Tuesday, August 7, 2007

I've Got Some Book Porn For Ya'

I could say Carl made me do it, but no one would believe that...Truth is, I got my rebate card from Cingular from when I bought my new phone and pretended that it was a gift card, not money that I had previously spent...so I went to bookcloseouts.com (those people should pay me a commission) and bought 9 new books.... That website is quite dangerous and here's the reason why: The 9 books that I bought cost me $43.41 (and that's after shipping)! Great deal right?! Yeah, it stops being such a great deal on your wallet when you buy from them once a month :p But I really do love that site and they do a great service to us readers. And if you spend $35 or more, there's a $5 off coupon...drop me an email and I'll give you the code.....So what did I buy? Here's the list:1. The Thief of Always by Clive Barker: This is one of the first "long books" I remember reading. I read this when I was 11 years old and I remember loving it, but lost my copy over the years and I haven't read it since then. I've been craving some Clive Barker lately and when I looked up his name on Bookcloseouts.com, I found this book and had to have it. Funny coincidence...I'm reading Darla's blog today and she's looking for young adult horror novels and Nymeth suggests this very book! Very strange that this book should come up in blog conversation today!

2. The Onion Girl by Charles de Lint: This one comes recommended by Carl through another book. He gave a wonderful review of de Lint's latest Newford book Widdershins which is sort of a sequel to The Onion Girl. I instantly scooped up Widdershins after reading his review and decided I'd read The Onion Girl first. So here it is!

3. The Watermelon King by Daniel Wallace: Here's another one that comes from an online review. This one was reviewed by Nymeth and her review instantly convinced me that I had to read this one. Wallace is the same author who wrote Big Fish (which I haven't read, but loved the movie) and from what I've heard, this one is even better.
4. Crossroads: Tales of the Southern Literary Fantastic: Here's another one recommended by Nymeth. Living in the south, I had to read this one. It's one of the most unique premises for a short story collection I've heard. Fantasy tales from the south. Very cool. There's one story that Nymeth described that sealed this one for me, here are her words:
"See My King All Dressed in Red" by James L. Cambias is set some 20 years in the future, at a time when the whole city of New Orleans has been flooded. In this sad tale, a couple returns to the flooded city for one last Mardi Grass, and one last goodbye to its traditions.

5. Tamsin by Peter S. Beagle: Ever since I read The Last Unicorn, I've been craving some more Peter Beagle. Last time I was at Barnes and Noble, this one popped out at me. It's from the young adult section and it's a ghost story.

6. Surrender by Sonya Hartnett: This book sounds amazing. I'm not sure where I first heard of it, but I needed to have it as soon as I read a synopsis and I hope to get to it soon. Love the cover of this one too!
7. Treason by Orson Scott Card: Basically it's just an Orson Scott Card book that I didn't have and hadn't read. He never disappoints.

8. Tree and Leaf by J.R.R. Tolkien: Fence gave a great review of this book for the Once Upon a Time Challenge and I had never heard of it before. It's been on my wishlist ever since and I found it for a great price on bookcloseouts!

9. The Stolen Child by Keith Donahue: Another one that I've been wanting to read for awhile with a strange cover that I've never seen. This one comes with a quote of high praise from Audrey Niffenegger on the back. That's a good sign!

So that's all!...and that's enough! Surrender, Tamsin, and The Thief of Always may become RIP reads if I get through the 16 books that I already have planned for the challenge (which is only 2 months long!) Anyone else acquire new books lately?

32 comments:

Bookfool said...

Neato. I've probably told you I had to give up Book Closeouts completely (well, almost completely - every now and then . . . ) because we were practically drowning in books, thanks to that nifty $5-off code and their already-terrific prices. It's a killer combination. How can you not lose control?

Jeff S. said...

Wow. What a nice haul. I haven't heard of that website. I will have to check it out. Please send me the $ 5 off to garakds9@hotmail.com

I also have the Onion Girl. Don't you just love the cover. I hope to read it this fall/winter.

I picked one book today. Finding Serenity, Anti-Heroes, etc. by Jane Esperson. I just can't pass up anything Firefly related it seems. I just love that show.

chrisa511 said...

Bookfool, you have mentioned that...I may have to delete it from the bookmarks too (like that will stop me!). I'm such a sucker for bargains too...I'll buy just because it's cheap!

