Ye gods! It's already March!

I clicked on this thinking to myself someone was up bright and early buying books this morning! LOL!

guilty

used at Amazon, I bought Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn ..so it doesn't count yet.

Finally found a copy of Saturday Night and Sunday Morning by Alan Sillitoe in a used bookstore just two minutes from my house. I had tried to BookMooch a copy several months ago but the person never sent it and I eventually just gave up and cancelled my request. I've been wanting to read this since seeing the wonderful movie starring Albert Finney and Rachel Roberts.
Received Boston: The Rough Guide and Vienna: The Rough Guide from BookMooch.

Just checking in... going to the charity shop-ridden towns on Monday, Wednesday and Friday though, and a 'real town' with lots of vouchers that can be spent at Waterstones on Thursday, so I'll be back before long!

Still working on February books, but wanted to get this in my homepage.

I technically borrowed one book from my sister-in-law and one book from my mom yesterday, but they didn't come into my home until this morning:
Outlander by Diana Galbadon and Courts of Love by Ellen Gilchrist.

FicusFan
Still working on February books, but wanted to get this in my homepage.

What do you mean? I must know how you get this in your homepage ????

From BookMooch:

What is What? by Dave Eggers

oops... posted in the wrong place.

Message edited by its author, Mar 1, 2009, 4:24pm.

Oh man I was in Borders on Fri. nite and I left empty handed--that's a first. Hubby was with me giving me dirty looks so I put back the one measily book I had in my hand. I'll get it next time (when he's not with me--my mistake for walking in there with him).

>11 Oh, mommom, I can totally empathize with you. My husband hates it when I walk into a bookstore.

#8 What do you mean? I must know how you get this in your homepage ????

You just post in a thread and if your talk pane on your homepage is set to your posts, it will show up.

ahhhhh

you mean your LT homepage? I thought you had some fancy page that holds links for you or something as your homepage homepage..like pageflakes...

I think I do have mt LT page set up that way.. thanks for responding :)

Yesterday a little library mania:

Heartshaped Box
Death of a Witch
The Uncommon Reader
13 Best Horror Stories
Fatal Charm

MsTrust - Saturday Night and Sunday Morning has been on my "search" list for a long time. Congrats.

Guilty pleasure that I'm almost too ashamed to admit: There I was in Borders with a 25% coupon, and they had a new display of Marvel Essentials including Marvel Essential Dr. Strange, vol. 1 by Stan Lee. If this works out there are three more in the series if we include one still in press.

Robert

A few days ago from Barnes and Noble:

A Crime in the Neighborhood by Suzanne Berne
Secret Story by Ramsey Campbell
and
08: A Graphic Diary of the Campaign Trail by Michael Crowley and Dan Goldman

Recieved Pizza Grill It, Bake It, Love It! as a thank you gift for my annual contribution to Public Radio.

At the used bookstore in a nearby town I picked up

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
All the Names by Jose Saramago
44 Street Scotland by Alexander McCall Smith

From orders to Alibris and Amazon the following have arrived so far:

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean Dominque Bauby
Light Years by James Salter
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
A Fine Balance and Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry
The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar
In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin

It's been a good way to end one month and begin another.

Brought home from work :

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
Step on a Crack by James Patterson
The hiding game by Jane Brindle

Now got a week off to work on my HOME TBR pile

Message edited by its author, Mar 2, 2009, 8:51am.

We went to a used book sale market yesterday. Standing in the cold and rain I picked up Jack Whyte The Templar trilogy ( Knights of the Black And White - Standard Of Honor ) wonder what #3 is? , Louise Erdrich -Four Souls, David A. Shugarts Secrets Of the Widows Son, Mark Billingham Lifeless, Chuck Logan After the Rain, Diana Gabaldon Outlander - Dragonfly in Amber - Voyager,Iris Johansen Pandora's Daughter. My daughter who can have anything she wants only chose 1 book , Forest Gump. Now dont that beat all.

#11 and 12 - My husband doesn't read books but loves it when I mooch books, buy books, find books. He bought me books for Christmas, he built bookcases for me for Christmas 2007. If we're out running errands he asks if I want to go to Borders or B&N and if I'm home he's always suggesting that I hide in the library and read.

Jane Austen Book Club
House of Leaves
M is for Magic

:) woo!

I have been so baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad.
Ihave been so good for weeks so the fall is hiiiiiigh.

En matresa genom Sverige by Nordström, Tina
Ett hjärta av eld by Mehari, Senait G.
Ostindiefararen : en historisk Homan-deckare by Mårtenson, Jan
Boken som ingen läste : i spåren av Copernicus revolution by Gingerich, Owen
Levande musik : en roman om Skivvärlden by Pratchett, Terry
Italienska desserter by Clark, Maxine
Älskade cykel : by Ekström, Gert
Snöblomma och den hemliga solfjädern by See, Lisa
Rymden by Östborn, Per
Vikingablot by Ingelman-Sundberg, Catharina
Frihetsdrottningen / 3, Det flammande svärdet by Jacq, Christian
Stedsnavn i skogen på Nesodden : med Nordre Frogn by Turtumøygard, Stein
Lim by Welsh, Irvine
Sorte mor : noveller by Ambjørnsen, Ingvar
I steinringens tegn by Grangé, Jean-Christophe
Paranoia by Holm, Gretelise
Den forsvunne mann by Deaver, Jeffery
Rimelig tvil by Tvedt, Chris

I spent something like half an hour shoveling the walk so I could get to the mailbox to see if I'd gotten any books. As luck would have it, I got two!

The Septic's Companion (touchstone not working) by Chris Rae
An Utterly Impartial History of Britain by John O'Farrell

So I am quite pleased that my shoveling paid off.

Edit: cannot spell

Message edited by its author, Mar 2, 2009, 4:25pm.

oh karenmarie--you have a gem there!!

An Early Reviewer selection:
Outcasts United: A Refugee Team, an American Town by Warren St. John

Three bookmooch books today:

Where the Buck Stops by Margaret Truman
In the Hands of Dante by Nick Tosches
Winter Fire by Jo Beverly

I love opening up my mailbox and seeing book-sized envelopes!

Tragically, Mum had to nip into one of the charity shops in town after our business advice meeting thingy (for that bookshop idea, wheeeeee!) so I used the two minutes we were there to pick up Fashion Babylon and Rupert Everett's Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins, which I've heard is pretty arrogant but for £1 I wasn't complaining. Then I managed to persuade Mum to hit another shop en route back to the car - she bought East of the Sun by Julia Gregson and I went for 'Bon Appétit!' by Peter Mayle.

Now, off to bed to get reading... :-D

Message edited by its author, Mar 2, 2009, 7:02pm.

From BookMooch today

Good Morning, Midnight by Jean Rhys

#29 Ha - Ellie - another book that I have - the Rupert Everett one. I got fed up of it being on the top of my "Recommended" books by LT, I ended up buying it. Also, I hope you enjoy the Peter Mayle book - I haven't read that one, but what I have read of his I've loved.

My book stuff today - trip to the library to bring back 4 more audio books:

Antarctica: Exploring a Fragile Eden by Angela Scott
Metropolitan Murder by Lee Jackson
Poe: A Life Cut Short by Peter Ackroyd
Black Swan Green by David Mitchell

And from bookmooch:
The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde

Dropped some donated books off at the library then picked a few up... sun rise, sun set. For $3 I got-

Guernica by Dave Boling
O Pioneers! by Willa Cather
In the Heart of the Country by J.M. Coetzee
Enoch by Alton Gansky
The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene
Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin
Bachelors Anonymous by P.G. Wodehouse

I went to see Hank Williams III in concert at the House of Blues (amazing show, BTW) and in the MGM Grand there’s a really nice little independent bookstore right next to HOB- a bookstore in a casino is a wacky idea, but I love whoever did it. They had a lot of books I never find at B&N or Border’s, but I tried to control myself and only ended up getting-
Amulet by Roberto Bolano
The Moon Opera by Bi Feiyu
Bambi vs. Godzilla: On the Nature, Purpose & Practice of the Movie Business by David Mamet

At Border’s in the clearance section I picked up
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks, I’m a big fan of his so I’m happy to finally own this.

I've got a B&N coupon for March , so I'm still thinking about what to use it on .

It's only been 2 days into March and there are already 33 messages in this thread?!!

More Die of Heartbreak by Saul Bellow arrived in my mailbox today. My husband wants me to put together an Easter basket for our mailman, and a giftcard for visits to the chiropractor.

From PBS I received

The Book of Lost Things

and a friend surprised me and picked up

Empire Falls

for me today at a thrift shop.

One book from The Book Depository was waiting in my mail box upon my return from cold and dry Madison, WI to cold and snowy(!) Atlanta:

The Shadow of the Sun by Ryszard Kapuściński

mckait, what did your son tell you about yesterday's snow storm in Atlanta? All of the snow is now gone from the streets and sidewalks, at least between the airport and Buckhead. Madison was cold but remained free of snow for the six days I was there.

I estimate the likelihood that, in any given week in late February to early March, Atlanta will have more snow than Madison is approximately -25%, slightly more than a snowball's chance in hell.

Message edited by its author, Mar 2, 2009, 10:54pm.

KarenMarie - You have a husband who likes it when you're happy. :)

Today from Barnes and Noble:
Haunted Ground by Erin Hart
and
Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner

#26 momom248 and #37 JolieLouise - you're both right.

JolieLouise - I really enjoyed reading Haunted Ground. I hope you like it.

Well. Adam is a pittsburgh/(boston) kid. He said there wasn't any snow worh mentioning.. He was however, nearly the only one to show up for work monday...
I am glad that you are home safe and sound. I hate flying :P

I figured as much, mckait. It's a major news story in Atlanta when there is even the possibility of flurries, nonetheless accumulating snow. I used to find it amusing, now it seems quite silly.

I don't hate flying as much as I hate crowded airports. I spent almost three hours in the Madison (Dane County Regional) Airport, but that airport is very spacious, with lots of comfortable seating and plenty of shops for a smaller airport (only 13 gates). I'd much rather spend three hours there than in any other airport.

I'm also grateful that there are direct flights from Madison to Atlanta, as I may have gotten stuck in Chicago or Milwaukee yesterday (I understand that both cities had lake-effect snow, which didn't reach Madison).

KarenMarie - I probably won't be reading Haunted Ground right away (or maybe I should make it a St. Patrick's Day read since it takes place in Ireland). I buy books and immediately put them on my tbr pile. It's not like I don't already have 6 million books in that pile but I buy more anyway. I'm actually pretty sure that I have more books than I will ever be able to read in my lifetime (since I read so slowly) - (there are tons more books still at my other house that I haven't brought to this house yet - no room) and I'm just as sure that I will continue to buy a whole lot more books! I can't do anything about it. It does create some anxiety since there just isn't enough space but, on the other hand, there's that "thrill" of ownership and the fear that the book will go out of print before I can buy a new copy. I tend to like my books to be new - my husband is perfectly happy with used books.
As they say - "It hurts so good".

Haunted Ground... I read that. Nice easy read.. I read another by that author as well. The two were very similar.. but HG was the better one.

Instead of buying a coffee at B&N today. All of their bargain books were 40% off plus my membership card of 10% off. I picked up The Ethical Assassin David Liss for $3.46. I like my coffee, but I like books more:0)

#24-- IaaS, I'm curious what language most of those are in? Obviously I know the English ones. I want to say Swedish, but I could very well, and most likely am, wrong.

So far I've brought home:
Only Revolutions by Mark Z. Danielewski
The Planets by Dava Sobel
Pillage by Obert Skye
and The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

#24-- IaaS, I'm curious what language most of those are in? Obviously I know the English ones. I want to say Swedish, but I could very well, and most likely am, wrong.

So far I've brought home:
Only Revolutions by Mark Z. Danielewski
The Planets by Dava Sobel
Pillage by Obert Skye
and The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

Three books came home with my from the library yesterday:

The Only by Stephane Audeguy (no touchstone)
I'll Never Be French by Mark Greenside
The Persimmon Tree by Bryce Courtney

I must admit my fingers are itching to pick up the Bryce Courtney book right away... even if it is a 700 page tome!

>21 , hahaha thats funny.. whenever my dad would take us to a bookstore he used to let us get whatever we wanted... but when we'd hit 8+ he'd start giving us that "If you don't put a couple back I'm going to leave the store and let you figure out a way to pay for it out of your allowance" look. He never did leave, but I could feel his stare when I would start hitting the double digits... and I'd get a sigh and a "there goes your college tuition" comment if I pleaded for over 5.

aw, I miss those days. Today I picked up (from the used book basement in the Harvard bookstore of course, the amount of money my dad must have spent on our borders trips horrifies me now.. thinking of 3 daughters.. all with stacks of books every couple weeks..)

Homeland and other stories by Babara Kingsolver
The Clearing by TIm Gautreaux
God is dead by Ron, Jr. Currie
Jigs and Reels by Joanne Harris
Atonement by Ian McEwan

I then visited two more bookstores and had my additional piles of books pried out of my hands by loving friends who don't want all my month's earnings spent in one day, bless them.

We had loads of free books up for grabs at work yesterday (which happens occasionally at my work, but not often enough!) and I managed to get in early and actually get a few good ones for once. The ones that ended up in my bag were:

Bliss by Peter Carey
My life as a fake by Peter Carey
The leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa

And then today I also managed to bring home An arsonist's guide to writers' homes in New England by Brock Clarke, so March has been pretty good so far!

I finally got my next book in McCaffrey's Freedom Saga, Freedom's Choice.

I've also gotten Dewey by Vicki Myron, a book about how a cat who was dumped into the library book slot as a very young kitten who grew up to bind a compunity and gain international notoriety. I read the inside flap of the book while picking up a few things at Wal-Mart. I struggled against buying it, as I didn't want to spend the money that day, but the kitty came home with me anyway. A guaranteed 5-hankie book.

others I got: Legends: Short Novels by the Masters of Modern Fantasy, A Swift Pure Cry by Siobhan Dowd, A Sword of the the Rightful King by Jane Yolen, Nightmare at 20,000 feet by Richard Matheson, and C. S. Forrester Hornblower book, Ship of the Line.

I picked up The Elegance of The HedgeHog over the weekendand was thumbing through it last night and wound up reading the first 42 pages- this is, so far, an excellent book

#50 cdyankeefan - Luckily for you - it gets even better! I loved that book so much.

