Saturday, August 19, 2017

*Stacking the Shelves* 19 August 2017


(Titles link to Amazon via Amazon Affiliate links)

Stacking The Shelves is a feature/weekly meme created by Tynga’s Reviews in which you share the books you are adding to your shelves, both physical and virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical stores or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

Now, I already have a monthly post I do featuring the books I get in the mail (and it's a lot because I have a serious Goodreads First Reads giveaway addiction), and I'm going to try to start posting my monthly Read-A-Thon posts again too (even if none of the Platypires will be joining me), which will cover the books I receive through Netgalley. But I also go to my thrift store at least once a week, and often leave with a bag full of books. It's such a common occurrence that I'm known as The Book Lady to the frequent volunteers (and I suspect that they've started scheduling their $1 bag of books sales for Thursdays simply because that is the day I usually visit.) So my Stacking the Shelves posts are going to focus on my thrift store hauls, because this is my blog and I do what I want. 

On that note, here are the books I picked up this week.

Hot Wheels: The Ultimate Handbook by Sam Negley - One of my children wanted this book, I don't remember which one, but it was probably my son. 
Scholastic Encyclopedia of Animals by Laurence Pringle - My daughter asked for this book, but I would have bought it anyway because it's educational. 
The Shiloh Collection by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor - I'm pretty sure Shiloh was one of the books we read in grade school. It's at least a good book to add to my collection in case one of my children develops a fascination for dog stories. 
99 Lives: Cats in History, Legend, and Literature by Howard Loxton - I don't really know why I grabbed this book, honestly. 
Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography - I've been buying the Series of Unfortunate Events books, so I figured this would help complete that collection. 
Mark of the Thief by Jennifer A. Nielsen - I liked the cover...and it seemed like a fantasy story, although I think it's actually historical fiction now that I read a bit of the blurb. 
Night Draws Near: Iraq's People in the Shadow of America's War by Anthony Shadid - I like to try to understand all sides of things when I can, and as an American, I don't feel like we hear enough from the Middle Eastern side of the conflict. 
Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy - This is a classic. I don't know why it's a classic, but the literary snob in me wanted it. 
Country Baking by Ken Haedrich - I love to bake, so I'm a bit partial to cookbooks about baking. ($3)
Pleasures from the Good Earth by the Stuttgart German-American Women's Club - It's not exactly a church cookbook, but it was created by a similar method, so it's sure to have some amazing recipes in it, with the added benefit of having some authentic German recipes too. ($2.50)
War Trash by Ha Jin - Thanks to the Platypires calls for reading diversity, I pay more attention to those things when looking at books. I don't always follow through by reading the books, but I'm trying. 
The Merlin of St. Gilles' Well by Ann Chamberlin - This book caught my eye before when I was at the thrift store, and then it happened a second time, so I figured I might as well buy it. 
The Wilder Life by Wendy McClure - The Little House on the Prairie books were a staple for reading in childhood in Kansas, so I'm intrigued by this book. 
