Books I Bought

I've moved

2010-08-15T08:44:00.000-07:00

I haven't updated this in forever. I've started a new, more general blog that will include me talking about the books I've bought.

I'm now at A Place to Write Things.

Thanks!

LIbrary book sale

2009-11-30T08:45:00.001-08:00

Actually a library book *store*. I went to the Chattanooga, TN, library bookstore and bought a book of food essays by Elizabeth David for $3.25.

FREE books

2009-11-22T15:46:00.000-08:00

Oh my. A local friend and bookstore owner was having a book giveaway/fundraiser to support a good friend.

I got um...a lot of books. OK they weren't really free - I donated money to the cause.

Reading Like a Writer - Francine Prose
Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson (an ARC - I've read this but wanted to own it)
Adverbs by Daniel Handler (Lemony Snicket)
Reading in Bed - edited by Steven Gilbar
The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean
Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv
The Three-Martini Playdate
The Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl

And a TON of picture books for my daughter.

Awesome.

Also a friend gave me Lynda Barry's One Hundred Demons for my birthday.

Cheap books with free shipping, oh my

2009-11-02T07:13:00.000-08:00

I need to make a post about all the awesome books a friend gave me yesterday, but first...

BookCloseouts.com is having an AWESOME sale. First, all cookbooks are on sale for 35% off of their already cheap prices.

Second, they're doing FREE SHIPPING on orders of $35 or more. I can easily hit that - watch for a post in the future with my order, I'm sure.

To get the free shipping, use coupon number: freeshipping and coupon password: bookcloseouts.com - easy peasy!

If you love books like me, you really need to take advantage of this deal.

Church sale

2009-10-25T07:02:00.001-07:00

I've been pretty good lately about buying books. I went on vacation and even went to a thrift store and several local indie booksellers and still...nothing.

But yesterday I hit a church sale. I got the following for 50 cents each:

- The Great American Bathroom Book Volume 1 (I have 2 and 3 - they're basically giant Cliffs Notes about great works of literature)
- Clark's Big Book of Bargains (Clark Howard's book)
- American Harvest by Nava Atlas (one of my favorite vegetarian cookbook authors)
- The Klutz Cats Cradle book (without the elastic) (They threw this in for free.)
- A tiny book about otters called Otter On His Own. I love otters. (They threw this in for free too.)

Back to the book sale!

2009-09-27T14:59:00.000-07:00

I confess, I couldn't stay away. I went with a friend to the giant booksale on half-price day without my kid so I could really browse.

It was shockingly NOT picked over. Which made it difficult because everything was around $1 or 50 cents and I *had* to put things back because honestly, I have too many books now.

(I have been reading Biblioholism and man, I have it bad.)

Blue dots were 50 cents, green dots were $1.

Book fast!!!!!!

Giant book sale!

2009-09-23T16:34:00.000-07:00

Every year a consortium of libraries have one giant book sale at a local mall. Today I managed to go on day one, early on. That said, I also had my kid with me, so I couldn't have a leisurely browse. I had to scan and grab, scan and grab, and keep moving.

I spent $9 and got 7 books (and oops, one accidentally didn't get tallied).

I kind of want to try to go back without the kid, although I also know it will be more picked over. Sunday afternoon is half-price time...

I also got another book from paperback swap - Learning to Bow by Bruce Feller, about teaching in Japan (I saw it at a booksale and decided to get it from PBS instead) and another PBS book is on its way - Biblioholism, about being addicted to...books. Seemed appropriate.

Just one...

2009-09-20T16:29:00.000-07:00

I feel like I've forgotten to mention something...we did get an autographed copy of Skippyjon Jones last week. Maybe that.

Today - a mad dash through the thrift store, just to get it out of my system. I scored Dishwasher by Dishwasher Pete - a zine book! Yes! And I started reading it in the car and couldn't put it down. I've been reading travelogues that aren't that great so...this was fun.

Library book sale!

2009-09-06T11:42:00.000-07:00

First, I got The May Queen from Paperback Swap - hooray! Looking forward to reading this collection of essays about being in your 30s.

Yesterday kicked off the Decatur Book Festival. And the first thing I did was go to the library booksale when it opened - it was ridiculously crowded with festival goes and people with little scanners on their phones/PDAs (to find out which books are "valuable" - seems pretty tedious to me). However, I'm pretty happy with my scores. Blue dots were a dollar, red were 50 cents, green were $2:

Present for a friend

Alas, I already had the 2006 Best American Nonrequired Reading. I'll probably give this to another friend.

Thrift store again!

2009-08-22T14:33:00.000-07:00

I feel like it's been awhile since I went thrifting but...I don't think it's really true.

