Showing posts with label haul. Show all posts
Showing posts with label haul. Show all posts
I'm going on a little trip next week! As part of my new job I'm being sent on a four day jolly trip to the Waterstones in Cirencester to see their very successful coffee shop and essentially steal all of their ideas. But that also means that my week is going to involve to long train journeys and three nights in a hotel room with a wi fi connection I'm feeling skeptical about. So this means treating myself to some new books to wile away the hours spent waiting for The Walking Dead to buffer:
Ship of Magic - Robin Hobb
Robin Hobb is one of those authors that I've wanted to get into for a long time. I started reading Fools Errand but realised about a third in that having not read the first trilogy, I was missing out on a lot of information that I needed to really engage with the story. I started the first book in the original farseer trilogy but just wasn't in the right place for it. However Luke (name you might recognise, went to Canada, ended up coming back early, whole other story) has read a lot of Robin Hobb, and tells me that The Liveship Traders trilogy is also a good place to start, so I've bought the first book which is a nice chunky volume that will hopefully keep me quiet, and if I enjoy it, I might purchase the next to from the Waterstones in Cirencester!
A Little Life - Hanya Yanagihara
Another paving slab of a book. I've been very apprehensive about getting this, I have friends who thought it was incredible, truly life changing, but I've heard others call it melodramatic and worthless. Honestly I wasn't really intending to read this, but I'm just so curious to see which side I fall on and how I respond to it that when it finally came out in paperback I caved and bought it. I'm hoping I'll enjoy it, it's going to be quite a time commitment so hopefully it'll be worth it.
Nod - Adrian Barnes
There we go, that was exciting wasn't it? I know I don't do those impressive, ridiculous, double digits books hauls, but when I do that I just find that about two thirds of them go unread and that makes me sad. I find it much easier to buy two or three books, read through those, then treat myself to another two or three. That means they all get read and I don't spend way beyond the realms of sensibility which, when you're a dedicated book buyer, is easy to do.
If you've read any of these and have opinions, let me know!
Thank you for reading!
Isabelle
xox
I don't generally follow recommendations when it comes to books. I usually like to browse through books in shops or online and figure out what I'd like. There's something lovely about finding a gem among rows and rows of choice, and going into a book with no expectations and knowing very little about it. However this Sunday I found myself buying three books, all because other people who share my reading tastes have read and loved them and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.
The Vegetarian - Han Kang (trans. Deborah Smith)
I've seen this doing the rounds on Booktube, and have become intrigued by the praise it's been receiving. It seems like every booktuber I enjoy and respect the opinion of loves this book, while a few whose tastes differ vastly from my own were not impressed. It's a dark, gnarly portrayal of South Korean family dynamics and as I've been wanting to read more books in translation and non - white authors, love shorter books and am a sucker for strange unsettling slightly creepy stories, this seemed perfect for me.
All the Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr
Ok so I knew this was about a blind girl in WWII. And honestly that is a premise I felt like I would hate. It sounded like another Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and that is a book I honestly hate. Nothing annoys me more than a book that just cranks out the sad to try and pull the heartstrings and roll in the money. So this was on my 'never going to read this list for several months, however one my oldest friends Holly and my buddy and fellow bookseller Kieran both absolutely love that book have specifically told me I need to read it. So I'm taking the plunge and giving it a try. I'm actually about 50 pages in and honestly I'm really liking it so far!
All the Birds in the Sky - Charlie Jane Anders
I had seen this book on various tables at work. I really liked the cover but never found myself interested enough to pick it up and turn it over to see what it's about. I figured it was probably one of those stories that's described as 'a dazzling portrayal of childhood and identity' or some shit like that. However I started to see it cropping up over Booktube and blogs, and again it seemed to be loved by everyone who shares my tastes. It turns out it's about a mad scientist and a witch who team up to save the world...which sounds amazing!!
I'm really looking forward to reading these now, and if I enjoy them I'll probably find myself taking recommendations more often!
Thanks for reading,
Thanks for reading,
Isabelle
xox
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About a year ago an Oxfam Books & Music store opened on my local high street and I took pretty much no notice of it. My experience with charity book shopping is fusty old 80's chick lit and big unread books with titles like 'Best of the Churches of North Wales' and other generally crap stuff that noone wants to read. However my Grandma came to stay a few weeks ago and, while I was taking her shopping and lunching in town, she spotted said Oxfam shop and dragged me inside, claiming that the one that's opened near her is absolutely fantastic. Eyebrows raised and skepticism on full I wandered in after her.
How wrong I was! So many wonderful books! Including ones I'd had on my 'want to read' list on Goodreads for ages and ages. I'm an English student and a book lover and a very fast reader so I go through books really quickly and always want more and can't be doing with shelling out £6.99 a time! The general price I saw scribbled in pencil on the inside cover was £2.99 and all the books were in pretty good nick. Though there was an adorable little section called "Distressed but still desirable" which featured slightly more... loved books, a few of which I do have my eye on.
