Tag Archive | Moomins

Reading Roundup #3: March 2016

ReadingRoundup2

Muchly belated, here are the many things I read in March! So much awesome reading. ❤

Here are some mini-reviews for a bunch of them and/or links to my reviews for the ones I reviewed in full… (Covers from Goodreads and all titles link to their pages on Goodreads as wel.) Enjoy! 🙂

5starrating

1. Blood Ties – Hazel B. West

Reviewed this on my other blog. Friendships and battles and Faerie and modern/medieval Ireland, huzzah!

5starrating

2. A Spy’s Devotion – Melanie Dickerson

Reviewed this. Lovely Regency romance! Melanie’s amazing at this time period, just like I thought she’d be! 🙂

5starrating

3. Comet in Moominland – Tove Jansson

Well, strike me pink, that was a rollicking delight of fun and charming oddness! (Especially reading it aloud with British accents, because it did seem to call for it, despite the fact it’s originally Swedish.) I believe it’s quite possible that I’m now thoroughly addicted to the world of the Moomins!

5starrating

4. Moominsummer Madness – Tove Jansson

Ack, I love it! *huggles book* Snufkin is my FAVORITE EVER! ❤ He’s so awesome and just the best! And what he did about the signs . . . and his twenty-four little woodies — GAAHH SO CUUUUTE!!! ❤ I about died from the adorableness and awesomeness of this. Also, I love Little My. She’s hilarious. XD All in all, great little book! ❤

4starrating

5. The Exploits of Moominpappa – Tove Jansson

Yet another fun one! I loved getting to read Moominpappa’s memoirs — such escapades, such oddness, such fun! 🙂 Moominpappa has quite a “feel” to his storytelling. It’s great. Also the Joxter was fun — nice to know where Snufkin’s slightly lawless ways originated. 😉 So much fun! And I especially loved how the memoirs would pause occasionally as Moominpappa is interrupted in his reading by Moomintroll, Sniff, and Snufkin, as they ask questions about the story and their various daddies’ adventures. Loved that! And the way that it all came together at the end was marvelous. 😀 The Moomin books are just loads of bizarre whimsical fun.

5starrating

6. Deep Secret – Diana Wynne Jones

Read this for March Magics. Wow, what a book. o.o It was more adult than any DWJ I’d read before, but still so so good. It takes place almost entirely at a Sci-fi/Fantasy convention which was super fun. XD Also world-hopping and centaurs and just yes. I do mean to write a review, I just haven’t yet…

5starrating

7. The Beautiful Pretender – Melanie Dickerson

Reviewed this on my other blog. It was AWESOME! But then, it’s a medieval fairy tale romance story mixing Beauty and the Beast and The Princess and the Pea and it’s by Melanie Dickerson, sooo… of course it’s awesome. 😉 Possibly my favorite from her yet!

4starrating

8. Moominland Midwinter – Tove Jansson

A good wintry tale, another fun Moomin story. 🙂 Little My is the best. XD

4starrating

9. Northanger Abbey – Jane Austen

I FINALLY read this one! This was for Amber Stoke’s read-along over at Seasons of Humility. Really enjoyed the book on the whole! I could have wished for less of Isabella (UGH I hated her) and more of Henry Tilney, but still. 😉 Maybe I’ll post a more complete review at some point…

4starrating

10. Dreams and Wishes: Essays on Writing For Children – Susan Cooper

I don’t read a lot of nonfiction but I was excited to read these nonfiction essays by Susan Cooper about writing. While some of them may be on writing “for” children, this collection wasn’t really… It was a bit of a mixed bag for me. I didn’t like/agree with everything, but she did have a lot of good things to say about fantasy and such, so that was fun! Definitely glad I read it.

