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Shelleys 2013 reading list


shelley.s

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Books Read so far...

January:

Boneshaker by Cherie Priest
The Inexplicables by Cherie Priest

February:

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
The Time Machine by H G Wells
The Land of Decoration By Grace Mc Cleen
Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

March:

Watership Down by Richard Adams
Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake

April:

Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare
The Purple Cloud by M P Shiel

May:

War of the worlds by H G Wells
Nod by Adrian Barnes

June:

The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen
Mixtape for the Apocalypse by Jamiah Jefferson

July:

Hunting Lila by Sarah Alderson
Loosing Lila by Sarah Alderson
The world Jones made by Philip K Dick
 

August: 

 

Doll Bones by Holly Black

Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut

 

September:

 

Dark Eden by Chris Beckett

Charm and Strange by Stephanie Kuehn

The Haunted Dolls House by M R James

The Pit and the Pendulum by Edgar Allen Poe

The Penultimate truth by Philip K Dick

 

October:

 

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare 

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

 

Novemeber:

 

City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

City of Glass by Cassandra Clare

City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

 

December:

 

City of lost souls by Cassandra Clare 

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Edited by shelley.s
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You'll probably find i dont stick to any of these as i'm like a magpie when it comes to books, i often go onto amazon to buy one book and come away having ordered something completely different but these books look pretty interesting so far so hopefully i'll get round to them

Wish list
Clementine by Cherie Priest
Dreadnought by Cherie Priest
Ganymede by Cherie Priest
Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare
Mixtape for the apocalypse by Jemiah Jefferson
The girl who chased the moon Sarah Addison
A Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart
Watership down by Richard Adams
ICO by Miyuki Miyabe
Clay by David Almond
Hunting Lila by Sarah Alderson
Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut
Doll Bones by Holly Black
Another little piece by Karyus Quinn
Charm and Strange by Stephanie Kuehn
The wind up bird chronicle by Haruki Murakami
The Pox Party by M. T. Anderson
The Dove Keepers by Alice Hoffman
The Three Stigmata of Palma Eldritch by Philip K Dick

The Penultimate Truth by Philip K Dick

 

Newly Added as of 30/10/13:

 

Pantomime by Laura Lamb

Stung by Bethany Wiggins

Reboot by Amy Tintera

The Uninvited by Liz Jenson

The Glimpse by Clare Merle

Born at Midnight by C.C. Hunter

The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting

The Host by Stephanie Meyer

Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor

Hollow City by Ransom Riggs

Books 3, 4, 5 & 6 of The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare

Forgotten by Cat Patrick

Alt.Human by Keith Brook

Wax Dragon by Scott Wyatt

Inhuman by Kat Falls

The Elites by Natasha Ngan

Whats Left of Me by Kat Zhang

Shadows by Robin McKinley

Project Cain by Jeoffrey Girard

Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter

3.59 by Gretchen McNeil

A Crack in the Line by Michael Lawrence

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Yes it is a really good book... I started it on Saturday and will easily finish it tonight! You cant put it down, definite must read :smile:

 

Only thing is I've read it so quickly I've not have a chance to decide whats next!

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Boneshaker ~ Rate 5/5 

 

About the book (From Amazon)

 

Ezekiel Blue’s father committed a crime, unleashing a deadly menace into steampowered Seattle. And his bereaved family has paid the price. Now, Ezekiel is determined to clear his father’s name, risking death and the undead in the attempt. Sixteen years ago, as the American Civil War dawned, gold brought hordes to the frozen Klondike. Fanatical in their greed, Russian prospectors commissioned Dr Leviticus Blue to create a great machine, to mine through Alaska’s ice. Thus the Incredible Bone-Shaking Drill Engine was born. But the Boneshaker went awry, destroying downtown Seattle and unearthing a subterranean vein of blight gas. Anyone who breathed its fumes turning into the living dead. The devastated city is now walled in to contain the blight. But unknown to Briar, his widowed mother, Ezekiel is going in. His quest will take him into a city teeming with ravenous undead, air pirates, criminal overlords, and heavily armed refugees. And only Briar can bring him out alive.

