What Books Came Into Your Home Today? - JANUARY 2008

It's a new month -- it's a new year!!! Happy 2008. What book/s did you score today?

The Ghost's Child by Sonya Hartnett

Wonderful magical tale reminiscent of Hans Christian Andersen. Matilda, in her 80's, discovers a boy sitting on her settee, offers him tea and biscuits and tells him the magical tale of her life. Just lovely. YA, Australian Author, published 2007.

True Grits: Tall Tales and Recipes from the New South

I'm in JL here in Chattanooga, my best friend in Atlanta. So now I have their cookbook too.

Received 3 audiobooks I purchased from EBay: The Cat Who Dropped a Bombshell, The Cat Who Had 60 Whiskers and The Cat Who Went Bananas, all by Lilian Jackson Braun and narrated by George Guidall.

Last night I had several dreams about a book I saw at Value Village but didn't buy - A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. So I went there this morning and bought it (and it's a hardcover with dustjacket - yeah!). I also picked up:

Prime Suspect #3 by Lynda La Plante
The Lost Daughters of China by Karin Evans
Digging up the Mountains by Neil Bissoondath
The Probable Future by Alice Hoffman

From BookMooch I got:
Vagabond by Bernard Cornwell
and copies of Pride and Prejudice and Wuthering Heights for my daughter.

From Chapters online (Xmas giftcard!) I got:
Neither Here Nor There by Bill Bryson

Via bookmooch today I received Parallel Attraction by Deidre Knight and Immortals, The Gathering by Jennifer Ashley.

Here's my Christmas stack:
Love over Scotland (read it)
Identical Strangers (read it)
One Good Turn (read it)
Eating for England (Nigel Slater, read it)
The Double Bind (just about to start)
Little Heathens (next in line)
Finding Iris Chang
Songs of the Humpback Whale
Omnivore's Dilemma
The Book of Lost Things ... OK, that's all I can remember. All were stuffed into the beautiful Levenger book bag. 'Tis a thing of beauty!

I bought the following books today:

The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey by Candice Millard
Love in the time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Christmas Jars by Jason F. Wright

Picked up at my local Goodwill today for $4:

Enter a Murderer by Ngaio Marsh (paperback)

The Last Chronicle of Barset by Anthony Trollope because having now discovered Trollope, I NEED to read it all! (paperback)

Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson - this hardcover is for my daughter

The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason - hardcover

Final Jeopardy by Linda Fairstein - hardcover

At the very end of the old year I decided to catalogue a few more books and push my total past 1500.

Lo and behold! a hidden shelf yielded up 2-Rabbit 7-Wind, a book of Nahuatl poetry in translation which I have owned for awhile, but haven't seen for at least five years!

Having it come back into my hands was just as nice as discovering it for the first time.

#9, alcottacre, don't let Peter and the Starcatchers be only for your daughter--you should read it, too. It was fun. A nice back story to how Peter got his powers.

Pillaging an aunts bookcase today I scored; Atonement by Ian McEwan, which has been on by my list to read for ages, and Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys, which I will wait to read until after I have read Jane Eyre which happens to be one of the classics I have vowed to read this year.

A BIG box of Virago Modern Classics arrived today:

Poor Cow by Nell Dunn
Some Everyday Folk and Dawn by Miles Franklin
Cecelia by Fanny Bruney
Anderby World by Winifred Holtby
Deerbrook by Harriet Martineau
Blue Skies and Jack and Jill by Helen Hodgman
Crossriggs by Jane and Mary Findlater
Fenny by Lettice Cooper
The Tortoise and the Hare by Elizabeth Jenkins
The Beth Book by Sarah Grand
Tortoise by Candellight by Nina Bawden

I hardly know where to begin!

#11 whymaggiemay - I got that feeling when I was reading the reviews of the book on Amazon today. I am going to read it as soon as Catey is done with it. Maybe I'll steal it . . .

Visited my fave used bookshop for the first time in weeks, and the first time since I started actively hunting for Virago Modern Classics. Happily, there was one: The Semi-Attached Couple & The Semi-Detached House (no touchstone) by Emily Eden.

And then, exercising remarkable restraint, I only snagged one other book: Last Orders by Graham Swift.

>9 alcottacre: ...because having now discovered Trollope, I NEED to read it all!

Indeed, alcottacre, that's is exactly what happened to me! I started with The Warden in early 2007 and it escalated from there! (see you over in the Trollope group :)

I bought a Time Out London travel guide as I am visiting my sister there at the weekend :)

I lived there myself for 3 yrs when studying at uni, but I always feel there's a lot of difference between the city you experience when you live & work somewhere as opposed to being a tourist there.

Two softcover copies of my new book Anarya's Secret: An Earthdawn Novel arrived by courier today. I showed one to my wife - it's dedicated to her - and she promptly spotted a typo in the "About the Author" section. When I did the final proofread of the novel, it was about 2.30am by the time I proofed that page, and I must have been getting a little tired. Still nice to hold the book in my hand, though.

I just started Slam by Nick Hornby and it is really well written with an incredible first person voice.

I just signed up for LibraryThing and think it's brilliant!

I finally visited the Alias Books, a used bookstore walking distance to my house and I know I'll be returning there regularly.

I picked up Anthem and Affinity. I'm currently reading the former and it's great in a creepy, dystopian, this-could-totally-happen kind of way.

Welcome to LT, nakedsushi! It is brilliant and a lot of fun - and you'll get great book ideas here, too.

Welcome, nakedsushi! We love it here and hope you will too!

Library requests are coming in:
To Love and Be Wise by Josephine Tey.

karogers, Tey's To love and be wise is probably my favorite of her many fine mystery novels and one of my favorite British mysteries period. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Since I discovered the really good books for really good prices at Goodwill I can't stay away! I brought home nine more today, most of which have been on my TBR list for awhile:

The Alchemist -- Paul Cohelo
Tipping the Velvet -- Sarah Waters
The Night Watch -- Sarah Waters
March -- Geraldine Brooks
The Girl with the Pearl Earring -- Tracy Chevalier
Kavalier and Clay -- Michael Chabon
The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse -- Louise Erdrich
The Jane Austen Book Club -- Karen Jay Fowler
Case Histories -- Kate Atkinson

AND a friend sent me The Road -- Cormac McCarthy

Such abundance!!!

Picked up from the treasure house (library) today:

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

Red Azalea by Anchee Min

The Last Six Million Seconds by John Burdett

Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope

When the Astors Owned New York by Justin Kaplan

An Ordinary Man by Paul Rusesabagina

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

Looking for Alaska by John Green

The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory

Sovereign by C.J. Ransom

The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano

marietherese, I love all of her books. Wish there were more to read!

alcottacre - I also got Looking for Alaska yesterday but from BookMooch.

teelgee - That is truly abundance. My Goodwill is okay for books, but I've never found anything like you are finding. Congratulations!

