Judged by the Cover

I am a very touchy feely shopper. Soft blankets, smooth silk…I have to reach out and touch it when I’m in a store. After two years together, my husband still gets taken by surprise all the time when I veer off out of nowhere because I see something that catches my eye.

So, when I saw this Raymond Chandler collection shining on the shelf, the first thing I did was reach out to stroke the binding. And not only is the leather in perfect condition…it’s also slightly cushy. Well, at $5, of course I had to have it. I’ll read it eventually, but for now, it shooooooooore is purdy.

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Beware…This was Bad

I don’t typically keep books on my shelves that I don’t care for. I need the room to add more books! Plus, trading books back to the used book store means credits for me.

But, since The Golden Compass is a husband book…I suppose it’ll have to stay on my shelves.

 

Obsessed with this Book

I’m pretty sure I could use Harry Potter for every single one of these challenges this month, but I’m trying really hard to save you the monotony. Hazard of rereading them, I guess. I AM obsessed with them.

Instead, I’ll pull out my new old copy of The Great Gatsby. After seeing the movie, I became obsessed with finding a copy for my own library. I thought it would be easy to find at a used bookstore, but apparently, everyone else had the same idea as I did. All of the copies I found were either completely ratty, or written in and highlighted all over–a huge pet peeve of mine.

It took me until we reached Dallas to finally find this almost perfect copy. Now I can rest a little easier with Fitzgerald on my shelves. Ok, not really. There’s way too many greats left to collect.

Newest Purchase

I had a pretty great book haul in September. Some new books, some used ones. Even a free one, thanks to a Twitter contest! Here’s what I picked up:

 

I’ve blogged about most of these already, so I’ll keep this short. But LOOK at that gorgeous purple Drop Caps from Penguin Books! Sorry if you follow me on Twitter and get annoyed by my constant retweets, but it was well worth it. Even the pages are purple on the outside!

The bottom green book I threw in to the picture because technically…I own it. But, that’s definitely a husband book. I may read it, eventually, when it makes it way into my TBR rotation. We’ll see if I even understand it. It’ll be awhile before that happens though.

And of course, I finally have a Sherlock book. I’ve read The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, but I haven’t yet read this one. I couldn’t resist it, when I saw it on the clearance rack!

Top 3 Favorites

These are not the usual three that I give when people ask for my three favorite books, but they rank pretty high. And, since I just picked them up on clearance at Half-Price this week, I’m anxious to reread them soon.

Bel Canto was the first book by Ann Patchett that I read, and the beauty of the prose instantly attracted me to her work. I’m thinking about sneaking it in before I reread Game of Thrones now that I have it in my library.

If you love dogs, and haven’t read The Art of Racing in the Rain, what are you doing with your life? This is such a lovely book. You’ll definitely hug your furry friend much tighter after this.

Memoirs of a Geisha transports the reader to another culture, another time. Even in the cruelty of WWII, the magic of a geisha works on you, and everything is lovely for a little while. At least until the makeup is washed away.

These books are must reads in my opinion. Must owns, really. I was so glad to finally grab them for myself.

I Need to Buy This

It’s no secret around here that I loooooove Harry Potter. If you haven’t figured that out by now…you haven’t been paying attention.

It’s even worse lately, since we got back from Universal and I started rereading the series. I’ve been obsessed, really.

One thing I’ve realized is that borrowing the books is not enough. I am going to HAVE to buy them, and soon. Every time I go into a used book store, I look at all the different copies…but I really don’t want used ones. I need matched perfect copies that are going to last repeated uses. Because you know I’m going to read these babies over and over and over every year.

I just have to.

People on the Cover

The next meetup (and my first) for the Books & Brews book club I just joined is on Wednesday, so I’m rushing to get the books read in time. Middlesex was easy to find, but the second book was newer, and one I hadn’t heard of before. Neither had any of the people at the used bookstores I had gone into…which is how I found out it was a new book! Oops.

Then…kismet. The benefit of being a Barnes & Noble Member, a perfectly timed 20% off coupon. Yay! So, while I’d have rather spent it on something I actually wanted to add to my collection, at least I didn’t have to pay full price for one I haven’t read yet. And how terrible…I had to buy a new book (a little heavy on the sarcasm there, if you couldn’t tell!). At least the cover looks interesting. I’ll let you know what I think!

 

 

Have any of you read this one yet? What did you think?

Book Stack

As with any good book addict, I am a frequenter of used book stores. One of the first things I did when I found out we were moving to Dallas was look up the local sellers, and when we came down to visit, I made sure we looked at one of them–Lucky Dog Books. And oh man, guys, it’s HEAVEN. And…it’s maybe a mile down the road from my house.

I usually have a stack in the corner my shelf somewhere, or on the floor–where ever I can find room–of “reject books.” Books that I didn’t care for, or just don’t need. Things that I can trade or sell back to make room for others.

This is that stack:

It’s getting too big for the bookshelf at this point, since I’ve been going through my boxes and finding things as we unpack, that I haven’t seen in awhile.

A couple of novels that aren’t my taste any more. Dave Ramsey, there at the bottom, is no longer needed, since aside from some pesky student loans, I’m almost debt free now! Woot! And then there’s that baby book, which, NO I did not buy because I had a child. I bought it when I found out I was going to be an aunt for the first time and thought it might come in handy. It pretty much just convinced me that I should leave the mothering up to real mothers. Into the stack it goes!

Time to get rid of these and make room for more!

Latest Purchase

I never did a bookhaul picture for July because we were so busy, and not buying a ton of books. We did, however, visit a few bookstores while we were traveling. Come on,  I can’t help it.

The most notable one was Haslam’s in St. Pete, FL. If you are ever in that area, you must go. It’s largest New & Used bookstore in Florida…I think the oldest too. It’s fantastic. We got stuck there during a rainstorm (flashing lights and everything!) and I was not sad about it.

It was there that I picked up the hardback copy of The Thorn Birds that you see in the stack below. If you’ve been following the blog for long, you know that is one of my absolute favorite books, and my paperback copy is in tattered shreds. I’ve been wanting to buy a hardback copy for awhile, but the thought of replacing it with a NEW book was heartwrenching…it just wouldn’t have the same smell. A used book! Problem solved! My bff and husband were befuddled by my choice completely. She even brought me a new paperback copy…”Look! They have a fresh one!” Nope. I want it to smell like my old one, otherwise it’s just not the same.

I know. It’s ok, Mon. I know I’m insane.

Just roll with it.

 

And look! I FINALLY got The Great Gatsby! FINALLLLLYYYYYYYYYY. Hannibal Rising rounds out the Quartet, we already had the other three. And Gargoyle  I read in college and loved, so when I saw that beautiful hardcover I couldn’t resist.

Nothing new that I haven’t read yet. That’s usually the case when I’m buying hardbacks. I don’t like paying a lot of money for things I am unsure of.

Have you bought anything interesting lately?