52) Chill - Elizabeth Bear (paperback, new)
Where? Hodges Figgis
Why?
Sequel to a book I read and enjoyed.
As an aside, the buyer for Hodges Figgis's Science Fiction section is an absolute god. There is so much there that I cannot find on shelf anywhere else in Ireland, including plenty of imports, and not just from the big six, small press stuff as well. It is sometimes hard not to buy all the things purely as a thank you for stocking them.
So pleased am I with the selection that I am trying not to make a big thing about the fact that they have two copies of Chill, which is the second book in Bear's Jacob Ladder series and no copies of the first or final book.
The Damage: €6.90
53) The Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller (hardback, new)
Where? Hodges Figgis
Why?
Heard about this on The Guardian Books Podcast (because I'm fancy) a few months ago. Sounded worth checking out.
It's a retelling of the Illiad.
I had a picture book full of (I suppose) Greek myths when I was a kid. All I remember of it was Achilles dragging Hector's corpse around behind his chariot, which I guess was rendered with suitable gore to have made such a lasting impression. Man I wish I could get my hands on that book again. I don't think books for kids these days are nearly as violent as they oughta be.
This was also available in trade paperback for about €5 less but I turned my nose up despite the price differential. Have I ranted about large format paperbacks already? Here's the shortened version.
They have all the awkwardness off a hardback, combined with the flimsy impermanence of a paperback. They are ridiculous and should not exist.
The Damage: €23.90 (I think, I've lost the receipt and it didn't have a sticker, it was definitely 23 something)
But, for the first time in my life I managed to fill a Hodges Figgis discount card without losing it first (they are specially designed to be too big for your wallet, and so get lost in handbags). So that's a €10 discount on all that.
54) Worldwired - Elizabeth Bear (used paperback)
Where? Chapters
Why?
Okay, so this is the final book in a trilogy. I bought the first book in my big Massachusetts binge, but have yet to read it.
But I've been eying this up in Chapters for months now and growing ever more paranoid that someone will steal this bargain away from me before I'm sure I want it. The precious.
And this is exactly the sort of weird compulsive behaviour that this blog is supposed to be helping me curb.
The Damage: €3.99
55) The Last Colony - John Scalzi (used paperback)
Where? Chapters
Why?
Third book in Scalzi's Old Man's War series which has been reliable popcorn scifi so far.
The Damage: €3.99
56) Sparrow - Mary Doria Russell
Where? Chapters
Why?
I was in the R section looking (somewhat optimistically) for The Unreal Life of Sergey Nabokov ,which I suspect I'm going to have to order online.
I'm not entirely sure where I heard of Sparrow, but it was on my to-read list, so I guess I musta had my reasons. Am I interested in space Jesuits? I suppose I'll find out.
The Damage: €7.99
Total Spend: €513.64
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Books Bought Jan15th 2012
51) Family Values - Wendy Cope (hardback, used)
Where? Chapters
Why? I have Cope's previous three collections in paperback, I had intended to wait until this was out in paperback too so it could sit nicely with them and by other Faber & Faber books in the poetry section. But that was taking ages, so I said, fuck it.
Looking upon my bookshelves now I regret this rash action.
The Damage: €8.99
Where? Chapters
Why? I have Cope's previous three collections in paperback, I had intended to wait until this was out in paperback too so it could sit nicely with them and by other Faber & Faber books in the poetry section. But that was taking ages, so I said, fuck it.
Looking upon my bookshelves now I regret this rash action.
The Damage: €8.99
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Books Bought Jan 8th (cntd)
50) Bad Science - Ben Goldacre
Where? Oxfam Books
Why?
This is the classic example of a book I don't need to buy. The sort I started this blog to discourage myself from buying.
No disrespect to Goldacre, I see him on youtube, I sometimes read his column, I glance at his website, I agree with him. He's right about things. That's just it, I don't need to be reading his book. I already know what he's about and I'm on board. My scientific knowledge isn't stellar, but I have leaving cert physics and moreover I took two courses in the philosophy of science in college, so I can correctly identify the scientific method and identify junk science well enough for lay purposes. I do not need to read this book. I certainly don't need to own it.
So why did I buy it? Boredom and naked consumerism? Bad Kate.
At least it's a charity shop.
The Damage: €5
Total Spend: €467.88
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Books Bought Jan 8th
48) Empire State - Adam Christopher - epub
Where? Angry Robot Books
Why? I continue to read ebooks on my laptop like some sort of dinosaure. Angry Robot Books ticks all the lovely DRM free, region free boxes, accepts paypal, generally offers a seamless purchasing expereance, and seems to be generating a little bit of buzz about it.
As does Empire State itself, it's my book club's unofficial alt pick for this month, so though I already have enough reading material to get me to at least March I've gotten my credit card out again.
It's stuff I need.
