Tagged: look what just arrived
Look What Just Arrived! (#19)
Wow, it’s been a while since I showed off my new books but then again I haven’t really bought many new books since Book Expo America. However, now that I’m in the city and have full access to used book shops and Indigo’s great sales, I couldn’t resist. So here’s what I picked up recently:
- Parasite by Mira Grant
- Spirit’s Chosen by Esther Friesner
- The Girl Who Loved Camellias by Julie Kavanagh
- The Queen’s Lover by Francine Du Plessis
- The Iron King by Maurice Druon
- Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic by Tom Holland
- Egyptian Mummies by G. Elliot Smith and Warren R. Dawson
- The Rise and Fall of Athens: Nine Greek Lives by Plutarch
Obviously, I’ve already read Parasite but when I saw that a hardcover copy was on sale for $8, I couldn’t resist. I know that I will always prefer physical copies of books to ebooks, no matter how heavy physical copies are when I move house. Spirit’s Chosen was an impulse buy because of the sale price but I’ve also heard good things about Esther Friesner and hope to learn more about the mythical Himiko, the woman who united Japan. The Queen’s Lover was also an impulse buy.
The Girl Who Loved Camellias was a book that I had no idea existed but stumbled upon while I was browsing. I love Verdi’s opera La Traviata so I’ve always been fascinated with the life of Marie Duplessis, the inspiration for Violetta. When I saw the biography by Julie Kavanagh, I couldn’t resist. The same is virtually true for The Iron King by Maurice Druon. Sure, George R. R. Martin has endorsed it because it encompasses the Wars of the Roses (his historical inspiration for A Song of Ice and Fire) but what really cemented it for me was the blurb. Tracing the Wars of the Roses all the way back to the reign of Philip the Fair is bold but from the excerpt I read, I think Maurice Druon can do it. I’m very much looking forward to starting this book.
Egyptian Mummies and Plutarch’s book were very, very cheap in the used bookstore so I couldn’t resist. As you guys know, I’m obsessive when it comes to ancient Egypt. But I’m also starting to branch out into more Greek history so a primary source like Plutarch is just the thing I need right now.
Rubicon is one of those books I stumbled across in the used bookstore and snapped up immediately because I love almost anything to do with the late Roman Republic and the early Imperial period. It’s also going to be a helpful resource for next week’s upcoming monster of an article. Stay tuned for that if you love Roman history and/or overanalyzing television shows!
So, what do you think of my haul? See anything you like?
Look What Just Arrived! (#18)
On Sunday and up until about 8:00pm Monday I was in the city for a business trip. I had some time to myself so I was lucky enough to find both an Indigo store and a used book store so I didn’t entirely blow my budget. Since I didn’t have enough time to read some and I’m exhausted there will obviously be no review today. So let me distract you with pictures of the books I picked up!
- Autumn: Disintegration by David Moody
- Eternal by Cynthia Leitich Smith
- Wake by Lisa McMann
- Fade by Lisa McMann
- Vittorio the Vampire by Anne Rice
- Switched by Amanda Hocking
- Torn by Amanda Hocking
- Ascend by Amanda Hocking
- Heroes: Saviours, Traitors and Supermen by Lucy Hughes-Hallett
- Dust & Decay by Jonathon Maberry
I already read and reviewed the Trylle trilogy by Amanda Hocking but I had to borrow it from a friend. So when I saw the trilogy in the used bookstore I decided to pick it up. They’re sort of a guilty pleasure type of read like Vittorio the Vampire but for a couple of bucks they’re worth it.
Dust & Decay is the sequel to Rot & Ruin, a zombie story by Jonathon Maberry that I thoroughly enjoyed almost a year ago. I’m so glad that I finally found the sequel! In every single bookstore I’ve looked there has only ever been the first book so when I saw the second one I snapped it up.
Most of the others were huge impulse buys because the covers either looked interesting or I’d heard some good things about them in the blogosphere. I’m not an impulsive sort of person but it’s hard to pass up cheap books in a used bookstore when you get the chance. I’m going to be going on a reading binge, so you can probably look forward to some reviews of these books later this month!