Anyway, we went to Goodwill to drop off many things - I donated about ten books - and I then bought two books for $1.50 each: Anne Lamott's Plan B and Laurie Notaro's Autobiography of a Fat Bride.

Note to self: I now have all of Anne Lamott's books (I think - at least all her nonfiction) and 90% of Laurie Notaro's.

On its way to me from Paperback Swap: The May Queen, a collection of essays about being in your 30s. And did I mention the Photoshop 6 book I got from PBS? I can't remember. I have a bunch of credits there but am - for now - hoarding them until things from my wish list come around.

Thrift store!

2009-08-09T17:26:00.001-07:00

I hit one thrift store today but was called away before I had a chance to look at every single book... Still, I got things I'm happy with:

$1.50 each.

75 cents. I already have this (thrifted...), but my daughter ripped a page so I decided to get an extra copy. Again, like with other children's book doubles I have, I also want to use the art for other things.

Paperback Swap!

2009-07-31T14:06:00.000-07:00

OK, I have FAR too many books.

So I've started listing some on Paperback Swap.

This won't really get RID of a lot of books, as it's kind of a 1:1 trade type thing, but it will at least help me clear out books I'm done with and get ones I really want.

My profile page is at http://marla-tiara.paperbackswap.com - add me as a Buddy if you like!

Amazon!

2009-07-29T14:09:00.000-07:00

I had to buy a present for a friend, so I threw in a copy of The Fortune Cookie Chronicles for me. :) (All for free thanks to SwagBucks!)

One book from a thrift store

2009-07-25T13:16:00.000-07:00

I went to a very small Salvation Army and bought my daughter Dog Train by Sandra Boynton for $1.

So now I am even MORE mad at myself for not buying the other Boynton CD/book (sans CD) that I saw last week. (Rhinoceros Tap) Because now I have 3 out of the 4 books like this. Hrmph.

More thrifting!

2009-07-18T17:23:00.000-07:00

Ah, two thrift store trips in one week. Now I'm good for a few more weeks...

First I hit the same store I was at on Wednesday (where I got the majority of the books in the last post). The store was running a 50% off sale, but nothing was really that exciting.

Cookbook, 50 cents. Stinky Cheese Man, $1. I already have a lovely copy of SCM, but I grabbed this for crafty purposes, including possibly framing some of the pages.

Next Value Village:

$1.50 each.

80 cents for Blue Moo, 40 cents for Personal Penguin. Blue Moo is missing the CD, which made me hesitate, but I can get a copy of the CD elsewhere. And after I bought it I regretted NOT buying another Boynton CD-with-book-minus-the-CD that I saw on Wednesday. Ah well, next time I see it I'll get it.

Finally, Goodwill:

$1.50 for the hardcovers, 75 cents for the paperback (Yay! Dar Williams's book!). I already have Olivia but again, this is for crafts/framing. The author of the small alphabet book was one of my professors in grad school.

$1.50. I don't really need any more cookbooks, ever, but this was cute.

OK, back to book fast! ;)

PS Bookcloseouts.com is having a HUGE sale on children's books. I may have to break my book fast...check it out!

Thrift stores!

2009-07-15T17:38:00.000-07:00

Yay! I needed more books. ;)

99 cents.

$1.50 each.

Yard sale

2009-07-12T10:32:00.001-07:00

I bought two books at a friend's yard sale - a book all about cats (caring, feeding, treating illnesses, etc.) and a birdwatching book that I plan to cut up and use for crafts and buttons.

I haven't had a chance to take pictures but I wanted to get them down.

Mostly I've been behaved for the past few weeks (it feels like forever!) and have been getting my fix at the library instead.

Thrifting

2009-06-22T06:15:00.000-07:00

Thrift store #1 (Value Village)...

$1.50 each:

Store #2 (Goodwill), where I apparently decided to buy extra copies of books I already had. *SIGH* I hate when that happens.

$1.50 each and I already have the Travelers Tale book. Boo. I love that series and always just grab any of them that I see...figures I already have this one.

$2.50 each and...I already have Mothers Who Think in paperback. I'm not sure which one I'll keep and which one will become a gift to one of my various mom friends:

I love Spook by Mary Roach - I have also read Stiff (my favorite) and Bonk - and, as you may have learned, I cannot resist food porn in the form of a Chronicle cookbook - check out the inside:

*drool*

$1.25 (half price):

I love Elisha Cooper and either own or have read several of his books both for kids and grownups.

And finally, my friend scored this for me for 50 cents at a different store:

I have been *DYING* to read this (and yes, I love the Poe album too). Yesssss. She also found me two essay collections about Buffy/Angel and a copy of The Reader and a full set of Beatrix Potter books... (no pictures so far, maybe later).

