When I think about books, I touch my shelf.... #BookShelfTour #AmReading #Books

This has been requested a few times, and I think I've dragged my feet long enough. It's just so hard to whittle down a list of books I love most. There are too many, and I always fret that I'll leave some vital, life-changing read off the list, and then I'll spiral into a neurotic depression for my thoughtlessness... okay, that might be stretching it a bit. Just a bit.

Anyway, I've decided that instead of a set list of top 10 or top 100 books, I'd just snap a few pictures of my office shelves and share those. This is by no means my entire collection. There are a few additional shelves and cabinets crammed full of books (the angle was just too awkward for a picture), not to mention my kindle library (full of awesomeness), and then there are the magical reads I tracked down via library because I couldn't find them elsewhere for a decent price. Seriously, how could so many gems go out of print? Curses!

So here we go... pay no attention to my dust. That's a cleaning project for another day.

If you've been following me for a while, then you might recognize this as the desk I built a few years ago to accommodate my book habit. As you can see, it has served me well. These are the books I always have at arm's reach. Literally. My laptop fits in the cozy nook just below the fancy Keep Calm tags hanging in front of my calendar.

I won't detail every last book you see here (because that would take for-fucking-ever) but I'll at least do a quick rundown. The center 3 shelves are reference and writing books. There are a handful on marketing, and several on screenwriting, and then the dictionaries, thesauruses, and style books are right in the middle, along with several books on various languages, including Latin, German, Italian, and Chinese. There are a few additional books crammed in there that don't fit in these categories, but that's likely due to lack of shelf space elsewhere. Or laziness.

To the left, you'll see some of my favorite leading ladies of urban fantasy, including: Charlaine Harris (Sookie Stackhouse series), Vicki Pettersson (Zodiac series & Celestial Blues series), Patricia Briggs (Mercy Thompson series), Jeanne C. Stein, Lilith Saintcrow, Tonya Hurley, Kelley Armstrong, Kory M. Shrum (the Dying for a Living series)...

To the right, there are more kickass ladies, including: Kim Harrison (the Hollows series), MaryJanice Davidson (Undead series), Laurell K. Hamilton (Anita Blake and Merry Gentry series). And the bottom shelf is anthologies that contain stories from most of these ladies too.

 This lovely beast of a shelf is vintage. My husband's grandfather built it long ago, and I love it dearly. What you can't see (and won't, because my office floor is covered in inventory boxes) is the enclosed cabinets on the bottom portion of this shelf, that I also have stuffed to max capacity with more books.

On the left side, you'll find some of my favorite dude writers, including: Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, Jasper Fforde, Jim Butcher, George R. R. Martin, Charles de Lint, and Christopher Moore. Kevin Hearne would be over here too, but his books are on my kindle.

In the center, you'll find some more research books--but these are on vampires. You'll also find some vampire books by J. R. Ward, Anne Rice, and more. Below that are my favorite classics, including: Alice and Wonderland, a giant-ass Shakespeare collection, Dante's Inferno, some Thoreau, Emerson, and Whitman. Lots of good stuff. 

To the right is a menagerie of religious books, ranging from Christianity, to Paganism, to Atheism. Half of this collection is tucked away in the cabinet below, but I keep my favorites on this shelf for easy access. 

This is my little fantasy corner. I keep Holly Black's books and my Brian Froud Oracle set up on the shelf with Miss Mermaid and the butterfly tea set. The colorful bottles serving as bookends were bought from a wonderful lady named Suzi who owns the Gypsy Folk Shoppe in Millersburg, OH. On top of the bookshelf (this one was donated by my mom during an office makeover) I have a collection of trinkets and illustrated fantasy books on fairies, mermaids, unicorns, wizards, and other magical things. 

Here are a few more dude writers I admire: Gregory Maguire, Dan Brown, Daniel Quinn, Ray Kurzweil. Mary Roach is mixed in there with them. These genres are a bit different from what I keep on my other shelves, lots of non-fiction and science goodies, so they ended up here. 

On the bottom shelf, I have more epic high fantasy, lots of Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Jacqueline Carey, Robert Jordan, and more. The Harry Potter books are tucked in the back there too, but I have everything doubled up, so you can't see. Apparently, I need another shelf. But where to put it?

So that's the bulk of my bookish loves. I hope you enjoyed this little shelf tour. I hope you found something familiar that made you feel kindred, and I hope you found something new and exciting too!

Happy reading! xoxo

#TuesdayBookBlog Random Musings & Word of the Day #caffbition #AmReading

I realize I don't blog regularly. I manage to post book reviews and spotlights for friends, and occasionally I'll have a cover reveal or event update/followup. Posting more consistently has been on my caffbition list for some time now.

I think being a novelist can make blogging a challenge. I'm used to several rounds of editing before sending my words off into the world. Also, I prefer a resting phase where I let words ferment and then revisit them to make sure they still sound as good as they did when I first wrote them. By then, anything dealing with current events is not longer relevant... which usually prompts me to discard rather than post outdated content, even if it does survive editing and self-scrutiny. This practice does not make for successful blogging.

