Hi guys, it's Olivia from Olivia's Catastrophe. And today I'm here to give
you my I'm back from Australia book haul. So while I was in Australia I was aware
that I needed to monitor how many books
I received. So for giveaway wins and
birthday gifts I did send a lot of them
home. As in here, in the Netherlands,
rather than to me in Australia. And I
came home to this big stack of book mail
and I wanted to share with you the books
that I got. So let's get started because
we've got quite a few to get through. I
was just about to start editing and some
more books came through so I'll start
with these ones that just came through.
The first one is the Scorpio Races by
Maggie Stiefvater and this was a gift
from Simone, my younger sister, for my
birthday.
The Scorpio Races, I believe, has to do
with racing. And there's a typical kind
of race with these mythical creatures in
this world, but one person shows up with
their very own horse and they are going
to be doing things their own way. That is
all I've been able to gather but I
actually don't want to know too much. I'm
really excited to try and find another
Maggie Stiefvater book I can love as
much as the Raven Cycle. So I'm really
looking forward and excited to read this
as soon as I possibly can. I also won a
giveaway and that was from Karen at the
blog For What It's Worth. She's a good
friend of mine and I won If We Were
Villains by M.L. Rio. I have been told
many a time that I'm going to adore this
book because it has a lot to do with
Shakespeare. It's dark academia and
that's pretty much all I know: based on
Shakespeare and dark academia. That's all
I need to know to know that I'm gonna
probably, highly likely, enjoy this book.
It also has deckled edges which I know
is something not everybody loves but I... I
love me some deckled edges. And then I'm
gonna mention a book that's on its way to
me and that is The Map From Here to
There by Emery Lord. This is one that was
sent to me by Pan Macmillan Australia
right before I left Australia and it was
kindly sent on to me by my friend. So
thank you Fey for sending it on. It's still
coming in the post because everything's
a bit slow with everything going on but
this one essentially follows this girl. And she is in her senior year at
secondary school. She's got a very
charming boyfriend and her life is
pretty much perfect . Ad she's not sure
if she can handle it all coming to an
end as she has to go to university and
all of her friends are going to go to
college and spread out across the United
States. So she's not
sure what's coming for her. And it's kind
of her getting ready to go, letting
things go, being prepared to go. And I've
heard so many good things about Emery
Lord from my contemporary bloggers who
love to read her books and review them. So
I'm looking forward to trying something
from her. Now back to the other bit of
the haul. The first book I want to show
you is Call Down the Hawk by Maggie
Stiefvater. And this is the exclusive
Owlcrate edition. I got my first Owlcrate
just because it was Call Down the Hawk and I was anticipating this book
like crazy. This one is a spinoff of the
Raven Cycle and it follows the Lynch
brothers. Ao not just Ronana Lynch, but all
of them: Matthew and Declan as well. I
won't tell you more than that other than
it's a whimsical story and you're in for
a wild ride if you do read this one. I
would recommend starting with the Raven
Cycle and then going on to this book. Then let's talk about the giveaway wins
because there were quite a few of those over eight months. Say Her Name by Zetta
Elliott. And this is a little poetry
collection which is intersectional
feminist poetry. And then we have The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna. Which is an
ARC edition of a book I was very much
anticipating. It's releasing May 2020 and
it follows this main character who is 16
years old and a blood ceremony is going
to happen which will determine whether
or not she can become a member of her
village and community, and she can finally
feel like she belongs.
However, while her blood turns a
different colour which is the colour of
impurity, she knows that she's gonna face
a fate that is worse than death.
However, a mysterious woman shows over her
village and says you can either face
your fate or you can come and fight the
emperor with an army of girls just like
her.
I guess she takes the army and that's
what this one is going to be about. I am
so excited to read this one. I've been
keeping my eye out for it. So hyped. Then
I won a copy of City of Brass by S.A.
Chakraborty on Twitter. I won this from
Samreadingg and I love her Twitter. I've
been following it for quite a while. City of Brass is one I've just seen
everybody loving and I cannot wait to
read. It follows a character called Nahiri
and she lives in a world of
tricksters, thieves and trickery. And she
always dreams that she could escape this
city. However, as the saying goes, be
careful what you wish for. Cannot wait! Then from Shannon from It
Starts at Midnight I won a copy of
Darius the Great is Not Okay by Adib
Khorram. And this one was really sold to
me by Sallya from Hustleszn and it's
basically a contemporary about Darius who
feels like he doesnt fit in anywhere. And
he doesn't really feel like himself. But
then he starts to meet the boy next door
and they kind of spend more time
together.
