Hi everyone.
I took some time to get pictures, and I probably went a little overboard with them, but here is my book haul for March 2013.
There they are: 8 hardcovers and 12 paperbacks.
The Secret by Rhonda Byrne.
I must admit that sometimes, I choose books due to how intriguing their cover looks. I like how this one reminds me of wax seals and how things were written on parchment. Very nostalgic. (Question: Can you feel nostalgic for a time in the past you have never really lived through or experienced?) Plus, under the dust jacket, the book is like red and gold and looks really nice. I had to show my brother rather excitedly, but he just looked confused. “The Secret” seems very mysterious, but I have a feeling it’s going to be something… somewhat cliche. I’ll have to see.
Fallen Angel by Don J. Snyder
The description at the back of the book drew me in, something about memory and recalling something from many, many years ago, trying to remember the first moment exactly. Something to think about for me because memory is a rather flexible and, at times, inaccurate thing. This book has a deckle edge (I had to look this up because I knew there had to be a word for it), and I know it’s just artificial and everything, but I rather like it.
The Traveler’s Gift by Andy Andrews
Much like The Secret, this reminds me of nostalgia and also cliche-ish things. Only this one is about time travel. I like the colors of this, black and brown/sepia/whatever you may call it. And the map of the world. I notice odd things, yes.
Trickster’s Choice by Tamora Pierce
(I try to not get creeped out by pictures that stare intensely and directly at you.) Anyway, you probably notice I don’t put summaries and such of the book because well… I’m pretty sure you have your own websites that you tend to go to and get summaries of books you might be interested in. For me, I just picked this up on a whim. I’ll see if I like it or not. Strong female characters… it’s hard to find them sometimes.
Three Complete Novels by E. M. Forster
Now when I saw this book at Goodwill, I gasped and couldn’t get my hands on it fast enough. It’s beautiful. The green and gold and gold edges on the paper and the ribbon bookmark… Beautiful. I’ve owned two books by E. M. Forster before, which are the two out of the three on here, so hopefully I’ll actually read it one day. The last person who had this was apparently in the middle of A Room with a View.
A Conspiracy of Paper by David Liss
So, I also get intrigued by the title of books, which caught my attention on this one. “A conspiracy of paper”… that just sounds so interesting! Maybe just to me, but yes, I picked it up. The cover feels nice too. This is why I love the physical copies of books. So much to look at and feel. …I’m just weird.
Thr3e by Ted Dekker
The description is pretty thrilling, and it seems like this is going to start off fast and just keep on going. I like the thriller genre, so that’s another reason why I picked this up.
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
Intriguing title is intriguing. And I still haven’t read The Handmaid’s Tale yet, which is like something you just have to read in your entire lifetime, but… I’m getting there. So I’m not sure when I’ll get to this, but at least I have it on my shelf to eventually read.
Pandemic by Daniel Kalla
Now if this doesn’t remind you of every (zombie) apocalypse ever… And not to mention that there’s a game online called Pandemic 2 where you get to try and infect the world. I have to say though, in that game, the world is pretty resilient. Go world. Anyway, this book mentioned SARS in the description, and I remember that was a big scare back then. This will be interesting. The red on the cover was a really blinding red when the sun reflected off it while I was driving home.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
I’m rather glad I finally got a copy of this because this has been one of those books that I hear a lot of things about, but I’ve never read it. I don’t know when I’ll read it either, but at least I have it, so it’s a little bit closer to being read.
Magyk by Angie Sage
I like the cover of this book, and I think if I had found the hardcover edition of it, it would look much more awesome. (Randomly, it reminds me of the Siren’s class mods in Borderlands 2.) In the meantime, I’ll just have to read it and see if I like it.
Falling Angels by Tracy Chevalier
Not to be confused with the other book that is similarly titled. I’ve been interested in reading Girl with a Pearl Earring for a while now, so I thought in the meantime, I’ll just pick up another book by the author.
The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen by Syrie James
This was interesting when I read the description about following the author as a character in a novel. Similar to the movie Shakespeare in Love that followed Shakespeare while he was trying to write what would become Romeo and Juliet. Real interested in reading this.
No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
I finished The Road earlier this year, so I picked up this one because it’s by the same author, and I also remember there was a movie on it with Tommy Lee Jones. Any movie with Tommy Lee Jones, I’m there, so there we have it.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
I think you know that the zombie genre has gone a little too far when you have zombies in a classic novel. I’ve heard about this book for a while, but I haven’t picked it up until now because (like my brother) I didn’t see how zombies would work in something like Jane Austen. I guess I’ll find out.
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith
Zombies in a classic novel and now vampires in history? Sure… why not? I suppose it will make things that much more interesting. History was probably my weakest subject in school, and I found it interesting when I read historical novels (like when I read Killer Angels by Michael Shaara and The Source by James A. Michener). Anyway, the movie cover looks awesome.
A Flickering Light by Jane Kirkpatrick
The cover of this reminds me too much of a dream I once had, so I picked it up. (Well, I never said that all of my reasons for picking up a book were rational.) So um… yeah, I’ll have to see.
