Goodreads Ireland discussion
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Recently bought (acquired) books!
Allan wrote: "Uh oh, spaghettios... :-/ !! Your poor grandkids, never mind your son's house! Tell him you know a good painter if he needs any decorating done as a result of your understandable outburst. It ju..."
Hmm, I didn't know people of your religious persuasion (an adlib of a line from The Dead) genuflected - and Susan, I am not clear what sin Allan committed. Can buying a book be considered a sin?
I'm with Susan on this. My Dad used to do this year after year buying books days or weeks before Christmas knowing we'd bought books. One year he bought books on Christmas Eve . Between us we'd gotten him 6 books and he went and bought 4 of them. Its painful. Nothing is worse than putting thought into a present only for the person to buy it themselves first. Terrible. I feel for you Susan. Bold boy Allan .Santa has a list
Barbara, Allan had mentioned several books he wanted so when you buy yourself things, people could have bought them for presents. For instance, in Allan's case, someone was buying him an Autographed copy of Nora Webster when he happily went out and bought his own copy. Then he waltzs out, on your recommendation might I add, and buys 6 more books which at least two people had bought him. People should never ever buy themselves presents before Christmas. It destroys the gift giving concept. The sin wasn't buying the book, it was the timing.I feel for you, Paul. That was horrible, Paul. I shudder thinking about it.
Thats why myself and Trelawn always draw a line . It stops the heartache. My Dad behaves these days. Mostly.
Well technically it was half barbara's fault for tempting him with audible deals.....tut tut tut. You enabler Barbara :)
I know this is a tongue in cheek conversation, but in my defence I've only actually bought one physical book, so if anyone has purchased one of the audio titles I purchased yesterday for me as a SS gift, I'll be delighted-I have plenty of audio titles in physical form as well, particularly my favourites. I'll be sure to keep all the audio titles I've recently bought unlistened to, so that I can read the title instead after Christmas eve. Given that I didn't post a wishlist, someone has a very good grasp of my tastes! :)And as for my Audible buying frenzy, don't blame Barbara, as I'd have seen the deals myself-blame the Black Friday frenzy, along with my addiction to books-I've gotta feed the monkey! :)
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Susan- your explanation helped as I didn't know the extent of Allan's guilt.Seraphina - thank you for understanding me sharing the Audible deal. I have yet to act on it as I am hoping for a $10 reward from Audible for buying 4 books in November.
Also, Audible does allow you to "return" books for various reasons. However, I, for one, do buy both the audiobook and ebook sometimes when getting both for $3.98 - who could turn that down? It's cheaper than the Audible sales.
I am avoiding books on my GR list though it is tempting to go ahead and buy one or two. As though I don't have enough books on my shelves that I am dying to read. Books and yarn - I just keep acquiring more and more..
We're all helpless addicts from the looks of it.
I know that we're not buying books or anything, but this Kindle novella came to my attention via a tweet by Lucy Caldwell, and might interest the likes of Barbara. It's a debut by Michael Nolan called The Blame. I've also included the Amazon link below.http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00JN...
Do I even need to explain why I posted that last post in this thread btw? Well, I didn't buy a paper today so...
Allan wrote: "Do I even need to explain why I posted that last post in this thread btw? Well, I didn't buy a paper today so..."Well in the wrong discussion or not, I just bought it:)
In addition to The Blame, above, I bought Book Lust To Go: Recommended Reading for Travelers, Vagabonds, and Dreamers by Nancy Pearl, a remainder. I bought the following kindle deals : The Martian, A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor, The Given Day by Dennis Lehane, and The Leaving of Things. At least the ebooks won't fill my shelves.
So I'm back working in a bookshop for Christmas and decided to take advantage of my staff discount while I have it.I picked up,
Nora Webster
Us
Belfast Noir
Strumpet City
and
Carmilla
Now Kevin-what have you (and I) been told-about buying books before the Secret Santa presents have been opened!
I made sure none of these are on my SS wishlist so I'm covered! What you did was sacrilege Allan so stop trying to spread the blame on me haha :P
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Lolita is a strange read, Heather. Its always interesting to see peoples' reactions to that book.
Have another wee look at your wishlist Kevin, and start sweating...
I've decided I'm gonna gift my strumpet city to a lucky friend since I severely overlooked my wants. Oh god. I'm sorry Allan, I will bear the cross with you after all. :)
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A GRI favourite as well! At least my alleged infractions didn't involve buying books off an 8 book Christmas wishlist! ;)
I will think again the next time I consider second guessing your wisdom oh mighty Allan. :) There was a special Christmas event at the shop this evening with free mulled wine, mince pies and 20% off all books. A lady bought 1500 euro worth of books... it made me feel better about spending money on books anyway!
I just received two books in the mail--Sea Room: An Island Life in the Hebrides and The Stories We Live By: Personal Myths and the Making of the Self. I'm considering using them for a course I teach, so I figured that didn't count :)
OMG, 1500 Euros. That's my kind of shopper. I love she is giving that many books. Kevin, the thing about Allan is he is a lovely Irish charmer so you just have to love him.
I am feeling overwhelmed with my reading again. I have two books to read for my in person book club, neither of which I am looking forward to- The Bookseller of Kabul and Rebecca's Tale. I am also reviewing Nick Hornby's new one. All I want to do is read The Christmas Club and The Queene's Christmas. How does everyone else manage their reading obligations with what they want to read?
