I got all excited on Friday I bought two books, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle and another adult book...LOL and then for Mother's day I got Sloppy Firsts, Beauty and a beautiful book bag that has two sayings on it, on one side it says "When I get a little money, I buy books; and if any is left, I buy food and clothes' and then on the other side of the bag it says "My Best Friend is a person who will give me a book I have not read."
I just love all my presents. :~)

Happy Mother's Day, Lisa! It sounds like you made out really good. I love the sayings on your book bag - too true!

It's funny you made this new thread because I was just thinking today (after book shopping) that we needed a "splurge" thread in here :)

My son and I spent a little time at Half Price Books this afternoon, and I'm really excited about the two YA books that I picked up...I got Redwall and The Amulet of Samarkand.

*Clears throat* Ahem... Some of you may know me from my TNBBC "Book Ban" days. Sheild your eyes, if so, because there may be flying debris from the shattering of the ban:

Recent Acquisitions:
Howl's Moving Castle
Maus I & II
Nocturnes (Adult)
A Thousand Splendid Suns (Adult)
Annie on My Mind
Love and Freindship (Adult)
Airman
Sold
Sabriel
Lirael
Abhorsen
Across the Wall: A Tale of the Abhorsen and Other Stories
The Amulet of Samarkand
Ptolemy's Gate

No, Becky! You were doing so good! Oh well, it seems you picked up some great books, anyhow. I'm trying to hold off until September, hopefully it works out for me.

I'm glad to see your eyesight is still intact, Alisha. :)

I know. I know! I didn't make it. But I gave it a good effort. No more for a while though... I think I have enough for a while. Like a week. ;)

Still a huge accomplishment, though. You lasted longer than anyone on the i-must-not-buy-anymore-books thread.

Nah, I think Emma was right there with me. She's probably still going! Go Emma! :)

Oh, right. I forgot about Emma. (How could I forget the main reason I picked up AGATB in the first place?! Shame on me!) Well, I'm sure I'll cave soon. I've only been abstaining for like a month and I already want to go to my local thrift store. But then I look at my bookshelves and feel guilty for even thinking it since all of my unread books are glaring at me.

I know the feeling... there is a book-swap store like 3 miles from me, and I want to go so bad!

*whistles airily pretending she didn't just order 13 new books online*

I blame this group actually. 12 of them are YA.

Nuh-uh you can't blame us!

I think the next YA I'll be splurging will probs be the rest of the Sabriel series.

As I mentioned over in the Harry Potter thread, I'm feeling a bit guilty over my recent purchase of the adult UK set. (I did hold back a bit and just got paperbacks, though.) I already have the American version, but I'm looking forward to rereading the series in its un-Americanized form - it was just a lot of money to be spending on books I sort of already own. At least my kids love the series, too, so maybe it's not so bad to have 2 sets.

Hehe we have two sets - one is mine (children's version) and the other is my mum's (adult version) both hardbacks!

Fiona wrote: "Hehe we have two sets - one is mine (children's version) and the other is my mum's (adult version) both hardbacks! "

Ooh! I feel a little bit better now! : )

I got 3 from charity shop and 8 from library:

Knife Edge - Robert Swindells (library)
Out of the Ashes - Michael Morpurgo (library)
Born to Run - Michael Morpurgo (library)
Escape from Shangri-La - Michael Morpurgo (library)
Kensuke's Kingdom - MIchael Morpurgo (library)
This Morning I Met A Whale - MIchael Morpurgo (library)
Anne of Green Gables - L.M. Montgomery (library)

The Book Thief - Markus Zusak (Keeper)

So glad I'm not the only one! I have the American editions of HP in hardcover (missing #3) and paperback (1-5), and the UK kid's version of Book 1 and the UK adult version of Book 6. I also have 2 shrink wrapped copies of the deluxe edition of HP6 to sell on eBay before the movie comes out.

The only other author I'm so crazy about is L.J. Smith. I have old editions, reprints, and UK editions.

I got Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve. Sounds really good and I've been looking at if for years, so finally bought it. I usually love books I do that with.

I'm on a book-buying-ban right now, so I've been going to the library about twice a week. Today I was just returning something but I had to go see if there was anything I might want to pick up and I ended up with Dreamquake and Wildwood Dancing. No willpower at all.

I just splurged at the library. I decided to catch up on some of my YA to-reads while I'm at the beach next week. I'll never get all these read in a week, but at least I have plenty to choose from! I got

The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson #2)
Sabriel
The Westing Game (a re-read)
Bridge to Terabithia (I somehow have never read this or seen the movie)
Graceling
Wildwood Dancing
I Am the Messenger
The Tale of Despereaux Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup and a Spool of Thread

JG--Bridge to Terabithia is amazing! Although I can't quite remember specifics, I remember reading that in the fifth grade and absolutely loving it.

oooo JG...Sabriel and Graceling!!!

Wow, JG, great haul! Bridge to Terabithia will be a very fast read, but so worth it. I read it many times while growing up. And The Sea of Monsters is awesome. I just finished The Battle of the Labyrinth and now I'm so psyched to read The Last Olympian, but it will have to wait.

And have fun at the beach!!

Thanks, Alexis! I'm excited to get started on them all.

I looked for Hunger Games, Allison, but it was checked out of both libraries I went to. :-( But I'm very happy with what I did find.

Well I'm using the Challenge as an excuse to buy the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix movie that was last released on DVD.. Going tonight to nab it even though I'm barely into the book. :) We own all the other ones.