That's all for now! TOTALLY going on a book fast starting today. Totally. ;)

PS The Treasure Map of Boys by e. lockhart is AMAZING. I really need to find time to write a proper review but I read it in a single sitting, staying up late to finish it.

Two yard sales!

2009-06-20T08:25:00.000-07:00

Yard sale #1 was to benefit a sick Maine Coon cat - awww. I got these two books for $1 each and also got some original robot art (for free, but we made a donation to the kitty). Nice.

The inside of the really nifty Barcelona book:

Yard sale #2 had all books for 25 cents. I found one I wanted, but I only had a $5 bill so I forced myself (HA) to find three more...

The book I really wanted:

The other three that are also fabulous:

(I may already have the Cool Cats book but I got it to cut up/frame/be crafty with...)

New book + book sale!

2009-06-19T06:08:00.000-07:00

First, I won an ARC of e. lockhart's latest book, The Treasure Map of Boys, and I am SO excited to read it. I actually plan on reviewing it here (oooh, aaaah) so stay tuned.

Second, Book Closeouts is having a huge sale and I am trying to resist but...there are a few things I want...*sigh*.

Third, I traded the two Jen Lancaster books I had with a friend for the Jen Lancaster book she had - Such a Pretty Fat.

Otherwise, I've been pretty restrained, and I even have a pretty big "give away" pile (including Such a Pretty Fat) that I may just give away on this here blog. I think.

Random thrift store trip

2009-06-07T15:42:00.000-07:00

There's a thrift store near where my husband goes ice skating, and he wanted to go skating and I didn't, so he dropped me and my daughter off at the store. (She was less than pleased, but that's not really part of this story.)

I bought things other than books this time (gasp! horror!) but I'll just show you the books. ;)

All of the books were $1.50 except the one on the bottom row, middle, which was half price (75 cents). Turns out that book is not something I'm interested in, as it is essays about motherhood, but is also very religious. I will be giving it away or something. I'm not a huge RR fan but for $1.50 I figured I could check it out. The salsa book is a Chronicle book (yay) and I love salsa. Paul Feig is funny, and the Joyce Maynard book looks really good.

Oh, but I thought I recognized the name Joyce Maynard and couldn't figure out why. I even called a friend of mine and she was like "Yeah, sounds familiar but I don't know who she is offhand."

From Wikipedia, "Daphne Joyce Maynard (born November 5, 1953) is an American author who, in addition to her own literary career, is known for the relationship she had with author J. D. Salinger when she was 18."

OH! Cool.

Yay!

Back to the church sale...

2009-06-06T09:56:00.001-07:00

So I went back to the church sale - and while I was picking through the books, they announced that it was one box of books for $1. Exciting! Well, so I thought. I grabbed the rest of the Golden Book encyclopedias that I had seen yesterday - 10 volumes, all to be chopped up for crafting - and then saw The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell (missing dust jacket), a "book for boys" with lots of pictures to chop up and reuse, and then a coffee table book called 24 Hours in Dekalb County (where I live). And then - OOOOH - The Sandman: Book of Dreams. Like, I was so ridiculously excited I almost called my friend about it.

I pay, then I wander the rest of the sale, then duck back into the book section and find The American Way of Birth and a book about the ritual of sitting down to dinner (I'll fill in the title later). The kid let me take them since I'd already bought my box (really a bag) of books.

So why no pictures? I'm still pouting. I got in the car afterward and my Sandman book? Damp - which I'd suspected - and starting to grow a light green mold. If nothing else, I don't want this book infecting my other books. So, sigh sigh, I put it directly in the recycle bin. And The American Way of Birth? Has speckles of brown mold on top, but doesn't seem to be to damp, so I may put it in the sun to see what happens (or maybe - seriously - use sandpaper on it), but I've also requested a copy from the library because I really want to read it (I started skimming it in the car and it's amazing). And the Wordy Shipmates is also vaguely damp. I mean, for an average of 6.5 cents per book, the financial loss is fine, but MAN I wanted to read these!

Oh well.

It pays to wait a day to go to the church sale...

2009-06-05T13:42:00.000-07:00

Every year a local church has a MASSIVE yard sale, with everything kind of thrown out on their huge lawn. It's chaotic, but it's also cheap. I went by not expecting to find anything, and I was rewarded with what looked like acres of books. The books were tossed haphazardly in cardboard boxes. Yesterday it rained - and it looked like they'd thrown tarps over the boxes, but the ground was wet and some of the books were wet. As a result, all books were 2/$1 - a woman told me that yesterday they were $2/hardbacks.