I got two more quilting books yesterday. I just couldn't resist, but I don't know when I'll have time to make something out of the books. Loose Change: Quilts from Nickels, Dimes, and Fat Quarters by Claudia Plett, and 200 Quilting Tips, Techniques & Trade Secrets by Susan Briscoe. )The touchstones aren't working for the books.)

44: katelisim
Hi. You are partly right. The last 7 is in Norwegian, the rest is in Swedish. Written Norwegian and Swedish (also Danish) are so similar so it's no problem to read and understand it.

I've been baaaaad again today, my hubby helped and paid.

I'll be back when it is registered.

Message edited by its author, Mar 4, 2009, 12:19pm.

Her it is; Most bookstores in Norway have a socalled "MAMUTSALE" just now, 50 % off or more.

1000 fakta om teknikk og vitenskap by Farndon, John
1000 fakta om dinosaurer by Parker, Steve
1000 fakta om dyr by Farndon, John
1000 fakta om verdensrommet by Farndon, John
Min første bok om knoper by Sundsten, Berndt

Those 5 are for presents for the families childeren.

Dragehoffet by Rollins, James
Med smak av Sør-Afrika by Taylor, Guy

Is for me.

It seems no touchstones works.

Message edited by its author, Mar 4, 2009, 1:22pm.

#51-Nancywhite- I eagerly look forward to going home tonight and picking it up again!!

The lure of the 30% off coupon pulled me into Borders today:

The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian

At one of my beloved local used bookstores I picked up...
These “Hard Case Crime” books-
- Baby Moll by John Farris (all their covers are great, but this one is a real work of art)
- Gun Work by David J. Schow (very excited about this one, I’m a big fan of Schow’s horror work so this should be interesting)
- Somebody Owes Me Money by Donald Westlake

These gorgeous little “Penguin Books, Great Ideas” books:

- Of Empire by Francis Bacon
- The City of Ladies by Christine de Pizan
- The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques
- Where I Lived, and What I Lived For by Henry David Thoreau
- Conspicuous Consumption by Thorstein Veblen (you're telling me!)
- A Vindication of the Rights of Women by Mary Wollstonecraft

EDIT: The Book Thief is amazing, it has almost everything I love about books in it. I highly highly recommend it, and if it's in your TBR move it to the top. :)

Message edited by its author, Mar 4, 2009, 7:09pm.

#56 Talbin:

I've got The Book Thief on deck to be read. It's about 8 or 9 down that list, but it'll be in my hands... it's pages flipping past my eyes... within the next couple weeks :-)

>58 koolaidmom -I've heard lots of good things about The Book Thief. I'm not sure when I'll start it, but I'm sure soon.

One book (A Swift Pure Cry by Siobhan Down (which was excellent)) yesterday, five today:

The Beautiful Days of My Youth by Ana Novac
In Awe by Scott Heim
Cast Two Shadows: The American Revolution in the South by Ann Rinaldi
The Cyanide Canary by Joseph Hilldorfer and Robert Dugoni
China Syndrome by Karl Taro Greenfeld

I need to read much, much faster.

Another three charity shop books today:

Marilyn Monroe: The Biography by Donald Spoto
Politically Correct Bedtime Stories by James Finn Garner
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

Plus another book on the sale section of the library:

Daydream Girl by Bella Pollen

Tomorrow I'm off to a 'proper' town with an array of vouchers and book tokens that I fully intend to part with in Waterstones...

> A wonderful surprise from a special LTer:
The Princess of Burundi by Kjell Eriksson. I've heard some good buzz on this crime series.
From Half.Com:
The Civil War, A Narrative Volume 1 by Shelby Foote. I've wanted to start collecting this trilogy for quite some time.
I need to get me a copy of The Book Thief, before I'm the only one left on earth who has not read it. Sad!

Message edited by its author, Mar 4, 2009, 7:53pm.

I received an Early Reviewers Copy of Outcasts United: A Refugee Soccer Team, an American Town by Warren St. John today.

I haven't read The Book Thief. I don't even have a copy...yet.
No fear. I have to say though that nice used copy was languishing on amazon until about 2 minutes ago.

curse you #62, curse you!!!

An ARC ofPalace Circle: A Novel by Rebecca Dean....not my usual cuppa but maybe i need to read more Girly Books....

>62.....hey, i haven't read The Book Thief either...and at the rate i'm filling my shelves i might not have room if i ever do buy it...

Jeesh, the Biblio(a)ddiction is becoming a serious pain!!!

;-p

shelf space is a serious problem...

>66....you know it...i just placed another order at Better World Books this afternoon!!! quick, someone shoot me before i go shopping anywhere else...yikes!

From BookMooch all the way from Germany!:

The Moor's Last Sigh by Salman Rushdie

54: Iaas, thanks. I'm kind of a language nerd. I just picked up a copy of Elementary Turkish to start teaching myself.

I have also not read The Book Thief... and actually just started hearing about it recently. I guess I should join the bandwagon.

Yesterday at B&N I bought The Alchemist and Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day .

Thanks for all the support on "not" reading The Book Thief. It's nice to know you are not alone! :)

It won't last, lol.... I am going to have to read it someday :)

EEK! #70 AquariusNat: Miss Pettigrew is on my list to read this week! Next is Silas Marner, then Miss Pettigrew!

Maybe I'll read The Book Thief right after her ;-)

I had coffee with friends at a little independent bookstore last night and came home with Agatha Christie's Black Coffee and A Face In The Crowd by Budd Schulberg to send to my father because he loves that old movie.
Touch stone for that book is wrong.

I've just read Brothers Kept Apart by Walter Phillips. Given the almost infinite number of books left to read, and the knowledge that I will never read them all, I must be selective. This one is highly recommended.

I just recently read The Book Thief and really liked it. At the time, I thought I too was the last person to have read it! A worthwhile read, I got it from my library, I believe most have it, for it's a popular YA book.

Yesterday from Barnes and Noble:

Too Much Tuscan Sun: Confessions of a Chianti Tour Guide by Dario Castagno
A Taste of Wyoming - These recipes are from different restaurants in Wyoming and I'm always trying to find reference to a particular place I ate in Jackson Hole, Wyoming whose name I can't remember. The recipes in here look really good and they do refer to a few places in Jackson Hole.
and
Ladybug Girl - Take a look at the cover of this book. I have seen that dog on something else before. I did a search at work of books by this author and illustrator but nothing turned up. I asked a few people at work but none of them felt that they recognized the dog. It seems like I've either seen it on another children's book or in a cartoon of some sort, or somewhere.

I impulse bought The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne and The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.

Only my second impulse book buying this year!

I also bought Twilight and New Moon because I want to own my own copies and I notice the special edition covers are disapearing and the movie tie-in covers are everywhere.

I've been reasonably good so far, but then we are only 5 days in! I've bought This Charming Man by Marian Keyes which I've been waiting for for ages, but for some reason the first paperback release was bigger than a normal paperback, and more expensive, neither of which are good things. It's now out in sensible paperback so I bought it.

From the library I got:
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud

So plenty to be going on with :)

LOTS more bookish arrivals today...

From a 'real' town with an actual Waterstones, I bought four books (1 new hardback and the rest on 3 for 2):
Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat who Touched the World by Vicki Myron
Marked by P.C. and Kristin Cast
Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella
Madresfield: The Real Brideshead by Jane Mulvagh

From a box of Freecycle books I've been exploring:
Swallowing Grandma by Kate Long
The Reading Group by Elizabeth Noble

From the library:
The Year of Pleasures by Elizabeth Berg
The Victorian House: Domestic Life from Childbirth to Deathbed by Judith Flanders
'Consumer Kids: How Big Business is Grooming our Children for Profit' by Ed Mayo and Agnes Nairn (touchstone not working)
Robbing the Bees by Holly Bishop
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
Gold by Dan Rhodes

>75: BrotherSka-This is a perfect statement- "Given the almost infinite number of books left to read, and the knowledge that I will never read them all, I must be selective." These are words I live by. Thank you!

Yesterday was book day, and I also went by Nordstrom's for a plate of roast vegetables.

It is getting harder and harder to find a book at Borders that justifies the expense in time and money of going there to use a coupon. I went, nevertheless, and spent too much time finding a thirty five dollar paperback -- The Golden Dawn by Israel Regardie. Eco in Foucault's Pendulum had the pursuers of transcendental truth divided into two categories, those who sought union and those who sought power. I have long been one of the former, but I am curious about the latter (the left hand path, if I construe that correctly), so I'm looking for a few books on, or in, the matter.

Then I went to Barny Noble's big store in town for fun:

The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Divakaruni; an Indian novel drawn from the Mahabharata, an epic that has powerful appeal to me. I hope it will fill a gap.
Unholy Ghost edited by Neil Casey; belles lettres and depression are two of my pathologies. This is readings from established literary authors on depression.
Against Happiness by Eric Wilson; I have come to believe that happiness is overrated, not least of all by me. The cover implies that he does too, but he may, from what it says, underrate depression.
An End to Suffering by Pankaj Mishra; I am religious as a practical matter. I bought this for his take on "The Buddha in the world."
Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman; Mr. Andrew recommended this for a Revelation-like take on the end of the world; it fits my status as recreational apocalyptician. The Detroit Free Press asks, "What's so funny about Armageddon?" I'm ready to find out despite indifference to Neil Gaiman and sort of a distant respect for Terry Pratchett.

I finished off the book day at my church's book group. I couldn't sell them on reading any of these, not even the woman who recommended The Palace of Illusions.

I think I'll place an order with BN.COM.

Robert

Message edited by its author, Mar 5, 2009, 8:23pm.

I loved Good Omens - very clever, very amusing - hope you enjoy it!

#82 - I'm not an avid fan of SF/Fantasy books , but Good Omens had me laughing thruout most of it !

I may have to start it tonight despite the other half dozen books I am reading.

Thanks for your reflections.

Robert

Today I bough Conjugal Rites, the third book in the Brenda and Effie series, which I'm stupidly excited about because I love this series. And from the library I got Persepolis and Gods Behaving Badly.

From a most gracious fellow LTer:
In the Woods by Tana French

from Hachette Books:
Fifty is Not a Four-letter Word by Linda Kelsey...for the title alone!!!

From the sale shelf at my local library I brought home Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence.

From Alibris came the following:

Zen Training: Methods and Philosophy by Katsuki Sekida
The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa
Tamarind Woman by Anita Rau Badami

I ordered a few books off of my wishlist at Amazon. Two came today; Jamestown by Matthew Sharpe, and Solo Guitar Playing by Frederick Noad.

>89 I realized when I entered the Solo Guitar Playing book that there is one with a CD! Much better to hear how it's supposed to sound -- so I'm returning the one I just got, and getting the one with the CD.

Blue Skies, No Fences: A Memoir of Childhood and Family by Lynne Cheney

The Bird Woman by Kerry Hardie

Never Hit a Jellyfish With a Spade: How to Survive Life's Smaller Challenges… by Guy Browning

Word Fugitives: In Pursuit of Wanted Words by Barbara Wallraff

used from betterworld.

Ooopsy daisy, there I go again. I was somewhat embarrassed to be recognised by the nice lady in the Sue Ryder charity shop with a joking, 'You again, buying books... what a surprise!' I introduced myself for next time...

Another good load anyway, I really have to stop this:
Sabriel by Garth Nix (Mind)
Lirael by Garth Nix (Mind)
Abhorsen by Garth Nix (Mind)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling (Sue Ryder)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling (Sue Ryder)
About a Boy by Nick Hornby (Help the Aged)
The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith (Help the Aged)
Girl with Green Eyes by Edna O'Brien (Help the Aged)
The Ivy Chronicles by Karen Quinn (Help the Aged)
The Secret Life of a Slummy Mummy by Fiona Neill (Help the Aged)
Bookends by Jane Green (British Red Cross)

Help the Aged had a BOGOF book sale on so I went a teeny bit mad in there!

I received my first Georgette Heyer today- Royal Escape. I had never heard of her before LT, but she gets such raves that I must be missing out.
Ellie- what are the aged doing with a book about slummy mummies?

Message edited by its author, Mar 6, 2009, 8:32pm.

From an LT friend:
Good People by Marcus Sakey. I loved his first crime novel and I've heard raves on his latest.
From Bookmooch:
Machine Dreams by Jayne Anne Phillips. I was so smitten by Lark and Termite, I have to explore her other books.

>93 Wishing they were young again? Selling it off to a twenty-something to bring the cold hard reality of having children to light with a soothing balm of humour to ease its passage? Whatever it was, I fell for it and they have been duly de-Slummy-Mummified...

If that sounds like absolute nonsense, that's because it's 2.27am and I'm still cataloguing my newbies instead of getting the early night I was going for!

Message edited by its author, Mar 6, 2009, 9:27pm.

Yesterday I received Carson McCullers: Complete Novels, the Library of America collection of her five novels, and today I received Something Torn and New: An African Renaissance by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, from Amazon.

My first batch of March books all new, from Barnes & Noble and Borders:

The Hidden World by Paul Park
Book 4 in the Princess of Roumania series.
The final book in the alternate history series. Set around WWI it deals with Roumanian nobility, living and dead, magic, necromancy, political machinations and war with Turkey.

Small Favor by Jim Butcher
Book 10 in the Harry Dresden series.
Urban fantasy set in modern day Chicago, with magic and fantasy beasties walking the streets. I really liked the middle of the series, (the start was watery) and this part now is becoming cookie cutter, with Harry the superhero who saves the world 5 times a book. Harry has also become a cocky jerk, who not only kicks people when they are down but gloats about it.

This book is also in the taller format that the mysteries use and is $9.99. If the tone, content and format of the the book don't change this may be my last Dresden book.

Tangled Webs by Anne Bishop
Book 6 in the Black Jewels series
Dark fantasy series about a young queen battling to take over and keep her kingdom safe from those who would rule using torture and violence. Satan is a good guy, and the whole thing has a S&M-lite vibe.

Rasputin's Daughter by Robert Alexander
Book 2 in The House of Romanov series. I had read the first book The Kitchen Boy and didn't realize it was a series, until I heard about The Romanov Bride (book 3) on LT. Although they are a series, each book stands alone. Historical fiction about the Romanovs in Russia just before and after the revolution.

Snobs by Julian Fellowes
I found out about this book while looking for another of his books that was mentioned on LT (Past Imperfect) which I don't think is published in the USA.

