Friday 11 December 2009

Latest acquisitions, or Christmas has come early for Cardigan Girl.

It's rather nice to be writing an acquisitions post for once, it's been a while. But since I lifted my book-ban, I have acquired rather a lot of books, although only two of the little pile below have in fact been purchases. I am still waiting for my copy of the latest Greyladies title to arrive!

The two books that I bought are:
The world that was ours (Bernstein) which I bought when I went to hear Nicola Beauman tak about Persephone on Monday night. The ticket cost £4 which was redeemable in the shop, and I'd also bought my friend's ticket, so it would have been rude not to get a Persephone for £4.
The Usborne Book of Christmas Cooking was an impulse buy to give me the recipe for stollen, which I have already baked (and eaten!) and will be featuring on Bake of the week this month.

One book was a pre-order which I have been waiting for for ages:
To bed with grand music (Laski) is one of the latest Persephones and I pre-ordered (AND paid for it) it ages ago from The book depository. Supply problems meant I had to wait ages but it finally arrived, and I fortuitously recieved its bookmark with the Persephone BiAnnually. I'm saving this for Christmas now, and really can't wait!

Two books were extremely kind presents:
Book Snob Rachel sent me Dust tracks on the road which is Zora Neale Thurston's autobiography. I recently raved about Their eyes were watching God on my Virago blog, and am really looking forward to finding out more about the author.
My colleague Owen, who reads this blog, sent me the intriguing and very relevant The bookaholic's guide to book blogs which looks fascinating.
Thanks Owen and Rachel!

One book was a competition win:
Demobbed by Allan Alport came from a draw on DoveGreyReader's website - thank you very much! I don't usually get lucky in competitions, but I did this time. This looks like a fascinating read about what happened when soldiers returned from the war.

Four books were sent to me by publisher:
Snow Cow came via Librarything Early Reviewers and is a book of skiing Ghost stories - one for my holidays too then I think, as we are off skiing in a week's time...
The bird room was sent to me by Canongate - they occasionally send me books to look at, and I will be looking at this in due course...
Ruby's spoon came via Random House on Twitter - I was one of the first to reply to their tweet offering review copies of this book.
Dear Mr Bigelow was very kindly sent to me by Fiona at Vintage/Random House. I spotted this the other day on Amazon, and thought that it would make the perfect Christmas read. I love reading diaries and letters from the war, and somehow Christmas seems just the right time of year to read them. This is definitely on my post-holiday pile with To bed...

Christmas has definitely come early!

14 comments:

  1. Ahem, I spy a tissue-wrapped gift from yours truly. It's really a pre-Christmas little something so I would advise opening it early as otherwise you won't really benefit!

    I am hoping that my jolly, rose-cheeked, and twinkly-eyed boyfriend brings me To Bed With Grand Music as I really want to read it over Christmas too.

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  2. That looks like a wonderful pile of books you have there, and I love your tree. We put ours up last weekend. It's a fake one unfortunately, and it looks decidedly like a stick (straight up and down) - oh dear.

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  3. Hehe - Claire, I hope Gareth dons his red suit and manages to pull that one out of his sack for you!

    A bookish space - maybe you can adorn it with lots of tinsel to make it a bit plumper?

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  4. I love the picture of all those books under the tree! Christmas had definitely come early.

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  5. Nice selection of books! I got Ruby's Spoon in the post today too. I wasn't at all sure about it when I heard the premise, but a few trusted sources have said they loved it, so I'll give it a chance. I look forward to comparing notes.

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  6. What beautiful books you have there! One of the nicest things about Christmas (to me!) is when you get books and books and books, and you have a nice new stack of books. Mmm, delicious.

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  7. JoAnn - it has! But then we're going to be away for Christmas, so FC needs to make an appearance now.

    Jackie - it will be good to compare notes. I am not sure what I will make of it - to be honest from reading the blurb it doesn't hugely appeal yet but I will give it a go!

    Jenny - I'm so lucky, especially as my family/partner won't give me books EVER...thanks for popping by.

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  8. Oh, oh...Christmas has definitely come early at your house! You must be thrilled by your new books...and so am I, I'm off for a closer look at Dear Mr Bigelow. Congratulations on your prize of Demobbed, also an excellent sounding read.

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  9. Darlene - I think Mr Bigelow is something you would enjoy too...Very excited about that!

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  10. The book about book blogs looks interesting.. he he.

    Lucky you, so many bookish gifts for Christmas!

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  11. Lovely selection of books, am looking forward to my Persephone gifts which I do believe someone is off to get before Christmas day. I think is going to be a three book deal, have passed on a wishlist hahaha.

    I am intrigued by all the books on your list. Lucky you!

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  12. Merry Early Christmas :)

    The book selection looks good, and the tree looks absolutely lovely. Looking forward to seeing some of your thoughts on here.

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  13. Claire - it wass indeed interesting and I'll write about it on Mondau!

    Simon - lucky you!

    Another cookie - Merry early Christmas indeed!

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  14. Ooh, I'd like to hear Nicola Beauman. I've been to the shop but not to any of the talks. Nothing like a new Persephone at Christmas!

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