Wednesday 21 July 2010

The Big Fail

You know that uhm… book ban I was telling you all about and how I’d lasted five weeks and all that rubbish? I was probably in my seventh or so week which for me is actually not that bad. Admittedly I was getting a bit big for my boots, boasting I could go into a bookshop unscathed and that I wasn’t even really feeling the pangs.

I failed. I joined the book ban over at 25 Hour Books which meant I was supposed to give up books for the month of June and well… here I am. I fell off the wagon. I purchased books from Waterstones.

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I shouldn’t have gone in, I know, I know. I am weak. I am stupid. I kidded myself that I could be strong, that I could cope being in a bookshop without buying. I’d done it before so why not now? I have no excuses really. Apart from the fact they were playing some truly atrocious music that made it hard to really look at a book. So I just bought them so I could look at them later. Had they not been playing that awful music, I would probably have spent a few minutes looking through the books and been satisfied with that. As I couldn’t concentrate for more then five seconds though and I couldn’t be satisfied by a brief perusal, I had to leave with four tucked under my arm.

The products of my failure:

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Twenty Years After

The Vicomte De Bragelonne

Louise De La Valliere

by Alexandre Dumas

 

This completes my Three Musketeer collection – I already own The Three Musketeers and The Man in the Iron Mask. I have been desiring these three for a long time and thought that once I get around to re-reading the Three Musketeers I would get these from the library… well when I saw them in the shop, in one of my favourite editions (Oxford World Classics) and all together… I couldn’t resist myself.

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  The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa

This one realy isn’t my fault… it’s the Japanese Reading Challenge's fault for making me want to read more Japanese literature. Anyway, isn’t it just the most beautiful cover? It looks really good as well, I almost fell into reading it yesterday, but of course I have to finish reading Harry Potter first. It might be my next one… maybe.

 

 

I also received a book from Liz, over from Consumed by Books because she had heard of my recent obsession with anything Japanese.

 

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 The Private Papers of Eastern Jewel by Maureen Lindley

You can read Liz’s review here. I’m looking forward to reading this hopefully soon…

I’m becoming very excited about my TBR (which is now towering at 419, oops) seeing as I have been on a long break from it and I have been thinking hard about what I want to read next.

 

After Harry Potter I want to read a Diana Wynne Jones because Jenny’s Books is holding a Diana Wynne Jones week at the beginning of August, which I hope to be part of because I absolutely love this author, as you may already know going by the amount of times I’ve mentioned her in this blog.

 

imageI’m not entirely sure what I’ll be reading – I hope I’ll have finished Harry Potter by then but I really would like to read another Diana Wynne Jones book. Maybe I will read The Dark Lord of Derkholm or Archer’s Goon or whatever takes my fancy. I have so many yet to read – I can’t bare to be finished with them all. 

 

 

And then I will probably read The Housekeeper and the Professor, as I mentioned earlier. I’m also in the mood for a bit of historical crime so I’m thinking of He Kills Coppers by Jake Arnott.

After that I don’t know what I’ll be reading… I don’t really like planning too far ahead, even though I find myself doing that lately. I am a mood reader – I say I’m going to read one thing and it takes me until the year after to actually pick it up. So don’t be too surprised if you don’t see a review for any of these books for a long while yet.

As for my ban – well I’m back on it I guess… hopefully I can whittle the TBR down a bit before I have another moment’s weakness.

 

8 comments:

  1. Archer's Goon! Read Archer's Goon. It's wonderful, and nobody ever reads it and then comes and says "Oh hai Jenny! I read Archer's Goon and now will discuss with you why it's unfair that Shine got called Shine and other characters that are better got called more interesting things." AT LEAST NOT SO FAR.

    Do not feel guilty about breaking your book-buying ban at Waterstones. I always want to buy a thousand things at Waterstones, and I don't even know why. They are not fundamentally that different from Barnes & Noble, and B&N doesn't have the same effect on me.

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  2. Well that's that sorted then - Archer's Goon it is. That is, if I can find it in my book-cave of a bookshelf.

    And don't worry, I'm not feeling that guilty. I've just bought myself another copy of The Three Musketeers AND The Man in the Iron Mask in the Oxford World Classics edition. My Three Musketeers book is falling apart and I'd have bought another copy anyway, and I may as well complete the collection in the same edition, written by the same translator to at lease have a sense of unity.

    So can't wait to read them! I say that about most of my 419 books at some point though...

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  3. It's not you fault! The music made you do it! Ah well... now that the deed is done, no point in feeling guilty... just enjoy your new books :P

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  4. Oh fail! Sad! I have to say that I've kept to my ban for the month of July despite wanting to pick up a few books! However, I have acquired at least 4 books through giveaways I've won. Who knew I could actually be lucky? My brother won a bike from a fast food restaurant when we were kids and I've been jealous all these years. I don't need to be jealous anymore because I have surely won more contests than he now!

    Enjoy your new books! I want to read 20 Years After as well. I hadn't heard of the other books. I thought there was a 10 Years Later too (I downloaded that). I guess I will have to get more books for my Three Musketeers collection as well.

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  5. There's 20 Years After and then there is 10 Years after - that is the comte de bragthingy and the others including the man in the iron mask. They have been seperated into 3 separate books because of the sheer size of the book. It was about 263 chapters all together and I'm not sure quite how they'd have bound such a big book as one considering they're all no less then 500 pages each - most 700.

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  6. I calculated actually that my ban actually lasted 2 months all together as I started... May 14th roundabouts. I think I deserve a few books... uhm, well I did buy 2 more yesterday. 7 books in 2 days isn't really that good.

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  7. youre so into your oxford classics now arnt you :). Would you care to join me for Knight of Maison Rouge sometime in not too distant future? I have a modern library waiting for me in my backpack

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  8. Oh I'd love to Jon. Been wanting to get into a classic - give me advanced warning though I I don't plan or start any bricks beforehand.

    OWC are fantastic. Much better then those depressing old black things.

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