Category: the biblio files

The Biblio Files: Norroway by Kit & Cat Seaton
the biblio files

The Biblio Files: Norroway by Kit & Cat Seaton

Nina PenalosaLeave a comment

Last week I read Norroway by Kit & Cat Seaton from start to finish right before I reached my stop during my commute on BART. Seriously, the only good thing about my long ass commute is that it gives me an hour to read!

Norroway is about a young woman named Sibylla. As a young girl she seeks what her future holds for her from a witch and is told she will be the bride of the Black Bull of Norroway.  Sibylla longs for a life full of adventure; in fact, her original question for the witch was if she’d ever get to sail a ship, but was pressured by one of her sisters to ask the same question they did: who will she marry? So though the fate the witch revealed is rather odd, Sibylla accepts it. Years later the Black Bull of Norroway comes knocking on her door and much to her surprise he’s a literal bull… and so her adventure begins!

I don’t want to get too into the plot because I’d probably write a CliffNotes of the whole book, but if you’re a fan of fairytales I think you’ll really enjoy Norroway. When I looked it up, I found that the Seaton sisters had been wanting to work on a book together based on the Scottish fairytales they loved as children, and they had started working on Norroway back in 2013. If this book isn’t a labor of love, I don’t know what is! Though I’m not familiar with this tale, I thought they did an incredible job from the engaging writing to the gorgeous illustrations. I immediately Googled the fairytale to see how it ends, but I’m really looking forward to see how the rest of their retelling goes!

If you’d like to read it, you can find Norroway at your local comicbook/bookstore or online. You can also see if your local library has it.

Do you love fairytales? If so, what’s your favorite one? My sister and I were obsessed with Hansel and Gretel when we were little — we made our mom read it to us almost every night! Let me know your faves in the comments. 🙂

Cheers,
Nina

the biblio files

The Biblio Files: Runaways

Nina Penalosa7 Comments

Runaways is a series that’s been on my TBR list for over a decade. I remember my sister and brother-in-law telling me about it — the premise is these teens find out their parents are actually pretty damn evil after witnessing them do a heinous act, and thus find themselves on the run as they can’t depend on the law to be on their side. The original series was written by Brian K Vaughan and I remember around the time it was out, my sister and B.I.L. had been reading BKV’s Y: The Last Man (which I started and never finished, but thoroughly enjoyed).

Back in October I started reading the first volume of Rowell’s run since it was easily accessible, and as soon as I finished it I found myself falling down the rabbit hole as I read the entirety of BKV’s run, all the way to the Young Avengers three issue mini series on this website (WARNING: the ads are gross AF). I had to know what happened to this group of misfits and how they all got to where they are in the current series as it begins with all of them being dispersed. I still have a bit of a ways to go before I complete it all, but it goes without saying: I’m OBSESSED.

This series is so fun and filled with tons of humor, action, angst (a bit too much from Gert if you ask me), and there’s a dinosaur with a septum piercing named Old Lace! If you haven’t read Runaways yet, I HIGHLY recommend it. But don’t be like me — start from the beginning. I really wish I would’ve started there because the plot twists that come before are insane. I picked up the second volume of Rowell’s run last month and still need to read the rest of the original, but I’m still taking a bit of a break before I dive back in.

Have you read Runaways or watched the show (I have yet to see it)? Who’s your favorite character? Mine’s Nico! Let’s talk about it in the comments section 🙂

Cheers,
Nina

The Biblio Files: Pashmina by Nidhi Chanani
the biblio files

The Biblio Files: Pashmina by Nidhi Chanani

Nina PenalosaLeave a comment

Pashmina is the debut graphic novel from one of my favorite artists, Nidhi Chanani, that focuses on the coming-of-age of Priyanka “Pri” Das, an Indian teen living in America with her single mother. She has tons of questions as to why her mother left India and what happened to her father (who she’s never met), but the more her mother keeps mum, the more curious she becomes of her roots. One day she happens upon a pashmina and finds herself transported to a fantastical and vibrant version of India. Whenever she wraps it around herself, it takes her further and further into the depths of India and unravels the mystery that is her family.

It’s been awhile since I’ve read this book, but I really wanted to share it on here because it resonated with me on another level. When you’re the first generation from an immigrant family in America (or anywhere for that matter), you must figure out how to balance two cultures. I loved the way Nidhi portrayed that; it was so relatable… sometimes to the point where it hurt just a wee bit.

