Have you bought and books lately? Do tell!

I sneaked into Barnes & Noble yesterday. I needed to get the next book for my ladies' book club, which is Barack Obama's Dreams from My father. While I was there I also picked up Spook : Science Tackles the Afterlife. I may sneak into Spook after I finish Charles Frasier's Thirteen Moons but before I finish Christopher Moore's Lamb.

Not for over a month! - I bought seven in one go which necessitated a bit of re-reading the prequels. S is for Silence required the whole A-R re-read which was a long slog, Last of the wilds requiring Priestess of the White, Stranger in a Strange land, not that good, Destroyer which is my next up once I've got through the first 6 Foreigner: A novel of first contact books (all brilliant and nearly there). After that I've got Snow Crash, The Black Gryphon and A Hat full of Sky preluded by Wee free men. THEN I might allow myself to buy another book. Unless I spot Pretender which is the only thing on my automatic see it buy it list.

Go Touchstones GO! wow without any editing!

My most recent purchase has been five volumes from the sci-fi book club. Technically I purchased these over a month ago (it was my enrollment package so it took longer to arrive than it normally will, I hope), and they just arrived a day or two ago.

I post my new books in What books came into your home today? over in the "What are you reading now?" group, but here are some of the books I've gotten over the past couple of months (more than I should have bought, by the way):

You're Not Fooling Anyone When You Take Your Laptop to a Coffee Shop and The Sagan Diary, both by John Scalzi were pre-ordered from Amazon. I'm still waiting for my third pre-order, The Last Colony, which isn't out yet.

I got these from Barnes & Noble (not all at the same time):
The Shadow in the North, The Tiger in the Well, and The Tin Princess by Phillip Pullman
The Rough Guide to Sci-Fi Movies by John Scalzi
Fifty Degrees Below by Kim Stanley Robinson
Water : Tales of Elemental Spirits by Robin McKinley
Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

I've read most of them. The only ones I haven't finished are the Scalzi books, and I have already heard an audio version of The Sagan Diary.

I was good for two whole months - wouldn't let myself buy anything until my TBR pile made it down from three and a half to two boxes (unlikely, given the number of library books I've been reading recently).

And then I couldn't help myself on Bookcloseouts.com, so a package with five books came yesterday:

Evolution : the triumph of an idea by Carl Zimmer
The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold (actually forgot I'd ordered this and am currently in the middle of reading the library's copy.)
I'm Flying Jack...I mean Roger (a FoxTrot collection) by Bill Amend
The Final Solution by Michael Chabon
The Way of Light by Storm Constantine

...And then I couldn't help but pop into the Friends of the Library Booksale last night, and so I picked up a copy of the first Mediator book, Shadowland by Meg Cabot.

But I was doing well before that! I swear!

Wow, I'm impressed with the self-control you people have. I'm halfway well behaved about buying new if I feel my TBR stacks are too full, but I am afraid those rules just don't apply when it comes to buying used. I just left the grocery store with a $1 copy of The Kite Runner. I have already read it, but I wanted a copy for loaning to/forcing upon my friends and family.

I recently bought Michael Jordan and the new Global Capitalism by Walter LaFeber

a few books that i will be buying and reading as soon as i get to the bookstore are :

The lions of Al-Rassan which i have decided to get because of all the praise it recieves from everyone here

The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene

Dancing to "Almendra" by Mayra Montero this ones mainly for a good culture read ;P reporter chasing the mafia in Cuba, set in the 1950's

I really want to read Obama's book as well...might as well spend the money for that while im at the bookstore ;P

#7 - Tasozel, this is 'old' book. The new one is still available only in hardcover. This one is out in paperback, and is also on the bestseller list, so I got it for 30% off.

A song for Arbonne arrived yesterday, plus two workrelated books in swedish - Processorienterad verksamhetsutveckling och IT ur ett affärsperspektiv.

Then I have a small notebook stiff with the ones I'd like to order NOW (or last week, to be more precise) but I've had some rather big expenses lately (buying new non-bookrelated furniture, cash) and I try to exercise some moderation ;-)
Every time I sit by the computer I feel tempted to order at least some of them (in the case of The Myth of Evil/no touchstone, fairly new nonfic book by Philip Cole/ the temptation is especially big, I guess I'll yield any day now).

#7 - Tazosel, I hope you find The Lions of AL-Rassan as good as I did! There seems to be only two kinds of opinions of Guy Gavriel Kay - either you love him or loathe him; he has a very special style...

err that must have been 8 books I bought at once as I've also read Forty signs of rain my first Kim Stanley Robinson which I was very impressed with.

I bought Lover Revealed last night... finished it this morning... need to re-read it, but have promised it to someone so they will read it this weekend & I'll re-read it again next week.

Bluesalamander, Robin McKinley is one of my favorite authors... so so so so very good. I hope you enjoy Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits .. I did.

#9 - Busifer, I don't speak Swedish, but I think I can tell anyways that those are two books I want to stay far away from. Heehee! :)

I've bought and otherwise acquired, (BookMooch, freebies, etc), quite a few things over the past little bit:

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
Magician: Apprentice by Rayond E. Feist
Grimm's Fairy Tales by the Brothers Grimm
Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie
Sailing to Sarantium by Guy Gavriel Kay
Walking After Midnight by Karen Robards
The Troll King by John Vornholt
The Troll Queen by John Vornholt
The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley
Primavera by Francesca Lia Block

That was with a great deal of restraint. I'm really, really, really trying not to buy more books right now, since my TBR list is gigantic, but I just can't help myself. There are so many things out there that I want to read!

11 skittles - Robin McKinley is possibly my favorite author, certainly my favorite fantasy author. I liked Water : Tales of Elemental Spirits :)

I also post my new books in the What Are you Reading now thread.

Pyramids, Good Omens, Thud!, The Truth, Signed
Fairy Tales from the Far North and Violet Fairy Book, The Mythology of South America
The Sinister Pig, Hunting Badger
The Divine Comedy, Purgatory and Hell, translated by Dorothy L. Sayers
An Acceptable Time, The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen
Camille and Cannery Row

These are some of my finds since the new year.

I've been on a bit of a book buying binge lately and am determined to stop until I've caught up on my TBR list. My newest books are:

The Book of Flying by Keith Miller
Rembrandt's Whore by Sylvie Matton
The Siege of Isfahan by Jean-Christophe Rufin (which is a sequel, so that, of course, means that I have to buy the first one too, which is called The Abyssinian, quandry, do I read the sequel first to see if I like it, or hold out until I've read the first book? Decisions, decisions. Anyone read these books?)
Jane Austen The World of Her Novels by Deirdre Le Faye (can't wait to finish the 3 books I'm reading now so I can start it!!)
Cherry, A life of Apsley Cherry-Garrard by Sara Wheeler
Daniel Defoe by Richard West
Lady Hester by Lorna Gibb
The Nine Days Wonder by John Masefield
John Masefield's Letters from the Front 1915-17

I do have Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising set on order though, looking forward to getting that one in the mail very soon.

MrsLee, I love the coloured fairy books by Andrew Lang I have The Violet Fairy Book too, among others, they're wonderful.

Today I broke down and bought The curious incident of the dog in the night-time by Mark Haddon. I'd seen several references to it and when I completed my library last week it was one of the top ten books that showed up on my suggestions. I'm already half done and at the risk of adding to the hype I am enjoying it very much. If I'd known that the chapter numbers were prime numbers I may have picked it up sooner.

#15 - yes!!!! the divine comedy!!! I looooove Dante ;D

Best works i have ever read are probably Dante's or Virgil's. I dont know what it is, but i am utterly fascinated with the descriptions of journeys through hell and purgatory, ohhhh and if you get a chance, look up the original drawings made for Dantes work, they are quite awesome!!! but a little disturbing..

haha, i get so fired up about Dante

I must say I appreciated Dante's descriptions of Hell when I was in a particularly ornery mood! :)

#12, fyrefly98 - well, no you don't!

The first on'e said to be good, it's about methods for reengineering the way a company functions... which touches more than lightly on my professional doings. It's next in line, I'll start on it any day now. The second one is written by a consultant in the same field as I'm in, and I felt I had to check it out. Turned out it was badly written and badly edited - it's supposed to discuss how to better utilize information tech as to support the core business of any company, but it was so badly written I only managed 17 pages in four days!

>20 Busifer: Busifer - Heh, I wasn't remarking on the actual quality of the books, just the topics. I'm sure I read stuff for work (and fun, probably) that most people wouldn't want to touch with a ten-foot pole, but corporate-speak in any language sets my teeth on edge. :)

I knew that when I wrote, but as most don't have any clue to what the books are about I kind of felt that I had to explain ;-)

I guess some of the books I enjoy b'cause of their level of intrigue (like the books from the pen of Guy Gavriel Kay) is... well, most of my clients like workning with me because of what they see as a kind of polictical savvy. To me it's not the corporate-speak stuff but the multilayered personal relationship stuff that makes any organization tick that's interesting. How allegiances past and present, history etc. is manouvered (or not).
This other stuff I only read because some people operate on that other level and I want to know what's going on so that I'm able to handle or predict their actions.

Rereading what I just wrote I think I exposed a not to nice part of myself. But note that I pride myself in not using my knowledge to manipulate others, and as a person I'm driven by impulse; the making of fast decisions, extrapolating and extemporizing, is my vice ;-)

I fell for the temptation and sent an order comprising of The Myth of Evil (no touchstone, no-one owns it!), Bonniers världshistoria and Fantasin till makten... only minutes ago.

My husband called me at work today and said "I found this book and I want it!"... as he don't read that much I grab for any straw and said "let me order, I have some books too to that I want" ;-)
He has been watching the BBC?/HBO show "Rome" and wants to read more about history... the second book above is a 4,4 pound tome on the history of the world.

The last book is a about the history of utopian ideas in the western hemisphere; something that interests me, and it was a bargain. Written by one of the giants in the area of history of ideas here in Sweden (Ronny Ambjörnsson).

The first book sounded very interesting. It discusses how "the evil" have been used during various ages and stages, identifying when "the devil" character first was used; why and how, etc; the transition between viewing everyone as a multilayered character to looking at some people as truly evil.
I very much look forward to reading it.

I'm on my spring break and I've bought like a dozen books in the past week.

I bought The No-Nonsense Guide to Climate Change, for class. Bought it online as it wasn't at the bookstore. However, since I was at a bookstore I had to buy *some* book, so I bought Good Omens and The Great Mortality. That was last Thursday.

Saturday I went to the used bookstore and bought a Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Mansfield Park, Far From the Madding Crowd, Abhorsen, The Monk, something by Milton, and some book of drama theory.

Monday I bought, new, Lirael, "Witches" and "Werewolves" by Nigel Suckling, and Jingo.

Yesterday I bought an illuminated King James family Bible.

I have no self-control.

#24 - Wow you dropped a few bills on some books eh? haha

#23 - I love that show "Rome". It is very historically acurate in alot of ways, especially for an HBO series.

#25 - My husband swears by it. As for me... he is usually a good judge of such things, but I have too little time in which to read, so when he watches Rome... I read ;-)

Rome is a really fantastic show - I was totally blown away by the first season and am heartbroken that I don't have HBO to watch the 2nd. Have to wait for the dvd release.