I think they fall for each other and
it's just about Darius trying to fit more
into his skin, in this relationship and
with this person. Next up we have Stay
With Me and this one is by Ayobami Adebayo.
And I won this from Shruti's This is Lit Blog. And I think we're gonna try and Buddy
read this one at some point which I'm
looking forward to. And this one was
shortlisted for the Women's Prize for
fiction and I always do enjoy their picks.
This one is focused on the main
character and all she wants is to have
her own child. Whereas that's not really
happening for her and her husband.
So her husband's family recommends that
he has a second wife or another person
to help them have a baby. And it's about
them trying to adjust and see if this is
something that can work out for their
family and relationship. And how it
reflects on her as a wife, and how she
feels about this whole situation. I feel
like it's gonna be quite emotional and
I'm looking forward to reading it. While
I was away I also won 2 maybe 3 book
depository amount gift cards. I think
they were for 25 pounds each. And I think
there were two of them. And they just
coincided when Book Depository was
having a sale so I chose books that were
less than five pounds each. I was able to
get quite a few books within those 25
pounds giveaway wins which made me
incredibly happy. So let's just run
through the books that I got. The first
one was Letters to Milena by Franz Kafka.
And these are letters to Milena that he
wrote. I really love everything Franz
Kafka that I've read so far and I want
to read my way through all of his works
so this one was also on my list as one
that I needed to get to. I got World
After by Susan Ee. And this is one that
I have already read but I read it on my
Kindle. I really do enjoy the Angelfall
series and it's a bit crazy, a bit
whimsical, and a bit weird. But it's just
kind of what I was in the mood for so I
just want to own them in physical copy. I still need to get to the finale
but this is the second book. And that
follows this post-apocalyptic world
where angels are not good. And they kind
of ravaged the whole of the earth. And
we've got a main character who really
cares about her younger sister, who's
disabled. When her younger sister gets
kidnapped by some angels it's only an
angel that is rejected by his own kind
that she can team up with to help her
rescue her sister. Then I also got to The
First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire
North. And this is one that I saw around
blogs a lot when it came out and the
concept really really intrigued me. So it
follows August, Harry August. And he
always, no matter how he dies, ends up
back at the beginning as a young child
and does the whole thing all over again. Until, I believe, it's his 15th death when
a young little girl comes to him and
says: I really missed you.
I've got a message to give you. And it's
about what he does after that. I know
that Claire North is someone who comes
up with some really unique concepts and
I'm just ready to get lost in her world. Then we've got The Talented Mr. Ripley
by Patricia Highsmith. And I got this
book because I saw it on Book Depository
when I was scrolling through for what I
wanted to choose from the sale. And the
title caught me because in a rap that
Drake does... he uses the words the
talented Mr. Ripley in his rap song and
I didn't know it was a book. And so when I saw
the book I was like whaaaat? And yeah, I guess Drake sells books to me
now. So Ripley is trying to have a new
life in Europe. He gets a free trip so he
can start all over again. But I don't
think things are gonna go as planned.
Then we have Earthsea by Ursula K Le Guin
and these are the first four books put
into one. I specifically chose this
because I loved The Word for World is
Forest by her, which I read in first year
of University. And I know that Sydney
Stories who I also really like, really
loves this book. It's one of her top
favourites and I did want to read more Ursula. So when I saw it was
finally on sale, because I have had my
eye on it for ages, and I had my gift
card... Let's say I was like: let's steal
this book up and finally read it! I also
got Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard and I
thought I would give it a try. I know
it's a hit or miss for a lot of people
but sometimes...
I'm not calling it trashy young adult -
that's sometimes just what I need.
Something that's not too serious. Something that might be full of tropes
but I still could enjoy nonetheless. And that's what it sounds like this book
is gonna be for me. And because I'm in
the mood for science fiction I got two
science-fiction books. The first one is
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le
Guin. I just explained that I did want to
read more Ursula K Le Guin and I got
some. And lastly Do Androids Dream of
Electric Sheep by Phillip K Dick. And this
is a very well-known and very famous
science fiction novel. I know it happens
after a war but that's basically all I
know. And again, I just want to go in not
knowing too much. Can't wait to read more
science fiction because that's what I
was really enjoying at the beginning of
the year. Next we've got birthday gifts.
My birthday was in January and while I
did direct some books to Australia which
you will have seen in my Australian book
haul, I didn't direct all of them there
just because I didn't want to be flooded
with too many books. But the first one
was gifted to me by one of my older
sisters and that is Girl, Woman, Other by
Bernadine Evaristo . And this one was
winner of the Man Booker award this year
which just puts it in high esteem. I
often -- it's not because it won the award
that I want to read it but I often just
happen to enjoy their picks. And it's
also the first time that a black woman
has won so I was just like... I need to
read this book. And that's that. And you
just follow Britain through different
years, through the eyes of different
women. Mostly black. And their experiences
as black females in London in different
years. I used to be part of a writing
website called Young Writers Society and
I know some of them still watch so if
you knew me as Deanie Rodgers. Hello! And I made friends with my best
writerly online friend there. And she is
called Taylor and she gifted me Daisy
Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
for my birthday. Thank you so much, Taylor!