The Damage: €5.60
Monday, January 2, 2012
Books Bought in Massachusetts Dec 2011
I almost called this post Books Bought in Boston, but looking over the list again I realized that only one of the books had actually been bought in the city of Boston. Since the Boarders closed down there are no major bookstores in Boston's Downtown crossing area where I usually do most of my post Christmas shopping. Barnes & Noble's store there closed back in 2006. This is especially hard on my dad, who prefers to hang out in bookshops while the ladies in the family hunted bargains at Maceys.
Both properties are currently vacant, as is the massive building formerly occupied by Filenes Basement. The record store Fye's is having a closing down sale. Fye's actually replaced an (I think) independent record store Stawberries, where I got the only music recommendation I have ever got in a record store from a clerk who, seeing I was buying a stack of Ani Difranco cds, said I should check out Dar Williams. Good advice that.
Anyway, all this to say that Downtown Crossing has become grim and depressing, so I mostly hung out in Cambridge and consented to being driven to malls this year.
40) Mystery of Grace - Charles De Lint (new, pb)
42) The Sea thy Mistress - Elizabeth Bear (new, pb)
Where? Barnes & Nobel, Middlesex Turnpike, Burlington, MA
The location of this shop epitomises the thing about America I loath the most, namely that it so often a country for cars, not people. On one side of the Middlesex Turnpike is the Burlington Mall, which is quite a good mall, my mum and my sister are always keen to visit it, on the other side in a nice big B&N. There is no possible way to walk from one to the other. No overpass, no underpass, not even a piddling cross walk. There isn't even a reasonable way to take you life into your own hands and just peg it across the road.
So after two hours of shopping in the mall I got my dad to drive me over, he napped in the car for an hour and a half and then we drove back to the mall to pick up my mum and sister. This is stupid.
Why? I felt like I'd heard of De Lint before but couldn't remember anything specific, so this was more or less a whim.
Not only have I already read The Bone Key before, I already own a copy. But the new edition has a new intro plus story notes (I love story notes) and beautiful new cover art. Also, I got the first edition second hand, which is no good to Monette, and I love her so, money meet mouth.
My mission to own all of Elizabeth Bears books continues. Mistress is the third book in the Edda of the Burdens series. I'm missing the 2nd books, one of the things I've learned about shopping for series in meatspace is that shops will not stock them in order. Buy when you see them. Put them together later.
The Damage: €29.53
Where? The Harvard Bookstore
Which is an absolutely lovely shop, just stuffed full of books enough to be cozy without being cramped. Good selection of used books in the basement.
Why?
This is a twofer, after loving Under the Poppy I'm keen to read more of Koja's stuff, this also falls into my plan to read more horror.
The Damage: €5.80
44) Hammered - Elizabeth Bear (new, pb, signed)
45) Dust - Elizabeth Bear (new, pb)
46) By the Mountain Bound - Elizabeth Bear (new, pb, signed)
47) Among Others - Jo Walton (new, hb)
Where? Pandemonium Books & Games, Cambridge, MA
This is an absolutely lovely small shop just of Mass ave, very close to central station on the red line. When I was in there was a guy explaining to a group of people at a table in the middle of the shop how to play a card game, a little kid rooting through a box of cards, and on old man buying about $100 worth of vampire books to be shipped to California talking the clerks ear off about Anne Rice.
Why? Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette did a signing here in November, so I figured it would be a good place to fill in some of the gaps in my collection. I had to restrain myself from buying everything she's ever written, repeating "you can only bring home 23kg" over and over.
The Walton book was a bit of a fuck up, since it's out in paperback, this is what happens wen I'm in a shop without wifi.
The Damage: €38.60
48) Enter, Night - Michael Rowe (pb, new)
Where? Barnes & Nobel, Prudential Centre, Boston, MA
Why?
Stopped in here with my dad on the way back from the MFA. I don't know much about Michael Rowe, other than that he's a gay horror and non-fiction writer and I caught a good video of him and Gemma Files talking about queer horror. Twilight notwithstanding, I like vampire books.
The Damage: €13.11
Total Spend in Massachusetts: €87.04
Total Spend: €457.28
Books Bought Dec 23rd
39) Kick-Ass - Mark Millar (pb, new)
Where? Hodges Figgis
Why?
I was picking up some last minute gifts and thew this in for myself so that I'd have something lightweight to flip through while I was home for the holidays.
The Damage: €16.35
Books Bought Dec 18th
37) Gender Outlaw - Kate Bornstein (pb used)
Where? Oxfam Books
Why?
Oh gender. Gender gender gender. Most of the half arsed reading I've done on this area has come from second wave femisim and doesn't really address transgendered issues at all and the framework I tend to come at it from is somewhat simplistic. More reading required.
The Damage: €4
Total Spend: €370.24
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