My plans for the afternoon were totally disrupted, so (horror of horrors ;) I ended up at the library. Where I read a book, and then spent a while browsing the small used bookstore they have there. For $4.75, I got these:

(the first three are Ace Doubles, which I'd never heard of before joining LT, so there are two titles and two authors)
Listen! The Stars!/The Rebellers by John Brunner/Jane Roberts
Ships to the Stars/The Million Year Hunt by Fritz Leiber/Kenneth Bulmer
Endless Shadow/The Arsenal of Miracles by John Brunner/Gardner F. Fox

The Pride of Chanur by C. J. Cherryh (that is a very strange last name)
Quicksand by John Brunner
It's the Little Things: 300 Simple Ways to Indulge Yourself by Amy Collins

Cherryh - her real name is Cherry, but there was some publishing reason why it had to be changed so she decieded on Cherryh, it is still pronounced Cherry. More details are on her website, linked from the author page.

Enjoy Pride of Chanur its part of the Chanur Saga set of 5 books I think its the first but I can't remember for sure, and an excellant place to start reading Cherryh. I'm sure you'll carry on enjoying all her work!

I finally got some money I'd been waiting two years for. Naturally, I bought seven Loeb Greek titles that I've wanted for years. I also bought two new 'teach yourself' Greek language books and a book of basic Vocab. Once the euphoria from being solvent has subsided, I plan to get stuck into serious study. Wonderful!

>#11 and 13 - I also love Robin McKinley. I am slowly but surely trying to buy copies of everything she's written. I am working on the more obscure ones now. I recently got her rewrite of Black Beauty (only worth having if you are a McKinley completist) and The Stone Fey which is gorgeous and lush but very short.

>#17 - I read that recently and very much enjoyed it. Mark Haddon has such a sympathetic voice.

I bought three books this past week. They were:

- The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
- The Poe Shadow by Mathew Pearl
- Death of a Red Heroine by Qiu Xiaolong

I just bought Thunderbird Falls by C.E. Murphy which was pretty good. A little brain candyish.

I also bought The Time Traveler's Wife which I'd already read and loved and wanted to own.

I just bought both volumes of Robert McCammon's Speaks the Nighbird series. Volume 1 is called Judgment of the Witch and Volume 2 is Evil Unveiled.

McCammon is one of my all-time favorite authors. he had retired many years ago after gettin gsick of the politics of publishing, but the writing bug bit him again, and so he originally had this published by a small press.

I also picked up Jasper Fforde's debut novel The Eyre Affair, and if it's everythng I'm told it is, I envision picking up more of these, plus a handful of various Christopher Moores soon!

I was on Salt Spring Island this weekend and naturally went to my (second) favourite used bookstore where I picked up...

Alison Uttley - a biography by Denis Judd, I never read her Grey Rabbit series when I was little, but her A Traveller in Time is my all time favourite time-travel book.
Birdsong - I've had so many people recommend this to me, I'm looking forward to reading it soon.
Winter in Thrush Green (a gorgeous hardcover edition with an almost perfect dustcover)
Tom Brown's Schooldays

I grabbed another $1 book from the used bin at the Stop & Shop yesterday. :o) I snagged myself a copy of The Memory Keeper's Daughter and I have heard good things about it.

Edit: katylit, please tell me more about A Traveller in Time.

I bought more books this past week, showed up from Amazon on Saturday. Oh, the shame.

Perdido Street Station by China Mieville, based on the discussion about it in here
Eldest by Christopher Paolini just came out in paperback
Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold - read Curse of Chalion two weeks ago and had to pick up this one
Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause based on recommendations from the Read YA Lit group.

Unfortunately, this puts my TBR pile at over 100 books. Since I'm fast closing in on my reading goal for the year (47 of 52 books read - most of those library books), I'm imposing a new goal: 30 books off the TBR pile by the end of the year, and no buying new books (unless they're filling in a series) until August. We'll see if I can make it. I give the first part a better chance than the second. :)

#37 - Good luck! You're going to need it. :o) If you're anything like me, well... the spirit is willing, but the hands keep picking up books.

>38 clamairy: It's true! How else did the TBR pile get to 100 books?

The good(?) news is that starting in about three weeks I'm not going to have easy access to used books (other than the internet) until August... no more "oh, I'll just poke my head into the friends of the library booksale..."

#36, Clam, probably the best way to tell you is to quote the inside flap:

"The background of A Traveller in Time is the old manor house, Thackers, where once the Babington family lived, with their servant Cicely Taberner. The descendants of the Taberners farm the land through the centuries, and to the Taberners of the present day comes Penelope, their great-niece, a sensitive imaginative girl, who is aware of other layers of time. With her awakened vision she sees human beings of the past move in their daily tasks among those of the present, and behind the contented life of the farming household of Cicely and Barnabas Taberner the old tragedy of Anthony Babington and his plot to save the Queen of Scots is enacted.

The farm kitchen where the young girl sits with her great-aunt and uncle is the home of those others who once lived there. Their desire and fears, their courage and strength enter the girl's mind, their voices float up from the garden and she is caught up into their life. Time is annihilated and she lives in the closing years of the sixteenth century, remember little of her modern life, till she returns from her travelling in time bearing the anxieities and dreams of the other world. Life goes on simultaneously, the Elizabethan and the present, each invisible to the other, and only the girl can pierce the veil, sharing the tumultuous existence of the Babington family."

It was first written in 1939 and the story just grabbed me. It's not an edge-of-your seat kind of story, but I love it, sort of time travel, ghost story, it's great. It is YA just so's ya know :-)

What is the correct spelling of traveller? one "l" or two?? 'Cause The Time Traveler's Wife only has one. Are both correct?

Thanks, katylit. It sounds like my kind of book. :o)

According to answers.com both traveller and traveler are correct. Odd, huh? I wonder if one is the Brit version, and the other one is the US version. (Like gray and grey.)

Edit: I think Bill Bryson has a list in one of his books, too. I think it's The Mother Tongue.

To keep track of US vs Brit spelling and wording I found me this one - http://www.peak.org/~jeremy/dictionary/chapters/title.php and it seems like it's one "l" in US and two in the brittish isles ;-)

BTW - not buying books right now as I let a wishlist loose as of my upcoming birthday / next monday :-)
*hope hope HOPE*

Yesterday I bought Chamber of Secrets because I suddenly decided to re-read all the Harry Potters and it was the only one I didn't own.

I like that website Busifer! It's great. And thanks for the clarification of traveler/traveller both Clam and Busifer, I hadn't thought about the UK/US difference.

Good luck with the wishlist Busifier :-)

The "two L" thing doesn't necessarily denote differences between UK/US English, though. I got into a dispute a few years back with a bright Admin Asst who insisted my editing of the word "canceled" to reflect two "ls" was wrong. We took it to the dictionary and called it a draw, since either is now apparently acceptable.

Linda smirked at me the remaining time we worked there, but what the heck.

Took my 25% off coupon to Borders yesterday and picked up the new hardover release of City of Bones by Cassandra Clare which sounds like it will be really, really good. Rarely will I buy a new hardcover book by an author I've never heard of and never read anything by, but this one came very highly recommended.

Took a group of junior high kids to a LitFest today, guess who came away with the most books?

Wicked by Gregory Maguire
Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Mt. Olympus Basketball by Kevin O'Malley, one of the guest authors, hopefully he will sign this one tomorrow, my friend will meet him at a breakfast. He was a great speaker.

I bought most of these based on things I've read about them on LT, but I can't remember Philip Pullman being talked about. A girl there was raving about him to me and I felt it would be an insult not to buy it...is he any good?

#47 I'm pretty sure I've seen plenty of discussion on LT about Pullman but, maybe not in Green Dragon, The golden Compass has 23 other conversations about it.

Philip Pullman has his critics but I certainly enjoyed the trilogy. It was a big hit maybe 2 yrs ago - sort of while you are waiting for the next HP read this.

The critics claim it is too overtly religious, similar to Narnia. Not being religious I didn't really find either of them so.

Its a decent concept world, pretty well written about, with characters that you can care for. I think you'll enjoy the first one, but I don't know you well enough to predict how you'll take the third book, where the tone changes a bit and becomes deeper.

#47 & #48 - Yup, we've talked about him. He's on quite a few "Favorite Fantasy Authors" lists, including mine... that is if I'm remembering correctly so early in the morning.

*yawn-grumble-yawn*

I HATE alarm clocks.

>#47 and >#48

I personally also really like Phillip Pullman. I haven't met many people who are indifferent to his books. Either people love them or they hate them. I've noticed some Christians (and I'm not saying all Christians, but just some) really hate this book because of one particular theme that they may find offensive. I don't want to say it because it would be a spoiler, but you won't really run across it until the last book when it becomes very overt.

And I don't think people object to Pullman because his books are overtly religious like the Narnia books. I think they tend to object because he's the exact OPPOSITE of Lewis and likes to smack people on the head with his disbelief.

All that being said, I really loved this trilogy.

*Edited to say that none of this is a problem if you aren't trying to read into his meaning and you just take it as an entertaining story.

To those of you who have read the book discussed above in #47,48 and 50 - how much YA is it?
I have considered reading it but sometimes YA is just absence of sex /but a good story/ and sometimes it is overly simplified plot and characters. Where does The golden compass fit on that scale?

The Golden Compass (well, the whole trilogy, really) is an excellent story and has complex plot, characters, world, etc. I don't consider it YA, personally. There isn't sex, and there are talking animals, so maybe that's why it's there.

Well, I'm not the best judge. One of my favorite books is considered YA and it has sex in it.

Its kind of about as YA as HP or Dark is rising Aimed at that age, with young protagonists, but readable by (much) older, though I wouldn't recommend the later 2 books for much younger readers.

Its not a simple plot, and the characters are pretty well rounded, there is love, but no sex.

Reassuring. Thanks. I'll note it down in my little black "books to buy" notebook :-)

My first ever preorder is on its way - For a Few Demons More by Kim Harrison.

(edited for typo)

>53 reading_fox:

I consider The Dark is Rising to be far more YA than The Golden Compass. The tone is quite dark compared to Susan Cooper's series.

It didn't feel YA to me at all. It's just the outward trappings - young protagonists, talking animals, etc.

I didn't think The Golden Compass trilogy is at all YA - it's too dark and violent - whereas The Dark is Rising is definitely YA.

Wow. Now I'm excited to read this! Thanks all. Only I told my daughter she could read it first. :( She will take about a day to read it.

After finishing Perdido Street Station I was in the mood for some YA fiction so I picked up The Amulet of Samarkand, So You Want To Be A Wizard and The Golden Compass. I finished the first two (and really enjoyed Samarkand) but have yet to read the Golden Compass (which everyone seems to rave about). The only other book I have picked up recently is the Difference Engine which I picked up because it looked similar to Neil Stephenson's Baroque Cycle one of my personal favorites.

#50 dressagegrrrl - I'm the exception to the rule: I'm indifferent to Pullman. I thought the trilogy was okay, but it wasn't nearly as good as I expected given all the hype. I got through it no problem, and I enjoyed bits here and there, but it didn't make me want to try any of his other work.

