Goodreads Ireland discussion

I thought we could use a thread solely dedicated to all the books we buy!

great idea Sara :-)

I agree, Sara! I'm surprised that this thread hasn't been created before, but no doubt it'll be one of the busiest in the group!

If audiobooks count, I took advantage of the Audible sale yesterday to buy two Charles Bukowski short story collections I haven't read, 'Hot Water Music' and 'South of No North', and after Theresa posted about Vonnegut, two very cheap, posthumously released audiobooks of his-'Basic Training' and 'If This Isn't Nice, What Is?'. That's to add to the Diarmaid Ferriter book, 'Ambiguous Republic: Ireland in the 1970s' book that I bought off Amazon.

I'm looking forward to reading about your NYC purchases, Sara! :)

This week I got hold of great Steinbeck titles I hadn't read yet:

Bombs Away
The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights
The Grapes of Wrath
The Short Novels
Travels with Charley in Search of America

I'm pretty happy to have gotten hold of all of these. It's a mini-windfall. :)

My most recent purchases were Snow Flower and the Secret Fan ,Half Broke Horsesand One Hundred Years of Solitude
I have a feeling this thread will start a crisis with my tbr pile :)

My book purchases last week nicely link with this months group read. I had preordered Chu's First Day at School by Neil Gaiman and The Long Mars by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter.Both have arrived and me and the boy have read Chu but The long Mars will sit waiting for a while.
Chu's First Day of School
The Long Mars

Thanks, Theresa.

@seraphina. Your' in the right company. We all suffer with the same problems/addictions. We'll help you through it. ;)

@Almost bought The Long Earth last Christmas, Paul. Maybe I should take the plunge?

Declan. I only bought The Long Mars out of a continued morbid curiosity. Thje Long Earth is based on a great idea but the book is average. The sequel is the worst thing I've read to come from Pratchett. An odd sense of loyalty and hope has made me buy part three. I'm hoping the whole thing pulls itself together somehow. Sadly I think Staphen Baxter does most of the writing so a lot of Terrys wit is AWOL

I think I'll have to avoid it so. I'm relieved I didn;t buy it.

Declan, some good purchases there, particularly considering that The Short Novels contains 6 of his works! I loved Travels With Charley in particular from your list.

Theresa, I don't know who I'd compare Vonnegut to-has anyone else who's read him got any suggestions? The books of his I've mainly read are his non Sci Fi and non fiction stuff. He was a big anti war writer, famous for the likes of Slaughterhouse V, having witnessed the horrors of war as a POW in Dresden when it was levelled by the allies during ww2.

@Declan. Some of Pratchetts fans enjoyed them but the overwhelming response is its more for Baxters fans and not great in any case

And we also picked up The Graveyard Book for my son. It looks like a book I might read myself

Seraphina, I loved the Graveyard book. Its a wonderfully well written dark story. Its a nice updating of The Jungle Book but its quite dark so be careful with your son reading it.
Good Omens is not a million miles away from The Graveyard Book in many ways

Thanks for that Paul, i'll have it read before he gets to it then. Some of the children's books written by big authors like gaiman can be better than there adult fiction.

I agree Seraphina, I'm a huge Gaiman fan and The Graveyard book is actually my favourite of his books.
I also loved Coraline and Odd and the Frost Giants which are his other all age books.
Graveyard Book is similar in its start to the Jungle Book in that it starts with murder. I gave it to my niece recently and it was too much for her

Ok, he is reading James pattersons Daniel x books at the moment which are quite gory with exploding aliens and the likes but I will def read this one before he starts cause of what you say about it.
It's hard when books are allocated in certain age brackets but could be more of a teenagers book

I've meant to read Midnight's Children since I read The Satanic Verses. Let ne know what you think, Emma.

The problem is that Gaiman describes the books as All Age but shops take that as meaning under 12. The target is more teen to adult but shops don't get that

There is a kids tv series based on the book which was why I wasn't too worried when we picked it up.

Graveyard Book or Daniel X ?