--> 26 and 27

I just finished Looking for Alaska and loved it! Hopefully both of you know that John Green is an LT author!

--> 26

I'm listening to An Ordinary Man now and was completely taken by the author's account of the Rwandan genocide.

I'd also like to recommend that you see the film "Hotel Rwanda", starring Don Cheadle, if you've not done so already. In addition, do read the novel A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali by Gil Courtemanche. Coutemanche's book was indeed fiction but, sadly, not too far from the truth.

From Bookins, I just got Alex: Building a Life. Ironically I noticed it was published by Gefen, an LT Early Reviewer publishing house. I finally relented this December and actually put in a bid for some of Gefen's ER books, but was selected for none. And then...along comes this book from Gefen through Bookins! Funny how that happens, isn't it?

I was lucky enough to score $75 worth of BN gift cards for Christmas. I spent the last of it yesterday. I made out very well!

I've just started using librarything, and most of the books I've posted are my Christmas purchases.

The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain

Empire of the Sun by J.G. Ballard

The Grass Harp Including a Tree of Night and Other Stories by Truman Capote

Middlemarch by George Eliot

Vanity Fair by William Thackeray

Nicholas Nickelby by Charles Dickens

Desert Queen: The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell: Adventurer, Advisor to Kings, Ally of Lawrence of Arabia by Janet Wallach

The Falmboya Tree: Memories of a Mother's Wartime Courage by Clara Olink Kelly

I think I did really well for myself!

This is my first post.
Today received from Amazon, The Long Dry, a little known but wonderful novel by Cynan Jones which I have read but wanted to own.
Also Making History, Antiquaries in Britain, which is a catalogue of an exhibition at the Royal Academy in London which I am unable to get to.
Cheers.

Wow, nice to see some new members in the new year! Welcome clianthusalba and bookseller525!!! Have fun! Read well!

The husband returned a coffee table book someone got him for Christmas, and gave me the return credit! With it I bought a new Douglas Coupland, whom I love as well as The Last American Man by Elizabeth Gilbert. I also saw at least ten more that I've added to my list of books to look into/buy. I usually make a big Amazon purchase each January.

I went to Borders after work and picked up off the $3.99 table - A Long Long Way by Sebastian Barry and Harvesting the Heart by Jodi Picoult -PLUS used my coupon for Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon.

I went to Barnes & Noble to prepare for a long car trip home. I got For Her Own Good by Barbara Ehrenreich & The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood. I am dreading 19 hours in the car a lot less now!!!

I picked up at Borders yesterday and today w/my gift card and coupons: People of the Book, A Long Way Gone, Flower Net, I Am Legend, The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen, and last but not least The Book of Lost Things. Can't wait to dive into all of these.

Mom runs a branch of the local public library, and brought home a book she thought I'd like from the book sales. It's an "uncorrected proof not for sale" of James Shapiro's A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare.

#26, and all those who mentioned him...John Green is made of awesome. Check out www.youtube.com/vlogbrothers to see his awesome videos!

Looking for alaska is fantastic!

Received in today's mail from BookCloseouts and ABEBooks: Kiln People by David Brin, The Hamilton Case by Michelle de Kretser, At Large and At Small by Anne Fadiman, who wrote one of my favorite books Ex Libris, The Forest Lover by Susan Vreeland, and Skull Session by Daniel Hecht. More books for my TBR stack!

From EBay in today's mail, a bunch of books by Laura Lippman: Every Secret Thing, To the Power of Three, Baltimore Blues, Charm City, Butcher's Hill, In Big Trouble, The Sugar House, The Last Place, and No Good Deeds.

Today I got The Indispensable Calvin and Hobbes and The Devil in the Junior League. Yay giftcards!

Edited to correct my horrible spelling.

>41 sanja:: That's whale calving, as described in Leviathan, right?

welcome clianthusalba and bookseller525- enjoy and have fun!!!

I have three that found their way into my home in early 2008.

Brasyl by Ian McDonald
Fieldword by Mischa Berlinksi
The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon

Which one should I read first?

Used Books

Dang it, the poll didn't show up, well, you can go here to vote if you like.

http://www.vizu.com/poll-vote.html?n=67308

The used outlet at the library and the White Elephant next door continue to provide me with an embarrassment of riches. These mint-condition hardcovers were bought yesterday for $0.50 each:

Don't Know Much About The Bible - Kenneth C. Davis
Collapse- Jared Diamond (I read it as a library book; now I have my own copy).
Made In America: An Informal History Of The English Language In The United States - Bill Bryson
The Corrections - Jonathan Franzen

Hopefully both of you know that John Green is an LT author!

He's not a very active LT author, though--we read Looking for Alaska for one of our monthly discussions in the Read YA Lit group last summer and sent him a message asking whether he'd like to participate, but as far as I know there was no response. He didn't even stop by to say hello in the discussion thread, anyway.

--> 47

Too bad! I'm sure his presence in that thread would have been greatly appreciated.

Can you point me to that thread? I'd love to read it.

Are you going to read his book _An Abundance of Katherines_ at any time?

---> 42 It was late. I was tired. :)

Today arrived:

Journey to the West, vol. 4 by Cheng'en Wu, so now I have all four parts, yay! (Even though dear LT autocombined with the full thing. Bad LT!)
The Tale of Genji, also exceedingly exciting and a nice pretty hardback edition.
The Count of Monte Cristo, in a relatively new translation. I loved The Three Musketeers so I'm looking forward to this one :-)

From the county seat library
The bear in the attic patrickMcManus
Grace(eventually) thoughts on faith by Anne Lamott
When the Mississippi ran backwards
Fraud of the century Roy Morris Jr.
From the discard cart
In a sunburned country
Whitethorn Woods Maeve Binchy
Before women had wings
Joanna's husband & David's wife
Polly's Ghost Abby Frucht ( I met Abby at a writer's conference, a fun person & writer)

#51 - MarianV: I just finished reading Grace (eventually). I enjoy all Anne Lamott's books. Hope you like it!

I increased my stock of two favourite writers last weekend.

The Yellow Dog by Georges Simenon
The Unlimited Dream Company by J.G. Ballard

Received one in today I purchased off EBay - Simply Unforgettable by Mary Balogh

Received Middlesex today from Paperback Swap, it's next on my list after I finish my current book, Royal Assassin.

Picked up at the local library tonight:

Last Seen Wearing by Colin Dexter

The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett

Penhallow by Georgette Heyer

Touchstone: A Novel of Suspense by Laurie R. King (the Touchstone for Touchstone is not even close, and it does not show up in the 'Others' list)

The Causes of War by Geoffrey Blainey

My Grandfather's Son: A Memoir by Clarence Thomas (no Touchstone for this one is coming up)

Touchstones are 'touchy' again tonight.

From Borders: The Senator's Wife by Sue Miller, and Homecoming by Bernard Schlink. Got Looking for Alaska from the library.

