Tuesday 20 May 2008

Happy birthday to me

So, you asked for book pictures. I have a confession to make. I went on a book-buying spree two weeks ago when I was sick. I went to one of the better used bookstores in Ottawa, The Book Bazaar. And I had a very large budget, for the first time in my life. I wanted to know what it was like to spend a fairly large amount of money on books, something I've always dreamed of. Then, there was the book exchange last weekend, where I found more than a few books to bring home. And finally, my birthday today. Back in early May I had a post for the new books I bought when Toby got his new job (we all got some books that day), that I couldn't decide would be for my birthday - they all ended up being saved for today! (I didn't add the photo here as it is on the earlier post.) So, as well as those books you already knew about, the following are the books that have arrived in our house this month. All in all, I think I have about an entire bookshelf of new-to-me books to read! I believe I qualify for Book Addict now.....Here they are:

1) Book Bazaar #1 pile (from bottom up):
The Tarot - Brian Innes
Larousse Encyclopedia of Astrology
The House of Dr Dee - Peter Ackroyd (1% challenge)
The Woman in Black - Susan Hill
Alive Together - Lisel Mueller (fairy-tale poetry)
Letters From Maine - May Sarton (poetry)
The Gift - Lewis Hyde
The Famished Road - Ben Okri (1% challenge)
The Sea, The Sea - Iris Murdoch (1% challenge)
Don't Look Back - Karin Fossum
The Kingless Land - Ed Greenwood
Fire Logic - Laurie J. Marks'
Wolf Moon - Charles de Lint
Tales of HOrror and the Supernatural, vol 2 - Arthur Machen
Memory and Dream - Charles de Lint


2) Book Bazaar #2 pile
Odd Thomas - Dean Koontz
The Sword of Maiden's Tears - Rosemary Edgehill
Red Moon and Black Mountain - Joy Chant
Ill Wind - Rachel Caine
The Unicorn Creed - Elizabeth Scarborough
Song of Sorcery - Elizabeth Scarborough
On Stranger Tides - Tim Powers
Summer King, Winter Fool - Lisa Goldstein
Black Oak, Winter Knight - Charles Grant
The Last Unicorn - Peter S. Beagle
The Folk of the Air - Peter S. Beagle
The Red Magician - Lisa Goldstein
Cat's Eye - Margaret Atwood


3) Odds and Ends picked up over the last month (mostly second-hand stores)
The Raven Ring - Patricia C. Wrede
Oxford Proof - Veronica Stallwood
A Poultice for a Healer - Caroline Roe
The Summer Tree - Guy Gavriel Kay
So Long, and Thanks for all the Fish - Douglas Adams
The Goose Girl - Shannon Hale
Sister Light, Sister Dark - Jane Yolen
The Thirteenth Tale - Diane Setterfield
Fool Moon (#2 Harry Dresden series) - Jim Butcher
The Trouble with Magic - Madeline Alt
The Optimist's Daughter - Eudora Welty
Mrs Stevens Hears the Mermaids Singing - May Sarton (novel)
Mistletoe Man - Susan Wittig Albert
Skin Tight - Carl Hiassen
Kindergarten - P.S Rushforth *** I have been looking for this one for years!!
Possession - A.S. Byatt (1% challenge)

4) Book exchange at my friend's fundraiser:
Sharkwater - Rob Stewart
Random Passage - Bernice Morgan (2nd Canadian Book Challenge this July)
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister - Gregory Maguire
Tainted Blood - Arnaldur Indridason
On Beauty - Zadie Smith (1% challenge)
A Breach of Promise (Anne Perry)
Cold is the Grave - Peter Robinson
Dragonflight - Anne McCaffrey

The last two pictures are of one of my birthday presents, that is already a prize possession. DA is Connie Willis' newest science fiction book. It is published by Subterranean Press, whom Carl at Stainless Steel Droppings mentioned in one of his posts mentioned during his recent Book Week ; DA is published by Subterranean. What I didn't know was, the copy I was ordering through my favourite independent bookstore, Collected Works, was going to be in hardcover. And when I opened up the book, imagine my delight - awe - the magical moment when I realized I was holding a signed copy by the author! A limited edition! I'm still kind of in awe - not that it is signed, but that it is signed and a limited edition! By one of my favourite authors! So this is one of the best presents of this birthday today. The others I will mention tomorrow, but for now I have to go get some beauty sleep, so I hope you enjoyed looking at all my treasures. I have felt slightly guilty at buying so many at once - mostly because to be able to buy books in anything more than 2 at a time, is a luxury still, even though we can afford it, I try to be reasonable. For once, I threw caution to the winds this month, and you know what? I was so happy coming out of Book Bazaar with my load of books! Many are ones I've read but lost over the years so I am replacing, and some are ones I've been looking for a long time. It's a once in a year kind of shopping trip, I think, and it was sooo fun!!



