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This is a place to share your anticipation of new books entering your life

I'll start ;o)

Last night I bought on eBay second hand copy of Slaves Of Solitude (which I couldn't resist on account of its having a lovely cover that I hadn't seen before!)

I have the The Good Soldier Svejk on order from my local library. I'm having it sent to the mobile library which stops just around the corner because i'm very lazy :) .

Hmm, I've not bought anything for a long while and have too many library books checked out at the moment to list them all, but I do have a couple waiting for collection.

The Establishment: And How They Get Away with It by Owen Jones whose journalism and youtube videos I enjoy, so hopefully I'll like his book too.

King Leopold's Ghost which I've been meaning to read for a long while, but decided to borrow after recently reading We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families which I enjoyed and I wanted something similar.

Today, in the miniature penguin series:

Frogs
Oroonoko
Trivia or the Art of Walking the Streets of London
Anecdotes of the Cynics
The Rule of Saint Benedict

Like Pink said, I have a massive stack of library books, but a few days ago I found two new but very cheap paperbacks that were on my list so I couldn't resist:
Childhood, Boyhood, Youth by Leo Tolstoy
and
The Aspern Papers by Henry James

Now I just wish I had time to read them ...

Ordered Three Complete Novels: The Servants of Twilight / Darkfall / Phantoms

I just bought my first copy of Great Expectations and can't wait to start it. I remember reading it in high school but remember NOT liking it at all. Now that I appreciate the classics I can't get to it quick enough! Maybe this weekend I'll finish "Hawaii".

Alia wrote: "...The Rule of Saint Benedict"

ooh - was that prompted by reading Name Of The Rose?! ;o)

I just ordered Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter and Singing from the Well. I also have As I Lay Dying and Of Love and Shadows coming but they're taking forever to get here.

Sarah Anne wrote: "I just ordered Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter and Singing from the Well. I also have As I Lay Dying and Of Love and Shadows coming but they're t..."

Ooh. I want to read Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter. I've yet to read any of his novels. Is it a good one to start with?

Kathleen wrote: "Ooh. I want to read Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter. I've yet to read any of his novels. Is it a good one to start with?..."

I haven't read it yet. I would be curious to know the same from anyone who's read it.

I managed to find A Passage to India by E.M. Forster in the Kobo store for the price around 89 cents.

This is my final bingo title (foreign lit prize).

Though I'm very keen to read this, after spending 3 months reading Kristin Lavransdatter at 1124 pages, I wasn't looking forward to hard copy!

Darren wrote: "Alia wrote: "...The Rule of Saint Benedict"

ooh - was that prompted by reading Name Of The Rose?! ;o)"

I wish. :)

I was standing in a book store and there were cute small cheap books in front of me. Frankly that's how I get a lot of my books.

bagged another on Amazon last night: Stanislaw Lem's seminal sci-fi novella The Invincible - soo glad to have finally got this one :oD

I'm not sure if this is how this thread is meant to be used, but when I buy books, it's typically cheap books in bulk from libraries, goodwills, flea markets, etc. So yesterday's pickings were:
The Oxford Book of Light Verse
The Kennedy Women
The Watcher and Other Stories
The Remains of the Day
Time Bites: Views and Reviews
The Bluest Eye
Selected Stories, 1968-1994
Swann's Way
The Master of Ballantrae
Mrs. Dalloway

I'm not sure if I was stupid or not, but I went on and ordered Harry Potter and the Cursed Child few days ago from Adlibris. I was a huge Potter fan in my child/teen years, though I hated the last book very much, because it was, in my opinion, poorly (too fast) written and ended badly/wrong way. But I couldn't resist the urge to buy this one and I hope I will not get too dissappointed. I also ordered Sharp Ends by Joe Abercrombie at the same time and I know it'll be good.

Maarit wrote: "I'm not sure if I was stupid or not, but I went on and ordered Harry Potter and the Cursed Child few days ago from Adlibris. I was a huge Potter fan in my child/teen years, though I..."

do tell how it is after reading it..i wanted to order it too..but then decided to wait and watch...

I just ordered 3 items on amazon, couldn't find anywhere else, got them used so who knows what condition they're in but they were cheap enough.

Palace Without Chairs by Brigid Brophy
Slow Chocolate Autopsy by Iain Sinclair
Mogador : The Names of the Air by Alberto Ruy Sanchez

Also a glow in the dark .... just because... :D

I was in a second hand book shop yesterday and they had a great selection on classic's went in for a look and came home with 10 books or more:

Elizabeth Gaskell


lost my own copy

E. M. Forster

George Eliot

Henry James

[Charles Kingsley
[bookcover:The Water Babies|765386]
and have order Charlies Dickens and other book

anybody else got Yerofeev's Moscow Stations on pre-order?
4th August can't come quickly enough for my liking! :oD

Went to an exhibition on Gertrude Bell today and returned with a copy of Desert Queen: The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell, Adventurer, Adviser to Kings, Ally of Lawrence of Arabia. Janet Wallach, which I look forward to reading.

