Bookopoly Chance Cards Season 2.

Just over a year ago I made my first Bookopoly TBR board and decided to make Bookopoly reading challenge a buddy reading project with a booklover friend Vivone. You can check out that first Bookopoly post HERE. Since then we had many changes to our boards to make them fit more to our reading habits and preferences.

One of the requirements for the Bookopoly board was a set of 16 Chance Cards with book titles for a random draw each time we end our movement on a Chance Card tile. Eight Chance Cards have titles of eight books I am looking forward to read and other eight Chance Cards have titles of books I am less excited about but still want to read. I decided to use this opportunity and use books that I already own and choose the titles from my own bookshelves. This resulted in first 15 out of 16 titles to be books I already own and is something I am very happy about.

Here are the first 16 book titles I put on Chance Cards:

The Chosen Half-Elf (Elfes #4) by Éric Corbeyran, Jean-Paul Bordier (Illustrator) ★★★★

The Scent of Shadows (Signs of the Zodiac #1) by Vicki Pettersson ★★★★

The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux ★★

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon ★★★★

Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Choderlos de Laclos ★★★

Ninth House (Alex Stern #1) by Leigh Bardugo ★★★★★

Pride (Shifters #3) by Rachel Vincent ★★★★★

The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu ★★★

Naked City by Ellen Datlow (Editor) ★★★★

Elminster: The Making of a Mage (Forgotten Realms: Elminster #1) by Ed Greenwood  ★★★★

Master of Chains (Forgotten Realms: The Fighters #1) by Jess Lebow ★★★

The Hedge Knight: The Tales of Dunk and Egg by George R.R. Martin  ★★★★

Time Weaver (Drakon #5) by Shana Abe ★★★

Antologija suvremene japanske novele by Kazuo Tanaka (Editor) ★★★★

Real World by Natsuo Kirino ★★★

The Vampire Lestat (The Vampire Chronicles #2) by Anne Rice

On this picture The Chosen Half-Elf (Elfes #4) by Éric Corbeyran, Jean-Paul Bordier is missing because it was a digital edition.

Some books I put on Chance Cards I ended up reading for some other reading challenges and the amount of times I landed on the Chance Card tile was surprisingly high. This resulted in me needing a new set of 16 titles for Chance Cards! This time I decided to use all the titles from my own bookshelves and it is a big part of the reason why I have not updated my TBR Jar Draw project. The purpose of my TBR Jar Draw project was to read the books from my own shelves and I have been doing that surprisingly well in the last few years.

At the moment I am reading the last book from the first set – The Vampire Lestat (The Vampire Chronicles #2) by Anne Rice and have already drawn a new Chance Card from the second batch and have added the Bajki robotów by Stanisław Lem to my reading for October ( I am not sure if I’m going to make it by the end of the month since life interrupts a lot of my reading sessions lately).

Here are the 16 new book titles for Chance Cards:

Bajki robotów by Stanisław Lem

Bring Me the Head of Prince Charming (Millennial Contest #1) by Roger Zelazny, Robert Sheckley

Wonder Woman: Warbringer (DC Icons #1) by Leigh Bardugo

A Wind in the Door (Time Quintet #2) by Madeleine L’Engle

Necroscope (Necroscope #1) by Brian Lumley

The Poison Diaries (The Poison Diaries #1) by Maryrose Wood

The Great Book of Amber (The Chronicles of Amber #1-10 ) by Roger Zelazny

Concertina: The Life And Loves Of A Dominatrix by Susan Winemaker

Shattered (The Iron Druid Chronicles #7) by Kevin Hearne

Loki: Where Mischief Lies (Marvel Press Novels) by Mackenzi Lee

Wait Till Your Vampire Gets Home (Broken Heart #4) by Michele Bardsley

Love In Vein: Tales of Vampire Erotica by Poppy Z. Brite

Wolf Brother (Chronicles of Ancient Darkness #1) by Michelle Paver

The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings #1) by J.R.R. Tolkien

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Vol. 2 (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) by Nancy Holder

Neuromancer (Sprawl #1) by William Gibson

On this picture Neuromancer (Sprawl #1) by William Gibson is missing since I loaned the book to a friend.