From Goodwill: Vodoo River by Robert Crais - been reading some Elvis Cole accolades on LT so I picked this up when I saw it.
From Bookmooch: Long Time No See by Susan Isaacs
From B&N for a church bookclub: The Witch of Portobello by Paulo Coelho
From PBS: Inkheart by Cornelia Funke - another LT recommendation and I think it will be the YA Lit group's February read and I included it as part of my 888 Challenge. Isn't life grand sometimes?

A windfall today:

From the library:
The Gum Thief by Douglas Coupland

From Value Village:
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Generation X by Douglas Coupland
Miss Wyoming also by Coupland
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
The beekeepers apprentice by Laurie R King
You have the right to remain puzzled by Parnell Hall

I love finding good used books, I get all giddy. Like I found a treasure everyone else missed.

I just picked up Icefields by Thomas Wharton.

In exchange for some money, those nice people at Amazon sent me:

The Electric Michelangelo by Sarah Hall
Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris
Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones

From Barnes & Noble: Bleeding Kansas by Sara Paretsky.

I got Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood from BookMooch and The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon from PaperBackSwap.

Picked up from the library today:

Beer and Circus by Murray Sperber

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

I received The Wolves of Calla today, book #5 of the Dark Tower series from Paperback swap.

From a discount bookstore:
Brother Odd by Dean Koontz
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
The Center of Things by Jenny McPhee
Blood Brothers by Nora Roberts

Oooo Fingersmith is wonderful, nancyewhite! I'm about to start another book or two of hers.

From the library:

The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

From the bookshop:
The Trout Opera by Matthew Condon

Two books I've wanted for a long time followed me home from Powell's Bookstore today:

Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner
Chocolat by Joanne Harris

Yum.

#67 Teelgee - I have had Fingersmith on my wishlist on BookMooch and PBS so I was so excited to find an ex-library copy for $3.50!

I found Waters' The Night Watch and Tipping the Velvet at Goodwill for about that too. Life is good.

#68 I got poisonwood Bible as a gift for Christmas. I have never read from this author, tell me what you think

B'&N I got The Guardian by Dee Henderson. The second one in her series. I just finished the first one and really enjoyed it.

#68 I got poisonwood Bible as a gift for Christmas. I have never read from this author, tell me what you think

B'&N I got The Guardian by Dee Henderson. The second one in her series. I just finished the first one and really enjoyed it.

I wasn't feeling well, but I have an amazing best friend who, yesterday, went to our local independent bookstore for a reading/signing by Libba Bray, so (in addition to having my copies of A Great and Terrible Beauty and Rebel Angels signed), I just got The Sweet Far Thing all nice and new and signed.

BFFs are great.

#73 You and me both. I have never read Kingsolver but I've read good reviews. LT is so good for finding great books to read!

My copy of Rational Choice and Democratic Deliberation: A Theory of Discourse Failure by Guido Pincione and Fernando Teson arrived today from Amazon. I have a library copy of it, and it's probably the best non-fiction book I read in 2007. Now that I have my own copy, I can go nuts marking it up and can give it a full cover-to-cover read :D

Oracle Night by Paul Auster appeared from Bookmooch this morning. Really earlier than I would have hoped, too - the postie has started doing his rounds earlier since the new year! Thankfully it was only half an hour before I was scheduled to get up. It's still a bit of a rude awakening, having to dash down the stairs before he vanishes!

Edited for touchstones being stoopid.

Still! Gah. I don't know. They show up in blue and then don't when you post!

#73 Poisonwood Bible is one of my favorites. I love Barbara Kingsolver. If you read her books in the order they were published you can watch her grow as an author. She started out very good and works up to excellent, IMHO, of course.

Picked up from the library today:

The Intellectual Devotional by David S. Kidder and Noah D. Oppenheim

Hand of Evil by J.A. Jance

The Three Roosevelts by James MacGregor Burns and Susan Dunn

I went for a walk during my daughter's soccer game and found a lovely used bookstore, in which I found two lovely editions that called out for me to take them home . . . The Robber Bride, by Margaret Atwood, and Doctor Zhivago, by Boris Pasternak. These are the first books I've bought this year . . . I made it to the 13th before caving into the pressure to Buy A Book. Now I really must chip away at Mount ToBe Read . . .

My exam copy of Morality and Moral Controversies by John Arthur arrived from the publisher today :)

Oh I gave into temptation and bought via Amazon: Jewel Trader of Pegu and The Golden Tulip. Can't wait to get them now.

A friend loaned me Lean forward into your life by Mary Anne Radmacher, which I will probably end up buying, it looks yummy.

Also found a nice edition of The Great Gatsby. I've read it several times and thought it was time I owned one.

From BookMooch:
Terminal by Andrew Vachss - oh how I love it when I get a wishlisted book. It's like hitting the lottery!

In today's mail: Under the Mistletoe by Mary Balogh, By a Spider's Thread by Laura Lippman, 1215: The Year of the Magna Carta by Danny Danzinger and John Gillingham, and Faithfully Fit by Claire Cloninger and Laura Barr.

Picked up from the treasure house (library) tonight:

The Road to Serfdom by Friedrich Hayek

The Historian's Craft by Marc Bloch

Lord John and the Hand of Devils by Diana Gabaldon

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

The Causes of the Civil War by Kenneth M. Stampp

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

Did You Ever See a Dream Walking? by William F. Buckley

Cannibals and Kings by Marvin Harris

The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver

The War Prayer by Mark Twain

The Sword and the Scimitar by Ernle Bradford

and because I am a sucker for hardcover books that only cost $1, I picked up at my local Dollar Tree Black by Christopher Whitcomb

Waaaah! None have come into my home for a year (actually, 3 weeks).

I'm reading my way through my TBR shelves, which have grown to be almost as juicy as a bookstore. Almost. I finally let myself read this thread today ... and lengthened my Amazon wish list.

edited to add: Duh, how soon I forget -- I got an ER copy of Firefly Lane.

Against my better judgment I stopped at Borders last night. . . .

The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman
The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
The Club Dumas by Arturo Perez-Reverte
My Life in France by Julia Child
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

Hee, Talbin, I know exactly what you mean. I walked into FIVE bookshops today thinking to myself "I'll only buy a book from here if they've got that specific one..." and walked out with six books, only one of which was on that list (and that only appeared on the list for that store because I'd bought another book at the previous store....!)

Soooo:
Lanark by Alasdair Gray (I've been eyeing this one up for a while. It was cheap, what can I say?)
The Penelopiad by Margaret Attwood (hardcover edition! For cheap!)
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight translated by Simon Armitage (nice hardback, also for cheap. And I'm reading it already and it's great, so it was *obviously a sensible purchase...)
The Odyssey, because I'd been thinking about getting it and obviously have to read it before The Penelopiad
Astonishing Splashes of Colour by Clare Morrall because I don't like my current edition of it (go figure...)

And the last one is very exciting:
Anna Karenina in the new translation FOR ONLY TWO POUNDS! Woo!

