passing the buck yet again

Well, this is overdue. Of course, just about everything in my life is "overdue" these days. Seems to be the state of normal around here. Anyway, I'm not sure why I even make these posts, except that I have such fun keeping track of when I picked up a particular book...and whose to blame for it. Yes, I'm very easy to amuse. ;)  But hey, I've always figured that was a good thing.

So, in no particular order, my recent acquisitions:

Whiteout: Volume 1 by Greg Rucka and Steve Lieber. Murder mystery type graphic novel set in Antarctica. I read about this somewhere, but can't for the life of me remember where (so someone may be getting let off the hook on this one). Anyway, our local B&N had all their used books half off the other day...so this is one of several books that made its way home with me.

A Woman Like That: Lesbian and Bisexual Writers Tell Their Coming Out Stories edited by Joan Larkin. Title sounds pretty self-explanatory. Another from the half-price used book sale.

Pure Dead Magic by Debi Gliori. A previously unheard of by me book. Gotta admit, it was the cover that first drew me in. The numerous references to Lemony Snicket in the review blurbs kept my interest. And well, the fact that it sounded like a book the boys and I would love to read together--that cinched it. Well, that and the fact that it only cost $1.50 at the book sale.

Rosalind Franklin & DNA by Anne Sayre. This book has been on my wish list for ages! I can't believe I found it (actually Rich found it) at the book sale for just $2.00. :D

The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Now this is what I call good timing. I'd never heard of this book until just days ago when Pat reviewed it. I knew immediately that I wanted it...and then there it was in the used section on sale. POINT FOR PAT.

Bachelor Girl: The Secret History of Single Women in the Twentieth Century by Betty Israel. This one popped onto my radar thanks to Ana. She talked about it in a coveting post. While I wish she would write coveting posts more often as she always talks about the most amazing books I've never heard of, her coveting leads to coveting of my own. ;)  And this was the last of the books bought at the half-price sale. POINT FOR ANA.

The Backyard Homestead edited by Carleen Madigan. Okay, so blame for this falls squarely on Chris. He emailed and told me all about this amazing book. (And Chris, if you don't mind, I'm now going to skip the part of the story about my feeble brain. :P ) Rich actually ordered this one for me because he knew how badly I wanted it. POINT FOR CHRIS.

Urban Farm: Summer 2010. Okay, so I've never dished out blame for a magazine before. But then, no one has ever made me want to buy a magazine like this before.  And it cost more than all those half-price used books, so why shouldn't it count, right? (Sorry Chris, but I'm just not taking responsibility for this one. :P) POINT FOR CHRIS.

Brains: A Zombie Memoir by Robin Becker. Total impulse buy. Just sounds ridiculously fun. And Rich thought so, too. So we sort of shared blame for this one. It's about a college professor turned zombie who is on a crusade for peaceful coexistence with humans. Described as dark and humorous. I'm looking forward to it.

The Storm in the Barn by Matt Phelan. Oh, poor Chris. He didn't even love this book, and here he is taking the blame. ;)  What can I say, he still made it sound good to me, so when I saw it at the library, I just had to bring it home with me. POINT TO CHRIS.

Recycle This Book: 100 Top Children's Book Authors Tell You How to Go Green edited by Dan Gutman. Uhhh Chris, you might want to take it easy on me here. If our library decides to cave in during your visit, I'm afraid it will partially be falling right where you're sleeping. :P  In other words, stop filling my house with books! This review is at fault...picked it up from the library shortly after reading it. POINT FOR CHRIS.

Get Crafty: Hip Home Ec by Jean Railla. A total impulse grab from the library. Looks like it may be one of those rare craft books that I actually read cover to cover--yep, it looks that fun! (No idea why the picture came out so blurry when I added it.)

Junk Beautiful by Sue Whitney & Ki Nassauer. As soon as I read Carl's post about this book, I went immediately to our library website and ordered this. All the photos he shared, not to mention his review, made me knew immediately that I would love this book. POINT FOR CARL.

Junk Beautiful: Outdoor Edition by Sue Whitney. Fair or not, I'm also blaming this on Carl. If I hadn't gone looking for the first, I never would have run across this one. So I'm saddling him with the blame for both. POINT FOR CARL.

Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden. How is it that I've never heard of this series before? Or have I, and I've just forgotten about it? I really don't think that's likely though--it sounds so up my alley that I can't imagine forgetting about it. But then again, my brain is not what it used to be. Whatever. This is the first book in a series about a group of teens fighting back after their home country, Australia, is invaded by unspecified country. Anyway, this was a total impulse purchase.

Incantation by Alice Hoffman. Saw this in a used book store. While I couldn't, from the back cover description, get a good feel for what it's about, it definitely sounds intriguing. And I absolutely adored the one Alice Hoffman book that I have read (Green Angel). Figured for the price, I just couldn't go wrong.

Cobwebs by Karen Romano Young. Talk about not having a clue what it's about! But the combination of the vague description, the cover, and the price had me picking this one up at the used book store as well.

The Rag and Bone Shop by Robert Cormier. I read his book, After the First Death, a couple months ago and really, really enjoyed it. In looking into his other books, this was the one that most caught my eye. (I know The Chocolate War and I Am the Cheese are much more popular, but they just don't interest me.) I've kept my eye out for this one at the bookstores, but they just don't seem to keep it in stock. So I was extremely excited when I not only found it at the used book store, but found it for practically nothing.

She Looks Just Like You: A Memoir of (Nonbiological Lesbian) Motherhood by Amie Klempnauer Miller. A book that Rich just surprised me with out of nowhere. Isn't he sweet?

Getting Bi: Voices of Bisexuals Around the World edited by Robyn Ochs & Sarah E. Rowley. Another one Rich just surprised me with out of the blue. Though this one had been on my wish list.

Love & Lies: Marisol's Story by Ellen Wittlinger. Been on my PaperbackSwap wish list for a while, and it finally became available.

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. It was actually something in one of The History of US series by Joy Hakim that made me want to pick this one up. And lucky for me, it was immediately available at PBS.

Beasts of No Nation by Uzodinma Iweala. Been getting a lot of requests for books from PBS lately. While this is a very good thing--I love getting books out of here--it's also a dangerous thing. Because when I log into PBS to print the mailing labels, they display all those books there that can be mine just for the asking. ;)  Yep, that's what happened with this one (and the next one). I've never heard of this book before, but it seems like a book I should have heard of. Anyway, it's a novel about a child soldier in an unspecified African nation. And I needed it because having two (non-fiction) books on the subject, that I can't seem to make myself read because I know they're just going to be so heartbreaking, just isn't enough. ;)

Resource Wars: The New Landscape of Global Conflict by Michael T. Klare. Sounds fascinating. But of course, it is bound to be somewhat speculative, which makes me extra wary. I was happy to see an extensive notes section at the end when it arrived though. Anyway, I eager to read it, though I'm sure it will be unnerving.

 An Open Book by Michael Dirda. Hmm...again with the blurry picture. :(  Well, Ms. Ana is to blame for this. Not that she reviewed this book in particular. But she has reviewed a couple of his other books. And I ended up adding every single one of his books to my PBS wish list in the hopes of eventually getting my hands on one of them. And it finally paid off. POINT FOR ANA.







Note to self: Stop waiting so long between these posts, you idiot!