Snobs is a social satire about the British upper class, their attempt to man the barriers and keep out the social climbers and fund their hand-made life-style in an increasingly off-the-rack world. He also brings in Actors who I imagine are used as the masters of illusion to measure the upper crust against.

I loved his commentary on the DVD of Gosford Park the move, for which he wrote the screenplay. I hope his book will be as good, pithy and funny.

Terra Incognita by Ruth Downie
Book 2 in the Medicus series. An historical mystery set in Roman Britain it follows a 'doctor' in the Roman Legion in the 2nd century AD. This book travels to the north (no wall yet) and deals with the wild tribes at the edge of the empire.

Lush Life by Richard Price
This is an LT inspired book for me. It is fiction set in modern day NYC. It is about the friction in a neighborhood when the newly arrived rich and funky people conflict with the old time poor and working class. A murder of one by the other is the spark that ignites the story.

New Amsterdam by Elizabeth Bear
This is a book made up of connected novellas about two characters who travel from Europe to the new world. It is an alternate history set in Victorian times, where the American colonies still belong to Britain and New York (New Amsterdam) belonged to Holland into the Napoleonic wars.

The characters are an ancient vampire and the POV who is a forensic sorceress and an Officer of the Crown.

The House at Riverton by Kate Morton
This is a book for a RL book group. It is historical fiction about life at an English estate set in the years around WWI. The story is told by an old woman (98), Grace, who was a young (14) maid at the house. There are family secrets that involve the children of the estate that she has kept all her life. There was a mysterious suicide. She is interviewed by a filmmaker trying to get the facts of the incident for a film, which starts her recollections and memories.

The Death of An Ancient King by Laurent Gaude
This is a historical fiction set in an imaginary kingdom (Africa, Cambodia ?). The old king is dying and his heir and daughter is supposed to marry a neighboring Prince, who will rule both lands. The day before the wedding a mysterious suitor appears and claims the daughter's hand. This results in two large kingdoms preparing for war and slaughter, and the old king can do nothing. It is a French book and is translated into English.

My Dream of You by Nuala O'Faolain

Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters by Mark Dunn

The Bone People: A Novel by Keri Hulme

Your Heart Belongs to Me by Dean Koontz

I'm new here and this is my very first post so I hope I'm doing this right. Anyway, I just began reading my very first Jane Austen book, "Pride and Prejudice". I'm not very far into the book but so far I'm really enjoying it. I'm on chapter 15 I think.

#99 audreyfan21 - Welcome to LT! You are doing just fine. It is always fun to have new people join the group. Enjoy!

Another Agatha Christie BookMooch today-The Caribbean Mystery.

I got a couple of books in the post today:

The Way the Crow Flies by Ann-Marie MacDonald
Seven Years in Tibet by Heinrich Harrer

From Tesco's charity table:

Quentins by Maeve Binchy
Sons in the Saddle by Mary Durack
The Nine Emotional Lives of Cats by Jeffrey Masson

Message edited by its author, Mar 8, 2009, 3:16pm.

From this past week's trip to Palm Beach:
Georgia O'Keeffe and Ansel Adams: Natural Affinities published by the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum (picked up at the exhibit at the Norton)
Madness Under the Royal Palms: Love and Death Behind the Gates of Palm Beach by Laurence Leamer
Worth Tasting by The Junior League of the Palm Beaches
and airplane fare: Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates

From the library.
The Art of Mending Elizabeth Berg
Have never read anything of hers before. Thought I would give her a try.

From BookMooch:

Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

From the Heart foundation charity shop:

Second Time Lucky by Sophie king
Jumping to Conclusions by Christina Jones

I'm releasing both into the wild with Bookcrossing when I've finished with them :)

Ignore the Touchstone for Second Time Lucky.

Message edited by its author, Mar 8, 2009, 9:56am.

>104 cindysprocket - I just borrowed my first Elizabeth Berg from the library, so we'll see how we get on!

>105 hemlokgang - Have you read anything by Coetzee before? I saw a copy of Disgrace in a charity shop the other day and am wondering whether to go back for it...

Picked up from B&N and Borders:

World Made By Hand
A Golden Age
The Women by T. C. Boyle
The Kommandant's Girl
The Graveyard Book

#108 -- my recommendation, go back and get Disgrace, he definitely didn't win the Nobel Prize for inferior plotting or writing. Fantastic book.

#109 Maggie--I just finished A Golden Age a great book. I hope you like it as much as I did. I have The Women and The Kommandan'ts Girl in my TBR pile.

I got three books yesterday -- all used: The Left Hand of Darkness by Le Guin, Out of the Silent Planet by C. S. Lewis, and Sorcery and Cecelia or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer.

right now i have skin deep-e.m. crane,suite scarlett- maureen johnson, and breathe my name- r.a. nelson but those are just the three i checked out on thursday during school

From the library today:
The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor
Ninth Grade Slays by Heather Brewer

From Half Priced Books:
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
The Witches of Chiswick by Robert Ranking

>108....elliepotten...Run...do not walk...to the store and buy it. He is one of the best writers I have ever read!

I'll go back on Wednesday and see if it's there then - tragically there's a BOGOF book sale in that store so it might have been snapped up! Still, there's always my wishlist...

Two Book Mooches:

Miniatures by Norah Labiner...."wilfully inscrutable" the blurb says....????? say i.

The Resurrectionists by Michael Collins...a slice of Americana from the pen of an Irishman...do tell!

I got three books for gifts to my birthday yesterday.

Sang i Norge, by red. Amsrud, Arve

500 songs- with notes and texts. Old songs from Norway, popular songs from the last years and popular song which came here with new imigrants. My brother is a very good pianist and made us more than one hour consert with songs from the book. Good brother.

Norsk husmannskost, by Gausdal, Tom Victor;

Norwegian Traditionfood; This chef was the silverwinner in “Global Chef in Dubai 2008” and silverwinner in Bocuse d’Or in France 2005. His book “Husmannskost” was the winner in 2006 of the “Best Cookbook in the World” under Gourmand World Cookbook Awards in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)

Aksjemordet, by Imset, Geir;

The Stockmarket- Murder. About black money, bribery and murder in stockbroker society.

Message edited by its author, Mar 9, 2009, 1:38pm.

Wow so many messages. I am so late in buying books for March. I will post the ones I bought on Saturday March 7th at Borders later today.

Received via bookmooch - A Density of Souls by Christopher Rice.

The Mark of the Lion a mystery set in Nairobi by Suzanne Arruda, based on LT recommendations, and City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare, a YA fantasy, based on my daughter's recommendation. I'm enjoying both so far.

I got a few mooches in the mail today:

The Red Pony by John Steinbeck
Jumper by Steven Gould
Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer
Horatio Hornblower Flying Colours by C. S. Forester
and
Extras by Scott Westerfeld

I couldn't resist getting The Plot Against America by Philip Roth yesterday. It was on the discount table at the University of Washington bookstore. I'm seriously running out of room on my bookcases.

I took some two back to the library to try to get my pile of outstanding library books down, and wound up coming home with another two. Oh well, it was worth a try...

Anyway, I have now brought home Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny and Camelot's Shadow by Sarah Zettel.

#19 Nzurisana: I thought The Space Between Us was a beautifully crafted and engaging story. Hope you do too.

#108: I agree with Hemlokgang that Coetzee's Disgrace is a great read.

From the Salvation Army's second floor library I took Norman Mailer's Harlot's Ghost first edition hardcover for $2.99. I don't know why I am so drawn to Mailer's work in my "dotage." He's really better if uncorked on the young side. I remember reading him with relish about 30 years ago. This is a big book and I don't know if I will ever get to it, but I just had to own it.
At the same wonderful bookshelf I found in hardcover also a book for my husband, Flyboys by James Bradley. My husband has suddenly developed a deep and abiding book hunger and I try to appease him with books I think he will find interesting, i.e., anything about WWII, the Mafia, boxing, or written by Larry McMurtry.

I bought these books at Borders since I had a coupon for 30% off and a $5.00 off coupon:

Twelve Sharp by Janet Evanovich
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
Nights in Rodanthe by Nicholas Sparks
slumdog millionaire by Vikas Swarup

Today I received my Member Giveaway of:

Stronger After Stroke by Peter G. Levine

#121 thekoolaidmom, hope you enjoy Hope was Here by Joan Bauer; that is one of my favorite YA books.

>122 I just started The Plot Against America. My husband really liked it, so I'm hoping I will, too.

Maimonides: The Exceptional Mind by Israel Drazin

The Traveler by John Twelve Hawks

Life on Wheels: The A to Z Guide to Living Fully with Mobility Issues by Gary Karp

These three fantastic books from from darling richardear, all wrapped in several NYT Book Reviews. I am over the moon.. Blessings on you my friend

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

A Dance for Emilia by Peter S. Beagle

Witch by Barbara Michaels

From betterworldbooks~

Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure by Sarah Macdonald

from mooch

Talbin, We read The Plot Against America in our book club a few years ago and everyone found it incredibly thought provoking! Hope you find it so as well!

CindySprocket and Ellie - I have always found Elizabeth Berg to be a good read.

In the mailbox from a lovely LT friend - Mosquito by Roma Tearne. I've heard good things about this book here on LT, so I'm looking forward to it.

Just two today - although admitedly I'm not supposed to be bringing any more home!

Agnes Grey
and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

both, of course, by Anne Bronte.

I received a stack of books today from kind BookMoochers, Better World Books, and Amazon:

The Convenient Marriage by Georgette Heyer
Year of the Unicorn by Andre Norton
A House Like a Lotus by Madeleine L"Engle
Excellent Women by Barbara Pym
Isle of Passion by Laura Restrepo
Hunter's Moon by Dana Stabenow
A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel

We got a box of Freecycled books yesterday and so far I've siphoned off two for myself - Message in a Bottle to fill in a gap in my Nicholas Sparks collection, and Introducing Media Studies, which I just thought might be interesting to read before it goes into our stockpile for the bookshop we haven't even got yet... :-D

I started this post three times and have, so far, had it wiped out twice. I think it is because of the book I am trying to list: Uncle Setnakt's Essential Guide to the Left Hand Path by Don Webb. I said other things unfavorable to the United States Post Office in my community and to Barnes and Noble dot com's customer service (the thieves), but I will leave them out now.

Robert

Message edited by its author, Mar 9, 2009, 10:10pm.

# 124 srubinstein: Thanks for you thoughts on The Space Between Us. I will put it near the top of my TBR pile.

One from LT Early Reviewers:

The Night Battles by M F Bloxam---"love, intrigue, and psychological suspense."..set in Sicily... crikey!

Ten days into the month and I already own the following volumes which I did not own in February:

Journey into Space by Toby Litt
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
Crap at the Environment by Mark Watson
America Unchained by Dave Gorman
Don't Look Now and other stories by Daphne du Maurier
The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg

Five books from Amazon:

Billy by Albert French
Flannery O'Connor: Collected Works
In the United States of Africa by Abdourahman A. Waberi: recommended by Three Percent
Tranquility by Attila Bartis: the winner of the 2009 Best Translated Novel by Three Percent
A Crime So Monstrous: Face-to-Face with Modern-Day Slavery by E. Benjamin Skinner: recommended by whymaggiemay for the Reading Globally theme read for April (slavery)

I am reading In The Company Of Secrets by Judith Miller. It has to do with a girl who wants to be a chef and ends of looking for a job at the Pullman Company where they make the Pullman luxury cars. I have only read the first chapter but it should grow on me. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow and need easy reading material and lots of it!

#110 momom248 We obviously have scarily similar reading tastes.

Traffic court took me back over towards my brother's house...so I decided to add breaking and entering to my list of problems, and burglary, since when I left his house I had my sister-in-law's copy of Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon. Well, actually, my brother let me in the house, so I guess he'll be guilty of aiding and abetting!

your secret is safe with me~good book to abscond with :)

Tuck Everlasting and The Centurion's Wife arrived via Amazon and Wal-Mart respectively so I could read either one of those or both at the same time. I rarely do that but Tuck is short and it would not be hard to alternate between The Centurion's Wife and In The Company of Secrets because they are so different.

So would it be a crime to read all three at once? I'm having guilt and feel like a book hog but it's what I feel like I could do. I hardly ever do more than a book at a time. Am I evil and unappreciative of the book banquet before me?

Maggie--yes we do have similar tastes. Let me know how you like all those books when you finish. I am currently reading Heart and Soul by Maeve Binchy. A very good read so far.

A couple of mooches arrived in the mail today.

New Orleans Requiem by D. J. Donaldson
The Edge of Doom by Amanda Cross

Scarpetta, Tuck Everlasting will probably take you a day to read, at the most. Even when I read it in Spanish (which I read slower in than English) it only took me a few hours. It is a wonderful little book!

From Audible:

On Beauty by Zadie Smith
Mr. Muo's Travelling Couch by Dai Sijie
The Boat by Nam Le
Sir Ralph Richardson Reads Keats
A Slight Trick of the Mind by Mitch Cullin

From Bookmooch:

The Mystery of The Blue Train
A Man Lay Dead

From Bookmooch:
The Film Club: A Memoir by David Gilmour. An account of a father & son watching films together and their shared experiences. Looks good!

From Bookmooch - Riotous Assembly, Indecent Exposure, and Vintage Stuff, all by Tom Sharpe.

I received Peony in Love by Lisa See in the mail today :-)

Barny Noble (curse his customer service department) sent me:

Gertrude Bell: Queen of the Desert by Georgina Howell. This is in support of the next book.
Desert Queen by Janet Wallach. This is for my church's book group discussion in May. I'm putting both of these books with Dreamers of the Day in hope of having something of a party.
The Weiser Concise Guide to Aleister Crowley by Richard Kaczynski. Along with Uncle Setnakt's Essential Guide to the Left Hand Path and a couple of others, I should be able to tell whether I'm interested in the subject.
Why Poetry Matters by Jay Parini. A promise to myself in retirement has to do with learning to read poetry, to which this, I am hopeful, will contribute. I'll put it on a stack of unopened books on the matter.
Dictionary of Hindu Lore and Legend by Anna L. Dallapiccola. The editors and translators of the Mahabharata and the authors of commentary on it let fly unexplained terms of hindu practice; this is to be their cure.