I managed to look through the books while wearing my daughter in a front carry in an Ergo. I'd walk by the boxes, and if something caught my eye, I'd have to carefully lower us both down so I could see. This probably meant that I bought fewer books than I really could have - and since I walked to the sale and had to carry everything, I also had to deal with the weight of the books. And they were HEAVY.

Anyway, here's round one. I think I may go back tomorrow to see about round two...

Books for my daughter (and me). You may recall that I got her Brown Bear, Brown Bear at a recent yard sale. Yeah, she already has ripped a few of the pages. The board book will work much better.

I am VERY excited about the Laura Ingalls Wilder songbook. And I picked up and put down several ridiculous cookbooks but wound up only keeping the one that you see here. Gross diet food! Yes!

How Things Work is just neat. The book on the right is for chopping up for craft projects. They actually had several volumes at the sale, but this one intrigued me the most. If I go back, I may grab others.

I've been wanting to read Eat This, Not That for some time. It looks interesting. And the dog book is for a friend (who happens to be my thrifting partner in crime as well). Both are in perfect condition.

Best score of the sale. As far as I can tell this is complete - it has a book, a poster, and, well, letters (literal letters of the alphabet). The price tag on it is $20, and it's something I've wanted for a very long time. Hooray!

I also bought a shirt for a quarter, but by then my bag was too heavy to get anything else...

New thrift store, same old tricks.

2009-06-01T16:06:00.001-07:00

*crickets* Ah, OK, so nobody's really reading. ;)

So today my husband found me a new thrift store to check out - a St. Vincents.

The good: Big room devoted to books, slightly-less-than-Goodwill prices, nice selection.
The bad: They mark up books on a whim, and they write the price *in Sharpie* on the cover or *in pen* on the inside. This makes me twitch. I know that when I buy used/thrifted books they won't be pristine, but when I want to buy a funny vintage cookbook for the cover and it has a big black $2 written on it, well, it's not as exciting. They also marked up a gorgeous cookbook about cocktails and a lovely Chronicle book with recipes from the CIA (Culinary Institute, not the government agency, though that would be funny). I have far too many cookbooks to pay $3 or $4 for something that just looks pretty, so back on the shelf they went.

Oh but don't think I left empty handed!

Top left - Looking for Mercy Street by Linda Sexton. $2. It was in the dollar section but it apparently didn't have the magic secret dot on it. The sweet little old lady was like "sorry!" and I said "eh, OK, I'll get it anyway."
Top right - Eating My Words by Mimi Sheraton. This was in the $1 section and did have the proper dot. I've wanted to read this for a while. Yay!
Bottom left - Super Baby Food. My kid is a bit older and doesn't need "baby food" but when I flipped through, the book had a bunch of cool recipes. I told you I've started collecting this type of cookbook! $1.50 and written in pen on the inside (for no good reason - all large-ish paperback books are $1.50 unless otherwise marked).
Bottom right - The Unsavvy Traveler. AKA a Seal Press book. Great publisher, so I grabbed it. $1.50.
(My husband also bought two books. Sheesh!)

And this isn't a book but it's too cool to not post:

I had this edition as a kid. I wanted to use it for crafts, my husband wants to play it. As it is sealed, we don't know whether it's a complete game anyway, so that will help determine what it finally becomes. PS SEE THE SHARPIE ON THE BOX? ARGH.

Meta post - new design, new title?

2009-05-27T14:19:00.001-07:00

OK, as you can see, I've been poking around behind the scenes of this here blog. I like the new banner that I made with my Super Expert Photoshop Skillz, but I'm not sure about the blog title.

I know the URL is Tiara Books, but that was just for consistency (I use "tiara" in most of my online dealings). I know I've been calling the blog "Books I Bought" but that isn't very flashy.

Do you have any suggestions, dear blog viewers? Meanwhile I'll be playing around and you may see things change, go back, and change again in the next week or so.

Thanks!

Library sale!

2009-05-23T07:46:00.000-07:00

I just can't resist my local library's booksale. I can't.

$1 each. Essays about motherhood (how many of these types of books do I need? Lots, apparently) and doctors/medical issues (ditto).

The book on the left was $1 and I'm really excited to read it. It was one of the last books I grabbed. The book on the right was $2 - I saw NPR on the cover and basically had to have it. Inside is a letter from the publisher. Nifty.

The book on the left is a book about books - how META! I almost squealed out loud when I found it. The book on the right I believe I've read about somewhere - the woman talks about her life and illustrates her favorite outfits. It's beautiful and fascinating. $1 each.

