Book Haul

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Yesterday I went gift-carding, a.k.a. shopping with gift cards.  I knew I only had $20 to Barnes & Noble, but I also knew I wanted three specific books, so I figured what the heck and got all three.

Last night I started Allegiant, but I wish I'd re-read Insurgent first.  Oh well, already on my way!

This is probably my first "major" book haul in a while, even if it's only three books.  I've been swapping at BooksFreeSwap and getting single books here and there when something comes up, but otherwise I haven't been really shopping for any books since probably my birthday (the last time I had major gift-cardage and could buy a lot).  It feels goooooooood to have brand new books in my hands.

Once I had all three in my hands I decided I needed to check out or I'd spend a lot more than intended.  I did look around the media section but not for long.  I didn't even let myself get a peek at the F/SF section.  The Abominable was still up as new, even though it came out in October.  I guess that's still new.  I was just happy to see it getting some serious shelf space.  I'm about 40% of the way through at the moment, and they still haven't even gotten to Everest yet.  I'm kind of tapping my foot, waiting waiting waiting.  It's a long set-up.

When was the last time you had a somewhat major haul?  What did you buy?

Quick Deal Alert

Please take the time out of your day to read this blog post by John Kerry, author of Eden at the Edge of Midnight.  If you remember, I gave this a pretty good review and I still feel that it's a great book.  If you want to get a copy of your own, now is the time, as it's only 99¢ for the Kindle, through today only!

Both the author and I would appreciate it if you would write a review, positive or negative, after you've read it.  Like I said, it's a good book and I think some of you may enjoy it.

Plus, it's only 99¢!  Who could say no to that?

(Sorry for the white background on the text, I can't for the life of me make it go away!  Gotta love technology, right?)

This Week's Haul

A few weeks ago I won a gift card to Amazon from On The Edge, which I promptly spent on books!  One of the books I ordered ended up not being shipped, I guess the person didn't have it or something.  But I did get four others: The Swan Kingdom by Zoe Marriott, The Girl who Fell From the Sky by Heidi W. Durrow, The Bards of Bone Plain by Patricia A. McKillip, and The Girl with Glass Feet by Ali Shaw.  Lots of fantasy and YA to go around, there :)

I also got an e-mail from BooksFreeSwap letting me know that a book I wanted was available.  I've already read it (and written about it here and here but I didn't own a copy.  So finally, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is mine!  And in hardcover, no less!

Lots of links, I know, but this is a pretty big book haul.  Very exciting!  Looks like I have a lot of reading to do this year.  I also picked up a copy of Away by Teri Hall, the sequel to The Line, from the library this week.  I'm waiting on a few more books too, sequels to other books I've enjoyed (and I think one I didn't, but I figured why not).

Exciting News!

Photo courtesy of Amazon.com

Neil Gaiman, quite a brilliant story-teller, and someone I'm currently reading, has a new book coming out!  He announced it a few months ago, which made me a bit antsy, but then I got on to other things and promptly forgot all about it.  I am a bad reader.

BUT!  This week he announced that the book is coming out in June in the US, which makes me happy.  What makes me even happier is that his local bookstore in Cambridge (only two hours from me!  Stalker time?) has them available for pre-order.  But not just any pre-order, he's signing them!  Unfortunately not in person, but hey, they'll be signed!

Of course this means the book must be mine, complete with signature, as it would be the only signed Gaiman I own.  Also, now that I know he's in Cambridge, I can keep an eye out for readings and such.  I'd gladly sacrifice the four-hour round trip and the gas money to see him in person.  Who would get that kind of fan-devotion from you?  How far have you traveled just to attend a reading?

If you're interested and want to get your own copy, you can pre-order right here from Porter Square Books.

In other news, I have five books coming to me in the mail!  Pictures and info coming soon!

First Books of the New Year

Reached by Ally Condie and Insurgent by Veronica Roth

I love MyPoints.  I love it so much because, when I save up enough points, I get gift cards for books.  Books that are free to me are wonderful books!

