addictions
I've got this problem. If it were a drug or drink, or even sex, it would be considered an addiction. But it's books. So some would call it an obsession. I think it's a straight-forward addiction.
No matter how many books I already have, or have won (which I totally appreciate, I think it's wonderful that people are willing to hold contests and GIVE away books) if I go too long without going to a bookstore, then I feel out of sorts. When I actually get into the book store, I think my heart beats a little faster. Then of course I end up buying at least two books. When I had more money flow, I would spend a minimum of $50 a whack. Now I do try to control it a little. If I don't see a book that I KNOW was supposed to be out, or if I don't see any book that calls out to me, then I feel unaccountably upset, even pissed off.
When I was a young mom, I barely had to dimes to rub together, so it was rare that I was able to buy more than one book at a time. I always managed to find something though. Usually it was a book that I threw in with the groceries while food shopping. That's most likely why I read so many historical romances, because in the 80's and early 90's the book variety available at the grocery store was either "bodice rippers", mysteries or thrillers. Or of course, cross word puzzles. I did a lot of those; there seems to be certain words that are common to crossword puzzles - e'er, o'er, lam, etc.
The first time I was able to buy more that two books at a time was when I began working my second job - second as in my night job that I was working while employed at my part-time day job.(there was a period of one a half years that I had absolutely NO days off - the school was Mon-Fri, the night job was Tues-Sun). I remember that there was a Crown Books within walking distance of my apartment - if you didn't mind walking on an overpass to get across the freeway to the Target shopping center. At the time it didn't bother me much, I was in my 30's and in fairly good shape. I would walk with a few of my kids - usually the three youngest and we would go to Starbucks and Crown Books. Those were fun times - even though I didn't have a care then. That first time in Crown Books I think I spent about $60.00 which would translate to about $100 now. We bought books for the kids and many, many paperbacks for me. Soon after that I "discovered" fantasy and Sci-Fi.
I'm bringing this all up now, because I feel a little guilty. Even though I want to save money for a laptaop or I-pad, even though I know I should have paid a liscensing fee for my puppy, even though I should be thinking about getting the little terror fixed, I still went to the store tonight and bought myself some more books that I probably won't read for three months. Well, except for one of them
I had to - There are a few authors that I'm absolutely obsessed (addicted) to read - Devon Monk, Suzanne McLeod, Patricia Briggs, Ann Aguirre....Those are in the top 10. There's more that I HAVE to read, because they are so good, but these are the ones that are popping in my head right now. These are the books and writers that I have to get the moment I can, and then drop reading everything else because I feel COMPELLED to read their books. It's a fun addiction! : ) At least it's fun!
But that wasn't the only book I bought - oh no! I seriously debated buying Seanan McGuire's A Local Habitation, but I think I might have bought it already - couldn't remember though, so I waited. Then I saw three book - two that I've never heard of and one that I read about on someone's blog. I didn't think too much about these books, meaning I looked at the covers, liked the covers, and the blurb - checked out some of the dialogue in the middle of the book and then just went for it - the buy. I hope I'm not disappointed. These were kind of impulse buys - and sometimes I regret them.
Black Blade Blues is an urban fantasy (with dragons) by J.A.Pitts. A TOR publication and the first in a series. I find a lot of the books I like are published by TOR or BAEN. The other books coming in this series are Honeyed Words, and Hearth and Home. J.A. Pitts has a pretty interesting website; hover around on the title portion of the page (I know there's an actual word for this...) for "cookies". She also writes short stores, and is published in at least five anthologies. This is the first book of her's, the first of anything of her's that I'll be reading.
Hunted by the Others is the novel that I've seen on a blog somewhere. Listed as an urban fantasy by Jess Haines, it seems to be about a detective (Shiarra Waynest), vampires and mages as well as shifters. There is a nerdy mage involved, according to the blurb. I bought the book today, but a quick look at the home page at Ms Haines website shows it available for pre-order, so I'm not sure if I just got lucky, or the page needs to be updated. Who cares, anyway? I don't know, it just jumped out at me. Click on the book cover for an excerpt offered by the author. A sequel is in the works, due out in January 2011 - Taken By the Others. a Kensington publication. There are a few author blurb, "quotes" (?) that say this is a funny read, so I have hopes. Lilith Saintcrow has written a little quote on it, "Fresh, hilarious, and action-packed. I loved every minute of it.". I normally don't pay much attention to author quotes, but I enjoy Lilith Saintcrow (she's in the top 10 for me).
Stormwalker by Allyson James - I've never heard of Allyson James before, but she's written a book called Dragon Master and there are a lot of authors that I haven't heard about before. In fact, this is the sixth book that she's written, thought the first in this series. It's also listed as a paranormal romance. I almost didn't buy it, because of the paranormal romance thing. Maybe the romance won't be overwhelming. Anyway, this looks like it'll work for the POC reading challenge. Once I got it home, and peaked at a few more pages, I see that the main character is Navajo. (unless my peaking skills are misleading me). Yeay! for excerpts (click on cover). I love when authors put up excerpts - can be a real deal-breaker for me. (is that a positive or negative term?). A sequel to Stormwalker is Firewalker, due in November 2010. The cover is already up, and is very "hot" - really, it's literally On Fire. (oh the puns!).