First sixteen books for Chance Cards have amounted to 5081 pages and are mostly around 300 pages long each. The longest book from the first batch is 539 pages long and the shortest is only 55. From all the book titles I had on my Chance Cards only one book was rated with two stars and I did not particularly liked it. In contrast 9 out of 16 books I loved and rated four or five stars. I am happy to report that this made me read trough some books that I had on my shelf for years and I even liked them more than I expected to. I had a clear vision of the books I was looking forward to read and this might be why I read some of them even before I pulled their Chance Card out for Bookopoly. This might happen again with the new batch and I refuse to save or hold the titles just because I will pull their Chance Card eventually. When I pull a title I have already read I just draw the next one until I run out of Chance Cards.

Both piles have one title missing from the list.

The second batch of sixteen books I have chosen have a bit more pages total – 6501. The average book is around 350 long and the biggest difference is with the book with the most pages. The longest book in the second batch has 1258 pages and the shortest has 166. I realize that I might have to give myself more time to finish my Bookopoly reading in the future, since my schedule is more busy than it was last few years. Right now I am quite busy with reading for work and some of my books have taken the back seat until I ease into things I have on my plate right now. The amount of books in English language ratio and books in Croatian language remains the same and I still have a lot of variety in genres. Some of the books on my lists are older and not so well known but I always have some popular and bestseller titles I have yet to read.

What do you think about my lists and book choices? Have you read any and what did you think about them?

Leave a comment and let me know!

Reindeer Readathon 2020 – Reading experience and thoughts

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One of the most fun and engaging reading challenges I participated in 2020. was Reindeer Readathon in December. There were five teams and there were interesting ways to participate trough live reading videos and discussions. My team was called Candy Cane! For all those interested in more detail here is the link for the main announcement HERE. In the end my team finished in the golden middle out of all five teams and some prizes were dealt to the luckiest participants!

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Here are the books I read for this reading challenge and how I liked them:

DASHER – 15 PTS – A book with one word title

Pride (Shifters #3) by Rachel Vincent ★★★★★

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There were so many options for one word title books on my shelves I was surprised by so many different choices to choose from. I loved the excuse to continue reading this cute urban fantasy book series. The main character is very much young adult material but the rest of the content is more for the adult audience. I like the tone and the pace of the book and how the fantasy elements were set into the world described. This was one of the first books I read in December and made for a great start of the months.

DANCER – 10 PTS – A companion novel or a sequel (as in a dancing partner)

Prey (Shifters #4) by Rachel Vincent ★★★★★

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I could not resist the option to continue this book series right away. I have great appreciation for the flawed main character. So far, I am very pleased with how the plot progresses in a series as a whole. This book series is evolving into quite a guilty pleasure and a joy to read.

PRANCER – 15 PTS – A book with a map in it

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (The Wicked Years #1) by Gregory Maguire ★★★

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This was one of the books I read last in the month. I did not find many options for a book with a map on my bookshelves that I have not read already or recently. I was mesmerized with all the green on the cover and pages. I was in a hurry and the pacing of the narrative was good enough. What I did not like were some rather crude descriptions that were contrasted with religious symbols. The book at times felt flat and not that enjoyable to read. With all that being said I am still curious about the musical version of it and how much of the book base material managed to fit into it?

VIXEN – 25/20 PTS – A book with a fox on the cover. (Alternatively, a strong female lead)

Narcissus in Chains (Anita Blake Vampire Hunter #10) by Laurell K. Hamilton ★★★★

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I had to push this book in my reading schedule regardless of the many other books I had already on my TBR for December. I could not find a book that fit the fox prompt on my bookshelves so I chose to go with strong female lead instead. This book is a part of my second reading trough the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter book series. It is one of my favorite bookish haunts and favorite reading material. There are plenty of books to enjoy, lots of characters to love and hate and more than a few plot points to dwell on. This particular book seems to be the tipping point for many other readers and I did enjoy being reminded of how some characters were introduced and how they evolved in this book as well!

