Books Brought Home January/February 2014

From Audible:

Outer Dark by Cormac McCarthy

Someone needs to seriously monitor me when buying books....

For Kindle:
Free Four by Veronica Roth
Moon Called by Patricia Briggs
The Silver Wolf by Alice Borchardt
The Scent of Shadows by Vicki Pettersson
Gone by Michael Grant
The Transfer by Veronica Roth
Wild Invitation by Nalini Singh
Escape from North Korea by Melanie Kirkpatrick
Writing a Novel with Scrivener by David Hewson
Soul Screamers, Volume Three by Rachel Vincent
The Duchess War by Courtney Milan
The Governess Affair by Courtney Milan
Blind Allegiance by Violetta Rand
Feral Sins by Suzanne Wright
Wicked Cravings by Suzanne Wright
Allegiant by Veronica Roth
Legend by Marie Lu
Snow White Sorrow by Cameron Jace
Empire of the Sun by JG Ballard
Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
Midnight in Austenland by Shannon Hale

Textbooks:
State of War: The Violent Order of Fourteenth-Century Japan by Thomas Conlan
Chushingura by Takeda Izumo
Naomi by Jinichiro Tanizaki
They Came to Japan by Michael Cooper

For me:
The Plot Whisperer by Martha Alderson
Make a Scene by Jordan Rosenfeld
The Just Bento Cookbook by Makiko Itoh
Nail Your Novel: Why Writers Abandon Books by Roz Morris
Nail Your Novel: Bring Characters to Life by Roz Morris
The Writer's Guide to Psychology by Carolyn Kaufman
Jia You 2 by Jialu Xu
Samurai Tales by Romulus Hillsborough
A Modern History of Japan: From Tokugawa Times to the Present by Andrew Gordon
An Illustrated Guide to Korean

Audiobooks from the library, takedown twenty by janet evanovich and the ocean at the end of lane by neil gaiman.
I've ordered doctor sleep by Stephen king and can't wait to start it!

The Red Pyramid by Rick Riodan

The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

On the way, not yet received:

My Life as an Indian by JW Schultz
Kym by Joyce Stranger
Breed of Giants by Joyce Stranger

From Audible

The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

I just got notification that the e-book version of The Invention of Wings is waiting for me to download. I like Sue Monk Kidd's writing, so I'm expecting to like this one.

From Open Letter Series:

This Is The Garden by Giulio Mozzi

One of two Book Depository books arrived today: the BBC Books edition of His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. (The other is the TV tie-in edition of The Return of Sherlock Holmes.)

Brought home Hild from the library. I've been considering buying it, so if I enjoy the first few chapters, I'll probably just bite the bullet and purchase.

I stopped by the library on my way home, and found three Peanuts books and The Mouse on the Moon in the discard shelves. Those set me back a whole dollar.

When I got home there were three Advance Reading books waiting for me: Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief, Game: A Thriller and The Tilted World.

Earlier this week I received a SantaThing book: Howl's Moving Castle.

I guess I'd better get reading...

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko

Hollow City just arrived! This is the follow up to Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children. I can't wait to start it! Monday is a holiday for us here at work and I have designated it a day to spend reading. Such a luxury! :)

From Audible:

The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches by Alan Bradley
High Five by Janet Evanovich

Breed of Giants and My Life as an Indian arrived...

I bought the unabridged audio version of Will Grayson, Will Grayson today. It's another YA book, but John Green is one of the co-authors and I loved his The Fault in Our Stars.

I bought Scott Blackwood's novel, We Agreed to Meet Just Here.

Chia the Wildcat arrived today. It's a bit more "beat up" than I'd expect from a book sold as "good", but the binding is tight. It's definitely in "readable" condition.

Arrived in the mail today: Gertrude of Stony Island Avenue by James Purdy.

From the Library

Audiobooks - Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte read by Emilia Fox
and Prophecy by S J Parris read by Lawrence Kennedy (although I've just discovered this is the second in the series and am wondering if they're stand alone or whether I need to take it back and track down Heresy first.

Through the post paperbacks Light Music by Kathleen Ann Goonan although this is the fourth in a series. I already own part 3 and am still awaiting #1 Queen City Jazz and #2 Mississippi Blues. The awful part about this is that #3 has sat on my shelf for 13 years with me thinking 'Oooh, I should really get around to reading that' and then when I finally did pick it up, I then had to track down two previous books to read before it - oh dear.

Picked up as left for interested parties Sword of God by Chris Kuzneski.