And finally, the cookbooks! $1 each. The ice cream book at the top left will go nicely with the gelato book I bought a few weeks ago - I grabbed it when a little girl put it down. (Yes, she was done with it - I don't steal from children!) The book on the top right is another toddler cookbook, apparently a new genre for me to explore. I have another toddler cookbook in my collection with a similar red-and-white checked background... At the bottom left we have the most ridiculous thing I bought today - a book about jello shots. Except I'm a grownup who doesn't party like that anymore. Oh and a vegetarian who doesn't eat jello. But it's a CHRONICLE book and it has adorable illustrations. I could not resist for a dollar. And finally, another book for my eccentric old cookbook collection. It's hard to see in the picture, but it's a diet book and the author was director of food services for Neiman-Marcus. Ha. Someday I'm going to have a kitchen in which I can display those...

That's all for today (unless I sneak back later).

Yard Sales!!!

2009-05-16T14:09:00.000-07:00

Sale #1:

50 cents. Cue Beavis and Butthead laughter...hehehehe...

The inside of that delightful cookbook. (Apparently it's part of a series.)

Sale #2:

It's marked $4, I offered $2, she accepted $3. I justified it by thinking that at Goodwill it would've cost $2.50 plus tax. Plus it's a Chronicle book and a great resource and reference tool (apparently a reissue of a classic). Also I just wanted it.

Inside.

Sale #3:

50 cents. Some kids were selling their stuff, it was cute.

Sale #4:

$1 for all, which was very generous of the woman who sold them to me.

Amazon!

2009-05-14T09:13:00.000-07:00

I wanted the new Tori Amos album, and I needed to hit $25 to get free shipping so I bought myself a few cookbooks. Everything was free because I've earned a ton of Amazon credit through mypoints, Swagbucks, and my credit card.

I had actually tried to order the Manga cookbook a long time ago, when it came in a set with a bento box, but it never came in stock at Amazon, so I canceled it. But I decided I wanted it even without the box, so here it is. And Cook It in a Cup will also make great bento treats. The Toddler Cafe...well...hopefully that + The Sneaky Chef book I got at a yardsale a few weeks ago will make dinnertime more pleasant around here.

Another day of thrifting...

2009-05-10T13:34:00.000-07:00

OK OK OK. I really have to stay away from thrift stores for a few weeks. Also, I think I should skip my local library booksale when it happens if only because I tend to see the books I get there for far cheaper at thrift stores. (We'll see about that though.)

So. Thrift store #1:

Ah. Just one book, $1.50. Great!

Thrift store #2:

OK...6 books at $1.50 each. Hear me out - I've always wanted to read Lamb, and Black, White and Jewish, and Thunderbolt Kid. I love Laurie Notaro so much. And I'm a sucker for travel tales of moving to a foreign country. (I actually skipped buying yet another one...)

Oh this little thing? It's tiny! And it was a yellow tag so it was half price! Only 75 cents! That hardly counts as a book. (I did put back another yellow-tagged book - about the woman who helped save giant pandas. Yeah, I know, I probably wouldn't have ever read it, but it looked so interesting...anyway it went back on the shelf. I get points for that, don't I?) By the way, this book scores big because aside from adorable content, it is a Chronicle book (yay) AND it is by Jennifer Traig, who is the author of two memoirs that I absolutely adored. Fabulous.

Well, yeah, these are hardback books. But I really always wanted to read the Listening book, and I totally am going to make gelato. OK, I'm not, but it's a gorgeous book - next to Chronicle cookbooks, 10 Speed Press cookbooks are my favorite for layout and content. Each of these was $2.50 AKA way more than I'd usually pay. I lost my head, what can I tell you.

ETA: Sadly, two pages of my beautiful gelato book were ripped out - well, that explains why it was at the thrift store. But it's absolutely gorgeous anyway and maybe I really will make some of the recipes someday.

We won't talk about the 3 books I ordered on Amazon earlier in the week...(I have tons of Amazon credit and was ordering the new Tori Amos CD...I'll tell you about it when they arrive.)

Thrift store fun!

2009-05-03T13:24:00.001-07:00

I'm visiting a friend of mine in Virginia and she and I headed out to her favorite thrift store...which was closed on Sundays. So instead we went to a different store that had TONS AND TONS of books - most paperbacks were 99 cents and most hardbacks were $1.99.

99 cents each.

99 cents each.

99 cents each.

99 cents, but um, I already have it. Oops. I am going to give my extra to a friend.

