Like Smaug with my hoard...
I don't have a shopping disorder. Honestly--I can go months without buying an item from anywhere but the grocery store. I can even walk through a book store and come out empty handed. My well-known weakness for blank journals isn't indiscriminate: I'm very picky indeed about the ones I like.
But this past couple of weeks...
It started when I innocently walked into Chapters, the local big-box bookstore, looking for a particular history book to give my dad. While shopping for his last birthday, on a whim, I picked up a hardcover history book called Foundations, by Peter Ackroyd, off a sale table and added it to his gift. Well, he talked about that book for months. And the book gave the impression it was part of a series, so I went looking, and part 2, on the Tudors, is also available in hardcover (part 3, covering Cromwell, is due in October--Christmas!)
Anyway, there I was looking at British history.
And that made me think of the Battle of Britain. So I made a lateral move into World War II history... and the upshot was I came out with two books for Dad and five for me, including The Dam Busters by James Holland.
Who, on closer inspection, wrote the big history of the Battle of Britain that I looked at when I visited the RAF Museum last summer on the London trip, I should have bought it then but didn't think it was practical to carry all day. (Stupid!)
Anyway, that one came with a "buy together!" link on Amazon (UK), to another well-reviewed book on the subject called The Most Dangerous Enemy. So, um, I did.
And then just a moment ago I completely lost my head and bought a trio of paperbacks all by Leo McKinstry:
Spitfire: Portrait of a Legend (2007)
Lancaster: The Second World War's Greatest Bomber (2009)
Hurricane: Victor of the Battle of Britain (2010)
Even for someone with a lifelong interest in vintage warbirds, this may be a little much.
But, once my credit card stops smoking, I promise to behave myself for a long time. At least until I get everything read.
But this past couple of weeks...
It started when I innocently walked into Chapters, the local big-box bookstore, looking for a particular history book to give my dad. While shopping for his last birthday, on a whim, I picked up a hardcover history book called Foundations, by Peter Ackroyd, off a sale table and added it to his gift. Well, he talked about that book for months. And the book gave the impression it was part of a series, so I went looking, and part 2, on the Tudors, is also available in hardcover (part 3, covering Cromwell, is due in October--Christmas!)
Anyway, there I was looking at British history.
And that made me think of the Battle of Britain. So I made a lateral move into World War II history... and the upshot was I came out with two books for Dad and five for me, including The Dam Busters by James Holland.
Who, on closer inspection, wrote the big history of the Battle of Britain that I looked at when I visited the RAF Museum last summer on the London trip, I should have bought it then but didn't think it was practical to carry all day. (Stupid!)
Anyway, that one came with a "buy together!" link on Amazon (UK), to another well-reviewed book on the subject called The Most Dangerous Enemy. So, um, I did.
And then just a moment ago I completely lost my head and bought a trio of paperbacks all by Leo McKinstry:
Spitfire: Portrait of a Legend (2007)
Lancaster: The Second World War's Greatest Bomber (2009)
Hurricane: Victor of the Battle of Britain (2010)
Even for someone with a lifelong interest in vintage warbirds, this may be a little much.
But, once my credit card stops smoking, I promise to behave myself for a long time. At least until I get everything read.