The graveyard book

Really. Whens the series out. I knew Ron Howard was supposed to be doing a film but missed the series completely

No I haven't Emma, it has taken me a while to get him into reading. It's a constant struggle so I tried the books that I enjoyed as a child with no success. Then I tried with the modern classics like Harry potter with no success so we're going well at the moment with the Daniel x series which is quite humorous and the Alex Ryder books. He seems to enjoy young boy hero books so whatever keeps him reading, I'll go along with it.

I had to double check but there hasn't been a TV series of the Graveyard book at all. There is a film in the works though

I'm sure your right. John was telling me there was a series, it was probably just a similar storyline about a kid raised by ghosts and vampires.
I saw that Disney are making the film alright.

I got excited for a minute as I'd love to see it in some form or other.

Sorry Paul, you can blame John ;) lol

Fair enough :-)
With Gaiman I'm waiting on versions of The Graveyard Book, American Gods, Anansi Boys and Good Omens which are all supposedly on there way but there are so many stumbling blocks its annoying

I've just recently brought

1. The Goldfinch - Never read Donna Tartt before but a lot of people on this site have recommended this book.

2. Fire and Brimstone - I just love anything by Colin Bateman

3. One Summer: America, 1927 - Love Bill Bryson, not read anything by him for ages so looking forward to this.

4. The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden - loved the The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared hoping this is just as good.

5. Bertie's Guide to Life and Mothers - I'm a massive fan of AMS and Bertie is one of my fav characters.

I picked up 2 books at the Audible sale yesterday - A Kiss Before Dying by Ira Levin and Stolen Souls by Stuart Neville. today I got Sold by Patrick McCormick. Kindle Daily Deals I got A Short History of Cambodia: From Empire to Survival today and The Sum of Our Days Publisher: Harper Perennial; Reprint edition by Isabel Allende. I just ordered Seek the Fair Land by Walter Macken from Paperback Swap today. And Friday I bought The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair. Thank goodness 5 of these books are digital.

Wow I thought I was going to be adding one of the first comments on this thread with my NYC stash, but I woke up to 34 messages responding to my initial post. This thread is indeed going to be popular!

Midtown Comics

This was probably the biggest comic shop I had ever been in.

Locke and Key: Volume 1 by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodríguez. My friend Anton swears by this series, and I trust his taste even though I have some reluctance about the artwork.

Jane's World Collection Volume 1

Book Book

Book Book was the bookshop that I randomly encountered when walking to McNally Jackson. I stopped because they had a table of books outside. I thought about getting Richard Ellmann's biography of Oscar Wilde, but decided against it because I thought I should read some Oscar Wilde before reading a biography of him. I ultimately got...

Pulphead: Essays by John Jeremiah Sullivan

McNally Jackson Books

Dubliners by James Joyce: I picked up the Centennial Edition with a Forward by Colum McCann. Dubliners is overdue for a reread by me. Since my copy is old and this has a new forward, I felt justified in buying a new copy.

Fantomas versus the Multinational Vampires by Julio Cortazar: This is one where I couldn't resist the cover, and Cortazar is another author I've been curious about for awhile.

Singularity and Co!

This was my last stop and it definitely was the best one.

Fight for Freedom by Jay Leibold: Choose Your Own Adventure. I loved the Choose Your Own Adventure books as a kid, so this was a nostalgic purchase. I had to stop myself from buying more of them.

Dangerous Visions 2: Edited by Harlan Ellison. The Dangerous Visions series of anthologies is supposed to contain some really good science fiction short stories and novellas.

The Narrows by M. Craig: Almost all the books at Singularity and Co were vintage or used, but this was a newer book by a local author on their staff recommendations shelf.

Binary Divide by Jon Hartridge:I mainly picked this up because I was curious about the fact that Playboy Press used to have a science fiction imprint.

Wild Cards V: Down and Dirty Edited by George R. Martin: I've been curious about the Wild Cards universe for a bit now, and this was the earliest one they had.

The Ship From Atlantis by H. Warner Munn and The Stolen Sun by Emil Petaja: This is two novellas in one. I read another one of the Ace Double Books awhile back and adored the piece by Petaja in particular, so I'm excited to read more of his work. I wish more "double" books with two novellas in them were currently published.

*Edit* Oops I forgot one!