3starrating

11. Playing with Fire (Skulduggery Pleasant, #2) – Derek Landy

Another scary, action-packed fantasy tale in modern Dublin with Skulduggery Pleasant the skeleton detective! But most importantly, containing numerous witty lines (by Skulduggery himself, naturally) and lots of humorous banter between him and Valkyrie, because THAT’S what I really read these books for! 😉 I don’t think I liked it quite as much as the first one, but it was gripping and I find myself rather glad that it’s a book instead of a movie because with a book, it’s just the words and imagination; whereas if it was actually on a screen, it would probably be far too scary for me. 😉 And just think of all the dialog I’d miss in that case! o.o Skulduggery continues to be hilarious and awesome, the real reason I’m reading these things. I hope to have more awesome Skulduggery lines in the future… HE’S SO QUOTABLE AND FUNNY AND EPIC. Skulduggery’s the best. ❤

4starrating

12. Moominvalley in November – Tove Jansson

I was nervous that I wouldn’t like this one at first… but it turned out okay, so I was glad. 🙂 I’m not sure I liked the translator of this one as much? And it starts out rather melancholy and I wasn’t sure if I liked the characters much, but of course they grew on me. I thought it would be sad but it wasn’t. Yay! And of course I love Snufkin! 😉 It was awesome how everyone kept coming to his tent. XD And I really liked Toft too, he’s adorbz. Some of it was a little vague and hard to sort of grasp in your head if you know what I mean? And it definitely feels different than the other ones, probably mostly because the Moomins aren’t there… And kind of more shadowy and melancholy. But I ended up enjoying it more than I thought, and Snufkin in particular (and Toft) make it better of course! 🙂

4starrating

13. Rising Shadows – Ashley Townsend

Aaaand reviewed this one. So much enjoyable! Will… ❤ Really fun little book.

***

I kind of read a lot in March! It was a good reading month.

Dream away in those pages . . .

~ The Page Dreamer

Advertisement

Stands of Night {April 2016}

First Wednesday of the month means it’s time for Nightstand Books, a monthly meme of what-we’re-reading, hosted by Jenelle Schmidt and D.J. Edwardson. (Jenelle called her post today “Stands of Night,” which I honestly didn’t understand for a second, and then I decided to steal it because I LOVE that. XD)

So without further ado, my nightstand this month…

nightstand2016april

  • Tales from Moominvalley by Tove Jansson – I actually just finished this one, the last of the Moomin books I currently own. This one was a collection of short stories (read aloud, of course!) and oh! Such a delight! ^_^ My favorite was called The Last Dragon in the World and featured one of my favorite friendships i.e. Snufkin and Moomintroll. THEY ARE SO AWESOME AND ADORBZ. Snufkin is like my favorite character ever and he was MAGNIFICENT in this one! ❤ I love him so much. LINK: {on Goodreads}
  • Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett – Leftover from March Magics, I’m determined to get this read before it returns to the library! I started it last night, made the belated discovery that there are no chapters, and promptly stayed up till 2 a.m. before I had the willpower to put it down… (Which is bad, given that I have a cold and should have been asleep! Ahem.) But so far it’s HILARIOUS and doesn’t take itself seriously and has FOOTNOTES (and one of the footnotes had footnotes! *flails*) and it subverts so many fantasy tropes… Anyways I’m having fun with it. 🙂 LINK: {on Goodreads}
  • King’s Folly by Jill Williamson – I’m going to start this monster of a book shortly… I’m very excited! ISN’T IT PRETTY?? I got this for review from Bethany House so I was SO ecstatic when it showed up in the mail a few days ago! Also, the book actually released yesterday! Check out Jill’s post on it and enter the giveaway for a signed copy! ^_^ I’m slightly nervous to read it because it’s technically for adults and people say it’s dark, but I’m also extremely excited because Jill is an incredible writer and I’ve missed her writing fantasy so it’s awesome that this one’s out now! Anyways I’ll hopefully have it read and reviewed within the month. *fingers crossed because I actually have a review deadline and this book is so enormous and I may die. Ahem* (BUT IT’S SO PRETTYYYYY!) LINKS: {on Goodreads} {Amazon} {Barnes & Noble}

