Tag: new books

Library sale score

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This weekend is my library’s semi-annual book sale, so of course I’ve been there twice already! Here’s what I’ve picked up so far:

library sale 5-3-14

Evelyn Waugh, The Loved One — Supposed to be one of his funniest books, and it’s dedicated to Nancy Mitford! I have a craving to read this back-to-back with Mitford’s The Blessing, which she dedicated to Waugh. But would such reciprocity create a tear in the space-time continuum?

Donna Moore, Old Dogs — Someone recommended this to me as a hilarious caper, and how could I resist that?

Elisabeth Sanxay Holding, The Innocent Mrs. Duff / The Blank Wall — This author is supposed to be one of the pioneering novelists of suspense.

Jennifer Robson, Somewhere in France — I’d been eyeing this WWI-era novel in Barnes & Noble, so I’m glad I had the chance to pick it up for a much lower price!

Sophie Kinsella, I’ve Got Your Number — Read this a couple years ago and thought that it was one of Kinsella’s best books.

Georgette Heyer, Simon the Coldheart — I’m only a few Heyers away from a complete collection at this point!

Georgette Heyer, The Grand Sophy — I actually already had a copy of this one. *blush* But it’s my favorite Heyer, and this edition is nicer and has a prettier cover!

Paula Byrne, The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things — I do love me some Austen, and I’ve read and enjoyed some of Byrne’s other work, so this one should be a winner!

Total cost: $24, and everything is in very good shape! I’d like to get back to the book sale tomorrow, but I don’t know if I can make it work. But either way, I’m definitely pleased with my haul!

Bookish Update: March 2014

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bookish updates mar 2014

Sorry this post is a few days late! The past week has been a bit rough for me, but now that the weekend is finally here (and I’ve gotten some sleep!), I can focus on what’s really important. 🙂

Currently reading: The Quick by Lauren Owen

Books read in March:

  1. Ellis Peters, The Raven in the Foregate
  2. Elizabeth Blackwell, While Beauty Slept
  3. Kathryn Miller Haines, The Girl Is Murder
  4. Caprice Crane, With a Little Luck
  5. Lorna Goodison, By Love Possessed: Stories
  6. Hannah March, The Complaint of the Dove
  7. Kate Quinn, Mistress of Rome
  8. Frank Baker, Miss Hargreaves

Favorite: I have to go with Mistress of Rome — even though it’s a total soap opera, it was a completely addictive read!

Least favorite: With a Little Luck — it wasn’t terrible, but there was absolutely nothing original or interesting about it.

Books acquired in March:

  1. Deanna Raybourn, City of Jasmine
  2. Lauren Owen, The Quick (ARC)
  3. Ismail Kadare, Broken April
  4. Kristan Higgins, Waiting on You
  5. Penelope Hughes-Hallett, The Immortal Dinner: A Famous Evening of Genius and Laughter in Literary London, 1817
  6. Jennifer Crusie, Trust Me on This

E-books:

  1. Deanna Raybourn, Whisper of Jasmine (free)
  2. Ashley Gardner, The Hanover Square Affair, A Regimental Murder, The Glass House, “The Gentleman’s Walking Stick,” and “The Disappearance of Miss Sarah Oswald” ($0.99 for the bundle)

Bookish Update: February 2014

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bookish updates feb 2014

Currently reading: The Raven in the Foregate by Ellis Peters

Books read in February:

  1. Alan Bradley, The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches
  2. Sarra Manning, Unsticky
  3. Lois Lowry, The Giver
  4. Matt Beynon Rees, A Grave in Gaza
  5. Katie Heaney, Never Have I Ever: My Life (So Far) Without a Date
  6. Lois McMaster Bujold, Young Miles
  7. Sarah Addison Allen, Lost Lake
  8. Georgette Heyer, The Spanish Bride
  9. P.G. Wodehouse, The World of Jeeves

Favorite: I had so many great reads this month that it’s hard for me to pick just one, but I think I have to go with The Giver. It’s a very well-written dystopian novel that reveals the flaws in its society with incredible care and precision.

Least favorite: I actually liked everything I read this month, but I’d probably say A Grave in Gaza, just because it was a little heavier than I was looking for at the time. But it’s still a very interesting book, and definitely worth reading!

Books acquired in February:

  1. Claudia J. Edwards, Eldrie the Healer
  2. Evelyn Waugh, Brideshead Revisited
  3. Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Pulp! The Classics edition
  4. Chris Wooding, The Black Lung Captain
  5. B.J. Novak, One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories
  6. Emma Jane Holloway, A Study in Silks
  7. Sharon Kay Penman, Lionheart

Bookish Update: January 2014

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bookish update jan 2014

Currently reading: Alan Bradley, The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches

Books read in January:

  1. Mary Miley, The Impersonator
  2. Julia Quinn, Just Like Heaven
  3. Chris Wooding, Retribution Falls
  4. Elizabeth Hay, Late Nights on Air
  5. Katherine Reay, Dear Mr. Knightley
  6. Rex Stout, Fer-de-Lance
  7. Max Barry, Lexicon
  8. D.E. Stevenson, The Two Mrs. Abbotts
  9. Emma Newman, Between Two Thorns
  10. Susanna Kearsley, The Shadowy Horses
  11. Charlotte Mosley, ed., The Letters of Nancy Mitford and Evelyn Waugh

Favorite: Retribution Falls — I really, really liked this action-packed novel about swashbuckling sky pirates! I’m excited to read more in the series.

