The Acquisitions Department Strikes Again

Okay, so, there really should have been no reports from the bookish Acquisitions Department so early in the year.  In the spirit of one who is trying to save some money and also trying to avoid accumulating more boxes of books that will need to be moved when I (hopefully) move this year, I was totally going to give the Friends of the Library book sale a wide berth (even though I'm totally their poster child and everything).  My resolve lingered until Monday evening when I was chugging along at work and thinking about how nice it would be to have an evening off and how it would just be so easy to take a few hours off and go to the book sale.  A perfectly good excuse for a few hours off, right?  And I could go it easy, right?  Only get the *really* good ones, right?

Well, the good news is, I did actually get fewer books than usual.  The bad news is, I usually get a ton.  This library happens to have a pack of readers who donate who read just the kinds of books that are right in my wheelhouse.  So, I scaled back and got only, like, twenty-some instead of thirty-some.  So, go me, right?  A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step or something like that.  We all knew I couldn't just, like, quit cold turkey or anything.

Oh Hell, enough rationalizing, we all know you just want to see the books, amIright?

(click to embiggen)

 

The Run-down (with selected commentary)...

 

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson (There's always a "big find" of the book sale.  This is it.)

The Truth About the Henry Quebert Affair by Joel Dicker (Because why accept a book for review when you can just buy it later?)

Seven for a Secret by Lyndsay Faye (My mom has The Gods of Gotham so we've got the series so far now)

The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani 

The Ministry of Special Cases by Nathan Englander

The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa (I'm pretty sure all the bloggers really liked this one.)

The Taste of Apple Seeds by Katharina Hagena

Bitter is the New Black by Jen Lancaster

The Promise of Stardust by Priscilla Sibley

The End of Mr Y by Scarlett Thomas

Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami (All the bloggers heart Murakami.  Maybe I will one day, too!)

French Leave by Anna Gavalda (It's a Europa.  Whenever I have the luck to find a used Europa, I snatch it right up.)

The Smile by Donna Jo Napoli

Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline
The City of Ember/The People of Sparks/The Prophet of Yonwood by Jeanne DuPrau
The Winter Rose by Jennifer Donnelly
The Silent Wife by A.S.A. Harrison
Land of a Hundred Wonders by Lesley Kagen (I'm kind of on a Kagen kick lately, it would seem.)
An Altar in the World by Barbara Brown Taylor (Eva told me I should try this author.  So I shall!)
The Lazarus Project by Aleksandar Hemon
The Alphabet Sisters by Monica McInerney
Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend by Matthew Dicks
Flyboys by James Bradley (Okay, maybe my dad just gave me this one)
The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling (I secretly think this sounds as boring as heck, but it's J.K Rowling, so you know...
The Violets of March by Sarah Jio (not pictured, because I was not doing so well with the braining last night when I was taking the pictures)

The theme of this sale's haul?  (There always is one, and it's not usually intended.)  Books in translation!  (An excellent unintended theme if I do say so myself)

There they all are, to my (mild) shame.  Once again, I have exhibited my great feats of willpower.  If you're lucky I'll break out my Book Outlet Boxing Day haul pictures one of these days and amaze you with yet more impressive displays book buying discipline.

But, anyhow, where should I start?

Loose Leafing: Featuring the Bold Return of...

No, not me.  I've been here all week thankyouverymuch. 

No, it's the bold return of "Some people read, some people just buy books."  Library book sale season has finally come to an end, not with a bang but a whimper, you might say, if you were of a literary bent which I presume you are.  Here in the bookstore-less wasteland I call home, there remains one saving grace for the book lover who likes to own books but needs a break from compromising their bookish values to further fatten the coffers at Amazon.  That saving grace, is, of course, the month of June when all the local Friends of the Libraries throw their big yearly book sales (where you can snap up, at a very deep discount, all the books other people probably bought from Amazon) at which time I buy a psychotic amount of books and then return home for the rest of the year to marinate in guilt, shame, back pain, and the occasional actual enjoyment of the acquired books.  This year is no different, except...*casts eyes downward, mumbles semi-incoherently*...I uh think I bought more than the absurd amount I usually do.

The amount of books I bought in the month of June, not even counting the books I acquired by other means (No, not those other means.  Is that really what you think of me?) is so absurdly large that even I have begun to panic and demand a complete moratorium on book buying of myself (Note: this never works.).  Happily for you, while I cower in a corner with my shame and a book I should be reading very quickly (but am probably not, because that's not how I roll), I've also elected to put my house-collapsing array of bookish sins on display for you this very day.

OK, enough talk.  Now, (very low quality) book photography by Megan with the help of the iPhone I should have replaced last summer.  Click on the pics to make them bigger.  Of course, you'll want to see the titles, won't you?  (P.S. This post from here on out will probably look extra-ridiculous in a feed reader.  My apologies.)

Look upon my great piles of new (used!) books and despair!  I mean, look upon my great piles of books and tell me which ones I should definitely get to reading within the next ten years, and the ones that I probably should donate directly back to the library with all haste!

The Bloggers Made Me Do It

It's time for another note from the acquisitions department.  Actually, there hasn't been one of these in quite some time.  That's because I've been trying to not acquire books, since I'm pretty well set on reading material until I'm somewhere in my mid-60s.  And by "trying not to acquire books," I, of course, mean, only acquiring about 10 a month and not spending money to come into possession of them.  I am, how you say, not good at not acquiring books.  I haven't tested this, but I'm pretty sure if you gave me a good shake a few books that I had no idea were there would fall inexplicably to the ground. 