The Midwich Cuckooos

Not exactly bought but I arrived home to find the nice people of Gollancz had sent me a review copy of a scifi called Barricade by Jon Wallace.

Sara wrote: "Wow I thought I was going to be adding one of the first comments on this thread with my NYC stash, but I woke up to 34 messages responding to my initial post. This thread is indeed going to be popu..."

Sara - that's quite a haul!

Do library books count? I went to pick up one I requested The Rising by Brian McGilloway. Also picked up Children of the Revolution by Peter Robinson, The Outcast Dead by Ellys Griffin, and The Last Girl by Jane Casey. These finds saved me $$$$ as I was considering ordering a couple of them from The Book Depository.

Does it count if it's the books I got for review? This month I got Oathbreaker Martin Jensen, Aunty Lee's Deadly Specials: Ovidia Yu, Lucky Us by Amy Bloom and Lonely Planet Discover Ireland: Experience the Best of Ireland. Then I added to my Kindle Elizabeth Gaskell's Cranford and North and South and Beneath an Irish Sky Isabella Connor. That should keep me busy.

I just ordered a book of short stories as part of a present for my Dads 60th birthday. Its the International Thriller Writers annual anthology
Face Off
For the stories it pits some of the more famous main characters from modern thriller against each other which should be interesting. I managed to get a copy signed by most of the contributors so he should like it

Emma wrote: "I hope you enjoy Gaskell Susan. I enjoyed Cranford and loved North and South."

It was on your glowing recommendation that I bought it.

Must be my lucky week as I won my first Goodreads First read book again a Gollancz title -
The Incorruptibles
This is a book that was on my radar anyway so great to get it free and early

@Susan. After reading the Mrs.Gaskell books, I hope you will then see the BBC productions of Cranford, Wive an Daughters, and North and South. All were very well done, as per usual for the BBC.

Well done, Paul. That's very lucky. Hopefully you'll enjoy it.

Two free scifi books in a week. If I enjoy one its a win

A big win, in my book... If you'll excuse the pun.

Wonder why Gollancz is being so nice to me.

just bought A History of Irish Town, basic but easy to read when your eyes are tired

@emma. Wives and Daughters was very good. Beautiful cast.

Maybe we can agree to count : review books, library books and books we got as gifts - or to follow the title of the thread "books we have bought". The thing about library books is they don't stay in our house and they are free to borrow. Review books and gifts are no cost to us. But library books need to be read within a short period - 3 weeks for my library - and if I check out a book in demand (new, or few copies with a waiting list) I can't renew it. And library books and books you are asked/obligated to review displace the books we've purchased.
I'm sure we all have been in various kinds of book groups- either face-to-face or virtual. Book groups require us to read a book within a certain time frame. This can push us to sit down and finish something. But book groups can make it more challenging to get to our TBR pile. We have some voracious readers on this list and the first who come to mind are Declan, Sara, Allan and Susan.

As for encouraging kids to read, as an educator, I believe it's super important. But it is getting harder and harder. Years ago I had a new student from Puerto Rico. He was about 8 years old, deaf, and knew no English (I taught English and reading to Spanish-dominat kids at the school for the deaf). Finally I got Frog and Toad Are Friends and he loved it. Luckily there were a few in the series. I don't know what it was about the books he liked, but it didn't matter.
I picked up a copy of Seraphina a while back but haven't read it yet. Catching up on books for young readers and young adults is also on my summer list.

I like the title of that book Barbara ;)

Inspiring story. Its nice to think theres a book out there to spark everyones interest at an early age

June has come and gone, and I've just looked at the books I've bought. Probably not a good thing to do! Over the past few weeks, I've bought-
Unspoken,
The Effect of Her,
The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair,
Loaves and Fishes,
Meanings of Life,
Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention,
Perfectly Miserable: Guilt, God and Real Estate in a Small Town,
The Summer Book,
Stone by Stone and three others for teaching/work. Luckily, a good number of these were used.

Diane wrote: "@Susan. After reading the Mrs.Gaskell books, I hope you will then see the BBC productions of Cranford, Wive an Daughters, and North and South. All were very well done, as per usual for the BBC."

I've seen Cranford more than once on PBS. I love Dame Judi Dench.