#59 - Another one who likes the Baroque cycle! Wow! We are sure far between...! Please sit down and have a snack!
*pushes the chrisps in GD2020's direction*

I've read The difference engine and rather enjoyed it but it was so long ago that I don't remember any of the specifics.

I just bought Sacred Ground by Mercedes Lackey at the local used bookstore. I've seen her name mentioned here at LT and thought I'd try something she'd written.

This month I bought:
Conan the Avenger by Robert E. Howard etc.
Lord Foul's Bane by Stephen R. Donaldson
The Door Into Fire by Diane Duane
Hercule Poirot's Christmas by Agatha Christie
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells

All secondhand and only two in very good condition, but to me it's the stories that really count. It's Booksweek around here and a large chain of discount- and secondhand bookshops gives a 50% discount on ALL novels. So I'm afraid next stop is the shop again.
I've read all of them, except for Lord Foul's Bane. I found I hated The Door Into Fire, even though it's been recommended in several groups. The rest were well liked, especially Conan.

I had time to kill in Manchester city centre last night so I thought I'd wander around the large Waterstones there, and Oh Happy Days, what Joyful news - I found Pretender (Foreigner) on the US import shelf, and then Hard Way was 3 for 2 along with Blue shoes and Happiness.

So glad that my TBR pile is down to 2 and I can buy books again, and here are books to buy. I was very pleased because I've been waiting for Hard way and Pretender for quite a while.

OK, I said I wouldn't buy any books before my birthday, but I did. I had some time to kill this evening and visited our local sience fiction/fantasy bookstore. I left with Fourth Planet from the Sun, an anthology of short stories. Totally unplanned but looked interesting and was dirt cheap (by swedish standard/imported books); equivalent of USD 3,5. Also I bought Foreigner, which I had planned to buy/read sometime (based on reading_fox's praise of the series) but maybe not now. But they did not have the others I thought of when browsing the shelves so... You'll know what I'm saying, right? ;-)

Browsed the $0.50 shelf of paperbacks at the local library and found three I thought were worth the price:

Rebellion by Nora Roberts
Edge of Danger by Jack Higgins
Midnight Runner by Jack Higgins

Then stopped by the mall for other reasons and made the mistake of going into Borders. Since I occasionally read John Scalzi's blog I thought I'd see if I could find one of his books. I came away with the paperback version of Old Man's War.

If you're an SFWA member, by the way, Scalzi's running for President as a write-in candidate.

I bought Sara Gruen's Riding Lessons, Mercedes Lackey's One Good Knight (what is with this new trend in craptastic covers with photographs of people that are photoshopped with sparkles and such), and A Great and Terrible Beauty.

"photoshopped with sparkles and such"

As a recovering programmer, I can tell you that a lot of silly stuff gets done "because we can."

I once bought a software package to run a health club; buried in it was a random lunch generator. It had a little table which would bring up the local taqueria, MickeyD's, etc., etc. The intent was apparently to make decisions for the developers when they couldn't agree on where to go for lunch. It probably worked real well in Dallas; only problem was, I installed it in West L.A. ;)

...Well... But what about all the marketing people??? Surely they must know how off-putting these covers are! Here's an example:



This is the book I just bought. A perfectly respectable Mercedes Lackey book, and it looks like a bodice ripper. A BAD bodice ripper.

ARGH!
Cover art on fantasy and sf books can be soooo bad!
I bought Foreigner yesterday, and the cover was purple and embossed and... OK, taste IS personal, but I can't imagine the marketing decisions behind some of those that got printed.

Ah, book covers...this is why I buy used copies of my old favorites instead of new ones. I hate (abhor; despise) the new cover art. I want my original cover art, dammit! It might not even be the original cover art, but it's what I'm used to.

I just bought new copies of the first three Young Wizards books by Diane Duane - I really hope they're the right editions. I didn't want to take the time to e-mail the sellers about the cover art. The year/publisher info was right; hope that's enough. If not, I'll take them to some local used bookstores and get rid of them, then find new copies (more carefully). Yes; it's that important (yes, I'm a dork :).

My most recent purchase was online & it has not been shipped yet, since Dawn by Tim Lebbon wont be available until March 26th. Other books in that order were: Dangerous Angels: The Weetzie Bat Books & The Serpent & The Rose by Kathleen Bryan .

I just purchased Heart-shaped Box by Joe Hill, Army of the Fantastic edited by John Marco and 300 by Frank Miller

I FINALLY got myself to take...myself...to the book store. ;P Bought The Lions of Al-Rassan and A Game of Thrones :D im pretty excited about finally having some good material to read.

Looked for that What do you say to a naked elf? book by Cheryl Sterling, but i couldnt find the thing. Blasted bookstores. ;P

I just found Fart Proudly : Writings of Benjamin Franklin You Never Read in School for 75% off! Bwaa haa haa! How could I pass that up?

:o)

LOL! I have also bought books just because they have crazy titles. e.g. Cluck! The True Story of Chickens in the Cinema.

I went today to B&N and found Rita Mae Browns "PUSS"N CAHOOTS"
Carolyn Harts "Death of the Party"
and J.A. Jance's Dead to rights

#76 - Um... live, or cooked Chickens? ;o)

I bought 3 copies of Road to Memphis for my students, but that's been it lately. (The library didn't have the copies, they wanted to read it, just another excuse to buy some more books, I can take it off on my taxes anyway - excuses excuses, excuses!)

I haven't tried Golden Compassor that series yet. We are having a half-price book fair in a few weeks at school - maybe I can find them there. I usually end up buying stacks of books. It's an addiction!

#78 Very much alive. This book is actually serious. The author must have a chicken fetish. He includes a description and photograph of chickens being scattered by a Natzi armoured car as it drives through a market. Can't remember which movie that was in.

OK, this isn't exactly books I bought as I got them for my birthday, but as I would have bought them eventually (they came off my wishlist!) I'll mention them anyway - End of Faith, Europas idéhistoria: Världens ordning and Europas idéhistoria: Mörkret i människan. The last two is nonfictional philosophical works on the history of ideas in Europe, from 1492 to 1918. One is about belief and the emergence of the scientific method and the other discusses how the ideas on body, race, gender etc. has evolved.

Also, at last I ordered an used copy of Sailing to Sarantium. It is impossible to get a new one, but I'm not too keen on buying used ones online, without having seen them.
It haven't arrived yet as I ordered it yesterday...

Stopped at B&N yesterday with a list in hand of the 20+ books I've been wanting to get, but I was good(ish) and only bought four of them:

Brotherhood of the Rose by David Morrell
Knit One, Kill Two by Maggie Sefton
Crewel World by Monica Ferris
Stones Unturned by Christopher Golden and Thomas Sniegoski

Have to finish the Spoon River Anthology before I can start any of the new ones, though.

Happy Belated Birthday Busifer!! How lucky you are to speak two languages, double the books!! I think when they were trying to teach me French in school if they had used the incentive of "Imagine all the books you could read in their original language if you spoke/read French" I might have put more effort into learning. But languages have never been my forte. And learning French grammar was definitely off-putting ;-)

Thanks Katylit! My birthday is actually tomorrow, monday, but my parents and my sister came by today :-)

My prime motivator for learning english was to be able to read (more) books! My father had a BIG box with assorted sf books he'd bought in the 50's and early 60's and when I found them (when 12, 1978) I REALLY wanted to read them :-)

That would have been a tremendous motivator for me too :-) My dad had lots of old SF paperbacks too, I use to devour them up at our cottage in the summer. They were great - I so wish we had kept them.

Well, I used part of my Target gift card to buy The Glass Castle!!! I still have some money left on it so I can get a couple more books at some point. I wish Target had some bargain racks. LOL

Let us know how you like it Clam :-) Don't you just love gift cards?? They are great!

>69 dressagegrrrl: I rather like the cover. Ah well. Differences make the world go 'round.

Whereas, I got First Test, Page, Squire and Lady Knight by Tamora Pierce this weekend and find all the covers horrendously BOOOOOOORING.

This was the first book buying spree since last year PLUS it's the first time I've been into a bookstore in a year or two (due to disability.) I was able to go because I have a wheelchair now but it's extra wide so I couldn't get through some aisles. But still... AHHHHHH... I got to touch BOOKS! I got to smell BOOKS! LOTS AND LOTS of books! Hee hee.

I also got Overcoming Anxiety for Dummies, The Introvert Advantage, Pagan Spirituality and You Can Be Happy No Matter What.

Wow Morph, there's nothing like losing something to make you appreciate it even more eh? Going into a bookstore is something I've always taken for granted and now I realize it would be something I'd miss terribly. Buying on line is great, but like you say, smelling, touching, SEEING lots and lots of books is just so much the best part of the experience for us book addicts. :-) It sounds like you had a wonderful time.

>It sounds like you had a wonderful time.

I did! And I should share part of the experience that I know all of you will appreciate!

My hubby went out to get the truck and I was in my chair by the door. When he came back to wheel me out, I told him to wait a minute. I closed my eyes and took several DEEEEP breaths.

He said, "What are you doing?"

"Smelling the books."

"You can do that at home."

"Yeah, but not nice CLEAN books."

:)

lol, I know what you mean!! I think that's why I like bookstores better than libraries. Or maybe, on second thought, old books, and new books both have distinctive smells, and they're both kinda great. But bookstores are full of such POTENTIAL, all those books we could buy...someday :-D

88 morphidae - I agree, the Protector of the Small covers are incredibly boring. So are the Trickster covers.

On the other hand, at least they're not hideously ugly, like some of the Song of the Lioness covers. That's why I stick to my old editions, and when I needed new copies (they are rather falling apart) I tried to buy new copies of the same editions. (We'll see when they arrive if they really are the right edition.) Sadly there are no options like that for her other books.

>Song of the Lioness covers

I prefer the newest versions rather than the oldest. I think the oldest are ugly.

This thing of showing only part of a face or body seems to be occuring more often with YA books. They do it with the Uglies, Pretties and Specials trilogy by Westerfeld. What is up with that?

93 morphidae - I don't know which are the oldest covers. This is my cover of Alanna. The ones like this are the ones I hate most - pastel, frilly, and poofy.

Yep, you prefer the newer covers too!

Just bought a hardback of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell from Half-Price books for $6. Haven't even entered it into my library yet.

two reasons why i'm not supposed to go into bookstores:

(1) my trip to B&N on the day i registered for this site, when i was supposedly just going to get "a" book to hold me over until i was across town near my favorite used book store... an hour later, i'm much broker, but the proud owner of aztec, blindness, the winds of war, bleak house, and forty signs of rain.

(2) the fact that i still took that trip to my favorite used book store three days later, and ended up with dune, falconer, and kushiel's dart (although at least in this case, the total cost of the trip added up to less than the cost of one book at B&N!!)

Between dinner at Shen Hua, and concert at St. John's (10 points if you said, "Berkeley"), we stopped in at Mrs. Dalloway's (5 points for catching that!!). I bought "Old Filth," by Jane Gardam. (10 points for reading her YAs, 10 more for her novels). . . whatever your score I'm going to sleep. Will read tomorrow and tomorrow(10 more points). Esta1923

last weekend I found an amazing second hand book shop, whilst visiting a lovely seaside town, but I was only allowed about 5 minutes inside! We were running out of time on the parking ticket... anyway, I managed to get a copy of Underworld by Don deLillo for £2, which - when you consider the pages to cost count - is a very nice price indeed. All of the comments and praise say it's an American classic, and I'll take their word for it... should be an interesting read.