It's amazing, then, that I received my latest MyPoints gift card in December and only today cashed it in.  I guess I was waiting for the right sale, or the right book, but whatever the reason, today I used it up and got two books I've been waiting for for a while.  I'm excited to start them!

My husband Chris is a member of some music message boards, and on one of them they post their music purchases.  I thought that would be a fun experiment for the blog, so now I present you with my first book purchase of the year.

Reached is the final book in the Matched trilogy by Ally Condie.  I really enjoyed the first two books and still haven't decided which guy I think is right for Cassia.  Maybe they'll end up in a threesome!  Haha.  That would be an ... interesting conclusion.  *cough*  In all seriousness, though, I am very excited to start this.  I'm trying to finish another couple of books right now, but as soon as they're done (two are library books) I'll be starting Reached.

Insurgent is book two out of three in the Divergent trilogy by Veronica Roth.  The first book, Divergent, received a lot of mixed reviews and I can understand why.  Tris is a bit whiny, her relationship with Four is just a bit too fated/cheesy/overdone, and the story line was a bit predictable.  But in all, I really got wrapped up in the war and what was going to happen to all these kids, who were being forced to fight without knowing what they were doing.  What were they going to do when they realized they had killed their friends, their families?  I can't wait to get deeper into the plot and see where everything is going.

This year is going to be a great reading year, I can just tell.

Make An Impact

Being friends with a published author has its advantages and disadvantages.  Being able to read and offer feedback on new work is a really great experience, but knowing that a series you've been enjoying for three books may not see the light at the end of the tunnel really puts a damper on things.  That's when you have to think about your priorities, and your friendship, and what you're really willing to do to see something get published.

Readers are driving the market right now, as it seems they always have.  I spent several years working in a bookstore, and never truly appreciated how those books came to be there.  Every month we would get catalogues in the mail, with page after page of books by authors I'd never heard of.  I would thumb through them, ask if I could get an ARC if they were offered, maybe see what might be ordered.  Sometimes the manager would have circled a book or marked the page, so I would know to expect it.  Sometimes there would be something interesting that was crossed off, or that seemed to have been overlooked.  Often my suggestions were not heeded.

The reason is that I am in the minority.  I accept it, I've accepted it my whole life.  Fantasy and sci-fi are not the most popular genres, and they don't produce the bestselling novels that seem to be constantly on the shelves.  James Patterson, Nora Roberts, Nicholas Sparks - all of them command an audience's attention, whether good or bad (mostly bad - but that's just my opinion).  They somehow earn their spots at the top by writing the same book, over and over again.  There's no imagination, there's no spark, there's no (and I hate to say this when talking about fantasy, but) magic to them.  There's nothing in them that makes me think, "Wow, this could never happen in real life but I love it!"  It is so much easier for them to get published simply because they have the readership, whereas fantasy and science fiction generally don't.  Aside from tried-and-true geniuses like Ray Bradbury, Terry Pratchett (who, despite his decline in popularity and recognition still manages to end up on the bestseller list for at least one week when a new book comes out - AND he gets published in hardcover), Neil Gaiman, and yes, even J.K. Rowling, very rarely are new authors published, and even more rarely are new fantasy and science fiction available in hard cover.  The sales aren't there.  That is sad.

What makes this all the more personal is that I know a fantasy writer.  I consider her, Katharine Kerr, a friend.  I invited her to my wedding, even though I knew she probably couldn't come, just because I wanted her to know that I appreciate and care about her.  She has let me read advance copies of some of the Nola O'Grady books, which has been an indescribably happy experience for me.  I wish I could never see the end of it.

But with the first two books not selling as well as the publishers had hoped, and with the massive amounts of piracy of the existing books, Kit is facing what many other series writers face: the end of the series before it's finished.  But maybe we, as readers, can help.  Maybe we can help all of our favorite authors.  It all starts with, well, buying the book.  Show the publishers you want this material.  Show the authors you want them to keep writing.  Don't just download it from some poorly-copied website, buy the actual book.  Secondly, if your favorite writers' books are in danger of not being published, write to the publisher.  Tell them how much you enjoy the series and want to continue to see it published.  Tell them you want to make sure the authors you love are compensated for their hard work, and that the readers get to continue to enjoy the hard work of the writers they love.

