Looking Forward Too…

    We skipped last week’s installment of Looking Forward Too unfortunately. Our home AC unit decided it needed some attention and the bulk of the weekend/any free time I had was spent in our basement tending to it.

That’s a real shame too as this week was a great mail week, so I want to real quick mention what I got in the mail. This might be a bit of a longer post so apologizes.

• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling, Illustrated by Jim Kay – This one, just like the previous two in this series, is beautiful. I’m not hugely on the ‘buy duplicates of books just for the collectability’ but one day these particular editions are the ones I’d like to read to my kids. They’re gorgeous. The color scheme of the cover is also all me, purples and greens, yes please.
• Akata Warrior by Nnedi Okorafor – The sequel to Akata Witch! It’s absolutely stunning and I cannot wait to wade into this world! I do believe recently Nnedi announced this would be a quartet! I’m pumped!
• From a Certain Point of View (Star Wars) by Various – This one I got two copies of, one for myself and the audio book for my husband. This has a ton, 40 to be exact, of authors and stories set in the new canon Star Wars universe. Nnedi Okorafor, as mentioned above is in there, Paul S. Kemp, Ken Liu, Mur Lafferty, Claudia Gray, you get the idea. Both Hubby and I are really excited to pick this up.

     After this big week I have to say I’m pretty happy we aren’t expecting any mail this week, but there are a few things coming out next week (and some from last week) I’m watching for at the library or to hit sales soon.

• Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado (Last week)
  “In Her Body and Other Parties, Carmen Maria Machado blithely demolishes the arbitrary borders between psychological realism and science fiction, comedy and horror, fantasy and fabulism. While her work has earned her comparisons to Karen Russell and Kelly Link, she has a voice that is all her own. In this electric and provocative debut, Machado bends genre to shape startling narratives that map the realities of women’s lives and the violence visited upon their bodies.”
• Reservoir 13: A Novel by Jon McGregor (Last week)
  “Midwinter in an English village. A teenage girl has gone missing. Everyone is called upon to join the search. The villagers fan out across the moors as the police set up roadblocks and a crowd of news reporters descends on what is usually a place of peace. Meanwhile, there is work that must still be done: cows milked, fences repaired, stone cut, pints poured, beds made, sermons written, a pantomime rehearsed.
  As the seasons unfold and the search for the missing girl goes on, there are those who leave the village and those who are pulled back; those who come together and those who break apart. There are births and deaths; secrets kept and exposed; livelihoods made and lost; small kindnesses and unanticipated betrayals. An extraordinary novel of cumulative power and grace, Reservoir 13 explores the rhythms of the natural world and the repeated human gift for violence, unfolding over thirteen years as the aftershocks of a tragedy refuse to subside.”
• The Murders of Molly Southbourne by Tade Thompson (Last week)
  “Every time she bleeds a murderer is born. Experience the horror of Tade Thompson’s The Murders of Molly Southbourne.
  The rule is simple: don’t bleed.”
• Birding Without Borders by Noah Strycker
  “Traveling to 41 countries in 2015 with a backpack and binoculars, Noah Strycker became the first person to see more than half the world’s 10,000 species of birds in one year.
  In 2015, Noah Strycker set himself a lofty goal: to become the first person to see half the world’s birds in one year. For 365 days, with a backpack, binoculars, and a series of one-way tickets, he traveled across forty-one countries and all seven continents, eventually spotting 6,042 species—by far the biggest birding year on record.”
• Lady Killers : Deadly Women Throughout History by Tori Telfer
  “When you think of serial killers throughout history, the names that come to mind are ones like Jack the Ripper, John Wayne Gacy, and Ted Bundy. But what about Tillie Klimek, Moulay Hassan, Kate Bender? The narrative we’re comfortable with is the one where women are the victims of violent crime, not the perpetrators. In fact, serial killers are thought to be so universally, overwhelmingly male that in 1998, FBI profiler Roy Hazelwood infamously declared in a homicide conference, “There are no female serial killers.”
  Lady Killers, based on the popular online series that appeared on Jezebel and The Hairpin, disputes that claim and offers fourteen gruesome examples as evidence. Though largely forgotten by history, female serial killers such as Erzsébet Báthory, Nannie Doss, Mary Ann Cotton, and Darya Nikolayevna Saltykova rival their male counterparts in cunning, cruelty, and appetite for destruction.”

     Not bad as far as things to look out for! Who isn’t down for a bird book and some lady serial killers? No one? Alright then. I’ve not added much to my personal shelves, besides one book I found at a very cold and disappointing library book sale, Greek Fire, Poison Arrows & Scorpion Bombs : Biological and Chemical Warfare in the Ancient World by Adrienne Mayor. I really enjoyed her book on Amazons (what I’ve read so far) so when I saw this for a quarter I grabbed it up.

     What else has hit my TBR… let’s see. The short story sequel to Karen Memory (that I loved last year) has been announced, Stone Mad by Elizabeth Bear. It’s going to be a Tor.com release and I’m pumped about that next year. I also finally caved and added American Fire by Monica Hesse to my list. It’s been taunting me from Book of the Month’s website. I might break and end up getting it in a box in the next few months if it doesn’t show up in the library soon. Otherwise it’s been a fairly quiet few weeks for my TBR shelf (thank the book gods for that).

    Some other bookish links for you guys. The Romance community was hoping this past week. I’m still catching up but here are two of my favorite pieces so far. Amanda Diehl on Book Riot looks at the recent NYT ‘Romance Roundup’. It’s pretty hilarious and snappy, I was half filled with righteous anger and half chuckling. And Salon did an article about the Romance Resistance, a super fascinating turn of events that have had women buying and reading Romance book at a higher rate than before the Trump election. Yes please!

     In non-bookish news I finished YS 8 and would definitely recommend that for any JRPG or YS fans out there. It was very fun. I’m slowly playing Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China now, one memory segment a night (so about an hour) and have been really digging it. I also watched another great video from the Kurzgesagt channel, this one about How Bacteria Rule Over Your Body. I love this science channel, definitely try it out.

    That’s about it for this overly long Looking Forward Too. Thanks for reading guys!