I also loved the transition from black and white (every day scenes) to saturated color (scenes set in India) within its pages pages. It felt an analogy for the experience of growing up with two cultures — one seems less than compared to the other, but you soon discover there’s a whole side of you that’s rich in history and traditions. Well, that was my takeaway, anyway!

On Free Comic Book Day back in May, I trekked to Isotope Comics in San Francisco to get my booked signed! Nidhi was super sweet and took the time to chat with me, too 🙂

Have you read Pashmina? Let’s discuss in the comments section! If you’d like to get a copy of Pashmina, go here or pick it up at your local bookstore or comic shop.

Cheers,
Nina

geek style · the biblio files

My Ultimate Loot Crate Dream Crate

Nina PenalosaLeave a comment

The O.G. geeky subscription box service Loot Crate wants to know what kind of awesome gizmos and gadgets a-plenty their fans would put in their very own Dream Crate. When I learned about the project and was asked if  I’d be interested in putting something together, I obviously said, “YAAASSS!” This is something I’ve given a lot of thought to before I was even asked to write about it, but since they’ve already done “Fantasy” and “Magical” (my ideal themes), I had to figure out a different theme that would encompass franchises I’m a fan of that have a fairytale, fantasy, epic journey, or magical-like quality to them.

So, I came up with “Story Time” and it would include items from The Neverending Story, The Princess Bride, Once Upon a Time, Harry Potter, and Game of Thrones.

loot-crate-dream-crate-le-fancy-geek-blogger

 

The Princess Bride: A copy of Cary Elwes’ “As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride”

With a theme like “Story Time,” it only makes sense to include an actual book! I think it’d be cool for it to include a copy of Cary Elwes’ book, and to make it extra special Loot Crate can design a different cover that’s exclusive to this particular crate. 🙂

Harry Potter: Hermione Funko Pop! figure

I love the Hermione Funko Pop! that comes in the Hogwarts Express edition because she’s holding books, but I don’t the train itself. Sooo, I think Loot Crate should team up with Funko to make one similar to it that’s exclusive, but make it so that the book is more intricate with details like a title and artwork. And it should come with a little Crookshanks because how cute would that be?!

Once Upon a Time: Belle’s Chip tea cup

I have a love/hate relationship with Once Upon a Time. There have been many times where I watch an episode and I’m like, “WHY DO I STILL WATCH THIS???” I’ve been with it from the very beginning; I’m too invested in Regina finding happines,  dammit! Anyway, I love Belle’s Chip tea cup and I associate drinking tea with “story time,” so this seemed like the perfect item to include from the franchise. Even if someone who doesn’t like Once Upon a Time got this crate, I’m sure they’d love the cup anyway and find it very useful.

Game of Thrones: Bookmarkers

Book markers will obviously be needed if there’s going to be an actual book in the crate. They don’t necessarily have to be this exact Game of Thrones book mark set, but I’d prefer something like it.

The Neverending Story: Falkor t-shirt

This movie was my jaaaam when I was a kid! And I feel like The Neverending Story doesn’t get a whole lot of love with geeky subscription boxes, and that’s why I decided to include it in my dream crate. I call Rory “Baby Falkor” since him and the luck dragon look so much alike, so of course my dream crate’s Neverending Story item would be a Falkor t-shirt! It doesn’t necessarily have to be this one that I found on Redbubble by Mandrie, but I’d like the design to have really cute artwork. Also, the Loot Pets box that coincides with this should definitely come with a matching t-shirt!

What do you think, my little ponies? Would you be stoked if you opened up a Loot Crate box and unearthed all these goodies? Tell me what your perfect Loot Crate box would include in the comments section!

Cheers,
Nina

the biblio files

The Biblio Files: Harry Potter Year 1 & 2

Nina Penalosa2 Comments

I’ve been wanting to re-read the Harry Potter series for quite awhile now. I purchased a box set of the complete series three years ago with the intent of starting it then, but I kept getting distracted whenever I picked up The Sorcerer’s/Philosopher’s Stone. I’ve mentioned it on here before, but I find myself having a hard time focusing whenever I try to dive into a book. It’s really annoying! Finding audiobooks to listen to while reading along has helped a lot, and I’m so happy I finally found the hard drive I had all my Harry Potter audiobooks on!

What finally made me get back into the series, aside from finding my audiobook files, is most likely the hype surrounding all the Harry Potter related things happening this year — the Wizarding World of Harry Potter is FINALLY opening up on the west side very soon, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the eighth story in the series, is coming out in July along with the stage play in London, and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them comes out in November. Plus Pottermore’s come out with brand new information on witchcraft and wizardry in North America and articles about other wizarding schools around the world. It’s just a really amazing time to be a Potterhead right now!