Robert

msf59 - I'm waiting for The Film Club to come out in paperback before buying it (looks like that will be in June). I thought it had a very unusual premise. Teenage kid tells his dad he wants to leave school and his father lets him only if the kid agrees to watch (I can't remember - is it a movie a week?) movies of his father's choosing and then discuss them with him for a certain amount of months . . .
I think I'm remembering the premise correctly.
Sounds really interesting.

RDurick - Jay Parini is a really good writer. That may be the book that will help you appreciate poetry. I read a biography he wrote about Robert Frost and it was terrific - one of my favorite biographies.

I was feeling depressed, so instead of going on a bender or a slot machine spree I bought some books. What? In Las Vegas that's amazing restraint!

The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster
Last Night at the Lobster by Stewart O'Nan
Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
The Norton Anthology of American Literature ($4 at Borders in the clearance section)

I also got my ARC from LibraryThing today, and the book is gorgeous and looks great- Darling Jim by Christian Moerk.

I also picked up some 'literary' magazines-
The Paris Review
BookForum
Bookmarks- I ADORE this magazine and highly recommend it to all bookworms, I've discovered so many great books thanks to this magazine

Message edited by its author, Mar 11, 2009, 1:58am.

#150 msf59 & #154 JolieLouise - if either of you get around to reading The film club soon I would love to know what you think of it. I own it (I picked it up at work one day because I thought it looked interesting, and if I'm honest, because it had 'film' in the title) but I still haven't decided if I'm interested in it enough to actually read it or whether it is one of those books that is going to sit in my TBR pile for a long time while other books jump the queue.

The Film Club sounds really interesting - it's a book I'll definitely get when it comes out in the UK.

I got a good haul today from Bookmooch, and yesterday got my ER book:

Far North by Marcel Theroux
The Wire in the Blood by Val McDermid
The Chameleon's Shadow by Minette Walters
Swallowing Grandma by Kate Long
The Light of Day by Graham Swift

>154: JolieLouise- Yes, you described it perfectly. They have to watch 3 films, of the father's choosing, once a week. Glad there is so much interest, I'll try to bump it up a little in my tbr, which WILL not easy and let everyone know!

>153 Robert - As an aid in understanding poetry, take a look at Patterns of Poetry: An Encyclopedia of Forms by Miller Williams. I used this in a graduate class, and it's a very nice poetry companion. Looking on Amazon (to see if it's still in print), I see by the reviews that there is a newer book by Lewis Turco, but the reviews also give the pros/cons of Williams vs. Turco. In any case, if you have decided you want to learn to read poetry, then a good book of poetical forms would be a great reference tool.

# 153 Robert -- I'm interested to know how you like Gertrude Bell: Queen of the Desert by Georgina Howell. I read Desert Queen by Janet Wallach several years ago, and was fascinated by Gertrude Bell, but very disappointed in the book. Perhaps it was because I read Passionate Nomad: The Life of Freya Stark by Jane Fletcher Geniesse just before it. I think Freya Stark is also fascinating, and thought her biography was much better than Bell's.

I brought home Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell last night for a book discussion next month.

Talbin, thank you. I'll have a look at your references. I already have some books on the matter which are not listed here. I have a degree in English and couldn't avoid some poetry courses; I actually volunteered for Shakespeare and Milton. It's just that I never got it; Harold Bloom's enthusiasm helps, but even it doesn't always carry the day.

AMQS, I have to read Wallach's book by May 6. I am hopeful of reading Howell's at the same time. If I get to both maybe I'll try somehow to leave comparative reviews. I hope to read Dreamers of the Day in the same project. Thank you for your reflections.

Robert

I was restrained today - The Colour of Magic for Mum, to start filling in the gaps in her Discworld series, and a few books to add to our 'dream bookshop' stockpile... and just ONE for myself: Memnoch the Devil by Anne Rice. Incredibly, I just wasn't in the mood!

My Latest book haul from B&N and Borders:

2012 by Whitley Strieber
One of those thrillers that uses the Mayan prophecy of the end of the world on 12/21/2012. I hope for more ancient than modern parts to the book.

Spook Country by William Gibson
A book that looks at the post 9/11 world. It looks at the surreal real life that we have been left with in the wake of the event.

Whiskey and Water by Elizabeth Bear
Book 2 in the Promethean series. It is a mix of modern day and Faerie setting that tells the story of the fight between humanity and the fae for control of the world and life, and how future history will be writen.

A Drop of Red by Chris Marie Green
Book 4 in the Vampire Babylon series.
Urban fantasy, vampires, Hollywood.

Angel's Blood by Nalini Singh - no touchstone
Book 1 in the Guild Hunter series. Another Urban fantasy but with an interesting twist. Archangels are the beautiful/dangerous/evil (?) ones. Vampires are contracted/enslaved and when they escape they must be hunted down and returned to their angel. POV is a vampire hunter.

The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean
Story of life in Leningrad, and the suffering of WWII.

I got two books in the mail yesterday:

The Town by Bentley Little

and

Ella Enchanted, which I didn't know was a book until reading it on a reco list. We love the movie here, so I had to grab the book :-)

Yesterday from Barnes and Noble:
Sleep No More by Greg Iles
The Poe Shadow by Matthew Pearl (I'm kind of Poe and Frost obsessed)
and
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning by Alan Sillitoe

>166 I think Ella Enchanted is much, much better than the movie. I hope you enjoy the book.

I added two Georgette Heyer books from amazon.uk.com to my library today; Venetia and Frederica.

From the cart in front of a new bookstore in my neighborhood, five books for $7:

Feminism, Utopia, and Narrative by Libby Falk Jones

Race, Writing, and Difference by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., editor

The Resistance to Theory by Paul De Man

Backlash by Susan Faludi

Women's Pictures:Feminism and Cinema by Annette Kuhn

Message edited by its author, Mar 13, 2009, 12:02pm.

I have a bunch of stuff to cart home today, sent to me from Hachette:

A Lucky Child: A Memoir of Surviving Auschwitz as a Young Boy by Thomas Buergenthal

Plus three audiobooks:
An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination by Elizabeth McCracken
Roads to Quoz by William Least Heat-Moon
Case Histories by Kate Atkinson

That's not to mention the book and three audiobooks I got from the library last night!
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Drood by Dan Simmons
A Rose for the Crown by Anne Easter Smith
Pretty Birds by Scott Simon

Since my next audiobook just became ready for pickup at the library, I'm thinking I need to take about a 120 hour car trip sometime this month to get through them all, before the other three become available too.

Today the lovely people from Amazon sent me You Slay Me and Sorcery and Cecilia which doesn't ordinarily appear to be available here (or possibly is just very hard to get hold of), but people have said such good things about it that I had to get hold of it.

After viewing a dismally damp-damaged and woodchip-wallpapered vacant premises for our bookshop dream, we cheered ourselves up by hitting a few charity shops and a discount bookstore afterwards. My grandma didn't manage to find herself any Mills and Boon to take home, but as usual I did just fine:

Acting Up by Melissa Nathan
The Tale of Mrs Tiggy-Winkle by Beatrix Potter (I couldn't resist!)
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday
The Snow Geese by William Fiennes
Eleanor of Aquitaine by Alison Weir
Portraits of the Riviera by Carolyn McKenzie

Plus I did a heft Amazon UK/Marketplace order last night so a few more books should start rolling in soon - and tomorrow I'll probably head to town again to find my grandma those Mills and Boons and see if I can pick up any more bargains!

The Haunted Bookshop by Christopher Morley

My resolution to not add to the TBR pile is irretrievably broken, but what can one do when one is confronted with books for 2.99-5.99 at Borders? (I suppose the most obvious remedy would be to NOT go into Borders in the first place, but . . . .)

The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl
Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin

I got a wonderful surprise at work today, I was awarded a cash prize for perfect attendance. Needless to say, I'm spending it on books. They were having a book sale in my office today and I found:

Carry Me Home by Diane McWhorter

Nice one whymaggiemay! I do a daily TV survey for a media company and I live for winning things in their monthly draws - Amazon vouchers or cold hard cash, which is spent on books anyway, of course.

From the library today:

Naruto Vol. 26 by Masashi Kishimoto
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
Once Upon a Marigold by Jean Ferris

#168 janoorani24: I've found that movies that are made from books tend to be better as a movie if you read the book AFTER watching the movie. For me personally, anyway, I don't come into the movie with my fav book parts in mind if I've not read the book. The problem, though, is that some of the suspense and wonder is taken out of the book. I tend to watch for the things I already know about. Still, it is a rare movie that is better thant the book no matter the order I take them in. Atonement and Nim's Island made better movies, IMHO.

I got two books in the mail today :

from PBS, Duel by Richard Matheson

and I was surprised to get an ARC book I just requested the day before yesterday. Mischief Maker's Manual by Sir John Hargrave. It's a rather interesting-looking book, and has a stamp on the cover claiming the book is illegal in 13 states. Cool!

#178: I agree with you about reading books after seeing the movie, however it's not always possible, since the books come out so far in advance of the movie. I have another movie that I think was better than the book: The Eye of the Needle, though I adored the book, too! The acting was just so good! Oh, and The Wizard of Oz! I could probably go on forever.

Congrats on getting your ARC so quickly! I'm still waiting on one I was selected for in December!

I found a used bookstore near work this morning that appeared out of nowhere (I swear it wasn't there last week!) so I went for a browse on my lunch break and came away with an ARC copy of The Meaning of Night, signed by the author and in good condition.

I was out and about this afternoon and picked up a box of books that I found through an ad on Craigslist. $20 and there are more than 20 books so a great deal! I'll have to add them later once I haul them in from the garage!

Then I got home and found 4 packages in the mail! Feels like Christmas! LOL

I received:

Palace Circle by Rebecca Dean which was through a Shelf Awareness ad.

Women in Family Business: What Keeps You Up At Night by Patricia Annino, J.D., Thomas Davidow, Ed.D. and Cynthis Adams Harrison, Ed.D., LICSW with Lisbeth Davidow, Ed,M., M.F.A. which was from Bostick Communications.

Secrets Unveiled by Sheshena Pledger from a fellow LibraryThinger. Thanks! :) (touchstone not bringing up the right book)

And....

Big Wheel at the Cracker Factory by Mickey Hess for review by request of the publisher.

Message edited by its author, Mar 13, 2009, 9:53pm.

2 movies that I thought were "as good as" the books were The Silence of the Lambs and The Sweet Hereafter.

Today from Barnes and Noble:
Stuff White People Like by Christian Lander
Bad Bosses, Crazy Coworkers & Other Office Idiots by Vicky Oliver
and
A Lion Called Christian by Anthony Bourke and John Rendall (Touchstones not loading for this one but you're going to be seeing it a lot in the near future)

Message edited by its author, Mar 13, 2009, 10:32pm.

>177 bell7 - Good luck with A Brief History of Time - I tried reading it once but I got about a third of the way through and my brain nearly exploded with the complexity of it all! I'm a bit older now, maybe I'll try it again sometime!

I couldn't be bothered to go to town myself today - I stayed at home and mowed the lawn instead! - but I managed to persuade Mum to pick up Humble Pie by Gordon Ramsay from her charity shop for me... 95p, bargain.

I got Bad Kitty by Nick Bruel in the mail today and we've read and reread it a couple times already. It's a cute little children's story.

Then... when I was grabbing an envelope to pack Heart-Shaped Box to mail out to a BookMooch member, I noticed one of the envelopes felt heavy. I opened it up and found a book in it :-D Politically Correct Bedtime Stories.

Score!

I went to the thrift store last evening - a quick peek before I was to meet my husband and daughter for dinner - and "discovered" a new author. Everybody else in the world seems to know about him, but the thrill of the hunt was exciting!

I'm referring to Jim Butcher. I saw a couple of books by an author I didn't recognize, saw the words paranormal and wizard, and ended up finding the first nine books of his series The Dresden Files for 50 cents each. Oh yea!

And, even though I've bookmooched a copy and it's on its way for my May Bookclub meeting, I got a pristine copy of The Pillars of the Earth, the hardcover-sized paperback for $1. I couldn't resist. Somebody in my bookclub will need a copy.

The Bride Finder by Susan Carroll came in the mail for me from PBS, I hear it's very good!

Shadow Game by Feehan, Christine

Message edited by its author, Mar 14, 2009, 12:32pm.

Today:

The Bostonians - Henry James
The Portrait of a Lady - Henry James
Washington Square - Henry James
The Swimming-Pool Library - Alan Hollinghurst
The Folding Star - Alan Hollinghurst
Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman
Reaper Man - Terry Pratchett

# 187 - ktleyed - The Bride Finder is VERY good and so are the others in that series. Quite different from the usual historical romance and very well done.

#190 - Neverwithoutabook - thanks, glad to hear it! Another glowing recommendation!

The Ten Year Nap Meg Wolitzer
Terra
Incognita Ruth Downie
Gods Behaving Badly Marie Phillips
Christine Falls Benjamin Black
World Made By Hand James Howard Knustler
have read all but Ten year Nap

Message edited by its author, Mar 14, 2009, 4:44pm.

I just got a package in the mail from a BookMooch memeber:

Just Us Hoosiers and How We Got that Way by Dale Burgess (I'm from Indiana and couldn't resist this title)

The Innocent by Harlan Coben

A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar

>184 elliepotten, I hope it's not too daunting or inexplicable. I'm hoping to read it because of the references in Lost. As long as it's not more confusing than the show itself I think I'll push through. :-)

I received another book via bookmooch today. I think I've had one nearly every day during the last week!

The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella. It's been at the top of my LT Recommendations for eons, so I thought I ought to find out if I really will enjoy reading it!

From the library I have now added Cold Comfort Farm, Cross Stitch and Bitten to the ridiculous backlog, and I bought Fairytale Detectives because it sounded fab from some of the descriptions on here.

>194 bell7 - Don't get me wrong, it's fascinating - it's just very difficult! Isn't it a standing joke that everyone bought a copy when it came out but no one actually finished it?! Haha, I'm determined to try again one of these days!

One of my Amazon Marketplace orders arrived today. Having read the odd one when I was younger, I decided to start at the beginning and bought Dragonflight, the first of the Pern series by Anne McCaffrey.

Ann Arbor Library Book Sale.

Drinking Coffee Elsewhere ZZ Packer
No! I Don't Want to Join a Book Club Virginia Ironside
Open House Elizabeth Berg
Treasury of Great Cat Stories Roger Caras
World's Fair E.L. Doctorow

Another book followed me home from work: American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld
Haven't read any of her work before but my interest in this one was sparked after hearing an interview with her on the Radio National Book Show (Australian radio station that has an awesome book program, and yes, they do podcasts!)

