It Can't Be Stopped

My God! Hi, my name's Chris, and I'm a bookaholic....I made a deal with myself that I wasn't going to buy anymore books until after the RIP Challenge. The reason being, I thought it would be nice to see what my TBR bookshelf would look like with the 20 books I signed up for taken off of it with no books put back on it to take the space up again...yeah, not happening. Last night, I decided to go to Barnes and Noble to get "just the two books that I didn't have for the Four Legged Friends Challenge" and instead came home with 5 new books. It could've been worse though. Anyway, here are the new acquisitions.1. Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen - I first heard about this book from Nancy aka Bookfool. She gave it an awesome review and it sounded like something that I'd like. And the cover is really cool! It has tons of great reviews, and anything set in the south that has to do with magic is fine by me. And Barnes and Noble had it at an incredible price (they're really promoting this one).

2. The Candy Shop War by Brandon Mull - I'm very leary about this one, but I'm hoping it's good! I had planned on buying this one just because of the author's name, but didn't think it was coming out until October! But when I saw it on the shelf, well...I had to get it. Brandon Mull is the author of the Fablehaven series which I love and learned of through Orson Scott Card. So when I heard that he was writing this other book, I knew I'd be picking it up when it came out...and I did.

3. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - I've become addicted to Marquez's writing with just one book. I read Love in the Time of Cholera about a month ago and I really enjoyed it...my review here. But I've found that the book has come back to haunt me. I find myself thinking of Marquez's writing over and over again and I want to revisit it. I have a feeling that anyone who's read his work will understand. I enjoyed Love in the Time of Cholera when I first read it, but it's really become a masterpiece too me as it's sunk in. Quite a few people recommended that I read One Hundred Years of Solitude, so I picked this one up to appease my craving to jump back into his writing. It sounds like a magical book and he won the Nobel Prize for this one as well. I think I'll add this one to the Seconds Challenge as a bonus. Only thing I don't like....it has a stupid Oprah sticker on it :/

4. Varjak Paw by S.F. Said - I'm so excited about this one! I'm reading this one for the Four Legged Friends Challenge. I first heard of this one through Nymeth awhile back when she discovered it in a bookstore. It's a children's/young adult book about a cat and it's illustrated by Dave McKean!! And there are lots of illustrations! I also saw that there is a sequel out which is also illustrated by McKean...yay!

5. Watership Down by Richard Adams - I've been meaning to read this one for ages and the Four Legged Friends Challenge has finally given me a good reason to! Though I must admit that at 476 pages, it's much much longer than what I had imagined it to be! I'm sure I'll enjoy it though.

Ahem.......

It seems that someone diverted me away from my plan to not buy any more books this month. I was sitting at home minding my business when all of a sudden my phone rang. Two friends informed me that they were heading over to Barnes and Noble and that I should meet them. I suddenly found myself in my car with my hand moving the gear into drive and my foot pressing down on the gas pedal...my mind guiding me on that oh so familiar drive to the bookstore. I awakened in that familiar place filled with books. My eyes fell upon John Connolly's Book of Lost Things with a 50% off tag on it and at the same time it remembered that my member card would give me an additional 10% off. John Connolly's Book of Lost things hovered into my arms. I was not surprised to then find myself at the Sci-fi/fantasy section. Hmm, what would I find there but Wizards, a new collection that I have been looking forward to which collects never before published tales by authors of the likes of Neil Gaiman, Orson Scott Card, Garth Nix, Peter Beagle, Gene Wolfe, etc, etc, etc. Into my arms it goes. As I hover towards the elevator I spot Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi on sale for $5.98 and remember that I have to read that for the Newberry Challenge. Yep, in the arms. As I scan the psychology section upstairs I come across a book that seems to call to me that is entitled Adult Children of Alcoholics. Simple enough title. I scan through the book and find myself in it's pages. This may be important. I buy it. It will help me, it will help my clients. That's enough, I decide. The cashier steals my American Express, I lose money but gain books...everyone wins in the end!