COMET – 30 PTS – A book you find intimidating

The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu  ★★★

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I found this book intimidating because of its writing style and a rather long introduction I could not get much past the first time I tried reading this book. I have a strong appreciation for books written in times removed from this we live in and books that describe cultures different than those I am closely familiar with. I was shook by some parts of this book for the explicit content that was only hinted at. I had trouble with all those things that are generally morally dubious I kept reading about. I am not a squeamish reader but this book caught off guard. I really cant pint point the things that made me react this way without revealing and spoiling too much of the plot.

CUPID – 10 PTS – Read a genre that you love

Naked City by Ellen Datlow (Editor) ★★★★

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My favorite genre is urban fantasy and choosing a short story collection for this prompt was a pleasure! It is only after I started reading this book that I have realized that I have three books I choose to read for different challenge prompts that are 500+ pages long. Getting only 10 points for a book that is this long seemed a bit unfair but I chose no to dwell on it. In the end this book turned out to be one of the few book I made a review on last year. You can check it out HERE.

DONNER – 15 PTS – A book with something hidden inside (under the dust jacket, chapter heads, art etc.)

Saga (Collected Editions) #7-9 by Brian K. Vaughan, Fiona Staples ★★★★★

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Hidden content for this one were many interesting interviews and art pages after the story. This ended up being the best book I read in December. I was mind blown by the story plot twists and curves. The art of this graphic novel seemed much more clear and straight forward than ever before!

BLITZEN – 20 PTS – A book with some sort of struggle (internal struggle, war, battle etc)

The Burning Maze (The Trials of Apollo #3) by Rick Riordan ★★★★

Each book of this book series describes a battle and overcoming of the obstacles the main characters face. When I first started on this book series I struggled with the main narrator since I was used to reading point of views of many different characters that came before in the other book series connected with this one. This change of pace slowed me down quite a bit until I could get used to the new narrator.

RUDOLPH – 20 PTS – A book where the main character doesn’t seem to fit in (outsider, misfit)

The Tyrant’s Tomb (The Trials of Apollo #4) by Rick Riordan ★★★★

In continuation of the previous book I decided to expand on the reading about a character that most definitely stands out – a fallen god Apollo punished into puny mortal form. I find most of Rick Riordan books informative and full of interesting historical and cultural references I never managed to pick up in school. The narrator started to seem much more endearing in this book and I enjoyed reading it! While I am divided on most covers between US and UK editions of these books I must admit that this UK edition cover looks cool in a very satisfying manner!

After reading all of the above nine books for the mentioned prompts I turned to the possibility of earning more points for my team Candy Cane. I had three books over 500 pages long to choose from and I decided to use Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (The Wicked Years #1) by Gregory Maguire as my entrance for 15 extra points. I did not think I would manage to get the extra book for Sleighing it but in the end I did it!

Sleighing it! – 50 PTS – A redo of: RUDOLPH A book where the main character doesn’t seem to fit in (outsider, misfit)

The Color of Magic (Discworld #1) by Terry Pratchett ★★★

I choose to read this book for another reading challenge in December and when I started it I realized it could have been used for a RUDOLPH prompt. Since it was the last book I read in December and all other books I had for Reindeer Readathon have been finished I was very happy to add it for this last prompt worth 50 points! There are two main characters and both seemed to be out of place wherever they go. So this seemed very fitting indeed!

These are all the books I read for Reindeer Readathon 2020. Participating in the reading challenge was an interesting experience. I would have loved to be able to engage with other readers from my team but since most people that participated were not in my time zone I ended up watching recordings of live videos and exchanging messages in group chat on Instagram. I was happy with my team leader Amanda and how she handled things for our team. She was one of the most active team members during the reading challenge. You can give her some love on her YouTube channel HERE.