Jeff, Great website, but very dangerous! Coupon code sent. The Onion Girl cover really is great. is it Palencar?

Ah, Firefly...same here. God I miss that series. It's one of those that I can re-watch over and over again and never get sick of. It's ashame that it only lasted one season, but at the same time, it makes the show that much more special.

Anonymous said...

Chris - Dangerous site! Can you send me the code too? kim@honeyed-words.com. I've already found a list of goodies to buy.

Jeff - I too bought The Onion Girl because of the cover. It didn't disappoint, even though I've since read it's regarded as one of deLint's less strong pieces.

chrisa511 said...

Sent you the code Kim...hope you get some good stuff!

Anonymous said...

aaah...! my little fix. (deep breath. exhale.) thanks chris!

that "onion girl" is very cool :)

by the way, whats clive barker's stuff like? i've always been curious. he's films are little bit too ... hellish for me.

chrisa511 said...

JP, Glad I could give you your fix ;)

Clive Barker's stuff is great! His books aren't all like the Hellraiser movies. They are mostly horror novels set in fantasy type worlds and they're loads of fun. They almost always involve alternate worlds/dimensions, some sort of creatures, and wonderfully horrific plots. His latest is a young adult series, Abarat, which he illustrated as well. It's pretty cool!

Ana S. said...

yay, you got The Watermelon King and Crossroads! I can't wait to see what you think of them! And that is quite the coincidence about Thief of Always! I need to read that book again, it's been so long. Hmm, maybe I can fit it in for RIP.

I've been craving some Peter S. Beagle too. His story in Dark Alchemy/Wizards reminded me of how much I love his writing.

$43 for 9 books IS great! That's less than $5 a book! I guess it's not that great a deal if done once a month, no, but hey, you're still paying much less for those books than you would anywhere else :P

Anonymous said...

I read The Stolen Child about a year ago and LOVED IT. I'm sure you'll quite enjoy it - it's a fabulous story. :)

DesLily said...

*looks to the heavens*...your allowance is cut off young man!

heh..like that would slow you down? not! lol well, I can see you will be busy for a while!..

Nikki in Niagara said...

Tamsin is absolutely fabulous. I love Beagle's work especially the ghost stories. A Fine and Private Place and A Dance for Emilia are both excellent as well.

Anonymous said...

Ah great haul, Chris! I will have to pick up a copy of The Watermelon King, I too loved Big Fish (both book and film).

The Onion Girl cover is indeed Palencar.

On the subject of Clive Barker - yay! He's a favourite of mine. As Chris said, his books are a world apart from the films. I can highly recommend The Hellbound Heart, Cabal, and also the Abarat series - I'm about to start the second book (will be posting about that soon, I hope). It's well worth getting the illustrated editions of the Abarat books if you can.

I'm planning on re-reading The Hellbound Heart and Cabal for the RIP challenge in Autumn. Really looking forward to that.

Anonymous said...

thanks quixotic and carl! hmmm... perhaps an option for the rip challenge...!

Anonymous said...

Oh NO! It's DANGEROUS for me to know about that site! @.@

chrisa511 said...

Nymeth, I'm looking forward to both of those books. I laughed so hard when I saw that you mentioned The Thief of Always. You should read it for RIP.

Tamsin looks like a great book if you're looking for some Beagle, and I think it would fit in great for the RIP challenge as well. It looks like a really quick read as well.

Court, Glad to hear you loved The Stolen Child. Always great to hear that others enjoyed a book that I'm looking forward to!

Deslily, Yeah...I did it again :/ I'm always busy!

Nicola, Great! I'm glad to hear from someone who's read Tamsin..I hadn't heard anything else about it. Looking forward to it.

Quix, I'm new to Wallace, so I'm really looking forward to this one.

I thought it was Palencar..it looked like him!

Clive Barker is PERFECT for the RIP challenge..I'm really going to have to fit in The Thief of Always for that one.

Heather, HAHA! Indeed..very dangerous!

ELIZABETH said...

Loved both The Stolen Child and Onion Girl.

I'll be noting down some of your other purchases. Nothing better than a long list of future reads.

chrisa511 said...

Elizabeth, Glad to hear that both were good reads! I have a ridiculously long list of future reads...and there's no sign of it ever shortening...lol..thanks for visiting!

Kailana said...