In words, I bought:
Thunder and Lightning by Natalie Goldberg
Flux by Peggy Orenstein
Flea by Sheila Zubrod & David Stern (Outdated, but has fun advice about what to look for at flea markets and thrift stores)
A Big Storm Knocked It Over by Laurie Colwin (I love More Home Cooking so I was excited to find this)
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks (I really wanted to read this!)
A Girl from Yamhill by Beverly Cleary (yessss)
The Toddler Owner's Manual

Books I put back - a copy of Weetzie Bat (I really wanted to rescue and give this one away, but...), a copy of Pledged (I've read it and I guess I don't need to own it), an ARC of the reissue of I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (I want to read it but I can get it at the library), and a hardback memoir called...A Kind Girl or...something Kind of Girl...yeah, clearly I really wanted that one, right? but if it had been paperback I totally would've gotten it. If you know what I'm talking about, comment - it's a memoir of a girl whose sister either died or was kidnapped/killed I think? She also had an autistic brother and the book jacket said (I remember this part) it was before autism was widely diagnosed. ETA: Found it! It's called "Girls of Tender Age."

Book fast - pshaw.

Library bookstore!

2009-04-22T13:36:00.001-07:00

Did you know that the Savannah, GA, public library has a bookstore inside? I found it online and yes indeed it exists. Paperbacks 50 cents, hardbacks $1. I bought my daughter two books - a board book about babies and mommies from the sea, and A Wish for Wings that Work by Berke Breathed. Then I got one book for me - From Here, You Can't See Paris by Michael S. Sanders, which combines my two favorite things - travel writing and food writing. Paid $2 (the woman gave us the board book for 50 cents). Yay books!

...pictures may show up sometime...

Book fast? Did I say that?

2009-04-18T16:15:00.000-07:00

There were THREE neighborhood yard sales today...three! I was weak!

Free!

10 cents each. The book on the right is so amazing...

50 cents each.

50 cents each except the Sneaky Chef book, which was $1.50 and includes a media letter/press release.

Spiderwick - 50 cents. Amazing cookbook featuring the entrants in the 1966 Mrs. Georgia pageant, 25 cents.

10 cents total. (The owners had abandoned their yard sale, I left the money because I felt I should leave something and that's what I had in my pocket...)

Yeah. Good times.

This doesn't count either...

2009-04-16T19:07:00.000-07:00

Still on my book fast, but I bought my friend Terra Elan McVoy's new novel (her first!) called Pure. :) Bought it from my favorite local independent bookseller (but got it at a discount since I used to work at said bookstore). Woohoo!

One (free) book from Amazon

2009-04-10T11:27:00.000-07:00

This almost shouldn't count against my book fast - I think I even bought this before I declared the book fast, and it was free with Amazon credit won from Swagbucks. Plus it was an addition to an order of a book that was a gift - I needed to reach the $25 free shipping threshold...

Anyway, I bought Vegetarian Sandwiches by Paulette Mitchell. It's a Chronicle cookbook - my weakness! - and the recipes look easy enough. Of course it's a big tease as it arrived at the beginning of Passover...I'll have to put it aside until next week unless I want to further my bread cravings.

I'll post a picture of it later, if I have time. But it's a gorgeous book, trust me.

OMG Book Sale

2009-04-03T16:00:00.000-07:00

Bookcloseouts.com has thousands of fiction titles on sale for $1.99 each. That's less than hardcover books at Goodwill.

*twitch* I put myself on a book-buying fast for at least a month but...I'm not sure if I can hold out.

4/2/09 - Thrift Stores

2009-04-02T17:37:00.000-07:00

I hit two Goodwills and one Value Village today.

I kept saying "I think I already have this cookbook." Oops, I did. Well, it will be a present for someone. Both from Value Village - SNL book $2.02, cookbook $1.50.

$1.50 each from Goodwill. More Dr. Sears - hooray!

More Corduroy! 75 cents.

$1.50 each but somehow I wound up with one for free because the cashier did...something.

$1.25 and my favorite find of the day - I love this book and own other books of hers and probably would've paid full price for this at some point otherwise.

In order to keep this interesting - free books! Contests!

2009-03-30T07:38:00.000-07:00

In order for me to feel OK about constantly buying books, I really have to purge my collection on occasion. So I think that I will be offering some of the books I've bought and read (or bought and found doubles of, or bought and later decided I didn't want) as prizes through this blog.

I already have started a pile of books that I will be offering. Just keep watching this blog for my contests to win free books. Particularly if you like the types of books that I tend to thrift!

50 cent books from local library sale.

2009-03-28T16:02:00.000-07:00

All books 50 cents unless otherwise noted. From local library booksale.

