I Bought A Book! (and The Stack - July Library Haul)

Okay, before I get into the library stack, I must confess that I paid actual CASH MONEY for a book. Now it may seem rather odd, given how much I love to read and talk about books (obviously), I do not regularly buy books. If I do, it's usually AFTER I've read the library book and it becomes an all time favorite. (Here are my favorites from each year since 2012.) But, it is true, I am a die hard library 'power user' as described by the cheeky individual behind the social media accounts of my beloved King County Library System. 

Shortly after having our first kid and it was clear that going back to work was not a gain for me (financially or otherwise) we downsized our expenses. Cutting out at MINIMUM $50 to $75 a month was an easy decision. We've come to a place where I could certainly afford to buy some books, but I am a creature of habit. Unless it's something that I want on my shelves FOR LYFE (the aforementioned yearly favorite or two, an illustrated Harry Potter or other beloved books for my kids), I usually don't buy. The last time I bought a digital book was when Allegiant came out and immediately went on sale for something like $6.99. I was getting ready for a rare bout of travel and immediately bought it for my Kindle. 

The honor of my recent Kindle purchase goes to Before the Fall by Noah Hawley. 

I have been anticipating the release of this book, and put in what I thought was a pretty early hold on both the book and e-book. Alas, the holds were moving SO SLOW. And then, Amazon did it again. They put a sought after new release on sale - this time $3.99! And this time, yes, I thought it was worth the price of a cup of coffee. If you didn't catch this viral blog post on authors comparing the cost of a cup of coffee to the cost of books from Insatiable Booksluts (Ha!), I think I found it shared by Neil Gaiman on Twitter, it's worth a read.

Now, I CERTAINLY don't begrudge those who buy lots of books! I sometimes think about getting back to doing that and filling our shelves up with ALL THE BOOKS. And I've had my finger on the trigger of the Book of the Month club so many times. I love mail! I love books! I just can't bring myself to take the plunge - YET.

So! As for the books I got with my well spent tax dollaz this month... I had a vague familiarity with the title of Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, but never picked it up until hearing Anne Bogel and her guest rave about it on the What Should I Read Next podcast. It sounded right up my alley, given that Jane Eyre and The Thirteenth Tale were mentioned in the same conversation. I still have 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl from last month and hope to read it soon. But I have time since it was a choice read that I can renew. I read My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante this month and was reasonably drawn in, so I picked up the second book The Story of a New Name when I saw it on the choice reads shelf. Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan sounded like a good summer read. My hold for the last installment of the amazing Red Rising trilogy, Morning Star, by Pierce Brown finally came in! Eight Hundred Grapes was another discovery through Anne Bogel and her summer reading guide. And lastly, I got a cookbook for the first time in AGES. I find Chrissy Tiegen quite funny and I saw a recipe from Cravings: Recipes for All the Food You Want to Eat in a magazine I was reading while at the gym and it sounded GOOD. I shall report back with the ones I try, of course!

New digital books in the library queue/ARCs:
I JUST GOT THE ARC FOR THE NEW ANN PATCHETT, COMMONWEALTH, AND YES IT DESERVES ALL CAPS!
All the Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood (a NetGalley ARC)
Shelter by Jung Yun
Fool Me Once by Harlan Coben
The One-in-a-Million Boy by Monica Wood
Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye

Still in the queue:
Small Great Thingsby Jodi Picoult (a NetGally ARC)
Grief Is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter 
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi 
Bone Gap by Laura Ruby
Your Heart Is a Muscle the Size of a Fist by Sunil Yapa

All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders

As always, I'm interested in any thoughts/if you've read the books on this list or others I should know about!