If I went to buy one book and came home with 5 others, would you hold it against me?

Sometimes, that's how I feel, after I've gone to a bookstore for one book, and came home with 5 other ones, partly because the bookstore didn't have the one I was looking for.  I did say to my husband that since Christmas was nearing, I would try to not buy as many books before then, or at least put them aside for my Christmas box.  He smiled at me and sighed.  "So I guess this was to make you feel better?" he said, holding out the new FourFourTwo English Premier League magazine  that I'd also picked up, just for him.  "Well, I did go in for you, you know," I fibbed.  Him and me, more like.

So I won't bother asking if going into a bookstore for one book and coming out with others has happened to you.   I expect this is a common condition we booklovers  suffer from.  What I am curious about is, how often does this happen?  And do you find you go out of your way to avoid bookstores sometimes, just so you won't give in to temptation? I have to confess that as I came out of the bookstore on Friday night,  I did momentarily wonder how I was going to avoid going into Chapters next week.  This particular bookstore is two floors of books, practically irresistible, and it's right there where I cross the street to catch my bus home every night.  Oh yes, I wage a battle almost every day on the way home: do I step across the threshold today, or do I resolutely cross the road instead?

So here are the five books that I couldn't resist in my disappointment that no, the bookstore still wasn't stocking Alexandra Sokoloff's The Unseen:

- A Writer's Book of Days - Judy Reeves (revised edition)

- The Secret History of Moscow - Ekaterina Sedia
- Ghost Road Blues - Jonathan Maberry
- The Keeper - Sarah Langan
- Hell House - Richard Matheson
- The Little Stranger - Sarah Waters

I did get The Little Stranger, which I am very pleased with and looking forward to reading very much, and found Hell House,  which I'd been wanting to read for a while.  Richard Matheson scares me. When I saw The Secret History of Moscow I was delighted, as it is in mass market finally, and I'd been waiting for a very long time it seemed to find it.

So the RIP V list grows!
All of these books (except the writing book) are being added to my RIP V challenge reading list.  Why oh why is this challenge only 2 months long??? So many good scary books to read!  I know I can read scary books any time of year, it's just that as the daylight shortens and nights grow longer, there is something thrilling about opening the pages of a scary novel that is irresistible to me.  This is the time of year for ghost stories, and zombies, and terror.  Books to keep the dark away, indeed.  The dark is right beside you...... The Keeper and Ghost Road Blues were either nominated or won the Bram Stoker Award, and as I am trying to keep up with what's the best in the fields I read, I snapped them up.  Both look very good and very, very scary, especially Ghost Road Blues. 

I've already read two!

Yes, indeed.   The Uninvited by Tim Wynne Jones.  Jones is a Canadian writer, so I fulfull a Canadian Challenge book as well as RIP V!!  And My Soul To Take, by Yrsa Sigurdardottir.

Reviews:
The Uninvited:  This is a YA adult novel, and very well written.  So much so that I cried at the ending.  The characters are really good, especially Cramer and Mimi.  Cramer's relationship with his mother, a failed artist, is the most gripping part of this book.  She is unstable, and how Cramer tries to live with her, and cope with her moods and emotions, make this book about more than just a coming of age teen gothic novel.  There are many gothic elements in this book, right from the family secrets to the interesting variety of families, to Mimi running away from someone only to find the same situation where she ends up.  The sense of being watched is a big thrill element in this book.  There is also a tiny cottage that is like a secret hideaway.  There is also some points made about creativity, and finding one's voice, and hints about artistic responsibility to art and to family, that I thought were interesting.  It was good to see teens interested and pursuing interests, in this book.   I enjoyed this one very much, even though some of the secondary characters were a bit stereotyped. The main drama was well-done, and I liked the characters.

My Soul To Take - Yrsa Sigurdardottir:  the second book in the Thora Gudmundsdottir mystery series, this one has a ghost so I'm counting it and it's gothic atmosphere as another entry in the RIP V challenge.  It was very surprising to me when I burst into tears at the end, but it was so sad:  the book opens with the locking in an underground room of a 4 year old, and all the way through the book I was wondering - who was she? what happened to her?  Her presence hovers over and through this mystery novel, and what finally happened to her - the sense of discovery, of revelation, is why I read mysteries.  A very satisfying mystery, and much darker than it first appears.  This mystery isn't quite as gripping as her first book Last Rituals, but it is haunting and filled with more family secrets, and the ghosts of more than one person.  Very eerie, and very good.  I am anxious to read the next one in the series, Ashes to Dust, when it comes out in softcover.

So how are you doing with reading for Carl's challenge?  Do you find yourself reading more ghost stories or mysteries in autumn?   Have you been tempted by other bloggers' lists to add books to your reading pile, and what books are they? 

Happy reading, everyone!  I hope you are reading a wonderful eerie ghost story during this weekend.

Sunday Salon - So have you read any of the books you said you would this year?

Bart at Bart's Bookshelf has a lovely post on his book-buying ban, here. It got me to thinking.......how many of you put a ban on your book buying for the first part of this year? And more importantly, because that ban was most likely put into place because your TBR Mountain of Books is likely as big as mine (over 100 books, like Bart's), have you succeeded in reading any books that were on your TBR mountain yet?