I would like to ask all of you Kit fans out there to please write to DAW and tell them how much you are enjoying the Nola O'Grady series, and would like to see it completed.  You can contact them by e-mail, or by snail mail.  I sent an e-mail off this afternoon, but I might try to send a paper letter soon too.  Every little bit helps.

And I urge each and every one of you, if you find that your favorite authors are in danger of not  having their hard and wonderful work published, write to their publishers.  Show your appreciation.  And most importantly, buy the books.

Nobel Prize-Winning Writing

In my last post I talked about how Chris and I did a lot of book shopping while we were in London. One book I picked up was Kaddish for an Unborn Child by Imre Kertész, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2002. This is my first foray into Nobel Prize-winning literature. I have to explain, my reasons have to be set out so you understand exactly what drew me to this book, surrounded by other, much larger and more epic books on the table at the front of the shop. No one else was touching it, or even noticing it.

First, I saw the book on the table and noticed its small size. It’s a thin book, only 120 pages, and not quite a trade-size paperback. Books like this attract me because I know that it takes some seriously powerful writing to get a book this size published.

Second, I picked it up and read the back cover to see what exactly this was about.

The first word of this haunting novel is ‘no’. It is how the narrator, a middle-aged Hungarian Jewish writer, answers an acquaintance who asks if he has a child and it is how he answered his, now ex-, wife when she told him she wanted a baby.

The loss, longing, and regret that haunt the years between those two ‘no’s give rise to one of the most eloquent meditations ever written on the Holocaust. As Kertész’s narrator addresses the child he couldn’t bear to bring into the world, he takes readers on a mesmerizing, lyrical journey through his life, from his childhood to Auschwitz to his failed marriage.

What jumped out at me here? It was the “no” that opens the book. It was the mention of the Holocaust. It was that this is the first book I’ve ever seen where a Holocaust survivor meditates on not being able to bring children into this world. What could have possibly been going on in his mind? I needed to know how he came to that decision, and how it affected those around him.

Third, I opened the cover and read the very first word. That “No!” was, indeed, very powerful. It was shouted at the reader, with a giant “N” in the style of most chapter beginnings, and a small “o” following but no less loudly. The “!”, the third character of this tiny novel, left a lingering cry in my mind. I could see the word coming out of someone’s mouth, I could see the desperation and anger and refusal spilling out of the mouth and onto the page. It was literally the one word I needed to read in order to know I wanted to read this book. I read a few more words, I tried to finish the sentence. It was so long. The first entire sentence of the book lasts the entire first page and ends two lines onto the second. Who on earth writes like this? Salman Rushdie. Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It’s stream-of-consciousness. It’s something I studied but could never do myself. This was the work of a master.

Can I tell you? Can I really say how much I love this book and confess how few pages I’ve read? I’m on page 12. I’m writing prematurely primarily to prepare myself for the rest of the book. I have no idea where this will all lead and it’s so exciting.

I can see why he won the Nobel Prize.

Collecting (Hoarding?)

First of all, hello! I'm back from my wedding/honeymoon, and have gotten back into the swing of things at work. I've also started getting back into the reading habit, which is wonderful. We didn't have much energy for reading on the honeymoon, so while I did manage to get through the majority of One More for the Road in the airport, I didn't get much other reading done.

I did, however, come home with about 30 extra pounds of books. 30 pounds? Maybe I'm exaggerating. But we had to get an extra carry-on to carry them all home, and that thing was HEAVY! Between the two of us, we stopped in at least four different bookstores in our travels (I admit, that was something I was seriously looking forward to once we had decided on London) and spent about £100 on books (I had to control myself). Chris found a couple of Thomas the Tank Engine books that he had been looking for, and that made him happy. I ended up buying the most, but it was worth it.