I knocked out the first and second books in a little over a week and I’m nearly done with The Prisoner of Azkaban (my favorite of the series). It’s been really interesting revisiting these books as I have only read the series once through back when I was a sophomore in high school. It was around the same time the first Harry Potter movie came out, so the first four books were out already, and then I had to wait patiently for books 5-7 to come out! Knowing what’s going to happen with each story, I can see the subtle clues J.K. leaves and it’s just mind blowing. Oh, and I’ve been listening to the readings done by Stephen Fry and I’m seeing that my copies have been (understandably) super Americanized, so I’ve taken the liberty to make corrections because I want to read it the way J.K. intended! Plus when it referred to football as soccer, I was like, “This is based in the UK. They don’t call it soccer there. America is like the only country that says that. STOP INSULTING MY INTELLIGENCE!” Raaaawwwrrr!

How many times have you read the series? Do you plan on reading them again soon? Have you read them at all?! Let’s talk about it in the comments section!

cheers le fancy geek fashion blogger

the biblio files

The Biblio Files: Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

Nina Penalosa3 Comments

I remember picking up Me Before You by Jojo Moyes at Barnes & Noble sometime last year and thought the plot sounded interesting enough to make note of it and add to my goodreads “to-read” list. It took the trailer of the book’s film adaptation for my interest to pique again, but more on that later!

Me Before You is about a young woman named Louisa Clark who has a zest for zany apparel and doesn’t feel she quite fits in. She’s a waitress at her small hometown’s cafe, but suddenly finds herself in a rut as her boss decides to close shop out of the blue leaving her jobless. The pressure is on to find a new job ASAP as she’s the breadwinner in her family. After a string of unsuccessful gigs the Job Center has found for her, she lands a job as a daytime companion and caretaker for Will Traynor, a 35-year old quadriplegic man who had an extravagant lifestyle before the terrible accident that took his ability to walk away, and he’s pretty much fed up with life. Lou’s main job is to help keep things lively and socialize with Will, except it’s quite a challenge for Lou as his demeanor is ice cold, sarcastic, and condescending. Basically, Will’s a grade A arse. But as tales as old as time, they come to understand one another and bloppity bloop bloop. <— I’m not trying to give the whole story away. You can watch the trailer for that. 😛

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and gobbled it up in two days! After watching the trailer I thought, “Damn, I think that story is going to break my heart. I MUST READ THE BOOK IMMEDIATELY” because I fucking love sad stories. I live for them. Sometimes I just want to have a good cry. I don’t know why, I just do. About a week after I saw the trailer, I went to the local used book store and scored a copy for $2.25!

Me Before You felt like a combination of Beauty & the Beast and The Fault in Our Stars because Lou’s got that small town oddball thing going on and Will comes from a rich family and his attitude is so nasty in the beginning. There’s even one part where Lou finally tells him that he doesn’t need to always be such an arse, and it totally reminded me of the part in Beauty & the Beast where Belle is attending to the Beast’s wound after he rescues her from the wolves and they have that back and forth banter, and Belle eventually puts him in his place by saying “Well if you hadn’t frightened me I wouldn’t have runaway!” I downloaded the audiobook for Me Before You since I had a couple of free credits from Audible (which I thought I cancelled, but alas), and it’s a good thing I downloaded it too because my vision got blurry towards the end — couldn’t make out a damn word through my tears.

I came across the trailer for the movie a few weeks ago and I geeked the hell out over nearly every actor that was cast in the film version.

This was me while watching the trailer:

Aww, it’s Khaleesi looking like a straight up dork.
Oooh, sexy British dude from The Hunger Games.
OMG! Claraaaaa! [from Doctor Who]
TYWIN LANNISTER IS IN THIS MOVIE TOO?
AND MISTER BATES?! [Downton Abbey]

The fact that it was British made me even more excited, because accents! So, if you’re into books that break your heart and inspire you to live boldly, then Me Before You is for… well, you!

cheers le fancy geek fashion blogger

PS: Sam Claflin’s eyebrows though. ♥♥♥

me before you movie gif sam claflin emilia clarke

the biblio files

The Biblio Files: Sounds Like Me: My Life (So Far) in Song

Nina Penalosa3 Comments

We all have celebrities that we wish could be our bffs. Don’t even lie! You know you do. Sara Bareilles is one of mine because she’s really goofy and is very fluent in speaking sailor like me (meaning we like to swear all the fucking time), so I think we’d get along fine. Plus she listed Miss Saigon as a musical she liked listening to in her memoir Sounds Like Me: My Life (So Far) in Song, and that soundtrack was my jaaaam in 5th grade! I actually did a Dubsmash of one of the songs not too long ago either (watch me make a fool of myself here). Looking back on it, it really shouldn’t have been because it’s about a young prostitute who falls in love with a G.I. during the Vietnam War and Jonathan Price plays a pimp called The Engineer, and in the opening number it’s basically about how all the men are thirsty as fuck and how there’s a bevy sexy Vietnamese hookers they can get with. But I digress.