Unfortunately, there are some obstacles to the non-acquisition of books, like, for example, all these mailing lists from online book retailers that I receive several times daily.  I'd been fending them off admirably until the Book Closeouts Scratch and Dent sale e-mail landed in my inbox.  Scratch and Dent basically means "good books at rock bottom prices if you don't mind if they're a bit banged up."  Can you blame me for having a look?  Then, the bloggers did most of the rest, because, naturally I came upon several books that book bloggers put solidly on my radar.  Sadly, I am a rotten blogger, and I have a hard time remembering just exactly which blogger to blame for each acquisitions, so I am forced to blame them all, as a unit. 

 

For example, The Singer's Gun by Emily St. John Mandel.  Now, in the little corner of the blogosphere I frequent, you'd be hard pressed to make it through with out getting bonked over the head by somebody recommending an Emily St. John Mandel book, so I'm more than a little pleased to finally have one in possession to read, when I turn 47 or 58 or whenever I get the chance, you know.

And The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet.  You don't quickly forget the bloggers talking up the book about the 12-year-old map-making prodigy who journeys cross country to accept an award from the Smithsonian people who, of course, don't realize he's twelve.  Somehow I missed the part about how visually appealing this book would be, which I suppose, really should be obvious, what with all the nifty maps and everything.  Very excited about this one.

And The Taste of Salt by Martha Southgate about the black, female marine biologist at Woods Hole.  More than a few bloggers recommended this one.  In fact, bloggers seem to be fans of Algonquin Books as a whole, so I threw Blind Your Ponies by Stanley Gordon West in my cart, too.  It sounds like one of those books where the whole community comes to life, and my mom and I both seem to love those sorts.

Rounding out the collection is Tomorrow River by Lesley Kagen.  Everybody seems to be always talking about Whistling in the Dark by this author, but this one, about a girl trying to crack her family's secrets sounds good, too.  And don't forget Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris.  I've long been curious about Ferris's acclaimed portrait of the twisted office atmosphere. 

So, what should I read first or when I turn 36 or 52 or 63 after I shuffle off these other thousand books I can't seem to stop acquiring?  ;-)

Used Book Bonanza!

There's something about a long dreary winter that makes it that much easier to succomb to the siren call of the library used book sale.  I've always associated summer more with book sale season at any of several local libraries, but it's the winter ones that I live for, that give a little island of anticipation in the dreary months between Christmas and and when springtime finally shows its face. 

With a combination of ignorance, luck, and self-discipline, but mostly the first two, I only shuffled myself off to one winter book sale this winter, which is a good thing given the imminent collapse of the house under all the unread books.  I made it worth my while, though, and ended up with a slew of promising reads.  Here they are for your viewing pleasure, with haphazard commentary, of course!

One Day by David Nicholls - Between all the blogosphere buzz and the movie previews, it wasn't hard deciding to pick this one up.  Plus, the idea of revisiting a relationship on just one day of each year is kind of fascinating.

Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson - I've heard nothing but good things about Chains, and so far I've got a great track record with Halse Anderson's books like Fever 1793 and Speak.  This was purchase was a no-brainer!

Say You're One of Them by Uwem Akpan - I think I won this in a giveaway once upon a time, but it never came, and I was very sad.  =(  But now I have it anyway, so I am very happy! =)

The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen
The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad
The Swallows of Kabul by Yasmina Khadra
The Ballad of West Tenth Street by Marjorie Kernan

The Bermudez Triangle by Maureen Johnson - Who that heard Maureen Johnson speak at the first Book Blogger Con and who subsequently took up following her wildly entertaining Twitter stream would pass up the chance to acquire more of her writing when faced with it at a book sale?

Gardens of Water by Alan Drew
Open Secrets by Alice Munro

Under the Dome by Stephen King - I probably would have picked this up just because I'm a Stephen King fan from way back, even though I've been wandering from the fold, but it's Bellezza's two posts that got me really intrigued about it.

Somebody Else's Daughter by Elizabeth Brundage

The March by E.L. Doctorow - I read Ragtime once upon a time, and I really enjoyed the way Doctorow does historical fiction, getting it from all different angles and perspectives and incorporating real historical figures.  Hope this is similar!

The Northern Clemency by Philip Hensher - Seeing the Booker Prize shortlist emblem on the front of a cover nearly always draws my interest. 
The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman - It's Kim's review of this one that got me interested, and I almost missed it completely at the sale but for spying my mother slip it off the shelf and back on and catching a glimpse of the cover.  The copy's just like new!

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty - This one's been all around the blogosphere and sounds great.  I'm sure I've read a zillion positive reviews of it, but Raych's is the only one with an exploding snow man illustration of the novel's plot, so we'll blame her for my acquisition of this novel.  P.S. this is one of those books where U.K. cover is much lovelier than that which was trotted  out to the U.S. audience.  It's quite nice when people who donate their books donate their books from other places. 

The Devil's Company and The Whiskey Rebels by David Liss - Historical fiction, for being one of my favorite "genres" has been sorely lacking in my reading of late, which is perhaps why I've elected to collect yet more of Liss's work based on a now distant satisfied feeling about The Coffee Trader which I read many, many moons ago.

We Thought You Would Be Prettier by Laurie Notaro - I can remember one of my best friends (who I didn't meet for the first time on the internet) having driven to my house had something by Laurie Notaro on audio for the trip that she said was hilarious.  This is not audio, but I hope it reads just as hilariously!

The Story of a Marriage by Andrew Sean Greer
Luncheon of the Boating Party by Susan Vreeland

Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - One of Eva's favorite authors, which is more than enough reason for me to pick something up at a book sale, for sure.