 

My Thoughts

 

This was my first 'steampunk' read and i wasn't overly sure what to expect from it but I'm glad I broke into the genre with this book. I was hooked from the beginning til end. The idea is really original and takes a new spin (the blight gas) on the your normal zombies (although the undead are not really part of the main story in anyway... they are just part of the furniture in the new Seattle.)  The plot was really good and theres lots of action, slaying undead, crashing airships, mad Dr's, funky steampunk gadgets, but it felt like it was leading to something bigger at the end. It wasn't disappointing at all, there was a good twist in the end that i wasn't expecting and there are 4 other books in the series so all in all i really cant complain. It was a good read, id defiantly recommend it to anyone looking for some thing steam punk or just a bit of light fantasy. I'll certainly be reading the others (if i can get my hands on the elusive out of print 'Clementine')   

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Definitely adding that book to my wish list! Who is the author by the way? There are many Boneshaker titles on amazon.

Edited by Devi
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Yes its by Cherie Priest  :smile:

 

The order of the books are as follows, you can read them as stand alone although better to read Boneshaker first as that gives the story of how the blight started.

 

Boneshaker

Clementine

Dreadnought

Ganymede

Inexplicables

 

It was really good, the Inexplicables was good too but Boneshaker was better.

 

Glad its got people interested, we need more steampunk fans  :D

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Inexplicables ~ Rate 3/5

 

About the book (from Amazon)

 

Adventures await Rector “Wreck ’em” Sherman. About to turn eighteen, he’s facing ejection from the orphanage that passed for home. He should also choose a trade, but work is scarce in steam-powered Seattle. And Rector has more unconventional plans. He’s started dealing in sap, a yellow narcotic produced by rebels and outlaws within the city’s toxic walled enclave. What’s worse, he’s been sampling his wares. Other problems include being haunted by an old friend with a grudge. The pressure builds until he sneaks behind the wall himself, seeking both (un)gainful employment and excitement. As rumoured, he finds a terrifying host of the hungry undead, and then there’s the monster. Rector's certain that his attacker wasn’t human, or undead. But he’s going to need more proof than his own addled word to expose it. His new mission becomes a compulsion when others witness the creature’s destructiveness, and give its kind a name. The Inexplicables.

 

My Thoughts

 

My second 'steampunk' novel by Cherie Priest (although its book 5) and i loved it. I love that it had the same characters in it as Boneshaker and they've all come a long way since then, the character development was nice to see. Again its action packed with a new guy, Rector as the main character. Whilst Rector is not massively likable, a sap addict that will nab anything that's not nailed down, the story is gripping enough that you don't really mind. Only thing i would say which was a slight down side is the the 'inexplicable' monster is actually only a small part of the storyline and is kind of irrelevant but again it didnt really take anything away from the story for me. I wish i had read the books in order, sadly Clementine is out of print so i couldn't actually get it and ened up ordering Inexpliacbles instead of Dreadnought by mistake but i really did enjoy it so nothing lost there :smile:    

Edited by shelley.s
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A Monster Calls ~ Rate 3/5

 

About the book (From Amazon)

 

Conor has the same dream every night, ever since his mother first fell ill, ever since she started the treatments that don't quite seem to be working. But tonight is different. Tonight, when he wakes, there's a visitor at his window. It’s ancient, elemental, a force of nature. And it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor. It wants the truth. Bestselling novelist Patrick Ness takes the final idea of the late, award-winning writer Siobhan Dowd and weaves a heartbreaking tale of mischief, healing and above all, the courage it takes to survive.

 

My Thoughts

 

This book is terribly sad, I'm not one to boo hoo at books but this one gave me the lump in the throat as much as Flowers for Algernon (one of my most favorite books.) It was such a delicate story and very well told by Patrick Ness who took over the final writing of the book when the original author Siobhan Dowd tragically died of breast cancer in 2007 aged 47.  You can feel Conners pain though out the book and the emotion of the writing just makes you want to give him a hug, its sad to think that the emotion in the book is exactly what families go through when a relative is diagnosed as terminally ill. I really liked the book despite the sad nature of it. The only thing I would say is that I wanted just a bit more at the end, I think i needed a little bit more healing at the end of it!