Least favorite: Dear Mr. Knightley — I wasn’t a fan of the writing style, and the Daddy-Long-Legs-inspired plot REALLY didn’t translate well to the 21st century!

Books acquired in January:

  1. D.E. Stevenson, The Two Mrs. Abbotts
  2. Lorna Goodison, By Love Possessed: Stories
  3. Mary Doria Russell, Doc
  4. Sarah Addison Allen, Lost Lake
  5. Nicholas Blake, Thou Shell of Death
  6. Phoebe Atwood Taylor (writing as Alice Tilton), The Cut Direct

Secret Santa Goodies!

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I can’t believe it, but I have already received my gift through the Secret Santa event at The Broke and the Bookish!

secret santa

I tried to find decent pictures of my goodies on the Internet, and then I tried to take a picture of them myself and upload the photo to the computer…but apparently I fail at technology, so eventually I gave up. But I do want to thank Angela at Griperang’s Bookmarks for sending me Young Miles by Lois McMaster Bujold, which I’ve been wanting to read for a while, as well as these lovely Pride and Prejudice-themed notecards! Thanks for the great gifts, Angela!

Bookish Update: November 2013

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bookish updates nov 2013

Currently reading: Un Lun Dun by China Miéville

Books read in November:

  1. Georgette Heyer, They Found Him Dead
  2. Mary Stewart, The Last Enchantment
  3. Gail Carriger, Curtsies & Conspiracies
  4. Mary Doria Russell, Dreamers of the Day
  5. Ellis Peters, An Excellent Mystery
  6. Cheryl Mahoney, The Wanderers
  7. Charles Finch, An Old Betrayal
  8. Edmund Crispin, The Case of the Gilded Fly

Favorite book of the month: The Wanderers! I had the hugest grin on my face when I finished it.

Least favorite book of the month: The Last Enchantment. While I love Mary Stewart’s novels of romantic suspense, the Arthurian trilogy was mostly a slog for me.

Books acquired in November:

  1. Mary Stewart, The Gabriel Hounds
  2. Charles Finch, An Old Betrayal
  3. Devan Sipher, The Wedding Beat
  4. Nancy Mitford, Christmas Pudding and Pigeon Pie
  5. Mary Miley, The Impersonator
  6. David Liss, The Twelfth Enchantment

E-books:

  1. Cheryl Mahoney, The Wanderers ($2.99)

Bookish Update: October 2013

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bookish updates oct 2013

Currently reading: Georgette Heyer, They Found Him Dead

Books read in October:

  1. Maggie Stiefvater, The Dream Thieves
  2. Dai Sijie, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
  3. Robin McKinley, Shadows
  4. Ellery Queen, The Roman Hat Mystery
  5. Chris Baty, No Plot? No Problem! A Low-Stress, High-Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days
  6. Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes
  7. Mary Doria Russell, Doc

Favorite book of the month: Doc, absolutely! This fictionalized biography of one of the legends of the Wild West is wonderfully written and captivating.

Least favorite book of the month: Something Wicked This Way Comes…the overblown writing style was way too obnoxious for me!

Books acquired in October:

  1. Hannah March, The Complaint of the Dove
  2. Jessica Park, Left Drowning
  3. Kristan Higgins, The Perfect Match

E-books:

  1. Loretta Chase, Knaves’ Wager ($2.99)

I’m very proud of the self-control I exhibited in my book buying this month! 🙂 Although that probably had more to do with external factors such as that pesky government shutdown….

Bookish Update: September

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bookish updates sep 2013

This month was good for reading but very bad for blogging! I’m so behind on reviews, but I’m hoping to catch up soon. Meanwhile, here are my stats for September:

Currently reading: Maggie Stiefvater’s The Dream Thieves and James Boswell’s Life of Samuel Johnson

Books read in September:

  1. Luis Fernando Verissimo, The Club of Angels
  2. Rhys Bowen, Royal Blood
  3. Mary Stewart, The Hollow Hills
  4. Isaac Asimov, A Whiff of Death
  5. Seanan McGuire, Chimes at Midnight
  6. Amy Patricia Meade, Million Dollar Baby
  7. Rainbow Rowell, Fangirl

Favorite book of the month: I really enjoyed most of my reads for this month, but I have to say Fangirl. Loved the swoonworthy romance, college setting, and flat-out great writing.

Least favorite book of the month: Million Dollar Baby. I liked the premise, but the writing was sub-par, so I never really became invested in the story or characters.