The very best thing about my birthday? My daughter told everyone at her daycare and class it was my birthday, and made her daycare teacher make a card, so Holly-Anne could write her name on the inside and give it to me! That, and the DA book, of course!!

16 comments:

chrisa511 said...

Happy happy happy happy birthday!! Hope you had a great one :) From the looks of all of those books (and I mean that's a lot of books!) it really was a great one! Love the de Lint and the Beagle and The Thirteenth Tale and all kinds of other ones...you really got some great books there! I had no idea that Possession was such a chunkster!!! I signed up for that one too...oh well...one more chunkster to add to the list. They're so intimidating :/ Don't you love those Subterranean Press editions? Expensive, but well worth it!

DesLily said...

Happy (belated) Birthday!..

well.. now you need more bookshelves! lol You have some really good books there! I hope you enjoy them all!!!

Chrisbookarama said...

Whoa! That's a lot of books! Happy Birthday!

Bybee said...

As one bookworm Susan to another, I am deeply proud of you! Happy birthday...any leftover cake??

Anonymous said...

That is an excellent stash of books! Alive Together - Lisel Mueller (fairy-tale poetry) sounds particularly interesting, read it soon so I can read your review :) I hope you enjoy Peter S Bealge, Margaret Atwood, Zadie Smith and Charles de Lint who are all some of my favourite authors. Hope you had a great birthday.

Jeane said...

Happy birthday! What a great way to spend it- on books!

Becky said...

Happy Birthday!!! It looks like you'll be busy for quite a while :)

Eva said...

WOW! Happy (belated) birthdya, and those are some awesome book piles! Good for you for spoiling yourself. :)

Anonymous said...

Sorry I'm a day late coming in to say Happy Birthday but the feelings are still heart-felt.
I live the books piles, but where are you going to put them all? Still that's a minor worry and not something that any true reader would let bother her for a moment. I know what you mean about wanting to just want spend a lot of money on books. Did I ever tell you about the time the chap I was going out with asked me what I wanted for Christmas and I said lots of book tokens so I could just go and wander round Waterstones and spend. he bought me an electric toothbrush and that was the last Christmas we spent together!

Ana S. said...

It sounds like you had a great birthday! And yay for getting new books :) I'm reading The Famished Road soonish too, as it's on two of my challenge lists. There are several books on your piles that I loved: On Beauty, Possession, The Last Unicorn, The Goose Girl, and of course the Douglas Adams. I hope you enjoy them, and the others too. As always, I look forward to your reviews.

Patricia said...

Happy Birthday and you ARE nuts! Can you guys even find the tv anymore? Poor Toby! It was very sweet of Holly-Anne to make you a card (and force her teacher to help :)). I was thinking about you; I started the "new" job yesterday and between that and exhaustion and dealing with son....it's been a challenge. I won't reveal how young you are; let's just say it's a good thing you showed pictures of all your books and not candles on the cake! Ha ha ha, love sis xoxox

Emily Barton said...

Happy, happy birthday!! Here's a funny coincidence: last time I was up at my favorite independent bookstore in New England, I bought both Letters from Maine and Odd Thomas. And I just started reading Beagle's _I See By My Outfit_, which is a travelogue of a trip he and his friend took from NY to CA on motor scooters, and it's got me interested in wanting to read his other stuff like The Last Unicorn. I hope you enjoy _The Thirteenth Tale_. I loved, loved, loved that book! A lot of people didn't, because they thought she was too derivative of the classics (Brontes, etc), but I thought that was her whole point: knowing what readers of those sorts of books are like and having great fun with us.

TJ said...