I was so excited to read this book
because I absolutely loved The Seven
Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. It made it onto
my best books of 2019 list and so I
cannot wait to read about Daisy Jones and the six. I know that it follows this
rock band which Daisy is part of, lots of
drugs are involved, lots of the
rock'n'roll life. And that's all I really
know. Don't know too much
except that people loved it so I cannot
wait to read it at long last.
Then we've got Lekeisha. She used to be a
blogger but now she's a bookstagrammer.
A lbooknerd. And she and I
just do this gift exchange on each
other's birthdays. It's been a tradition
that we've upheld for a while and she
gave me two books for my birthday. Thank you
so much, Lekeisha. The first one is Slay
by Britney Morris. And this is one that
I've just been recommended by so many of
you and you've all said that I'm really
gonna love it. I do love video game tropes
and I know that this is a black
girl who does make a video game. And it
also discusses black culture and racism. So it's just everything that I'll
probably like in a single book. She also
got me The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi
Coates which she loved. Which is
basically why I want to read it because
she has very good taste in books. It
follows a main character who's born on a
plantation farm and he has a special
gift that he doesn't discover until he
attempts to escape the plantation. And it
just follows him on the plantation and
then escaping and what comes afterwards. And then last but not least we have
three Penguin Classics that were given
to me by my parents for my birthday.
Thank you so much mum and dad. I really
have been trying to collect penguin
clothbounds and also the penguin
paperbacks editions which I'll talk
about a bit more later. But they got me
Paradise Lost which I actually studied
this year in my dark hero class. I've
already read this one and I really,
really enjoyed it. It's kind of a
Christian epic that talks about Adam and
Eve. And also God and Satan in that story. And it was very, it was just perfect. It
was everything that's up my alley in
terms of a classic. And I really, really
enjoyed reading this one. They also got
me The Odyssey by Homer and I've been
meaning to me this one for a very, very
long time. If you know me I absolutely
adore Greek mythology and because most
of my friends took Epic into Novel in
first year of university, they got to
read this. However, I did not get to
because I do English literature and
creative writing and didn't take the epic
module in lieu of taking a creative
writing one. So I'm looking forward to
finally being able to read this one for
myself and seeing what I think of it. And
then last but not least they also got me
Middlemarch by George Eliot. Which is a
huge chunker. And it came recommended to me
by my friend, Fey. I did see this one
around before and I was not interested
in reading it
because it's like, a big book that's a
classic. And I thought that George Eliot
was a male name which I guess was the
purpose of why she was called George
Eliot. However, I found out that George
Eliot is in fact a woman and suddenly my
interest was enlarged. And I'm
looking for this one. Well, you know, female...
just female writer classics are just mmhm,  just mhmm, you know? And then last but not least these four
books arrived here with no note and I
don't know who they're from,
so if they're from you please do let me
know because thank you?!
Whoever it is must know that I'm trying
to collect the Penguin Classics editions
and I talked about that a lot on bookstagram, so maybe you're from bookstagram?
I don't know. Anyway, let's talk
about the books. So the first one is Dr.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis
Stevenson and I have already read this
one and really, really enjoyed it. So I
unhauled my previous copy so I got to
keep the penguin classics edition copy
seeing as that's what I'm collecting.
Then there's also The Invisible Man by
HG Wells. And I don't know anything about
this book whatsoever but I do know that
my younger sister has read HG Wells
and it kind of blew her mind. So I'm
looking forward to reading it. Then we
have The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with
the Sea and while I know nothing about
this book I feel like I recognize this
image. So I'm just going to find out more
about this one when I read it. And last
but not least Down and Out in Paris and
London by George Orwell. I have read 1984
and also Animal Farm by him. Loved both
of them for very, very different reasons. And I've read a number of his essays
because they are just a staple in
creative writing classes. So I'm looking
forward to reading his other novel and
seeing what I think about it. Anyway
thank you so much for joining along with
this book haul. Those are the 25 books
that I received while I was away in
Australia and I think that's it for now.
Thank you so much for watching. Please
let me know in the comment section down
below what are the latest books you
bought, received or acquired recently?
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move the puff.
Anticipating
this -- it's not even my phone. It's my sibling's phone. And she's not here!