Light from a Distant Star by Mary McGarry Morris - Okay, I may have just thieved this one from my mom.  I bought it for her for Christmas because I think she's read just about every one of Morris's books, and I'd hate for her to have a gap in her reading and because buying a book for my mom is almost like buying a book for myself since once she reads it, it becomes mine... ;-)

Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire - An impulse buy that I might regret.  I felt meh about Wicked the book, felt great about Wicked the musical, and then Wm Morrow sent me a copy of the final book in the series, so I thought, hey, it costs a buck, why not revisit the series and see what I think because surely I can't read the last book in a series without having read the others!


There you have it, the newest used additions to the collection.  Are there any that I should push to the front of the to be read line?  Any that were total mistakes?

The Girl Who Loved Books Too Much

It's library book sale season in the land without bookstores. I shouldn't go, I can't go. I don't even have places to put the boxes of books anymore much less actual shelf space. Alas, my mother has begun an endeavor to sell used books on Amazon, and she desires "moral support" on her inventory gathering quests. I told her she should find someone else because taking me to a book sale is something like taking an alcoholic to the bar, and she frequently finds that rather than helping her, I've slunk away to, um, have a drink, we'll say. Let's just say, I've been supporting the local libraries with some abandon, and the kind givers of books to such causes read really good books.

Now, the rundown in pictures, commentary, and even some blame!



The Widower's Tale by Julia Glass - I liked Three Junes away back when I read it, and would like to dip into Glass's other work.
Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver - The blogosphere's been abuzz about this YA hit for so long that I snatched it up hastily.
Dream When You're Feeling Blue Elizabeth Berg - Sheila made my do it!
Faithful Place by Tana French - Lesley's fault I bought this one.
Copper Sun by Sharon Draper
The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell - It's probably Rebecca that really made me want to give Sarah Vowell a shot.
Petropolis by Anya Ulinich
The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova
Zoo Story by Thomas French - I'd seen this one around a few times, but I think it's Diane's review that made it jump off the shelves and into my hands.
This is Where We Live by Janelle Brown - I discovered this one on the public bookshelf at work. I read the author's other book All We Ever Wanted Was Everything. That plus both her book covers have desserts on the covers, which seem to be totally irrelevant to the books but somehow also unexpectedly appealing. And did I mention it was free?
A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick - There may be a few book bloggers out there that haven't raved about this one. I'm not sure I've met them, though.
The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham - Horrors! How did this get here, especially given my lingering unlove of Maugham? Methinks Amanda's to blame for this madness, whether she's still blogging about books or not!
How Doctors Think by Jerome Groopman - This one was really popular when I was in charge of maintaining the health section while working at Borders. Now I work with lots of doctors, so I'm even more curious.
The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt
The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich - Yeah, I totally bought this one before. Oops.
Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving - That Book Lady made me by this one, too. Plus, John Irving is one of those authors whose books I seems to collect and rarely read. My mom usually likes them, though...
The House at Sugar Beach by Helene Cooper - Here's some blame for Debi's blog 3 to 4 incarnations ago.
The Story of Edgar Swatelle by David Wroblewski - Curious about modern day re-telling of Hamlet. That *is* what this is, isn't it?




The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman - This is another from my days babysitting the health section at Borders. I've got a thing for bio-ethical quandaries, and I've heard numerous good things about this book.
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel - The Booker Prize made me do it.
Little Bee by Chris Cleave - I don't know what this is even about, but sooo many people recommend it.
The Little Book by Selden Edwards
Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko
The Hearts of Horses by Molly Gloss - Okay, I'd never heard of this one when I picked it up, but I was still in my "western" happy place from reading Annie Proulx's That Old Ace in the Hole that it called out to me.
What My Mother Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones - Because I totally read novels in verse (like, once ever)
Garden Spells Sarah Addison Allen - It's about time I tried SAA, right?
East of the Sun by Julia Gregson
Mrs. Somebody Somebody by Tracy Winn - This and previous are both LibraryThing Early Reviewer books that apparently stuck in my head!
Tinkers by Paul Harding - Hello, Pulitzer winner!
The Tennis Partner by Abraham Verghese - Hey, it's that guy that wrote Cutting for Stone!
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen - Can you believe this popped up on the community shelf at work? All the talk about it got me just curious enough to lug this massive hardback around in my purse for a day.
The Last Days of Ptolemy Gray by Walter Mosley
Clara's War by Clara Kramer - I'm all in for good books about the Holocaust, and Becky said this is one. I had to wrangle this one out of my mother's bookselling hands. Phew, close call.
Eulalia! by Brian Jacques - I've been in love with the Redwall books since I was in middle school, but I've still got a few left to read.
Shadow Tag by Louise Erdrich - Wendy made me get this one. Plus, my lingering happy feelings over The Master Butchers Singing Club by the very same author.
Secrets of Eden by Chris Bohjalian - Read and liked Midwives once upon time, and now I'm back for more.
(not pictured)Lottery by Patricia Wood - I remember a very glowing review from Lesley back when I was a baby blogger turned me onto this one. Not pictured because by the time I took the picture, my mom had already snatched it out of my hands to read.

All right, that's it for now. But there may or may not be another book sale coming up next week...

