TTT - New to Me Authors I Read in 2018

The top 10 weekly meme used to be hosted by The Broke and the Bookish they  handed over the reins to ThatArtsyReaderGirl who can be found HERE.  Each week she will focus on lists which cover various topics related to books and reading. 

So this week I am sharing with you new authors I read last year.  I never really stopped to consider this before so it should be rather interesting.

So basically of the 105 books I read last year, 55 were new-to-me authors.  Quite surprising!

Let's start out with 2 which didn't work very well for me.  However, I will be giving both authors second chances.

I can't recommend "Wolves of Winter" enough and after reading "Neverworld Wake" I'm really curious about "Night Film."

Both of these were very pleasant surprises.

So "Dread Nation" was interesting and I am looking forward to the second book and I'm finally glad I read a Kepnes book - I loved this one!

Possibly two of my favorite reads of all year.  The more I think about "The Last Woman in the Forest," the more I like it.

So there you have it.  Just a few of my favorites of the year.  I have to admit, I am still rather shocked at how many of my reads fell into this category in 2018.

So Would You Enter This Door? - In An Absent Dream Review

TITLE: In An Absent Dream (Wayward Children #4)
AUTHOR: Seanan McGuire
PUBLISHER: Tor.com
PUBLISHING DATE: January 8, 2019

FROM GOODREADS: This is the story of a very serious young girl who would rather study and dream than become a respectable housewife and live up to the expectations of the world around her. As well she should. When she finds a doorway to a world founded on logic and reason, riddles and lies, she thinks she's found her paradise. Alas, everything costs at the goblin market, and when her time there is drawing to a close, she makes the kind of bargain that never plays out well. For anyone . . .

MY THOUGHTS: So people who know me and know my reading habits are already fully aware of how much I love this series.  Now I will admit that "Beneath the Sugar Sky" fell somewhat flat for me but I blame that on the fact that it reminded me too much of Alice in Wonderland and Alice and I are not friends.  However, I was very eager to get my hands on this newest installment and see if my love affair was still in tact and I am thrilled to say it is.

"In An Absent Dream" follows Lundy though her childhood.  As a young child, Lundy never fit conventional molds.  Instead of making friends and playing "normal" children games, Lundy much preferred reading and losing herself in books (so you can see the appeal right?).  One day, on the way home, she is reading a book when her feet take her the wrong way.  Lundy stumbles upon a twisted tree with a doorway which leads her to the Goblin Market and introduces her to all kinds of interesting characters.  However, as Lundy grows, she learns everything at the Goblin Market has a cost and not paying fairly has some serious consequences.

So Lundy was a fun character.  I loved her love of reading and felt for her because in the "real world" she never really felt like she belonged.  Throughout the book Lundy visits the Goblin Market several different time and for a novella length book, we actually get to visit quite a time span.  There are some wonderful creatures at the Market and Lundy quickly meets her first and only best friend, Moon.  Moon is quirky and careless and personally I'm surprised she survived in the Market as long as she has, but she is also endearing and fun.

Birds play a VERY important role at the Goblin Market and my bird-loving dog Cass definitely approves of the nature of McGuire's consequences.  If you want to know more, you'll just have to read the series and find out.  While "In An Absent Dream" ties into the other three installments somewhat, I would call it more of a companion book and do think you could read this one out of order but why would you?  All four books are novella length and have such a whimsical fairy tale nature that I would definitely recommend the series to everyone.

RATING: 5 PAWS

A Brief Announcement

So I have enable comment moderation on the blog at least for the next few weeks.  I hope it doesn't deter anyone from commenting and know that I'll still be reading them several times a day and answering when I can.  

Thanks for visiting The Farm!

Challenge Announcement - They Call It Puppy Love 2019!

So it's that time of year again.  February will be here before we know it and that means it's time for the "They Call It Puppy Love Challenge."  It will last all month long and the rules are simple.  

• Make a sign up post and link it here to the blog.
• Read at least one book which: has a dog (or cat) on the cover or features a dog (or cat) in it.
• Do a wrap up post at the end of February with links to your review(s).