Three books arrived today:

Perfect by Rachel Joyce
Three Farmers on their Way to a Dance by Richard Powers
In the Shadow of Our House by Scott Blackwood

Today I got a copy of The Secret of Magic by Deborah Johnson. I'm hoping it's as good as it promises.

Added 3 to my library today:

LTER A King's Ransom bySharon Kay Penman
The Boy Kings of Texas by Domingo Marttinez (National Book Finalist and a Kindle Deal for .99)
and A Red Herring Without Mustard by Alan Bradley

@corgiiman, I'd love to hear what you think of A King's Ransom once you read it. I requested a copy from ER, but, alas...did not win it...

The King's Hounds by Martin Jensen

#26--Will do that. It is 600+ pages and I must finish The Cider House Rules first.

Two arrived in the mail today:

Gate of Ivrel: Fever Dreams by Jane Fancher and CJ Cherryh

Black Wings: The Unbeatable Crow by Joseph Wharton Lippincott

Books Bought in 2014.

JANUARY

1.The Einstein Pursuit by Chris Kuzneski
2.Alex Cross, Run by James Patterson
3.The Wood Beyond by Reginald Hill
4.The Wildcats by J.T.Edson
5.Hangman's Choice by Ralph Cotton
6.Pancho and Black Jack by Fred Bean
7.Paper Money by Ken Follett
8.Right on Time by Pauline McLynn
9.The Summer That Never Was by Peter Robinson
10.The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty
11.Philomena by Martin Sixsmith
12.Manna From Hades by Carola Dunn
13.A Colourful Death by Carola Dunn
14.Valley of the Shadow by Carola Dunn
15.The Shadow Child by Judith Lennox
16.Divine Justice by David Baldacci
17.The City of Gold and Lead by John Christopher
18.Throne of Jade by Naomi Novik
19.Black Powder War by Naomi Novik

Last year I ended up buying 384 books, trying to be good this year Honestly.

Whew...

The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker

I made a resolution not to book binge in the new year. Since I ordered these in December and just got them my resolution is safe..... So far. These are joining my bookshelf:
Hollow City by Ransom Riggs;
The Isle of Youth by Laura Van Den Berg;
Duplex by Kathryn Davis;
Ketchup Clouds by Annabel Pitcher;
The Infatuations byJavier Marias;
Communion Town by Sam Thompson; and
All That Is by James Salter

Arrived today: Orfeo by Richard Powers

Returned the Agnes Grey audiobook to the library and took out two more Body Double by Tess Gerritsen and Splintered by A.G. Howard.

Then gave into temptation in a charity shop (at least it was all in a good cause and a couple of these were either on my wish list or my 'if you come across it' list so it's got to be good, right?)
1. The L-Shaped Room by Lynne Reid Banks (had read this in my teens and remembered liking it, but couldn't remember what it was about)
2. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
3. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell (saw a few people saying they'd really enjoyed this yesterday, so when I saw it there, I figured I should give it a try)
4. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
5. The Mesmerist by Barbara Ewing (this was on my wishlist because I'd been given the second part of the series as a gift)
6. The Winter Ghosts by Kate Mosse (I'd heard good things about the author so thought I'd try this out)
7. Lion's Head, Four Happiness by Xiaomei Martell
8. Travel with Assassins by Henry Etwaroo (title seemed interesting)
9. The Motorcycle Diaries by Ernesto 'Che' Guevara

They were all in pretty good condition and each one cost me 50p so it's a bargain! I just mustn't let myself go visit them again for a while.

From the take two, pay for one bargain bin at the bookstore:
The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster
The Hollow by Agatha Christie

Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke

Joseph and His Brothers by Thomas Mann

I get two emails a day offering me low priced books for my kindles. So far in January I've ordered:

Following Atticus
To Marry an English Lord
Small Sacrifices
The Rosie Project
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Philomena: A Mother, Her Son, and a Fifty-Year Search
The Blue Fox
The Secret Piano
The Edge of the Earth
When I Found You
An Echo Through the Snow
Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II
The Golem and the Jinni
The Long Awakening

From the library:

Iceland's Bell
Thereby Hangs a Tail

Have a gift card for Bull Moose Music (love love love this store) burning a whole in my wallet so picked up a few books that were on my "wish list" =:)
Changeling (Order of Darkness)
The Goldfinch
The Pieces We Keep

USPS was kind to me:

The Lone Winter by Anne Bosworth Greene

Never Count Apples by Joyce Stranger

And Habitat for Humanity's resale store sold me this:

Foundation: A Novel of Valdemar by Mercedes Lackey

I need more shelves...