Oh, and I'll definitely be heading back to that shop asap.

Tane as you were shopping in £ please add the shop details to This Thread over in the Brits group.
Thanks.

I last bought only a couple of books a couple of weeks back from Forbidden Planet a chance find whilst brousing in Birmingham - Proven Guilty and When Jack sued Jill.

bluesalamanders, I completely agree that those old covers are the best. Unfortunately I only have the first book in that edition, because it seemed like no one in Canada had them back then--the one I got was during a trip to the States. Let me know if you manage to get new copies of the same edition; I might consider doing the same....

I bought:

The Chronicles of Chrestomanci: Vol I by Diana Wynne Jones

Pretties, Specials, and Peeps by Scott Westerfeld

A Princess of Roumania by Paul Park

The Color of Magick by Terry Pratchett

Son of the Forest by Juliet Marillier

A lot of my titles aren't loading. Sorry guys.

I just finished reading Pretties last night. I really enjoyed it, even more than Uglies.

Yesterday I picked up the anthology Prom Nights from Hell which has short paranormal prom stories from Meg Cabot, Kim Harrison, Stephenie Meyer and others.

edited to get touchstones to work

In the last two weeks I've bought five books. One was a gift for my husband for Easter. Love, I Feel Bad About My Neck, Elantris, In An Instant and One True Thing. Everything was on sale for 30% or more... except Elantris.

Edit: Touchstones are sloooooooooooow today.

Tane, I'll be interested to see if you like Underworld. The first 50 pages center around a very famous event in the history of baseball. I would suspect you Brits may be unfamiliar with it. Does it still play well if you don't know the sport?

I read Fever Pitch and had no trouble with the English football references so maybe you just need to be a sports fan.

littlegeek, I was 1 when that event took place, and it still traumatized me. ;)

('Course, it now seems clear that the hitter knew what pitch was coming.)

I managed to visit the bookstore yesterday, get a gift card for our daughter's boyfriend and resist the tremendous urge to purchase The Invention of Hugo Cabret. It keeps calling to me every time I go to the bookstore, it just looks so wonderful, I love the illustrations. I think I'm going to have to give in very soon.

But I have a very large TBR pile, and I'd like to make some kind of progress with it before I buy anything more. It's unlikely, but I can try ;)

I didn't exactly buy them, but today's mail brought two things from BookMooch: The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin and Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquirel.

I went to the Book Eddy after work(wonderful used book store that has a good selection of 1st editions) and bought: The boxed set of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain and The Essential Tales of Chekhov edited by Richard Ford. The last is a very nice hardback first edition. Yeah!

Touchstone doesn't seem to be working..

I posted this already in another thread, I hope nobody minds if I just copy:

Today I supported our local little bookshop and bought the bilingual version of The Time Machine / 时间机器 by 威尔斯 著 as well as the trilingual (Chinese, English, French) version of 小王子（中英法60周年彩色纪念版）/ Le petit prince/ The Little Prince.
This evening, biblioholism forced me to return to aforementioned bookshop to buy 巨人的花园/ The selfish Giant and two huge red books about Chinese paper cut: 中国民间剪纸（上）——中国民间美术丛书 and 中国民间剪纸（下）——中国民间美术丛书

Luckily books are cheap here. Altogether I spend around 12 US$

... it seems touchstones with Chinese characters are working now... go touchstone go!!!...

Oh, the Chinese characters are so pretty! Some of them look like Runes!

I think so too. My vocabulary of Chinese characters is still pretty small, but it makes a huge difference if you read a book with 26 characters or a few hundred..... Some time ago we invested in a big dictionary 古代汉语词典(大字本) with some thousand characters in it. Many of these are obsolete for a few hundred years already.. Just fascinating!

oh, and I've just ordered a copy of Tom Shippey's book Tolkien - Author of the Century... I'm looking forward to reading that (I've recently been rewatching the LOTR DVD extras, and Tom features on those).

#113 - Oh, I loved that book! :o)

Oh, so The Professor was the author of The Century as well?

;>o

I succumbed and went to my favourite used bookstore today and got:

The Little White Bird by J.M. Barrie, illustrated by Arthur Rackham
Dinner At Antoine's by Frances Parkinson Keyes
a very cool, old edition of The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope
and, delight of delights, replaced some John Wyndham books I had culled from my library years ago and have regretted doing so ever since:
Trouble with Lichen
The Midwich Cuckoos
The Seeds of Time
The Chrysalids

All this for $14.00. I LOVE used bookstores!!!

#114
Excellent, high recommendation indeed, I'm looking forward to it even more.

#115
LOL! You learn something new every day, huh? ;-)

#116
Secondhand bookstores are great! You never quite know what you'll find.

I haven't bought anything recently but I am hoping to add Brother Odd by Dean Knootz to my collection very soon. As I loved all the odd thomas books I've read.

LOL, I started this thread over a month ago, and I just noticed the typo in the topic.

*blush*

Hehe, that's life!
Actually I think the "topic" field should possible to edit...

I do, too. And delete, too, if you accidentally make doubles... which happens more often that it should.

Over the past week, I bought:

The Penland Book of Jewelry: Master Classes in Jewelry Techniques by Marthe Le Van (ed)
Making Metal Jewelry: Projects, Techniques, Inspiration by Joanna Gollberg
Jewelry Making : Techniques for Metal by Tim McCreight

I also received some books that I'd ordered online some time ago, new (well, used) copies of some well-loved titles that are falling apart:

So You Want To Be A Wizard, Deep Wizardry, High Wizardry, all by Diane Duane

and (damned this online purchasing stuff!) I've just started to flesh out my Histories of Middle Earth collection... I already had the Unfinished Tales and the Book of Lost Tales books, as well as a couple of Histories, now - well, soon - I'll have the full set. Wahoo!

Today I bought Fingersmith by Sarah Waters. I read a library copy back in January and really enjoyed it, so I was quite pleased to come across a personal copy.

Well, I didn't buy it but an exhibitor did give me a free copy of Seven Foreign Policy Sins so I'm counting that. Otherwise, I'm staying far far away from bookstores until my pile diminishes...at least a little.

How come I'm only seeing boring ??? and --- when I should be seeing beautiful Chinese characters?

katylit - Envy is one of those bad sins, isn't it? Guilty as charged. J.M. Barrie, Arthur Rackham. Sigh. Only I'm not sorry you have it, I just want to find one too. :)

MrsLee. I was so excited when I saw the book. My daughter kept telling me to calm down! It's just gorgeous!! I wish I could duplicate it for you and send it to you :-) There are two more at the store, I think I might just have to blow my budget and go and get at least one of them, Peter and Wendy and Margaret Olgivy, it's a combined work, plus The Little Minister - but I already have that one. These editions are in such great shape, even though they were published in 1912, they look brand new - I don't think anyone ever appreciated them as I know I will! So I hope that will comfort you, I will enjoy this book tremendously (for both of us)! :-)

Yesterday I finally hit the "send" button and ordered Behind the Curtain: Football in eastern europe and, on a whim, Universal Principles of Design: 100 ways to enhance usability.

katylit - I'll close my eyes and think real hard and enjoy it with you too. :) I am glad to hear such a worthy book is loved and found a home.

Ha! My collection of Jane Haddam's Gregor Demarkian novels is now complete! An Amazon reseller sold me one, then asked if I wanted more. I told her I was still missing three, and she said "send me postage money and I'll give 'em to you." Well...

So today they arrived.
Conspiracy Theory
Feast of Murder
And One to Die On

If you want to buy a used book through Amazon and it's offered from bizzylizzy51, you can be sure you'll have a good experience.

The Children's Hospital opened their annual Book Market today, so I went, um, a little crazy. This is the first year I've been able to spend whatever I wanted, so I grabbed things like a kid in a candy store! I managed to get most of the things I was really looking for, but I was sad not to see more by Guy Gavriel Kay. I'm currently reading Sailing to Sarantium, and am eager to explore more of his work.

But anyways, I got...

By R.A. Salvatore:

In Sylvan Shadows
Night Masks
The Fallen Fortress
The Chaos Curse
The Demon Awakens
The Demon Spirit
The Demon Apostle
Ascendance
The Sword of Bedwyr
The Woods Out Back

By Raymond E. Feist:

Magician: Master
Silverthorn
A Darkness At Sethanon
The King's Buccaneer
Daughter of the Empire (with Janny Wurts)
Shadow of a Dark Queen

And others:

The Summer Tree by Guy Gavriel Kay
That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis
The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley
Tarzan and the City of Gold by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Land of Hidden Men by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Tarzan's Quest by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Orsinian Tales by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett
Assassin's Quest by Robin Hobb (someone else made off with Assasin's Apprentice as I watched, stuck in the crowd. Blah).
Tiger Burning Bright by Marion Zimmer Bradley, Andre Norton and Mercedes Lackey

I was also quite surprised that I didn't find more by Lackey. I've recently started reading her non-Valdemar books, and they usually have at least a few up for grabs. Maybe later on in the sale; it lasts a week.

(Edited for touchstones)

I was a bad girl this week. I made a visit to B&N, and I got a shipment from them as well.

I got a few books for my kids, and I got these for myself:

The Children of Húrin by J. R. R. Tolkien
Collected Works Oscar Wilde by guess who...
The Planets by Dava Sobel
Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Verlaine: Selected Verse and Prose Poems
Fresh Face by Diana Moran
Beowulf translated by Seamus Heaney
The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster by Bobby Henderson

Touchstones not working for some reason.
:o(

If ever there was a "something here does not fit with the others" list, that would be it.

All Hail the FSM! ;)

#132 - Hmmmm, do I detect a candidate for our next group read at the end of that list. LOL!!!

#133 - LOL, I didn't realize how incongruous it was until you pointed it out. *chuckle*

#134 - Only if it's the group read for Happy Heathens group. I'm sure it might be too much for some of the nice folks in here.

Well, I didn't buy it per-se, but the paperback copy of the Five People YOu meet in Heaven that I requested on paperbackswap just arrived in the mail. Does that count? lol.

Only two books today
Shaman's Crossing by Robin Hobb
Patience and Fortitude by Nicholas A. Basbanes

I went searching for Guy Gavriel Kay on my lunch break. Unfortunately, all I found was The Wandering Fire; that's not a bad thing, but I was really hoping to track down Lord of Emperors. I think I might have to bite the bullet and buy it new.

I should really stay out of the friends of the library shop, as if my TBR stack wasn't already falling over I picked up:

Finn Mac Cool
Queen's Play
The Coming of the King
The Daughter of Time
Timeline
The Lamplighter
Gone with the Wind

And I am going used book store prowling tomorrow with a friend. Maybe I should just stay home and read some of these books before I go buy more... just a thought.

edited - some of the touchstones are not co-operating

My first order from bookcloseouts.com arrived today. Just what I needed . . . more books!! I was, however, impressed with the service (and the price!) from BookCloseOuts.

Here's what I got:
The Great Book of Amber by Roger Zelazny
God is my Broker, No Way to Treat a First Lady, and The White House Mess, all by Christopher Buckley
In the Garden of Iden by Kage Baker
and
The Lions of al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay

I do NOT know when I'm going to get to these. I HAVE to stop buying books!!

