It’s Monday, What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date, and adapted by Kellee at Unleashing Readers and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts with a children’s/YA focus. The Sunday Post is hosted by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer. These weekly roundups are a great way to discover new blogs and bloggers, share titles, and add to your ever-growing to-read list.
This week has been pretty exciting as I’ve been working on my new website! It’s still a work in progress, but my new baby, Raincitylibrarian.ca, is live! I’ve wanted my own domain name for donkey’s years, and this week I finally took the plunge, and I couldn’t be more excited. I love my little corner of the internet, and it’s connected me with all sorts of wonderful bookish people/ I’m really looking forward to growing and building Raincity Librarian. Be sure to follow along with me, and do forgive the occasional digital meltdown – while books are always my friends, technology and I have a bit of a complicated relationship…
Because I’ve been so busy figuring out website stuff, as well as nursing one heck of a chest cold, there aren’t too many books on the list this week, but I do hope you enjoy this post all the same!
A little mouse sets off on a crazy adventure in pursuit of a red balloon. This simple story is sweet, but the ending seemed a bit abrupt, and I think the book might have benefit from another spread just to round out the story. Still, the illustrations are absolutely adorable, and really worth enjoying with a small child.
I have really enjoyed the sweet adventures of Goose and Sophie, but I have to admit that this isn’t my favourite entry in the series. The illustrations are once again sweet and endearing, and I love them as usual, but the story is a little bit lacking. It’s not a bad story, it just doesn’t feel all that fresh – Goose feels left out when Sophie goes on a field trip to a farm, and embarks on his own exploration, meeting local farm animals and slowly making new friends. Perfect for fans of the series, but just not quite as wonderful as the earlier books.
I haven’t been reading a lot of fantasy recently – as you might have noticed from my previous #IMWAYR posts I’ve been in a bit of a historical fiction rut for the past few weeks. While scouring my bookshelf for something new (to me) to read I came across the Raymond E. Feist section (my partner is a massive fan – we really do have a Raymond E. Feist section, nestled in beside the Terry Brooks, R. A. Salvatore, and Robin Hobb sections), and I decided to give one his books a try. I was really pleasantly surprised – Feist has a refreshingly straight-forward, unpretentious writing style, with a fast-paced plot and likeable characters. The young lead character, Talon, is such a refreshing hero – he’s neither angsty nor self-absorbed, doesn’t make rash decisions, and isn’t a frustrating stream of endless snark or chatter. There isn’t a great deal of character development in Talon of the Silver Hawk, and characters seem to appear and disappear without leaving so much as a ripple, so if that’s something you value highly in a story this might not be a fitting choice for you. I wouldn’t describe this as a brilliant book by any means, and it does leave something to be desired in the storytelling department, but it is a quick, breezy, uncomplicated story that’s perfect for moments when you just want something entertaining to read. As someone wrote in a pretty hilarious Goodreads review, “This is a quick read and is highly entertaining; this isn’t literature, its an airplane read.” But hey, sometimes we all need airplane reads.
The long-awaited fall issue of YAACING is finally here! YAACING is the newsletter of YAACS, the Young Adult and Children’s Services Section of the BC Library Association. This quarterly newsletter contains story time outlines, felt story templates, book reviews, annotated bibliographies, program ideas and more, and it’s a great way to connect with libraries across the province. Be sure to check it out here! You can also follow YAACS on twitter, instagram and pinterest for more great ideas, resources and information.
So, that’s it for this week! Hope everyone is having a great week – try to stay dry in your in the rainy, rainy, Pacific Northwest! Stay tuned as this blog comes together, thank you all so much for reading, following and just being the awesome bookish folks that you are.
Good luck with the move! Looks good so far… I’ve never read that particular Feist book but I did read his earlier series, and as a kid I was quite taken with them. I agree they are quick easy reads and sometimes that’s not bad! Hope you enjoy. and have a good week. 🙂
Well, it helps that I have a live-in tech expert (my partner’s a software engineer, lucky me!) 😉 I completely agree – sometimes your brain just needs a fun, quick read to help unwind after a crazy day.
