Fantasy Love February Nightstand Books

Today’s post is a mix of… well, of three different things, all scrumptiously rolled together into one.

Firstly: Nightstand Books, which is a fun bookish monthly meme, the first Wednesday of every month, held by Jenelle and D.J.

Secondly: Jenelle is also doing a Fantasy month thing for February… Check out her post here!

In case you don’t know, fantasy is my FAVORITE.

Thirdly: Grace @ Fictionally is holding a Fantasy Love February Reading Challenge which I am — tentatively? — joining in on. (That is, I hope to be able to read a bunch of fantasy, but my reading goals always tend to do whatever they want instead of what I want, soo… we’ll see.)

So! Because Nightstand Books is about what we’re reading this month, and since the first part of the first mini-challenge within the Fantasy Love February Reading Challenge is to post the book/books you plan/hope to read for the challenge… and since this all relates to fantasy… it’s all coming together in this post!

Apparently February is a lovely (see what I did there?) time to celebrate fantasy. Huzzah! It’s the perfect excuse for me to read some fantasy books I’ve been meaning to read.

Here’s my nightstand currently… (Not all of it’s fantasy… but that’s why this is the Nightstand Books part…)

I’m working on going through all the Holmes stories, so right now I’m working through The Original Illustrated Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, which contains three collections of short stories (one of which I read last month) as well as The Hound of the Baskervilles. I’m currently in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes; then it’s on to Hound and Return. I’m loving reading these, especially since short stories can be read fairly quickly, and I simply adore the original illustrations by Sidney Paget! They’re the essence of the Holmes tales, right there. ❤

Also started The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien (edited by Humphrey Carpenter and Christopher Tolkien). I read most of this book quite some time ago, but never actually got all the way to the end, and it’s been a long time so I don’t really remember them… Hence, I’m restarting and hoping to go through the whole thing this time. It’s fascinating and I love being in the mind of my favorite author.

Similar story to above: The Tough Guide to Fantasyland by Diana Wynne Jones is a book I’ve read bits of but never sat down to read all the way through. Set up as an A-Z “guidebook” to Fantasyland, it’s tongue-in-cheek, making fun of cliches and just having a rollick, and it’s quite hilarious.

So those are what I’m currently in. (I’d also kind of like to read a few of the books I didn’t get to in January, like Rising Shadows and The Poisoned Cure… but we’ll see.)

But! Then I’d also like to read some fantasy for said reading challenge. So these are (tentatively) what I’m hoping to read in February.

The Tough Guide to Fantasyland | The Night Dance | Moonblood | The Castle Corona | Wolf Tower | King’s Warrior

Aaand I may end up suddenly having a bunch of other books to review, or going to the library and getting a bunch of random things, or having no time to read because I’m busy and/or writing, so this may not happen, but I’m hoping to, anyway!

So… Nightstand round #2 (yes, Tough Guide to Fantasyland is in both. 😀 )

What’s on your nightstand? Anything fantasy-ish? 😉

Dream away in those pages…

~The Page Dreamer

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Reading Roundup #1

It’s been a month since I started this blog! Hurray! More importantly, we’re a month into this new year of 2016, and I read several lovely books in January, so I’m here to start a monthly trend on The Page Dreamer: a Reading Roundup to record what I read each month!

I started out the month by reading some books I’ve been meaning to read for review and hadn’t gotten around to yet, interspersed with a couple random books… As I finished a book on the 22nd, I looked back and went “Wait a minute. I’ve read six books in three weeks.” Six books is what I generally average in a month when I’m neither super busy nor reading a lot. But I felt like all I’d been doing the last three weeks was read–how was it I hadn’t read more?? That was when I realized… “Oh… they’re all enormous books.”

I keep a spreadsheet of books I read every year. Because it’s so fun. And yes, that’s 2222 pages total right there…

So then, having gotten the large ones of a pressing nature out of the way, I ate some smaller bite-sized books which were a nice change. ^_^

I also… um… seem to be having a problem with being too generous with my star ratings? I do this at the beginning of every year because I have nothing to compare with and am generally feeling magnanimous. So… all the five stars! (Except for two.) Oops?