And then my “virtual” nightstand because sadly ebooks do not pile prettily…

virtualnightstand2016april

  • Songkeeper by Gillian Bronte Adams – Currently reading this sequel to Orphan’s Song! *squeals* I just started it so I’m not too far in, but it’s already quite enjoyable and exciting and I love the writing, especially the humorous tilt to it when we’re in Amos’ point of view! XD This book is releasing on April 15th, and I’ll have a review for it up by that date! (Fingers crossed that I get it read and reviewed on time…) LINKS: {on Goodreads} {Amazon pre-order}
  • Defying Shadows by Ashley Townsend – I’m excited to beta-read this third installment of the Rising Shadows Trilogy! It’s going to be LONG but it’s going to be worth it. XD That will be releasing sometime soonish. And I’m excited about it because timey-wimey/Robin-Hood-ish/and I need to know what happens with Will and co! LINK: {on Goodreads}

So that’s what I’m going to be (very) busy reading this month! I just hope I will manage to get them all read (on time)! Funny how that likes to happen where you sign up for things and then suddenly they pile up and happen at the same time! 😉 But I can’t really complain because these are all going to be awesome. I just know it! 😀

Do any of these look intriguing or have you read them? What’s on your stand of the night? 😉

Dream away in those pages . . .

~ The Page Dreamer

March Book Haul and DWJ #Shelfie

Where has March gone?? *flails*

There seem to be several delectable books that have made their way into my possession this month . . . so I thought it would be fun to share my March book haul.

Because we all love seeing pictures of stacks of books. 😉

BookHaulMar2016

This ARC came in the mail today and I’m SO incredibly excited to read it! (There may have been squealing and book-petting. Ahem.) Ever since reading The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest and learning that this sequel is about the Margrave from the first one… I can’t WAIT to read about his story!

These were birthday presents, which I’m delighted with so far! A Spy’s Devotion was lovely, I’m enjoying the banter of Skulduggery Pleasant, as always, and Susan Cooper has some interesting things to say so far on writing and fantasy.

  • Comet in Moominland
  • Moominsummer Madness
  • The Exploits of Moomipappa
  • Moominland Midwinter
  • Moominland in November
  • Tales From Moominvalley

(The Moomin books, by Tove Jansson)

The Moomin books were from an aunt and cousin who have impeccable taste in books, and I’m having the time of my life reading them — aloud, in a British accent, naturally. 😉 Originally written in Swedish by an inhabitant of Finland, they are a bizarre whimsical fantasy delight. So. Much. FUN! I’ve so far read two and a half, and my favorite character is SNUFKIN. You may hear a lot about him at some point… He’s the best. ❤

MarchMagics2016

What I’m hoping to read this month for #MarchMagics

These I got from the library this week, in honor of March Magics hosted by We Be Reading, and am so excited to read them! I haven’t read this DWJ book yet, and I’ve never read a Pratchett before, so I’m excited to try this one (especially since it was a recommendation from Sarah).

Speaking of March Magics… March has been speeding away in the blink of an eye and life has been too busy for me to read or post about Diana Wynne Jones… which annoys me muchly because I will take any excuse to read or talk about that author! But I’m hoping to get some reading in now.

And since the first prompt of the month (better late than never!) was to share your collection of Diana Wynne Jones (or Terry Pratchett) books, and/or which you were planning to read this month… and I just showed the ones I plan to read (and I wouldn’t say no to rereading any of the ones I own, if I have time, especially Dark Lord of Derkholm for the readalong this week) . . .

Here is my Diana Wynne Jones collection on my shelf.

DWJshelfie

It’s by no means all of her books, but I’m quite proud of what I HAVE collected. These were all careful, painstaking, slow-and-steady sporadic finds at various library sales (except for Fire and Hemlock, and The Tough Guide to Fantasyland, which were more or less Christmas presents).

(I’ve also read Enchanted Glass, The Pinhoe Egg, Castle in the Air, and Reflections: On the Magic of Writing, but tragically do not own them. Yet.)

dwjbooks

And I couldn’t resist sharing them all laid out as well. *huggles all the loverly books*

So. Books, both new and old. ❤

Do you have a recently-acquired book you’re excited about?

If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be off now . . . I have a lot of reading to do . . . 😀

Dream away in those pages . . .

~ The Page Dreamer