sunday (#16)

It was another week of getting stuff from publishers, which I'm still trying to sort through. Among the books I got was How to be a Heroine by Samantha Ellis, which is about the things we took from the literary heroines we read about when we were younger. I got it from one of my new publishing contacts, who says she's giving it to everyone she knows because it's so great. I'm only a few chapters in, but I'm inclined to agree.

My office is also having a clear out, so I grabbed two books quickly on Friday evening, proofs of The White Princess by Philippa Gregory and Teardrop by Lauren Kate. I'm not sure I actually want to read the latter, so if anyone UK-based wants it let me know, I'm happy to pay the postage.

What have you been up to?

Sunday, 1 December 2013

The Sunday Post (#29) and Showcase Sunday (#15)

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer, and Showcase Sunday is hosted by Books, Biscuits and Tea and inspired by Pop Culture Junkie and the Story Siren. They're a chance to share news, a post to recap the past week on your blog, highlight our newest books and see what everyone else received for review, borrowed from libraries, or bought.

Book stuff
Review: London Villages, Explore the City's Best Local Neighbourhoods by Zena Alkayat
Review: The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel by Deborah Moggach

Added to my shelves

I got lots and lots of books this week, as with my new job I've been visiting lots of publishers. I won't be sharing them all here yet though, since some of them still have release dates a long way off and I need to sort through them all. Aside from those, though, I got some great stuff through the post.

My Secret Santa present arrived (organised by The Broke and The Bookish, and sent by Kirsty-Marie at Studio Reads). Here's what Kirsty-Marie got me:

I've been wanting The Raven Boys for absolutely ages, so I'm ecstatic to finally own a copy.
I also got After Eden, which looks interesting. I have an uncorrected proof of this, but the proper version is so much more exciting looking.
I also got a beautiful bookmark that's got a really cute book charm on it (you can just see the bookmark on top of After Eden), and some chocolates, which aren't in the picture.
Thanks Kirsty-Marie!

I'm a big fan of Joss Stirling's Finding Sky series, and Oxford University Press this week sent me a copy of her new book, Storm & Stone, plus another upcoming release, Nikki Sheehan's Who Framed Klaris Cliff? Both look great, I'm looking forward to reading them.

And finally, one book given to me by one of the publishing houses I visited this week (Hachette UK) - I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai with Christina Lamb. I'm really looking forward to reading this one.

What have you added to your shelves?

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