And I read three books in a row (not counting the nonfiction) which featured enormous sea monster serpent things. (The Sunken Realm, Goddess Tithe, Out of Darkness Rising.) Go me. 😀

Books I read in January 2016

{My Review}

1. Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones — I really loved this! Of course, it’s by one of my top-two favorite authors, sooo… that’s not surprising. 😉 And it’s about books and writing and it’s a retelling and a lovely friendship/romance and has Tom Lynn. All-round win on this one!

{My review on The Road of a Writer}

2. Yorien’s Hand by Jenelle Leanne Schmidt (The Minstrel’s Song, #3) — So enjoyed this, and am really looking forward to going back to read the first two books in the series! I loved the world, adventure, dragons, and characters (especially Brant & Kiernan Kane!). Fabulous Epic Fantasy. ❤

{My Review}

3. The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke — I loved most of this one, but was slightly disappointed by the ending… Still, I’m glad I read it and it’s definitely worth reading for those less picky about their endings than I! 😉 Venice and brothers and the mysterious boy Scipio and detective Victor who has pet tortoises.

{My Review}

4. Prince of Demargen by E. Kaiser Writes (Thaw, #3) — This was a very interesting sequel to a Frozen-like story (The Snow Queen retelling) and I’m very much looking forward to reading the first two in the series. But it’s quite rich and I love Hess a ton and it’s brilliantly written.

5. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes #3) — I haven’t reviewed this one… It’s actually a reread, ish… I think I’ve read them all before? But I don’t really remember them so I’m working on going through all the Holmes stories — yay! This is the first collection of short stories (after the first two novels), and has twelve stories in all. My favorites I think are The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet, and The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle. Anyways I’m loving reading through Holmes — so awesome, and I love him and Watson: they’re a great pair! 🙂

{My review on The Road of a Writer}

6. The Sunken Realm by Serena Chase (Eyes of E’veria #4) — Pirates, time-travel, a Twelve Dancing Princesses twist, romance, Christian themes and fabulous fantasy, not to mention Cazien. ❤ I can’t 100% recommend it due to some mature content and general scariness, but otherwise fabulous.

7. Goddess Tithe by Anne Elisabeth Stengl (Tales of Goldstone Wood, #2.5) — Haven’t reviewed this either, but oh my goodness, I adored it! *huggles little book* Set in the midst of Veiled Rose (book 2) which is the last Goldstone Wood book I read, it’s just a perfect little tale at sea, with mystery and fantasy and an elegant perfectness to the writing. I loved Munny and he and Leo’s relationship was so fun — they don’t even speak the same language, which made it hilarious! XD Anyways it has a bit of everything and was kinda bittersweet and perfect. ^_^ ❤

{My Review}

8. Impactivity: How to Set the World on Fire Without Burning Out, by Tracy Higley — Interesting non-fiction of a self-help, time-management, inspirational sort of thing. I hope to put some of its ideas to use… Hopefully I’ll read it again. Very well put together.

9. Out of Darkness Rising by Gillian Bronte Adams — Also didn’t review. But it was so so beautiful. A little novella, I read it in a sitting, and it’s a gorgeous allegory. It was incredibly well written — I love this author’s style! — and just… gaah. Words fail me. It was such an amazing allegorical story! ❤ It was so immersive and detailed, I really felt pulled in, and the timeless tale of love and salvation was so beautifully woven. It made me really love the Prince and his Father and look to the allegory beneath, pointing upward. Just an awesome story. (Not to mention one of my favorite covers!)

10. Half-Blood by Jaye L. Knight (Ilyon Chronicles, #0.5) — Everyone and their cousin seems to be after me to read this series, so I finally sat down and read the prequel novella in an attempt to get me hooked enough to not be too daunted by the length of the later books… It’s kinda dark and likely not everyone’s cup of tea, but I didn’t mind it so much since I’ve read similar tales before. Jace is awesome (naturally) and I love Rayad too, and I’m looking forward to continuing the series. 🙂 (Ya know, once I get over the length… >.> *cough* I’m sorry, long books tend to get postponed by this skittish reader…)

Have you read any of these?

What have you been reading?

Dream away in those pages…

~The Page Dreamer