Among my finds were several Wilkie Collins books that I haven't been able to find in bookstores in the States. I bought Armadale and a few others, as well as the British edition of Room, which I have been wanting to read for months.

My biggest problem was putting back all of the British editions of books I already owned. For example, I had to put back several Ray Bradbury books, one of Katharine Kerr's, and several Dan Simmons books. That was my primary excitement about shopping in British bookstores, along with being able to get books I can't here. But I did manage to get one special edition of one of my favorite books: This edition of Hyperion. How awesome is that?! I know, the cover is plain, but you don't see things like this every day.

I guess you could accuse me of being a hoarder, but I prefer the term "collector." This makes my... fourth or fifth copy of Hyperion, which is exciting! Granted, two of the copies are the same mass market paperback, one is just newer because the other is falling apart from all my reads and notes. And now that I have other Collins books, I can actually display them! We will be reorganizing our books in a few weeks and I plan on putting them in the display bookcase with the glass sliding windows. That does mean that some books will get moved out of there, but they were only in there because I had nowhere else to put them.

That reminds me, I need to pick up the books from my parents' house that we used for the centerpieces. Curious to see what they looked like? Here:

Progress

Well, I'm managing to make progress with the book hunt for the centerpieces. This past weekend, Chris and I went to Down in Denver Books and used the two Groupons I bought a while ago. $15 for $30 worth of books, and I bought two - so we got $60 worth of used books for $30. In total, we came away with 11 books, some of which will grace the tables at the wedding! I'll have to go back there because the prices are really good and a good chunk of the books are in hardcover.

I can't wait to be done planning! It's been fun matching people to tables and then to authors. I still have a lot of work to do on the seating charts though. Once that's done, then we can work on the escort cards. Chris's mom got me a bunch of library cards that we're going to use in Chris's typewriter, and then one of us will hand write the guests' names on them. Pretty neat idea, right?

On another note, I saw someone selling these nifty handbags at the Hancock Shaker Village Country Fair this weekend. The books they used were all weird, stuff I would never like, and they were kind of ugly, but I thought it was an interesting use for old books.

50 Book Challenge and Wedding (OMG)!

Well, I've finished my 50 book challenge for the year, four months ahead of schedule. This is great because last year I don't think I read 30 books, but I'm still going and I'm almost done with book 52. I'm counting the books I've abandoned only because I gave them a good shot. Hey, effort counts, right?

One thing that has helped me get through so many books this year has been Project Gutenberg. Since new e-books generally cost money, I'm mostly just reading new stuff hard copy, and reading old stuff in e-book format. Project Gutenberg has been helpful at getting me copies of Wilkie Collins books, so I've spent a great deal reading him this year and fall more in love with every book.

BUUUUUUUT... I don't have copies of these books! Which is driving me crazy, because I'm getting married in less than two months (OMG) and don't have the books I need for the table centerpieces. Wilkie Collins will have a table, but I only have two of his books. This must be remedied.

A few other authors who are making the cut:

- Katharine Kerr (duh)
- Dan Simmons (also duh)
- Ray Bradbury (also also duh)
- John Keats (is this list surprising anyone?)
- Neil Gaiman
- Naomi Shihab Nye
- Robert Holdstock
- Diana Wynne Jones
- Salman Rushdie

There are a bunch of other authors although we will probably end up not needing the entire list we made since so many people aren't able to make it. I'm excited to see the vision realized and get started on figuring out who to sit at which table. Chris has some input on the books too, but since he's not as much of a reader as I am, he only has a couple authors he wanted to include. The problem with that one is, he doesn't have a lot of books for that either!

I love book shopping, but I hate paying full price for anything. One of my favorite places to shop for books online is AbeBooks. You can get a lot of books for not a lot of money, especially if you buy a lot from one seller (they often combine shipping). There are also many sellers who don't charge for shipping. It's often cheaper than Amazon's used and new stuff, especially since Amazon tells the seller how much they can charge for shipping. You end up paying so much less for shipping on AbeBooks.

Where do you enjoy shopping for books?