The Bibliophilic Spree
Wow, so, ok, it's been almost two years since I had the idea to emulate Nick Hornby and write a monthly column detailing my book buying splurges and excesses. Yeah, so, I titled it "Not Trying to Be Good" and that must have been some weird self fulfilling prophecy, because guess what? I didn't really get around to writing it, like, more than once or twice, if at that. Ok, it was twice! Just checked, I'm not as lame as I thought. Anyways, with the new year and me trying to be good again about my spending habits, I thought that bringing this monthly post back from the limbo land it's been in would be a good idea. Also, unlike Nick Hornby, I will list EVERYTHING I bought. So some months will be good, some you will see me being very very bad... kind of like last month. There's extenuating circumstances, ie, I was out of state and there was a Half Price Books store... see, lame excuse, but still worthy in my books. Also, feel free to share you book buying excesses here. I will not judge... and I hope you won't either when you see what I get up to. And as an aside, because I didn't do this in February for January, I'm doing two months right now, so really, no judging, because I was using up Christmas gift cards. I am also very happy that I started this after Borders went out of business, that was a bit... um... yeah, that was a bad time for my wallet and my shelves. Ok, so here goes nothing...
January:
1) Calling Mr. King by Ronald De Feo - About a Hit Man who takes a sudden interest in art... this sounds just up my warped way. Also, such a lovely limited color cover. Bought at Frugal Muse
2) Conjugal Rites by Paul Magrs - I have to say a major thanks to ebay for finding me this one. I met Paul back in November and have been devouring his Brenda and Effie books, this being the 3rd one... thankfully his amazing publicist sent me 1, 4 and 5.
3)* Cinder by Melissa Meyer - Steampunky/Firefly retelling of Cinderella. Been majorly hyped and lauded by all my blogging friends and it didn't disappoint. Bought at Barnes and Noble.
* Means it's already been read
4)* Sweet Revenge and The Cocoa Conspiracy by Andrea Penrose - Two fun Regency mysteries that are chocolate based that have been repeatedly recommended each week on Lauren Willig's Friday blog post. The first did not disappoint. Bought at Barnes and Noble
5) The True Memoirs of Little K by Adrienne Sharp - A story about the glories that Russia was told through the eyes of a prima ballerina! Bought at Frugal Muse.
6) The Soul Mirror by Carol Berg - The 2nd in a series called Collegia Magica. Sounds all Renaissance and magic, and irresistible to book buyers named Miss Eliza. Bought at Barnes and Noble.
7) Marked by P.C. Cast - So I've seen this series around for years but have been meh to it, till there was a little sample of the new graphic novel at the back of last month's Buffy comic and I really wanted to see if it was as good as the sample made it out to be. Bought at Barnes & Noble.
8) Christmas at Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons - FINALLY! I have spent YEARS looking for this book and some genius (meant truthfully not ironically) decided to re release it. Because let me tell you, there was no way I was going to spend $600+ on a book I've never read. Bought at Amazon.com.
9) Modern Love by Paul Magrs - Because now that I know how awesome Paul is I must get all his books! Bought at Amazon.com
10) To The Devil a Diva! by Paul Magrs - Ditto above. Bought at Amazon.com
11) Silver-Tongued Devil by Jaye Wells - The newest Sabina Kane book signed to me! Bought at Murder by the Book (who you will see a lot of, they are my signed book resource, not that I have a problem or anything... really).
Ok, eleven books isn't as bad as I thought... but you haven't seen February yet...
February:
1) The Knight of Maison-Rouge by Alexander Dumas - A new translation of one of Dumas' Marie Antoinette books. How could I say no? Bought at Avol's.
2) The Red House Mystery by A A Milne - I've always been intrigued that the man behind Winnie the Pooh also did a murder mystery. Bought at Avol's.
3) The Singing Sands by Josephine Tey - Another author everyone tells me to read and I haven't found a good copy of her first book, but then I found the 6th, so I struck while the iron was hot. Bought at Avol's.
4) Winter Town by Stephen Edmond - Garden State meets Nick and Norah... I'll bite. Bought at Frugal Muse.
5) The Fry Chronicles by Stephen Fry - Which I have been waiting so so many years for ever since I read his first autobiography, Moab is my Washpot. Bought at Barnes and Noble.
6) Fadeaway Girl by Martha Grimes - Which I was planning on waiting to buy because I hadn't read the first in the series but then it was there, with it's lovely cover at Frugal Muse. Bought at Frugal Muse.
7) Expedition to the Mountains of the Moon by Mark Hodder - Because for some reason I am unable to pass a book that is Steampunk these days. Bought at Frugal Muse.
8)* Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal - Patrick Rothfuss told me to read this. He wasn't wrong, it was awesome. Bought at Amazon.com.
