Look What Just Arrived! (#15)

Carrie Pictures 2013 076As I mentioned my local independent bookstore is closing, so I’ve been stocking up on books.  They’re having a big sale so I decided to go to the city yesterday and snap some books up while there’s still a bit of selection.  Here’s what I bought:

  • The Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima
  • The Serpent and the Pearl by Kate Quinn
  • The Secret Eleanor by Cecelia Holland
  • Red Riding Hood by Sarah Blakley-Cartwright
  • Penelope’s Daughter by Laurel Corona
  • Alchemy by Maureen Duffy
  • The Crown by Nancy Bilyeau
  • Mordred’s Curse by Ian McDowell

Out of all these awesome books I bought the other day, I think the one I’m most excited about is The Demon King.  I’ve seen it and the other books in the Seven Realms series all around the blogosphere so I figured I’d pick it up.  The premise is certainly intriguing and the excerpt I read sounded good, so why not?

Most of the other books I’m not very excited to read, but I’m looking forward to The Serpent and the Pearl as well as The Secret Eleanor.  Both are historical fiction and although I’ve never read either author before the blurbs sounded good.  I’ve read only one book about Eleanor of Aquitaine and that was a couple years ago, so it will be nice to get a little more detail about her life.  And while I’ve read books about the Borgias, seeing their world through the eyes of an outsider will offer a little more perspective.

When I picked up Red Riding Hood I had no idea it was the companion novel to the movie.  I’ve never even watched the movie, so we’ll see how things go.  Mordred’s Curse sounds interesting because I’ve always felt there was a little more to Mordred’s story than we get in the traditional Arthurian legend.  Penelope’s Daughter was a no-brainer for me because I do love Greek mythology and Xanthe is a character I’ve never really encountered before.  Alchemy was more of an impulse buy because I thought it had the potential to be good and in all honesty I just bought The Crown because it featured a nun.  That’s definitely not the traditional heroine of a story.

So, do you see anything you like?  Have you read any of these books?

Please Ignore the Password Protected Post

The password protected post called ‘Your Prize Selection’ is for the winners of the Mad Reviewer 2013 Reading Challenge.  They each get to pick ebooks and paperbacks that authors donated.  Now obviously I don’t want to keep the authors who donated their books a secret so I’ll be writing a separate, more thorough thank you later.  I feel it’s more appropriate that way.

In the meantime, enjoy the book haul post I’ll be doing later this morning.

And the Winners of the 2013 Mad Reviewer Challenge Are…

First off, congratulations to everyone who completed the 2013 Mad Reviewer Reading & Reviewing Challenge.  Not all of you completed the levels you set out to but some of you doubled your goal.  Still, everyone is a winner here because they posted more reviews and helped authors in the process.

I won’t keep you in suspense.  Everyone who completed the challenge had their names written on scraps of paper according to what level they completed.  I just drew the names out of my cookie tin and here are the winners:

Grand prize winner:  Diantha Jones

1st runner up: Shirley Ford

2nd runner up: James Kennedy

3rd runner up: Scatty

Congratulations to all of the winners!  Both Diantha Jones and Scatty completed the Crazy Reviewer levels, James Kennedy went all out and completed the Mad Reviewer level and Shirley Ford finished her goal of Slightly Sane Reviewer.

If you’re a winner we’ll be in touch today.  If you don’t hear from me, please drop me a line either through my contact page, email or Twitter.

A Farewell to my Local Independent Bookstore

As you guys have probably guessed, I buy books.  A lot of books.  So many that the owner of the local bookstore and I are on a first name basis.  She and her husband have been known to set aside books for me because they think I might enjoy them.  They’re a sweet older couple and they run the only bookstore within a 100km radius.

Today I learned that they’re closing down in February.  Apparently they’ve been living in survival mode for a long time.  The bookstore barely makes enough money for them to survive on so they’re retiring.  Their building had been sold and they can’t afford the rent the new owners are going to charge.  From now until the time they close everything in the store is 30% off.

Why are these people not making money?

That’s a question I’ve pondered for hours today.  I live in an area that’s booming for the first time in living memory.  We’re a long way from the oil fields but people who work there like to keep their families here in our small community.  The crime rate is pretty much 0, the school isn’t terrible and it’s quite a popular tourist attraction because of the lake.  My village only has a population of 300 people if you count the surrounding farms but we live within an hour of two small cities so it’s not like we’re totally isolated.  The place where I work has never been busier and houses are going up so fast my head is spinning.  Remember the recession of ’08?  Well, in 2008 we were doing so well we had a housing boom and are still short on labour to this day.  So why shouldn’t the independent bookstore succeed?  There are more than enough people here to support it.

The problem is the Walmart mentality.  Walmart sells a few books cheaper than the independent bookstore could ever hope to so people flock there for their reading.  Or they order online from Amazon and only go into the bookstore on a rare occasion.  They don’t support their local businesses and now they’re crying when the local businesses disappear.  I’ve always done my best to buy locally but I can’t support the whole area when almost everyone else is buying cheaper online stuff or going grocery shopping in the city.

So now, instead of buying my books only 60km away the nearest bookstore is more than 200km away.  I’ll be relying more on books authors send me to be sure but I’ll also have to suck it up and order through Amazon.  It’s a sad day for local business.