The Rossetti Letter by Christi Phillips
I’ve been into letter writing for a while now (hello to all my penpals, should they see this), and I picked this book up because of the whole letter writing and nostalgic feeling like The Secret gave me. This seems like an interesting idea, an almost-forgotten part of history that has been rediscovered.
Labyrinth by Kate Mosse
When I found out that “labyrinth” was another word for “maze,” I just fell in love with that word. (Much like I fell in love with the word “vagabond” that means “traveler” or “drifter.”) So that’s partially why I picked up this book as well as the mystery behind/inside the labyrinth.
The Minority Report and Other Classic Stories by Philip K. Dick
I’ve been on the lookout for more books by Philip K. Dick ever since I read A Scanner Darkly, and I never expected that I would find this one. When I got it, it looked so gorgeous, despite the fact that it was used. It looks practically new, and I just need to find/make some time to read.
Well, those are all 20 books. I can’t wait to get into them, as well as all the others I have on my shelves. I need to pick up my reading that’s for sure! I hope to get my book experience on A Scanner Darkly written up soon.
Thanks for reading. Until next time, take care.
notimemaketime 
Looking forward to reading your reviews…got some great books in there..
Thank you so much. I won’t be doing traditional kinds of reviews, like I explained in my introduction, but hopefully a book experience will be just as helpful when it comes to discussions. :)
Hi, Donna!
Thanks for inviting me to look at your new blog. I’m definitely jealous of all yours book. I’ve been trying to keep myself from buying too many since I am trying to leave the country soon. I’ve left books in different parts of the country as I’ve moved around, so I hope somebody is enjoying them.
I’ve never read Minority Report, but I have loved everything else by Philip K. Dick that I’ve read. I have a nice looking book with a couple more novels that I need to finish. I recently saw the movie adaptation of ‘Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter’ and it was so goofy. Entertaining, though.
I think you’ll definitely like the Margaret Atwood books you mentioned. This year I finished ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ and ‘Oryx and Crake’. They were both absolutely wonderful.
I’ll stop here because my letters are already too long. Don’t want to do the same with my comments.
Hi Tyler. :) Thank you for visiting my blog. I wanted to get it up and have some posts for some of my penpals to look at instead of something empty. I understand that you’ll be moving soon, so it’s probably wise that you’re purchasing too many. I just can’t help myself sometimes. I think I left some books behind when I moved as well. I don’t think I can stand leaving all my current ones behind though.
I can’t wait to dive more into my to-read pile. Philip K. Dick and Margaret Atwood are definitely on the list, as are everyone else.
I don’t mind long letters or long comments. In fact, I rather love them, and it’s sometimes hard to find people who do write in length. So, no worries about that! I can handle it for sure. :)
Thanks again.
A very nice haul, there. I see that you’ve found yourself another PKD book. I have only read a few of his shorts, but what I have read have been great. I tend to avoid them, as several shorts were expanded into novels and I don’t want to ruin any of the novels for myself. Once I’ve finished all of his novels, I’ll move to the shorts.
I really don’t get the whole ‘Pride And Prejudice And Zombies’ thing. From what I’ve heard, they just sorta add lines to the original story. It does seem to have had a bit of popularity, though; perhaps just for the quirkiness of it?
Of the other books, it’s good to see a copy of Hitchhiker’s Guide. They are good books with some great humor. I went overboard when I started reading them, and set off to read ALL of the books (they were in a hardback collection)…and it just got really stupid after a while. Just an overload of not reading anything serious for a few weeks, you know? Nevertheless, good book.
Alright, then. Thanks again for the link to your blog. I will be checking in for updates.
I did, and I was rather excited because it was in really good condition. It would be interesting to see how the shorts were expanded, if certain elements were kept or if he had to change where the story was going. I really do want to read like Minority Report since I saw the movie, just to see how different it is.
I have no idea how zombies would work in that time period because… what in the world are they going to do? I remember when I first saw Pride and Prejudice and Zombies in the bookstore. I had found a book on Pride and Prejudice told from Mr. Darcy’s point of view, and then I saw it while I was checking out at the counter and did a double take. I told my brother about it, and he sort of went, “That’s so… stupid.” (He read Pride and Prejudice and saw the drama series with Colin Firth for class, so he knew what it was about.) He did, however, said that the book I found was cool, so there’s that.
That’s what I keep hearing, that Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy has such humor. I didn’t even realize that it was more than just this one book, but I have to start off somewhere. I hope to get lots of reading done, and just keep up with it. I’m almost done with book #9 this year, so halfway through my book reading goal. It doesn’t sound like much either, especially when people are trying to read a book a week, but I’m glad I got this much done so far.
Thanks for the comment, Ken. :) I saw the post you made at your blog as well, so I’ll be stopping by there every so often.
I approve of anything Tamora Pierce. This was actually the first book I read of hers. Afterwards, I was hooked. I highly recommend them for a quick, entertaining read. I GET SO EMOTIONAL READING THEM.
I will have to put that higher on my to-read list then. I haven’t heard of her, but I’m going to give it a try. :) And hey, what a coincidence. I’ll have to see what I think about it. EMOTIONS!