Book Haul #48: Happy to Work in a Book Store

Helloooo EVERYONE who follows my blog or is just passing by! Glad to see you all again. I know it’s been a while since I last posted something. Life has been VERY busy because now yah girl is juggling 2 jobs and hardly has time for anything else. I’m so behind on my usual posts that I’m debating whether or not to do a November roundup (especially since we’re now in the middle of December).

But here I am! Back. And posting a book haul because a) it’s been a while since I’ve done so and b) I WORK IN A BOOKSTORE AND GOT A GREAT DISCOUNT!!! 😀 😀 I was so excited about the discount that I went a little crazy and bought more than I intended. I even ended up purchasing Michelle Obama’s Becoming twice! >> One for me and one for my auntie. 🙂 EVERYONE is getting her book. I can’t wait to read it.

Purchases

Physical

The Wicked + The Divine, Vol. 7: Mothering Invention by Kieron Gillen, illus. by Jamie McKelvie and Matt Wilson

The most recent volume of WicDiv. I’m a fan of this comic book series that’s about gods who are incarnated as superstars. I haven’t yet read this volume, but I’m looking forward to it.

Bloody Rose by Nicholas Eames

The second novel in Eames’s the Band fantasy series. The first book, Kings of the Wyld, was about a band of veteran warriors going off on a quest. I believe Bloody Rose focuses on the daughter of one of the characters in the first book. I wasn’t a huge fan of Kings of the Wyld, but I liked the book and was entertained by it. I’d like to sample more of Eames’s writing, so I picked this up.

Friday Black: Stories by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

I know nothing about this book except that it’s a book of short stories and might be fantasy or sci-fi. I bought it because I think I saw Marlon James endorse it somewhere (forgot where).

The Enchanted Wood by Enid Blyton

If you’ve been reading my posts for a long time now, you’ve probably seen me mention that the books that got me into fantasy are some kids books that I couldn’t remember the title of or the author but they contain elves and pixies and other fairy creatures. Well, I’ve FINALLY found the books. They were Enid Blyton’s Faraway Tree series!

Whenever I conducted searches for the kids books I couldn’t remember, Blyton’s books would often pop up. So I took a chance one day and bought Blyton’s Enchanted Wood. The more I read, the more I remembered the books I read as a kid and realized that I was holding one of them in my hands. I was so happy. So, so happy. 🙂

City of Dragons by Robin Hobb

I bought this in October to prepare for my buddy-read with Emily from Embuhlee liest. We’re making our way through Robin Hobb’s Realm of the Elderlings series and have just started reading this book. City of Dragons is the third book in the Rain Wild Chronicles, which focuses on the Rain Wilds, a rain forest in Robin Hobb’s expansive fantasy world through which flows a toxic river.

Blood of Dragons by Robin Hobb

The fourth novel in the Rain Wild Chronicles. Emily and I will read this after completing City of Dragons.

The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness by Dave Ramsey

I’m trying to make wiser financial choices, so I bought this book and read it. I like how straightforward it is. My plan on my blog is to review every book I read, but I might skip on this book since it’s something I’m working through. My experience with this one is too personal to share on here, I think.

Becoming by Michelle Obama

I like the Obamas, but I’m not one to buy or read memoirs, autobiographies, or biographies of presidents or their wives or children, so at first I wasn’t interested in getting Becoming. But after watching Michelle Obama’s interview with Oprah about the book, I decided that I must get it. I ended up purchasing the book twice. I gave the first copy away to my aunt and then got another for myself. Working at a bookstore allows me to see just how popular Becoming is. People have been buying and placing on hold five books or more at a time.

Obama: An Intimate Portrait by Pete Souza

There was a deal, so I got this book too. Plus, it has my favorite photo of Obama — when he bowed to a little boy so that the boy could touch his hair. I think it’s such a powerful photo: a president bowing to a kid. It’s humbling. Souza was the chief official White House photographer during Obama’s presidency (I don’t know if it was for the entire presidency).

Ocean Meets Sky by the Fan Brothers (illus. Terry & Eric Fan)

I LOVE the cover of this illustrated children’s book. I have no idea what it’s about, but I know I’ll love it. I should have already read it for a readathon going on right now, but life has been busy and I haven’t had the time.

Perfect Shadow by Brent Weeks

This is a prequel book of short stories to Weeks’s Night Angel trilogy. I recently completed second book, Shadow’s Edge, and quite enjoyed it because of a surprise at the end. I’m waiting until I finish the trilogy to read Perfect Shadow, but I can’t wait! I hope it’s all about Durzo Blint.

