2012 Goalwar - The damn long post you've been waiting for

- Neat picture I found on a disasterphobe conspiracy site via google images search -

Are we wicked to have no rest at all?

Well, I have been very, very absent for the last few weeks. For this I apologize. I blame the evils of working retail during a holiday season, but in reality that is not the big "thing" that has been causing my lapse in posting... and, in fact, in reading. More on that later. For now, let's just label it as a mysterious "secret project" and move on.

I bet what you people really want to know is this... what do I intend on doing with myself in 2012. Well... reading mass amounts of awesome books, of course... but beyond that I'm not sure. This year I don't have any real, specific, "I have to do this thing" kind of goal with my reading... especially not since 2011's goal crashed and burned mid-year. Let's just say I am jaded about making such goals.

To that end... I made up ten (11) mini goals. These were things I wrote up in a notebook about, oh, three months ago. Let us see if I can actually adhere to any of these this year. Huzzah! ;)

Krys's 2011 Top Picks

Hello folks. Krys here back from... the People's Republic of China... evidently. *eyeroll*

Just popping back in long enough to put up the obligatory blogger's year end "Best of" list... so without further adieu, I give you the best books I read in 2011.

These may not necessarily be titles printed in 2011. Some even come out in 2012. You know me, I jump around. These are all Young Adult titles.

Thanks all!

KRYS'S 2011 TOP PICKS

Guest Review #5 - Anya's Ghost

- Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol -

Due to the delicate nature of international relations with the People's Republic of China, Bibliopunkk remains "on sabbatical." Filling in for her is the world's cutest freelancer, Greg Baldino

Anya has worked so damn hard to fit in at her high school. She's almost completely lost her native Russian accent, and while she's far from accepted by the popularati she's at least got the "good sense" to keep herself above The Untouchables. She just might almost have the attention of the hottest boy in school, even.

And then she goes and falls down a well.
It's a good book.

Greg Baldino lives and writes in Chicago where he--

Oh fine, there's more.

Giveaway Winner - A Discovery of Witches

Hello all. I have a winner for the paperback giveaway of A Discovery of Witches, which releases today! Without any further adieu... the winner is:

#142 - Dichotomy Girl

I will be emailing you shortly, Dichotomy Girl. For everyone else who entered, thanks for reading and keep watch in the future. I have some nifty giveaways coming down the pipe.

- BP

Guest Review #4 - The Girl Who Cirvumnavigated Fairlyland in a Ship of Her Own Making

Good Gods, that title is long and wordy. Hello all, Krys here with a guest review from the illustrious Greg Baldino, a good friend and frequent drinking buddy of mine. He's going to tell you about a book while I go on all sorts of madcap adventures. Everyone play nice.

- BP

NYT-Bestselling author Steig Larsson knocks it out of the park again with another volume of dark Swedish crime in The Girl Who Circum--

Wait, hold on... wrong "The Girl Who" title.

Review - Enthralled

I started this book ages ago. I've been reading it slowly between other books, a story here, 3 stories there... I love many of the authors in this book but short stories are so usually not my thing. I'm trying to be better about that though, because there are many authors out there who write work I genuinely want to read.

So... we better ourselves, apparently.

Review - Flora's Fury

For the record, I have waited 3 years for this book to be released. The fine folks at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt were kind enough to provide me an early edition of the book. I'm not even sure if this cover art is what will be used...but it's cool. So I am using it.

Flora Segunda was one of my favourite reads a few years back. It remains, to this day, a favoured handsell book of mine for "precocious girls who love to read". I cannot possibly articulate how much I loved that book, or it's sequel, Flora's Dare. Flora is the perfect heroine for anyone who wants a snarky, spunky, snappy girl leading them around for a few days. She's utterly fun and full of life.


*Warning - spoilers below if you have not read the first two books.

Occupy Amazon - Buy Locally/Independent

There's a great article in the NYT about Amazon's recent strategy to use their shoppers to price check competitor's prices at local businesses. There is also a short blog post about people who use local bookstores as a showroom before then purchasing at the multi-billion dollar corporation. Both are worth checking out.

NYT article

NYT Blog post

Giveaway - A Discovery of Witches

Hello all. The fine folks at Penguin books and I are teaming up to bring you a cool giveaway. This month marks the release for the US paperback edition of  A Discovery of Witches, by bestseller author Deborah Harkness. The official release date for the paperback is December 27, 2011.

Up for grabs is one copy of the paperback edition of this book. I haven't read it yet myself but I have spent the last several months hearing nothing but good things from readers and customers alike. I'm excited to be able to give one away.

Review - Tempest

Tempest by Julie Cross is poised to set the Young Adult world on fire. To date this debut has already sold rights in several countries, had the film rights bought by Summit Entertainment, and has a giant first print run announced. Macmillan is clearly considering this to be their lead YA title for the next season.

I enjoyed the book, but there is a caveat I must attach before this review goes any further - time travel books and I do not get along. No matter what I have tried, no matter how many I read there is always a disconnect I cannot get over, an inability to believe the material presented before me, and a general confusion that clouds my brain during the read. A friend of mine has a similar thing that happens to him with the Transformers movies. His disconnect is this - giant robots can not be physically supported by the mechanics that run their systems. Their servos aren't good enough, or something to that effect. Short story is his brain turns off taking one seriously... unless they use one word to explain the giant robots ability to move.... magic. If it's "magic" that makes the robots move, he's on board. Same thing here, different set of scientific circumstances. My brain has a hard time wrapping itself around the logistics behind such a concept... especially if it is over explained or, in tandem, under clarified. However, if it's "magic" doing the deed, I can wash the concept. Because this is a concept my brain can readily accept in books.

Blood Magic Challenge - Final Poll

Hello all.

As many of you know I have been hosting a challenge on the blog since June in honor of Tessa Gratton's book Blood Magic. It's my favourite book that I have read in 2011... so far. ;) To this end I have asked for suggestions from all of y'all for a series of 12 books I plan on reading, and reviewing, next year. The idea is that the titles below are all "better" books than Blood Magic... yep... all several hundred of them...better... Wow.

AS OF DECEMBER 29TH THE VOTING ON THIS POLL IS CLOSED.