**touchstones aren't cooperating this afternoon**

Discovered a hospice shop nearby with used books, and some surprisingly great ones. Two for £1.50 - some of the paperbacks are somewhat beaten up, but for the price that's okay. If I love them I can always buy new editions and re-donate these. I got:

The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
Temeraire - Naomi Novik
Inkspell - Cornelia Funke
The Soprano Sorceress - L.E. Modesitt Jr.

I can see myself reading the first two next despite what I already have, both books I really wanted and was so excited to find!

I Loved the Soprano Sorceress it was a fantastic book. Sadly my copy went missing just before I left the states to move to england. I still don't know what happend to it.

As to what I have bought, well I went to a Tokyopop presentation at my local waterstones and walked out with Kingdom hearts manga box set. I am half way through the frist one and loving it to pieces.

As if me buying 7 books yesterday weren't enough, I went with a friend to a few more used book stores today and bought:
The Mabinogion
Tristan
The Greenlanders
The Tain, Translated by Thomas Kinselia (touchstone loaded w/different work
and Mary Queen of Scotland and the Isles

I think an intervention is in order!

Today I bought a cook book with picnic recipes - Picknick, a bird book so I can tell my son what we are seeing outside the window - Nya svenska fågelboken, and a encyclopedia for kids - Stora Varförboken.
I restrained myself and did not buy another cook book I looked at, about libanese "meze" courses. I might go back tomorrow and buy it anyway ;-)

I am a weak, weak, WEAK person. I fell off the wagon yesterday... my TBR pile was already over 100 books tall, and so I told myself that I wouldn't buy any more until I'd read at least 25 of them... I'd brought 30 of them with me for the summer, so I figured that was doable.

Aaaaaaaand then I found myself down in town yesterday, with an hour to kill before meeting some people for dinner, and I just happened to drive riiiight past the newly expanded YMCA thrift store....

Anyways, the damage is:
My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
The Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett
The Toyenbee Convector by Ray Bradbury
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
White Oleander by Janet Fitch.

...for less than $10, but still. It's not the cash, it's the space and the time that I'm concerned about. WEAK.

I understand, fyrefly. My TBR stack is also pushing 100 and I also swore off buying new books until I got some read. So, I got a box of 5 books from BookCloseOuts Tues., have 5 more ordered that should arrive next week, and ordered 2 more from Quality Paperback Book Club. Then, I walked in my local bookstore and bought 5 more!! (Well, I had a coupon and they were having a buy 4, get one free sale).

I blame LibraryThing. Not only am I hearing about new books and new authors I just MUST try, I enjoy entering books in my catalog and watching the numbers change. Of course, I have two rooms full of bookshelves that haven't been entered yet, but new books seem more fun.

I need help. :-)

This is beyond embarrassing. I went to two different used bookstores today, and I came away with 11 (eleven!) Miles Vorkosigan or related books by Lois McMaster Bujold:

Barrayar
Borders of Infinity
Brothers in Arms
Cetaganda
A Civil Campaign
Diplomatic Immunity
Ethan of Athos
Memory
Shards of Honor
The Vor Game
Warrior's Apprentice

All because I picked up a couple of them at the local library on a recommendation here at LT. Thank heaven they were 1/2 price!

I'd have picked up the remaining two or three in the series if the stores had had them, too.

I've finished Robin Hobbs Forest Mage. It was alright but the characters didn't stay with me.

Any recomendations for this author? I mean i don't want to give up on her just because of one book.

#146 dulcibelle - Not only am I hearing about new books and new authors I just MUST try, I enjoy entering books in my catalog and watching the numbers change.

This is a huge problem for me, too. I have a separate side account for TBRs, and I have way too much fun adding them all in, then ruthlessly deleting them and adding them to my main account after I've read them. (Provided, of course, that they pass muster and I decide I want to read them again). I also get a big kick out of reviewing things, which I do as I add new things to my primary catalogue/permanent collection.

Tomorrow is the last day of the big book market. My mother and I are going bright and early; they usually have some really good package deal on the last day. Last year you could get up to 20 books for $5.

#148
Rune, try the Farseer Trilogy, starting with Assassin's Apprentice, this was the book that got me hooked on Robin Hobb (and I believe it was the first she wrote under this name). The Liveship Traders trilogy is also very good, the first one in that is Ship of Magic.

My Other Half requested a trip to the book shop today - for some reference works - kicking and screaming with my arm forced hard against my back (NOT!) I went along.

I escaped with Promise Me and Fragile Things no reference works. We may have to go to another book shop soon....

I've not been very good lately ... I went to a discount bookstore today intending to buy one book that I'd seen there last week, and left with 6 since they were 3 for £5. >>

Zorro - Isabel Allende
Medalon - Jennifer Fallon
Mansfield Park - Jane Austen
The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
The Champion - Elizabeth Chadwick
Tess of the d'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy

I have no restraint. =(

>148 RuneFirestar:: Rune - you may have had trouble with Forest Mage because it's the second in a series. Give the first book (Shaman's Crossing) a try, that might help. I also second the recommendation of the Liveship Traders trilogy. I've read the first two and have really enjoyed them.

#152 littlebookworm - I hope you'll enjoy Zorro. It was one of my favourite reads of 2006; I talk it up all over the place! I'm looking forward to rereading it.

thank you Tane will start looking them up the next time I go to the library! :)

#152 & 154 - I liked Zorro, I had a couple of issues with it, but overall enjoyed it. What I liked better though, was Young Zorro: The Iron Brand, by Jan Adkins. It is a YA book, and it's author, Jan Adkins consulted with Isabel Allende on the historical bits of her novel. Don't be confused by the name Diego Vega. It shows him as author of the book, but at least Mr. Adkins did the actual writing. I know, because he told me so.

oh I forgot I had a book come today!
I have just added Kaz, the Minotaur from Dragon Lance serries to my book collection.

I'm waiting to see what others at the post office ;)

I went to an estate sale over the weekend. I have to borrow $7 from my friend to get:

The Thirteenth Tale
The Eight
a copy of the Koran
a book on the history of Russia (don't remember the name)
and a couple of others I don't remember at the moment.

Well, I did it again. Two more books found their way to my TBR shelves this weekend:

The Monk by Matthew Lewis and
The Last Witchfinder by James Morrow

I had to fulfill my committment to QPBC so I can cancel the membership. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!!

**3 out of 4 touchstones loaded. Not a bad average**

The current damage

Good Omens
Elantris
Patience & Fortitude: Wherein a Colorful Cast of Determined Book Collectors, Dealers, and Librarians Go About the Quixotic Task of Preserving a Legacy
the Perennial Philosophy

Well we did manage to slip out to another bookshop, the award winning Simply books. DOn't know why it wn an award or what for. Escaped with only Vinland the dream and no reference books. Honestly I'm getting as bad as some of you.

Today's mail brought Dangerous Angels, (an omnibus of the first five Weetzie Bat books), and Wasteland, both by Francesca Lia Block and both via BookMooch.

I'm kind of afraid to venture anywhere near a bookstore right now, because I know if I do, I'll leave with not only Children of Hurin, but the complete works of Christopher Moore, Brandon Sanderson, and Jasper Fforde as well, and I'm reallyreallyreally trying to save money!!!

I have bought the whole of the diskworld serries off e-bay for 80 pounds!

I am well impressed with me!

I really should not buy any more books right now - I've had to earn up some extra USD 1.500 this month (advance pay for rented flat/Spain + rental car) when I had planned for only half that sum... A communication error :-(

Anyway, I couldn't stay myself so yesterday I placed an order for Lord of Emperors (part 2/2 of the Sarantine Mosaic) and Invader (part 2/3 of the first sequence in the Foreigner series).
With delivery times that would allow me to finish Sailing to Sarantium + The Myth of Evil /which is currently on hold/ before the new books arrive ;-)

#164 - I am impressed with you also! We are collecting Pratchett bit by little bit. Two yesterday, they are my daughter's. I also bought two Tom Clancy for my son, one book for a friend and Blue Shoes and Happiness for myself. Oh, and a hardcover of The Count of Monte Cristo, unabridged. It's for my daughter. SO big and heavy. I have a two volume version which is leather covered and fits nicely to the palm. Old, very old.

#165 - I think I'm going to have to buy Lord of Emperors this weekend. My mother offered to look for a used copy for me at Half Price Books when she goes to Minneapolis later this month, but I'd rather pay a bit more for a nice, (and brand new), Canadian cover. Plus I'm pretty sure I'll be rereading it several times, so it's worth the investment.

Yesterday's mail brought me a copy of Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb. I'm really looking forward to rereading it, given how many good things I've heard about her since joining LibraryThing. I remember reading and loving it about six or seven years ago, but for some reason I never went any further in the series.

#166

My favorite diskworld books would be the Tiffany Aching books. Wee Free Men, Hat Full of sky,and wintersmith.

they are fantastic :)

#166 and #168 (and anybody else)

A discussion of Terry Pratchett favourites can be found here in this group

many different opinions so far.

Edit: fixed link properly. those little " things are important.

reading_fox - I got a syntax error when I tried your link. What is the name of the group?

All things Discworldian
(I happen to be a member there too...)

Sorry MrsLee it is working now.

Thanks Busifer.

Finally found Children of the Lens by E.E. Smith (can't seem to get the touchstone working for him) and bought it. Now I'm still missing Gray Lensman and I've got Triplanetary in a different edition, sniff, sniff.

Origin in Death Only one backlisted book to go!
Ill Wind
Blind Descent

I now own three of the Anna Pigeon books and haven't yet read any of them. I sure hope every recommendation I've seen pans out. ;)

Just one book recently:

Game Of Thrones

>#75 tgreen

I LOVE that series. Make sure you tell us what you think!

I've been a bad, bad boy today: I just ordered
The book of Flying by Keith Miller
Eastern Standard Tribe by Cory Doctorow
The Sky Road by Ken MacLeod
Starwater Strains by Gene Wolfe
Kingdom of Ten Thousand Things by Gary Geddes
Forgotten English by Jeffrey Kacirk
Singularity Sky by Charles Stross

... perhaps I should slowly start migrating to the "bibiloholism"-dungeon

MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

"... perhaps I should slowly start migrating to the "bibiloholism"-dungeon"

But it's not a dungeon. It's a privileged corner of the bar! ;o) And it's getting crowded.

"It's a privileged corner of the bar! ;o) And it's getting crowded."

Yeah, and currently my cash flow is limited, so if I would really go there I would have to rent my house, sell my wife, etc... to finance my addiction ;)

Just joking, it's good to go over there from time to time to see that there are other people like me out there.

...I take the "dungeon" back... *shame on me* I just had a picture on my mind of somebody hunched over a newly acquired book, silently mumbling "my preciousssssss, my precioussssss"

I just had a picture on my mind of somebody hunched over a newly acquired book, silently mumbling "my preciousssssss, my precioussssss"

You heard me???!!!!
;o)

And I who thought it was my own mumbling I heard!!!???
I should have heard it really was a choir ;-)

Today I bought a very pretty copy of Lord of Emperors by Guy Gavriel Kay, (I love the new Penguin covers for his books!), and my voucher for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. My local bookstore is hosting a HUGE launch party at the city's main park, and the only way you can get a copy right at midnight is with one of these vouchers. I was very pleased that they offered them for adult covers this time around; last time you could only get children's covers at the party.