OK, I'm done being overexcited about books now...

But LizT - look how wonderfully well you did! Your ratio of books to stores is 6:5, whereas mine is 5:1. Compared to me, you've been almost overly restrained. ;)

Talbin, you're very kind :-) You probably didn't start the year with a resolution to only buy one book for every four you read though, did you...? (Sadly I haven't read 24 books yet ;-) ) Ah well. I'm sure self-control is something you have to develop, right? I'm just practising now!

Stopped at Half Price Books and got:

Plum Lucky by Janet Evanovich
Emotionally Weird by Kate Atkinson
Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation by Olivia Judson

for my 2 year old I picked up:
The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats

Just received a PBS book, The Lifted Veil by George Eliot.

A complete surprise came into my home today -- I got an early reviewer copy of Firefly Lane that I was not expecting.

But now I feel like it needs to jump towards the top of my TBR stack, right after the books I've got to read for Book Club at the Center of the Earth... (Fight Club and The Jane Austen Book Club)

Picked up from the library tonight:

Seeds of Treason by Ralph de Toledano and Victor Lasky

The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir

and Heart Like Water by Joshua Clark

In today's mail from thriftbooks.com: Book 6 in the Tess Monaghan series by Laura Lippman - In a Strange City

Stuart : A Life Backwards by Alexander Masters came in the mail from a friend up north.

And from the library: No one belongs here more than you, a collection of short stories by Miranda July, a very creative woman! Check out this website of hers, it's so cool and funny!!!

#97: I would check out her book (even if I hadn't already heard about it) just based on her website. It was hilarious! Thanks teelgee.

I got The Fiery Cross which I've already read, but it's the same paperback edition that all my other Outlander books are, so they all match now, and I also got Reflections in the Nile by Suzanne Frank, both from Paperback Swap.

I am reading Inkheart, By corella funke

From Paperback Swap:
What Angels Fear by C.S. Harris
Storming Heaven's Gate: An Anthology of Spiritual Writings by Women

>95 alcottacre: alcottacre, I'm interested in your impressions of Six Wives. I've been ogling that book for some time now.

I was given some book vouchers, so I HAD to go into Waterstones and spend them on a 3 for 2 offer! Am pleased to have come home with the following:

Mr Pip by Lloyd Jones:
'You cannot pretend to read a book. Your eyes will give you away. So will your breathing. A person entranced by a book simply forgets to breathe. The house can catch alight and a reader deep in a book will not look up until the wallpaper is in flames.' It is Bougainville in 1991 - a small village on a lush tropical island in the South Pacific. Eighty-six days have passed since Matilda's last day of school as, quietly, war is encroaching from the other end of the island. When the villagers' safe, predictable lives come to a halt, Bougainville's children are surprised to find the island's only white man, a recluse, re-opening the school. Pop Eye, aka Mr Watts, explains he will introduce the children to Mr Dickens. Matilda and the others think a foreigner is coming to the island and prepare a list of much needed items. They are shocked to discover their acquaintance with Mr Dickens will be through Mr Watts' inspiring reading of "Great Expectations". But on an island at war, the power of fiction has dangerous consequences. Imagination and beliefs are challenged by guns.

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne:
The story of "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas" is very difficult to describe. Usually we give some clues about the book on the cover, but in this case we think that would spoil the reading of the book. We think it is important that you start to read without knowing what it is about. If you do start to read this book, you will go on a journey with a nine-year-old boy called Bruno. (Though this isn't a book for nine-year-olds.) And sooner or later you will arrive with Bruno at a fence. We hope you never have to cross such a fence.

Oscar Wilde and the Candlelight Murders by Gyles Brandreth:
This work is set in London, 1889. Oscar Wilde, celebrated poet, wit, playwright and raconteur is the literary sensation of his age. All Europe lies at his feet. Yet when he chances across the naked corpse of sixteen-year-old Billy Wood, posed by candlelight in a dark stifling attic room, he cannot ignore the brutal murder. With the help of fellow author Arthur Conan Doyle he sets out to solve the crime - but it is Wilde's unparalleled access to all degrees of late Victorian life, from society drawing rooms and the bohemian demi-monde to the underclass, that will prove the decisive factor in their investigation of what turns out to be a series of brutal killings. "The Oscar Wilde Murders" is a gripping detective story of corruption and intrigue, of Wilde's growing success, of the breakdown of his marriage, and of his fatal friendship with Aidan Fraser, Inspector at Scotland Yard!

Set against the exotic background of fin-de-siecle London, Paris, Oxford and Edinburgh, Gyles Brandreth recreates Oscar Wilde's trademark sardonic wit with huge flair, intertwining all the intrigue of the classic English murder mystery with a compelling portrait of one of the greatest characters of the Victorian age.

Popped into Fopp on Cambridge Circus Came out with:

Human Traces by Sebastian Faulks
Hombre by Elmore Leonard
A Search for the King by Gore Vidal
Seven Types of Ambiguity by Elliot Perlman

From B&N & Borders: The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao, The Death of Vishnu, The Spirit Catches You and you Fall Down and LT recommendation, Her Last Death, and The Painter's Battle.

#106 I really enjoyed The Death of Vishnu. It's one of those books that is both funny and sad.

From PBS: Memoirs of a Muse by Lara Vapnyar.

#103 lindascl: I'll let you know when I actually get to reading it. I have quite a stack before that one, but I am looking forward to reading some nonfiction on Henry VIII after having read The Other Boleyn Girl and going "but it didn't happen like that!" (I do not really do well with a lot of historical fiction although I enjoy the genre - go figure)

From Bookmooch:
Tonight I Said Goodbye by Michael Koryta
The Scent of Shadows by Vicki Pettersson

We were early to a party last evening so we stopped at Borders for coffee. Of course, it wouldn't be right to go to a bookstore and not buy a book. So I bought:

Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison

I snagged The Man in My Basement by Walter Mosley from a clever librarian's display of "One-night Reads." I'm intrigued by its premise of a white man asking to rent the basement of a house deep in a black neighborhood. Being a slow reader, its 250 pages will take me significantly more than one night.

I've been bad. I received gift cards for Xmas and they've been burning a hole in my pocket. Got two yesterday and three today: People of the Book (who among us could resist that title?) by Geraldine Brooks, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Suite Francaise, The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig, and The Gift by Peter Carey. Still have over $70 left, so I feel I spent my money well.

#107 Carioloa--thanks for your input on The Death of Vishnu. I was a little hesitant about buying it, but finally said--oh what the heck. Now I am looking forward to reading it.

>111 whymaggiemay: whymaggiemay -- I think you've been GOOD!!! Isn't that what the gift cards are for?

Today...

The Darkest Evening of the Year by Dean Koontz
Merle's Door by Ted Kerasote
Scar Night by Alan Campbell
An Irish Country Doctor by Patrick Taylor
Seeing by Jose' Saramago
First Families by Bonnie Angelo
The Franklin Affair by Jim Lehrer
Speciman Days by Michael Cunningham &
The Sisters Mortland by Sally Beauman

Those finished up my last years gift cards and then a bit...

