Sumthinblue – Page 19

E. Lockhart in Manila (+giveaway!)

NYT Bestselling YA author E. Lockhart was in the country this weekend on her book-signing tour, and I was glad for the opportunity to meet her, because her books had been keeping me awake in the middle of the night over the past week.

E. Lockhart’s list of bestselling books include the acclaimed “We Were Liars,” the Printz Honor book (+CYBILS Best YA Novel +National Book Award nominee) “The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks,” “Fly on the Wall,” “Dramarama” and the Ruby Oliver quartet: “The Boyfriend List,” “The Boy Book,” “The Treasure Map of Boys,” and “Real Live Boyfriends.”

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Love Among the Stacks

Aside from books, I also collect Sylvanian Families, which are miniature toys that hail from the ’80s (released the year I was born, in fact). I played with them as a child but never had any of my own, so I’ve spent the last couple of years building my collection.

Because this is a book blog, I don’t think my critters have ever appeared here, but I recently completed my first full diorama (I’ve only done vignettes in the past) for a contest (theme: love) and of course I couldn’t help going bookish.

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Flippers meet F. Sionil Jose

We finally concluded our Rosales Saga read-along last Saturday over at Solidaridad Book Shop, with no less than the author, National Artist for Literature F. Sionil Jose.

Armed with a bunch of snacks and stacks of books, we found ourselves holed up in FSJ’s private quarters above the bookshop and spent over three hours talking about his life as a writer and reader, the Rosales books, the bookshop and so much more!

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On Pratchett

I had not planned on blogging about Terry Pratchett this soon, but I was jarred by the news of his passing that flooded my feed this morning (which goes to show I’m friends with all the right people ^_^).

It’s literally just been days since I put down my last Pratchett. I had only very recently started exploring Discworld in January, as part of a readathon in preparation for our book club’s Christmas party this year, which has been scheduled to be (swallow lump) a Hogswatch. I had been targeting one book a month, and I’ve been right on schedule, with “Guards! Guards!” in January, “Mort” in February, and “Going Postal” just last Tuesday.

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The Sin-Eater’s Daughter

Here’s another new release I just finished reading: The Sin-Eater’s Daughter by Melinda Salisbury.

The first book in a new series, this novel is a medieval fantasy set in the kingdom of Lormere, where seventeen year-old Twylla is the executioner. The daughter of a Sin-Eater (a villager who performs the ritual meal that will absolve the dead of their sins), Twylla was taken away at a young age to live at the palace as the embodiment of Daunen, the daughter of the gods Daeg and Naeht, and the betrothed of crown prince Merek.

As Daunen Embodied, Twylla has the special ability to kill with a single touch, which is wrought upon those charged with treason. Apart from her duties as executioner, she lives life in isolation as the entire court is careful not to come into contact with her. But when a new guard, Lief, is assigned to protect her, Twylla’s life is turned upside down, and the world she knows will never be the same again.

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