I'm at a conference this weekend where I get free books (it's like crack, people!!), so I picked up the following:
Best Food Writing 2013
Consider the Fork
Delicious! (by Ruth Reichl; won't touchstone)
The Scar Boys
Living with a Wild God
City of God: Faith in the Streets
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry (by Gabrielle Zevin; won't touchstone)

And that's with one 20 minute pass on the vendor floor. I still have tomorrow and Monday to return!

Souless series - all 5, Kindle
Forest Born
Dimsie and the Jane Willard Foundation
Far Country
The Debatable Mound
No Time for Romance
Imperfect Harmony
How Carrots won the Trojan War
Dark Tide: the Great Molasses Flood Kindle
Magicians Guild
Willa Cather Collection:Includes My Antonia, The Song of the Lark Kindle
The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks Kindle
Rosetta, Rosetta, Sit by Me Kindle
Exiled : Memoirs of a Camel Kindle
Storm Song Kindle
The Golem and the Jinni Kindle
This Will Make You Smarter: 150 New Scientific Concepts

Touchstones aren't working. Grump.

The Carpet Makers by Andreas Eschbach

Lord of All Things by Andreas Eschbach

Arc 2.1: Exit Strategies, various authors

Arrived last week, but I forgot to list them here:

Vet on Call
A Walk in the Dark

I've returned Body double and Prophecy to the library - read the first and 'enjoyed' it, gave up on the second. Took out Brethren by Robyn Young and Ruth by Elizabeth Gaskell both on audio.

Received through the post Mississippi Blues by Kathleen Ann Goonan - still waiting for the first in the series!

Poppet by Mo Hayder

Picked up several more books before leaving my conference on Monday:
Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library
Fangirl
Lost Lake
Alena
The Noisy Paint Box
Toys in Space
(these last two are for my son, although I love them!)

Returned Ruth to the library and came out with The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards and The Dark Road by Ma Jian both on audio book. Then on a quick trip to the local Hospice Shop I came out with
Praying to the Aliens by Gary Numan
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
and Bones of the Hills by Conn Iggulden (already have 1, 2 and 5 in this series so I'm trying to complete it as and when I come across the books - nearly slipped up and bought #2 again today though!)

Actually bought one other, but I'm not listing that as it isn't for me and I'm not intending reading it (unless the person I got it for tells me it's a really good one - there is too much on my TBR pile already.

From BookMooch:

Faith by Jennifer Haigh

Okay so ordered these last month at various points, but they've all arrived today.

The Dreamtrails by Isobelle Carmody (this is a combination edition of two of her novels Wavesong and The Stone Key.
The Weirdstone of Brisingamen by Alan Garner
The Moon of Gomrath which is the sequel to the one immediately above
and an audio version of Octopussy and the Living Daylights by Ian Fleming read by Tom Hiddleston.

All the books I've ordered have arrived, except the latest ER that I won. I'll be going on a trip later this month, and am trying to resist...there will probably be some wonderful bookstores on the way...

Winter's Tale - picked this up at Bull Moose Saturday.. When I retire I sooo want to work there lol. I will be the oldest person there - but it would be a blast.

Went to the movies yesterday, and the cinema happens to be next door to a secondhand bookshop. I came home with the following:

Doctor Who: The Ancestor Cell, by Peter Anghelides and Stephen Cole
Pictures of Perfection, by Reginald Hill
On Beulah Height, by Reginald Hill
The Case of the Gilded Fly, by Edmund Crispin
The Heart of Midlothian, by Sir Walter Scott

Returned the audio versions of Splintered, The Memory Keeper's Daughter and The Dark Road to the library - I'd finished the first two and wasn't enjoying the third and came out with The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt read by William Hope, The Language of Bees by Laurie R. King, read by Jenny Sterlin and Cousin Phillis by Elizabeth Gaskell read by Kenneth Branagh.

Also popped into the charity shop almost next door and came out with The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon and Divergent by Veronica Roth.

The first has been on my list of things to look out for for a while and I've seen the latter on a few threads and thought I'd give it a try. Similarly with The Sisters Brothers and The Language of Bees and seeing their names around. I need to get a fair way through a couple of the audio books as having missed The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo again, I had a chat with the librarian on desk duty today and he has put in a request from the other branch library and it should be available for pick up by Saturday - hopefully I'll be finished with Cousin Phillis by then and well on the way with the Robyn Young title I borrowed last week.

Sword-Bound by Jennifer Roberson

FOL had their public book sale today...