I am happy to say - YES! However, I have to modify this by adding: I didn't give myself a book-buying ban. I know myself well, and I walk past Chapters after work, on my way home through downtown, every night. There is no way I can resist the lure of shiny new books!!! So, I confess that actually, my TBR might have ..........increased since New Year's Day. However, in my defense, I did read some books that were on the mountain already! Here is my somewhat sad total, since I should be at 16 books read today, and I'm only at 10:

Books read since Jan 1
taken off the TBR pile:
The Serpent's Tale - Ariana Franklin
The Face in the Frost - John Bellairs
Fearless Fourteen - Janet Evanovich
Arctic Chill - Artur Indridason
Farthing - Jo Walton
currently reading : The Red Breast - Jo Nesbo

Books added to the TBR Mountain since Jan 1 (ie books bought.....)
Late Nights on Air - Elizabeth Hay
The Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett
Magic for Beginners - Kelly Link
Lethal Legacy - Linda Fairstein
Grave Goods - Ariana Franklin
A Cure For All Diseases - Reginald Hill

***this never made it onto the pile, I bought it and started reading it the next day.
The Godstalker Chronicles - PC Hodgell *****Counts as 2 books

That's a difference of 0 to my TBR Mountain! I'm really thrilled with that!! It could have been much higher.....but I am making a point of reading what is on my TBR Mountain this year, and letting myself read (and buy) whatever catches my fancy. No rules. Just reading. So if my TBR Mountain looks the same size next winter as it does now, at least the books formerly on it will have been read and replaced by new books to read! This I think is my ultimate goal this year.

So how are you doing with your reading resolutions? Since my goal is 100 books read, I'm falling behind and for March, is my goal to catch up. Luckily for me, Carl's annual spring challenge Once Upon a Time IV (Yaaay Spring! Hurray Carl's Challenge)!!! is going to start on March 21, and I have some books on my TBR mountain I've been saving just for this:
The Book of Lost Things - John Connolly
Little, Big - John Crowley
Magic for Beginners - Kelly Link
The Naming - Alison Croggon
The Sea of Trolls - Nancy Farmer
Cry Wolf - Patricia Briggs
Urban Shaman - C. E. Murphy
Greywalker - Kat Richardson

and, I also confess that Patricia Brigg's latest paperback in the Mercy Thompson series is finally out, Bone Crossed, which I will be buying. Very soon.

There, they say confession is good for the soul.

So, how is your TBR mountain?

Oh, and what started all this? I opened my email this morning to find one from Amazon.ca, saying that finally, The Coffin Trail was sent to me on Friday, and I can expect early this week in my mailbox! Since I bought it in December, it doesn't really count for the new year slow-down, and I plan on reading it as well as Bone-Crossed as soon as I get my hands on them, so they shouldn't make my TBR Mountain fall over. Yes, confession is good for the soul!

Happy Sunday reading, my Gentle Readers!!

MEDALS!!! and a random book question

Hurray, finally! Day 8, I woke up to Canada finally winning our first medals: 1 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze. *sigh*. Considering the lack of funding our athletes receive, it is always a miracle when we finish in the top 10 in the world, but nothing is sweeter than winning a medal. Congratulations to our winners!! All of Canada is heaving a great big sigh of relief.

In my own marathon, I am halfway through Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, and I am loving it. I have also bought some new books at the beginning of this month:

Changeling - Delia Sherman
In the Forest of Forgetting - Theodora Goss
Lonely Werewolf Girl - Martin Millar (when I bought this, the clerk said that one of the other clerks had just finished it and said this was amazing. Now I have to confess that I am looking at longingly and wondering, how long can I wait to read it? Should I bother keeping up with all the challenges? Why didn't I leave spaces on every challenge for new books through the year?)
Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie (for Man Booker Prize and Award Winners Challenges) - very curious about this book, and it looks interesting
Blood and Iron - Elizabeth Bear
The Dragon Quintet - ed Marvin Kaye (collection of dragon short stories, with Orson Scott Card, Michael Swanwick, Mercedes Lackey, Tanith Lee, and Elizabeth Moon contributing)

I also bought in July:
Tamsin - Peter S Beagle (eagle-eyed readers will have noted I snuck it onto the Awards Challenge so I can read it this year! I can't wait, after so many good reviews of it on other blogs! Nymeth,
and Chris come to mind. Please let me know if you have and I will add you here)
A Writer's Space - Eric Maisel (my writing has stalled completely. I'm desperate! New books on writing sometimes help, so I picked this one up - his book on creativity is enlightening - and I'm happy to say that I've had an idea - a scene - to add to my novel. Not that I've written it down yet, of course. It's simmering in my mind while I try to see where it fits in the plot. It's a very good start, though!)
Never End - Ake Edwardson (a long time ago in January I read my first book by this author and loved it, Sun and Shadows. So when I saw this in hardcover on sale, I grabbed it. Now it's finding a place for it on a challenge.)
Bones to Ashes - Kathy Reichs (her new one, getting reviews. Supposedly for my summertime mystery reading, but summer seems to be slipping away)