I put back about six others ............that was good, right?

My quarterly trip to Dark Star Books in Yellow Springs, OH yielded:

The Disposessed by Ursula Le Guin
Taltos by Steven Brust
To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
A Case of Conscience by James Blish
The Dragon Never Sleeps by Glen Cook
Search the Sky by Frederik Pohl and C.M. Kornbluth
The Explorers by C.M. Kornbluth
The Marching Morons by C.M. Kornbluth
The Syndic by C.M. Kornbluth
Nightside the Long Sun by Gene Wolfe
Star Short Novels by Sturgeon, Del Rey, and West
The Palace of Love by Jack Vance (the last of the Demon Princes novels for me)
The Road to the Rim/The Hard Way Up by Bertram Chandler
Michaelmas by Algis Budrys
Glimmering by Elizabeth Hand
Tripoint by C.J. Cherryh
The Infinity Box by Kate Wilhelm
We who are about to ... by Joanna Russ

An Early Review book arrived today: Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah. (So far I'm totally underwhelmed.)

#56 - alcottacre, I had no idea Touchstones by Laurie King was already out. Thank you! I love Laurie King's novels and have been anticipating this one for a while now.

#117 sandragon: I got lucky - I am the first to cop it from the local library. It is different from her Russell/Holmes novels, of which I am a big fan, so I am hoping I will like it. I just started it, so I have not gotten very far.

Today I couldn't resist the Norton Critical Edition of Wide Sargasso Sea, by Jean Rhys. I love all the extras in those Norton editions.

In today's mail, purchased from EBay, 4 books in the Otherworld series by Kelley Armstrong: Bitten, Industrial Magic, Dime Store Magic, and Broken.

In tonight from my local treasure house (otherwise known as the library):

Essays on European Literature by Ernst Robert Curtius (the correct Touchstone is not here)

The Last American Man by Elizabeth Gilbert - since I finished up Eat, Pray, Love last night and enjoyed it (although not perhaps as much as others on LT have) I thought I would check out her other writings

The Intelligencer by Leslie Silbert - an LT recommendation

Hunting Mister Heartbreak by Jonathan Raban

Comeback: Conservatism that Can Win Again by David Frum

Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon

Boone by Robert Morgan - another LT recommendation

Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion - another LT recommendation

Sword Song by Rosemary Sutcliff - another LT recommendation

The Right Place, the Right Time by Donald Beck - because I love classical music

The Adventure of English by Melvyn Bragg

Twanged by Carol Higgins Clark - a mystery series I am currently reading

Sanctuary by Faye Kellerman - another mystery series I am currently reading

Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl - another LT recommendation

and finally, Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling by Ross King

#118 - alcottacre, I've just requested Touchstones from the library. It'll take a while as they've only just ordered it and I'm about 35 in the queue. I hope you enjoy it. If it's anything like her other stand alone novels it'll be wonderful. There's something in her writing (of the San Juan Islands novels) that kept me tense and on edge the whole time, they really gripped me. Her other novels are great but these ones are exceptional.

On my chair this morning when I got into the office was Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier! My boss gave me her copy of the book. Charles Frazier also wrote Cold Mountain, which I've never read.

I'm going to the library tonight to return some DVDs. When I'm there I always pick up a couple of used books that are sold for $1.00 each (what a bargain)! I will be posting those books as soon as I can.

Today I broke down and bought War and Peace, Anna Karenina, The Brothers Karamazov, Vanity Fair and A Confederacy of Dunces. I think this might keep me busy for a long time.

Some used books I picked up tonight at the library off their "for sale" rack for a buck each:

The Dark Arena by Mario Puzo
The Outermost House by Henry Beston
A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor
The Favored Child by Philippa Gregory
Eventide by Kent Haruf

For my birthday I got:

Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
Glamorama by Bret Easton Ellis
Atonement by Ian McEwan
Perfume by Patrick Suskind

And I have also gotten:

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

trinah, Happy Birthday! Hope you have a great day :-)

Onto my doormat today dropped Foreigner by C.J. Cherryh, for the Green Dragon group read. I was going to be good and not get it but then people were raving about it, so I'm hoping it lives up to the expectations!

In from the library today:

The Constitution of Liberty by Friedrich Hayek

The River of Doubt by Candice Millard

Music in the Romantic Era by Alfred Einstein

From amazon.com

Encyclopedia of Rap and Hip Hop Culture by Yvonne Bynoe

>128 alcottacre: I also just recently got The Constitution of Liberty - looking forward to reading it within the next couple of weeks :D

I recieved Sephardi Entrepreneurs in today's mail which is one of the December books from LT's ER program.

Yesterday Corelli's Mandolin arrived in the mail. Its been a good week for books. =)

#120- I read Last American Man this month and really loved it. Then again, I fell in love with Eat, Pray, Love.

I recently picked up some good old fashioned teen angst books! And I'm no teen! I got The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Thirteen Reasons Why earlier this week and finished them both. Highly recommend them both.

I also recently picked up The Space Between Us and The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen which I'm hoping to read soon. I also went a little overboard at Half Price Books and picked up a stack of books that I've read but don't own such as The Girls, A Long Way Down, and Microserfs.

#130 philosojerk: I have been reading about Hayek in The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America, so I am anxious to read his writings. I have a couple of his out of the library at the moment. I would be curious to know what you think.

#132 blissfulwitch - I enjoyed Eat, Pray, Love as well which is why I was interested in reading Last American Man. I hope it is as good.

BTW - Cannnot see why you cannot read teen angst books - seems to me you might enjoy them more now that you are NOT a teenager any more. Too hard to read them when you are actually going through it yourself IMHO.

Travel Light by Naomi Michison from PBS.

Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell.

#134 Alcottacre- I actually do read a lot of teen angst books! Guess I didn't get that across! I work with teenagers and feel I get a lot out of the books even as an adult and read them differently than I would have in high school!

Sorry! The deleted one under me is just a double post!

Since I've removed six books from my TBR pile already this year, I felt it incumbent upon me to add six back --

Knit One, Kill Two by Maggie Sefton,
Cross Bones by Kathy Reichs,
Can't Wait to Get to Heaven by Fannie Flagg,
eastern standard tribe by Cory Doctorow,
Ya-Yas in Bloom by Rebecca Wells, and
Starwater Strains by Gene Wolfe.

seitherin - I'll be curious what you think of Ya-Yas. I loved Divine Secrets, but this seemed like a weak re-hash to me. I hope she writes something new and original soon!

Arrived from Amazon
Writing to change the world
Night falls fast
The age of Fallability
Blood of the earth: the battle for the world's vanishing oil

Went to the book store to return a book and walked out with:

Seeing by Jose Saramago and The Club Dumas by Arturo Perez-Reverte

I had a few others in my hand but I managed to be able to put them down by reminding myself of the large TBR pile waiting for me at home.