Seems easy enough huh?  At the end of the month, I will put all the participants in a bowl and Booker T will pick a lucky winner.  That person will receive a $10.00 gift certificate to Amazon or Book Depository.

They Call It Puppy Love Challenge Link-up

What's Happening on The Farm (01-11-19)

So I'm doing things a tad bit differently this year and will be combining all of my regular weekend posts.  This will enable me to add more content on Fridays and it is just starting to make more sense.  I'll still be linking up with Stacking the Shelves at Tynga's Reviews and Sunday Post at Caffeinated Reviewer.  Both blogs are awesome so make sure you check them out.

So what's up - way too much stress.  I want to apologize to anyone who was offended by any posts or comments on yesterday's buddy read post.  I in no way wanted anyone to get hurt or feel alienated from The Farm and  Maria didn't want that either. We exchanged many messages yesterday over the whole thing.  Once again, sorry Chuckles.   I firmly believe everyone has a right to their opinions and feelings but I don't want people coming here and feeling like they are being attacked, or on the other hand, can't say what they want.  I disabled comments for the time being on yesterday's post.  The buddy read will be continuing but I'm strictly watching all comments.  I love having people visit and comment and I want everyone to feel comfortable and non-judged.  ENOUGH SAID.

So we've watched a few movies this week but nothing stellar and nothing really popular.  Some of our favorite series have returned and I've caught up on Riverdale, which is sooooo out there. Meet the Gargoyle King.  Seriously people, what's up!  And speaking of odd, don't even get me started on "The Masked Singer."  It's like a train wreck where you can't look away!

I have been getting some reading done and am seriously striving to read my 200 pages a week on "The Passage."  Probably even doing so as you are reading this.  We are under a winter weather advisory all day Saturday so I plan on staying put, doing some reading and some gaming.  I feel like I've not read much this month yet so once I hit page 400, here's what's I'm grabbing.

So onto books.  It's been a bad week for books - or good if you like obtaining them.  Depends on how you look at it.  I had 2 reserves to pick up from the library.  I really liked the "Blood & Salt" by Kim Liggett so I asked my library to get a copy of "The Unfortunates."  And I've had "City of Ghosts" on hold FOREVER and it finally came in.  It was allegedly "in processing" for 2 months.  Crazy.  Also, why do I see three hands when I look at the Liggett book. I think I'm losing it guys.

Some review copies also came through from Netgalley.  I'm excited about them all and once you see the covers you'll know why.  I needed some doggy loving in my life so I'm thrilled to now have copies of "Please Don't Feed the Mayor," "Death by Dog Show," which is the start of a new series, and "The Accidental Veterinarian" sounds like a good non-fiction.  Booker T and Cass definitely approve of this haul.

And finally, I'm always grabbing freebies so each week I want to start sharing one or two that I think are standouts.  Before you grab, check the price though because we all know how long some freebies last.  This week I grabbed "Dead Eye" when I saw it because it's been on my wishlist for a while. I'm getting real Sookie Stackhouse vibes from it though.

So that's all for this week.  Hope everyone else is having a wonderful week.  What did you add to your shelves this week?

An Out-Of-My-Comfort-Zone Buddy Read

So you may remember WAAAYYYY back in April of last year, I buddy read "Dread Nation" with Maria @ Night's Dream of Books.  She actually picked up a horror book (although it was kind of horror-lite) which is totally out of character for her.  Since then, we've been wanting to do another one and bantered around reading "The Hate U Give."  I don't read a lot of YA contemporary but I like the social-consciousness of this one.  We've finally pinned down a time and it works out great because the movie is being released on DVD soon so this may pave the way to watching it eventually.

Each week we are reading designated chapters and I'll like the schedule below.  Then we ask each other a few questions and answer them on our blog posts.  Some of these might include spoilers  but I figure lots of people have already read this so hopefully it won't be a problem for too many. Either that or maybe it's not something you want to read so it won't bother you either way.  Also, feel free to join in on the discussions and read with us if you want.

