Last week was a fun week of audiobookishness - thanks to Audiobook Week hosted by Devourer of Books. It is officially my favorite bookish blog event! I also got to finish off the last 3 books from my Spring reading list, so now it's on to the Summer reads ... and back to work after a week off. Oh - and has anybody else been watching the US Olympic trials?! The swimming was - CRAZY GOOD yo! I can't wait for the real thing at the end of July.

Weekly Reading Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self With Corsets & Clockwork

Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self, Danielle Evans. What an AMAZING short story collection! I actually meant to return this book to the library unread because I was a bit burnt out on short-stories after reading We Others, After the Apocalypse & Teeth back to back. But while waiting somewhere or another, I cracked this book and read the 1st story - Virgins, about 2 girls growing up in Mount Vernon (my old stomping grounds) ... I was blown away and kept reading. The writing is brilliant throughout, and the protagonists very different, although the collection feels cohesive because of the urban landscape. There were 2 stories that seemed a bit unfinished to me, Jellyfish & Wherever You Go There You Are, but this book is definitely worth picking up.

I can see why it is a co-winner of the 2011 PEN American Robert W. Bingham Prize for a first book, a National Book Foundation 5 under 35 selection for 2011, the winner of the 2011 Paterson Prize for Fiction and the 2011 Hurston-Wright award for fiction, and an honorable mention for the 2011 PEN/Hemingway award. (Amazon| Goodreads)

Corsets & Clockwork: 13 Steampunk Romances, Trisha Telep (Editor). Dark, urban fantasies come to life in the newest collection of Steampunk stories, Corsets & Clockwork. Young heroes and heroines battle evils with the help of supernatural or super-technological powers, each individual story perfectly balancing historical and fantastical elements.

I first finished this book last year prior to starting this blog, and recently re-read it. I enjoyed EVERY story in this collection - I think that might be a first for me - and because of this, I simply can't pick a favorite. Each story was very different, but all had elements of Steampunk and romance - and many stories featured clockwork inventions & fantasy/ magic. AND kudos to the editors for featuring stories with ethnically diverse characters.

Strongest Couple - Chickie Hill's Badass Ride, Dia Reeves. The combination of an incredibly smart Chickie and his bad-ass girlfriend, fight against the "nine-lived" who steal children away.

Cutest Romance - Tick, Tick, Boom by Kiersten White. The daughter of a nobleman, a baron of industry, Lord Ashworth, spends her free time building bombs to sabotage his factories. But finds love when she finds out one of her boring suitors is just like her.

Saddest Love Story - King of the Greenlight City, Tessa Gratton. A boy that can has the manipulate all the elements except Earth, which what his fiance masters, is betrayed by his mentor. (Amazon| Goodreads)

Currently Reading

The Knife of Never Letting Go, Patrick Ness. I mentioned I was reading this book akmost 2 months ago but never got around to it!
Prentisstown isn't like other towns. Everyone can hear everyone else's thoughts in an overwhelming, never-ending stream of Noise. Just a month away from the birthday that will make him a man, Todd and his dog, Manchee -- whose thoughts Todd can hear too, whether he wants to or not -- stumble upon an area of complete silence. They find that in a town where privacy is impossible, something terrible has been hidden - a secret so awful that Todd and Manchee must run for their lives. But how do you escape when your pursuers can hear your every thought? (Amazon| Goodreads.com)

Bitterblue (The Seven Kingdoms, #3), Kristin Cashore. Eight years after Graceling, Bitterblue is now queen of Monsea. But the influence of her father, a violent psychopath with mind-altering abilities, lives on. Her advisors, who have run things since Leck died, believe in a forward-thinking plan: Pardon all who committed terrible acts under Leck's reign, and forget anything bad ever happened. But when Bitterblue begins sneaking outside the castle - disguised and alone - to walk the streets of her own city, she starts realizing that the kingdom has been under the thirty-five-year spell of a madman, and the only way to move forward is to revisit the past. Two thieves, who only steal what has already been stolen, change her life forever. They hold a key to the truth of Leck's reign. And one of them, with an extreme skill called a Grace that he hasn't yet identified, holds a key to her heart. (Amazon| Goodreads)

Do you like reading collections of short stories? I'm definitely a fan, even if I don't like all the stories in a book - but find that reading too many of stories in a short period of time means I'll forget most of them in a day!