<---- see what I mean? de fuego! The character's hair seems changed. it's shorter - maybe it was singed off!
That's it for me - I've done enough!
No matter how many books I already have, or have won (which I totally appreciate, I think it's wonderful that people are willing to hold contests and GIVE away books) if I go too long without going to a bookstore, then I feel out of sorts. When I actually get into the book store, I think my heart beats a little faster. Then of course I end up buying at least two books. When I had more money flow, I would spend a minimum of $50 a whack. Now I do try to control it a little. If I don't see a book that I KNOW was supposed to be out, or if I don't see any book that calls out to me, then I feel unaccountably upset, even pissed off.
When I was a young mom, I barely had to dimes to rub together, so it was rare that I was able to buy more than one book at a time. I always managed to find something though. Usually it was a book that I threw in with the groceries while food shopping. That's most likely why I read so many historical romances, because in the 80's and early 90's the book variety available at the grocery store was either "bodice rippers", mysteries or thrillers. Or of course, cross word puzzles. I did a lot of those; there seems to be certain words that are common to crossword puzzles - e'er, o'er, lam, etc.
The first time I was able to buy more that two books at a time was when I began working my second job - second as in my night job that I was working while employed at my part-time day job.(there was a period of one a half years that I had absolutely NO days off - the school was Mon-Fri, the night job was Tues-Sun). I remember that there was a Crown Books within walking distance of my apartment - if you didn't mind walking on an overpass to get across the freeway to the Target shopping center. At the time it didn't bother me much, I was in my 30's and in fairly good shape. I would walk with a few of my kids - usually the three youngest and we would go to Starbucks and Crown Books. Those were fun times - even though I didn't have a care then. That first time in Crown Books I think I spent about $60.00 which would translate to about $100 now. We bought books for the kids and many, many paperbacks for me. Soon after that I "discovered" fantasy and Sci-Fi.
I'm bringing this all up now, because I feel a little guilty. Even though I want to save money for a laptaop or I-pad, even though I know I should have paid a liscensing fee for my puppy, even though I should be thinking about getting the little terror fixed, I still went to the store tonight and bought myself some more books that I probably won't read for three months. Well, except for one of them
I had to - There are a few authors that I'm absolutely obsessed (addicted) to read - Devon Monk, Suzanne McLeod, Patricia Briggs, Ann Aguirre....Those are in the top 10. There's more that I HAVE to read, because they are so good, but these are the ones that are popping in my head right now. These are the books and writers that I have to get the moment I can, and then drop reading everything else because I feel COMPELLED to read their books. It's a fun addiction! : ) At least it's fun!
But that wasn't the only book I bought - oh no! I seriously debated buying Seanan McGuire's A Local Habitation, but I think I might have bought it already - couldn't remember though, so I waited. Then I saw three book - two that I've never heard of and one that I read about on someone's blog. I didn't think too much about these books, meaning I looked at the covers, liked the covers, and the blurb - checked out some of the dialogue in the middle of the book and then just went for it - the buy. I hope I'm not disappointed. These were kind of impulse buys - and sometimes I regret them.
Black Blade Blues is an urban fantasy (with dragons) by J.A.Pitts. A TOR publication and the first in a series. I find a lot of the books I like are published by TOR or BAEN. The other books coming in this series are Honeyed Words, and Hearth and Home. J.A. Pitts has a pretty interesting website; hover around on the title portion of the page (I know there's an actual word for this...) for "cookies". She also writes short stores, and is published in at least five anthologies. This is the first book of her's, the first of anything of her's that I'll be reading.
Hunted by the Others is the novel that I've seen on a blog somewhere. Listed as an urban fantasy by Jess Haines, it seems to be about a detective (Shiarra Waynest), vampires and mages as well as shifters. There is a nerdy mage involved, according to the blurb. I bought the book today, but a quick look at the home page at Ms Haines website shows it available for pre-order, so I'm not sure if I just got lucky, or the page needs to be updated. Who cares, anyway? I don't know, it just jumped out at me. Click on the book cover for an excerpt offered by the author. A sequel is in the works, due out in January 2011 - Taken By the Others. a Kensington publication. There are a few author blurb, "quotes" (?) that say this is a funny read, so I have hopes. Lilith Saintcrow has written a little quote on it, "Fresh, hilarious, and action-packed. I loved every minute of it.". I normally don't pay much attention to author quotes, but I enjoy Lilith Saintcrow (she's in the top 10 for me).
Stormwalker by Allyson James - I've never heard of Allyson James before, but she's written a book called Dragon Master and there are a lot of authors that I haven't heard about before. In fact, this is the sixth book that she's written, thought the first in this series. It's also listed as a paranormal romance. I almost didn't buy it, because of the paranormal romance thing. Maybe the romance won't be overwhelming. Anyway, this looks like it'll work for the POC reading challenge. Once I got it home, and peaked at a few more pages, I see that the main character is Navajo. (unless my peaking skills are misleading me). Yeay! for excerpts (click on cover). I love when authors put up excerpts - can be a real deal-breaker for me. (is that a positive or negative term?). A sequel to Stormwalker is Firewalker, due in November 2010. The cover is already up, and is very "hot" - really, it's literally On Fire. (oh the puns!).
<---- see what I mean? de fuego! The character's hair seems changed. it's shorter - maybe it was singed off!
That's it for me - I've done enough!