Got a Kindle version of Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life by Herman Melville from Amazon. It is free today in honor of Melville's birthday.

Laurie wrote: "Got a Kindle version of Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life by Herman Melville from Amazon. It is free today in honor of Melville's birthday."

Thanks fore the tip! I picked it up also.

It's been so long since I've read John Steinbeck that I had to pick up To a God Unknown and am enjoying it so far.

Message 18: Continued...
My books arrived today... i really need to check the length of books before i order, thats not usually something i consider.
I know it shouldn't matter, its a question of quality over quantity blah blah blah... but the most expensive of the 3 i got ( Mogador ) is only 97 pages! Ninety seven! i've read magazines longer than that :lol .

Wreade1872 wrote: "Message 18: Continued...
My books arrived today... i really need to check the length of books before i order, thats not usually something i consider.
I know it shouldn't matter, its a question of..."

That would bother me as well, it feels like you're not getting your money's worth, even though it shouldn't be that way. I hope it's good!

yesterday ordered The House of the Spirits for our group read...

...pluuuuss another 4 titles (to get free shipping on Amazon!)
A House for Mr Biswas
Toxic Shock
Little, Big
Darkmans

Today I received:




Today I ordered:

Linda wrote: "Today I received:




Today I ordered:



[bookcove..."

Rogue Faction is by a Xander Weaver, one for people to take note of for their author challenges if its any good :) .

Wreade1872 wrote: "Linda wrote: "Today I received:




Today I ordered:


[bookcover:Rogue Faction Part 1|23665..."

Hi, finding an 'X' was difficult, I hope it will be good or at least ok :)

Well I bought a book today and the story behind it is a doozy. I found The Collected Poetry of Dorothy Parker, Modern Library with a dust cover. I collect old Modern Library editions of novels so I was so excited to buy this for only two dollars! I bought it and took it out to my car and took off the dust cover and the spine said The Collected Poetry of Dorothy Parker and I had heard good things about her poetry so I was going to read a quick poem. I open it up and the book wasn't the right book! It was the Theban plays by Sophocles! I wonder if this is a common error if my copy is one of a kind.

Warner wrote: "Well I bought a book today and the story behind it is a doozy. I found The Collected Poetry of Dorothy Parker, Modern Library with a dust cover. I collect old Modern Library editions of novels so I..."

That is strange! I can understand having the wrong dust jacket, but not to be bound with the wrong title on the spine. I'd consider that a rare find!

This is a relatively harmless addiction, right? I couldn't pass by a library book sale this morning, and got:
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
A Short History of Nearly Everything
The Shipping News and
The Enchanted April

This year (thanks to this group and challenges) I found myself pulling books like this I'd bought at book sales, books I'd always wanted to read but if it wasn't for the challenge AND that I had them laying around, I might not have. Two great ones like that I read this year were Gilead and The Color Purple. So I'm tucking these away for now and will look forward to when the stars align and I'll be so glad I got them!

all six of my recently ordered books arrived over the weekend :oD

highlights being the brand-new copy of the just-released 2016 edition of Moscow Stations (so hot off the press that it's not even listed on ŷ������! my link points to the 1998 Faber & Faber edition of which it is a much needed reprint):


also, when you order a second-hand book off Amazon Marketplace it's sometimes a bit hit and miss as to whether you get the exact edition you ordered, so when I pick an edition based on how much I like the cover I always have to keep my fingers crossed, which I had to do with The House of the Spirits, but well chuffed to have this edition arrive:

I just organized alphabetically the 173 books I have on my physical "to read" shelf. I have dozens on my Kindle as well. I have PROMISED myself not to buy another book until I have made a dent in these. I hope I can keep the promise.

blimey Sara - 173!! :oO
I organised mine last night and just counted them up to 52 and thought that was bad!

Sara wrote: "I just organized alphabetically the 173 books I have on my physical "to read" shelf. I have dozens on my Kindle as well. I have PROMISED myself not to buy another book until I have made a dent in t..."

I've been compiling my list on GR so it is a combination of physical and Kindle, but it's over 300!! I've managed to only buy 3 regular priced new books this year, but am addicted to Kindle sales and public domain classics. And my Dad at 89 is getting rid of his library and he has some great history and classic books, so that has added greatly to my to-read list. My retirement is planned!

I don't feel quite so bad about my physical shelf of roughly 100 books now. I've got the kindle books down to around 70 :)

Darren wrote: "blimey Sara - 173!! :oO
I organised mine last night and just counted them up to 52 and thought that was bad!"

Well then I won't even begin to admit how many physical books or shelves I have in my home.

When I first joined ŷ������ I had something like 450-500 unread books lying around, the majority in paper.

I've been trying to get better about not over-buying and being more willing to give away books I"m not interested any more, but it's hard! Especially when there's a sale on all of an author's books at once. It's so tempting to just buy them all!