Message edited by its author, Mar 14, 2009, 9:02pm.

I received a BookMooch book today, Firedrake's Eye by Patricia Finney. I think that concludes my collection of her books.

I also bought a book of essays by George Orwell, Books v. cigarettes that looks really good.

Hey CindySprocket - you were very near me. I only live about an hour and a half from Ann Arbor.

From Open Letter Publications:

Landscape in Concrete by Jakov Lind

Oh, Moomin, Cross Stitch is Outlander's name abroad, isn't it? I loved that book!

#203 Yep, that's the one :) It's had so many glowing recommendations on here, I'm really excited about reading it. However it's the biggest book I have ever seen (I think that's more to do with the version they have than anything else), really not one for the handbag!

More new books, again from Borders and Barnes & Noble, and one from BJs warehouse.

Beyond Recall by Robbert Goddard (BJs)
A stand alone mystery about family secrets, murder/suicide.

Spell Games by T.A. Pratt
Book 4 in the Marla Mason series. Urban fantasy about a sorcerer whose job is to protect a city.

Death in Delhi by Gary Gygax
Last book in the Wizard-Priest Inhetep trilogy that has been republished. It is a pulpy old time fantasy.

New Orleans Noir Edited by Julie Smith
A book in the Akashic Noir series. Akashic prints short story anthologies written in the noir style about a specific location. I like New Orleans and found that there was a short story by Barbara Hambly set in the Benjamin January series. So I had to get it.

Palimpsest by Catherynne Valente
A fantasy set in a city-as-character.

Lost Books of the Odyssey by Zachary Mason
Saw this on Tag Watch. Historical fiction that is written as though it were part of the Odyssey with alternate adventures and fragments and revisions of the original.

JolieLouise We tey to make the book sale at least twice a year. We also stop at Cabela's on the way there or on the way back.

I gathered together a bunch of excuses to drive to the other side of town yesterday. One was that I had a Barny Noble coupon, and the books on my list were available there and not at the big one in town. I got:

A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines by Janna Levin. I heard her interviewed on, I think, Tech Nation. The reviews are not so hot, but she was interesting, and she suggested that the novel takes on some ideas that are interesting, so I'm having a go at it.
Andersonville by MacKinlay Kantor. This novel was lying around the house when I was in high school so I took it for a big, tedious best seller. Well some folks here talking about the civil war have been enthralled by this novel, so I'm having a go at it.
The Best American Comics, 2008 edited by Linda Barry. Although I haven't seen any recently, Linda Barry's comics charmed me, and some comics have been life savers, so I'm having a go at it.
The Myths and Gods of India by Alain Danielou. In a sad gap in my reading of the Mahabharata I have thought I might look at the background, and I found this on the shelf at Barny's, so I'm having a go at it.

On the same trip across town I saw the movie The Reader appropriately enough, and I had a one pound hamburger and sweet potato fries at a new restaurant.

Robert

My February ER book, Invisible Sisters arrived in the mail today, along with two BookMooches, both in absolutely pristine condition, The Writing on My Forehead and The Swallows of Kabul.

From a BookMooch member, I got a box of books today :-) Boxes are nice ;-)

The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud

Saving Fish from Drowning by Amy Tan

The Big House by George Howe Colt

Big Fish by Danieal Wallace. I watched the movie, and loved it. It's one of my favorite movies, but I didn't know it was a book until last week and mooched it up :-D

I need to read The Last Days of Dogtown for my book club and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time for the 1% Well-Read Challenge. And already 1/2 of March is gone...

Don't forget to check out my blog:
http://barneysbookblog.blogspot.com/

Three books came in the mail today:

The Twin by Gerbrand Bakker: received as part of my subscription to Archipelago Books, a US-based press that specializes in literature in translation. This book was originally published in Dutch in 2006 and won the the Golden Dog-Ear, a prize for the best-selling literary debut in The Netherlands.

Broken Glass by Alain Mabanckou, a Francophone Congolese author whose novel Memoires de porc-épic (Memoirs of a Porcupine) won the Prix Renaudot in 2006, one of the top French literary awards. Purchased from The Book Depository (UK), as it has not been published in the US yet.

The Oxford Book of Light Verse, edited by W.H. Auden, purchased on the recommendation of tomcatMurr.

Message edited by its author, Mar 16, 2009, 8:59pm.

From Bookmooch: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and Funerals are Fatal

I am having what may be called a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day (I am writing my dissertation. My hard drive died. expletive deleted). I indulged in some retail therapy at B&N.

Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon
The Prince and other writings by Machiavelli
The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon
The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino

There are two others but I can't remember them off the top of my head.

Time to reinstall everything. I hate today.

#213 - Time to let it all go and read Dragonfly in Amber! Your hard drive won't miss you for a couple of days :)

#213- I agree with MissTeacheer. Put it all aside, take a deep breath, release slowly and lose yourself in the wonderful Diana Gabaldon

Despite a fruitless visit to the library, 4 books did manage to find their way into my home today:

The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs
The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler
(both above 50p each from charity shop - both hardly used - bargain!!!)

Via Bookmooch:
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allen Poe

Message edited by its author, Mar 16, 2009, 6:57pm.

MissTeacher and Polly - thank you for the excellent advice! I am doing just that. What is Claire doing back in the 20th century???

Umm...I'm about 500 pages in, and I still haven't figured it out. I have a really bad feeling about all of it, but I hope I'll be proved wrong.

Yummmmmyyyyy; Dragonfly in Amber, how lovely!~!
I have loved this series every other year.
I just finished The Memoir Club byLaura Kalpakian and am looking forward to finding some of her short stories. Am ready to begin The Street of a Thousand Blossoms by Gail Tsukiyama. This is my 4th of hers and her writing is lovely. Tomorrow I will pick up the 3rd Harry Potter from the library and probably begin it as well----can't seem to help myself there and have begun the group read of Anna Karinina. I am only 25 pages in but am on target so I'm not stressed there. Just kind of getting to know some of the principles and not so principles.
N/B

I received two mooches today-
The Sleeping Murder by Agatha Christie
Agatha Raisin and The Wellspring of Death
I know the postal service is in trouble, but our mail carrier didn't show up until 5:30 p.m. Very weird.

#220

That is why the postal service is in trouble...

I recently found a carrier wandering around the street behind my house.. he was looking for an address. I turned him around and sent him on his way.

Dragonfly in Amber... oh dear... talk about Gabaldon always makes me want to restart her series..... !

Between Amazon and Bookmooch I brought in a hefty haul yesterday, much to my husband's dismay. He has determined we absolutely do not have room for any more books *sigh*

Green Rider by Kristen Britain
First Rider's Call by Kristen Britain
Finders Keepers by Linnea Sinclair
Loose Ends (a Roswell tie-in) by Greg Cox
In a Wild Wood by Sasha Lord
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Crossing Borders by Z.A. Maxfield
Brethren: Raised by Wolves by W.A. Hoffman
and
Sea View (a manga)

Message edited by its author, Mar 17, 2009, 1:15pm.

I received a mooch yesterday. New Orleans Stories a variety of authors writing about New Orleans. Edited by John Miller I've been looking forward to reading this one.

Another haul from Better World Books:

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
Ghostwalk by Rebecca Stott
Ghost Story by Peter Straub
The Worm Ouroboros by E R Eddison
The Alchemist's Daughter by Katharine McMahon
The Alchemist's Daughter by Eileen Kernaghan
The Hummingbird's Daughter by Luis Alberto Urrea
The Last Witchfinder by James Morrow
The Dirty Secrets Club by Meg Gardiner
Make Way For Lucia by E F Benson

......lotta Ghosts and Daughters here...a Worm...Some Secrets..and the wickedly malicious Lucia...yum yum

CindySprocket - I haven't been to Cabelas, yet, but I plan to go someday.

I got a copy of The Nonesuch by Georgette Heyer today to review.

# 209 thekoolaidmom, what a treat you're in for with The Big House -- I absolutely loved it.

Well I ventured to Border's to reserve The Twilight DVD for my niece who's birthday is next week. I had told myself that I wasn't going to buy any books. Well that didn't work. I walked out with 2 books:

The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever
The Witches of Eastwick by John Updike

They are going to be on my TBR pile for I don't know how long...

Another mooch came today-
Desperate Passage by Ethan Rarick, which is a study of the Donner Party.

Picked up His Excellency: George Washington from the library today.

Just returned from a week on Vancouver Island to visit my mother. I managed to "visit" most of my favorite bookshops as well. I managed to stuff the following in my car:

Winter Frost by R.D. Wingfield
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
Beneath the Bleeding by Val McDermid
Pandora In the Congo by Albert Sanchez Pinol
Eternal by Craig Russell - "A gorgeous, grisly serial-killer tale ..."
Exit Music by Ian Rankin
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

Message edited by its author, Mar 17, 2009, 5:49pm.

Healing the New Childhood Epidemics: Autism, ADHD, Asthma, and Allergies: The Groundbreaking Program for the 4-A Disorders

My car had a mind of its own this afternoon and took me to B&N, in spite of the fact that I really don't have money to spend right now. I came home with As Shadows Fade by Colleen Gleason (not my usual fare, but I really like this series for some reason) and The King's Grace by Anne Easter Smith.

hmm doncha hate when that happens, starr?

Yes, I do. I tried really hard to be good today, though, and walked out with only 2 books, rather than the six that caught my attention.

From Bookmooch:
Poppy Shakespeare by Clare Allan. Another Nick Hornby recommendation. He rarely lets me down.
Every Dead Thing by John Connolly. I can't remember who suggested this book but it looks intense.

231 - DeltaQueen50

Congrats on your purchases - if I may be so bold I strongly suggest The Thirteenth Tale or The Shadow of the Wind for your next read...

Enjoy!!

Kathy

I hope spring is officially here! I don't want to shovel snow again!! Comes in like a lion comes out like a lamb! Any advice on reading? cuz I used to not like reading, but now i want to do it more often!! Any advice?

# 237 - kmbooklover - thanks. I probably will be reading Shadow of the Wind fairly soon as my brother is wanting to borrow it already!

238> bookfreak123, you could try the prologue to Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. You might even be able to find it on-line and not have to get a book unless you want to turn it into a big deal, which would not be a bad thing.

Robert

Edited so as not show what I said.

Message edited by its author, Mar 17, 2009, 10:38pm.

I went shopping at Costco last evening and took a wander down their book aisle. I came home with Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin, and The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill (touchstone not working for this).

More books! I'll be opening my own bookstore soon.

From The Book Depository: UFO in Her Eyes by Xiaolu Guo, the author of A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers and Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth, which is a "metaphor of terrestrial aliens and alienation" set in rural China. It was published in the UK last month.

From Amazon:
Blow-Up and Other Stories, a collection of short stories by Julio Cortázar
Golpes Bajos / Low Blows: Instantaneas / Snapshots, a collection of snapshots of life in Buenos Aires by Alicia Borinsky
The Yellow Wind by David Grossman, an account of the 1987 occupation of the West Bank and the misery experienced by Palestinian refugees. Recommended by deebee1.
Al' America: Travels Through America's Arab and Islamic Roots by Jonathan Curiel, one of the winners of the 2008 American Book Awards
Total Cure: The Antidote to the Health Care Crisis by Harold S. Luft, a professor of health policy at UCSF; I read a glowing review of this book in the most recent issue of the US health policy journal Health Affairs
How Does It Feel to Be a Problem?: Being Young and Arab in America by Moustafa Bayoumi, another 2008 American Book Award winner

From B&N:

Scoop by Evelyn Waugh for an LT Group Read in April

"Watchmen" by Alan Moore and "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver.

I also bought "Woman of a Thousand Secrets" by Barbara Wood but returned it because it was poorly written and I didn't like it.

Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann, "a sheep mystery", Hide and Seek by Ian Rankin, the second in the Inspector Rebus series, and Emma Volumes 6-8 by Kaoru Mori, a great graphic series set in Victorian England.

That doesn't include the ones from the public library, Agincourt by Bernard Cornwell, excellent historical novel based around the 15th century King Henry battle in France, Plum Spooky by Janet Evanovich, and Sorcerer of the North, the latest in the topnotch YA Ranger's Apprentice series by John Flanagan.

Went to the library and got drunk on scotch! Borrowed Outlander for a friend to read, a Scottish Gaelic - English/English - Scottish Gaelic dictionary, and Scotland: The Story of a Nation by Magnus Magnusson.

And from that, I'll bet most people on here are pretty sure what one-quarter of my lineage is comprised of!

Errr Welsh??...;)

Actually, strangely, you are correct Pollypips.

MissTeacher--I love Gaelic! I only know a little though. I should probably start that after I'm done with Turkish :)

I just got The Pilo Family Circus by Will Elliot in the mail today. And I have The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse by Robert Rankin, Toyminater also by Rankin, Just a Couple of Days by Tony Vigorito, and Maximum Ride: Max by James Patterson on order. Hope they come soon!

Hrmmm.... the touchstones worked on the side but not all of them showed up in the post.

>236 msf59 - I bought Poppy Shakespeare a while back, never got round to reading it, then I saw the TV series here which I found incredibly bittersweet and moving but also pretty brutal at times... Tell us when you start reading it so I can decide whether to boost it up my TBR pile again!

Barnes and Noble 50% off Moving Sale.
The Meaning of Everything Simon Winchester
American Notes for General Circulation Charles Dickens
The Autobiography of an Ex-ColoredmMan James Weldon Johnson

Borrowed:
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Rober's Bride by Margaret Atwood
Taken by Dean Koontz

From Amazon:
Love in a Dry Season by Shelby Foote
War for the Oaks by Emma Bull
The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie
Territory by Emma Bull
Racing the Dark by Alaya Dawn Johnson

From Barnes and Noble:
The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon

I had a good morning at Half Price Books - three Virago Modern Classics and two books for a research project I'm doing.

Hester by Margaret Oliphant
All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West
Lucy Gayheart by Willa Cather
Minnesota: A History
They Chose Minnesota: A Survey of the State's Ethnic Groups

ETA: Why don't touchstones work? Never mind - now they do.

Message edited by its author, Mar 18, 2009, 11:04pm.

#244 hemlokgang
Jealous of you, wish I hadn't already read Scoop, I love Waugh's books, though still have a few more to read. Which group is this for?