Lets see, I got a rebate for the Perennial Philosophy because it was out of stock when I ordered it. However I have received and already started reading Elantris which I must say lives up to the hype and then some. As far as I know, the others are still on their way. I can't seem to leave a bookstore anymore without making a purchase. I went to the Woodburn outlet today with my mom who is down here visiting me, and I spent an hour give or take in the Woodburn Book Outlet while she was shopping. I was originally planning to buy a Terry Pratchett but as there were only two Pratchetts there, both from Discworld, and noone there knew squat about Pratchett, I decided to wait. However, upon seeing the Invention of Hugo Cabret I knew I had to have a copy. I'm a sucker for kid/YA novels, as well as "experimental" and unusual books, and Cabret certainly qualifies on both fronts.

Ah Child_of-Light, I've been eyeing The Invention of Hugo Cabret too, it looks so marvelous! I know I'm going to have to get it soon! The drawings are amazing aren't they?

I just ordered The Dangerous Book for Boys and a 30th-anniversary book about the 4-3-74 tornado that went through Louisville, Kentucky. (I lived there at the time and remember it vividly.)

Falling Free, Lois McMaster Bujold, pre-owned for $3.50.

Does it count if someone gave me a book? My 94 year old great aunt (I just include that info because I think it is so cool, so is she) gave me The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes. It has lots of origins and history in it as well as the rhymes. I can't wait to read it, but it will go into the random selection of the rest of my TBR stash.

#187 - That's really cool! I'm always awed at really old people (as opposed to me, who are only moderatley old? hm) who manages to keep their minds in the present!

made the first payment on the Prachett stuff today. Friday I should make the final one :)

I got A Song For Arbonne by Guy Gavriel Kay in the mail today. Horray!

Busifer - Her husband was the one who painted with a similar style to the one on your walls. You would love her.

#190 - Your in for a good read!

#191 - :-)

Yesterday I found The Mayor of Casterbridge in an Oxfam shop for 99p, great deal, so I had to get it.

This weekend, still couldn't resist and bought:
The Serpent Bride - Sara Douglass - already read and it was amazing
Dreamsongs - George R.R. Martin
Treason Keep - Jennifer Fallon

I broke my own personal rule with that last one. It's the second in a trilogy and I haven't read the first, though I own it, but since it was only £2 I took the chance that I'd like the first one.

I read The Mayor of Casterbridge a few months ago. Generally pretty good, but even Thomas Hardy admitted there were a few things in the original serial version that wouldn't have been there if he's had the luxury of writing it as a novel instead. A well-edited edition will explain where which text they used and will give you more detail about the (several) versions of the text -- my copy's the Penguin Classics edition (ISBN 0141439785).

I bought Guards! Guards! today. It was to replace my daughter's book which I had given to my friend before I was finished reading it. This was with my daughter's permission, of course. We were trying to make a Pratchett convert, and were successful. :) Anyway, now I finally get to finish the book.

I unadvisedly entered a used book store yesterday and left with The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory, which I have heard other LTers rave about, and the completely unexpected The Haunting of the Presidents by Joel Martin and William J. Birnes, which details all the weird spooky experiences different U.S. Presidents have had.

I gave in and went back to my favourite used book store and bought J.M. Barrie's Peter and Wendy and Margaret Olgivy which is a combined book (wow, lots of "Margaret" touchstones!!), as well as a lovely copy of Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates and Ghosts, True Stories from British Columbia.

I was headed for the tropical fish store to buy a Chinese algae eater for our tank, but I got there too early; the place doesn't open till 11:00am. So I had 20 minutes to kill and wandered half-a-mile to the used book emporium.

Result: Neuromancer, by William Gibson. I've heard about it for years, so I thought I ought to try it.

Then I went back and bought the fish.

A Mother's Day gift from my daughter, Life Amongst the Modocs: Unwritten History, by Joaquin Miller. This is history of the area where I grew up, so I'm very thrilled to receive it.

I found lots of great stuff today! Someone had donated tons of Classical texts to the Salvation Army, all in perfect condition, so I snapped up the ones I didn't have and that fit with my interests. The library's sale also yielded a few interesting finds, and another thrift shop brought me one volume closer to a complete set of Agatha Christie:

The Histories by Herodotus (undoubtedly my best find; I've wanted a good, unabridged translation for years, but they're so bloody expensive in new bookstores!)
Jason and the Golden Fleece by Apollonius
The Golden Ass by Apuleius
At Bertram's Hotel by Agatha Christie
Wild Magic by Tamora Pierce
The Sword in the Stone by T.H. White
By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder (an old favourite)

Another trip to my favorite discount bookstores in Birmingham got me five books:

1066: The Hidden History of the Bayeux Tapestry - Andrew Bridgeford
Sand Daughter - Sarah Bryant
This Thing of Darkness - Harry Thompson
The Exiled - Posie Graeme-Evans
A Scanner Darkly - Philip K. Dick

Really looking forward to reading these, and I have a package coming from Amazon shortly containing more finds from their recent book clearance. Yay lots of books!

Made a trip to the city of Atlanta for work related training. I hit a bunch of thrift stores along with Borders and Barnes and Nobles. I bought American Gods by Neil Gaiman and Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. I found this site recently and was shocked that I had never heard of either book or either author considering how much both are praised here. Fiqured I needed to see what I was missing.
I picked up brother odd and the husband by Koontz , Castaways of the Flying Dutchman by Jacques, Legends II and, Exile's return along with 31 other books to add to my TBR stack or upgrade a paperback to hardback. Now all I need is some more time to read.

Hey, Brother Odd has been on my To Buy list for a while. I forget what the first book in his "Odd" series, is, is it Odd Thomas? Whatever is the first, I've been meaning to hit those for a while now.

Today I got to play and shop while my daughter worked at a horse camp for troubled teens. I visited a used book store and found:

One Fine Day the Rabbi Bought a Cross by Harry Kemelman
The Black Cauldron, Taran Wanderer and The Castle of Llyr by Lloyd Alexander, all hardcovers and some first editions.

Now I've found out that I have the middle of the Prydain series. Must they be read in order? Do I need to find the first book before I read these?

202

Castaways of the Flying Dutchman is a fantastic book. I've finished it recently and loved it dearly.

I hope you enjoy it :)

#204 MrsLee - WOW to the Prydain first editions! Those are worth a lot of money. I remember seeing a first edition of The Black Cauldron for $75 once, and that was probably about ten years ago.

They really ought to be read in order, since a lot of the character development is cumulative. While each story is supposedly stand-alone, there are frequent references to what's come before, and I doubt the characters' interactions/relationships come across as well if you don't have that prior knowledge.

Today's mail brought me Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis and The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay. I'm really looking forward to both of them, especially since so many people on here rave about Lions.

Hmm, since the last time I posted I have bought the following:

The Mammoth Cheese by Sheri Holman
Cover Her Face by P. D. James
Unnatural Causes by P.D. James
Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson

These I bought used:

The Great Santini by Pat Conroy
Seduction Of The Minotaur by Anais Nin
A Changed Man by Francine Prose

#208 - clamairy - I love Pat Conroy! Have you ever read anything else by him?

I received my package in the mail from amazon yesterday and think I definitely need to stop buying books temporarily. It included:

Half of a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Fingersmith - Sarah Waters
Josephine - Carolly Erickson
Inkheart - Cornelia Funke
Over Sea, Under Stone - Susan Cooper
Mary Barton - Elizabeth Gaskell
The Josephine Bonaparte Trilogy - Sandra Gulland

#209 - The only other Conroy book I've read is The Prince of Tides which I still rave about, littlebookworm. I started Beach Music and I just couldn't get into it, so I gave up. My husband loved My Losing Season, which I bought for him as a gift, with the intention of reading myself at some point. I just haven't gotten to it yet.

After much saving up and a well timed 30% off coupon from Borders, I just picked up The Absolute Sandman by Neil Gaiman. It is a beautiful hardcover in a slipcase containing Preludes and Nocturnes, The Doll's House, and Dream Country (issues 1-20). Issues 1-18 were completely recolored for this special edition and are gorgeous. Part of my plan in purchasing the volume was to take it to Comic-Con and have Neil Gaiman sign it. That way I could have him sign multiple volumes at once and not choose just one. However the weight of the book has made me change my mind.

#207 - Thanks for the info xicanti. I doubt if these are as valuable as that, the condition isn't top notch, however, they don't smell bad and are perfectly readable, so I'm excited. Maybe the library will have the first one for me.

I guess this should go under the Biblioholism label but I choose to ignore my affliction and post here instead. Right?!
;-)
This monday I finished Invader, and I spent tuesday planning how to get the sequel (OK, I did work as well). Only way was to visit the SF Bookstore after work and to be able to do that I walked 30 minutes to the boat last morning (at 7 AM) instead of taking the bike - boat leaves at 7.30...
(I don't want to leave my bike by the jetty overnight, it's a disreputable area)

So, yesterday I went to the SF Bookstore, picked up Inheritor, and then, on an afterthought, picked Precursor as well as I would not like to find myself in this situation again...

Feeling MUCH better!

:-)

You're well and truly hooked on that series now aren't you! I'm impressed by your dedication. ;-)

Well, that's me ;-)
The 2nd installment ended in a real cliffhanger, and I wanted to know how it turned out. And as I tend to read through the few series that I do read I have decided to read at least books 1 to 6... and I'm away on vacation in Spain soon and don't want to be stranded!
(...small seaside resort, presumably no bookshops peddling the stuff I'm interested in (at least not in english)... I plan to carry what I will read when there!)

...and I blame you for this current addiction, it was you who got me into reading them, hehe!

BTW it was the same thing when I discovered the Discworld books some 10 years ago - once or twice a week I went to the SF Bookstore and spent some £7 on the next in line.

It's summer reading time in our household! My 17-year old has to read Pygmalion and Death on the Nile, so I bought those. Mom here will read them too. Those upcoming 8th graders have to read too, so I picked up Ender's Game and Bull Run. The students choose from several books, but I have already read the others and have them in my classroom library.

You know, for those of us who are addicted to this, we welcome summer reading lists because it gives us a legitimate reason to buy books!

"You know, for those of us who are addicted to this, we welcome summer reading lists because it gives us a legitimate reason to buy books!"

Agreed! My little non-reading guy is already over 100 pages into his summer reading book Sea of Trolls and school isn't out for another month here. I'm so excited I could squee.

I think I might buy him Nancy Farmer's House of the Scorpion, too.

#216 - As a homeschooler, I think I've missed out on something essential. Summer reading here has always been with books we have already. I could make lists of all sorts of books to buy couldn't I? Course, they have to be something my sons will read I suppose. Hmmm.