I'm down to 260ish unread books.
87 paper, 14 audio, 162 ebook.

But I don't generally list public domain books that I didn't pay money for until I actually start reading them. Less pressure that way.

Recent acquisitions for me are:
Several Shakespeare plays (I'm trying to build up a set of the Folger Library paperbacks, but it'll take me a decade to work through them all at my rate of 1-2 per year)
The Big Sleep (audio)
Maurice (paper and audio)
Lighthousekeeping (ebook)
The Divine Comedy (paper)

I aggressively thinned out my paper book collection when I moved last year and had plenty of open space on my shelves. I'm now getting to where it's starting to overflow again.

Melanti wrote: "When I first joined ŷ������ I had something like 450-500 unread books lying around, the majority in paper.

I've been trying to get better about not over-buying and being more willing to give awa..."

I've brought so many books from my Dad's house that it has become a problem, so . . . I finally got rid of some books this year. Some went to the used book store for credit and some to a thrift store. I was rather pleased with myself. :)

I like the idea of not adding public domain books until I'm ready to read. Maybe I'll try that. However, I have bought a few duplicates and the GR list has helped.

When I said over 300, I meant unread that I own. I'm still trying to catalog on GR all those I've read. You give me hope Melanti that I can get my unread numbers down!

My secret to an overly large TBR is denial. At the time I joined ŷ������ didn't know how many book I had until I listed them. At one point I had close to 150 books on the shelf. I've worked it down to 99. That number seem oppressively large and out of control. My solution is really simple. I continue to buy books but I don't list them on my TBR. If listed the books I own that are just laying around, I would probably still be close to 250 unread books counting Kindle books. But the 150 odd books not listed are out of sight and out of mind. No oppression and no pressure.

Oh we all seem to struggle with the same addiction to books! I stopped buying completely about 2 years ago, cold turkey, as my unread books were getting too many and those bargain buys added up each month. The library became my new obsession, so I haven't whittled down my physical shelves as much as I'd have liked to, but it's good to have a choice of what to read at home. If I had more money I'd have a bigger home library, or at least another bookcase! Over the past few months I've allowed myself to buy the very odd book, either that my library doesn't have, or sometimes if it's by an author I'd like to keep on my shelves.

The two books I've bought recently are -

Mothers of the Novel as I loved the library book so much I bought myself a used copy.

Romeo and Juliet just because I like to have Shakespeare on my shelf.

I never buy books because my library has a free statewide interlibrary loan system. Yet sometimes books just find me. I recently visited my parents and brought back three books. Authors send me books to review but then I donate to the library. Books I recently took ownership of:
Macbeth
House of the Spirits
Study in Short Story (anthology of American short story classics)
The Devil in the White City
Hank Greenberg: Hero of Heroes

My bookshelf is bursting at the seams.

I feel like I have just joined "Book Buyers Anonymous" ...My name is Sara and I cannot stop buying too many books.

I picked most of mine up at thrift stores and the used book store. I feel like I HAVE to get them while they are there. But, I have them spilling over into stacks on the floor now, so I need to get a grip.

You guys have made me feel better. 300 and 500 would depress me, I think. :) I also stopped downloading free books until I am ready to read them and stopped reading the sale flyers on digital books because I was buying far too many of them.

But, oooh getting a whole library from your father sounds like heaven.

This thread is making me want to buy some more books! I could always adopt Bob's tactics, new books simply don't get added to the tbr list, so they don't really count.

What I'd really like is to own a physical copy of all the books on my GR tbr list, that would be like heaven!

Pink then I would need a book shelf the size of my house to hold all of my books.

Sara wrote: "I feel like I have just joined "Book Buyers Anonymous" ...My name is Sara and I cannot stop buying too many books. ..."

LOL
I have so many books I'm afraid to buy more, so I ask my husband to get them for me. I will be the mother that when she dies, she bequeaths a library to her children -- at least they all like to read.

Sara wrote: "I picked most of mine up at thrift stores and the used book store. I feel like I HAVE to get them while they are there. But, I have them spilling over into stacks on the floor now, so I need to get a grip. ..."

Yep! That's exactly how I got up to 450-500 unread books!
Something to think about is that a $8 or $9 book at half price is about the same price as the price of a used book online.

Clearance racks and sales are still a difficulty for me though.


I like Bob's idea! Ignorance is bliss, and the shelves haven't collapsed under the weight of all the books yet, so it clearly isn't an issue, right?

Yesterday I bought:

- Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
- Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes because I wanted it on my shelf!
- Cancer Ward by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
- Чапаев и Пустота. Жёлтая стрела by Victor Pelevin
- A Country Doctor's Notebook by Mikhail Bulgakov
- Nomenklatura: The Soviet Ruling Class by Michael Voslensky
- Les Belles Tenebreuses by Maryse Condé
- The Queen's Necklace by Alexandre Dumas
- Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression by Studs Terkel

Can't wait to read it all!