Stacking the Shelves (8): Becky & Randi's huge haul

This meme is hosted (and was created by!) the lovely Tynga at Tynga's Reviews to share any new books we procure - from purchased books, review books, library books, gifted books, and ebooks! We're excited to be participating! :) As always, all titles link to Goodreads.

For Becky this week!

These are all books I'v purchased in various forms over the last few weeks! The Little Giant of Aberdeen County, by Tiffany Baker I read this two years ago after seeing as a staff-pick at the West-Des-Moines Library.  I remember loving it and the general plot, but it's definitely about due for a re-read. I purchased it in hardcover at a giant library booksale on Thursday in Bloomington, IN. 
The Sister, by Poppy Adams I read this three years ago and did not see the twists coming.  The gothic atmosphere and meandering descriptions really appealed to me.  Another purchase from the giant booksale on Thursday.  Hardcover, of course :)
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, by David Wroblewski This was a daring purchase for me, since I never buy books I haven't already read and loved.  I've seen this in several reader's advisory tools at different libraries and couldn't resist the hard copy for 2 dollars at the library on Thursday.
The Thirteenth Tale, by Diane Setterfield I very nearly died when I saw this in hardcover on the booksale shelf.  I snatched it up!  The rich language and gothic atmosphere is amazing!
The White Darkness, by Geraldine McCaughrean I bought this online (hardcover) for a class discussion in youth materials. I LOVED it.
The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern This was purchased as an audiobook in a moment of desperation.  I had an 18 hour car ride and the library was closed.  I'm going to have to buy the hardcover later as well.
World War Z, by Max Brooks This was also bought for the car ride, and I liked it significantly less.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to sell it on ebay or give it to a friend.
Gossip Girl, by Cecily von Ziegesar I got the ebook version of this one,which I had to read on my computer to finish it in time  for my youth materials class.  If I knew how to resell an ebook I'd definitely do it.  This was a fun read but not one I'm really interested in owning.  Maybe I'll get a Kindle someday and feel like it's actually a real book and not something I just read on the web.    30 Days of Night: Rumors of the Undead, by Steve Niles & Jeff Mariotte I thought this was the actual 30 days of night book (shakes fist at hidden subtitle).  I'll probably read the others before I try this one.

Randi's new books! These are the books I've gotten in the past few weeks, so they are NOT all from this week! We save up our books to make a big post when we have lots of them to show you! :)

Received:

 My signed copy of Spark by Brigid Kemmerer was sent by the awesome Brigid Kemmerer herself!!! It says "Dear Randi, Gabriel says 'hi'!" *SWOON* I looove the Merrick brothers! This is one of my favorite series. And Brigid is a sweetheart. :) You can read my 4-star review of Storm (the first book in the Elemental series) here. My 4.5-star review of Spark will be up soon!

I won my signed copy of The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney from the fantastic Tara @ Tater's Tall Tails ! You can read my 5-star review here.

The super awesome signed Kimberly Derting swag (author of The Body Finder series and The Pledge series) is from the lovely Mandee @ Compelled by Words!

Thank you all, ladies!!! All of your packages totally made my day!!!

Bought:

The Dark Unwinding by Sharon Cameron - got this one for my book club!

Eucalyptus by Murray Bail - got a really cheap used copy on Amazon! 

Ashen Winter by Mike Mullin - cannot wait to read this! I looooved Ashfall!

So what's new on YOUR shelves this week? (Or, if you're like us, the last few weeks?) ;)

Stacking the Shelves (7): The Crazy-Awesome Edition!

This meme is hosted (and was created by!) the lovely Tynga at Tynga's Reviews to share any new books we procure - from purchased books, review books, library books, gifted books, and ebooks! We're excited to be participating! :) As always, all titles link to Goodreads.

For Becky this week!

The Red Umbrella by Christina Diaz Gonzalez

*****************

This week....I (Randi) got to meet Lois Lowry!!! I know, right! It was so fitting that she came to speak/read during Banned Books Week since The Giver continues to be one of the most challenged books! Also, I would like to mention that Ms. Lowry is the first young adult author I've ever had the chance to see since, despite Iowa City being one of UNESCO's Cities of Literature, we don't get very many young adult authors visiting, which is very sad! 

Here's a picture so you can be jealous. :) I love you all!

There's Ms. Lowry signing my books! (The lady on the right is an assistant.)

Me & friends!

Three fellow pre-service English/language arts teachers right there! :) 

I already had a copy of The Giver, but I figured I might as well put them all in the picture. :) All of these are signed!

The Giver Quartet links: The Giver, Gathering Blue, Messenger, Son

Then I got home late last night only to find a package on my couch which contained....

Through to You by Emily Hainsworth

Beautiful Music for Ugly Children by Kirstin Cronn-Mills

Send Me a Sign by Tiffany Schmidt

Yesterday by C.K. Kelly Martin

all brand-new releases sent to me by the wonderful Courtney Summers (author of one of my all-time faves, This is Not a Test among others!) for winning her giveaway contest on Facebook. So psyched to read all of these! :) 

Though my grad school schedule means much less time for pleasure reading, I'll try to have reviews of ALL of these books (all eight) up before the end of the year. And again, sorry for the crappy picture quality on the book pics!

So what's new on YOUR shelf this week?
Link us up & we'll stop by!

Stacking the Shelves (6): The One with Special Guests!