I was so excited to hear that Sara Bareilles was coming out with a memoir because I love her music SO MUCH. It took awhile for it to come out, but it just came out last month! Sara is one of those artists who gives me crazy “Killing Me Softly” vibes because it basically feels like she’s telling my whole life with her words (haaa… see what I did there?). Her first album Little Voice came out a few months after me and my first boyfriend broke up, and it consoled me while I wallowed away in self pity. During that time, my appreciation for music grew ten-fold as I finally felt like I connected to certain songs on a whole new level. Sara’s music really spoke to me at that time, and it still does. She was there for me again with her second album Kaleidoscope Heart when I was frustrated with being an undergrad with no sense of direction, and how I was trying to get over some stupid guy I knew wasn’t right for me. “Let the Rain,” “Uncharted,” and “Gonna Get Over You” were on constant repeat. “Let the Rain” and “Uncharted” are still applicable to this chapter in my life.

If I were to create a soundtrack to my life, 50% of the songs would probably be hers… or 95% if I didn’t feel the need to include other artists for the sake of diversity.

Reading her book felt very much like having a long heart felt conversation with a good friend, like the kind where you sit and listen while the other party confides in you. She writes about how she was teased for being “chubby” in elementary school and how it took a toll on her self confidence. While reading it, it made me recall old emotional wounds that were bestowed from the bullying I endured during my formative years. Sara also talks about her issues with anxiety and times when she constantly worried and was filled with self doubt. Even in essay form, I felt overwhelmed with emotion by her words. As silly as it sounds, I felt more of connection to her because while her songs tell a story and emote a certain feeling, essays feel so much more vulnerable to me, and she put herself out there in the 8 essays that this book is made of. In the introduction, she explains how it took her over 2 years to complete this book because “It feels infinitely more vulnerable to speak about life without the metaphor and mask of music or my singing voice. I had to take a look at who I am without those things.” Each essay is titled after some of her songs, and they either tell a story about how the song came to be, or something that happened in her life that is related to it.

If you’re a fan of Sara’s music, I highly recommend that you read this book if you haven’t already. 🙂

cheers

the biblio files

The Biblio Files: Operation S.I.N.: Agent Carter

Nina Penalosa3 Comments

While I was in Hawaii, I thought I was going to have all this downtime to read. But I was wrong. SO WRONG. It wasn’t until my flight back home that I was able to read volume 3 of Ms. Marvel and Operation S.I.N.: Agent Carter. If you’re down with the badass ladies of Marvel, then you should definitely pick both of these graphic novels up! Operation S.I.N. won’t exactly fill that hole in your heart if you’re missing the Agent Carter tv show with queen Hayley Atwell playing the titular role like somethin’ fierce, but it helps a wee bit.

Operation S.I.N. follows Peggy Carter a few years after the war and she suddenly finds herself lured into a crazy mission led by Howard Stark after an alien energy source is discovered in Russia, and it’s up to the two of them to track down its location. I don’t want to give away too much of the plot, but there’s a dude that can turn into a bear and a Russian gulag run by Hydra. Hydra, aliens, gulags, and bears, OH MY!

The story takes place in the Marvel comic universe, rather than the cinematic one that most of us (-ahem– me) are used to, so I was slightly taken aback when Peggy says she’s American and not British. It’s an easy detail to get over once you immerse yourself in the story and see that Peggy’s razor sharp wit and overall badassery is still intact. 🙂

I’m trying my best to get into the swing of reading regularly like I used to, but I’ve been finding that I get extremely distracted and lost in my own head lately — specifically when I try to read books with no pictures. Bleh. That’s why I find myself reading graphic novels and comic books more frequently now. Anyhow, I’m hoping to regularly post more book reviews so please bear with me if they happen to sputter randomly.

What books have you been reading — graphic novel or not? Let me know in the comments!

cheers

the biblio files

The Biblio Files: “Never Have I Ever” by Katie Heaney

Nina Penalosa2 Comments

I finally got to read Katie Heaney’s memoir Never Have I Ever: My Life (So Far) Without a Date. It’s been on my “to-read” list since I caught wind of it last January. The fact that someone around my age compiled a collection of essays based around their lack of a love life up to the age of 25 was all too intriguing to me. Does 25 seem too young to have a memoir regarding this topic? Maybe. But I think it’s amazing that us late bloomers finally have a voice in book form (that’s not fiction)! Reading Never Have I Ever feels a lot like you’re having a really intimate late-night conversation with one of your girlfriends about every aspect of her [lack of a] love life, and it’s quite fantastic.

Despite the fact that I’ve been in two relationships (but really, my first boyfriend hardly counts), I felt like I’d really relate to Katie because of what the contents of her book were all about — looking for love, never quite finding it, unrequited crushes, having high expectations, misadventures in online dating, etc. Upon finishing Never Have I Ever, that feeling was confirmed. And I totally feel like Katie and I need to be friends because she mentions Harry Potter numerous times, owns the old school Dream Phone game, likes sci-fi (I wonder if she’s a Whovian?) and spells ‘NSYNC the correct way. Seriously, the correct spelling of ‘NSYNC is so, so important to me! ‘N SYNC, N’SYNC, and ‘Nsync are NOT acceptable. Normally I use an Asterik (like she does in the book, and my preferred way of spelling the group’s name), but WordPress italicizes everything when I do so. But I’m digressing.

All the repressed memories regarding any member of the opposite sex that I ever fancied from grade school up to my mid-twenties resurfaced with each and every page! Like, seriously. Who hasn’t been pissed at a friend who decided to go after the guy you just said you had a crush on first (despite the fact that you had zero intention of acting out on your feelings)? And those times you made drunk phone calls to the object of your affection (or in my case text messages)(because ugh, talking)? Or being bummed out when your crush didn’t ask you to skate with them during couples skate time at the roller rink (yeeaaah ’90s kids!)? And how about the time the boy you really liked and thought that maybe something was finally going to happen between you two, and then he fucking updates his Facebook status to “In a Relationship” not that much long after you made out (or something like that)? Katie covers all this in a hilarious self-deprecating fashion throughout her book.

I found Never Have I Ever to be soooo painfully relatable. Yes, I know this is a book about a woman who has gone on a quarter of a century without a boyfriend, or dated anyone for a long period of time. And yes, I’m aware that a few years ago I talked about my stupid boyfriend on this very blog ALL. THE. TIME. But never mind the fact that I’ve had two boyfriends or have genuinely been in love with a boy that I didn’t create a fictional romance with in my mind palace — my experience with the opposite sex is actually quite limited. No one ever had a crush on me in grade school (except I think maybe one guy did) or middle school or high school — boys probably thought I was a whack-a-doodle because I made it very clear that I was going to marry JC Chasez or Gideon Yago. I’ve never gone out on numerous dates (there have been two cases that made me ask “is this a date?”)(one was, the other I’m still questioning), and boys don’t fawn over and flirt with me constantly. And if they do, I wouldn’t fucking know.

If you’ve ever felt heart broken over a boy that you were never actually in a relationship with OR even officially dating, have high standards of what you want in a future mate thanks to Disney, overly obsess on crushes, have felt pressured and odd by society to get your first kiss or virginity out of the way because you’re over the age of 18, or get carried away with your over active imagination that creates fictional scenarios regarding your love life, then you need to read Never Have I Ever. Katie knows that feel, girl. And you just might find yourself saying, “OH MY GAWD. YAASS!” with each chapter. cheers

the biblio files · the reel world

The Funday Post

Nina Penalosa2 Comments

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♥ The new Star Wars trailer gives us all reasons to stay alive! Did you get goosebumps when the Millenium Falcon showed up? I DID.

♥ In true Nerdfighter fashion, John Green didn’t forget to be awesome and donated signed copies of his books to the public library in Ferguson!

♥ Can you believe Christmas is already around the corner? Here are some fun ways to geek up your gift wrapping.

♥ Puppies dressed like Disney characters is the best thing EVER.

♥ Who Said It?: The Dowager Countess or Jane Austen? I got 11/12 and I don’t know how.

♥ I found this DIY summer bracelet tutorial on Pinterest, but think it would be fun to do as a stocking stuffer!

♥ Another Pinterest DIY craft find: make your own Iron Throne for your phone.

♥ I rooted for Alfonso and Witney on Dancing With The Stars, but how cute is this Super Mario inspired number by Mark and Sadie?

Cheers,
Nina