The Iliad by Homer, transl. by Ennis Rees

This is now the second copy of The Iliad I own. My first copy, which is the Penguin Classics edition translated by Robert Fagles, didn’t work for me. The prose was dry and made the story boring, so I kept falling asleep every time I attempted to read the book. I blamed the prose, not the story. For all I’ve heard of The Iliad, I expect it to be good; and my experience reading Jason and the Argonauts by Apollonius of Rhodes, transl. by Aaron Poochigian, makes me believe that I just need to find a good translation to thoroughly enjoy the story.

Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann

I believe I first learned of this book when I saw a review of it on Bookshelf Fantasies. Since then, it’s been a book I’ve often heard about and one that I hope to read soon.

Light the Dark: Writers on Creativity, Inspiration, and the Artistic Process ed. by Joe Fassler

I’d banned myself from purchasing books on writing until I read the unread ones I own, but I couldn’t pass up this one when I saw it. I was weak. I bought it.

How Long ’til Black Future Month? by N.K. Jemisin

A book of short stories by sci-fi/fantasy writer N.K. Jemisin, who’s the author of the The Fifth Season and The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. I read a review of the book somewhere…probably NPR…that made me want to check it out. When I picked it up in the bookstore, I read the first sentence of the intro/foreword and had to buy it. Plus, I love the cover!

Snow & Rose by Emily Winfield Martin (illus.)

I don’t know much about this book, but I think it’s based on, or is inspired by fairytales. I bought it because I like the illustration style.

The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng

I’ve always wanted to get this book and finally I own it. I listened to a BBC World Book Club interview with the author that made me crave to try his work. I think I’ll like it. I hope I do.

Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Promise by Bryan Konietzko, Michael Dante DiMartino, Gene Luen Yang, illus. by Gurihiru

I can’t wait to read this! I’m a huge fan of Avatar: The Last Airbender TV show and have always intended to get the comics, but when I heard of these library editions of the comics, I decided to get them instead. They are hardback and include several issues of the comics. But the reason why I wanted this edition is because the creators of the story include comments in the margin about the story and what inspired them and such. So I’m looking forward to reading the margin.

Wow, that was a lot of physical books I purchased! A book lover working in a bookstore is like a kid locked in a candy store. I grabbed all the things. Everything caught my eye and this bit of books was me reining myself in from purchasing every single book I see, lol.

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Free

#ParkingLotBookSwap

I attended a cool lil’ meetup of several book bloggers/instagrammers in DC and picked up these three books:

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

It says “trilogy” on the cover above but the edition I have contains only the first book. i haven’t watched the movie yet and have never read the story, so I’m glad I now own the book.

The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See

I don’t know much about this one either, but I’ve heard it’s a good read, the prose is great, and plus it has tea so I’m sure to enjoy it. Anyway, I’ve wanted to read it, so I picked it up.

The Sellout by Paul Beatty

Oh man! I was so excited when I saw this one at the book swap. I grabbed it immediately. I’ve since forgotten the bit of details I knew about it but I know it’s a satire and I’m so looking forward to reading it.

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Library books

Digital

The Stand by Stephen King

Ugh! This one is a struggle. It’s so long and meandering; it annoys me. It took a while for me to get into the story, but now I’m interested and am actually concerned about the characters. However, I am tired of all the tangents.

Physical

So… I borrowed physical books from the library back in early October but things got so buy that I had to return them without reading them. I wasn’t going to include them here at first, but it’s highly probable that I will check them out next year to read. I’m including them to remind myself…next year.

How Are You Going to Save Yourself by J.M. Holmes

Seems to be a book of short stories about being a young Black man in America. I picked it up at random at the library.

Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World by Pénélope Bagieu (illus.)

I wanted to read this because of the pretty illustrations.

The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie

I read Murder on the Orient Express a year or two ago and thought it was okay but wasn’t blown away by it. When I borrowed this, I was in the mood to try another Agatha Christie novel. I’ll borrow it again when I get the chance.

The Great God Pan and Other Horror Stories by Arthur Machen

I was drawn to this book because of its bright, beautiful yellow cover. When I read in the intro/foreword that Arthur Machen’s stories had inspired H.G. Lovecraft, Guillermo del Toro, and Stephen King, I was even more interested in reading it. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the time to read it all. I’ll have to return to it.

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That’s it for this book haul.

Let me know if you’ve tried any of the books above.

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