Bookends About Etiquette and Espionage

Title: Etiquette and Espionage
Author: Gail Carriger
Source: library
Rating: ★★★★☆
Review Summary: Great world building, a strong female protagonist, no angsty relationships, and an incredibly fun boarding school. This one’s a keeper.

Etiquette and Espionage, Gail Carriger’s first foray into young adult fiction, is set in the same fascinating world as her Parasol Protectorate series with its enjoyable blend of fantasy and steampunk elements. As a bit of a tomboy, Sophronia doesn’t quite fit her mother’s idea of a proper lady, so her mother is thrilled to send Sophronia off to finishing school. Fortunately for Sophronia, the finishing school is not what her mother thinks, teaching young ladies not only the “fine arts of dance, dress, and etiquette, but [also how] to deal out death, diversion, and espionage—in the politest possible ways, of course” (source) .

Bookends About Soulless

Title: Soulless
Author: Gail Carriger
Source: library
Rating: ★★★★★
Review Summary: It was everything I hoped for – awesome integration of a steampunk society with supernatural elements plus hilarious characters.

“First, she has no soul. Second, she’s a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social etiquette.” Alexia is afflicted with these and a variety of other social stigmas which she bravely soldiers through, all while dealing with suspicion that she is responsible for recent vampire disappearances. She handles even the most uncouth behavior with remarkable poise, a sharp wit, and a sense of humor. And somehow, in the midst of it all, she manages to begin a startlingly wonderful romance.

Photography Friday!

Welcome to the first photography Friday!  One of my new year’s resolutions is to take a picture every week this year and those pictures will be posted in this section of the blog.   This is a chandelier in the Georgia Tech library.  I’ve been taking picture of chandeliers for a while and I’ve been thinking of starting a project photographing libraries, so this was too perfect an opportunity to miss!  If any of you are working on photography projects this year, feel free to pop over and follow me on flickr.  I’ll be sure to follow you back 🙂