So, book lovers, how'd I do? =)

Bad Megan Goes to the Book Sale

I wasn't going to go this time. Really, I wasn't. Even though it was 5 days worth of book sale affording me many opportunities to go and peruse used booky goodness, I made other plans to do other things. I went to work, went to a Zumba-thon, I avoided, avoided, avoided. But it was a frustrating week with a caught cold that derailed my planned avoidance and made me cancel plans and get depessed about canceling plans, and it's the middle of winter and I just needed something to look forward to that's closer than spring, and every time I drove past the library, I thought, "I'll stop, just for a second," until on the 2nd to last day, my resolve broke down and I spent an hour scanning the shelves. Thankfully, on the 4th day, the stock is fairly picked over, but not so picked over that I wasn't still forced to exercise some restraint, which I think I accomplished admirably. Enough about that, though. We all know you're just here for the pictures and the list of delicious acquisitions. So here they are - with assorted and haphazard commentary (of course).




The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (Not sure this is going to be my thing, but I'm a sucker for a prize winner.)

Carry Me Across the Water by Ethan Canin (I bought this for the title. Terrible, huh?)

Second Helpings by Megan McCafferty (I read Sloppy Firsts just before I started blogging, and put the next book in the series on my wishlist. Now I've got a sparkly new used copy.)

Interred With Their Bones by Jennifer Lee Carrell

Nickel and Dimed Barbara Ehrenreich (Interested to see the results of her quest to see how people live on $6 or $7 an hour when I can't seem to swing life on my own making better than twice that.)

The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald (I've read about this one all over the place, but Danielle's review is the freshest in my mind.)

Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome (I'm blaming this one on Eva.)

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbary (I'm pretty sure this one will always get blamed on Dewey.)

Chosen By a Horse by Susan Richards (And I'm a sucker for broken and then healed animal stories!)

God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It by Jim Wallis (Love the subtitle to this one. I'm tired of being fed this crap about how because I'm a Christian I should love right wing politics. Blargh!)




The Girl She Used to Be by David Cristofano

Drood by Dan Simmons (Okay, bloggers, I'm not sure how you did this, but somehow you made me want to read this crazy huge tome about Dickens. With glee did I pluck it from the shelf. Crazy this.)

The Condition by Jennifer Haigh (Here's one of those authors I collect but have never read. I know you have these, too. Know it.)

The Myth of You and Me by Leah Stewart

Cold Rock River by J.L. Miles

And that's all. Remarkable restraint, right? So, which one should I read first?

On Willpower or the Lack Thereof

I meant to have a book review for you today, but as usual, things didn't go quite as I planned. Instead, I've composed this bookish acquisition post in an effort to convince you that I need an intervention and someone to commit me to book addiction rehab.

It's library book sale season here in Nowheresville, PA, and for the first time in years, I skipped one. It was right after BEA, and I knew I didn't need a single book for years to come. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to skip two. I exercised some restraint in not being there for the very first hour on the very first day in hopes that by the time I got there, it would be all picked over and I wouldn't get much. Again, failure.

I spent about $20 less than usual, but then I usually spend around $40 at this particular library book sale which always seems to have nice, barely used copies of surprisingly new books. Now, if you've been to a library book sale recently, and I suspect that perhaps you have, you'll know that 20 bucks will get you an uncommon amount of lightly used books.

Without further ado - my secret shame, emerging for the first time from the box that I've been trying to pretend I didn't actually bring home with me (with occasional commentary):

Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - a book I can't believe I don't already own.
America, America by Ethan Canin
The Age of Shiva by Manil Suri
The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga - a book that caught my attention when it won the Man Booker Prize in 2008.
Coventry by Helen Humphreys - to feed my need for World War II fiction.
The Rebels of Ireland by Edward Rutherfurd - because I've got the first book in the Dublin Saga, so obviously I need the next one, right?
Unveiled by Francine Rivers - One of a series of novellas about women from the Bible. If I like this one, there's more where it came from!
The Lizard Cage by Karen Connelly - Because I think this got some Orange Prize attention at some point, and I heart me some Orange Prize.
Arlington Park by Rachel Cusk - See above. I think.
Let Me Finish by Roger Angell - Even if this didn't sound really interesting, my shallow heart could never pass up the awesome cover on this book.
Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith - I seem to recall the blogosphere being abuzz about this a while ago...
Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo - See above.
Bucking the Sun by Ivan Doig - I've had such a thing for stories about people in Montana ever since I went there and didn't stay like I was supposed to.
Rules of the Road by Joan Bauer
Full Tilt by Neal Shusterman - Same author as Downsiders which was a pretty good book.
The Schwa was Here by Neal Shusterman - See above.
Doomsday Book by Connie Willis - I'm pretty sure I've read about a zillion good reviews of this in one place or another. Despite it's not being my normal thing, I certainly have to try it, no?
The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis - I've always loved a good Newbery book, and this one is a Newbery Honor.
A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck - See above.

Only, uhm, 19. That's good right. Hardly any really. But where will I put them?

Have you read any of them? Which one should I read first? Discuss while I attempt not to mysteriously vanish for a week. Really. ;-)

Too Many Books?

As always, I'll have to ask you to pardon my absence. Life has been mildly out of control lately what with an unexpected return of a friend, buying a new car, having a job, and other such diversions. This is all not to mention my massive weekend book buying insanity and subsequent shelf reorganization. As it turns out, attempting to organize 1000 books or so is a time consuming task that slurped up every last bit of my weekend. Nonetheless, I've temporarily triumphed over the unwieldy book collection and determined that I simply must start being much more disciplined in my book acquiring or maybe, at least, disciplined at all. But who wants to start out a blog post talking about discipline? Let's talk about the shiny new books I got and dole out a little blame instead. I promise I'll only write about a few of them, or else we might be here all day.

So - some of the highlights of library booksale fest Winter 2010 and the bloggers who made me buy them:


Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese - With thanks to Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea.