Have you read any of these books? If so, how were they? If not, do you see anything that catches your eye?
Look What Just Arrived! (#16)
This is not the best of pictures but I did have to fit ten different books into it. Here are the names if you can’t read the titles:
- Stork by Wendy Delsol
- Frost by Wendy Delsol
- Flock by Wendy Delsol
- Evermore by Alyson Noël
- Blue Moon by Alyson Noël
- Caesar’s Women by Colleen McCullough
- The Wise Woman’s Tale by Phillipa Bowers
- Daughters of the Nile by Stephanie Dray
- Crewel by Gennifer Albin
- Altered by Gennifer Albin
As I mentioned before, my local bookstore is going out of business. So I’ve been stocking up and you may notice that I bought way more books than I usually do. This is because my last trip was likely the last time I’ll set foot in the store so I dropped around a $100 on books. I wanted to get the full series of books as much as possible because I know I won’t be buying books for a long time.
Anyway, I read Daughters of the Nile pretty much on the same day I went shopping. It’s much longer than the other books in the series but I absolutely loved it. Caesar’s Women is the fourth book in Colleen McCullough’s First Man in Rome series and I can’t wait to start it! Crewel is the first book in Gennifer Albin’s Crewel World trilogy and I was thoroughly impressed with it. It was so different from most YA with an entirely unique premise that you can’t help but love it. I’m now reading Altered and have a hard time putting it down.
As for the Stork trilogy I can honestly just say I picked them up for the covers. They’re beautiful and interesting but the blurbs intrigued me. It sounds like Wendy Delsol has a great premise on her hands and I want to see how she carries it out. Evermore is yet another book that’s floated around in the blogosphere forever and I never got around to it. So when I saw it and Blue Moon in the used section I couldn’t resist. I have some high hopes for this one! The same goes for The Wise Woman’s Tale.
Well, these are some of the things I’m reading. What are you guys reading lately? See anything you like here?
Look What Just Arrived! (#15)
As 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?
Look What Just Arrived! (#14)
Yesterday I spent Christmas with my family and consequently got a lot of books as presents. (We’re a pretty bookish family—my father got more books than I did!) The only book I didn’t get for Christmas was The Long Ships by Frans G. Bengtsson. That was recommended to me a while back and I picked it up as I did my last-minute Christmas shopping on the 23rd.
Anyway, here are my new books:
- Onyx by Jennifer L. Armentrout
- Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore
- The Devil’s Concubine by Jill Braden
- The Long Ships by Frans G. Bengtsson
- Ingenue by Jillian Larkin
- Earth Bound by Aprilynne Pike
- Song of the Nile by Stephanie Dray
Frankly, I’m really excited to read all of these. So excited, in fact, that last night I stayed up into the wee hours of the morning to finish Bitterblue. The review is to follow shortly.
The Devil’s Concubine is a book I reviewed for Wayzgoose press and I asked for it for Christmas because I had only an ebook copy. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happier with ebooks now than before when I didn’t have a Kindle, but I still prefer paperbacks. Ingenue is the second book in the Flappers books by Jillian Larkin and I’m really interested to see where the stories of the girls go. The same goes for Onyx by Jennifer L. Armentrout because of the cliffhanger at the end of Obsidian, the first book.
Song of the Nile is yet another second book and this time it encompasses a period of time that’s very rarely written about: after Cleopatra Selene married King Juba. I’m interested to see how Stephanie Dray fills in the gaps in the historical record and I’m hoping that she does as good a job as she did in Lily of the Nile.
The only book that I really know nothing about was Earth Bound, a gift from a friend. It’s not the sort of thing I would normally pick up on my own time because there’s going to be a love triangle (it’s mentioned right in the blurb), but I’ll try my best to read it with an open mind.
If you celebrate Christmas, did you get any books as presents? Which ones? Do you see anything you like here?