December Book Wrap Up 2020

Monthly reading review – December 2020

This December I have read:

Howl’s Moving Castle (Howl’s Moving Castle #1) by Diana Wynne Jones ★★★★

Pride (Shifters #3) by Rachel Vincent ★★★★★

Prey (Shifters #4) by Rachel Vincent ★★★★★

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (The Wicked Years #1) by Gregory Maguire ★★★

Narcissus in Chains (Anita Blake Vampire Hunter #10) by Laurell K. Hamilton ★★★★

The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu ★★★

Naked City by Ellen Datlow (Editor) ★★★★

Saga (Collected Editions) #7-9 by Brian K. Vaughan, Fiona Staples ★★★★★

The Burning Maze (The Trials of Apollo #3) by Rick Riordan ★★★★

The Tyrant’s Tomb (The Trials of Apollo #4) by Rick Riordan ★★★★

The Tower of Nero (The Trials of Apollo #5) by Rick Riordan ★★★★★

The Color of Magic (Discworld #1) by Terry Pratchett ★★★

Taken by The Hunger (Blood Thirst Affair #1) by Harnet Spade ★

1. How many books have you read last month? Are you happy with the amount you read?

This December I made myself very busy by reading 13 books total! In order to get all my reading plans done I was off by a few books I ran out of time to read and even with all that I think I did better than I expected! I am pleased with all the books I have read in December and how many of them from my own shelves!

2. What was the best of all the books you’ve read in December? Any scenes or characters that made a lasting impression?

There were quite the few books I enjoyed this month and the one I liked best was Saga (Collected Editions) #7-9 by Brian K. Vaughan, Fiona Staples. There were some moments in this epic space graphic novel that shook me and as a whole I think it was the most memorable book I read this month. I kept being amazed at the artwork in the book and at times it just sang the song of the times we are currently in!

3. Were there any not so good books for you last month? What made it hard or not enjoyable to read?

I had a lot of luck with the Kindle freebies and new stories and authors I tried out so far. This December after quite some time I ended up finding and reading a book that just felt bad and was the least enjoyable book this month: Taken by The Hunger (Blood Thirst Affair #1) by Harnet Spade. It takes a lot for me to rate a book with only one star and nothing about this one could crank it higher no matter how I looked at it. The narrative was chaotic and most of it was angst ridden and sex crazed female main character jumping from one male character to the next without actually having any real sex at all. From any point of view I tried to look at it this story failed to deliver.

4. How did the books you were reading last month fit in your reading plans if you had any?

I was very aware that my reading plans by the end of the year left too many books for December. I ended up prioritizing for the two reading challenges and reading less books for the third one. I think I did good managing and finished two out of three reading challenges!

5. Any updates on the series you are reading or are you starting any new series?

I did good on continuing some series and even finishing some! I finished with The Trials of Apollo book series by Rick Riordan and brought an end to more than a few book series from the Percy Jackson universe. I am happy about it and feel ready for the Disney+ TV series next year. I also read all the Saga volumes that are available to me and happily wait for new ones! Four of the books I have read this month were first in a series and from them I plan to continue only one: Howl’s Moving Castle (Howl’s Moving Castle #1) by Diana Wynne Jones. Shifters series by Rachel Vincent was amazing and I plan to finish the last two books of the series in the first few months of next year. I even managed to squeeze in one book of second reading of the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter book series!

6. Would you like to recommend any books or authors you’ve been reading this last month?

There are some books I enjoy as a guilty pleasure and would not recommend them to everyone but I could not recommend Saga graphic novel series enough! The story is amazing and at times endearing and heart breaking. The artwork and design is thought provoking and cuts straight to the things we might overlook otherwise. It sometimes comes out as gritty and harsh on the eyes as well as the heart but it does so well showing what life can be and how we need to cherish it and smile while we still have teeth!

Final thoughts on December 2020 reading

I had a lot of books I set myself to read this December. Sadly I knew that my plans had very little chance to be fully realized. I am happy with the amount of books I managed to read in December. There were some books I choose to let go in favor of finishing some others. I managed to finish two reading challenges out of three and I will post details on those in a day or two. I was not very active in making post since I tried to use as much as possible time for reading. I had run trough some books and had to work for it to finish them. I did make one review this December for:

Naked City by Ellen Datlow (Editor) ★★★★

You can read it HERE.