The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar - Another one for Diane!




Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters - Thanks to Eva of A Striped Armchair who can always be counted upon to add to my TBR pile!

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri - Wendy at Caribousmom wrote a great review of this one.

Veil of Roses by Laura Fitzgerald - With thanks to the raving Susan of West of Mars. Having read Fat Kid Rules the World now, when she raves, I purchase!




To Serve Them All My Days by R.F. Delderfield - I definitely would have passed over this undustjacketed massive tome if I hadn't recalled Bookfool's glowing review.

A Gathering of Old Men by Ernest Gaines - Sam at Book Chase wrote a great review that propelled this one off the shelf and into my hands.

Others with no specific blame to lay include:

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond
The Map of Love by Ahdaf Soueif
Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder
The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million by Daniel Mendelsohn
A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka

...and much much more. Should I continue I would only shame myself with my great indiscretion. In light of this, I finally decided that I had too many books. So I decided to weed out the book collection and unload some dead weight that it's time to admit that I'm never going to read. The good news is, all the books fit on the shelves now. The bad news? Well, um, they're kind of double layered. Okay, really double layered. But two weekend days later, they are in alphabetical order by author. Which was an epic chore, but also greatly satisfying, and I'm pretty sure I got a great workout without really thinking about it. Even with all of them carefully tucked into their places on the shelves, the unavoidable truth is that there are, in fact, too many. I fear it may be time to institute the sort of book buying ban that some of you with stronger wills than I have instituted. I have yet to decide on the rules I'll put in place for myself, just that I need to have some rules. After a week like the last one (or, dare I say, two?), I fear that one of the most basic easier-said-than-done rules I need to abide by is to, um, actually crack a book once in a while. *sigh*

It's a New Year With New Books!

And like a magical switch had been flipped, I actually woke up this morning, and when I sat down at the computer, I wanted to write a blog post instead of thinking I should write a blog post. I'm hoping this is a sign of good things to come.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and a bookish holiday. From what I've seen, many of you have, and so did I! I was actually very conservative about the amount of books I put on my Christmas list, and I received three of the four that I asked for. I asked for and received Complications by Atul Gawande, an essay collection about the trials faced by the medical profession as written by a surgeon. In an unprecedented turn of events I had finished a book on Christmas Eve, and so was able to start one right away on Christmas, and I've been devouring Complications, a book I've meant to read forever and even more so since Eva has been known to gush about (and rightly so from what I've read so far!). I also got The Knife of Never Letting Go, the dystopian YA that any number of my bloggy friends have been going on about, but which I probably most associate with Nymeth's raving. Lastly, I received a copy of Listening Is an Act of Love which is a collection of personal stories from ordinary people as told to their loved ones in StoryCorps interview booths. I can't remember where I originally heard about it, but I do know that I'm quite excited to have it.



Now, just because I was so well-behaved with asking for books on my Christmas list doesn't mean there's been any shortage of books coming into the house lately. In fact, you may remember this post where I came to you enablers for your help not indulging in the Book Closeouts Black Friday fiction sale. As I was counting on, you all did not dissuade me but convinced me that purchasing myself some books was, in fact, the right course of action. With that in mind, I whittled my total down to a mere 7 (for a house in which the shelf space probably stands at perhaps -150 books right now). Yes, I'm ashamed, but I'm also pretty elated with the haul, too.

It consists of...

- After You'd Gone by Maggie O'Farrell (from which the text of my header comes, and which I decided I definitely needed a copy for my own collection)
- Stand the Storm by Breena Clark (historical fiction about freed slaves in DC during the Civil War)
- The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney (more historical fiction that I've had on my wishlist for a long time!)
- Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson (another that feels like I've wanted it forever!)
- 26a by Diana Evans (an Orange Prize for New Writers winner for my lapsed Orange Project reading)
- The Ladies of Grace Adieu by Susanna Clarke (which many of my blogging friends were talking up during the Once Upon a Time Challenge last year)
- Birds in Fall by Brad Kessler (which I have no comment for, but sounds really good)

And all of this doesn't count several review copies that have shuffled in in recent weeks, which I don't think I'm going to mention because I'm getting tired (and slightly ashamed), but which I haven't forgotten and will be getting to in the extremely near future once I finish the book I gave myself permission to enjoy with no strings attached for Christmas.

In other news, in one fell swoop I told myself that I would read more books this year, waaaay more books, and also joined Twitter. That's right. I've crossed over to the Twitter dark side after months and months and months of wisely holding out. Nonetheless, I went and got a phone with internet capabilities, and I felt like I needed something to make it feel like I was getting my money's worth out of it. So, Twitter it is. My name there is toadacious1, which is actually a weird screenname I've been using since I was in high school, so if you've got a sketchy follower with "toad" in their name, that's me. If you want to follow me, please do, and if you'd like me to follow you (if I'm not already), please do leave me your name, and I'll look you up! Also, if you can think of a few people or entitities that I'd really be missing out by not following leave their names, too, if you please.



All right, that's all from me for today, but I'll be trying to catch up with the blogosphere as soon as today's pork and sauerkraut eating is through. Also - keep your eyes peeled for the 3rd Annual Leafy Awards for Excellent Books Read in 2009!

