why fight it

I keep telling myself that it's time to reenact that book accumulation ban...but I just can't seem to get serious about it. And you know, I think it's just time to say to hell with it. Don't I have enough to stress about in life? Why yes. Yes, I do. So if I can't get control over this book acquisition addiction, so be it. As long as the vast majority continue to be used books as opposed to new books, I'm just done beating myself up over it. So there.

And with this new attitude, I can now show off my new acquisitions and dole out the blame without even the tiniest tinge of guilt. Really.

From the library:

*On Thin Ice: The Changing World of the Polar Bear by Richard Ellis. I've been wanting this book ever since it came out. When I saw it at the library yesterday, I told myself, "Don't check it out. You don't have time to read it right now anyway. You can always get it later." Hmmm...and yet somehow it came home with me. ;)  I've told myself that it can be my reward for finally finishing up the school year at the end of the month. Problem being, I've said that about a few dozen books already. :P

Polar bears are such beautiful, majestic creatures. I just can't bear to think of this world without them. I'm hoping desperately that this book will offer at least a few glimmers of hope. But I fear it won't.

*Water: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power, and Civilization by Steven Solomon. I had even less business checking this one out than the last one. Seriously, when exactly do I really think I'm going to squeeze in a nice 500 page book in the next several weeks? I blame the library though--they really shouldn't put up these lovely tempting displays of their new arrivals.





Books that became available from my PaperbackSwap wish list:

*Hole in the Sky by Pete Hautman. Post-apocalyptic YA. Need I say more? POINT FOR STACI.

*Far from Xanadu by Julie Anne Peters. It was Julie Anne Peters.












And from our little local used bookstore:

*The Night Stalker: The Life and Crimes of Richard Ramirez by Philip Caro. Okay, so when I was in the bookstore, I was convinced that I was in the mood for a true crime book. But honestly, I was flipping through this book earlier, and I might just be too creeped out to actually read it. We'll see.









*A Walk in the Wood: Rediscovering American on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson. I probably shouldn't admit this, but this is actually the third time this book has made its way into our house. (Well, not this exact copy of the book, of course.) I bought it for Rich long ago, because hiking the Appalachian Trail is how we spent our honeymoon. And then he received it as a gift from a friend of ours. So we gave that copy away. Rich read it and loved it, and I always planned on reading it myself. But then I read Bryson's Notes From a Small Island. And well...it was sort of a love/hate thing. I found him to be hilarious and annoying all at the same time. Annoying ended up winning out, and I decided not to keep A Walk in the Woods. Silly, silly me...as I've now changed my mind...what can I say--it's fun to be fickle.

*The Secret History by Donna Tartt. Blame coming for this one...yep, Ana made this sound sooooo good! I just hope it doesn't take me ten years to get around to reading it. POINT FOR ANA.

*Paradise of the Blind by Duong Thu Huong. Do you ever get the feeling that you're the last person on Earth to hear of a certain book? That's the sort of feeling I get with this one. I don't even know why. It just seems like a book I should have heard of before. So--has anyone read it, and is it as good as it sounds?

*Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. Margaret Atwood is one of those authors that just scares the crap out of me. I have this feeling that I'm not smart enough to "get" her books. Where I pick up these ideas, I have no idea...but I do this *a lot*. Anyway, Oryx and Crake has long intrigued me, and after reading Care's review, I decided this was the book I needed to venture into the writings of Atwood. POINT FOR CARE.

*Indian Killer by Sherman Alexie. I've been wanting to read something by Alexie for a long time. And when I came across this one, I knew it would be the perfect place for me to start. It sounds absolutely incredible...alienation, racism, and a serial killer.

*The Good Good Pig by Sy Montgomery. Okay, I'm going to pass off the blame for this one onto Eva. Not because she reviewed this book. In fact, I'd never even heard of this book before. But because she reviewed another book by Sy Montgomery (can't remember the name off the top of my head, but it was about tigers), and she made Montgomery sound like such an awesome writer. So when I saw her name, it made me pull the book off the shelf. And the book sounds utterly delightful. A happy sort of read. POINT FOR EVA.

*Lost Mountain: A Year in the Vanishing Wilderness: Radical Strip-Mining and the Devastation of Appalachia by Erik Reece. This is actually a book I've been wanting to pick up for Environmental Science this year, so it was mighty gratifying to find it at the used book store. It's pretty unlikely that we're going to get to it though, as the school year has only two weeks left it it. But I'd really like to read it anyway, and Annie just might want to read it on her own as well.