Nothing today, but expecting Night by Elie Wiesel to be delivered by the book depository.

Yesterday - The Road to Wigan Pier by George Orwell from book depository.
Child 44 and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo from Tesco (monopolising British supermarket) for £7.00 for both.

Monday - This Charming Man by Marian Keyes and The Voluptuous Delights of Peanut Butter and Jam by Lauren Liebenberg. Also £7.00 for both - Tesco sell bestsellers this way, which makes it tempting for buyers but clearly not fair on independent booksellers.

Has been a bad week for resisting temptation. 6 books - horrific!

Why do I insist on checking out more books than I can read? Just got Romeo y Julieta from my school's library.

From the Early Reviewer program -
The Secret by Beverly Lewis (no touchstone)

From the library -
Naruto Vol. 27
Naruto Vol. 28 (those are finished and going back today)
In the Hand of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce
Watchmen by Alan Moore
Blood and Iron by Elizabeth Bear (2nd attempt - I really will read it this time)
Y: The Last Man Volume 2 by Brian Vaughan
First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde

#174-Talbin- I just finished The Elegance of the Hedgehog which is just an amazing wonderful book- I hope you enjoy it

My dearest darling just picked up Watership Down by Richard Adams for me... what a sweetheart!!

Today Dealing with Dragons landed on my doorstep :) Still clearing the library backlog though...

Received via BookMooch Today, The Will of the Wanderer by Margaret Weis.

From a library sale:
The Curious Eat Themselves by John Straley. It's a mystery series, set in Alaska. This is the 2nd book. I really enjoyed the 1st.

I've been very, very frivolous with my money this last couple of weeks. This is it, for a few weeks I'm only allowed to buy books for myself in the charity shops Mum and I volunteer in. Keep it to a manageable level. Over the past couple of days I've had quite a spending spree:

From Amazon:
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Voluntary Madness: My Year Lost and Found in the Loony Bin by Norah Vincent
Shakespeare Wrote for Money by Nick Hornby

From various charity shops round town:
Heavier than Heaven by Charles Cross
Who Killed Kurt Cobain? by Ian Halperin and Max Wallace
Parky: My Autobiography by Michael Parkinson
Zorro by Isabel Allende
The Bad Mother's Handbook by Kate Long
The Rescue by Nicholas Sparks
Thanks for the Memories by Cecilia Ahern
Three Men in a Float by Dan Kiernan and Ian Vince
Emotionally Weird by Kate Atkinson
My Week with Marilyn by Colin Clark
March by Geraldine Brooks
The Peacock Emporium by Jojo Moyes
The Night Watch by Sarah Waters

Methinks enough may actually be enough this time!

I had a bit of a nerdy indulgence today :)

X-Men: The Legacy Quest Trilogy

I received my first Donald Westlake today- Don't Tell.
No touchstone.

I've had a busy RL this week and haven't been on LT much. But I hauled several books into my house yesterday and today :-)

Yesterday
From a UK mooch: Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

From PBS: The Association by Bentley Little

Today

From BookMooch:
The Legend of Bagger Vance
Politically Correct Holiday Stories
Snow Falling on Cedars
Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen... my kids love the movie version of this, and I didn't know it was a book until the other day when I saw it on BM.
Birth of Venus
Visitation by Frank Peretti
The Impressionist by Hari Kunzru

and from our Catholic thrift store:
Dr. Faustus by Christopher Marlowe (Marlowe has been speculated by some as the true identity of William Shakespeare.)
The Cat Who Sang for the Birds, my first Braun's Cat Who book.

Message edited by its author, Mar 19, 2009, 11:01pm.

From Barny Noble by U.S. mail, a well-handled order:

Rethinking Expertise by Harry Collins and Robert Evans. Long on my wish list, it finally came out in paper. The back cover says, "What does it mean to be an expert?..." I hope to arm myself for future visits to the doctor.
The Last Days of Europe by Walter Laqueur. L.o.m.w.l.,i.f.c.o.i.p. (see above). I'm a recreational apocalyptician; this book will, I hope, describe quotidian apocalypse.
Abraham Lincoln: A Life by Michael Burlingame. This two volume set impressed me on the shelf at the brick and mortar, but at $125 it was too expensive, even with reader's card and coupon, to buy on speculation. I read some reviews and then, having since sixth grade thought I might someday read Carl Sandburg's life of Lincoln, ordered it with the same coupon for a little over $62 -- hurray!

But I'll be reading other stuff tonight.

Robert

Message edited by its author, Mar 20, 2009, 12:20am.

Latest new books from Barnes & Noble

The Sultan's Seal & The Abyssinian Proof by Jenny White
Books 1 & 2 in the Kamil Pasha series. Mysteries set in Istanbul, Turkey at the end of the Ottoman empire in the 19th century. The first book is about a series of murders of foreign women that may be tied to the deposed Sultan, and the second is about a rare religious artifact from the 15th century, and a cult formed by descendants of Abyssinian slaves.

The Cry of the Dove by Fadia Faqir
Set in the modern day it follows a young unmarried Bedouin woman who violates tradition and religion, and has an affair. She gets pregnant and
has to flee because her family want to kill her. She finds asylum in England, and has to learn to live without her child, her culture, and her family.

Napoleon's Pyramids & The Rosetta Key by William Dietrich
Books 1 and 2 in the Ethan Gage series. Adventure/Thrillers set in the 18th century. Main character is an assistant to Ben Franklin, and gets mixed up with Napoleon's adventures in Egypt and the Middle East, and mysterious ancient artifacts.

The Codex by Douglas Preston
Thriller about a family of adventurers who are trying to find their dead father and his treasure. Includes a Mayan codex that may be needed to save the world.

The Alex Studies by Irene Pepperberg
Science book that chronicles the experiments and their outcome of Irene and the African Grey parrot named Alex investigating cognitive and communicative abilities of Grey parrots.

The Mark of the Lion by Suzanne Arruda
1st book in the Jade del Cameron mystery series. Set in English colonial Africa after WWI. Saw this on LT and thought I would give it a try. I am a sucker for historical mysteries.

And I just ordered several book from the Book Depository in the UK. Its the first time I have used them, since I usually get my UK books from a local indie store. Can't wait for them to arrive.

I received my Early Reviewer book yesterday- Everyone is Beautiful by Katherine Center

I received my Member Giveaway today - Workshop of The Second Self by Gary Wolf

one from Bostick Communications:

The Glenn Miller Conspiracy by Hunton Downs...i grew up listening to Glenn Miller...and the mystery surrounding his death...this one sounds like a hoot

When Skateboards Will Be Free: A Memoir of a Political Childhood by Said Sayrafiezadeh....this one sounds fascinating (Touchstones are not touching)...and i don't remember where i requested this one...Shelf Awareness???

A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb showed up today. An event I will blame entirely on Whisper1.

I'm a freak. I went to the Huntington Museum yesterday, for the first time (I've been trying to get there for 30 years and always arrived on a day/time when it was closed) and, of course, visited the gift shop and book store. Did I buy one (or more) of the incredible books about the Huntington of any of the beautiful art books (all of which would be difficult/impossible to find elsewhere)? No. Instead I bought a book I've been eyeing for months which is now in PB, Mary Todd Lincoln. I'm sure I'll enjoy the book, but I think it was a very strange decision to make.

Today I received in the mail New York Trilogy.

Acquired today while browsing through a used book store:

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg
Lexi James and the Council of Girlfriends by Melissa Jacobs
Shopaholic Takes Manhattan by Sophie Kinsella

Today I got a Dick Francis book - Bolt . I thought I'd read all his back in the1980's when I was at college, but I don't remember this particular one. I bet I get halfway though it and realise I have read it before!

This one came via Bookmooch.

Yesterday I got two via Bookmooch - The Birthing House by Christopher Ransom and Derailed by James Siegel.

Message edited by its author, Mar 20, 2009, 6:13pm.

From Amazon (and faster than the speed of light--I had barely touched the one-click order on my keyboard and the UPS man was at my door!) The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga. It's for an April book discussion.

I got my ARC copy of When Skateboards Will Be Free by Said Sayrafiezadeh by the Big Brown sleigh today. I'm excited to read it, but I also have about 35 ARCs and other books to read and review, too, so it's a bit depressing to think how long it'll take to get to it.

Slave to Sensation by Nalini Singh via BookMooch for my Paranormal 999 Challenge.

I needed a little something to cheer me up, so compliments of booksmith used basement...

A Gesture Life by Chang-rae Lee
A conspiracy of paper by David Liss
Embers by Sandor Marai
I, Elizabeth by Rosalind Miles
Wicked! A tale of two schools by Jilly Cooper

I have never heard of any of the authors before.. so I think its a good little haul that will expand my library a bit. My friend made me put five others back, which I'm sure is a good thing somehow (I'm still trying to convince myself of this. I think I NEEDED all those books .. haha)

Now I am off to bake chocolate chip cookies and read the night away. Perfect :)

I'll never remember everything I bought in March, but here are a few...

Resistance Owen Sheers
The Man who Made Lists Joshua Kendall
Sexing the Cherry Jeanette Winterson

From Audible:

If by Rudyard Kipling
Tom Jones by Henry Fielding
Lorna Doone by R.D. Blackmore
Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult
Rose in Bloom by Louisa May Alcott

From Barnes and Noble:

Tell Me Where It Hurts: A Day of Humor, Healing, and Hope in My Life as an Animal Surgeon by Dr. Nick Trout
Fatale: How French Women Do It by Edith Kunz
The Successful Novelist: A Lifetime of Lessons about Writing and Publishing by David Morrell
and
Anne Sexton: Teacher of Weird Abundance by Paula M. Salvio

Resolute: The Epic Search for the Northwest Passage and John Franklin, and the Discovery of the Queens Ghost Ship… by Martin W. Sandler

Night Game by Christine Feehan

one a mooch and one used from Amazon

Two books came in the mail today.

From The Book Depository: Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie, an epic novel just published in the UK which "traces the shared histories of two families, from the final days of the second world war in Japan, and India on the brink of partition in 1947, to Pakistan in the early 1980s, New York in the aftermath of 11 September and Afghanistan in the wake of the ensuing US bombing campaign" (from Maya Jaggi's review in The Guardian). It has received glowing reviews in the UK, and it is on the longlist for the 2009 Orange Prize for Fiction. It will be published by Macmillan/Picador on April 28th in the US.

From Amazon: In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin, a collection of connected stories about life in contemporary feudal, rural and urban Pakistan.

Edited to provide additional information about "Burnt Shadows".

Message edited by its author, Mar 21, 2009, 4:58pm.

Picked up the following at the library today,

Stalking Ivory by Suzanne Arruda - Second in the series

The Masque of the Black Tulip by Lauren Willig - also second in the series

The Abandoned by Douglas Clegg - a horror story

Message edited by its author, Mar 21, 2009, 6:14pm.

Is it me or is the "Books that Came Into your Home" getting less and less? Is it the economy? Or are folks just not posting as much?

I received an Early Reviewer book today, Fit at 50 and Beyond by Michael Gloth. It's only about 150 pages, but includes recipes, and pictures of what look like real people, not super models, working out.

>287,

I know that I haven't been posting as much, not sure about the trend in general though.

Yesterday I received my Early Reviewer book , Everyone Is Beautiful by Katherine Center .

Message edited by its author, Mar 21, 2009, 11:07pm.

>287,

For me, it's both. I haven't been posting as much because I've fallen out of the habit of posting a lot of things. But I lost my job at the end of January, so I've definitely been bringing home fewer books- checks from the EDD are much smaller than my paychecks were. So I'm not bringing home many books at all.

I did get some good books from the library yesterday, though: Mistress Shakespeare by Karen Harper, Drood by Dan Simmons, The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker, and A Swift Pure Cry by Siobhan Dowd.

Also, I found out yesterday that a used bookstore just opened across the street from the library, so I'm hoping to check it out next week. Maybe I'll be able to bring some new stuff home.

Message edited by its author, Mar 21, 2009, 11:58pm.

#287 momom248:
TBQH, I'm trying very hard NOT to let books follow me home right now. I've got TOO MANY!! lol... I've got bookshelves groaning under the weight of so many unread books and I'm trying to attend to them first.

Sadly, I had 30 points at BookMooch burning a hole in my pocket and suffered a relapse. I managed to knock out a few books, but brought in at least twice as many as I sent out.

*sigh*

koolaidmom--I'm that way w/ bookstore gift cards--they last maybe a day in my pocket-then poof they are spent. I'm trying to be more selective in my book purchases esp. hardcovers.

I bought Carrot Cake Murder by Joanne Fluke, The Camel Club by David Baldacci and Dick Tracy by Max Allan Collins. Then I got To Catch a Cook by Joanne Pence and Judgment of the Grave by Sarah Stewart Taylor from my mom.

I picked up The Tortilla Curtain by T C Boyle at Housing Works Used Book Cafe this weekend

I bought Fruits Basket Volume 22 today (first book purchase in over a month).

A nice little pile of books winged their way to my office today and will travel home with me tonight.

From the publisher:
A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick

From the author:
The Romanov Bride by Robert Alexander

From Bookmooch:
Mommy Made and Daddy Too! by Martha Kimmel
The Tudor Rose by Margaret Campbell Barnes
To the Tower Born by Robin Maxwell

Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali from Amazon's Marketplace. I'm trying to borrow books rather than buy them, so I also have Succeeding as a Super Busy Parent, Roadmarks and Therese Raquin via InterLibrary Loan.

>296 - I just finished watching the second disc of the Fruits Basket anime series. It is very cute! I think I'll probably pick the manga up at the point the anime leaves off (when I get there).

Today from BM I received Brightly Burning by Mercedes Lackey. All the other books I've requested are on indefinate hold and I have no extra money to buy books so it may be a while before I'll have anything to post about here *sigh*

One thing fun about Sunday being a post-free day is that Monday is like Christmas morn sometimes :-D

The poor mail lady was walking lopsided from my books and left with a much deflated satchel after depositing:

Fiction Writer's Handbook by Hallie & Whit Burnett

Biblioholism: The Literary Addiction by Tom Raabe ~this one was on an LT recommendation.

Falling Leaves: The Memoir of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter by Adeline Yen Mah
The Book of Spirits by James Reese

The Young Hornblower Omnibus by C. S. Forester ~ Three Hornblower stories in one book with Ioan Gruffudd *drool* as Horatio on the cover

Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice ~I have actually never read this one... seen the movie, but not read the book.