Senseless Book Shopping for the Infirm

I do this sometimes. I use words and then I wonder if I know said words real meaning. Hence, when I casually plunked down "infirm" in the title of this post, I thought, does infirm really mean what I think it means? As it turns out, infirm has several definitions, more than one (all?) of which apply to me for the purposes of this post. So, in fact, my casual choice turned out to be just the word I wanted...and more. Here we have the definition as copied and pasted from Dictionary.com:

in⋅firm  /ɪnˈfɜrm/
–adjective
1. feeble or weak in body or health, esp. because of age; ailing.
2. unsteadfast, faltering, or irresolute, as persons or the mind; vacillating: infirm of purpose.
3. not firm, solid, or strong: an infirm support.
4. unsound or invalid, as an argument or a property title.

I mean, how perfect. First of all, I'm feeling kinda "feeble in health." I've been trying not to get sick all week, and I thought I had it beaten, but then just on the other side of all the Thanksgiving festivating, I find myself all tired and stuffy-nosed and grumpy. In this state, I happened upon a nice, helpful announcement from Book Closeouts informing me that they're having a nice 50% off sale on fiction books. Not being "firm, solid, or strong" in my commitment to not buy any more books for my overflowing shelves (or do I mean "overflowing house"?), I happened over there and browsed the books to soften the raw deal of being ill on the weekend when I should be starting my Christmas shopping and relishing the anticipation of the upcoming Christmas holiday. Now I find myself with a good few books in my virtual cart and I'm feeling "unsteadfast, faltering, and irresolute" about just what to do about this, which is quickly followed up by some very "unsound or invalid" reasoning as to why I should just go right on ahead and buy those books.

So then, I have a mission for you, should you choose to accept it. Your goal? Talk me out of whipping out my credit card and buying the 9 books (whittled down!) I have in my cart at Book Closeouts which are obscenely cheap because of their (not just) Black Friday fiction sale. Tell me how I have no need of more books, how I should be either saving my money for any of several important causes or spending it on Christmas presents, how there is no space for new books. Tell me that "they're cheap!" and "But I've really wanted them for a long time!" are not valid reasons for buying them, nor is the excuse that "I'm sick and ordering books I have no space for will make me less sick/less bummed out about being sick." In other words, cure me of my bookish infirmity. Until then, I'll be hovering here with my mouse perilously close to the "purchase" button.

Love,

Megan

P.S. Sorry about the word verification. It was getting pretty spammy around here, so I turned it on. :(

Er...Pardon That Life-a-thon

Okay, so when I posted that Read-a-thon wrap-up last Sunday morning, I definitely wasn't thinking "oh hey, well, this will be my last post til next week." In fact, I was hoping to have a post Read-a-thon review-a-thon week in which I would catch up on my reviews which I seem to be getting more and more behind on, and filling in the extra time visiting the new faces I saw here on Read-a-thon day and slightly after.

Rather what I got is a Life-a-thon, which is when your job and, well, your life kick your butt mercilessly all week so that you feel like everyday is like running a marathon and you ran out of energy and the will to continue three days before. You know, the kinds of days when the only thing you feel like doing when you get home is taking a long nap and watching TV or something else that requires similarly little brain power. So yeah, all my blogosphere "high" left over from the Read-a-thon dissipated all-too-suddenly. Nonetheless, I (in no particular order) bought some cheap books, slept a lot, watched a good baseball game that ate into the extra hour of sleep I was supposed to get (and was totally worth it), did some pseudo Trick or Treating, and drank a fantastic milkshake, and am feeling semi-recharged. Given that, I should probably be writing a review or five right now, instead I'm writing one of these posts about life and reading randomness.

Much to my surprise, I actually finished a book amid all the lousiness that was last week. It's The Fireman's Wife by Jack Riggs which I probably should have read and reviewed some time ago, no really, some time ago for LibraryThing Early Reviewers. I had started it and put it down a few different times because the first 50 pages just aren't catchy. I was concerned that the writing wasn't ever going to flow and I wasn't going to care about the characters, but once I finally got through to the middle of the book, I was pleasantly surprised. There were definitely some flaws, but overall I suppose it was a pretty good story. More later when I write the actual review.

And as for the books I bought to soothe myself about my rotten week? I knew you'd ask. My parents and I were poking around a town about an hour from where we live, and we ended up at a big (BIG!) antique store. Now, most antiques don't really thrill me, so imagine my happiness to find they had a book sale going on in their basement. Needless to say, I looked at books while my parents ogled the antiques. Honestly, the selection was pretty poor in the grand scheme of used book sales, and I really thought I was going to strike out, but then there it was glimmering, a diamond in the very rough, Jonathan Safran Foer's Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, a book I've wanted to get my hands on for so long that I probably should have just bought it new or got it from the library. Now, I don't have to. I also may or may not have picked up Runaway by Alice Munro because I feel like I've heard good things about her short stories, A Spectacle of Corruption by David Liss because he wrote The Coffee Trader which I liked, and Hanna's Daughters by Marianne Fredriksson because who doesn't love a good generational saga? And that's all I found. Which is probably a good thing.

Anyhow, here's to next week being a better (and more productive) week around here! Hope you all have a good one, too! =D

Fair Week Mish Mash

Phew - this week has been a real marathon, and it obviously hasn't been a marathon I've been running here in blogland. This evening finds me taking a break from the Sunday Scramble, which is my friendly term for my frantic efforts to catch up with everything from blog reading to cleaning in a few hours before the next work week starts, to actually write a post. Fair warning, the first part is me going on about my week, the second is the more bookish part. Choose one or read both (or run screaming in horror!), the choice is yours!