This meme is hosted (and was created by!) the lovely Tynga at Tynga's Reviews to share any new books we procure - from purchased books, review books, library books, gifted books, and ebooks! We're excited to be participating! :) 

It's been weeks since we've done a Stacking the Shelves post, so I've gotten more books than this in the last few weeks which I promise to feature eventually! (Nineteen novels for two lit classes....) Bringing you Randi's new books...with Special Guests! 

Sorry for the quality of the book covers this week, but I figured...everyone's always including pics of their dogs & kitties with their books, so I wanted to include my piggies. :) 
As usual, all titles link to Goodreads!

All of these books were bought. And this may be the first time ever that I have loved ALL of the covers of my new books! They're all seriously gorgeous!

Pic 1 books are all for fun (pre-ordered Unspoken!)
Pic 2 features books I chose as independent reads for my adolescent lit class.
Pic 3 includes two verse novels, one of which I'll be reading for class as well (I couldn't decide which one when I was ordering them, so I got both!)

Introducing Ms. Hester Ann, a.k.a. Big Momma! (She's my cuddlepig. Named after Devin Hester.)

Fingerprints of You by Kristen-Paige Madonia - I've been waiting on this one for ages!

Spark (Elemental #2) by Brigid Kemmerer - Can't wait to spend more time with the Merrick boys!

Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan - As soon as I read this description, knew I had to have it! I'll be reviewing this one soon!

Introducing Brady Boy! (Daddy's boy - named after Tom Brady.)

Stupid Fast by Geoff Herbach

Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Introducing Bacon! (This little girl is actually Hester & Brady's daughter. Husband fail on picking a boy to keep Hester company...)

Make Lemonade by Virginia Euwer Wolff
The Good Braider by Terry Farish

So what's new on YOUR shelf this week?
Link us up & we'll stop by!

Stacking the Shelves (5): The BIG One

This meme is hosted (and was created by!) the lovely Tynga at Tynga's Reviews to share any new books we procure - from purchased books, review books, library books, gifted books, and ebooks! We're excited to be participating! :) 

New on Becky's Shelves this week!




The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket
Gifted by my Co-Blogger (Randi).  I've read this before and LOVED it.  Not gonna lie, I even loved the movie.  I'M SORRY.
East by Edith Pattou
Purchased at an actual bookstore.  Someone has to do it so I can keep browsing!
Dark Visions #1-3 by L.J Smith
Old favorite, got a great deal at Books A Million.  I just adore L.J. Smith books.  They were the Twilight of their time and are far better crafted (oops, just slipped out).
Love Anthony by Lisa Genova
Won this one on Goodreads!  Review will follow soon!

New on Randi's Shelves this week!

Won:

Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry - Thank you to Britta @ I Like These Books! (Cannot wait to read this! Can't wait to meet Echo & Noah) :)

The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket + sweet swag! (which I shared with my lovely co-blogger!) - Thank you to Aeicha @ Word Spelunking!

Gifted:

The husband stopped at a coworker's yard sale yesterday and got me these for $1.75 total! He knows the way to my heart! :)

The Nightspinners by Lucretia Grindle

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl

Bought:

Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins (I've heard so much about Kaiden, I couldn't resist!)

Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder (I've heard nothing but good about this book)

Heist Society by Ally Carter (~$4)

Long Lankin by Lindsey Barraclough (so excited to read this! It will be a Twice Baked Thursday feature in October!)

Changeling by Delia Sherman (~$3)

Darker Still by Leanna Renee Hieber (ebook - ~$3)

So what's new on YOUR shelf this week?
Link us up & we'll stop by!

Stacking the Shelves (4)

This meme is hosted (and was created by!) the lovely Tynga at Tynga's Reviews to share any new books we procure - from purchased books, review books, library books, gifted books, and ebooks! We're excited to be participating! :) 

Becky's Books:

*I got these from a half-price bookstore.  Total cost was $20.  It's a rare day that I actually buy books because I have champaign tastes (hardcover) on a beer budget.  It's also really hard for me to decide to buy a book I haven't already read.  How will I know if it's worth it?  These picks seemed like safe bets.

The Adoration of Jenna Fox, by Mary E. Pearson: This popped up in my Novelist recommendations over and over.
The Cider House Rules, by John Irving: I watched the movie version of this and cursed myself when I found out it was a book.
A Great and Terrible Beauty, by Libba Bray: I've read this before and loved it.  Bray's entry in the Zombies vs. Unicorns anthology reminded me how much I liked it.
Octavian Nothing, by M.T. Anderson: I've seen this all over goodreads and I LOVE the cover!

Randi's Books
Won:

Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley - won in a giveaway as part of the paperback blog tour! (big thank you to the lovely Joy at Book Lagniappe) Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally - won in the Lazy Days of Summer giveaway  (big thanks to the lovely Jenn at Jenn Renee Read)
Bought:

Lengths by Steph Campbell & Liz Reinhardt (thanks to Amanda at Letters Inside Out for the recommendation!)

Weekly Recap:
Sunday: Becky's author study of Rick Riordan Summer Wrap-Up Read-a-Thon Update #1 & a challenge
Monday: Randi's review of Liesl and Po by Lauren Oliver
Tuesday: Randi's Top Ten list of posts to get to know us!
Wednesday: Waiting on Wednesday
Thursday: Randi's What's Next post (The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney won!) Twice Baked Thursday of Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
So what's new on YOUR shelves this week? Link us up!