After quite some time I have accumulated a good number of books I am in progress of reading:

Elminster: The Making of a Mage (Forgotten Realms: Elminster #1) by Ed Greenwood

Draconomicon: The Book of Dragons by Andy Collins, Skip Williams, James Wyatt

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

MOR – Plodovi osvete by Josip Kralik

I will have to slow down from adding new book challenges until I cull the books I am in progress of reading at the moment! I have plans for some other overviews for reading challenges I have done trough the year and finally making some updates to the parts of the site I have been neglecting. I hope my plans become reality soon!

Naked City – Book Review

Naked City

by Ellen Datlow (Editor)

★★★★

Expectation

I was very excited when I first bought this book almost a decade ago now. Urban fantasy is one of my favorite genres and I had high expectations from this short story collection. I really love the cover and I am a big fan of Daniel Dos Santos cover art! I like the dreamy and intriguing quality of the characters on the cover and the misty setting that gives of fantasy vibes in an urban setting. I put this book on my personal reading challenge for the year and did finally picked it up for the Reindeer Readathon for the prompt that required me to read a book of my favorite genre! The names of the authors on the cover made me giddy with expectation of some good stories!

Summary

There are twenty short stories in this 500+ pages book. I did not realize just how big it was when I decided to finally pick it up. I expected fast paced short stories in urban fantasy but what I got was so much more. The stories of my favorite authors were excellent and I found some new authors to explore. I was reminded again of my interest in Dresden Files book series by Jim Butcher!

1. Curses by Jim Butcher ★★★
I liked this short insight into the world of Harry Dresden. Dresden Files book series is on my TBR for years now but I keep pushing it back and not there are so many books in the series I feel it would be a chore for me to collect them all. This short story presented me with a good feel of the authors writing but I can’t seem to get into the whole baseball and sport sin general vibe. While I was reading I got flashbacks to another story with the same theme and that made my reading experience less enjoyable.

2. How the Pooka came to New York City by Delia Sherman ★★★★
Gritty story with feeling. I liked the charm and depth of the characters. Would not mind reading more of the adventures of Pooka 😊

3. On the Slide by Richard Bowes ★★
The fantasy elements were barely in this story. The feel of a PI noire drama and lives of cops were not that appealing to me. I understand the homage to the TV series that this collection was named for but I wish there could have been some more fantastical elements to the story that I could relate to.

4. The Duke of Riverside by Ellen Kushner ★★★★
Outside of a medieval feel to the timeline of the story there were not any evident fantastical elements here. Other than that the story was intriguing and the characters were interesting. This story is an excellent example of passionate characters presented trough PG rated narrative and I don’t mind it one bit. It actually seemed very hot in a rather spartan way. I have some issues with the choice of the narrator but overall I really loved this story and would be interested to read more about the characters involved.

5. Oblivion by Calvin Klein by Christopher Fowler ★★★
This story was full of symbols that had me triggering and I was not sure what I was triggered by. I could not help but think of it as a prelude to something bigger and just beginning to bloom. I would love to have a bit clearer insight into some questions that were put out there.

6. Fairy Gifts by Patricia Briggs ★★★★★
This was the second time I was reading this story and I loved it even more than the first time. The clarity of well made characters and narrative jumped at me from each scene. Author has a way of making it easy for me to picture and understand everything she presents on pages and is a definite favorite!

7. Picking up the Pieces by Pat Cardigan ★★★★★
It started out suspicious but turned out to be an amazing story. I loved the theme and the setting. There were some minor things I had issues with but the historical content was rather endearing. Great story!

8. Underbridge by Peter S. Beagle ★★★★
This was more an insight into human nature than fantasy. At times it was rather unnerving and I must say the ending was not what I expected. For some reason I find the idea of the story thought provoking not for its fantastical elements but for its depiction of human condition!

9. Priced to Sell by Naomi Novik ★★★★★
Pace of this story was a bit faster and more lighthearted than those before and I loved it for that alone! This one has all the elements that I love in my urban fantasy books: wide choice of supernatural creatures, faster pace in sync with the urban setting and a good dose of practical quirkiness.