Random book question:
So, before I slip away to go see the men's 100 m final (our Donovan Bailey's record is about to fall, and he is graciously commenting on the race for our CBC news. He accepts someone is going to break the record, but, as he says, 'I'm not giving it to them, they are coming to take it from me.' I like that competitive edge!!), I have a random question: when you go into a bookstore, do you prefer to order your books if they are not on the shelf, or will you wait a while and see if they turn up? What I think I mean is, how long will you wait to buy a book you want to read? I'm asking because as I peruse our bookstores here in Ottawa, it seems to me that there is less stock available to choose from - our bookstores, even the box-store Chapters which has thousands of square feet of new books - there is little or no mid-list carried, and certainly, rarely, first books in a series. You always have to order them now, it seems. And that bothers me, because I don't always want to order it without having it to look at first. I really like being able to walk into a store, select a whole pile of books that look interesting, and then go to a quiet corner and sort through the pile, feeling their weight in my hand, the covers, the blurbs, opening page one and reading it to see if I am in the mood to buy it then, or put it back and wait because I want another book I am holding, more. That seems to me is part of the pleasure of book-buying, and by not having a wide variety of older published books and new books to choose from, we are losing out on some of pleasure of buying books. What do you think?

I am asking this because I have searched for years for a copy of Transformations by Anne Sexton, and it has not been in any new bookstores, not even Chapters, where I go to look at copies if they have it, decide which version I want, and then go order it! I want to look at the book first, and see how it feels in my hand and to my eye, before I buy it. That is part of the sensual pleasure of books. I love the texture and feel of books, and sometimes one company's publication won't feel as nice (to my eye or hand) as another's. So I want to choose which version I buy. So I am reduced to either haunting used bookstores, which I also very happily do! but haven't seen Transformations there either. This leaves me the library, which may have ancient out of print copies that I can't get, or Amazon, which of course I can only look at. What do you suggest, what do you do, when you are looking for a copy of an older book to buy and can't find any copies to look at? Of course, part of the pleasure of books is that one day, a copy will appear on a shelf, and it will be one that I love just because it is finally there.

Happy Saturday, happy Olympic Games watching, and happy reading, everyone!

Odds 'n Ends

We are 16 cm away from setting the all-time snow record for Ottawa!!! That's about 6 inches of snow, for my American readers. 6 inches!!! We had snow yesterday, which thankfully got washed away in the rain later, about an inch of white stuff fell. We're so close now.....just one little storm and all this snow, the piles of snow everywhere still, would be worth it!!

I went book shopping today - a tiny used bookstore near my work had a 'liquidation sale', which turns out they are offering 25% off their sale price to reduce stock only. It's a mostly French bookstore, but since it is close to big government building (my building is one of two others further down the road), there is a selection of English books. I found 4! April shopping begun:
Two Penguin classics -
-Njal's Saga (trans by Magnus Magnusson). I'm collecting these. I am fascinated by the Norse culture, in part because York in England where i lived was settled by the Vikings in 800 AD, after the Romans built a settlement there. York takes its name from Yorvik, the old Viking name for the town. Every year there are re-enactments of various battles in and around York, including a Viking battle. There is also a fascinating Viking museum set up under a street in center York, where a large - one of the largest finds in England - of Viking life was found. York is layers upon layers of cultures, one of many reasons I love it so much. So I'm reading Norse sagas partly to understand Norse culture (and its effect on the British Isles when they came), partly because Tolkien built his Elvish language and wrote his sagas based on the Norse myths, and because I love old adventure stories and history!
-The Mabinogion, the Welsh medieval prose stories. My family ancestry is Welsh (among other countries) and I want to learn more about Welsh culture and history and literature. I also love Celtic names and myths, and this is one of the original Welsh sources for these.
-E. Nesbit's The Enchanted Castle - I honestly believe I have not read a book by this acclaimed children's fantasy writer, and i've decided to change that! Plus, the book comes with illustrations, so my daughter will have pictures to look at while i read it to her.
- Last, but not least - China Mieville's Perdido Street Station. I've wanted this book for so long, but never came across the paperback, and lo! there it was! So it joins my pile of TBR books immediately. I am so excited, this was a real find, and the best thing (other than finding these books) is that none have cracked spines! They are in excellent shape!

*Sigh* now I'm going to read Inkheart and see how quickly I fall asleep. At least Emily agrees with me that this is not the great read everyone makes it out to be, so I'm not the only one. I'm disappointed - I'm halfway through, and I really want to like this book! i will blog about it when I'm done. I will also be doing a follow-up blog to my Men of Jane Austen vote, when the second part of Sense and Sensibility is over next Sunday. So it's not too late to go vote at my blog post Emma
and cast your vote for your favourite lead actor in a Jane Austen production. At last count, Colin Firth (Darcy) was edging Jeremy Northam (Knightly)......

I will also do a quick follow-up blog to my fairy tale, since I had such a great response to my question on what's your favourite fairy tale Thank you so much, everyone, for responding! And it's not too late for those who are still pondering....
But I'm too tired tonight. Happy reading, everyone!