New Books to You for the New Year - Jan. - March 2018

I think due to jillmwo's subtle art of blasting book bullets hither and yon, many of us can claim this to be one of the first new books of the new year.

The Bletchley Girls by Tessa Dunlop

I also purchased for my husband:
All These Worlds by Dennis E. Taylor

Both on Kindle.

I'll include a couple from around Christmas. This one was a gift from my hubby who knows me so well -

And this one was next in a series I've been reading for ages. It was a little less hard-edged than the usual in this series. He even made the villains sympathetic and kind of nice.

The Wanted & The Enigma of the Owl

>2 Bookmarque: Oh, the Owl book looks fantastic.

So far it's wonderful, if a tad repetitive in the sense that owl habits and characteristics are not that varied. The photography is outstanding though. Such dedication and nice work with artificial light.

>2 Bookmarque: Oooh, the owl book looks gorgeous!

Oops. Purchased Lock In by John Scalzi in a bargain on Kindle today. I like Scalzi, and my husband sometimes does, so I bought it for him.

>6 MrsLee: Perfectly sound reasoning.

These don't count, because they are purchased on Kindle for my mom, with a gift certificate which she was given at Christmas. The fact that I intend to read them someday means nothing.
An Unmarked Grave by Charles Todd
And Furthermore by Judi Dench
My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell

>6 MrsLee:, >8 MrsLee: - Lock In is excellent, hope you enjoy it. My Family and Other Animals was a huge favourite of mine years ago, so funny! I should put it on my reread list.

Got some ARCs that I'm really excited about this week:

Warning Light by David Ricciardi
The Terminal List by Jack Carr and
Field of Valor by Matthew Betley.

No excuses for this one. I pre-ordered
The Grave's a Fine and Private Place by Alan Bradley. To be released January 30th. Now I need to catch up on the series, I'm behind by a couple of books at least.

Went a little bargain happy in the last week or so. Some digital, some physical and some I just had to have.

........

>8 MrsLee: I have a set of Gerald Durrell's books. I think they belonged to my wife's family and just ended up in our house. :-)

I have not gotten round to reading any of them yet but I am anticipating a pleasant experience when I do.

I read Three Singles to Adventure last year and it was hilarious! It was my phone book, so I just read it in small via on waiting rooms and so on, and it was a great way to pass the time enjoyably while waiting.

>13 pgmcc: I've only read one book by him, but have a couple more on the Kindle. I enjoyed the book I read very much, I suggest you give them a try!

Oops I did it again.



Friends of the Library sale. Pricier than the last time (hard to beat $1.50), but still a bargain. 18 books and two DVDs. Woo hoo!

>16 Bookmarque:
North by Northwest - Brilliant

Stone's Fall - Excellent.

Looks like you are set up for the rest of winter, aka Reading Season :)

I went a little nuts. But it’s for a good cause.

Stone’s Fall is a favorite that I only had as an audio, so now my hard copy collection is up to date. I only wish it had the dust jacket.

> I third Stone's Fall. I haven't read an Iain Pears I didn't like.

The Portrait was a bit trying for me, and Scipio hurt my brain, but in a good way. The rest are fab, too. He needs to hurry up and write more!

What a great haul! And when it's for a good cause, you just *have* to get as many as possible!

I really liked Where'd you go Bernadette?, and my friend who is a transplanted East Coaster living in Seattle adored it.

Just realised I didn't comment on my January acquisitions (which were in excess of my reads *sigh*)

The Ultimate 30 minute cookbook for those nights when I'm exhausted getting home from work and don't having anything prepared.
The Intolerant Gourmet a cook book of recipes for those with allergies and intolerances
The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George
One of us is lying by Karen McManus
Dance of the Assassins by Herve Jubert
The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton
Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua
Captain America: Loose Nuke by Rick Remender
Black Butler vol 24 by Yana Toboso

It was my Thingaversary which accounts for some of these! (and was an excuse to go looking and hence... giving into temptation)

I also borrowed these audio books from the library

Warlock Holmes: The Hell-hound of the Baskervilles by GS Denning
Her Every Fear by Peter Swanson
After me comes the Flood by Sarah Perry

and nearer the end of the month to listen to in February

The Spider in the Corner of the Room and The Killing Files by Nikki Owen (first two parts of a trilogy)

Unfortunately this means between the acquisitions and the loans that the TBR pile is bigger than it was at the beginning of the year.

Oh The Minaturist how you frustrate me! So beautiful a book and interesting a story, but...

I have Bernadette as an audio, but thought it would be fun to page through the "documents" in print.

>24 Bookmarque: Your comment about The Minaturist worries me! Should it?

I can't really say without ruining it to a degree and I don't want to do that, but I think I'm about the only person who liked her second novel more than this one. It was more put together and better executed, IMO.

I was not crazy about The Miniaturist either. The setting was great, I thought the characters were well defined. But the plot took forever to get anywhere and when it did it made no sense. DNF on that one.

About two weeks ago Family kindly gave me Hadeda La Land, the latest installment of Madam and Eve. At yesterday evening's S.A. National Society meeting the speaker was the excellent Patrick Coyne, on Passes and Poorts. A couple of his other books were also on sale, and a copy of Read while you Wait came home with me.

A kind friend gave me a very generous book voucher, which I shared with Better Half. These books came home with us:

Red Hot, by Jan Braai
Fantastic Beasts and where to find them -- of the Harry Potter companions, I now lack only the Quidditch book
A brief history of everyone who ever lived by Adam Rutherford -- 50 pages in, I'm itching to get back to it
Murder on the Orient Express -- yes, that one. Curiously, Durban libraries can't supply.
and A street cat named Bob

>29 hfglen: Now I know you are a saint. You SHARED a book voucher?! Good man. Sounds like a fun batch of books, too.

I bought (& read) Want You Gone* by Chris Brookmyre. It's the 8th book in his Jack Parlabane series. Still need to get a review done for it though.

*aka The Last Hack

Went to the monthly S.A. National Society meeting, where there was a used-book table. Two of the books on the table followed me home:

Pilgrim's Road and the 1963 edition of
Year Book and Guide to Southern Africa -- touchstone isn't quite right, but near enough.

A co-worker gave me Temple Grandin: How the Girl Who Loved Cows Embraced Autism and Changed the World yesterday. I am looking forward to reading it, in fact it should be a good follow-up to the Turtles all the Way Down book I just read.