10. The Bricks of Geleck by Matthew Kressel ★★★★
This story almost had an Arabian nights feel to it. I liked the melancholy approach and event the philosophical vibe it made me feel. Thoughtful and pensive.

11. Weston Walks by Kit Reed ★★★
Another philosophical and introspective story with all the urban fantasy elements. I could not help but feel detached from the characters and how they were presented. More questions were poised than were answered.

12. The Projected Girl by Lavie Tidhar ★★★★
Historical references of this story were eerie. Main character seemed innocent enough but the amount of ambiguity he was surrounded with actually scared me. There were so many unsaid thoughts and references between the lines that the authors ability to blend them in so effortlessly amazed me. Rich story, composed in an intriguing way.

13. The Way Station by Nathan Ballingrud ★★★
I was not prepared for the amount of drama and serious stuff in this one. The symbolism is making my head spin. My expectations were very much different and it is starting to impact my reading experience.

14. Guns for the Dead by Melissa Marr ★★★★★
I am not a fan of western theme in any form or format. That being said this story was cute and interesting. I like the idea and how it was presented. This short story peaked my interest and I would like to read more of it.

15. And go Like this by John Crowley ★
This story, if it can even be called that, reads like a train of thought of a person who makes lists for a living. I was presented with an idea, but for idea to become a story some literary finesse is required. This essay of words put together had no literary value for me. I did not enjoy it.

16. Noble Rot by Holly Black ★★★★★
Twisted in a delicious way. I found this story romantic and sweet. I keep being surprised at how much I like the writing style of this author. There is something about the way she writes strange and weird that make them terribly appealing.

17. Daddy Longlegs of the Evening by Jeffrey Ford ★★★
This was the first story with a kind of macabre feel to it. I was waiting for a story with a bit more horror elements to it and this one did not exactly rise up to my expectations. There were some scary elements for sure, but the visuals I got from the descriptions had a Burtonesque feel to them. Not enough to scare me but just enough to confuse me. The idea of the story seemed like an urban legend.

18. The Skinny Girl by Lucius Shepard ★★★★
I liked the cultural references. I know nothing about the geography of Mexico City and this was a scary interlude. Interesting story and intriguing use of supernatural elements.

19. The Colliers’ Venus (1893) by Caitlin R. Kiernan ★★★
I liked how this story started. Then there was a dream sequence and it all went blurry for me. It got better at the end but I don’t think I understood the point of the story at all.

20. King Pole, Gallows Pole, Bottle Tree by Elizabeth Bear ★★★★
There were so many interesting characters in this story and the amount of mysteries left me intrigued. I liked the idea and the concept. The end of the story was kinda choppy but that was in the spirit of the main character and the theme I guess.

Conclusion

I did not expect the philosophical quality of the stories to be so intense. Many of the stories had a quite serious vibe to them. They reminded me of some classics of the speculative fiction genre form half a century ago. Most of the stories had a pensive and thought provoking agendas and challenged the reader to think about reality using some fantastical elements. Some stories were even Kafkaesque in their sombre characters and introspective aim. There were some definite favorites among these stories and there was a one complete dud as well! The story I liked the best was Noble rot by Holly Black simply because it held my attention the longest after reading.

I am glad to have finally read this book. It has given me a definite direction towards reading some other books and it is another short story collection from my bookshelves I have finally read!

Reindeer Readathon 2020

After realizing that being idle will not help me get close to achieving my personal reading goals by the end of the year I have decided to keep myself busy by participating in some fun and exciting reading challenges in December. Enter Reindeer Readathon 2020! I have found it by accident and I really loved the idea and the merry prompts. You can find the official announcement HERE. The main creator of this readathon is Erik from Breakeven Books and you can go and show some love for his YouTube channel HERE. Together with four other wonderful people he is hosting this readathon and leading the team Mistletoe. This is the second year of this readathon and this year there are five official teams. Team Snowflake leader is Hilary and you can check her channel HERE. Team Nutcracker leader is Donna and you can check her channel HERE. Team Stocking leader is Savy and you can check her channel HERE. And last, but not least, my designated team is Candy Cane and the leader of my team is Amanda and you can check her channel HERE.