Here's some more bookporn for Quixotic:Speaking of Quixotic, she seems to be the "it girl" of blog land lately. I've noticed two mentions of her on the Friends of English Magic website in the past couple of weeks (the same FoEM that Neil Gaiman often mentions in his blog) and Carl's latest post has quite a few Quix wannabe's (me included) in the comments section. We all love her poppet paired with book photos!

In fact, part of the reason that I changed the header of my blog was because I wanted to copy off of Quix :p Quix and Carl at Stainless Steel Droppings both recently changed their headers and I love them both. So I decided to change mine as well. Mine is taken from one of my favorite Dave McKean pieces. The full version is shown below and is actually the wallpaper on my laptop.

Random Thoughts On A Beautiful Day

The sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, and it's just gorgeous outside. We cherish these days in New Orleans. It tends to go straight from winter to summer here, so when we get a little bit of spring, we really appreciate it. And this day is very much appreciated. It sets the mood for a wonderful thing - my last final...EVER! I can't tell you how happy that makes me. The ethics final is at 5:30 and I'm thinking that it won't be a problem for me.

Upon walking around the garden outside, I discovered that we have all kinds of veggies sprouting. Lots of tomatoes, bell peppers, squash, and eggplants. I love growing veggies. Even though I tend not to eat them, their fun to grow. All of the vegetable that I like are either too much of a pain in the ass to grow or they just don't grow well down here. I'm a big fan of fruit, but fruit doesn't do to well in Louisiana either. At least we don't have the room to grow fruit properly.

I went on an online book buying spree last night. On a previous post, someone left a comment telling me about a website called bookcloseouts.com....dangerous!!! Amazing prices on books! And so many great ones. I bought 10 books last night from their website. I really have to stop. This is starting to get out of control. I'm going to have to start renting another house just to keep the books in. Oh well...I could have worse habits than buying books I suppose.

Where Do Books Come From?

After reading one of Jenclair’s wonderful book reviews, I decided to ask her where she finds her books. She has such an eclectic collection of books that she’s read and among those are so many books that I’ve never heard of before. Many of her reads come from the “what’s new” shelf at the library and from other bloggers out there. It sparked some great conversation on her blog. So I decided that I’d answer that question for myself as well.

I have no idea where some of my books came from. There are certain authors that I’ve read for awhile, and they’ve become auto buys. Orson Scott Card and Neil Gaiman are my two biggest auto buys. No matter what they publish, I’m buying it. Charles de Lint has become one of those auto buys as well for me.

Then there’s the “chocolate authors”, a phrase that Elaine coined not too long ago on her blog, and I like it. Chocolate authors are those authors who aren’t necessarily the best authors in the world, but they’re a fun guilty pleasure. Dean Koontz is Elaine’s chocolate author. I’d have to say that Stephen King is mine. His books aren’t literary genius, but I know I’ll have fun with them. So whenever a new King book goes on the shelf, I’ll usually buy it.

Most of my new finds come from the internet. The blogging world has become a HUGE resource of To Be Read books. Every time I read a review that I like, the book goes on the always growing Amazon list. Then there are favorite authors of mine that recommend books that they like. Orson Scott Card writes a weekly review column and there are usually a couple of books that I like on there. That’s where I learned of the Fablehaven series by Brandon Mull (second book comes out on Tuesday!). I loved the first book, and am looking forward to the new one. Neil Gaiman mentions books as well every now and then on his blog.

I’m also a bookshelf browser at the bookstore. I’ve been known to buy books based on their covers alone. If a cover really catches my eye, I’ll buy the book just to stare at the cover, and most of the time I end up enjoying the book as well.

Amazon’s recommended reads and Listmania’s have been a great resource as well.

I seldom go to the library. I love libraries, they’re wonderful places, but I have a strong need to own my books. I like seeing them being collected on the shelves, and books almost become a friend to me that I can revisit later on.

So where do you find your reads? As Jenclair recommended, write a post about it and link back in the comments. Or just leave a comment on here. I’d love to know!