new books, second-hand books, how did you get books into your house this week?

So, this is how you can tell when a hardcore bibliophile is on the way to health again:  on my first day out after surgery (surgery was Mon 16, Friday the 20th my first day out), I ended up at a second-hand store looking for books.  Specifically science fiction books for the Damon Knight Grandmasters Challenge.  I didn't find any books for the challenge, but being completely in love with books, that didn't stop me from finding other books, including ones I can use to increase my reading totals in the Nebula and Hugo award catagories.  Here is what I found:

Sunshine - Robin McKinley (I owned a copy of this, gave it to a friend to read, and have decided it's found a home there and picked this one up.  One of my favourite vampire novels of all, I will be rereading this sooner or later!)
The Murder Stone - Charles Todd (My friend Lee in Dallas just read this and really liked it.  I have many in the other series by this author-duo)
The Time Machine - HG Wells (I've never read this!  Seen different movie versions, and thought, hey!  classic science fiction!)
The Dragon in the Sea - Frank Herbert (one of the disabilities of being a hardcore bibliophile is that everything looks interesting.  I love Dune, so why not try a book by him I've never heard of???)
Dhalgran -  Samuel R. Delaney (for the Nebula nomination reading.  Another classic to catch up with.)
Chasm City - Alistair Reynolds (a sequel to Revelation Space, which still eludes me. It was $1.50, so couldn't really go wrong here!)
December - Phil Rickman (not part of the Merrily Watkins series, a stand-alone horror novel by him.  I have to try it!)
Tales from the White Hart - Arthur C. Clarke (I have nothing by Clarke, who is on my Grandmaster reading list.  A collection of short stories sounds fun while I try to find some of his novels)
The Golden Key - Melanie Rawn, Jennifer Roberson, Kate Elliott (this book caused a big stir in the fantasy world when it came out.  It made the nomination list for the Nebula award, too.)

Except for Alistair Reynolds, all the books were 3/$1!!!!  So you wouldn't blame me, right?

Then, because it was January and a new month and I had a gift card to use, I bought these:
The Alien Shore - C.S. Friedman (classic sci-fi, not on any nomination list though)
Timescape - Gregory Benford (Nebula Award winner!  yaaay!  and it's a time travel book back to the 1960's.  Looks very fun)
Psychic Tarot - Nancy Antenucci with Melanie Howard (I have been studying the tarot again, and this book came up on several lists as a good new book with some insights on how we use our intuition while reading the cards)

And then, just because I wanted something science fiction to read from my favourite bookstore Collected Works, I found a copy of
- Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle (Nebula-nominated), which I then proceeded to read that weekend, and it is FABULOUS!!!  I will be writing a post on it tomorrow.  End of the world disaster novel that is so very good.

Wow, and there I was, convinced that my binge over the holidays was enough to stop me buying books for a month or so - or failing that, surgery would prevent me from buying them.  Not so!!!!! 

So far, Cath at Read-Warbler, Geraniumcat at Geraniumcat's Bookblog, and Chris at Stuff as Dreams are Made Of have confessed to bringing books into their house this past couple of weeks. I've linked you to their book posts.  Of course, as is our way here in book-blogging land, I've now added 5 book to my to-buy list because of their posts.  We do egg  each other on spread the joy about books so very well here!  How did you do, dear Gentle Reader?

Somewhere it is spring in the world:
By the way, Chris also has a fabulous post with pictures from his garden.  I am desperately craving some green - we've had freezing rain for a month now, which means everything is dangerously slippery, and grey, and the signs of spring are still months away for us.  Chris's post and pictures cheered me up tremendously.  He's even got broccoli growing now!!! 


Surgery update
Speaking of which, I've fallen already in the past week, slipping on some ice last Friday as I came home on my first outing.  I landed right on my knees, and for a moment couldn't believe the irony of falling right after surgery.  Luckily (though I didn't think so at the time) I landed right on my knee cap, rather than twisting my knee or leg at all, so I didn't do any damage to my tiny incisions.  For those who don't know, I had arthoscopic surgery on my knee, as I had torn cartilage in it last March in our last big snow storm.  Except when outside right now, I am able to move around very well, the pain deep in my knee is gone, and soon I won't be limping at all.  It was successful, and I can look forward to getting into my garden more easily this summer.  I am so relieved and thankful to have the surgery done.  Now if only the freezing rain would stop and it would snow.  Snow is much less dangerous to walk around in than ice.  I know of two other people who fell in the last week also.  We've had  freezing rain every week for the month of January.  Ice is everywhere. Personally, I am using this as my reason to stay indoors as much as possible and read!!

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!!