There is a satisfying number of prompts and each have a certain number of points. Since this is a reading challenge with teams competing the goal is to read as many prompts to get the most points for your team.

Here are my book choices for the prompts:

DASHER – 15 PTS

A book with one word title

Pride (Shifters #3) by Rachel Vincent

DANCER – 10 PTS

A companion novel or a sequel (as in a dancing partner)

Prey (Shifters #4) by Rachel Vincent

PRANCER – 15 PTS

A book with a map in it

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (The Wicked Years #1) by Gregory Maguire

VIXEN – 25/20 PTS

A book with a fox on the cover. (Alternatively, a strong female lead)

Narcissus in Chains (Anita Blake Vampire Hunter #10) by Laurell K. Hamilton

COMET – 30 PTS

A book you find intimidating

The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu

CUPID – 10 PTS

Read a genre that you love

Naked City by Ellen Datlow (Editor)

DONNER – 15 PTS

A book with something hidden inside (under the dust jacket, chapter heads, art etc.)

Saga (Collected Editions) #7-9 by Brian K. Vaughan, Fiona Staples

BLITZEN – 20 PTS

A book with some sort of struggle (internal struggle, war, battle etc)

The Burning Maze (The Trials of Apollo #3) by Rick Riordan

RUDOLPH – 20 PTS

A book where the main character doesn’t seem to fit in (outsider, misfit)

The Tyrant’s Tomb (The Trials of Apollo #4) by Rick Riordan

I like the possible bonus and the additional rules and I plan to use Christmas Star as Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (The Wicked Years #1) by Gregory Maguire for those 15 PTS since it is over 500 pages long. I don’t think I will be able do get those 50 PTS for Sleighing it to read additional book for any prompt after being done with all of those above. But in case I make it I have few options left from my personal reading challenge list. Wish me and my team luck!

Go team Candy Cane!

Short story collections

While reading my TBR Jar Draw from September I was reminded how much I enjoy reading short stories. Almost instant gratification that comes from finishing a short story is very motivating for me and helps with my reading goals. Reading short stories introduces me to new and exciting authors and helps me find new and enjoyable reading material.

Sometimes short stories come from authors that have a longer book series and are a wonderful way to highlight some interesting character that would not get enough page time otherwise. There are some of my favorite book series that were based on a short story that evolved into a spin off and a full fledged book series on their own. Most notable example of this is the story Alpha and Omega by Patricia Briggs that came out in On the Prowl collection along with stories by three other authors. I immediately loved the story and characters. Later on Alpha and Omega became a favorite book series of mine. It has five books so far and is going along nicely.

I have a few unread short story collections I want to read. After Many Bloody Returns I am extra motivated to read at least one of them by the end of the year. Most of the stories are urban fantasy and offer a wide choice of authors. Here are my choices for short story collections:

Naked City: Tales of Urban Fantasy

edited by Ellen Datlow

This is a collection of twenty short stories from some really interesting authors. Some of the authors are already favorites and some are completely new. The most prominent author of this collection has to be Jim Butcher with his short story from the Dresden Files book series. I love the cover artwork by Dan Dos Santos – he makes covers for Patricia Briggs book series as well.  The number of stories and page count over 500 ensures me to have enough wonderful reading material for quite some time. Looks very inviting!

Carniepunk

by Rachel Caine and various authors

Another urban fantasy collection with a twist. This short story collection offers fourteen stories by different authors. From all the authors I’ve read only Kevin Hearne and his Iron Druid Chronicles book series. This offers a great choice for October reading since the themes revolve around carnivals and macabre.

The Eternal Kiss: 13 Vampire Tales of Blood and Desire

edited by Trisha Telep

This story collection with vampire theme reminded me of the time when I started collection vampire themed books and stories in general. Of the authors I’ve read before there is Cassandra Clare. Most other authors I’ve heard nice things about and I’m interested to try them out.