Now I feel I need to add a disclaimer.  Last time Maria and I set a schedule, she liked the book so much she read ahead.  I'm usually a one-at-a-time reader so I would have to keep from reading ahead and she totally surprised me by reading the horror book faster than I did. So below is the book, the synopsis, the reading schedule and my answers to Maria's first questions.  ENJOY!

Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed. Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil's name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr. But what Starr does or does not say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.

Schedule: 

Chapters 1-7 post and discussion Jamuary 18, 2019

Chapters 8-14 January 25, 2019

Chapters 15-21 February 1, 2019 

Chapters 22-26 and wrap up February 8, 2019

Questions:

 1.) Were you surprised and/or shocked when all the shootings and police brutality against African-Americans started becoming so common that the Black Lives Matter movement was founded? I had the naive impression that, thanks to the Civil Rights Movement, racism was pretty much a thing of the past. Boy, was I EVER wrong.....What are your thoughts on this?

I honestly am of the opinion that All Lives Matter but to be honest no, I'm not really surprised.  I don't think society is over racism and believe that there will always be people who inspire and practice hate.  I do think the media plays an important role in what people see and that sometimes they are to blame for continued ignorance or on the other side, the lack of information about what is really going on.  For example, drugs are rampant in my home community and just this week, there have been 4 confirmed OD's in 3 days.  However, the news and the community pushes this under the rug and the only reason I know about it is because of my job.  That's just an example of how people aren't given the complete story.  

2.) Do you think that even those whites who say they are not racists are entirely free of prejudice? Why or why not?

This might seem like a cop-out answer but I believe everyone has some sort of prejudice against someone or something.  

So there you have it.  I know this book covers some controversial topics and I refuse to turn my blog into a political tool, so take all my posts with a grain of salt and know that I love you all and believe everyone is entitled to their own thoughts and opinions! 

Well Now That Was Different - And The Ocean Was Our Sky Review

TITLE:  And The Ocean Was Our Sky
AUTHOR: Patrick Ness
PUBLISHER:  Walker Books
PUBLISHING DATE: September 4, 2018

FROM GOODREADS: With harpoons strapped to their backs, the proud whales of Bathsheba's pod live for the hunt, fighting in the ongoing war against the world of men. When they attack a ship bobbing on the surface of the Abyss, they expect to find easy prey. Instead, they find the trail of a myth, a monster, perhaps the devil himself... As their relentless Captain leads the chase, they embark on a final, vengeful hunt, one that will forever change the worlds of both whales and men.

MY THOUGHTS: This just happened to be my first Patrick Ness read and it was rather interesting.  I've always wanted to try him out but The Chaos Walking Trilogy supposedly has some bad treatment of a dog throughout so I've steered clear.  First of all, be aware that this is actually a Moby Dick retelling.  Now I've never read "Moby Dick" and have no plans to so some of the content may have been lost on me. 

So basically the whale population lives in the ocean and man lives in the Abyss but it's reverse from real life - the ocean is up and the Abyss is down.  Bathsheba is an apprentice for a Captain who has been on a mission for 2 years searching for the infamous Toby Wick, slayer of many whales and often referred to as "the Devil." Along the way they capture a man and through discussions, Bathsheba begins to question all she has been raised to believe about man.

There was something quite beautiful about this book, yet there were times I hated it.  I went back and forth many times which is somewhat sad when it's only a little over 160 pages.  I can definitely get on board with the concept of animals hunting man for all the evilness they have brought on them.  And I've always liked sea life so that helps too.  The book also has some good messages about how sometimes society creates devils and gives them life through rumor and tales (and well, now sometimes they are real too aren't they).  The ending played out as I suspected and I must say that the artwork was stunning.  The book reads like a fairy tale and is physically gorgeous (thanks library!).

However, something just didn't click for me and it's hard to say what.  I am glad I gave it a chance and never considered DNF'ing it but I don't know who I would recommend it to. If you like Patrick Ness, I'm sure you'll want to add this to your collection.  I guess that will have to do.

RATING: 3 PAWS (it might have been 2 if not for the artwork)