Then when I picked up my mail I found Pamela by Samuel Richardson and Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte waiting for me.

I received Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor (used from Amazon) today. I loved the movie, so I thought I'd give the book a try. It's been added to my TBR pile.

omph - I loved Mrs. Palfrey - The Movie - too. Have the book on hold at the library. Enjoy!

In from the library today:

Evan Only Knows by Rhys Bowen

Men in Dark Times by Hannah Arendt

How Everything Works: Making Physics out of the Ordinary by Louis A. Bloomfield

Went to a bookcrossing meetup and left with more books than I went in with :-(. Got a Collector's Library copy of Moby-Dick (I have real love/hate thing going with Melville), Children's Classic's version of Tales of the Arabian Nights, Staying Tuned by Daniel Schorr, and Why Lincoln Matters by Mario Cuomo.

>114 mckait: & 141 Mckait & Irisheyz77 - You have to let me know how Seeing turns out. Blindness was one of my favorite reads from 2007. I gave a copy to a friend of mine for her birthday this weekend - I was soooo tempted to buy Seeing, too, since it was right there on the shelf next to it, but ultimately decided to wait till I can find it used. I definitely want to read more Saramago, though.

My first and only batch of purchases in January:

The Dark: New Ghost Stories edited by Ellen Datlow
Douglas Adams's Starship Titanic by Terry Jones
Shampoo Planet by Douglas Coupland

well, i just went to borders yesterday. so i can either read Unwind, Smack, or Notes from the Teenage Underground.
Which one should i chose?

This just in from the employee breakroom: Telegraph Days by Larry McMurtry.

146 philosojerk - will do....once I find blindness and read it. I didn't realize when I picked up Seeing that there was a book that came before it. =( Although I might just read it anyway because it does sound awfully good.

You wouldn't happen to know off hand just how important it is to read Blindness before Seeing now would you?

I picked up Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein and And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

>150 Irisheyz77: Irisheyz77 I had had the impression that they were two pretty independent story-lines, but just popping over to Amazon real quick and reading the description of Seeing, I think I may have been wrong. Specifically, it sounds as if one aspect of the storyline from Blindness is going to play a pretty integral role in the investigation that occurs in Seeing -although it doesn't look like that investigation is the primary focus of the novel. All of that is a roundabout way of saying I really don't know rofl.

I would recommend Blindness anyway, just because I thought it was a fantastic (though at times uncomfortable) read. I've already lent my copy to two people, and bought a copy for a friend for her birthday. But I know the feeling of being impatient to read a new book and so can understand not wanting to wait till you find it.

Hi all- I did something I haven't done in a long time- I bought 6 books which are-
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
The Inheritance of Loss- Kiran Desai
Duma Key-Stephen King
Girls in Pants- Ann Brashares
Forever in Blue-Ann Brashares and
Special Topics in Calamity Physics- Marisha Pessl

Irisheyz77 > I read Seeing first (before knowing about Blindness), and it made sense as a stand-alone story to me. Some events from Blindness are referred to, but you are given enough background to understand what's going on.

I got Duma Key by Stephen King in the mail today from Quality Paperback Book Club.

I found a nice version of Omoo by Herman Melville at the university bookshop today. I'm always on the lookout for books set in the tropics to take on vacation when I'm lucky enough to go to the tropics. No holidays planned, but this book will be waiting for me for my next trip.

Another book picked up from the employee lounge: Specimen Days by Michael Cunningham.

I'm going to come hang out in your employee lounge, sferrando! We only get fashion magazines in ours.

teelgee ~ you're so funny! Someone here at work just came up with the idea of sharing books with the whole company (we're about 900 people). The only problem is that I have been making away with a little more than my share of reading material (at least 10 so far...). What? Is that wrong???

Got this is the mail from Paperback Swap.com:

Mayada: Daughter of Iraq by Jean Sasson

@152 philosojerk - reading the write up for blindness really makes it sound interesting and all the more torn about if I should read seeing first or not. lol

154 Killeymoon - thanks for your input. Have you read blindness at all? did it add or take anything away from reading seeing first? just wondering.

@157 sferrando - my mom's work used to have a lending library in their break room as well. I used to love visiting her work growing up because there was always a wide selection of books to read and borrow. I always thought that was a great idea. but to date I haven't worked at a place that's wanted to do it. =( Maybe one day.

On my way home from work I decided to stop by my local library. This is what five bucks bought me off their "used books" rack:

A broken vessel by Kate Ross
The Anderson Tapes by Lawrence Sanders
Sweet Water by Christina Baker Kline
After the War by Alice Adams
Back Roads by Tawni O'Dell

Two paperbacks and three hardbacks ~ score!

Picked this up at the library today:

Different Engines: How Science Drives Fiction and Fiction Drives Science by Mark Brake and Neil Hook

@161 Irisheyz77 ~ I feel like I snagged all the good books. I've never read anything she's written, but there are at least two whole shelves of Nora Roberts books. I borrowed the rest! OK, not really, but I did borrow a lot!

I brought home Overcriminalization: The Limits of the Criminal Law by Douglas Husak today, loaned to me by a faculty member who "thinks I'll find it interesting." Probably won't get around to it till after I finish my comps, but we'll see.

hmm... and I'm the only person with a copy, and it's not yet showing up on the author page or in touchstones. But it's here.

@165 sferrando.....if it helps Nora Roberts is one of my mom's favorite authors. I haven't read much romance....and the ones I have read have been historicals. But my mom can't seem to get enough Nora Roberts. Her and Diana Palmer.

I received The Poet of Loch Ness by Brian Jay Corrigan today in the mail from Paperback Swap. I've been eager to read this book!

Irisheyz 77 - I haven't gotten around to reading Blindness. I probably will at some stage, but there are a couple of other Saramago's I want to read first (A History of the Siege of Lisbon and The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis).

Wicked by Gregory Maguire has just been added to my collection. I really need to stop acquiring so many books. Ahhhh...nonsense!

sferrando - if you find a way to slow down the collection process please let me know! I except a revolt from my TBR books at any time because I keep adding to the pile (read: bookcase)

Early review copy of Gardens of Water by Alan Drew arrived on my doorstep yesterday.

170 ~ Hey, Irisheyz77! I'm thinking my husband may lock me out of the house the next time I come home with a book (that would be tonight, right?)! Maybe that will scare some sense into me . . . OK, not very likely. I can still sit in my car and read! ;-) I'll let you know if I come up with any amazing ideas. The only thing I can think of is to read faster and donate the read books to the library or friends, thus freeing up space on my bookshelf for more books!

The Eyre Affair arrived today - looking forward to it! :D

Yesterday I received my Early Reviewers copy of Black Ships by Jo Graham. Still waiting to hear from Borders about my Pevear-Volokhonsky translation of War and Peace - hopefully it arrives this week.