This week was Fair week. Yes, that's Fair with a capital F. You see, each year our town hosts the biggest fair in Pennsylvania starting, oh, usually the last Saturday in September and spilling over into October. One stat I heard this week is that it is the 22nd largest in the U.S. which isn't too shabby considering my town is pretty small. It so happens that I'm generally a lunatic about going to the fair, and this week I proved it with reckless abandon. I think 6 out of the 9 possible days to go, I was there eating deep fried foods, tour guiding fair newbies (mostly my co-workers), seeing Sugarland in concert (excellent!), and watching the Dock Dogs competition which is new to the fair (and also awesome!). What's more fun than devouring a dozen funnel cakes and watching a bunch of dogs jump really far off a dock into the water? Perhaps, you think many other things would be more fun. I, however, had a fantastic week, though I am totally beat. P.S. If you like dogs and the Dock Dog thing comes to some place near year, you should definitely see it. I could have watched for hours. I did watch for hours.

My freakishly extensive fair going didn't leave much time left over for reading, though I'm still plodding (and I mean plodding) through Carlos Ruiz Zafon's The Angel's Game for the R.I.P. challenge. It's a little too easy to put down, but not so easy to put down that I would consider giving up on it. The jury's still out on it.

Despite my lack of a considerable amount of reading, more books did arrive at my house this week at a nice steady rate of about one per week day.

First came:



Intertwined by Gena Showalter. It's a giveaway win from Robin at My Two Blessings. I first read about through an ad on Shelf Awareness, where I ended up reading an excerpt from the first chapter. It's just the sort of fast reading guilty pleasure I need from time to time, I think.

Next came:



Black Angels by Linda Beatrice Brown - an ARC from Penguin. Susan at Bloggin' 'bout Books first tipped me off about this book with her excellent review, and I knew it was something I was going to have to read. It's her I've got to thank, in part, for the galley in my mailbox, too, so thanks Susan! =)

Up next:



2666 by Roberto Bolano. I've been curious about this one for a while. Thanks to Frances at Nonsuch Book and her Book Blogger Appreciation Week giveway, now I've got a copy which I will hopefully read when the big old Picador readalong thingy (which hasn't quite launched yet) comes along. Even though it's such a delicious looking read, it should definitely be good to have some conversation and encouragement (read: deadlines) to go along with it since at 893 pages it's quite a considerable tome.

And last:



Fat Kid Rules the World by K.L. Going from a a BookCrosser. I think I remember even from my pre-blogging days Susan from West of Mars just raving about this book, and so it's been sitting on my wish list. Now, I've got it, and let me tell you, it's accomplished quite an incredible feat. I nearly never start reading a book the moment I get it. It gets logged and then it goes to sit on the shelf gathering dust with the rest of its brethren for an indefinite amount of time until a not predetermined time. Well, Fat Kid Rules the World was waiting by the computer for its logging, and don't you know I read the first chapter? And then I read more, and more and I'm totally hooked. Troy the self-proclaimed Fat Kid has an incredibly engaging voice and it just took me right in. This should deepen my conviction that any book that has that Printz medal hanging out on the cover has a 99.9% chance of being totally awesome. Further gushing, I'm sure, to come.


In other news, I've been cruising the 24 Hour Readathon site from time to time thinking maybe, just maybe this will be the one where I actually read. I don't think I have any plans for the appointed weekend, so that's one road block out of the way. I don't think I'll probably be able to manage the whole thing without sleep - you don't even wanna know me without my 8 hours of sleep - but I could probably manage 16 or so hours...couldn't I? It would be a good chance to catch up on all the reading I've neglected, right? And play with all the book bloggers? Oh, I don't know. I'm such a committment-phobe. I need to go think about it a while. I'll probably sign up, like, the day before, or chicken out and settle for cheerleading....

The Week or So in Books

Argh! It's been a week since my last post. Where does the time go? Seriously? D'oh, I've got to get rid of this job and this social life, really. No, just kidding. I actually rather enjoy making an idiot of myself attempting to learn to country line dance despite my lack of any dancer-ish skills. I'd do it again in a heartbeart or uh...in a week. But I digress.

Last weekend, I took a chunk out of my precious reading time to go uh...buy more books. Oops. Well, the Barnes & Noble gift card was burning a hole in my file cabinet drawer right next to the Old Navy gift card that I...ahem...forgot that I had. Isn't that great? Finding money (or equivalent) that you totally forgot you had? That Old Navy Gift Card brought a smile to my face and some pants to my butt. Really, though, we all know you're not here to hear about pants, so I'll get to the goods. Yes, everybody, I popped over to Barnes & Noble and bought some books that, well, everyone else already has. Without intending to, I also went all Sesame Street and stuck with the theme letter "R."

Let's see, I picked up a copy of Cormac McCarthy's The Road which I've wanted since before it was an Oprah book, I'll have you know. Everybody's forever talking about this and how awesome it is. Even the people who didn't think it would be awesome. So I had to have it, of course. Besides, I've got to read it before the movie comes out now, don't I?

Then, another that I had my eye on, Run by Ann Patchett. I don't count myself a "fan" of many authors because I don't revisit many authors. This is not intentional, it's just the way things usually shake out. Anyhow, Ann Patchett is among my favorite authors. I really liked Bel Canto, The Magician's Assistant, and even Truth & Beauty, so Run was obvious pick for the unintentional "R" themed book shopping day.

In keeping with said "R" theme, the four dollar copy of The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid on the remainder table jumped into my hands despite the fact that I'd already used up my gift card money. It's been on my wish list for a while, and I think the concept sounds very interesting.

So, that's all of the book purchasing. I also got a few oldies but goodies in the mail from some lovely Bookcrossers - Rachel's Holiday by Marian Keyes, Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult (one of the titles that has been languishing on my wishlist the longest!), and Blink by Malcolm Gladwell.