The Boy of a Thousand Faces by Brian Selznick
Vaccine: The Controversial Story of Medicine's Greatest Lifesaver by Arthur Allen
Both used from Amazon, the first one I will give to a boy at our school after I read it. The second .. I am not a believer is our children being given dozens of vaccines starting at birth. I want to see what the other side has to say ..
:P
I will be comparing info to

Healing the New Childhood Epidemics: Autism, ADHD, Asthma, and Allergies: by Kenneth Bock

blest atheist by elizabeth mahlou an early reviewer book

My latest books from Barnes & Noble

Prophets: Apotheosis Book 1 by S. Andrew Swann
Space opera. New series that has political and religious conflict a space empire, and lost human colonies.

The White Lioness by Henning Mankell
Book 3 in the Kurt Wallander series. Mystery that features Swedish police detective.

Cyberabad Days by Ian McDonald
SF, short story collection. Set in the same future India as River of Gods

King's Fool by Margaret Campbell Barnes
Historical fiction, republished. Set in Tudor England, in the court of King Henry VIII. The POV is is fool, who has access to all.

Mahu by Neil S. Plakcy
First book in the Kino Kanapa'aka mystery series. It was out of print, but just was republished. Follows gay Hawaiian Cop.

Oh, KoolAidMom, I think you'll like Falling Leaves, though the one I read was called Chinese Cinderella. It made me very angry (in a good way).

Woops, forgot to make my post!

A trip home supplied me with some good ones I had hidden under my brother's bed (with a good dose of dust):

The Rum Diary by Hunter S. Thompson
When the Going Gets Weird: The Twisted Life and Times of Hunter S. Thompson by Peter O. Whitmer
Beowulf
A French Phrasebook
Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
On the Occasion of My Last Afternoon by Kaye Gibbons
Lolita
Hotel Pastis by Peter Mayle

Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Plunges Into History --for my boyfriend!
and a number of Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazines

It's been almost a month since I bought a book, though a student did drop my sister-in-law's copy of Dragonfly in Amber in a mud puddle!! So it looks like I might be hittiing the store before I see her again (and gaining a slightly dirty, mildly waterlogged treasure).

#295 cdyankeefan I am currently reading Tortilla Curtain for a book club. I really like it so far. Hope you like it too.

Received my ER book today. Fit at 50 and Beyond Michael Gloth,M.D.. Hoping it will be a good motivator.

I received two books from Amazon today: Doubt by John Patrick Shanley for a book discussion, and The Extreme Searcher's Internet Handbook by Randolph Hock.

I just bought Shantaram as an audiobook. I also just bought Novel Destinations and Revolutionary Road. So far, they are all great. They all have their own 'best times' for me to read them, as for Shantaram, I have a long driving commute and audiobooks are great for that.

Two mooches came-
Count Karlstein by Philip Pullman
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco.

My daughter and I went shopping today and naturally we stopped by the bookstore.  I picked up the following:

The Scandal of the Season by Sophie Gee
The Redbreast by Jo Nesbo
Gone With the Windsors by Laurie Graham
Lone Star Rising by Elmer Kelton

Then when I got home the following books had arrived at my door via my lovely mail person:

God of Luck by Ruthanne Lum McCunn
Pretty Birds by Scott Simon
The True Story of Hansel and Gretel by Louise Murphy
The Concubine of Shanghai by Hong Ying

 

Message edited by its author, Mar 24, 2009, 6:50pm.

I got my ER book today Hand of Isis by Jo Graham
and one of my Book Depository books.

I ordered 5 on Friday and one arrived today all by itself (the first) Memnon by Scott Oden. The book was published in the US, but not in mmpb, and it actually cost me less to buy the PB in the UK than buy the Hardcover at the local store. Plus I hate hardcovers.

>299 Jenson_AKA_DL, ooh, I love the anime too! It's one of my go-to movies when I'm under the weather. I don't know if you've read any of the manga, but the order of events is a little bit different from about volumes 6-8, I think.

Books that came home with me today after vowing not to take any more out of the library until I finished some:

Naruto Volume 33 through Volume 37.

I got three books for my birthday today:

The Withered Arm and Other Stories by Thomas Hardy
The Witch of Clatteringshaws by Joan Aiken
A Body in the Bath House by Lindsey Davis

Still Life: A Novel by Joy Fielding from Amazon vine

Another bad week for buying books.

All ordered from Book Depository/Amazon (whichever cheapest), though not received yet.

Keep the Aspidistra Flying by George Orwell
Forgotten Voices of the Holocaust by Lyn Smith
Forgotten Voices of the Second World War by Max Arthur
The Master of Go by Yasunari Kawabata

Message edited by its author, Mar 26, 2009, 11:44am.

#313 Happy birthday janoorani24...

#305- I'm sure I will....once I get to it!!

#313-Happy Birthday!!!

Woot! I got my Early Reviewers copy of Full Meridian of Glory by Paul Murdin...a history of the establishment of the Paris Meridian, once upon a time, a rival to the Greenwich Meridian or, as we call it now, the prime meridian. (Guess who won that fight.) I can't wait to read this, because the measure of the world, and by extension the cosmos, is fascinating and important. Thank you so much, SpringerVerlag and imprint Copernicus Books!

ETA: Touchstone for title not working, sigh. Also wishing janoorani24 many happy returns of the day! Are you "janoorani25" now? ;-)

Message edited by its author, Mar 25, 2009, 2:11pm.

Due to finish The Sun and the Moon: The Remarkable True Account of Hoaxers, Showmen, Dueling Journalists, and Lunar Man-Bats in Nineteenth-Century New York by Matthew Goodman today!

The birth of New York newspapers with a bit of Barnum and Poe thrown in! So far, so good!

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
This is an ARC from vine, and I am totally over the moon with excitement.
can I just tell you that this is one of my all time favorite authors..
this book was in my cart waiting to come to me when released, and then I had the chance to review the arc?



Isaac's Storm : A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History by Erik Larson

an autographed copy no less......

good day in kath-land

:)

Message edited by its author, Mar 25, 2009, 5:26pm.

I'm a bit behind on here after huge charity shops spree the past couple of days: a load for the soon-to-be bookshop and some for me, to be separated out, checked against receipts... yawn. One that I HAVE dealt with in the meantime - Bookselling for Dummies, which will hopefully prove useful over the next few months!

Message edited by its author, Mar 25, 2009, 6:23pm.

Ellie - I can't wait until you get that bookshop up and running, it all sounds so exciting. I often think I want to just be amongst books all the time, totally immersing myself in them and so it's going to be so cool to have your own bookshop!

Today the postman brought me two books via bookmooch;

The Feeling Good Handbook by David D Burns
The Girls by Lori Lansens

I know! We're so tantalisingly close to signing on the dotted line for that vacant shop - the business plan's nearly done, the footfall is pretty good, and we're getting a bit giddy at the prospect! Eeeeeeeeek!

ellie--I'm with fluffyblue--how exciting for you. Please be sure to keep us posted on your progress and all the best for a hugely successful and rewarding bookshop.

Ellie great luck with the bookshop. It sounds fantastic and you will have so much fun.

Now for the books, I received The Cat Who Talked to Ghosts from one of my coworkers that had borrowed it years ago. I forgot all about it. It was a nice surprise to receive at work today.

I went to Borders today to use my 40% off coupon and they had a sale on the books that were already on sale, by 2 get the 3rd free. I couldn't resist it so the four books are:

The Host by Stephenie Meyer
Limitations by Scott Turow
Run by Ann Patchett
Cage of Stars by Jacquelyn Mitchard

I saved 40% on Host so that is why I finally broke down and bought it. Now I will add them to my library and place them on my TBR pile/tower.

OK, here's that catch up from earlier in the week...

Oranges are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
What Katy Did Next by Susan M. Coolidge
The Savage Garden by Mark Mills
Perfume by Patrick Süskind
Rebecca's Tale by Sally Beauman
The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
The Unfortunates by Laurie Graham
The Vampire Armand by Anne Rice

I bought another book for myself today amongst the mountain for the shop, but I haven't located it yet and it was a bit random so I can't remember the title. All this agoraphobia-busting shopping is fantastic for the local charity shops but is rapidly becoming absolutely disastrous for my bank balance...

From B&N:

The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson; a book club selection for May

Message edited by its author, Mar 26, 2009, 7:23am.

August Heat by Andrea Camilleri, the new Inspector Montalbano, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Emma Volumes 5-8 by Kaoru Mori, and Dreamland Chronicles by Scott Christian Sava.

Message edited by its author, Mar 26, 2009, 9:33am.

I got The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and Great Jewish Short Stories yesterday.

I've been going totally mad on the internet ordering books and I HAVE to stop!

3 more today/yesterday:

First They Killed My Father by Loung Ung
Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates
Sold by Patricia McCormick (for Reading Globally April theme read on slavery)

I picked up three at the library today: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson, April Lady by Georgette Heyer, St. Agnes' Stand by Thomas Eidson.

Another one of my new books catalogued and sorted:

The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain by Ronald Hutton

I finally picked up from Borders a copy of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, which has been on my list for ever so long. I have been using the library for quite some time and so have not been making many purchases. It was quite exciting!~! I have probably checked L/G out at the library 25 to 30 times over the years and now I have my own copy to read the bits and pieces from.
I am a happy camper.
Happy reading all and I can't wait to get back to work so I can begin to buy books again and then I can list on here also.
belva

Just returned from the Friends of the Library Sale. I spent almost 2 hours and forced myself to leave, was only $4 over budget and got these great books:

Justine, Clea, Mountolive, and Balthazar by Lawrence Durrell – The Alexandria Quartet – all hardcovers, 2 are first editions
Forty Words for Sorrow by Giles Blunt
Agatha Christie by Gillian Gill
The Honorary Consul by Graham Greene
The Road by Cormac McCarthy – nice hardcover with dust jacket
World without End by Ken Follett – big score! Hardcover with perfect dj
Mason and Dixon by Thomas Pynchon also big score!
The Coffee Trader by David Liss
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
The Autobiography of Henry III by Margaret George
The Memoirs of Cleopatra by Margaret George
Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn
The Spring of the Ram by Dorothy Dunnett
Race of Scorpions by Dorothy Dunnett
Loving Frank by Nancy Horan
Wampeters Foma & Granfalloons by Kurt Vonnegut
The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
1776 by David McCullough
Company of Liars by Karen Maitland

And a BookMooch book A Cold Treachery by Charles Todd

Life is good.

Message edited by its author, Mar 26, 2009, 4:50pm.

Got The Camel Club by David Baldacci
and Dick Tracy by Max Allan Collins.

#334 karenmarie;
Man, did you score!~!
WOO HOO!~!

Just finished Kafka on the Shore which I loved. My new favorite book by Murakami!

On to A Conspiracy of Paper!

Notes from a Big Country by Bill Bryson turned up today via Bookmooch. It looks pretty good although with my TBR pile I'm not sure when I'll read it!

>334: karenmarie- Great haul! Should keep you busy for a couple of weeks!
>337: dancingstarfish- It's also my favorite of Murakami's, although I've only read 3, so far. I've also read Conspiracy of Paper, a couple months ago and really enjoyed it
From Bookmooch:
The Last Good Day by Peter Blauner. This was both recommended and sent by a special LTer, who I'm hoping feels a whole lot better!

Message edited by its author, Mar 26, 2009, 6:55pm.

>>>334 nice one, karenmarie! I love the Friends of the Library Sales

From Goodwill on the way home from work:
Jazz by Toni Morrison
The Makioka Sisters by Junichiro Tanizaki
While I Was Gone by Sue Miller
Beasts of No Nation by Uzodinma Iweala
Class Porn by Molly Hite
Drinking the Rain by Alix Kates Shulman

I got home to discover I already had a copy of While I Was Gone, so I'll probably give one back to Goodwill... Accidentally picking up duplicates happens less than you'd think given the number of TBRs I have.

Hopefully we'll be going to the Grand Sale at the big library in the next town tomorrow afternoon. Of course, having planned this we now have a man coming to size up our roof for repairs AND a man coming to fix the boiler (which has now been dead for nearly three days, brrrrrr) - will we make it?!

Because of a cold, I pretty much hadn't been out for a week and a half. I had some spare time to be spent productively, so I passed through the Nordstrom's men's department and went to Barny Noble's. He had a copy of Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T.E. Lawrence, so I bought it to go with the lives of Gertrude Bell that I am reading now.

I am of an age that Mad magazine and the whole gang of idiots was important to my intellectual development. The gang of idiots also produced Trump magazine and Humbug Magazine. I had them once; circumstances lost them to me. I saw a complete reprint of Humbug at Barny Noble's that I will buy without further investigation; hurray.

Robert

The rest of my Book Depository order arrived on the 25th. I am so happy. The local indie store that I used to have order my UK books would take weeks. I also found one in Barnes & Noble.

Troy: Fall of Kings by David Gemmell (Barnes & Noble)
It is the last book in the Troy series, and was published after his death. His wife Stella Gemmell worked on it also.

Rome Burning by Sophia McDougall
Book 2 in the series, in which Rome never fell. Its a trade paperback here and more expensive than the UK book.

Wilful Behaviour by Donna Leon
Book 11 in the Commissario Guido Brunetti
For some reason they are publishing the older ones in a haphazard manner in the US. This was the last old book that I didn't have, and I got sick of waiting.

The Broken Kings By Robert Holdstock
Book 3 of the Merlin Codex , a mix of Celtic Arthurian and ancient Greek. It never made it to paper here.

Dark Blood by John Meaney
Book 2 of the Tristopolis series. They have skipped this book in the US and gone from 1 Bone Song to 3 Black Blood for some reason.

#320
McKait you're so lucky! Sarah Waters is also one of my favourite authors and The Little Stranger is also on my list. I can't wait for June!
How was the book?

I stopped by Goodwill at lunch and picked up 6 books. I will be posting them later when I am home from work.

I see some nice purchases posted in here. Happy reading all!!!

my first LT Early Readers/Member Giveaway book::
The Kicker of St. Johns Wood by Gary Wolf (Touchstones are being cold here)....Dystopia...Dystopia...all hail Dystopia...and i love the cover as well!!!

#346> I just read Gary Wolf's book Workshop of the Second Self and I loved it. I can't wait to see your review of his book.

Wait you can get books at Goodwill?!?!

