Ashley Newell
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Curious Endeavourances - Get Curious!

So if you hadn't heard by now, I am part of a book club that meets monthly to discuss all of our curious findings. I did/do have a small blurb of it on my Books link, but since we began posting our online hangouts live, I figured why not post them all in one place here? What possible other purpose could this website serve if not to publicly ridicule me? 

All of the information about our book club, as well as access to membership and even staring in one of these videos yourself, can be found on our GoodReads page here. If you are super psyched about hearing other people's opinions about books, read about them on the Curious Endeavouraces blog here. And if you just really can't get enough of me and what I think about books, you can read all of my reviews of everything I read here. Or you can skip the readings and just watch the videos below! 

Here's hoping I keep this updated!
August 19, 2013

November 2015 - On Writing: A Memoire of the Craft - by Stephen King

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Discussion Pending


Awards Pending

October 2015 - Soulless - by Gail Carriger

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Vampires, werewolves, and ghosts - Oh My! Luckily there is one Victorian spinster with a deadly parasol and a unique gift that makes her immune to paranormal attributes. When a new mens club comes into town and paranormal people begin disappearance from both sides of the immortal kingdom, it is up to good old-fashioned investigation with a twist of romance. 

​Literary Awards:
"Secret Coupling" - Santi & Wolfe - Ink and Bone
"Mr. Priority" - Thomas - Ink and Bone
"Snape Award" - Wolfe - Ink and Bone
"Fika" - Ink and Bone 

Author Award:
"We Aren't At Hogwarts Anymore"

September 2015 - Ink and Bone - by Rachel Caine

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In a world where owning books is illegal, a young group of students enter into the deadly world of librarianship. 

​Literary Awards:
"Barnabas Collins"
"Vilest Villainy"

"Oopsies"
"The Hat-tastic"
"Glorified Bewilderment"
"The Cazaril"

Author Award:
"Nod to the Gods" 
 "Well Shit!" 

August 2015 - The Curse of Chalion - by Lois McMaser Bujold

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Cazaril is not what you would call a lucky man, and yet when he manages to survive a death curse in order to save a young princess, it is clear that the gods have a plan for the ragged man. His world experience and courtly knowledge give Cazaril what the kingdom of Chalion needs in order to save the royal family from the curse that condemns them all. 

Literary Awards:
"The Horny Werewolf"
"Ginger Snaps"
"The Seagull Award"
"The Horror Show"
"Fire Bad"

Author Award:
"Twilight Companion"

July 2015 - Blood and Chocolate - by Annette Curtis Klause

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Young werewolf, Vivian, has a hunger for man-flesh - not to eat, just to savour. Her pack is not impressed. Add to that a series of mysterious animal attacks that have begun to plague the town, and Vivian has much more than a human love-life to worry about.

Literary Award
"The BORG"
"Unicorn Sprinkle"
"The Batcave"

Author Award
"The More You Know"

Knight of the Curious Table
"Cer Robin Sloan, Master of Storytelling, Knight of the Curious Table" 

June 2015 - Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore - by Robin Sloan

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In a simple old bookstore in the shady part of town, Clay Jannon finds himself a job that his computer programming training did not prepare him for. Being a graveyard shift clerk at an unpopular bookstore is not the life that Jannon had in mind, but neither is the secret world of 500 year old codes and underground organizations. Curiosity takes hold of him, and soon Jannon with the help of his friends start delving into the mysteries surrounding Mr. Penumbra's special membership card holders. Blending the old world with new technology, Jannon is about to meddle in a legacy that just might have dire consequences.

Literary Award
"Women's Lit"

Author Award
"Rope Walker"
"Word Story"

May 2015 - Snow Flower and the Secret Fan - by Lisa See

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An old woman looks back on her life, haunted by the ignorance of her youth. Once she was a good-for-nothing girl who, thanks to her mother's diligence in binding feet, finds her fate may carry her into a life she can be proud of. Paired with her old-same, Snow Flower, Lily teaches her new friend how to do the labour of housework, while Snow Flower teaches her the etiquette expected of a well-bred wife. But this simple life cannot last, and when the girls marry into very different families, it looks as though their friendship may be impossible.


Literary Award
"Warrior Wasp" - Josephine 

Author Award
"King of Siam"
"Kamikaze"

April 2015 - The Revolutions - by Felix Gilman

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Victorian London has been experiencing a variety of unpredictable events. A prince is found dead and a freak storm up-heaves the oceans into the city streets. Arthur Shaw is a humble man just trying to get by, and when he falls in love with a woman intertwined in the world of the occult, he finds himself thrust into a secret world of magic and murder, on the search for his fiancee's spirit that has found itself trapped in an alien body on a moon of Mars. 


Literary Award
"DBSD - Douche Bag Spectrum Disorder" 
"Most Lovable Douche Bag" - Bay 
"Closet Circus Freak" - Bay
"Out-Britished the British" - Caspar 
"Jumbotron Proposal" 

Author Award
"Unhistorical Fiction" 
"Bitch-Slap Banter"
"The Top Hat" 
"Imperfectly Perfect"

March 2015 - Fortune Hunter - by Daisy Goodwin

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Captain Bay Middleton is ready for a change in his life, one that allows him to pursue a lifetime of happiness rather than leaping at flickering moments of it. He has found his true match in the lively young heiress Charlotte Baird, who wants nothing more than to live a life of her choosing, camera and chemicals in hand, as opposed to the expected life of a wife and hostess. While secretly engaged, Bay finds himself appointed to be the guide for the Empress of the Austrian-Hungarian empire who is in England for the famous hunt. Drawn in by her beauty and passion, Bay finds himself in an affair that takes the aristocratic social circles by storm, but where does that leave Miss Baird and her fortune?


Literary Awards:
"Saved by the Kids"
"Parents of the Year" the Draytons
"Too Many Grandmothers"
"The Frivolous Cake"

Author Awards:
"The Caitlin" - because it's so Caitlin
"The Rough Start Award"

February 2015 - On The Edge - by Ilona Andrews

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Rose Drayton has been doing everything she can to keep her and her two brothers alive, but now that evil forces have invaded the Edge, it will take more than her magical flash to save them. Declan Carmarine, a blueblooded warrior from the Weird, is on a mission to end this evil, and perhaps even win over a bride in the process. 


Literary Awards:
"The Sheldon Cooper Award" - Don Tillman 
"The Punctuation Game" 
"Master Barman" 
"Dirty Dancing Skeleton"
"The Shake It Award" 
"The Spiderman Award" 
"Worst Husband of the Year" - Gene 
"Practical Assessment of Affection" 
"Hoffsteader-Walowitz Award" - Gene  
"Wife of the Year" - Claudia  

January 2015 - The Rosie Project 
by Graeme Simsion

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The lovable yet practical Don Tillman is on a quest to find the perfect wife, using a logical formula that is sure to narrow down only the most compatible partner. While he's waiting for the results to come in, Don finds himself taking up a new project, The Father Project, helping the spontaneous Rosie Jarman find her biological father among several dozen potential candidates in the science community. Watching Don learn to navigate around his ever-changing social encounters is what truly makes this novel a pleasure to read.


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