Books acquired in September:

  1. Seanan McGuire, Chimes at Midnight
  2. Elizabeth Wein, Rose Under Fire
  3. Ludmilla Petrushevskaya, There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbor’s Baby
  4. Ben H. Winters, The Last Policeman
  5. Louis Bayard, The Black Tower
  6. Meg Keene, A Practical Wedding: Creative Ideas for Planning a Beautiful, Affordable, and Meaningful Celebration
  7. Cheryl Sawyer, The Winter Prince
  8. Rex Stout, Fer-de-Lance / The League of Frightened Men
  9. Amanda Foreman, Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire
  10. Hannah March, The Devil’s Highway
  11. Hannah March, A Distinction of Blood
  12. Michael Innes, Death at the President’s Lodging
  13. Michael Innes, Hamlet, Revenge!
  14. Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt, The Most Beautiful Book in the World
  15. Bernard Cornwell & Susannah Kells, The Fallen Angels
  16. Stefanie Pintoff, A Curtain Falls

E-books (all FREE!):

  1. Earl Derr Biggers, The Agony Column
  2. Anna Elliott, Georgiana Darcy’s Diary

Onward to October! Can’t believe the year is 75% over…

Book Sale Score

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My library’s semi-annual book sale was this weekend! Naturally, I went both yesterday and today, and I got some good stuff!

Saturday’s haul:

sep13booksale-sat

Ludmilla Petrushevskaya, There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbor’s Baby — First of all, how excellent is that title?! This is a collection of “scary fairy tales,” and I’ve heard a lot of good things about it.

Ben H. Winters, The Last Policeman — I love the premise of this one: A policeman tries to investigate a murder, but no one really cares because the world is about to end. To what extent is it meaningful to bring a murderer to justice in these circumstances?

Louis Bayard, The Black Tower — To me, this book sounds a bit like Sherlock Holmes just after the French Revolution. A famous detective and his assistant try to track down the missing Dauphin, son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.

Meg Keene, A Practical Wedding — I read this book recently and really liked it, so I couldn’t resist picking it up!

Cheryl Sawyer, The Winter Prince — I read Sawyer’s The Code of Love a couple years ago and loved it, so I’m interested in reading more of her stuff. Plus, this book is set during the English Civil War — and one of the characters is Prince Rupert of Bohemia, who also made an appearance in A Midsummer Tempest!

Rex Stout, Fer-de-Lance / The League of Frightened Men — I’ve been wanting to read some of Rex Stout’s mysteries for a while now, and this omnibus contains the first two Nero Wolfe books.

Amanda Foreman, Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire — I’m a sucker for anything set in England in the late 18th and/or early 19th centuries. So even though I don’t read a ton of nonfiction, I really like reading biographies of famous figures from this era; I always learn a lot about the time period.

Sunday’s haul:

sep13booksale-sun

Hannah March, The Devil’s Highway and A Distinction of Blood — Mysteries set in Georgian England! I’m excited, although unfortunately these are books #2 and #3 in the series. But I was able to find book #1, The Complaint of the Dove, on Paperback Swap, so it’s all good.

Michael Innes, Death at the President’s Lodging and Hamlet, Revenge! — Again, I read and enjoyed Hamlet, Revenge! earlier this year, so I figured I’d grab both of these books by Innes.

Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt, The Most Beautiful Book in the World — I kept seeing this book when it first came out years ago, and I was always interested in reading it, so I seized the opportunity to pick it up for a great price!

Bernard Cornwell & Susannah Kells, The Fallen Angels — More French Revolution goings-on…this book sounds Scarlet Pimpernel-esque, which is always going to grab my attention!

Stefanie Pintoff, A Curtain Falls — The sequel to In the Shadow of Gotham, which I quite liked.

In sum, I spent $25.50 on 14 books, all of which are in pretty good condition, so I’m happy! Of course, now I have to find a place to put them all….

Bookish Update: August 2013

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bookish updates aug 2013

Currently reading: nothing (!), but I’m planning to start Luis Fernando Verissimo’s The Club of Angels in the morning

Books read in August:

  1. Jennifer Echols, Dirty Little Secret
  2. Charles Portis, True Grit
  3. Poul Anderson, A Midsummer Tempest
  4. Lauren Willig, The Passion of the Purple Plumeria
  5. Matt Beynon Rees, The Collaborator of Bethlehem
  6. Sharon Kay Penman, Devil’s Brood
  7. Georgette Heyer, Behold, Here’s Poison

Favorite book of the month: Can I say all of them? I think it’s actually true.

Least favorite book of the month: None of them!

Books acquired in August:

  1. E.F. Benson, Mrs. Ames
  2. Lauren Willig, The Passion of the Purple Plumeria
  3. Naomi Novik, Blood of Tyrants
  4. Isaac Asimov, A Whiff of Death

E-books (all FREE except for *):

  1. Anthony Trollope, The Warden
  2. Paul Leicester Ford, Wanted–A Chaperon
  3. *Charles Finch, An East End Murder
  4. *Lauren Willig, Ivy and Intrigue
  5. Mary Roberts Rinehart, The Circular Staircase
  6. Rebecca West, The Return of the Soldier