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This week I mostly got books to feed my McCall Smith addiction and to add a bit more by M. C. Beaton to my shelf. More to come next week.

 

I swapped

• Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death by M. C. Beaton. Since I liked Hamish Macbeth, I decided to try out the Agatha Raisin series as well.

I bought

• The comforts of a muddy Saturday by Alexander McCall Smith
• The lost art of gratitude by Alexander McCall Smith. Those two are the fifth and sixth book in the Sunday Philosophy Club series.  

From the library

•  The Prague Cemetery by Umberto Eco

 

What was in YOUR mailbox recently?  Check out other In my mailbox participants here.

 

For the Mount TBR challenge 2012 as well as to continue last year’s Steampunk challenge I am reading “Changeless” by Gail Carriger right now. I am sure quite a few of you know it already.

This is the first paragraph:

“They are what?”

Lord Conall Maccon, Earl of Woolsey, was yelling. Loudly. This was to be expected from Lord Maccon, who was generally a loud sort of gentleman – the ear-bleeding combination of lung capacity and a large barrel chest.

I would say this is the typical style of the Parasol Protectorate books. Have you read any of them? Did you like them?

What is YOUR book beginning today? To see more book beginnings go to A few more pages!

OK, I don’t think anybody is going to come up with more ideas, so I decided the quiz is closed now, .

Drum roll for……Ally! You are great! Both guesses were right. I didn’t think anybody would get Isle of Dogs! Awesome.

I will send you a small bookish prize (it is a surprise, but don’t expect anything BIG) if you send me your address by email. Thanks for playing….this was fun.

Obviously I won’t tell you the other titles. You will have to come back for the various giveaways to find out what the books were…:).

I am sure you know Awesome’s Magic Bundles. They consist of three books of one genre or by one author and cost only very little.

However, it would be even better if there were no duplicates in bundles. I understand that they are put together randomly and that they probably go by ISBN numbers or something but couldn’t they make sure somehow that they don’t throw two books with the same title into one bundle?

This spoils the fun of browsing quite a bit. But nevertheless they are worth a look! If you don’t care for particular editions and don’t mind used books the bundles are a great deal.

 

It’s time for another “Quizzical Monday”! Today it is a book beginning question.

Question:

The following is the beginning of which book? It is the first chapter and NOT the preface.

The studio was filled with the rich odour of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden, there came through the open door the heavy scent of the lilac, or the more delicate perfume of the pink-flowering thorn.

Leave a comment with your answer. Then, to see whether you got it right,  click on "Show" below.  As usual, there is nothing to be won, this is just for fun!

Hosted by The Story Siren

The old year ended with a few books from Awesome Books. As usual I missed the 4 for 3 sale, and their “awesome bundles” were a bit strange, so I only bought three books, but even without them being bundled I only paid very little.  

 

I bought

•  Death of a gossip by M. C. Beaton. Caroline recommended this cosy mystery series to me. This is the first book.
• A supposedly fun thing I’ll never do again by David Foster Wallace
• Important artifacts and personal property from the collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, including books, street fashion and jewelry by Leanne Shapton. No, this is not an auction catalogue, well, it is, but a fictional one.  

I got as a gift

• By the lake by John McGahern. This one has been on my wishlist for a long time.

 

 

What was in YOUR mailbox recently?  Check out other In my mailbox participants here.

I blogged about The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson more than a year ago but never thought of using it for a book beginnings post. I loved it, so here is its beginning:

Accidents ambush the unsuspecting, often violently, just like love.

It was Good Friday and the stars were just starting to dissolve into dawn. As I drove, I stroked the scar on my chest, by habit. My eyes were heavy and my vision unfocused, not surprising given that I’d spent the night hunched over a mirror snorting away the bars of white powder that kept my face trapped in the glass. I believed I was keening my reflexes. I was wrong.

What is YOUR book beginning today? To see more book beginnings go to A few more pages!

Here are my finds for this week…

• A look into amazon’s newest logistics center in Germany
• A little late, but nevertheless: Neil Gaiman’s 100 word Christmas story “Nicholas was” as a pop-up book
• If you need something to organize your New Year’s Resolutions, you can find a a couple of New Year’s Resolutions lists to download at Creativity Prompt. And a few more.
• Still looking for a printable calendar for 2012? Search no more! Have a look at the collection at Dollar Store Crafts
• Look at the book sculptures by Guy Laramee!

Why do people befriend other people on Goodreads? I can imagine only a couple of reasons.

• They like the same kind of books and therefore want to know what those people are up to reading wise.
• They know the other person through book blogging or personally and want to keep in touch, like a bookish Facebook.

If there is another reason – and there might be –, I would expect the “befriender” to send a short message to the “befriendee” why they want to be friends. Why would I approve a friendship with someone I have never heard of before and who has no books in common with me?

Recently I received a number of friend requests from people who have about 20 books in their “read books” list, none “to read” and who had about 315 friends (or many more). Needless to say a quick book compare showed that we had none in common, not one. Why, oh why, would I want to be friends with a Goodreads whore? 

In December:

• I reviewed Where the God of love hangs out by Amy Bloom
• I read The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith
• I gave up on Empress by Evelyn McCune.
• I also DNF’ed Head over Heel by Chris Harrison.
• I read Friends, Lovers, Chocolate by Alexander McCall Smith

I listed a few sites where you can get free e-books.

I talked about Christmas a LOT.

John  posted his second review of a graphic novel.

For this month I am planning to:

• continue Comeback love by Peter Golden
• have a look at Weeknights with Giada by Giada de Laurentiis, a cookbook that I got from Netgalley

In order to succeed with my various challenges I want to read one book for each one every month. So they would be

• Changeless by Gail Carriger
• The lion, the witch and the wardrobe by C. S. Lewis

Together with my current McCall Smith obsession this is more than enough I would think.

You got any plans for January?