Thanks to a borders coupon I went and bought Through a Glass Darkly by Karleen Koen and Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin today.

Sferrando & Irisheyz77 I have to chuckle--there is no way to stop the book acquiring process I am convinced. I have to sneak mine in now as my new bookcase is completely filled.

i.should.b.reading, I am stopping at Borders tonite also on my way home to pick up Mistress Of the Art of Death with my Borders coupon. Been hoping that one would be out in paperback soon. I just can't let those coupons go to waste--when I get them I have to use them.

momom248 - I know exactly what you mean about those coupons! They just need to be used....its a crime to let them go to waste!

Today I recieved in the mail:
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier and
Candide by Voltaire

Both are books I snagged on bookmooch....a site almost as addicting and bad for my book as addicition as LT.

176 momom248 ~ speaking of there being NO way to stop acquiring books...to that list I am adding London Bridges by James Patterson and The First Counsel by Brad Meltzer. I got these gems from the employee lounge. I really have to quit peeking in there!

sferrando - are you leaving any books behind in the enployee lounge? All we hear is about all the new finds you bring home....keep that up and there won't be any books left there!! *lol*

@179 Irisheyz77 ~ Oh! Now I feel guilty...yes, I've left a few. But I think (OK, I hope) I'm done with the borrowing for awhile.

180 sferrando - says the book addict. haven't we already gone over there is no cure for wanting to bring books home? if you go into work tomorrow and there is another pretty new book that is begging to go home with you, you know you'll be powerless to resist. *w*

@181 Irisheyz77 - all I have to do is NOT visit the employee lounge. I think I can, I think I can... I normally don't frequent the place, anyway. When I heard about the books, though, I became a habitual visitor. I'm so naughty, I know it. Maybe someone should "flag abuse" on me. It would certainly be appropriate! ;-)

You know, sferrando, I too, admit to temporary "pirating" of abandoned books from work. However, I typically return them. Perhaps we should start a support group.

Today, I bought from McKay's:
Anna Karenina
Plum Bun
Twentieth Century Interpretations of Vanity Fair
Balzac and the Human Comedy by Philippe Bertault
and Uncle Tom's Cabin.

Yesterday, I bought
Crabbe's English Synonymes
and a truly divine, antique, crumbling copy of Hyperion and Outre Mer.

I'm set for the week, I think.

I splurged at Half Price Books: Black Dahlia, Ella Minnow Pea, The Piano Teacher, A Personal Matter, and Introducing Romanticism. And yesterday the new issue of Granta 100 came in the mail.

I made a resolution that I would not spend more than $100 a month on books. I think I can make it two more days. But this just has to stop!

In today from the library:

Arms of Nemesis by Steven Saylor

The Life and Death of Mary Wollstonecraft by Claire Tomalin

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

Death of a Red Heroine by Qui Xiaolong - an LT recommendation

Scotland Yard Scientist: My Thirty Years in Forensic Science by H.J. Walls - I cannot resist any kind of book regarding forensic science (Touchstone not working for this book)

Pagan's Crusade by Catherine Jinks - a YA book recommended on LT

Excellent Women by Barbara Pym - I am becoming a fan of Pym's

Medical Apartheid by Harriet Washington

183 Moira - isn't the main purpose of support groups to help cure a problem? I'm not sure that would work in this case.....we are all too addicted to pretty shiny new (and/or slightly used) books. To bring us all together in a group would kinda be like giving fuel to the fire and we'd probably only exacerbate the probably by adding more suggestions to everyone's TBR lists....we are hopeless & weak when it comes to books - every single one of us. ;-)

@ 184 emaestra ella minnow pea is an excellent book. Both highly amusing and down right terrifying at the same time. I'll be interesting in reading your thoughts about it. =)

This morning Herzog arrived in the post from Bookmooch and In the Castle of My Skin from Alibris... but don't tell hubby about the second one not being from BM...!

ktleyed: The Eyre Affair is really fun :-) Hope you enjoy it!

An oldie, but a goodie Ivanhoe. I found a Heritage Press copy on Ebay. I think I read it about 5 times my freshman year in high school. 35 years later I'm still waiting for my knight to show up.

183 MoiraStirling ~ Well, I'm glad someone understand my pirating problems! Anna Karenina was one of my fave reads of 2007. I'd be interested in finding out what you think of it.

I am about to start Next Time She'll Be Dead, by Ann Jones. This is going to be a very difficult and rather unpleasant read for me, but it's one of those books I feel I must read. The worst thing to do about domestic violence is to ignore it.

I am also working my way through Mary Chestnut's Civil War Diary. I bought it recently, thinking I already knew much of what would be in it. I could not have been more wrong! She lived a very different life than I imagined.

I am also working with Juliette Aristides Atelier Drawing.

I am about to start Next Time She'll Be Dead, by Ann Jones. This is going to be a very difficult and rather unpleasant read for me, but it's one of those books I feel I must read. The worst thing to do about domestic violence is to ignore it.

I am also working my way through Mary Chestnut's Civil War Diary. I bought it recently, thinking I already knew much of what would be in it. I could not have been more wrong! She lived a very different life than I imagined.

I am also working with Juliette Aristides Atelier Drawing.

>186 Irisheyz77:: Irisheyz77 wrote, To bring us all together in a group would kinda be like giving fuel to the fire and we'd probably only exacerbate the probably by adding more suggestions to everyone's TBR lists...

Er ... I think you've just described LibraryThing to a T!

Today I ordered Vale of Tears by Paulette Poujol Oriol, Blindness by Jose Saramago and because I was $2.50 away from qualifying for free shipping I went back and ordered 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson. So in order to save ~$5.00 shipping I bought a $9.00 book. But I'm not addicted buying books....no....not in the least.

Well my addiction took over again last nite--I stopped at Borders with the intent of only buying Mistress of the Art of Death, but I saw another book I'd been wanting had come out in paperback Mathematics of Love so I had to buy it--plus it was 20% off and I had a 40% coupon for the other book so I absolutely just had to buy both (Hi my name is momom248 and I am a bookaholic!!).

Good thing there are no book tables in my work lounge or else they would be all gone once I hit them. The Boston office of my company has a Borders in its lobby--good thing I don't work there!

#193 oh no Irisheyz77 you and I are definitely not addicted to buying books--not one little bit!!

#195 momom248 - perhaps we should take up Moira's suggestion and form a support group.

Right before I left my last job a Border's opened up directly across the street. When I saw it being built I told the finance guy that he might as well just make my paycheck out to Borders, Inc instead of to me....and sure enough once it opened I was there pretty much every day. It wasn't pretty. Thankfully I got a new job shortly thereafter. Here I have a library right next door and while that doesn't help my TBR pile it is at least more friendly to my wallet!!

@195 & 193 ~ Irisheyz77 & momom248...Welcome home!

#196 yes Irisheyz77--we do need a support group. At one time there was a thread for that here somewhere--havent' seen it a while.

