Monday, December 26, 2011

New on the Shelf: The Christmas Wrap Up Edition

There’s been a lot of activity in the Acquiring Books Department. I tried to take it easy before Christmas, but there are just so many great books out there and I want them all! And while my daughter made out like a bandit in the toy department Christmas morning, I made out like a bandit in the book department.

Black is the New White by Paul Mooney: An ebook I received from a friend. She had IMed be about buying the John Lithgow book and said she was finishing up Black is the New White and it caught my eye, so I said, “Ooh! Me want too!” After reading the John Lithgow book I’m really in the mood to read more memoirs now. This will be the next.

The Lone Wolf by Louis Joseph Vance: An ebook from Project Gutenberg. I read a review on Vintage Pop Fictions and it sounded like a really good read.

Scaramouche and The Sea Hawk by Rafael Sabatini: Ebooks from Project Gutenberg. I recently finished Captain Blood (again) and decided that I should try out other stories by the same author.

The Time Machine and War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells: More ebooks from Project Gutenberg. These will be on hand for the Science Fiction Experience I will be participating in. More details on that later!


Naval Miscellany by Angus Konstam: A bargain book from B&N that I couldn’t resist. It has some quick naval facts of various topics. I thought it would make a good companion to my Captain Blood, Horatio Hornblower and Aubrey/Maturin reading.

The Door to Far-Myst by Mike Dicerto: Won through Good Reads! I was super excited when I found out I won this. I’ve only been on Good Reads for a few months and felt quite spoiled to find I was selected to receive a copy. It’s signed and I got a bookmark with it! This will be a good one to read with Venessa.

Zone One by Colson Whitehead: Borrowed from the library. I mentioned a while ago I had it on hold but I just didn’t get it when I thought I would. That must mean it’s good if I had to wait through that many people who borrowed it too!

The Cavalier in the Yellow Doublet by Arturo Perez-Reverte: Christmas present! (Thank you, Laura and Carol!) It’s the 5th book of the Captain Alatriste series. On a side note, I really need to learn Spanish; shameful, really that I don’t know much considering I’m half-Mexican. But the author tweets quite often but it’s all in Spanish and there is definitely something lost in the Google Chrome translation.

The Lantern by Deborah Lawrenson: Another Christmas present! (Thank you, Laura and Carol!) I missed out on the group read of this book on Stainless Steel Droppings. When I read the author had sent an email to add to the discussion I thought that was really awesome and knew I was missing out on something so this went on my Christmas Wish List.

Van Gogh The Life by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith: Another Christmas present (Thank you, Steve My Love!) and the book I was really really looking forward to receiving. I’m not an art connoisseur and my art history knowledge is non-existant but I do really love Van Gogh’s work. The colors and textures speak to me and I just really like looking at the pretty pictures. This is a lovely book with a great cover too.

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks: Purchased from B&N. I’ve been going through a zombie phase. It’s all The Walking Dead’s fault. And since Season 2 is on hiatus until February (those jerks!), I’ll have this book as well as Zone One for my zombie fix.

Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein: Purchased from B&N and to be read for the Science Fiction Experience (as mentioned above). When I first saw the movie Starship Troopers, my first thought was, “What a rip off of The Forever War!” (a great book by Joe Haldeman by the way) not knowing it was even adapted from a book. Then I’ve learned from the internet that not all fans of the book were very happy with the movie. Shocker! But I’ve see Heinlein’s name here and there with lots of good things said about him so this will be my first Heinlein book.

Foundation by Isaac Asimov: I haven’t received this one yet. I ordered it through Loud Voice Books for the Stainless Steel Droppings Hosted Group Read in January. More on this later as well! And a special shout out to Loud Voice Books for answering my email and making sure they ordered the correct book.

London Under: The Secret History Beneath the Streets by Peter Ackroyd: Ordered through Amazon but I haven’t received it yet. Hey, what else are you to do with an Amazon Gift Card for Christmas?! Thanks, Dad! I thumbed through this at B&N one day and found it fascinating. Can’t wait to flip through its pages again!

See there’s nothing wrong with spreading the cheer amongst local shops and Amazon. And yes, I’m one of those who sees a book at a bookstore (usually B&N though) and will find out where it’s cheaper. What can I say, I’m a Scrooge. But I’m happy and so is my bank account so that’s what’s important and I do what I can to spread my VERY hard earned money around.

I am very happy with my new treasures. Who knows, maybe a woobie book is lurking amongst this list. I’m looking forward to the New Year to find out which one it is.

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