Nice haul! I like that site, but the shipping usually kills me. Canada seriously needs more book companies. Anyways, interesting enough I also just ordered The Onion Girl. I haven't read de Lint since I was a kid, so I decided it was time. I am reading "Spirits in the Wires" by him right now, actually.

As to recent additions... I bought "Eclipse" yesterday by Stephenie Meyer and then I ordered "On the Prowl" which is an anthology featuring Patricia Briggs and I ordered the new Marion Zimmer Bradley. I hate my bookstore, it never carries good fantasy new releases. And then, there is the books that I was allowed to order early for my birthday... there were several... but I am not paying for them... (Does that make me less guilty?) If you are really interested in the list just ask.

Oh, and The Stolen Child is really good, I read it last year. Not so sure on that cover, though...

chrisa511 said...

Kailana, Spirits in the Wires looks good too. There are SO many de Lint books that I don't know if I'll ever get to all of them!

It's so much more fun ordering books when you don't have to pay for them ;) Hope you got some good stuff! I am indeed interested in the list :) I'm such a book voyeur, lol...

I'm not keen on the cover for The Stolen Child either. Very strange. I like the cover with the big tree! But hey, I only paid $3.99 for this one, so I won't complain too much. I'm really excited about this one, I keep hearing good stuff!

CJ said...

Stop that!

It's not nice of you to provide a link to a place like book closeouts and then leave the post there for days and days and days! I'm trying to take a break from feeding my habit, darn it!

Enjoy your haul. It looks like you got some great ones.

cjh

chrisa511 said...

CJ, LOL!! I should know better by know than to throw a link out like that to all kinds of bibliophiles. It's like throwing a juicy piece of steak out to a bunch of hungry lions, lol.

Kailana said...

My haul, three of which arrived today:

The Onion Girl by Charles de Lint (fan)
The Lemon Tree by Sandy Tolan (NF)
Nicholas and Alexandra by Robert Massie (NF)
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson (NF)
The Needle in the Blood by Sarah Bower (HF)
Born on a Blue Day by Daniel Tammet (NF)
Prisoner of Tehran by Marina Nemat (NF)

hm, lots of non-fiction... I started Born on a Blue Day today, it is a memoir about a man who has asperger's (like Dustin Hoffman in the movie The Rainman) but he can function in normal society.

chrisa511 said...

Kailana, Born on a Blue Day sounds really cool. I'm a personal care attendant and a counselor and I've worked with a lot of kids with Asperger's. I'll have to check that one out!

Great haul! I don't read enough non-fiction...actually, I barely read any at all. I suppose I should try out the non-fiction challenge next year. Enjoy all your new books!!

Kailana said...

When I was in university I read non-fiction there and rarely wanted to read it for fun, but now that I have graduated it is slowly making its way back into my regular reading.

Born on a Blue Day is okay. I have about 100 pages left. It's interesting, but words cannot describe how much I hate math and that is a theme to the book. haha

Anonymous said...

Cool that's a good collection. I have The Onion Girl and Tree and Leaf to read. I also LOVE Peter S Beagle and The Last Unicorn is one of my favourite films and books. I really should read more of his work...

Booklogged said...

What a good deal and some wonderful titles and authors. I'm going to check out that site. I know you and Bookfool are warning against it, but I'm heedlessly disregarding your advice. I hope I'm not too sorry for it later.

chrisa511 said...

Booklogged, haha! I'm not warning against it, it's a wonderful sight...just very dangerous :p Hope you get some great deals!

Kailana said...

I finally got The Onion Girl in the mail today! Yay! Such a nice cover...

Kailana said...

... Book Closeouts is Canadian. uh huh, totally should not have came on here to tell you I got The Onion Girl and then decided to look... bad me. lol

The worst thing is I was IN St. Catherine's and I didn't know about this store. :(

chrisa511 said...

I love the cover to Onion Girl! It's by Jude Palencar...you can probably find him in your Spectrum book! I had no idea they were Canadian...that's cool. I need to make it to Canada one of these days. Now that's a country that's much easier to make it to since I'm not separated from it by a large body of water ;)

Kailana said...

I was just commenting on them being Canadian because most of the good book places are American, so I just assume.

One of de Lint's covers is in Spectrum, as soon as I saw it I knew it was him, I just had to find the book and now I have forgotten the title.

I have been to the US, not your neck of the woods, but Texas and Maine...

chrisa511 said...

Close enough! Texas is right next door ;)