Election night was a challenge for me because I was just about to finish the first book I've really loved in quite awhile. So I had to alternate myself between watching the election returns and devouring the last 50 or so pages of Sweetsmoke by David Fuller. I was so in the mood to read some historical fiction and this was the perfect selection. Yes - I really liked this one, which serves many purposes. It provides a brilliant exit from my stay on the book blogger leper colony, breaks me out of my book funk, and gives you a break from my grinchy "this was just okay" book reviews. So yeah, look for that this week.

I'm also reading another book sent to me via the Early Reviewer program at Library Thing - In the Country of Brooklyn by Peter Golenbock. It's quite a tome, weighing in at about 300 more pages than I could ever have expected at a vast 661 or so pages. It's oral history about the significance of Brooklyn in, I don't know, say, the social evolution of the United States. It's an interesting concept letting the people tell their own stories, which are very engrossing, but all the filler narrative is badly in need of an editor to cut out all the redundancy and maybe give Golenbock some tips on organization. The jury's still out on this one, as I've still got oh, two thirds of it to go. But I will review it. Someday. When I finish it. I promise.

It's book you-know-what!

I've been a busy kid this week. "Summer" started and all of the sudden its almost like I have a life. I work a lot. I engage in social events. I host friends from out of state. I go out of state. I go other places in the state. And (and most importantly?), I go to book sales! The towns on either side of us had book sales on back to back weekends, which means I have a bunch of new (old) books. So, of course, I've got to share the plunder. And yes, this time, I've overcome my intrinsic laziness to provide...pictures! Okay, they're not the best pictures, but at least you can better drool over the pretty books, right?

First up we've got the book sale from last weekend. I didn't find too much on my wish list, but I (and my parents whose books I've factored in because I suppose I'll inevitably try to read them) got a bunch of tasty looking books nonetheless. Click on the pictures to make them ginormous, of course.





Let's see what we've got here (let's see if I can manage just highlights) - well, there's my dad's serendipitous purchase of two books on my wish list Turning Angel by Greg Iles, who I continue to think is one of my favorite authors since I read his book Black Cross and loved it (yet haven't read another of his since despite owning several), and Saucer by Stephen Coonts, the first chapter of which I read through one of those e-mail things where they send you a bit each day of a week so that you get all curious and go and buy it.

Island by Alistair MacLeod whose No Great Mischief was one of the first books I reviewed here. He writes like he would be a great short story writer, and I plan to find out with this rather lengthy collection.

A Wedding in December by Anita Shreve that I had convinced myself I didn't want but it looked so sparkly and interesting I decided I had to give it a try. The River Midnight and The Queen of the Underworld, a pair of wish list books. The Secret History of the Pink Carnation that had its glory days of people loving it on BookObsessed which, of course, made me curious. Tales of Burning Love by Louise Erdrich which I hope reminds me more of The Master Butchers Singing Club which I loved than The Beet Queen which I, uh, didn't. A cast off ARC of Something Rising (Light and Swift) which I somehow managed to never know existed. Hotel Du Lac by Anita Brookner which Matt reviewed not so long ago. And Jihad vs. McWorld which could very well be awful but calls out to political science me and the me that likes cool book titles. Okay, that was some pretty extensive highlight for the rest you'll have to go and make the picture huge.

Next up, we've got the Bloomsburg Library book sale. I went early with the Friends. And the library has a lot of friends, and one evil capitalist with a bar code scanner that must be running some sort of bookselling operations somewhere which kind of just bothers you when you're looking for books that he's just planning on reselling. This was a rough and tumble crowd, but I emerged relatively unscathed and with yet more tasty looking books, which I've done a particularly dismal job of capturing on camera for you.



And highlights. I spotted sparkly new looking copies of Pete Hamill's North River and Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policemen's Union which I elbowed some old ladies out of the way for. I'm telling you, it was a tough crowd, elbows were your only chance of even looking at the books. Everybody in blogland is talking about Marisa de los Santos' new book, so I jumped at the chance to grab the old one, Love Walked In. The History of Love has been on my wish list forever. A pair of Orhan Pamuk's because I'm curious. Shadows & Lies by Marjorie Eccles because one of you bloggers wrote a good review of it, though I'm hard pressed to remember which one. Wendy sold me on The Blackwater Lightship, I believe. Lisey's Story by Stephen King because Stephen King is one of my old habits that die hard. I'm always thinking about devouring a good Stephen King in the summer because I remember staying up til all hours or going on vacation with one and not being able to tear myself away. A Good Dog by Jon Katz because he came to my old Borders to sign and I remembered the books from all the advertising. And it sounds good, of course. My mom picked up a copy of Dogs Never Lie About Love, the title of which I thought sounded kind of cheesy, but it's by the same guy that wrote When Elephants Weep which I've got and think sounds fabulously interesting.

Since I'm at this whole picture thing, how about some bonus bookpile shots?

Here's the "My name is Megan, and I have a problem with seeking out and/or accepting free books" pile that's starting to get me into trouble because they all want/need reading/reviewing soon.



And then there's the "Really, Megan, you should stop promising people books before you've read them" pile that's also getting me in trouble. It (still) contains several books that I said I was going to read for the Spring Reading Thing challenge, which I have, as you might conclude, pretty much failed at. But the pile is definitely smaller than when I started, and I choose to blame Elle because I had to divert from my reading plan to read the free books they sent me. Not that I really mind about that all that much.



I'd love to hear if you've read any of the books on the bookpiles and whether you happened to like them! And that's all for significant book acquisitions until well...next month. Now, I really must leave you and go read.