I just got back from Barnes & Noble and I picked up:

Happiness Sold Separately by Lolly Winston (Adult)
Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin (Adult)
I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You by Ally Carter
The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins (Adult)
Austenland (Adult) and The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith (classified as Teen in B&N, but I have my doubts)

I was debating between The Summoning and Wicked Lovely, but I decided that I could just take out Wicked Lovely from the library and went with The Summoning. And Goose Girl I picked up solely because of everyone's reactions on here. So hopefully it lives up to the hype.

Alisha wrote: "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith (classified as Teen in B&N, but I have my doubts)"

REALLY?! I'm shocked, B&N! Clearly much has changed in the last year since I worked there. (I've kind of been avoiding the stores lately, even though I have a gift card and that's the exact book I want to buy.)

Looks like you got some great stuff, though!

oooo The Woman in White is one of my favorites!!

Alisha wrote: "And Goose Girl I picked up solely because of everyone's reactions on here. So hopefully it lives up to the hype. "

I hope it does, too. I hate when books don't live up to my expectations. I would say that if you enjoy fairy tale retellings, though, you will most likely enjoy The Goose Girl.

Alexis wrote: "Alisha wrote: "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith (classified as Teen in B&N, but I have my doubts)"

REALLY?! I'm shocked, B&N! Clearly much has changed in the l..."

Alexis, I was shocked, too. I had heard that it was a bit of an "adult" book, so to see it in the Teen section was rather surprising. I wasn't complaining, though, since YA paperbacks tend to be cheaper that adult paperbacks at B&N.

Allison wrote: "oooo The Woman in White is one of my favorites!!"

I'm glad you enjoyed it. I've been meaning to pick this up for ages and have heard nothing, but good things about it. That's the one I'm most looking forward to picking up.

Jamie wrote: "Alisha wrote: "And Goose Girl I picked up solely because of everyone's reactions on here. So hopefully it lives up to the hype. "

I hope it does, too. I hate when books don't live up to my expecta..."

The only fairy tale retelling I have read is Beastly by Alex Flinn (which I enjoyed immensely). I'm ashamed to say that I've never actually heard of/read the original The Goose Girl, so I'm also planning on picking this up.

Alisha - I hadn't read the original The Goose Girl prior to reading Hale's version. I read it this morning, though, and I'm happy I waited. Hale didn't follow the Grimm's story exactly, but I'm still glad that nothing was spoiled for me. If you're interested in reading the original, you can do so here: http://ia331311.us.archive.org/2/items/g...

So should I read the original or Hale's first? I own both and haven't read either one.

I would read Hale's first so that nothing is spoiled for you. She builds upon the story so much in the 400 pages of her book that you probably don't want the short Grimm story to give anything away.

Cool... thanks for the advice! I plan to start it right after I finish Speak.

I was bad - Borders had a deal where if you spent 50 dollars, you get a 10 dollar gift card, so I bought:

Magic Study
Poison Study
Red-Headed Stepchild

Kristen, let me know how Magic Study is. I read Poison Study and thought it was ok. Trying to decide if I want to read the rest of the series.

Will do, I'm going to reread Poison Study first because it's been a few years. I'll let you know when I read through both!

Today I went to the mall not planning on buying anything, but I just had that urge to buy a book. So I came out with A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

It was so nice out today that I decided to finally stop in Barnes & Noble for Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and indeed, it is in the Teen department! That means I can use it for the challenge!

I also picked up the two new books that came into the library for me, Playing With the Boys by Liz Tigelaar and To Say Nothing of the Dog (not YA) by Connie Willis. The first one sounds like the kind of teen sports movie I love. I hate watching sports events but I LOVE sports movies. (I forced myself to return two library books I don't think I'll get to reading anytime soon.)

Borders had a 40% off coupon for Memorial day so I picked up Wintergirls and A Northern Light. Then I hopped over to Half Priced Books and picked up Stargirl.

Plus I got two books for my daughters and one for the hubby.

Jamie wrote: I would read Hale's first so that nothing is spoiled for you. She builds upon the story so much in the 400 pages...

I finished Hale's version of The Goose Girl earlier today and really loved it. I just read the Grimms version and it was good. I enjoyed both but of course Hale's story was more in depth so I liked it better. It's one of my favorite books now.

I've gotten a few books, but my recent YA splurge was Esperanza Rising, which I blindly chose for the challenge.

I'm going to Borders tonight with that coupon.. I'm unsure of what I'll be buying though.

Would you like any help?

May I recommend anything by Diana Wynne Jones, Kevin Crossley-Holland, Lian Hearn...

Oh goodness, I can't wait until my next splurge (probably sometime after my birthday in June). Then I'll buy loads!!

First though, I need a new bookcase that's bigger..

Mmmm. I'm very wishy-washy about what I buy. I tend to stick to updating series I already own or whatnot. Hrm. Or I may indulge and get a random YA novel..

Yeah!

Actually, I think I'm just going to grab a copy of The Princess Bride.

I just bought Inkheart by Cornelia Funke. I can't wait to read it.

I ended up buying Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr instead (even though I've already read it...I want to read it again).

Hurrah for The Princess Bride. I love the book and I love the movie!

Anyways, I was feeling pretty depressed since the place I'm moving into is pretty much a dump, so I bought books as a part of a special therapy called retail. Here are the YAs I bought:

The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley
The Outlaws of Sherwood by Robin McKinley
A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak
Feather Boy by Nicky Singer
The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer
Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hern
Coraline by Neil Gaiman
How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
The Abhorsen Trilogy Box Set by Garth Nix
Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin