New Purchases - 2016

[Janice, Moderator]

It's been on my radar for a while, so I had to jump on it when it became available.

[Lisa]

I picked up The Rainbow


I also bought two books for my kindle:

The Tidal Zone

WARWICK - The Man Behind The Wars of the Roses

[Gavin]

Ordered Three Complete Novels: The Servants of Twilight / Darkfall / Phantoms. It's on the way.

[Tasha]

My son is really interested in that Broadway hit Alexander Hamilton and he wanted to read the book Alexander Hamilton. I got it for him but he hasn't read it yet so I asked him if he wanted to do a read of it together and he said yes so I bought myself a copy too. I didn't realize until today that it's 800+ pages!! He is not a reader so this will be interesting! He is 14 btw...

Some good purchases out there guys! I LOVED The Orenda and Fortune's Rocks.

[Travis]

Alexander Hamilton is the 2016 book of the year. Or most read book of the year. I was surprised it was so old until I learned of the musical driving sales. 2012 with the book of the year being 50 shades of gray is the embarrassment to our culture I think. Saw a list going back to like 1930 of each years mosr popular book

[Cherie]

Tasha wrote: "My son is really interested in that Broadway hit Alexander Hamilton and he wanted to read the book Alexander Hamilton. I got it for him but he hasn't read it yet so I asked him if he w..."

When I see the name, Alexander Hamilton, the book that always comes to my mind is Burr.

[Renee]

I struggled through Burr. It has made me hesitate on the Hamilton book. I am still hoping to magically get tickets for the play. A girl can dream can't she?

[Tasha]

We want to see it too!

[Cherie]

Funny, Renee but I don't really remembering having to struggle through Burr. I just remember being so astonished at all the things that happened. It was my first Gore Vidal book. I just know that I never looked at Alexander Hamilton the same way again. There are so many new books being written about our famous forefathers. I have many in my TBR list. Those 800 pagers is a lot to wade through though.

[Sarah]

Just catching up here - I had no idea there was a Shannara show! I'll have to have a look for it.

[Rusalka, Moderator]

Who's Alexander Hamilton, in 10 words or less?

I tried to read the blurb and I just got "founding father (blergh) who will live through the ages for being amazing at stuff"

[Renee]

Hamilton was George Washington's chief of Staff. His role as founding father was mainly economic. He was our first Secretary of the Treasury. He is most remembered for being killed in a duel with Aaron Burr.

He is now the subject of one of the highest grossing Broadway musicals in years.

Sorry, I have never been able to keep things short. My teacher always knew who was talking

[Rusalka, Moderator]

Thanks Renee. The "10 words" did not need to be taken literally ;)

I knew about the musical but had no idea who the actual person was. Clears things up for the non-US crowd beautifully!

[Kimberly]

I used my credit at the used bookstore and got these:

[Janice, Moderator]

Interesting titles, Kimberly!

[Sarah]

Just bought Ghostwritten. It was only 99p.

[Janice, Moderator]

Sarah wrote: "Just bought Ghostwritten. It was only 99p."

It's full price here, so I've added it to my wishlist for now.

[Janice, Moderator]

I picked up a couple of books from iBooks this morning:


The Rosie Project $4.99
Pretty Girls $2.99

Prices are the same on Amazon's Daily Kindle Deal.

I also grabbed The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender from Audible's sale of Cassandra Campbell's books - $4.99

[Lisa]

I bought And I Darken . I am not the biggest fan of YA novels but this is getting very good reviews and is meant to be a feminist take on Vlad the Impaler.

[Janice, Moderator]

It sounds interesting Lisa. I've added it to my wishlist, so will be interested in your comments once you finish.

[Lisa]

Janice wrote: "It sounds interesting Lisa. I've added it to my wishlist, so will be interested in your comments once you finish."

I will let you know, Janice. I am planning on reading it soon. In fact, I might even start it once I finish my current book.

[Mariab]

Lisa wrote: "I bought And I Darken . I am not the biggest fan of YA novels but this is getting very good reviews and is meant to be a feminist take on Vlad the I..."
I would be interested too...

[Cherie]

Powell's Books is so awesome! I went last night and picked up several books that I have been trying to locate for my Geo challenge. I bought:

The Bone People
The Mask Carver's Son
Destination Unknown
The Garden of Evening Mists and

The First, The Second, and The Third of William Shakespear's Star Wars books (which don't want to come up) by Ian Doescher

[Tejas Janet]

LOVE Powell's!! Some good finds, Cherie : )

My most recent acquisitions include Angelica Lost and Found

Horses Like Lightning: A Story of Passage Through the Himalayas

and
Alicia en el País de las Maravillas

[Janice, Moderator]

Audible has a sale... what can I say? 4 credits earn $10 coupon


Lover Unleashed
Epitaph
Lover Reborn
The Book of Human Skin

[Mariab]

Tejas Janet wrote: "LOVE Powell's!! Some good finds, Cherie : )

My most recent acquisitions include
Alicia en el País de las Maravillas by Lewis Carroll ..."

Are you reading it in spanish TJ?

[Tejas Janet]

Yes, Mariab. I'm trying to improve my Spanish. One way is by reading books that i know and love, like Alice in Wonderland. Songs are another way i'm working on this. Learning songs in Spanish that i know and love in English. Also learning songs in Spanish that are new to me.

[Cherie]

That is awesome, TJ!

[Mariab]

Tejas Janet wrote: "Yes, Mariab. I'm trying to improve my Spanish. One way is by reading books that i know and love, like Alice in Wonderland. Songs are another way i'm working on this. Learning songs in Spanish that ..."

Wonderful way to improve any Language, reading!

[Lisa]

One more for my collection:

Balthazar Jones and the Tower of London Zoo

[Lisa]

I picked up a couple of kindle books that I am planning on reading for the geocaching challenge:

The Heretic Queen

Like Water for Chocolate

[Janice, Moderator]

I need an intervention. I'm buying faster than I'm reading... but they're always on sale and I can't resist!


The Rook - was a Kindle Daily Deal recently
Tesser: A Dragon Among Us - todays Audible Daily Deal

[Cherie]

The only intervention I know is to unsubscribe from the Daily Deal notices, Janice.

It is hard to do, I know.

[Janice, Moderator]

Yeah, I know. :(

[Sarah]

I stopped getting notifications by email for deals. I have a wishlist on amazon which i check (ahem, daily) and i sort it in price order, low to high. That way i see if any of the books that i actually want have been reduced or not, and buy them if so. That way I'm only buying books on my wishlist rather than any old thing.

[Janice, Moderator]

That's a great idea, Sarah! I noticed that The Girls is on Kindle Daily Deal for $4.99. I almost got it since it's on my wishlist, but I don't want to spend $5 on it. Cheap!

Cherie, you'd be proud of me. There's a lot of 91 mystery books on Bidding Wars (Facebook) with a starting bid of $25. Nobody has bid on it. I played around with the idea that I could take the books I want and resell the ones I've read. But then I looked at the close-up pictures of the books and decided to not put in a bid.

[Roz]

You're not so cheap, Janice. I have a $2 limit for my kindle books. When I started I used to pay $9.99. Crazy!

[Mariab]

Janice wrote: "That's a great idea, Sarah! I noticed that The Girls is on Kindle Daily Deal for $4.99. I almost got it since it's on my wishlist, but I don't want to spend $5 on it. Cheap!

Cherie..."

Sarah wrote: "I stopped getting notifications by email for deals. I have a wishlist on amazon which i check (ahem, daily) and i sort it in price order, low to high. That way i see if any of the books that i actu..."

BUT... what the eye sees is what the heart wants...!

[Peggy]

Roz wrote: "You're not so cheap, Janice. I have a $2 limit for my kindle books. When I started I used to pay $9.99. Crazy!"

Same here! 2.99 I think I have as a limit. I would pay up to $5 if I'm almost sure I will love it or have been waiting for that particular book forever, but generally no more than $2 or 3 for ebooks. And out of self-protection, I scan the books in the daily emails for titles that I recognize, and don't read every book description.

My most recent purchase was Purple Hibiscus for myself and the Dutch translation of If I Stay for my sister.

[Roz]

I have Purple Hibiscus chosen for Nigeria in the geochallenge. I can borrow the ebook from my library. That way if I don't like it there's no expense.

[Peggy]

I bought it as a real book. I really want to read it and am pretty sure I will enjoy it a lot.

[Lisa]

I think I'm the one needing an intervention now. I just bought another book that I could not resist:

Skin

[Trudy]

I have the same weakness in the thrift shops as those of you who find such great kindle deals! The prices are too low to ignore. So much for thinking that joining this group would help me shorten my TBR list, now I "need" to build up my book inventory in anticipation of all of the creative group challenges. :)

Today was a very good day, with 13 books I couldn't refuse:
Columbine - reviews tend to agree that this is a very balanced portrayal of the Columbine school shooting
Freedom from Fear - by Aung San Suu Kyi, human rights activist
Muse - 14th century Avignon, story of girl raised by the Benedictines who believe she is clairvoyant
The Beauty of Humanity Movement - I enjoyed Sweetness in the Belly by Camilla Gibb, this book is set in present day Vietnam
A Man Called Moses - non-fiction, Moses was one of the first blacks to arrive in British Columbia (local history for me)
A Measure of Light - historical novel (1630s) based on life of English Puritan Mary Dyer
Straight Man - if I had this a week ago, I could have used it this for this month's themed read, a book that makes you smile
A Confederacy of Dunces - Pulitzer Prize winner, described as "an Ameeican comic masterpiece"
A Reliable Wife - 1890s Wisconsin, mail order bride with an agenda
The Polish Officer - espionage thriller, 1939 Warsaw
Secondhand Smoke - life in New Orleans with an infuriating lovable antiheroine
Dreamers of the Day - novel set in 1921 Egypt
The Solitude of Prime Numbers - winner of Italy's Premio Strega award

[Janice, Moderator]

That's quite the haul, TrudyAn!

[Sandra, Moderator]

13 is bad luck, TrudyAnn. You need to buy 1 more before de end of the day. ;)

[Trudy]

Yikes, I didn't think of that! Can I count the Lilac Girls, which I asked the local used book store to bring in from their other location in the neighbouring town? Ordered today, though not yet in hand. I think I'm covered. :)

[Sandra, Moderator]

Ok, works for me. Next time buy 15 or 16 just to be safe. :)

[Rusalka, Moderator]

Sandra wrote: "Ok, works for me. Next time buy 15 or 16 just to be safe. :)"

*snort*

[Sandra, Moderator]

Rusalka wrote: "Sandra wrote: "Ok, works for me. Next time buy 15 or 16 just to be safe. :)"

*snort*"

I love to give good advice to those in need of one. :D

[Rusalka, Moderator]

Indeed. I am now referring to you in my head as "the Great Enabler"