One With You by Sylvia Day - I'm pretty sure I've managed to buy all five books of this series at my thrift store now. Which means I can finally start reading them, maybe. 
Spellfall by Katherine Roberts - Middle grade fantasy novel with a unicorn on the cover, what's not to love. 
Catmagic by Holly Webb - The story is that I bought this for my daughter to read, but I kind of really want to read it myself. 
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath - I know this book is on several of the lists of books everyone should read at some point. And I haven't read it yet. But now I own it. 
I Can Haz Cheezburger by Professor Happycat and iCanhascheezburger.com - I bought this for my kids, I swear. 
World Almanac for Kids 2000 - So it's super out of date (I was still in high school when this book came out), but it will still have some useful information in it, I'm sure. 
Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham - This is probably one of those books on those lists that I so love. The copy I got happens to be in pristine condition. 
The Gulag Archipelago: Vol. 1 by Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn - There is underlining and notes in the margins of this book. That could prove helpful if I ever get around to reading it. 
The Gulag Archipelago: Vol. 2 by Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn - This book also has underlining and notes in the margins. 
The Gulag Archipelago: Vol. 3 by Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn - This appears to be the final book in the collection. It does not have any underlining or notes in the margins however. 
Purgatory by Dante Alighieri - This is book 2 of The Divine Comedy. It has underlining and notes in the margins. 
The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman - I've heard good things about this book and that it's helpful for couples to learn how to communicate their love better...so I figured I'd give it a shot. 
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant - I had no idea what this book was about when I picked it up, but my copy includes discussion questions, so that's a good thing, right? 
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner - I might already own a copy of this book, but I couldn't remember for sure, so I grabbed it just in case. 
Clarice Bean Spells Trouble by Lauren Child - It looks like an interesting book for a little girl, like my daughter. 
The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester - This seems to be almost like X-Men meets Harry Potter. I'm probably going to read it before my kids do for reasons. 
Beyond Good & Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche - This book has notes in the margins and underlining. Yay!
Modern Arabic Short Stories by Ronak Husni & Daniel L. Newman - This is a bilingual reader, so if I ever thought I could learn Arabic (I don't think I can, I've had a hard enough time with German and most of those letters were already familiar to me), it could come in handy for that. But otherwise, it still has the stories in English so I can read them anyway. 
Night Soldiers by Alan Furst - This book is set in Europe during WWII, so it was an automatic grab for me...Apparently there are 11 more books in the series that I may or may not need to get at some point. 
Tales to Inspire by the Bathroom Readers' Institute - This is from the Uncle John's Bathroom Readers series. At the rate I'm going, my bathroom will have it's own library. 
Plunges Into Hollywood by the Bathroom Readers' Institute - This book is also from the Uncle John's Bathroom Readers series. I was definitely a bit interested in it because I was in the middle of proofreading a book set in Hollywood when I saw this at the thrift store. 