My car drove itself to the site, the books jumped into my bag, and the money flew on its own from my purse into the cash register... ::whistling innocently::

Middlemarch by George Eliot

Animals Do the Strangest Things by Leonora Hornblow

North Carolina is My Home by Charles Kuralt

Charles Kuralt's America by Charles Kuralt

In the Land of the Big Red Apple by Roger Lea MacBride

Nerilka's Story by Anne McCaffrey

Sand Dune Pony by Troy Nesbit

Henry Reed's Journey by Keith Robertson

The Frugal Gourmet Cooks American by Jeff Smith

QB VII by Leon Uris

To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis

I didn't realize these three were book #2 in a series...which I have not read:

Madwand by Roger Zelazny

Dawn by Elie Wiesel

Covered Wagon Women, Volume 2: Diaries and Letters from the Western Trails, 1850 by Kenneth L. Holmes

From Audible:

The Unexpected Mrs. Polifax by Dorothy Gilman
My Own Miraculous by Joshilyn Jackson

Day Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko

Queen City Jazz by Kathleen Ann Goonan - bought as I already had the third in the series and had managed to locate copies of # 2 and 4 and so this is the first - now I can try reading them.

Despite my usual annual promise not to buy any more books, I couldn't help myself when I managed to visit one of my favorite Indie bookstores in Richmond, Virginia: Fountain Bookstore on Cary Street. Here's the haul, all tucked into a great bag that says "Read Local":

Oil and Honey by Bill McKibben
The Union Street Bakery by Mary Ellen Taylor (autographed copy)
Sweet Expectations by Mary Ellen Taylor (autographed copy)
Food Rules: An Eater's Manual by Michael Pollan
Red Holler: Contemporary Appalachian Literature by John Branscum and Wayne Thomas
The Wild Book by Margarita Engle
The Golem and the Genie by Helene Wecker
Hollow City: The Second Novel of Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
Pirate Cinema by Cory Doctorow

Now to find a space on the shelf for them...

Arrived today:

Under the Wide and Starry Sky by Nancy Horan
The Fox / The Captain's Doll / Ladybird: Three Novellas by D. H. Lawrence
Selected Stories (Lawrence, D. H.)
The Ghost of the Mary Celeste by Valerie Martin
The Collected Stories by Reynolds Price
Midstream: An Unfinished Memoir by Reynolds Price

There is a certain irony to going to the library on Monday to pick up The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo which they'd ordered from another branch for me as their copy was in and out so constantly for the last three months that I hadn't managed to pick it up, and then popping in yesterday to return another loan and discovering that their copy was now sitting on the shelf! *sigh* Not to worry - I'm already part way through TGWTDT at last!

So I went out today to the farm barn charity shop to look at furniture and while I was there I browsed through the jigsaws and DVDs and well, I couldn't resist taking a look at the books as well.

Came back with
Storm Front the first of the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher - an online acquaintance had been raving and as it wasn't the kind of thing that crops up often here, I thought I should take it as the opportunity arose.
Dragonquest by Anne McCaffrey - I've probably read this before but it's been a long time so I thought I'd give it a try.
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce - another that seems to be or have been popular in many circles so...
Voice of the Godsby Trudi Canavan - again a rare find here and the third in a series I've got the first two and this one was in good condition.
The Cat Who Came To Breakfast by Lilian Jackson Braun - this was an audio book and unabridged, so I thought I'd add it to the waiting to be listened to pile.

Dragonquest is one of my favorites, and a frequent reread!

Got Lookaway, Lookaway and The Secret of Magic last Sunday at an event hosted by our local book festival company. Met both authors and had them sign their books!

I'm in a group called Read Our Own Tomes (ROOT for short). The point of the group is to reduce our TBR piles. Therefore, I made a commitment, to myself, that I will not bring home any new books in 2014 until I've cleared an entire shelf in one of my bookcases by reading books which I previously purchased and are sitting there. So.......to answer the question posed, I have brought only one book into my home this year, my dearest friend purchased Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever by Bill O'Reilly for my birthday. Getting ready to start it now. 2014 going to be a tough year for me. I have discovered I like buying books as much as I do reading them.

#2, Amy, it's so much easier for me just to click on a Kindle book and buy them....don't have to carry bags home, etc. Dangerous!

>68 Tess_W:
More power to you! I couldn't do it, and I know that without trying.

Tess, I wish you the best. I, too, like buying books...

If You Could See What I See arrived today.. :)

Today I received an impulse buy: another first edition of The Lone Winter (1923), but this one is signed by the author!

::happy dance::