Books I bought for me:

I've recently rediscovered Barbara Kingsolver after reading and loving Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. Years ago I loved The Bean Trees, and my collection includes a thrifted copy of The Poisonwood Bible. So I was pleased to find this book of essays.

Why yes, I did find *two* books about synesthesia. I found this clinical one first, and the book A Mango-Shaped Space second. I was thrilled about both. I love books like that.

I vaguely remember Tessie and Pearlie - I think I may have read it in the past. Maybe.

(Buffy is for a friend and cost 25 cents.)

Books I bought for my daughter:

Books my husband bought:

(Middlemarch was 25 cents.)

Thrift store day

2009-03-17T16:05:00.000-07:00

One store was having a fabulous sale - 10/$1 for paperbacks, 5/$1 for hardbacks...

10 cents each!

(And yes, I've read The Lovely Bones. I always see it at thrift stores and yard sales and book sales and have always left it, but for 10 cents, well, I figured, why not.)

The book with the bones on it is called "The Bone Lady: Life as a Forensic Anthropologist" and I am really excited to read it. And no, I never watch the TV show Bones despite Angel being on it (Angel...is in the sunlight...and he's not bursting into flames...?) but I may have to now!

Ah and I've read Anansi Boys too but...yeah...NEIL GAIMAN FOR A DIME YES PLEASE.

(Not shown, a book about pets found on Petfinder that was book #10. I got it for the friend I was thrifting with.)

20 cents each. I already have Office Spa but for 20 cents I figured I could cut it up a bit - it has really cute illustrations.

(Not shown, the two books my friend got - a book about the Dalai Lama and...something else...)

The Last Unicorn - 75 cents (half price).
Ridiculous baby food cookbook - $1.25 (half price).
Toddler book (Seal Press! One of my favorite funky publishers!) - $1.50.

$1.25.

$1.25 each.

$1.50 each. OMG YES I MIGHT GO TO JAPAN. SOMEDAY. WITH MY DAUGHTER. Or, well, it was just too cool to pass up.

Weird thrifty-magical note: at the next Goodwill we went to, several towns over? Another copy of that kids/Japan book! But the one I bought was in better shape so yay.

The one on the left I got in a little used bookstore about a week before all the other books for $2. The one on the right is from the same trip as everything above and was 75 cents (half price). Wheeeeeeee Dr. Sears. Patron saint of crunchy moms everywhere. I hope I can find the rest of the set someday.

Thrift store - just bought one!

2009-03-14T17:11:00.000-07:00

I bought Girl Talk by Julianna Baggott for $1.50 at Goodwill. And that was all I bought - impressive, eh?

Bookcloseouts.com

2009-03-09T16:14:00.000-07:00

A good ~~very evil~~ friend recently turned me on to www.bookcloseouts.com. And now I'm addicted. However, I try to keep my orders to times when there are sales...

So this is what I got (pictures may or may not follow):

The Best American Magazine Writing 2004 ($2.99)
Damage Control: Women on the Therapists, Beauticians, and Trainers Who Navigate Their Bodies (includes an essay by Francesca Lia Block) ($2.49)
100 Years of the Best Writing and Reporting by Women Journalists ($2.49)
The Merry Recluse by Caroline Knapp ($2.49)
Mortification (essay collection) ($2.49)
The Subway Chronicles (another essay collection) ($2.49)
Tiny Ladies in Shiny Pants by Jill Soloway ($1.99)
Walking a Literary Labryinth by Nancy Malone ($2.49)
Guarding the Moon by Francesca Lia Block ($3.99)

A new book, really!

2009-02-26T17:27:00.000-08:00

I had a gift card to a local used/new bookstore (from selling them books).

On a different day, I used it to buy The Boyfriend List by E. Lockhart.
On this day I bought Kitchen Con by Trevor White.

I wasn't a very good judge of timing, because this particular bookstore closed before I could finish spending my store credit. $9, gone. Poof. Ah well.

Another Thrift Store Day

2009-02-24T17:24:00.000-08:00

Best American Travel Writing (edited by Bill Bryson)
Until I Find You by John Irving
Listen Up, edited by Barbara Findlen, newly revised edition (I own the original version too and this one has all sorts of new essays)
She Got Up Off the Couch - Haven Kimmel
Worst Case Scenario Handbook: Dating and Sex
Bushwacked by Molly Ivins and Lou Dubose

I'm going to throw the Sunnydale Yearbook into this post even though this isn't the day on which I bought it...

Used bookstores

2009-02-21T16:31:00.000-08:00

First, I scooped up Cookoff by Amy Sutherland for $1 at a local used bookstore.

