Recent purchases

I am trying to cut back on book shopping, mostly because I already have at least 80 on my TBR pile. That, and having quit my job in September to become a full time self-employed photographer. (One of the many reasons I've continued neglecting this blog, running one's own business, however small it may be still today, can be quite time consuming.) But I splurge(-ish) every year when I visit the UK. Charity shops! "Ramsj" book deals in the outlet shopping center I visit every April! And the occasional new book. But mostly it's all on the cheap. Here's my loot for 2013:

* Emma Donoghue – The Sealed Letter
* Jeff Lindsay – Dexter in the Dark (I've read books 1 & 2)
* George R.R. Martin – A Feast For Crows
* Lisa Genova – Still Alice (about Alzheimer's)
* Stephen Fry – Moab is my Washpot (Wil found this for me)
* Salman Rushdie – Midnight's Children (time to give it a go)
* Margaret Atwood – Alias Grace
* Tess Gerritsen – (2 in 1 bundle) Gravity & Bloodstream
* Anne Tyler – The Accidental Tourist
* Jonathan Franzen – The Corrections
* George R.R. Martin – A Dance with Dragons 2: After the Feast
* Mark Twain – Huckleberry Finn (a 1950's edition Wil got me)

So now I only need Martin's A Dance With Dragons 1 to have my A Song of Ice and Fire series complete until Martin's next book is out! (I'm currently reading A Storm of Crows Swords – I can't be the only person to consistently get the titles wrong? – book 1 and would like to continue on with book 2 immediately after; I feel comfortable knowing book 4 is in my book case for when I finish that one!)
The Dexter book will allow me to continue on with that series as well.

I'm also pleased with the Gerritsen bundle; I read The Surgeon at the beginning of the year, was impressed with it, so much that I think I will explore Gerritsen's other books and make her my "go-to thriller (medicrime) writer", thus saying goodbye to Kathy Reichs, whose books I've found intelligent, but less and less exciting and rather formulaic (I've read up to book 9 in the Bones series, and it seems they somehow all end the same way).

Atwood is a no-brainer for me. I've only read two of her books so far (The Handmaid's Tale, Oryx and Crake), but plan to read many more, and whenever I see one of her titles I will buy it. I'm always fascinated with dystopic tales and post-apocalyptic worlds / (what formerly were) societies.
Anne Tyler is also slowly becoming one of those authors I generally look out for when I go book shopping, because I like how she writes / developes / presents her characters.

I took a gamble on the Lisa Genova book, because the subject matter (early onset Alzheimer's disease) is a formerly-professional point of interest for me, as I used to work – and at one point in life had high hopes to continue working – with patients with Alzheimer's, vascular dementia, Parkinson's Disease and Korsakov's syndrome. (Some years after this, my grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, making my interest in the subject personal in nature.)

The Rushdie was staring at me from the charity shop shelf, attempting to intimidate me into not buying it (and it failed). The Franzen book The Corrections was going the opposite route: "I know I'm not Freedom – which is on that list you are currently holding in your hands – but I still must insist that you buy me". Success.

We love us some Stephen Fry, Wil and I, but it was the Moab in the title Moab is my Washpot which made Wil pick this up and shove it – lovingly – in my hands. We have visited Moab, Utah together in 2007, to go hiking in Arches National Park (Wil had been there once before that). It is one of his favorite places in the world.
(Speaking of titles: I am a fan of Ian McEwan generally, meaning you can make me happy with any one of his books, so it would have been put on my wish list anyway – but when I saw his next book is titled Sweet Tooth, I knew I will have to buy it when it's out. It's about spies, not about sweets and treats and other subjects suitable for people like us – people whose names are literally Sweet Tooth – but ah, details.)

I am a huge fan of Emma Donoghue's Room, so was happy to find another one of her books for a good price (but I was strangely, and hypocritically, almost offended to find Room – "such a brilliant book!" – on a major discount pile next to the Fifty Shades of Grey series).

Wow. I hadn't expected to be able to blog this much about my purchased books. I thought I'd post a list and get an update in, but I guess I had forgotten how much I do miss discussing and thinking about books. So this was a nice blog for me to write.
My life will continue to be busy for a while, with the business but also because we do have a wedding around the corner (and we are planning and doing it all ourselves). So I just can't say when I'll have a new review up, or any new post for that matter… but I've enjoyed blogging today!