Susan, I manage my reading obligations by not taking on any reading obligations-reading for me is all about pleasure! I think I might reread The Christmas Club myself over the next couple of weeks-I haven't read it in a couple of years.
Allan, what happened to your in person book club? I know they started with your selection. What's happened since?Emma, our in person book club picks 6 months in advance and we do two a month- one fiction and one nonfiction. My problem is if I read it too far in advance and I can't remember it. I try to read them that month to keep them somewhat fresh. You're so lucky never having a book you hated. I have some hippy dippy ladies who like to read spiritual quest books that often make me poke my eye out. On the other hand, we read Rebecca last month and I was astounded that a number of people violently disliked it. I guess it's different strokes for different folks.
I think you should spend the month of December reading books you want to read instead of books forced upon you by the book club. I'm sure they won't kick you out for not participating in one months reads Susan.
Cathleen wrote: "I just received two books in the mail--Sea Room: An Island Life in the Hebrides and The Stories We Live By: Personal Myths and the Making of the Self. I'm considering..."Cathleen - I have Sea Room on my shelves - a buy in Scotland years ago that I have yet to read!
This weekend my local independent bookstore has it's 20% off sale. If I shop it will be mostly for me. I did order 2 copies of MIchael Longley's newest volume from Wake Forest Press as Christmas gifts.
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Haven't noticed any independent book sellers near me, closest thing is Dubary (Dubray?!) Books but they are charging even more than Easons so it's just a no for me.
Set myself a new rule also - all books I want to just read I will either seek from the library or buy on my kindle. Books I want to own and read more than once I will purchase only in hardback. Cuts down on willy nilly spending on paperbacks.
I've never joined a real life book group for that reason, I don't think I could handle reading copious amounts of books I can't stand.
Heather wrote: "€1500 on books...o.O most I've ever spent was €250 on myself with money I received for my 21st and I felt like a millionaire that day!! Wonder if they are for others, charity or herself?! Haven't..."
Book groups do choose books you wouldn't. Sometimes I just skip the meeting - like the 2 self-published books we had to read by a member this year in one group. I read the ebook of the first and it was pretty bad. The second book I skipped all together. On the other hand, the advantage of an online group is that sometimes you see that people really liked a book you skipped, and you read it later.
Trelawn read The Miniturist earlier this year . Seems to be all over the media and awards the last while
She had mixed feelings on the story but she really enjoyed the writing style though
Hi Ian, I really enjoyed the premise and the story is very well told. You really get a feel for Amsterdam but I did have some issues with the ending. That said I wouldn't dissuade anyone from reading it. Let me know what you think of it.
Also nice to see everyone is behaving on the book buying front ;-)
Good luck with the assignments Ian. what are you studying?
IanieB wrote: "Just bought Stoner because you all seemed to love it. Here's hoping I will too. Also Jessie Burton's The Miniaturist because it has been everywhere lately. That's it though. No more shopping ...un..."Ianie, I read it last year as the monthly read here. I loved the writing; the story, I thought, was somber but brilliantly depicted.
That actually sounds like a tough career, best of luck with it Ian.
I worked as a care assistant for a few years before going on to nursing. It's a nice job Ian
It's important work, Ianie. Good luck with the course and Goodreads Ireland will keep you reading in the meantime :)
Ianie, my first career was in health care then later I switched to history so it can be done. We'll enjoy hearing how you get on.
I have (un)ashamedly been acquiring books again.When I heard Kent Haruf author of Plainsong died this week, I decided to get this book from Paperback Swap. The other books I requested from PBS arrived over the week : Charlotte Grey, Birdsong and Engleby all by Sebastian Faulks as well as Zapata by Steinbeck.
I also acquired Reading Don't Fix No Chevys: Literacy in the Lives of Young Men and The Latinization of U.S. Schools: Successful Teaching and Learning in Shifting Cultural Contexts for my professional library.
On Kindle I picked up The Blame by Michael Nolan and The Given Day by Dennis Lehane.
At the local bookstore sale I got Cross and Burn by Val McDermid, How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America by Kiese Laymon and Wayfaring Strangers: The Musical Voyage from Scotland and Ulster to Appalachia. I have a deep love and abiding interest in the music of Appalachia and that book will be for me under the Christmas tree from my sone:)
I almost forgot the Audible acquisition- The Human Stain by Phillip Roth.
Wow, too long of a list....
Wow . Your poor secret santa must be having palpatations at this point
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Paul wrote: "Wow . Your poor secret santa must be having palpatations at this point"Don't worry - none of my acquisitons were even hinted at on my secret santa list, and I carefully avoided books of Irish interest. Though the book on Appalachian music has a connection. Heather - I looked through the book and found it very comprehensive. My sister and musician friends lived in remote southwest Virgina years back and I came to appreciate that part of the U.S. It's not that accessible, but if you know musicians there are all kinds of people and places they know. I really like what is called "old time" music but am not a big fan of Bluegrass. The lines get fuzzy but Bluegrass seems to be faster and old time is closer to the original. But musical genres are tricky and slip and slide all over the place. Fiona Ritchie is a friend of the friends my sister lived with was back when.
I will add I am fascinated with musical influences that have traveled back and forth across the Atlantic.
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Your poor grandkids, never mind your son's house! Tell him you know a good painter if he needs any decorating done as a result of your understandable outburst. It just shows how in tune you are with me, Susan, but for the record, I am sorry, and it won't happen again...
Walks backwards out of the room geniflecting...:(