I have accumulated quite a number of books over the course of this year so far. Here are some of the ones I could find amongst my stacks. The best part is I didn't spend a ton on these, any I bought were under £2 and any books I didn't buy I either won.
There's an excellent local charity bookstore a couple of towns over in Thornbury who sell all their paperbacks for 50p each. My husband and I often find ourselves wandering in there for as long as our son will let us without getting bored. Here are the books I've bought from there:
Names for the Sea: Strangers in Iceland
by Sarah Moss
After previously seeing Mercy from Mercy's Bookish Musing haul this in a video last year, it went straight to my to-read list. I feel very lucky to have found it for 50p! This non-fiction is about Sarah and her family moving to Iceland and their experiences there.
Wake
by Anna Hope
I've been interested in this novel since I saw the advertisements for it on goodreads just prior to its release. This copy I found new and unused, total bargain! It's a book about the effects World War 1 on three women.
The Forgotten Garden
by Kate Morton
I've seen Kate Morton books floating about but had never picked one up myself but after curiously reading the blurb I just had to buy it. The Forgotten Garden is a mystery about how an English girl ends up abandoned on an Australian port.
The Joy Luck Club
by Amy Tan
This was just a book I stumbled on and decided was finally time to read. This novel follows four recently emigrated Chinese women who have settled in San Francisco and their daughters know little about their Chinese heritage and think that it is irrelevant to their American lives.
Falling Leaves
by Adeline Yen Mah
I read my mother's copy of this when I was about 11 and found myself intrigued by the Chinese culture and how different it was from any I had ever experienced. This is a memoir about an unwanted Chinese daughter in communist China.
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China
by Jung Chang
I felt the need to buy this after buying myself a copy of Falling Leaves as it is a critically acclaimed history of China. The book follows three generations of women in the author's family and covers China's twentieth century in a masterful way.
American Gods
by Neil Gaiman
I have never read anything by Neil Gaiman before, though I have been meaning to, so when I saw it I knew it was the perfect opportunity. This is a story about some ancient gods and their struggle to survive in the modern world as their followers have abandoned them for modern technology and consumerism. Shadow, after being released from prison, gets thrown into a journey travelling across America in an effort to help the gods win and return to their former glory.
The House at Riverton
by Kate Morton
After a previous visit to this bookstore where I bought The Forgotten Garden and loved it, I returned solely with the purpose to purchase any Kate Morton novels I could lay my hands on! I found this, her first book, where I had found her second. This is a pretty beat up copy but I don't mind. The House at Riverton is about a retired previous housemaid of Riverton and the secrets of the house that she kept. Secrets begin to unravel and long forgotten memories resurface as a filmmaker comes to ask about the tragedy at the lake.
Innocent Traitor
by Alison Weir
I saw this on my first visit to the bookstore but didn't pick it up. When returning for the second time I was on a bit of a historical fiction kick so this inevitably was bought. This is historian Alison Weir's first historical fiction. It focuses on the life story on the Tudor heroine Lady Jane Grey who was born into dangerous times as Henry VIII grand-niece.
The Kindness of Strangers: The Biography
by Kate Adie
For a time in my teenage years I wanted to be a journalist, in particular a foreign affairs correspondent, this is when I heard about Kate Adie and how marvellous she is. Obviously this book is about Kate's life from her post-war childhood to her days reporting from all over the world, notably from trouble spots.
There is another good charity bookshop a couple of towns away in the other direction. It is more pricey but you can find some gems there.
The Secret Keeper
by Kate Morton
As explained above, any Kate Morton novel is now an instant buy for me. I picked this pretty decent copy up for £1.80. A novel about wartime secrets and family loyalty that moves between the 1930s, 1960s and the present.
On a sunny May bank holiday Monday, my little family all walked down to the local car boot sale for a browse. There wasn't a whole lot there but I did come back with this:
The Storyteller
by Jodi Picoult
I had previously lent this from the library but had to return it before I was able to finish it. I was planning on purchasing it new at somepoint, but when I found it for 30p I couldn't resist! In this novel we meet Josef Weber, pillar of his community, who has been hiding a secret. After seventy years he decides to confess to a new friend, Sage Singer and it shatters all she thought she knew about him.
Now here are some books I have won over the past few months:
I received both of these books from Goodreads First Reads
A Memory of Violets
by Hazel Gaynor
A historical novel set in two eras about two long-lost sisters who have ended up living very different lives and a young woman who will be transformed by their experiences.
The Enchanted
by Rene Denfeld
This story is told from the perspective of a prisoner on Death Row who sees the enchantment in his bleak surroundings and uses his imagination as a way to stay sane. He also tells the stories of other people he encounters in the prison; the priest, the lady investigator and York, a fellow inmate. Through this novel Denfeld shows us that monsters are created, not born.
Both of these were won from Twitter
The Water Book
by Alok Jha
This is a non-fiction about water and how important it actually is. The first part focuses on how water is crucial to our survival and the second about how water has shaped the world we live in. Its purpose to change the way we see water and to appreciate it more.
The Chosen Queen
by Joanna Courtney
The author hosted a giveaway on her twitter page and I was delighted to have won. The Chosen Queen is part of a new historical fiction trilogy about the women behind the battle of 1066. This, the first novel, is about Edyth - the only woman who was queen of both Wales and England.
Outline
by Rachel Cusk
Another twitter win. This novel was on the Bailey's Fiction Prize Shortlist this year. It is about a woman who arrives in Athens to teach a writing course and the narratives she becomes audience to from the people she meets.
So those are the physical books I have bought/received over the past several months. I have acquired some Kindle books and children's books lately too, so I may do posts on them too.
There will likely be another physical book haul over the next month too - as it's my birthday! I'm not asking for many books this year (as I still have loads on my shelves to read!) so will likely be a small haul post.
Which books have you bought lately?