So here I am today, long after the coffee has worn off, blogging without editing or clicking "save for later". I'm not saying that this will become a regular thing, but I gotta start somewhere. Okay. That's enough random musing. Let's move on to the bookish part of the blog this fine Tuesday...

This weekend, I'll be at Planet Comicon in Kansas City, MO. Squeee!!! It's my first time, which seems odd, since it's in my home state and full of awesomeness. I've traveled to New Orleans and Dallas and Denver for conventions, and this is somehow the first one I've attended close to home. If it's half as much fun as I expect it will be, it may become a regular event we attend every year. *fingers crossed and gas card clutched close to my heart* If you're attending, be sure to stop by my table on Artist Alley and say hello! And if you're a writer (or aspiring writer) come check out the Writing with Momentum panel I'm moderating on Saturday at 5:30pm.

I'm really psyched to meet everyone attending! And even though I mostly read ebooks these days, I do have a copy of Point of Divergence (Star Trek Seekers book 2) that I'm hoping to get signed by Dayton and Kevin. : ) I'm also stupid excited about the Kevin Smith Q&A Friday night, and the fact that my friend Alice is going too! I'm bringing my set of Cards Against Humanity, which I recently updated with all the latest expansions, so I'm planning for massive fun in the off-hours of the convention as well. ; )

I have a mountain of books to read when we return next week, and I'm determined to write blog reviews for them all. I might even record a BookTube video or two. After the amazing Bookish Babe did a video review for my first Lana novel, I've been inspired to give it a try! (That could just be the caffbition talking again...also, I hate myself on film. Totes awkward.)

Here are the reads I'll be devouring in the weeks to come...

The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black
(I adored Black's Modern Faerie Tale series and the Spiderwick Chronicles, and I'm actually 70 pages into this book already and enjoying it immensely. I checked this one out from the library when I was there for a signing last month, but I've been caught up with the release of Ghost Market and reading novels for my critique group, the Four Horsemen of the Bookocalypse.)



 

Descended from Dragons by Tricia Owens
(Tricia is a fellow indie author. She sent me a review copy of her new book, but it's only 99¢ on Amazon--and FREE through Kindle Unlimited. I intended to have my review ready in time for release day, but I'm behind as usual. T-T )






Okay. I guess I better get back to the writing and editing and packing and--oh, did I mention that I'm completely recoding my website? Yeah, that too. I haven't updated it in some time, and now that everyone prefers to surf the web on their phone, I find that my site isn't as mobile friendly as it ought to be. : /  Just one more task to add to the caffbition list.

xoxo

#MondayBlogs #BookReview of Worth Dying For (Dying for a Living book 5) by @KoryShrum #amreading

Guess who has a new book out this week? Well, yes, I do too, but that's not who I'm talking about. Today is the release of Worth Dying For, book 5 in Kory M. Shrum's Dying for a Living series! Squee!!!

I LOVE this series. It's for reals in my top 10. Jesse is so spunky and raw, I just can't help but love her to pieces. Book 5 hits the ground running and doesn't stop. I so can't wait for book 6. Typity type type, Kory! : P Just kidding. lol (but seriously, it's coming soon, right?)
  

My official #review of Worth Dying For: A masterful collection of all the best things—action, suspense, romance, and a dash of humor!

Book 5 of Shrum's Dying for a Living series picks up shortly after the end of book 4. Jesse, Ally, Maisie, and the rest of the gang finally understand that life as they knew it is over, and despite the depressing and terrifying reality that the end is nigh, they are all grasping for some shred of happiness as they stay under the radar and hatch their next plan of action. Jesse and Ally's relationship finally evolves into something more. Maisie begins to understand her true value and the weight of the choices she will soon have to make. Rachel and Gideon make some critical moves toward defeating Caldwell, and Gloria and Monroe shake things up with a soul-wrenching mix of horrifying premonitions and hopeful possibilities.

The story is fast paced with lots of unexpected twists and turns, and the end left me desperately longing for the next book. I’m still holding out hope for a happy ending, even though it seems nearly impossible at this point. A fight this big just doesn’t go down with everyone emerging unscathed… or on the same side where they began.
 

So yeah, 5 stars all the way! If you're new to Kory's series, fret not, you can fall in love with Jesse and company for FREE in book 1 on Amazon HERE.

Kory M. Shrum lives in Michigan with her partner Kim and her ferocious guard pug Josephine. She is very fond of naps and foods made of sugar, which is, as you can imagine, a deadly combination. But she tries to compensate for her extreme physical laziness with her overactive imagination. She's an active member of SFWA, HWA, and the Four Horsemen of the Bookocalypse, where she's known as Conquest. She's the author of five contemporary (and somewhat dark) fantasy novels in the Dying for a Living series: Dying for a Living, Dying by the Hour, Dying for Her: A Companion Novel, Dying Light, and Worth Dying For.

Learn more about her and her work at: 

www.korymshrum.com 

Or connect with her via: 

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