#348> seeing that when I was typing my message last time that LT went down I will try again.

Yes at least at my Goodwill there are books. They are 50 cents each. I always love to see what has been dropped off. Usually they are hard back books too.

I took two more from my school library today--The Name of This Book is Secret and Bronx Masquerade. This makes nine library books I have from various libraries, and I plan to go tomorrow. Someone stop me...I'm sick!!

There are also books at the Habitat for Humanity Home store in our town - maybe in other towns, too.

From Frugal Muse Books (used book store):
The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean An LT recommendation!
The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst A strong LT recommendation!
The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon. I need to read more of this gifted author!

March has been an amazing month for books after all. Didn't think a thing was coming in and all of a sudden all these interesting books:

Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood (didn't think I'd enjoy another one by her!)
The Family Markowitz by Allegra Goodman (will I still enjoy a funny and wise book??!!)
The Resistance to Theory by Paul De Man (again with the theory stuff!)
Feminism, Utopia, and Narrative by Libby Falk Jones and Sarah Webster Goodwin (more feminist stuff!)
Midnight Disease: The Drive to Write, Writer's Block and the Creative Brain (Ahh, the writer's block has me in its grip!)
Dirty Little Angelsby C. Tusa(I made him a promise!)
Writing Personal Essays by Sheila Bender
The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga (for a book club discussion)
A Chain of Voices by Andre Brink (he's a favorite!)
Writers Dreaming by Naomi Apel

Wow! March turned out to be a more interesting month than I thought!

Message edited by its author, Mar 27, 2009, 7:54pm.

#353 - let me know how Alias Grace is. I just rescued it from beneath my mom's bed.

Well done, MissTeacher :)

The Mystery of Grace by Charles de Lint.

Using a 40% coupon from Borders.
The Civil War A Narrative Fort Sumter to Perryville by Shelby Foote.
One volume down two to go.

From work yesterday:-

Dewey by Vicki Myron. I've been really looking forward to reading this.
Rumour has it by Jill Mansell.
Alchemist by Peter James (touchstone having a senior moment)
No Way Out by Lynda Page

Message edited by its author, Mar 28, 2009, 6:03am.

From the Library today:

Whose Body my first Dorothy Sayers, should they be read in order?

Death of a Glutton, Heartsick,Sweetheart, The Birthday Present

From Bookmooch: A Sleeping Life and from Overstock Fer-De-Lance

Message edited by its author, Mar 28, 2009, 2:32pm.

I got a book from Barnes & Noble and several from Borders.

Warriors by James Harpur
I saw this on Tag Watch and it looked cool. Its for kids but it has 11 different cultures and it looks at their warriors, arms, and famous battles. It goes from Assyrians to Zulus and has pop-ups, cards, and other interactive items. Very cool.

This was available at the B&N in a city 20 minutes north. I wouldn't have gone just for this, but there was another book that I wanted so I went and got both books. I used the reserve-in-store button for both.

My first book was fine, this book however had a problem. It was listed on-line as $9.99, and that was also the store price. I went got the books, and some others. Didn't see the price until I got home. They had charged me $21.99 for the book ! So I had to go back and get it fixed, which they did. But I had to make 2 trips up north.

Then I got some books at Borders. They haven't really seemed to have much selection lately.

Vampires are Forever by Lynsay Sands
Book 8 in the Argeneau Vampires series. I was missing this book. about a family of Canadian vampires who are looking for their significant others. It is a light fluffy read. Sometimes funny, not too icky on the romance and just warm, well done characters.

Emperor by Stephen Baxter
Book 1 of the Time's Tapestry series.
Alternate history with SF. Starts in Roman Britain with the Celts.

Curse the Dawn by Karen Chance
Book 4 in the Cassie Palmer series. A modern day urban fantasy.

The Lost Army of Cambyses by Paul sussman
A book in the Yusuf Khalifa series set in Egypt. It is both historical (about the lost Persian army of Cambyses in the Egyptian desert) and set in the modern day in Egypt. There are murders in the modern day which are tied to the mystery of the lost army. The POV is a Luxor police officer.

This book is listed as book 1, but I think it was actually published after the one listed as book 2 ?

My Lobotomy by Howard Dully
a non-fiction book that is memoir/auto-biography of a man whose stepmother had him lobotomized when he was 12, because he was 'difficult'. It was in 1960, and was apparently OK to do at the time.

I saw someone list this book in the currently reading thread, and it seemed interesting.

The Manual of Detection by Jedediah Berry. I couldn't resist the cover! Hope the book is good.

#359 jonesli - I didn't read them in order the first time, but you're lucky - Whose Body? is her first published mystery. Here's the order according to wikipedia:

Whose Body? (1923)
Clouds of Witness (1926)
Unnatural Death (1927)
The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club (1928)
Lord Peter Views the Body (1928) (12 short stories)
Strong Poison (1930) *
Five Red Herrings (1931)
Have His Carcase (1932) *
Hangman's Holiday (1933) (12 short stories, 4 including Lord Peter)
Murder Must Advertise (1933) (Harriet is mentioned in passing)
The Nine Tailors (1934)
Gaudy Night (1935) *
Busman's Honeymoon (1937) *
In the Teeth of the Evidence (1939) (18 short stories, 4 including Lord Peter)
Lord Peter- the Complete Lord Peter Wimsey Stories (1972)
Thrones, Dominations (1998) (This Lord Peter novel was begun by Sayers in 1936, completed by Jill Paton Walsh and published in 1998.) *

* = books with Harriet Vane.

I love them all, in any order.

Well I am finally able to list the books that I purchased at Goodwill yesterday.

The Fourth Hand by John Irving
Jack & Jill by James Patterson
When the Lilacs Bloom by Susan Kirby
An Eye for An Eye by Joseph Telushkin
Undue Influence by Steve Martini
The World According to Garp by John Irving

They are all hard back so I am quite pleased with them. I have more to add later because I stopped by the library to browse there selection of books for sale. I came out with 8 books there.

Hooray for birthday money! I purchased...

Fruits Basket Volume 7
The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak and
The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

I've read them all before, but very glad to own them now. :-)

bell-Hope you had a great birthday! I'm glad you were able to get some books...the best presents!

Happy Birthday Bell!!!

Here are the other books that I bought at the library book sale:

Fanny by Erica Jong
Moonlight Becomes You by Mary Higgins Clark
The Christmas Thief by Mary Higgins Clark
Amityville the horror returns by John G. Jones
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares
Cujo by Stephen King
Christine by Stephen King
Lean Mean Thirteen by Janet Evanovich

I think I have bought enough books this month so far... ;)

Three for me today - two via Bookmooch:

Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh and
The Bad Mother's Handbook by Kate Long

and from the charity table at our local Tescos:

Graham Greene Omnibus by Graham Greene

While at a college accepted students' day I found a hardcover set of The Doll People and The Meanest Doll in the World for $1. I couldn't say no, and learned New York's sales tax in the process (8%).

And then when I got home The Giving Tree was in my mailbox.

I haven't added any of them yet, but I was pretty pleased with $.54 cent hardcovers (and new!).

Message edited by its author, Mar 28, 2009, 8:45pm.

Happy birthday, bell7. I loved The Lightning Thief!

Michaela! We've just doubled up again!

From Barnes and Noble:

Crying at Movies by John Manderino
The Second Coming by Walker Percy
Made From Scratch: Discovering the Pleasures of a Handmade Life by Jenna Woginrich (I read an article by the author in the current issue of Mother Earth News. It was about modern homesteading and really piqued my interest.)
The Wild Braid: A Poet Reflects on a Century in the Garden by Stanley Kunitz (celebrating National Poetry Month just a bit early)
The Complete French For Cats by Henry Beard

My 40% Borders coupon went to the new Library of America Lincoln volume, The Lincoln Anthology: Great Writers on His Life and Legacy from 1860 to Now, to go with a fat life of Lincoln I bought recently. Then from a rummage sale at which I cashiered, I got Dewey because it seems to be the thing to do for us LibraryThing folk.

Robert

The Lincoln Anthology touchstone having failed, here is the link: http://www.librarything.com/work/6938286

The Dewey touchstone having failed more obscurely, here is the link: http://www.librarything.com/work/6829415

Message edited by its author, Mar 29, 2009, 12:56am.

From QPBC:

Fine Just the Way It Is by E. Annie Proulx
Indignation by Philip Roth

I also used my Borders 40% coupon yesterday - Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters.

The Borders I go to was also having a sale on clearance books - buy two and get the third free. Even after going through the clearance bins twice I couldn't find three that I liked. :-( The store was about as busy as Christmas, though - on the one hand it was good seeing so many people supporting a book store (and not just buying clearance books), on the other hand I had to wait a loooonnnnggg time to buy my one book.

#374> Sorry to hear you couldn't find three books that you liked. It is hard to find books you like in Borders Clearance bins. My borders had so many shelves of clearance books I had so many I wanted to buy (I limited myself to just 3) and it was also busy.

I've been round a few book shops but couldn't find anything I fancied buying - I think I must be coming down with something!

However I have been to the library and added to the backlog, and I now have:
The Tea Rose
The Tipping Point
The Other Hand
I Know This Much is True

My library books are now arranged by order of due date in an attempt to get through the backlog in a sensible way.

From Books A Million:

Tam Lin by Pamela Dean
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
Hawkes Harbor by S. E. Hinton

From Barnes and Noble:
Bobby Gold by Anthony Bourdain

I just hit the public library book sale...60 books for $28.50!!! And not obscure books either! I'm talking James Joyce, Dickens, Fitzgerald, Chaucer, Steinbeck, Swift, Twain, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Salinger, Cervantes, Huxley, Plath, Keillor and many, many more.

My best snag of the day??? A 1962 hardcover edition of The Thin Red Line.

I went to a library sale on Friday too - we were 15 minutes late and the room was shut up, but the nice lady in the children's section opened it up again for us and we did a kind of trolley grab in just over 10 minutes! We bought three bags of stuff, mostly for the bookshop, but I haven't had chance to sort them out yet and filch anything... ;-)

Wow MissTeacher you made an excellent haul in that library book sale. I think our library will be having a great sale some time in April and I may not be around for it.

I don't know if these count..but i downloaded two freebies and one cheapie..to my Kindle (i'll wait for y'all to throw rocks..but i had the money..and am sharing the damn thing with a friend...)

The Monk by Matthew Lewis
The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe
Clarissa Harlowe... by Samuel Richardson

..see, i go for quality..or creepy...one...

;-p Jude

With that Borders 40% off coupon: Eat, Memory: Great Writers at the Table: A Collection of Essays from the New York Times edited by Amanda Hesser.

365, 366, 369 - thanks! I had attempted to get books for my birthday by making a list of all books but one (Lost Season 1 on DVD), but alas - no one in my family bought me books. (I don't suppose they're trying to say I have too many?) So I used birthday money a few days later instead. :-)

>369 Miss Teacher, I loved The Lightning Thief and the rest of the Percy Jackson series. I've already put The Last Olympian on hold at the library!

The Amazon floated to my door bearing Last and First Men, an ancient (1931, were there PEOPLE then?!) SF novel for a group read here on LT. Gawd..."Observe now your own epoch of history as it appears to the Last Men." This is the first sentence.

Uh-oh.

I've got a nice pile of books to take home today:

From Bookmooch:
The Alchemist's Daughter by Katharine McMahon
The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani
Maps for Lost Lovers by Nadeem Aslam
The No-Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley

From the publisher:
The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe

From Ebay:
Not ACTUALLY a book, but a "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" lampshade for our coming baby's nursery.

Amazon was good to me today and brought me Wicked Lovely and A Certain Slant of Light, which was so highly recommended on here I had to find it. I also got an audio version of Winnie the Pooh that features the voices of, among others, Stephen Fry and Judi Dench.

Brought home-
The Book of Irish Weirdness
Hope Diamond by Richard Kurin

Also-
Birds of America by Lorrie Moore
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
Lives of the Monster Dogs by Kirsten Bakis
and a Mooch-
Death of a Celebrity by M.C. Beaton

Don't know why but while typing in the above message my computer suddenly posted it without my hitting the button. Spooooky.

Message edited by its author, Mar 30, 2009, 2:59pm.

Recent purchases:

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami
The Boat by Nam Le
The Impostor by Damon Galgut
In The Dark by Mark Billingham
The Year of Living Biblically by A. J. Jacobs
A Perfectly Good Family by Lionel Shriver
Last Evenings on Earth by Roberto Bolano
Collected Ghost Stories of MR James
The Haunted Hotel and other stories by Wilkie Collins
In A Glass Darkly by Sheridan Le Fanu
I Play the Drums in a Band Called Okay by Toby Litt
Bright Shiny Morning by James Frey
The President's Last Love by Andrey Kurkov

OMG! The Book Fairy stopped by my house today! I got my Feb ER book in the mail today, The Stettheimer Dollhouse, and my youngest and I love it! It smells life a craft store, which is fantastic :-D

I also received my ARC copy of Katherine Howe's The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane. The title of this book always makes me cock my head and try to figure out what it means.

Other books from BookMooch:
The Devil Wears Prada, loved the movie but didn't know it was a book until BM recco'd it.
Love Monkey by Kyle Smith
Bee Season by Myla Goldberg
Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale by Holly Black
and
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn -this one was recommended by a fellow LT member when I posted how much I loved The Book Thief.

Books that came home with me?
I work at a library, so I think the list would be too long if I listed everything. I only bought three books though.
Nouveau Paris Monumental: Avec Le Parcours Du Metropolitain from Garnier Freres (Which is here http://www.librarything.com/work/8155537... since the touchstones won't load it) , from Deseret Industries. Can you believe I got it for seven bucks? I love D.I.
Then at the library's booksale I bought Skellig and The Secret of Platform 13. I've read the first, and it was good, but I haven't read the second one yet. Oh well, I'll get around to it eventually, as I'm trying to read 100 books this year.

Message edited by its author, Mar 30, 2009, 4:57pm.

#362 Hi Karen: thanks so much for listing all of the Dorothy Sayers.

My Abandonment by Peter Rock from vine.

From Special LT Friend:
The Lost City of Z by David Grann- A nice ARC from a nice person and one I've been looking forward to.
From Family Member:
Infected by Scott Sigler. This looks to be a creepy thrill-ride!

I got a few books from Bookmooch this month and did a little splurging at Borders:

The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen
Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult
Catalyst by Laurie Halse Anderson
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card