Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Really Want To Read But Don't Own Yet

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

 

This Week's Topic:

Books I Really Want to Read But Don't Own Yet

The Midnight Queen by Sylvia Isso Hunter - First of all, how gorgeous is that cover? It's enough to make me want to buy the book right now. Not to mention the story sounds awesome. Combine magic and romance and you've got me hooked!

Fairytales for Wilde Girls by Allyse Near - This one's been on my list ever since Brittany dicussed it in April. Sadly, U.S. bookstores don't seem to stock it and it's currently unavailable from The Book Depository.  :'(

The Jewel by Amy Ewing - I had a chance to read The Jewel thanks to the On the Same Page ARC tour, but since I left for DPI right after the book came in the mail I was never able to finish it. BUT, from what I was able to read I could tell it's going to be awesome.

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard  - I just about died when EpicReads unwrapped this during their ARC Party last week. I need this book! Why is 2015 so far away?!

Winterspell by Claire Legrand - The Nutcracker fairy tale retold? YES PLEASE!

The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell - This was one of the books I drooled over at DPI. One of our lecturers brought a few ARCs with him and gave them out as prizes at the end of the week, but sadly I was not one of the lucky few to receive a copy.

Fearsome Dreamer by Laure Eve - This book has been on my radar for a while now and I keep waiting for Barnes and Noble to stock it but alas, no such luck.

The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber - I'm a sucker for books with gorgeous covers and this was another one that caught my eye.

The Girl With All the Gifts by M.R. Carey - Maggie Stiefvater gushed over this book recently and while it was already on my to-read list, Maggie's praise only further convinced me that I need to read it.

City of Halves by Lucy Inglis - Mysterious disappearances, hidden worlds, and mysterious creatures--what's not to love?

My selection is fairly full of unreleased books but I'm sure there are tons of backlist books I'm forgetting to mention. What are some books you want to read but don't own?

That's a Wrap: Adventures in Colorado {July/August 2014}

So, uh...

Long time no see, am I right? In my defense I have a perfectly good reason for my month-long disappearance from the blogosphere. For the past month I was a student at the Denver Publishing Institute at the University of Denver! It was intense--"boot camp for book people" as one of my friends and classmates called it. For four weeks I was immersed in a crash course on all things publishing-related, everything from editing and marketing to production and design.

After our first day at the Institute we took a class field trip to the Tattered Cover Bookstore, one of the coolest independent bookstores I've been to! We were there for an author chat and book signing, but I got there an hour early just so I could have time to browse. And since I can never go into a bookstore (especially an indie) without buying something, I didn't leave empty-handed.

In addition to cramming my brain full of information about publishing, I also got out and did some exploring. By far one of the coolest things I got to see was the Dale Chihuly exhibit at the Denver Botanic Gardens. If you didn't already know, Chihuly's a glass sculptor from Seattle who makes some pretty amazing creations, like these:

 

 

 

This particular exhibit reminded me of the candy room from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. All the sculptures looked like bright, shiny candies!

 

Even the gardens that didn't have Chihuly sculptures were pretty spectacular.

Although I didn't go sightseeing in the mountains (which I now really wish I'd done), I was able to snap some pics on the way to Boulder for a field trip. Even though I could see the mountains from my dorm room, they were at a distance, so it was amazing to see them up close.

 

After four long, jam-packed weeks of learning how to edit manuscripts, coming up with marketing plans, and listening to lectures from publishing people all across the country, our class finally made it to graduation day, and the best part is...we got a book cake! Which is really just the coolest kind of cake there is. :)

So, I did! I can officially say I hold a certificate in publishing! YAY!

Now if I could just find a job...