Fantasy is a genre I don’t read too much of. I have to make an effort to read more, especially since so many students love that genre. Aberdeen has an adorable cover! Thanks for sharing.
I find that fantasy really offers the best kind of escapism when you just need to forget about the world for a while and escape to another world entirely! 🙂
The new blog looks awesome! Hope you’re on the mend from your cold!
(P.S. I noticed you mentioned Robin Hobb… I’m newer to the fantasy genre but I do have “The Assassin’s Apprentice” on my to-read list and I hope to get to it soon! The more fantasy — and sci-fi — I read, the more I crave it!)
Robin Hobb is a huge name in the genre, but I’ve only just started reading my first novel by here! I’m the same way – the more I explore a genre, the more I want it! I used to read a lot of sci-fi when I was a teenager, but it’s not a genre I’ve explored that much since then – I really should get back into it!
Congratulations on acquiring your own little place on the ‘Net. Enjoy!
https://readerbuzz.blogspot.com/2016/11/im-loving-texas-book-festival.html
Thanks so much – it’s pretty exciting!! 😀
I love the new design! I redid my website again this week too. It shut down on me and I had to totally restore it with my hosting people and that was a customer service nightmare. I’ve had such a hard time deciding on theme and getting it to look the way that I want it too. I love WordPress though for it’s ease of use.
The Raymond Feist book sounds interesting and I really could use a good airplane read as I am going to be at our state library conference for the next three days, beginning tomorrow. Great post!
Well, it does indeed help that I have long-suffering, very patient 24/7 tech support in the shape of a software engineer husband… 😀
I love library conferences! I always leave inspired. I just wish they weren’t so expensive…. >.<
Congratulations on taking the plunge and getting your own domain. I like epic fantasy but have never given Feist a try. I’ll be looking to fix that soon. Come see my week here. Happy reading!
It’s very exciting to have my own little corner of the internet to play with!
I’ve always had a real soft spot for epic or high fantasy – I find it to be the ultimate escape from the every day!
That cover of your YAACING is enticing, Jane. And congrats on your new website! Exciting to see and hear about. And, thanks for the book sharing too, of course!
I haven’t heard the phrase, airplane read, before, but I agree completely that we all need them once in a while. I think of them as brain candy. A bit is always a good thing, but I wouldn’t want a diet of it. For kids on the other hand, I’m always just happy if they are reading, no matter what.
Congratulations on your new internet home!
So true! It’s all about variety – that’s what I stress so much to caregivers! Sometimes we go through reading phases, it’s all natural! The brain knows what it needs. 🙂
Congrats! The website looks fantastic!
All new titles for me this week. Hope you’re feeling better, although there is nothing like books to keep you company!
Thanks so much! I’ve actually been behind on my book club reading, so it’s been a great time for me to get caught up while stuck in bed! 🙂
Well done on making the move, it’s always a bit scary. The site looks great and I love self-hosting, it makes me feel proud that it’s all mine. LOL at that review, I love airplane reads from time to time. I call them sorbets to cleanse my palette between heavier courses!
I love that analogy! It’s so true – sometimes we just need something to refresh our minds and give them a bit of a break! 🙂
I totally agree, it’s so exciting to have a little corner of the internet that’s all mine! 🙂
Enjoy “decorating” your corner of the Internet world. I like what you’ve done so far.
Cute picture books, as always. Thanks for sharing…and for visiting my blog.
Thanks so much, it’s been a lot of fun to play around with!
Aberdeen looks like an adorable book! I need to check it out. Have a great week!
The illustrations are just too cute – and I’m always a complete sucker for cute little animals. 🙂
Yay for the new website! I’ve wanted to have my own domain for a while, but I still need to take that jump. Have a good week! 🙂
I’ve been blogging for over two years now, so it took me a while to take the plunge, too! But I’m so glad I did, it’s kind of refreshed me, and made blogging feel new again! 🙂
The new website is lovely — enjoy your domain.
Thank you, I’m having a lot of fun with it so far!!
I didn’t know about Yaacing – looks good. I own a few Feist novels but haven’t gotten around to reading them yet.
I doubt anyone outside of my home province has heard of YAACING, it’s just put together by three volunteers for our local library association, but we’re pretty proud of it. 🙂