The books I picked up in that one trip were:
Paul Coehlo - Veronika Decides to Die - £2.49
Susan Cain - Quiet - £2.49
Caitlin Moran - How To Be a Woman - £2.99
Jonathan Safran Foer - Everything is Illuminated - £2.99
Fyodor Dostoyevsky - The Brothers Karamazov - £9.99
Total Spent: £20.95
The last one, The Brothers Karamazov seems pricey but this particular one is an amazing edition created by the Folio Society and I fell in love with the beautiful cover. Although I couldn't find an exact price for this book other Folio editions go for upwards of £20, some for £40 and over! So whatever the price of this was it was a steal! I'm going to estimate the value at £30, which is the price I saw for books of a similar size and age.
I actually went on Amazon.co.uk and saw how much it would be to purchase all of these books brand new from there. The four smaller books came to £21.44, I paid £10.96 for them. Adding the price of the Folio book takes the brand new retail price to over £51.44 and as you can see above I paid just over twenty pounds! What a steal!
I'll definitely review these at some point. I've already ready the top two while I was away on holiday (on top of my summer reads from this post) so I have quite a bit of catching up to do in regards to book reviews!
Let me know if you've read any of these and what you thought of them!
How wrong I was! So many wonderful books! Including ones I'd had on my 'want to read' list on Goodreads for ages and ages. I'm an English student and a book lover and a very fast reader so I go through books really quickly and always want more and can't be doing with shelling out £6.99 a time! The general price I saw scribbled in pencil on the inside cover was £2.99 and all the books were in pretty good nick. Though there was an adorable little section called "Distressed but still desirable" which featured slightly more... loved books, a few of which I do have my eye on.
The books I picked up in that one trip were:
Paul Coehlo - Veronika Decides to Die - £2.49
Susan Cain - Quiet - £2.49
Caitlin Moran - How To Be a Woman - £2.99
Jonathan Safran Foer - Everything is Illuminated - £2.99
Fyodor Dostoyevsky - The Brothers Karamazov - £9.99
Total Spent: £20.95
The last one, The Brothers Karamazov seems pricey but this particular one is an amazing edition created by the Folio Society and I fell in love with the beautiful cover. Although I couldn't find an exact price for this book other Folio editions go for upwards of £20, some for £40 and over! So whatever the price of this was it was a steal! I'm going to estimate the value at £30, which is the price I saw for books of a similar size and age.
I actually went on Amazon.co.uk and saw how much it would be to purchase all of these books brand new from there. The four smaller books came to £21.44, I paid £10.96 for them. Adding the price of the Folio book takes the brand new retail price to over £51.44 and as you can see above I paid just over twenty pounds! What a steal!
I'll definitely review these at some point. I've already ready the top two while I was away on holiday (on top of my summer reads from this post) so I have quite a bit of catching up to do in regards to book reviews!
Let me know if you've read any of these and what you thought of them!
An open letter to summer 2013:
Dear summer, hi,
HURRY THE HELL UP PLEASE!
Yours, Bella.
Dear summer, hi,
HURRY THE HELL UP PLEASE!
Yours, Bella.
If you're in the UK then you've probably experienced at least a little snow in the last week. It's getting on my nerves. It's definitely March isn't? I haven't had some sort of horrific memory lapse and now we're in winter again have I? Despite the depressing weather I haven't let it get me down and I'm still slowly stocking up for an amazing summer to come. I've decided I want to at least have a go at self tanning this year as opposed to staying my usual paley-pale self all year round, I'm starting gently though, minimizing the risk of cheesy wotsit legs.
These sunglasses are by John Galliano. I found them in TK MAXX for about £45 which I thought was pricey but really liked them, then a quick google search later I find out these babies are worth over £500! Not bad if I do say so myself! #bargainhunter.
I'm also using the summer as an excuse to add to my nail polish collection. I've bought Coral by Barry M and Lucky Lucky Lavender by OPI. Both gorgeous shades, though as it's reverted back to winter a little bit I may need to buy more AW polishes! What a shame right?
Are you still in the mood for summer? What have you been buying recently?
These sunglasses are by John Galliano. I found them in TK MAXX for about £45 which I thought was pricey but really liked them, then a quick google search later I find out these babies are worth over £500! Not bad if I do say so myself! #bargainhunter.
I'm also using the summer as an excuse to add to my nail polish collection. I've bought Coral by Barry M and Lucky Lucky Lavender by OPI. Both gorgeous shades, though as it's reverted back to winter a little bit I may need to buy more AW polishes! What a shame right?
Are you still in the mood for summer? What have you been buying recently?
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