So far this has cost me $7 because the two cookbooks were so expensive (not really that expensive, but when I got a bag of books for fifty cents, $3 for a single books sure seems like a lot). This is another two visit week for me, so I'll have more books to add later. 

And I'm back for round two of books for this week. The books below this line only cost me $3. SaveSave

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf - My copy of this seems old, like it's got that sitting-on-a-library-shelf-forever smell to it. The only copyright date I can find for it inside says 1925. 
Shalimar the Clown by Salman Rushdie - I know that Rushdie is one of those authors that you're just supposed to read. I own a few of his books already, even though I have yet to read any of them. 
The Audacity to Win by David Plouffe - I sometimes like to read political books, so I tend to buy them when I find them, from both sides of the aisle. This one just happens to be about President Obama's 2008 campaign.
Witch Season: Summer and Fall by Jeff Mariotte - The cover of this book made me think of Wicked, which I picked up last week, so even though I realized they were by different authors, I figured this was worth a go. 
Cracking India by Bapsi Sidhwa - This seems like a good read for a diversity challenge, at the very least. 
Settle for More by Megyn Kelly - My copy of this book happens to be a naked hardcover copy (so the dust jacket is missing) which means I don't have to see Megyn's face when I look at it. Which is a good thing in my opinion because even though she's separated from Fox, and I'm truly interested in reading her side of that story, I'd rather do it without the visual reminder that she fit in with the Blonde Brigade at Fox so well. 
The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards - I feel like I bought this before, but I also think I maybe just saw it on the shelf and thought about buying it before (because that happens sometimes). 
A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray - I bought the second book in this series last week at the thrift store, so finding this, the first book, this week was a nice surprise. 
Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo - This is another diversity purchase that I will probably be reading sooner rather than later. 
Grim Tuesday by Garth Nix - I have a few of the books in the The Keys to the Kingdom series, but I can never remember which ones. If I ever found all of them at the thrift store at once, I'd buy them all just to be on the safe side, and return the duplicates. 
Oracles of the Delphi Keep by Victoria Laurie - This is a middle grade book, but I think it looks really interesting and will likely read it myself at some point. 
The Journal of Douglas Allen Deeds by Rodman Philbrick - This is a fictionalized (I believe) version of the tale of the Donner Party told in journal format from a kid for kids. I have several of these types of books featuring girls, this is the first featuring a boy. 
The Missing Piece by Shel Silverstein - No library is complete without some Silverstein in it, and I've somehow misplaced the books I already owned. It happened during our last move, and I hope they're just in a random box in the garage, because they weren't with all the other books at the last house. 
Reading Street, Grade 4 - As a homeschooling parent, I have to buy reading books every year for my kids (just my son really, because I just keep the books for my daughter). I wasn't sure exactly what grade this book was for when I picked it up because it doesn't seem to say it anywhere but figured I could take a chance. It's a year ahead of where we are right now, but oh well. It could come in pretty handy next year. ($2)
The Underground by K.A. Applegate - This is from the Animorphs series, which my son has shown a bit of an interest in based on the covers at least. 
The Familiar by K.A. Applegate - Another Animorphs book. 
The Unexpected by K.A. Applegate - Another Animorphs book. This one isn't available on Kindle yet, but you can pre-order. 
The Journey by K.A. Applegate - Animorphs.
The Hidden by K.A. Applegate - Animorphs, and apparently a lot of these books later in the series aren't yet available on Kindle, but soon. 
The Stranger by K.A. Applegate - Animorphs. 
The Visitor by K.A. Applegate - Animorphs. 
The Secret by K.A. Applegate - Animorphs.
The Arrival by K.A. Applegate - Animorphs.
The Revelation by K.A. Applegate - Animorphs.
The Resistance by K.A. Applegate - Animorphs.
The Sacrifice by K.A. Applegate - Animorphs. Someone was clearly destashing Animorphs books probably for an upcoming move. Their loss is my gain. 

So that's all the books that I picked up this past week. In total I spent $10 for this haul, and that's largely because of the two cookbooks and the reading book for school. Without those three books, this entire haul would have run me only $2.50. I'm so going to miss my thrift store when we move back stateside. 

What books did you pick up this week? - Katie 

*If you are stopping by from the Stacking the Shelves link-up, please be sure to leave a link to your post so I can be sure to check out your list too.*

11 comments:

  1. OMG, lots of books... HEAVEN!!!! I hope you enjoy all of them or at least most of them. Happy reading and have a wonderful week. :)

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    1. I'm not even sure I'll get around to reading most of them...although a good sized portion of them are middle grade or younger so that's my excuse there at least :) - Katie

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  2. Wow, what a haul! Enjoy! I love the cover of Spellfall.

    Here are MY WEEKLY UPDATES

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    1. Right. It's so pretty! And I'm a sucker for a good cover. - Katie

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  3. I loved Mark of the Thief and that whole series was amazing. I hope you love all of them.

    Grace @ Books of Love

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    1. Honestly, I'm just happy it's the first book in the series. It's so common for me to buy later books at the thrift store and not even realize it until I get home. - Katie

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  4. What a great haul. I love the cover of The Girl Who Could Fly. It's awesome that your daughter requests books - I love kids who read.

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    1. Yeah, she's not reading very well yet, she's only 6 and just starting 1st grade, but she'll get there, and I absolutely don't want to discourage reading in any way, so as long as the books she's requesting aren't board books (which we already have too many of) I pretty much say yes to any book she asks for at the thrift store. - Katie

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  5. The Bell Jar I want to get around to soon. Happy reading.

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    1. It's basically been on my TBR list since college, which was some time ago, and I've still never gotten around to it, but I have commitment issues, so that's part of it. - Katie

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    2. Me too - since college. And it has been referenced a lot and has been popping up lately.

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