Edited by shelley.s
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Ouch, 6 out of 10 seems a little harsh, the review seems pretty happy with it! I agree a bit more healing at the end would have been awesome, but I'm glad you enjoyed it all the same. (And also, I love Flowers For Algernon! It's one of my top recommendations to everyone anytime I get asked for a good book to read!)

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Its not really my sort of book, as much as i enjoyed it, it did lack something for me. I just wanted the ending to be better or expanded more. I loved Flowers for Algernon, its a much stronger book. Have you read A Scanner Darkly? That's probably my favorite book of all time! 

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I'll be adding it to my wishlist as well!  Devi, I think the author is Cherie Priest from the synopsis.

 

 

 

Yes its by Cherie Priest  :smile:

 

The order of the books are as follows, you can read them as stand alone although better to read Boneshaker first as that gives the story of how the blight started.

 

Boneshaker

Clementine

Dreadnought

Ganymede

Inexplicables

 

It was really good, the Inexplicables was good too but Boneshaker was better.

 

Glad its got people interested, we need more steampunk fans  :D

Thank you both! I've added them all to my series lists of books.

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Glad its got people interested, we need more steampunk fans  :D

 

 

You read The Anubis Gates, didn't you Shelley, but you didn't like it much IIRC?  Shame.  It was one of the first books for which the term 'steampunk' was used, along with James P. Blaylock's early books, which have recently become available on Kindle so I want to give them a try.  He's also just published his first novel in 20-odd years, another steampunk book called The Aylesford Skull, which I really want to read. 

 

The Waterstone's near our office keeps thrusting (or, at least, it did before it closed down) Boneshaker in front of me as one of their recommendations.  I've looked at it several times but not quite got round to buying it - yet :smile:

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I did read The Anubis Gates. I did slightly struggle with it half way through, i found it really slow going and my interested wavered but once id got to the second part it did get back on track and i enjoyed it again. I dont seem to be able to read larger books now unless it completely keeps my interest the whole way through.

 

The Aylesford Skull sounds good! Ive been umming and arring about Retribution falls, its rather long and i am ready hooked on reading the Cherie Priest books, i don't tend to read the same genre one after another as i prefer to mix it up. 

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Retribution Falls is okay. It's kind of like Firefly, but with planes instead of spaceships. I didn't find it so compelling that I needed to go out and buy the sequel, though :shrug:

 

That's probably swayed me to not bother with it just yet! Problem is i don't want to read just ok books, i just want to read the awesome ones. I don't have as much time to read as id like so i'm always quite particular with what i choose :blush2:  

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Just incase any one is on any of the other sites and fancies having a nose i'm on LibraryThing as shelley.s and i'm on goodreads too as shelley  :smile:

 

 

There is more than one Shelley! :giggle2:  Which one are you? Can you link your profile? 

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Just a note to say ive changed my rating to out of 5. Everywhere else that i review my books are out of 5 so seems easier to keep it all the same. Anyway I've finished the Time Machine, heres my review

 

Time Machine by H G Wells ~ Rate 4/5

 

About the book (Amazon)

 

When a Victorian scientist propels himself into the year 802,701 AD, he is initially delighted to find that suffering has been replaced by beauty, contentment and peace. Entranced at first by the Eloi, an elfin species descended from man, he soon realises that this beautiful people are simply remnants of a once-great culture - now weak and childishly afraid of the dark. But they have every reason to be afraid: in deep tunnels beneath their paradise lurks another race descended from humanity - the sinister Morlocks. And when the scientist's time machine vanishes, it becomes clear he must search these tunnels, if he is ever to return to his own era.

 

My Thoughts

 

I really really liked this book, it was short and sweet and i loved it. It keeps you gripped and reading despite it being so short. I flew through it enjoyed every moment but didn't have that disappointment when i released id come to the end (it looks longer because of the notes at the back) as i found it was rounded off nicely (as i also found with The Isldand of Dr. Moreau) Defiantly will be reading more Wells this year!   

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