9) The Sherlockian by Graham Moore - Someone was recently telling me how good this book is and then I wandered into Frugal Muse and there it was, fate. Bought at Frugal Muse
10) The Orchid Affiar by Lauren Willig - My prize for being the winner of her competition to name her new short story.
11) The Princess of the Wild Swans by Diane Zahler - I've been collecting Zahler's fairy tale retellings for awhile now. Bought at Frugal Muse.
12) Aftermath by Ann Aguirre - The latest Sirantha Jax book. Bought at Barnes and Noble.
13) Iron Kissed by Patircia Briggs - The swanky re released hardcovers! With this one I now have all the Mercy Thompson books in lovely hardcovers in their own Patricia Briggs shrine on my bookshelf. Bought at Barnes and Noble.
14) Song of the Nile by Stephanie Dray - It's Egypt, that's all that needs to be said. Bought at Half Price Books.
15) Fallen in Love by Lauren Kate - Short stories to hold me till the next book in a few months. Bought at Frugal Muse.
16) All in One Basket by Deborah Mitford - MITFORD! That's it, that's all that needs to be said. Bought at Amazon.com.
17) The American Way of Death Revisited by Jessica Mitford - Ditto, only this time Jessica not Debo. Bought at Amazon.com.
18) A Beautiful Friendship by David Webber - A Cat creature as the heroine's friend, hell yes! Bought at Frugal Muse.
19) A Red Herring Without Mustard by Alan Bradley - I've been needing a 1st for awhile to round out my collection. Bought at Amazon.com.
20) Elizabeth: The Golden Age by Tasha Alexander - The only book of Tasha's that I didn't own... so I could have her sign it in person! Bought from Lake Forest Book Store at the Barrington Public Library Book Signing Event. ALWAYS support the store that puts on an event!
21) The Garden Intrigue by Lauren Willig - The only Lauren Willig book I needed still in hardcover and was waiting to buy it. Bought from Lake Forest Book Store at the Barrington Public Library Book Signing Event. ALWAYS support the store that puts on an event!
22-29) Phryne Fisher Books 1, 3, 7, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 17 by Kerry Greenwood - I have been DYING to get my hands on the Phryne Fisher books but they are so pricey at $20+ each! Then I walk into Half Price Books and all of them, assuredly someones private collection, all on sale for $6 each! Bought at Half Price Books.
30) The Library Paradox by Catherine Shaw - A Felony and Mayhem release that is about crime in Oxford, sold! Bought at Half Price Books.
31) The Riddle of the River by Catherine Shaw - The book after The Library Paradox. Bought at Half Price Books.
32- 36) Complete Books of EM Forster - Well, minus A Passage to India, because I hate that book AND the dust jacket was torn. These are the lovely Book of the Month Club editions and each one was only $4! So $20 for the complete works, that doesn't amount to one hardcover! Bought at Half Price Books.
37) Midnight in Austenland by Shannon Hale - The newest Shannon Hale which was great that I read in ARC form. I finally got my hardcover, which I waited to order because Shannon was doing a book signing at The King's English. Bought at The King's English.
38) The Woman in Black by Susan Hill - Because I can't just see a movie, I have to read the book too. Bought at Barnes and Noble.
39) Timeless by Gail Carriger - YEAH! Yet boo, cause now the series is over... Bought at Barnesandnoble.com.
Ok... so ten more books than there are actual days in February... but it's rare to find that many books on an outing to Illinois! So that's my defense. Damn you Illinois for being so awesome. If you'd just fix the roads and not have such biatchy traffic I'd visit more often.
Note on the bookstores:
Barnes and Noble - the last big chain in the midwest that everyone knows and loves or loathes accordingly.
Amazon.com - because sometimes, more often that not, your local Barnes and Noble didn't stock that ONE book you where looking for, and having prime means everything shows up so fast!
Frugal Muse - local Madison, Wisconsin chain with two stores in town which sells both old and new books at wonderful prices (at a really steep discount for new books too) and is easily my favorite bookstore.
Half Price Books - chain store of used books where you can often get amazing deals, but whose prices are not quite half off anymore since they decided to raise their prices in a bad economy.
Avol's - local store in Madison, Wisconsin, that is slowly going out of business. You can usually find amazingly rare books in their author section, but you have to be willing to face the very grumpy and vitrolic owner. And he wonders why it's going out of business?
Murder by the Book - the best bookstore in the world! They're in Houston, Texas and have tons of amazing events and for every book you buy they'll let you send in three books to get signed. Love you all!
Lake Forest Book Store - the last independent book store in Lake County Illinois that puts on wondrous events at local libraries.
The King's English - a great independent bookstore in Salt Lake City that is my connection for all my Shannon Hale books. They get them signed for you!
I have since read Timeless, duh!
Miss Eliza said... July 4, 2012 at 2:32 PM
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