*brain slowly starts clicking and whirring and generally grinding into gear.*

I always loved summer reading when I was in school, because it meant my parents had to buy me the books and I might find new favorites. My parents weren't really stingy with buying books, but I rarely got them from proper bookstores, usually it was at book fairs or the kid's section at K-mart or something. My summer reading was always finished before August, whereas my brother started his the day before school started. Hehe. =)

Maybe this should go in the biblioholic thread instead, but I bought two new cookbooks and two used cookbooks for a young couple getting married. The used ones were compiled recipes. One from Taste of Home, the other from Sunset Magazine. They looked great. Lots of pictures, good condition and usually those magazines have pretty good recipes. Well, I got to thinking, and it just felt weird to give used cookbooks as a wedding gift. Plus, they didn't fit in the box. And I can give them to my daughter when she leaves home. But I think I really decided to keep them because I want them. There. I cannot tell a lie. The other excuses just made the action easier. I am giving them the new cookbooks!

welllllllll, since you asked. about three weeks ago *blush, i'm such a procrastinator* i posted a post about my birthday (May 11th, same as Salvador Dali's) about how i got a gift card from a bookstore for a gift and... (pause for effect) i finally, after great diliberation and much consideration of everyone's supremely educated advice, i finally used it up and bought the following:
"Widdershins" by Charles deLint
"The Scroll of Seduction" by Gioconda Belli
"Simplified Anatomy for the Comic Book Artist" by Christopher Hart
"Through a Glass Darkly" by Karleen Koen
"The Homecoming" by Ray Bradbury
"Dissolution" by C.J. Jansom
"The Ponderous Postcards" by Lemony Snicket
"1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die" by Peter Boxall
and a "MENSA" challenge puzzle book, as well as 2 journals and some really cute cards with cats & old books.

i swear... giving me a gift card to a bookstore is like letting a diabetic loose in a candy store. *grin* i drooled just dreaming of the possibilities. *guilty look* oh yeah, i put some on order they didn't have as well.
busted. totally busted. ;)

So how exactly does this summer reading work? (I assume it's an American thing, as we don't do it here). There are particular books they'll expect you to have read by the start of the next school year? And you have to buy them yourself?

Pandoras! Let us know how you like Widdershins. I've been eyeing it at the bookstore - looks like it might be pretty good. I've never read anything by Charles de Lint, I've heard his name bantered around in Lt and thought this might be a good book to start with.

My sister-in-law wants to take me shopping for a belated birthday present when we go and visit her and I'm very tempted to just take her to a bookstore and say "Okay, let's get started!" :-)

One of my most memorable Christmas presents when I was a young teenager was getting $100.00 (long before gift cards) to buy books. I think I spent all day at Britnell's, my absolute favourite bookstore of all time, trying to decide which books to get. It was so wonderful, and I still have all the books.

xicanti - Different schools do summer reading different ways. In our district, the students are given a list to choose from. When they return to school, teachers assess this reading pretty much any way they want, sometimes through a test but more often with some sort of project. Usually there is a list of 8 - 10 books to choose from.

xicanti, there are usually multiple copies of all the books on the list available at the town library. The school sends a list to the town, and the town gets copies in preparation for the Summer.

:o)

I like to buy them for my kids if at all possible, though... to avoid late fees, or loss of the book.

We were required to buy our summer reading books, generally so we could write in them, since we weren't allowed to write in the school issue books. I had a list to choose from until high school, when I was put into Honors English and had to read a number of specific books each summer. The regular English students still got to choose. When we chose, generally we'd have to take a test or something that was very general to make sure we'd read the book. In high school, we'd discuss the books, and sometimes weren't even tested on them, but by discussing the teachers could tell who had read the books and who hadn't. I was the only person who enjoyed summer reading that I knew, which still makes me sad.

The 25-Day Money Makeover for Women (Touchstone is incorrect), and Women & Money: Owning the Power to Control Your Destiny (Touchstone didn't even work for that one :().

And may I just say yuck-ptooey to both. Recent events, however, necessitate learning to speak "money". Money ... it's, like, math. :-P

For fun, however, I have a Borders gift certificate just burning a hole in my pocket! YAY! I am going to read this thread looking for something fun and juicy into which I can sink my teeth. :)

Hmmm to summer reading. It sounds vaguely interesting now, but I'm sure I would've resented being told I had to pick particular books to read over the summer.

I had to rush out on my lunch break and buy Throne of Jade by Naomi Novik. His Majesty's Dragon completely disrupted my reading list, as I'm fairly sure I'll have to buy Black Powder War too. And of course, having purchased these books, I'll have to read them right away.

xicanti - fortunately for me when I went to the bookstore to pick up His Majesty's Dragon, two people in the store insisted I get Throne of Jade and Black Powder War. They said if I didn't, I would just be making another trip back. I'm very grateful I followed their advice because as soon as I finished HMD I wanted to immediately start TOJ.

edited because upon rereading, it didn't make much sense

At Borders @ 30% off -- Albert Gore's The Assault on Reason.

via Bookmooch -- Nevada Barr's Liberty Falling.

OOOH, Linkmeister! The Al Gore book is on my 'have to get SOON' list, too. In fact, I was pretty angry that it wasn't part of this week's B&N 46% off special. Instead they had Ronald Reagan's Diaries!!!

Clam, there's going to be a struggle as to who in this house gets to read it first. ;)

Something weird at Borders: I don't know if it's a new company policy or restricted to this store, but when paying with a credit card, I was told if the charge was less than $25 there was no need to sign the charge slip.

I'm not entirely sure I like that.

We're doing some sightseeing on our vacation right now, we went to the Petrified Forest in CA, poor frightened trees. Anyway, they had a small copy of a book by Robert Lewis Stevenson called Silverado Squatters. That and a postcard are the only things I bought in the gift shop.

#232 - Apparently that's becoming standard policy in the US, but not all stores have adopted it. My parents asked the first time it happened, in a grocery store I believe, and that's what the cashier told us. I don't like it either.

I bought just two this weekend, because I have so many books already to read.

Catherine de Medici - Leonie Frieda
1215 by Danny Danziger

I wandered into B&N yesterday, Memorial Day Sale, and I came out with

Throne of Jade -Naomi Novik
To The Tower Born - Robin Maxwell
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell - Susanna Clarke
Where the Red Fern Grows - Wilson Rawls

Also over the weekend I stopped by a garage sale and came out with 12 books for 3.00, some of which I listed on Bookmooch but there were a few good titles for me:

The Rose and the Beast, Fairy Tales Retold - Francesca Lia Block
Saint Francis - Nikos Kazantzakis
And a few more that I have already shelved.

Clam, the Al Gore book was at the front of B&N yesterday with a sale sign above it, you may want to check back in.

Lots of new books purchased this weekend....

Coyote Dreams - C.E. Murphy
The Ninth Talisman - Lawrence Watt-Evans
His Dark Materials (Omnibus) - Phillip Pullman
Daywatch - Sergei Lukyanenko
Sword & Citadel - Gene Wolfe
Perdido Street Station - China Mieville

OK, since my latest post here I've read both Inheritor and Precursor. The later was meant to be read at my soon to be holiday in Spain, but I finished it off with one week left to take-off. So, what to do?
The answer: I ran off to the SF Bookstore today, again, and bought the next two installments - Defender and Explorer.
I'm I mad or something?
Still, I've promised myself I get to reread The Lions of Al-Rassan while away, and the other one was intended more as one of a couple of back-up books, as I've never have the time to read while away... not since our son was born, anyway.
;-)

Saturday brought a semi-unplanned trip to my favourite independant bookstore to buy Black Powder War by Naomi Novik.

Today, a short stroll through the English department hallway* revealled a box of free books some kindly professor was giving away! I snatched up Sophocles's The Theban Plays and Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.

* I work in a university

I gave up on my local library and bought His Majesty's Dragon yesterday. This is why I don't use the library, it takes forever for a book I want to come in, I then have to remember to return it, which I don't then have to pay the fine, and I don't have the fun of adding the book to my catalogue, so *shrug* I guess I'll stick with bookstores rather than libraries :-)

At the moment where Ive just spent like 80 pounds on the terry prachett books I have to stop spending out. So its used stuff and the libraries for me.

speaking of which, His Majesty's Dragon. I went to see if they were going to have it in, and the catalouge is down. I called today and it looks like they only have 6 copies two of which seem to have gone MIA!

so it doesn't look like I'll be reading with everyone anytime soon.

today, fresh with unopened sleepiness, drifted into my library:

"From the Realm of Morpheus" by Steven Millhauser
"The Eternals 1 by Neil Gaiman
"Nights at the Circus" by Angela Carter

We found a used bookstore in Sebastopol, I browsed the fantasy section, of which there were many, looking for His Majesty's Dragon, but it wasn't there. I'm hesitant to dive into other fantasy for some reason. So I ended up in the mystery section, of which they had a lot of my favorite GA authors. I came away with:

The Saint and Mr. Teal by Leslie Charteris
The Mousetrap and other Plays by Agatha Christie
The Mammoth Book of Historical Whodunits, which had a foreward by Ellis Peters, thought it might introduce me to some new authors.
Also, The Kestrel by Lloyd Alexander

Well I've finally managed to pay off the last 45 pounds of the Terry Prachett stuff that I won via e-bay. The box o' books should be here Monday or Tuesday.

I also managed to get Truckers, Diggers and Wings via e-bay as well.

Now my problem will be finding space on my bookcase to put 28 new books!

(Truckers, Diggers and Wings arrived earlier this week and have a space already ;)

Rune, what a great problem to have! My hubby ran out of reading material on our vacation, so made an emergency trip to Barnes and Noble. For me he bought His Majesty's Dragon and The Fifth Elephant. I wasn't going to read the Dragon one, but if I'm going to delve into other fantasy books, I'd rather do it with you all than by myself.

Mrs Lee, I understand your why you're hesitant to read fantasy, but if you by chance should stumble over The Lions of Al-Rassan in some bookshop or at a library I think you'd like that one. Besides being very well written it discusses themes I think you'd appreciate.

Two from the charity shop:

The Greatest Traitor : the Life of Sir Roger Mortimer by Ian Mortimer
On Beauty by Zadie Smith

The second one was a bit of an impulse purchase - I've heard about it on librarything and the shop is buy one get one free on all paperbacks. I had to have the first book, so I had to find a second.

I leave for Seattle for a long weekend trip today and am almost half way through Destiny's Road by Larry Niven so was rather concerned that I might finish it before the trip was over. A quick stop at my favorite bookstore Mysterious Galaxy found me leaving with Sailing to Sarantium by Guy Gavriel Kay. GGK has been so highly recommended on the Green Dragon that I felt it time to start reading. Unfortunately they didn't have The Lions of Al-Rassan as that was what I was originally looking for.

Thanks Busifer, I've been watching the talk about that, and will probably try it if I find it. I just started a book my daughter bought me for Mother's Day, written by Joaquin Miller, he starts it with an ode to my favorite mountain in N. CA, who am I kidding, it's my favorite mountain, period. Very good stuff about the original inhabitants of this area and the clash between cultures in the 1800's.

#247 domeloki - I think Sailing to Sarantium is a great place to start with Kay. It's where I began, and it made me eager to dig into everything he's written.

I hit an antique sale/flea market in town this weekend, and came up empty handed except for one book that was published in 1939, Seasoned Timber by Dorothy Canfield. But on the way home I spotted a tag sale, and I found these goodies:

The Culinary Arts Cookbook from the Culinary Arts Institute
A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle
Cause of Death by Patricia Cornwell
The Want -Ad Killer by Ann Rule

I bought books this weekend, and have just been asked out on a "hot date" tonight. Going for a salad, then coffee and books at the local Barnes & Noble. Not sure what I'll come home with, but I'm leaning towards some of the new (to me) Harry Turtledove titles.