Wow, Susan! You do know how to rake in the books! And so many wonderful reads here. The Sea, The Sea is one of my favorite Iris Murdoch's and I do love May Sarton and also Eudora Welty. It's hard to go wrong with Albert's China Bayles mysteries. You must have a very big house and lots of bookshelves if you get this many new-to-you books every month. Enjoy!
TJ ( tjacques.wordpress.com )

Susan said...

chris: thank you, thank you, thank you! I did have a great one, and the books helped! lol I knew Possession was a chunkster, and I've tried it once already, but am giving it another go (see how reluctant I was to admit that! so many people have loved it!) And I am loving the Subterranean Press edition....oh my, no one said they were so lovingly well-made and crafted!

deslily: yes, that is my master plan, to convince my husband shelves are needed!!! :-) in my dreams we can afford built-in shelves, but sadly the Universe is turning a blind eye to these dreams!

chris: thanks! And yes, it is a lot.....I'm still kind of awed that I bought them all!

bybee: (big smile) I have a home-made brownie (deep chocolate kind that is better than any other) would you like one? I made them myself for the party, and only a few are left.....and I'm overjoyed that you love my shopping spree!! :-)

rhinoa: I will read the Mueller shortly. It was reviewed on Endicott Studios, that was how i found out about her. They have a great list of mythic books, and fairy tale books, to get. I read the Last Unicorn a long time ago, so it's due for a reread (still can't find Tamsin House which is out of print now! wah!), and I think i missed the deLint - this is my year for catching up with him! I love his writing. I think you and I - and alot of our fellow bloggers - share the same tastes! which makes it more fun when we read, to see who else has read it too and what they thought. and i did have a happy birthday, thanks :-)

jeane: isn't it just, books and birthdays? I always think if a birthday or Christmas go by and there's no book for me, well, that was a waste of time!!!

becky: if I can get some new shelves, I will be happily reorganizing them so I can see what I have now!! and very busy reading, so many delights there to choose from! thanks!

eva: it was rare to buy that many at once - rare, once in a life time so far! but oh so much fun. :-)

table talk: I LOVE your story! I think we should all give it to our loved ones as a cautionary tale! Did I tell you broke up with one boyfriend because he complained when I bought a book to give my mother for her birthday? But I like yours because it's true and what we all feel, I think. Book tokens are the perfect gift, for us book lovers. thanks for sharing!

Nymeth: I feel like I opened a treasure box, and all these books were there! I haven't read any Zadie Smith yet, but see above for the Last Unicorn - I loved it many years ago, and I've been a Douglas Adams fan since the sci-fi conventions came out with the buttons "42" on them, which is the answer to What is the meaning of life? Oh, and I wore one of those buttons for years!!! :-) I'll let you know as i read them - I will get to the Goose Girl soon since everyone is reading Shannon Hale these days. (Please let me like it....)!

lady p: the same back at you! happy birthday - did the kids take you out? get you anything? did John's family do a dinner for you? and yes, we can still see the tv! ha ha...

emily: hmmm, wonder if we'll be reading the books around the same time too? I think Odd Thomas will be for RIP3 this year. What's the name of your favorite New England bookstore? and i haven't heard of that Peter S Beagle book! Oh no, my to-get list just moved to 4 pages long! better not let my husband see it....I'm really hoping I enjoy the Thirteenth Tale, since people either loved or hated it here....I'll let you know. If only the birthday fairy had given me time to read all these!!!

tj: oh no, this was a once a year shopping trip, or once in several years! I usually manage to get 4 or 5 books into the house per month. We don't have enough bookshelves as it is! I may just have to go over to Ikea and see what's new, or see if anyone has any shelves on sale! I love China Bayles, and I've never read Iris Murdoch, so fingers crossed I see what everyone raves about in her. I love May Sarton's journals, so I'm hoping this will cross-over to her creative writing too. thanks for coming by!

Thank you everyone!! I hope you enjoyed this vicarious experience of binge-book buying through my eyes! I loved it! Thanks for all your birthday wishes too.

Emily Barton said...

It's the River Run Bookstore in Portsmouth, NH -- great, friendly, knowledgeable staff with great recommendations. And they're very involved in their community.

John Mutford said...

Happy very belated birthday. You spree like nobody's business-- Great Job!