I told my husband my ideal job would be at a book store and he said yeah right--you'd never see your paycheck leave the store and yep he's right about that. Oh but to have a Borders that close--I would be there every day too!!

#197 Thanks sferrando! It's so nice to know that there are others like me out there. My non-reading friends and family think I"m a nutcase. I just love books and everything about them.

momom - don't look at it as never seeing your paycheck look at it as just supporting your habit. =) I've often thought of getting a part time job in a book store just for that reason. My friend's brother also worked at Borders not too long ago and the store used to let the employees borrow books - as long as they kept them in like new condition. The store wanted the people who worked there to be well read to be able to give recommendations. Now that is my kinda work environment!

as for being thought a nutcase by your non-reading friends....even my those friends of mine who do read think that i'm a hopeless nutcase. they just don't understand! I mean, how can you resist all those pretty books calling and begging you to adopt them and rescue them from neglect in the bookstore.

sferrando - thanks! Its good to be here. ;-)

The bulk of my TBR stack was accidentally returned to the library, so I'm starting fresh.
1. Bachelor Brothers Bed and Breakfast
2. Water for Elephants-Sara Gruen
3. The Winter Rose-Jennifer Donnelly

-and I put several on hold when I got to work today!!

Hello my name is Terri and I'm a bookaholic. Today I bought:

Half of a Yellow Sun which I've heard about nonstop since joining LT a year ago.

We Need to Talk About Kevin - ditto

Small Island - only for about the last six months.

My life has become unmanageable.

More books!

War and Peace by Tolstoy - the new Pevear-Volokhonsky translation (thank god for my 40% off coupon - this thing was expensive!)

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe.

I'm feeling exhausted because I haven't bought a book for the whole of January - it doesn't mean I didn't go into bookshops though, and the effort of resistance is just exhausting! I know, why would I want to do that to myself? Well, besides Mt TBR, I noticed that I added 169 books to LibraryThing last year, but only read 89! And we're moving soon (12,000 miles away), so I thought I'd better make an effort to create a dent in the mountain.

Since tomorrow is a new month though, the self-imposed book-buying ban is up! Expect me to be posting on the February thread!

Went to a reading at Harvard Book Store last night and now have a signed copy of Carol Gilligan's first novel Kyra.

@204 killeymoon - how have you managed to go a whole month without buying a book. What is your secret?!?! Even when I ban myself from the bookstore I still can't go an entire month without buying a book (its a sickness). For I too would enter the bookstore....just to look, breath in the smells....but my powers of resistance are weak. If I am with a friend they'll restrain me (sometimes literally) from buying....but if I am alone then the temptation is great.

#200 Irisheyz77, your line: "I mean, how can you resist all those pretty books calling and begging you to adopt them and rescue them from neglect in the bookstore." are my feelings exactly! They are calling--unfortunately many of them call at the same time and I can't decided which ones to bring home with me!

#204 Killeymoon, a whole month--wow that's willpower. I think my longest was maybe 2 weeks--and it was hell not buying for 2 weeks--that was when we went on vacation and there was no opportunity to go to a bookstore. However, I did make up for it when I got back (he, he).

Today I received in the mail Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe and In Cold Blood by Truman Capote.

Just returned from my favorite coffeeshop where they have a lending library of sorts -- of sorts, meaning they don't care if you bring it back or not. I brought home The Way the Crow Flies by Ann-Marie MacDonald and Straight on till morning : the biography of Beryl Markham by Mary S. Lovell. I will take some of my books in next time to replace the ones I "borrowed."* (sferrando - I don't need no stinking break room!)

And from the real library - an audio book of Wickett's Remedy by Myla Goldberg, a book I tried to read a couple of times - the audio came highly recommended, so I'll give it another try.

*They also have a box where they collect books for prisoners, which I've donated to liberally! Cool program.

In the mailbox waiting for me were used copies of Blindness by Jose Saramago and As Meat Loves Salt by Maria McCann, both bought after reading about them on LT.

Off to the TBR pit with them!!!

Still reading Three Cups of tea however I had a Barnes and Noble 25% card so went there after work and bought The Appeal byJohn Grisham tonight and also Taming Rafe by Susan May Warren I work at a school so I am counting on a snow day tormorrow as we are to get an ice storm tonight during the night - my fingers are crossed. Reading all day with new books would make a perfect Friday!!!

@208 Irisheyz77 ~ LOVE Capote! Recently I bought his Music for Chameleons novel. Got it off the library's used book shelf for a buck! Also, with a gift certificate from Christmas time I bought Daniel Defoe: Five Novels (Library of Essential Writers Series) and Moll Flanders is included in the collection.

@209 teelgee ~ you'd better be nice to me. If I find out where your fave coffee shop is, I'll stop by and annihilate their lending library by "borrowing" the remaining books! You know I'm only a 1 hour Southwest flight away from you. Be afraid...be very afraid! ;-)

In from the library tonight:

Cross Creek by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings - an LT recommendation

Savage Run by C.J. Box - I read the first one in the Joe Pickett mystery series and enjoyed it, so I am trying the second

The Master of Rain by Tom Bradby - I saw this one and picked it up just because of the title - Anyone else do that?

213 alcottacre ~ I judge a book by its cover AND title all the time!

>212 fersher: sferrando, yeah, I'm quaking in my Birkenstocks.

@215 teelgee ~ you should be quaking 'cause I'm stompin' around over here in my Dansko clogs! ;-)

Irisheyz77 & momom248 > It wasn't easy I can tell you! Every time I went into a bookshop, my brain was creating a mental TBP (To Be Purchased) list. Especially when I saw a book I'd been wanting for ages at 1/3 of it's normal price in a bookends store, where you just know they probably only have two copies (and I am literally going to *run* there today!). The best tactic was just simply to avoid my favourite bookshops, and go to the "less-favoured" ones. I also carried around my copy of War and Peace in my handbag, so I expect that helped!

213 alcottacre - I judge books by titles and covers all the time. I've discovered lots of new authors that way. I know that there is the old saying not to do so, but there is something to be said about first impressions. And the first impression of a book is usually the cover and title. =)

217 killeymoon - that is one of the major problems of a book ban. The drooling and wanting of books. Then when the ban is lifted it makes the compulsion to buy all the greater. There have been times where I think I might have bought more books when just coming off a ban then I would have if I'd never been under the ban in the first place!

Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!

A book-crazed friend at work just brought me the following:

A Million Little Pieces by James Frey;

Oh the Glory of It All by Sean Wilsey; and

I am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe.

This gal was on her way to the employee lounge to add some of her old books to the shelf and decided to stop by my desk first. Looks like she saved me a trip. But, I'm afraid the gig's up and I've been found out!

We told on you, sferrando.

teelgee ~ your favorite coffee shop is next. WaHaHaHa! (That's my evil laugh, BTW.)

A PBS find arrived today: The Hiding Place by Trezza Azzopardi.