Today I bought Night Whisperer by Judith Mcnaught

#247 - domeloki - I agree with xicanti, Sailing to Sarantium is a good start! Be sure to get your hands on the sequel,Lord of Emperors, though, because at least to my mind that's where the story really starts going :-)

Sailing to Sarantium is a wonderful book.

Don't give up on finding The Lions of Al-Rassan though - that one is my favorite of Guy Kay's work, and I've read em all. Very few authors tweak my feelings like this. Fewer still make their books unforgettable.

Not suprising this author's style is appreciated, here - he has a lovely feel for setting, well rounded characters, and plots that you cannot predict.

Definitely in the top tier of what's being done in the fantasy field, in my opinion.

*whistles innocently*

Just got a package from B&N today.

The Assault on Reason by Al Gore
Presidential Courage : Brave Leaders and How They Changed America 1789-1989 by Michael R. Beschloss

:o)

The other member of the household read The Assault on Reason; she finished it depressed. Since she's been around since the Hoover Administration, it takes a lot to do that.

You can understand why I'm hesitant to start it, I hope. ;)

Well, Linkmeister, was she depressed and now she wants to run and hide, or does it make her want to CHANGE the way things are?

I just started it, and all I can say so far is that the man can write.

I was going to paste a quote in here... but that would violate our no politics policy...

*sigh*

Oh, never fear; she went from depressed to furious. ;)

Went to Borders today and picked up the following lovelies:

Day Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko (since I like what I've read of Night Watch)
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett (already read, but didn't have my own copy)
Grave Peril by Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files #3, which I haven't read)
The Original Illustrated Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (which means I can finally get rid of my other, paperback copies! Yay! More room for other books!)

#259 - Linkmeister, so, is she going to 'do' something? :o)

Clam, at age 80 and confined to bed, she's reduced to sending contributions to the people/causes she thinks appropriate. She does that, though.

Maybe you and I should move this conversation over to the Progressive and Liberal group where we won't risk offending anyone with our views. ;)

True. I guess that means I need to join it first. LOL I guess I don't think of myself as either Progressive or Liberal, because I'm rather middle of the road for the state of Connecticut. ;o)

Chapters sent my mother a special 20% off coupon, so she printed out two copies and we went trekking off to the store this morning. I was hoping to find a personal copy of His Majesty's Dragon, but unfortunately they were all out. :( I did get Tigana and The Last Light of the Sun, though. More fuel for my growing Kay addiction, and with lovely covers to boot!

Ned Lamont territory! ;)

My daughter tricked me into going to Barnes and Noble today to buy two more Pratchett books, Jingo and Feet of Clay. Supposedly she is going to pay me back, but I probably don't mind anyway.

Hard Truth by Nevada Barr and The Devil's Band by Robert McCaig.

As planned, I managed to sneak to one of these rather big book sale (fair) they hold every year in Lisbon... the books were supposed to be cheaper there and I must say I found some bargains but couldn't add them to my collection due to lack of... well, you know. :(

Nevertheless, I did lose my head, not once nor twice, nor three times, but four. A friend of mine, who had the idea to drop by the fair ended up by not buying any books, but he decided to go back there one of these days, was kind of surprised at me buying so many books at once... little does he know, oh if only I could have brought the whole damn thing home with me!

Anyway, got me 9 books and spent more than I should have, to be honest, way more:
- 3 volumes from an old collection my dad started when I was a little girl, about great empires of the world: USA, Rome and the Habsburgs;
- 4 Ursula Le Guin's books we were missing on our Sci-fi set;
- the recently published (a week or so ago) 6th volume to Maurice Druon's 'The Accursed Kings' 7-book set, Lily and the Lion (still waiting for number 7 to be released here in Portugal, so I can read the whole thing from head to toe);
- and one by Julia Navarro (not sure about the name in English but I supposed it's called something like) The Clay Bible.

And that's about it. Had to conceal the books so my mom wouldn't notice them. She can't even suspect I've been to the fair or I as good as dead! *grin* :)

Good luck with that!

I have gotten the Prachett stuff that I was talking about. So the early morning was spent making space for them.

Thank you! I successfuly got them merged into my collection, so it's now safe to say my mom didn't notice them. :) Had to tell my dad about them and of course he understands why I went there, spent so much money and conceal them from my mom, cause he does the same and I need an accomplice to back me up if something goes wrong. ;)

After an extensive re-reading session I felt I was quite justified in buying some more new books.

I started in Borders and bought:
Cyteen, The Ancestor's Tale and Fade Away, then as I was passing a discount store on the way home I also bought Stamping Butterflies, The Osterman Weekend and Straight: Trial Run (omnibus)

And then at the Tombola at the local beer festival I won Good Beer Guide from 1998 the 25th ed. Which is just so going to be totally useful 10yrs later.

SO a mix of fiction and non- SF and plain thrillers. I've already finished the short and mediocre Osterman, and started Cyteen, which is rich and absorbing from the word go.

Went to Border's on Sat. & bought Guards! Guards! & a Celtic CD as i'm in great need of a Pratchett fix-then i went to a local indie bookstore where i ordered Sourcery & bought a used copy of Ancient Oregon. Am still doing a rereading of The Children of Hurin. Meanwhile the TBR pile ain't getting any smaller!

No Way! I started reading Guards! Guards! just this week, even though I bought it last year... it's a great book isn't it? I was told the Guards subseries in Discworld was the best by far, and I can see why.

I wrote an article about a Pratchett talk I went to that features actual quotes from Pratchett, as far as I know it's still on The Green Dragon topic list. Check it out if you want.

I know a lot of people do not like the picture *clutter*, but in this case I want to share my latest (ebay) aquisition with you:



Normally I do not buy *church books* but the nice binding was just too tempting ;)

edit: I forgot to say: Das Leben der Heiligen by Otto Bitschnau printed in 1881

Not being a reader of Latin, or whatever that is, what is the book?

We were recently in a used book store in Sebastopol, CA and my husband was looking at these two...Psalters, maybe? They were used in the Catholic church, written all in Latin, and I think they were just the Psalms. The things were huge. I'm talking suitcase sized. And large print? Wow. three inch tall letters at least. Hubby started to scare me with his interest. Those things were not coming to our house!

#275 German, not latin.. but close ;)

It's a book about the life of the saints. Yeah, I also saw some of the huge books you mentioned before. Most of them are probably "concordance bibles". Printed in Latin & Greek, sometimes even 3 languages... Just imagine the poor monk carrying around these monsters

#274 - that book is just plain gorgeous! Bindings were so much nicer back in the mid to late 1800s. I love how much tactile detail they put into their book covers.

Today I bought No Humans Involved, Kelley Armstrong's latest book. (And her first in hardcover). It's a birthday present for my mother, but hopefully she'll let me read it when she's done.

#277, I think it comes from just the appreciation of books, and the fact that they were really one of the only forms of entertainment back then, there being no TV. People these days are too obsessed with TV and movies in my opinion. What I don't get is the reality TV shows, What in the world is so great about those things?! They're all clones of each other anyway.

I just bought, read and loved a new novel on the weekend. It is called The Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill. It was reminiscent of Tim Powers, with great characters and a combination of creepy-scary with poppin' shock/violence. Looooved it.

Somebody STOP me!
;o)

Yesterday I went shopping at a Discount Occult/New Age book store, and came home with these:

Signs, Symbols & Omens: an Illustrated Guide to Magical & Spiritual Symbolism by Raymond Buckland
The Sea Priestess by Dion Fortune
Doctors Killed George Washington by Erin Barrett
The Way of the Cat : Nap, Do Nothing, and Stretch Your Way to a Blissful Life by Dana Kramer-Rolls

Edited so sluggish touchstones would hopefully load... :o/

Clam that cat book sounds good! I may have to look that up!, I bought the mugglenet book "What will happen in Harry Potter 7"

Arrived via Bookmooch yesterday and today:

Deep South and Blood Lure, two more Anna Pigeon books by Nevada Barr.

OO I love the Anna Pidgeon series. I think I've read em all!

I need three to fill out my collection. I'm reading High Country and have Hard Truth waiting at the top of the TBR pile.

Which ones do you need? I only own a couple but maybe i have one you need? I just started on bookmooch

Just bought the Hindu Yogi Practical Water Cure, and a Splendor of Letters arrived from an Amazon Marketplace vendor on Friday.

never mind Link I just checked I only have two you already mentioned sorry

Thanks anyway, polly. I've mooched all of them; two have been accepted and one of the moochees hasn't replied yet.

It helps to have sent books to Europe three times; lots of points earned that way. ;)

Just received The Secret History by Procopius from BookMooch today. Tomorrow, the husband is taking me to B&N to buy The Annotated Hobbit .

Lucky you, fleela! Have a great shopping trip. :o)
Do sneak a few other things into your arms when he's not looking?

Oh, he knows not to leave me alone amongst the shelves for too long or I will spend the grocery money on history books.

Who needs food when there's books to be had?!

Even though I took two books with me on holidays His Majesty's Dragon and Birdsong, both of which I read and enjoyed tremendously, other books mysteriously seemed to find their way into my luggage! While visiting in Ottawa I found hardcover editions of The Bartimaeus Trilogy on sale ($6.00 each!!). And then I was given Crow Lake and Fifty Things to Do When You Turn Fifty by relatives, and I found The Good Companions by J.B. Priestley in a funny little dollar store which I just couldn't pass up.

Needless to say, my husband sort of noticed, as he tried to lift the suitcase into the car...I think we might need to get a lift of some kind if we travel again ;-)

I must confess though that it was quite agonizing to have to wait 3 days (oh the pain, the pain!!) in order to catalogue these new additions. *sigh* As soon as my IP number came up I was cataloguing like mad. :-)

My wife is away on business for over a week and last night while my kids were at an evening camp I bought a very large stack of used Diana Wynne Jones novels... Oh the decadence of a large book purchase... I feel so cheep and sleezy doing this behind my wife's back but 'you know' it's only a one time thing. I'm sure it will never happen again... um... really... I love my wife.

#294 - But they were USED! That = low guilt/no guilt... um... doesn't it?

Hmm, might be time to start a new thread for this topic. It will give me a chance to finally fix that typo, too!
:o)

Public confession absolves all, inkdrinker. ;)

My TBR pile is MASSIVE, and I have very little self control.
I am currently reading Barack Obama's Dreams from my Father, I am enjoying it so much that I bought his other book, The Audacity of Hope (great title) as soon as I saw that it had been released in paperback.
I also bought Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides and How Would You Move Mount Fuji? by William Poundstone. Looking forward to reading the former.

I went on a Yarn Crawl yesterday, and I seem to have become the official book person of my knitting circle. On the way from our meeting place to our first store, another knitter up front shouted back, "HEY LOOK, ANNA, A BOOKSTORE!"

She and I were among the first to make our purchases at said first store, so we both went to said bookstore while everyone else finished up. She was looking for knitting books, but they didn't have any. I came out with Red & White: American Redwork Quilts & Patterns.

Edited to add: The touchstone isn't working, but the link is here.