Later, at a used bookstore in Commerce, GA, I bought:

Moosewood Cooks at Home cookbook
Schott's Miscellany
Morning Food (cookbook)

Thrift store books

2009-02-19T17:20:00.000-08:00

More Home Cooking by Laurie Colwin (gift from friend)
The Wine Lover's Cookbook
Red Meat Cures Cancer by Starbuck O'Dwyer
Green Kids, Sage Families
The Nine Emotional Lives of Cats

Used bookstore

2009-02-17T17:18:00.000-08:00

The Road to McCarthy by Peter McCarthy - $2? I think? from a little used bookstore.

Valentine's Day = Book Buying!

2009-02-14T17:16:00.000-08:00

I don't remember prices for all of these:

The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe - fancy illustrated read-aloud version
In a Sunburned Country - Bill Bryson
Rabbis and Vegetarianism
Dogs That Know When Their Owners are Coming Home
Culture Shock: Morocco

Thrift stores in January

2009-01-18T16:32:00.000-08:00

I hit two Goodwills and a Value Village yesterday. One of the Goodwills had hardly any books, which was very very sad (but I still got one there). Value Village, on the other hand, made me very happy.

60 cents for Angelina, 80 cents for the kitties! (Value Village)

$1.50 - the pictures inside are gorgeous. (Goodwill)

$1.50 each - seriously, I still haven't gotten over the Goodwills around here doubling their book prices, and it's been over a year since it happened. Sheesh. (They used to be 75 cents each, and it was wonderful.) (Augusten was at Value Village, Susan Jane was hanging out at the no-books-for-you Goodwill)

Oh hey, free bookmark! It's nifty - lets you mark the last sentence you read as well as the page. Thanks Susan Jane!

$1.50 each at Goodwill - the top left is a history of American weddings, the top right is a book about a woman adopting a baby from China, and the bottom book is about Tramps. Kinda.

Both from VV - Dave was $1.50, and Lemony was $1.01 - I thought that was one of the Lemony Snicket books I'm missing, but it was actually one of the ones I already had in paperback. My goal is to have them all in hardback, so that's fine.

$2.50 at Goodwill. I cannot resist a gorgeous cookbook from Chronicle Books. I just can't.

Thrift store

2009-01-15T17:03:00.000-08:00

This may be incomplete, but I definitely bought:

Eat Well, Lose Weight while Breastfeeding
Good Nights by Dr. Jay Gordon
The Opposite of Fate by Amy Tan
101 Unuseless Japanese Inventions
Somebody Someday by Robbie Williams

I believe each one was $1.50.

Bookcloseouts.com

2009-01-08T16:35:00.000-08:00

Fork It Over (FREE)
Four Letter Word: New Love Letters $4.99
Strange Encounters (FREE)
Everything I Needed to Know About Being a Girl I Learned from Judy Blume (FREE)
Guilty Pleasures $2.99
Consuming Passions: a Food-Obsessed Life $4.99
Am I Blue?: Coming Out from the Silence $1.99
Caught in the Current (FREE)

I love books - possibly too much

2009-01-01T00:01:00.000-08:00

This blog is to keep track of all of the books that I purchase. Welcome.

Here's the situation - I'm pretty much addicted to books. Could be worse, right?

I love going to thrift stores, yard sales, and library sales - and buying books.

I love accumulating Amazon store credit in various ways (Swagbucks, mypoints (feel free to ask for a referral), and so on).

In addition, I absolutely LOVE Bookcloseouts.com and buy many books there.

And finally, I also like to support local independent businesses - both small used bookstores and full price stores (although in the end, I hate to pay full price for books!).

I wish I'd thought of this sooner - but I'll go back as far as I can and then going forward will keep track here, both in pictures and in text.

Edited to add: I started this blog on 3/28/09. Therefore all posts before that date may only include titles and not images, prices, or witty commentary. I think, however, that it is largely complete going back to the beginning of 2009 at this point. I was able to piece together my purchases using my posts to the "Thrift Whore" livejournal community, posts to a personal (and private) blog, and Delicious Library.

A note about Delicious Library. I love this program. I have about 99% of my book collection cataloged through it as of the end of March 2009 (over 1400 books and counting). I highly recommend it to any Mac user who wants to catalog a book or media collection. Poke around the web for a half-price code first, and then buy it. Worth $20 by far, and I get nothing for saying this.

Types of books you'll see over and over again:
Ridiculous old cookbooks - especially ones with funny titles, covers, or pictures
Gorgeous newer cookbooks - especially ones with beautiful art or design
Vegetarian cookbooks
Food writing of any kind
Travel essays
Books about medical things
Children's books (I have one child)
Books about motherhood/parenting/birth that lean toward the "crunchy"
Literary essay collections