Book Haul #70: Birthday Haul

I celebrated my birthday last week and in addition to declaring a BOOK TAG WEEK on here, I also took myself on a little book shopping spree as a treat. 🙂 I got a lot more stuff than I intended, but I’m happy with myself. It was a wonderful treat.

(NOTE: If the layout below looks wonky, it’s most likely because you’re viewing this on your phone in the WordPress Reader app which, for some reason unknown to me, keeps messing up the layout when I use certain gallery settings to format image layouts. If you view it on the website instead, it will show correctly.)

PURCHASES
PHYSICAL

BLACK BUCK by Mateo Askaripour

I finished this yesterday. It’s one of the most uncomfortable stories I’ve ever read. It’s a dark satire about a young Black man who gets the opportunity to work at a sales company and how that changes him. He’s the only Black person working there and experiences much racial microaggressions while there. I bought it to read for a book club.

Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City by K.J. Parker

This review over on Books by Proxy brought my attention to this book, making me place it on my TBR and eventually purchase it. It seems like it will be a very entertaining read — probably something I should pick up as a palate cleanser for Black Buck.

Murder on Millionaire’s Row by Erin Lindsey

Mogsy’s review of the third book, The Silver Shooter, got me curious about this series, so I placed the first book on my Goodreads TBR, and now I have it! I’d been keeping an eye out for it at the bookstore I work at, so I grabbed the copy when I saw it available last week.

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata, transl. from the Japanese by Ginny Tapley Takemori

Samalio Pardulus by Otto Julius Bierbaum, illus. by Alfred Kubin, transl. from the German by W.C. Bamberger

THE WISHING-CHAIR COLLECTION, BOOKS 1-3 by Enid Blyton

I believe it’s Enid Blyton’s books that sparked my interest in the fantasy genre as a kid. For years I’ve been trying to remember the author and the books that made me become a fantasy fan, but all I could remember was that there were pixies and brownies and a garden and probably other fey creatures in the stories. After searching for years, I realized that one of the books from my childhood was The Enchanted Wood by Enid Blyton, but it wasn’t the exact book I’d been searching for. Then one day Eustacia at Eustea Reads mentioned a wonderful blog that’s all about Enid Blyton’s books — World of Blyton.

After reading MANY of their posts, I realized that the book I kept recalling was probably the Wishing Chair series, which I’d encountered on my search over the years but have always ignored, smh. Although I’m not a fan of the illustration style in this 3-book set, I bought it so that I can try to find the story that really hooked me on fantasy (along with the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and the Neverending Story).

 THE LIGHT FANTASTIC by Terry Pratchett

I recently completed The Colour of Magic, the first Discworld novel, for a sort of group read, so I got The Light Fantastic to continue on with that subseries of the Discworld books — the Rincewind subseries.

These were all cover-buys. I don’t need picture books, and I really should have just made a note of them and request them from the library, but I love the covers too much. These were indeed a birthday treat for me.

OONA by Kelly DiPucchio, illus. by Raissa Figueroa

The Widow’s Broom by Chris Van Allsburg (illus.)

If I Had a Little Dream by Nina Laden, illus. by Melissa Castrillon

From the little I’ve read in this, it seems like it’ll appeal to those who like The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy (illus.). (I didn’t like Mackesy’s book, but I got this anyway because I like the cover and endpages and the bit I read.)

Hike by Pete Oswald (illus.)

Lights on Wonder Rock by David Litchfield (illus.)

I love the cover of this book. I look at it almost everyday that I work in the bookstore and FINALLY I’m able to get a copy so it can stop tempting me to buy it.

Once & Future, Vol. 1: The King Is Undead by Kieron Gillen, illus. by Dan Mora

I immediately added this to my TBR after reading Nancy’s review over on Graphic Novelty. She mentioned a bad-ass grandma and an evil Merlin and I was like YESS!!! Then, after buying it, I realized it’s by Kieron Gillen and Dan Mora, AND I got even more excited. Kieron Gillen wrote the Wicked + the Divine comics, which I love, and Dan Mora was the illustrator on Klaus: How Santa Claus Began, and I loved the illustrations in that comic. So I think this is one of the best purchases I made in this haul. I’ve had SO many people tell me this one is good.

Rough Riders, Vol. 1: Give Them Hell by Adam Glass, illus. by Patrick Olliffe

Wizard Beach by Shaun Simon, illus. by Conor Nolan

Wellington by Delilah S. Dawson & Aaron Mahnke, illus. by Piotr Kowalski

I bought this for the cover and only later learned that Aaron Mahnke is the host of the podcast Lore, which was also made into a TV show. I used to listen to that podcast a while back.

The Kingdom of the Gods by In-Wan Youn & Eun-Hee Kim, illus. by Kyung-Il Yang, transl. by Christine Dashiell

I really enjoyed the South Korean zombie-horror TV show, Kingdom, that’s based on this manga, so I had to get it even though the reviews I’ve seen of it aren’t promising.

Magus of the Library, Vol. 1 by Mitsu Izumi (illus.), transl. by Stephen Kohler

Junji Ito’s Cat Diary: Yon & Mu by Junji Ito (illus.), transl. by Stephen Paul

E-BOOKS

I got these on sale through Comixology.

Spell on Wheels, Vol. 1 by Kate Leth, illus. by Megan Levens

Lady S. Vol. 2: Latitude 59 Degrees North by Jean Van Hamme, illus. by Philippe Aymond

I read and reviewed the first volume fairly recently. It’s a slow-paced comic about a female spy. The mystery in the first volume held my interest, so I’m willing to try the second volume as well.

Killing Castro by Jason Ciaccia, illus. by Aaron Norhanian

---

All done.
LET ME KNOW IF YOU’VE READ ANY OF THESE.

Advertisement