This morning, when I was on the Amazon.co.uk site to send a gift certificate to Banquo, I sort of strayed onto the other sections of the site. Y’know, where they sell actual books. And, um… now it appears that, oh, nine or so of them are heading this way.

Then my family came to visit (and to bring my cats. It’s a long story) and we went shopping for a bit. Of course, since they had never been to the used book store here, I had to take them. And, um… suddenly I seem to have added another four books to my collection. I don’t understand how these things just happen! ;D

The thing about that book store is that, in addition* to selling new and used books, they also sell movie icon related stuff, most of which is pretty nifty. In other words: not only did I add to my book collection, but I also ended up with six new coasters and a tray, all with old style Hollywood stars on them. (And earlier in the day, I’d found two mugs with Tony the Tiger as he used to be.)

The books I ordered from Amazon.co.uk are:

• Emily of New Moon by Lucy Maud Montgomery
• Emily Climbs by Lucy Maud Montgomery
• Emily’s Quest by Lucy Maud Montgomery
• The Blue Castle by Lucy Maud Montgomery
• Generation X by Douglas Coupland
• Torchwood: Another Life by Peter Anghelides
• Torchwood: Slow Decay by Andy Lane
• Torchwood: Border Princes by Dan Abnett
• Torchwood: The Twilight Streets by Gary Russell

The first five are all for a Canadian reading challenge I’m about to join, the last four is because of that Who kick I’ve been on/am on.

The four books I got at the book store were:

• A History of the Breast by Marilyn Yalom
• The Underdog by Markus Zusak
• Tro, hopp och burnout by Johan Unenge
• VadÃ¥ feminist? by Lisa GÃ¥lmark

I’ve been eyeing the first of these four since September, but never got it because it was a tad on the expensive side the first time, the second time because I couldn’t find it, the third time because it was too expensive. Then today I decided I would get it, and now it was half-price! Brilliant that, I thought.

I can use that book, and the other three, for the A-Z reading challenge, which is the biggest reason I got most of them (another reason I got the Zusak one is because I’ve been curious about Zusak for a good while now). They’re all for pretty tricky letters of the alphabet, which makes it all the better. The one, slightly not cool, thing is that the two first are in translation, rather than original. But I hope they’re okay anyway.

*I totally spelled addition** as addiction at first. Freudian slip?
**And there I did it again. Double slip?

Every year, at the end of February, there is a huge book sale here in Sweden. In the past couple of years, it’s lost a bit of its appeal as it’s not so special anymore as it used to be, but I am still a huge fan.

Most bigger book stores open at midnight to allow book-loving bargain hunters inside to make the find of the year. As much of a bibliophile as I am, I’ve still not been to one of these late-night book store events. Before, it was because I did not have the opportunity to get there and back again at that time of night, but lately it’s more to do with the fact that I aim my interest at books in English, of which there aren’t many to find in the regular bookshops. However, the book sale is also very much in evidence in the online shops, and so I usually aim my attention in that direction.

This year, I bought twenty books all in all. (Actually nineteen. The twentieth was a bonus book that I Did. Not. Want, but couldn’t decline (it was tacked on to my order no matter what I did), and have no idea what to do with.)

The Age of Napoleon by Alistair Horne (non-fiction)
När kommer du tillbaka? by Marika Kolterjahn (YA fiction)
Att leka med elden by Karl-Erik Nylund (non-fiction, on sects)
102 minuter (102 Minutes: The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers) by Jim Dwyer & Kevin Flynn (non-fiction, about the time from the 9/11 attack until the WTC towers collapsed)
Sanna historier om pirater (True Stories of Pirates) by Lucy Lethbridge (YA non-fiction)
Sanna historier om första världskriget (True Stories of the First World War) by Paul Dowswell (YA non-fiction)
Sanna historier om andra världskriget (True Stories of the Second World War) by Paul Dowswell (YA non-fiction)
Flickan i källaren (Girl in the Cellar: the Natascha Kampusch Story) by Allan Hall & Michael Leidig (non-fiction)

Longitude by Dava Sobel and read by David Rintoul (non-fiction, audio book I thought was a regular book and thus a bit of a mistake purchase)
Vampirates: Demons of the Ocean by Somper (YA fiction)
The Testosterone Files by Max Wolf Valiero (non-fiction, about one man’s transition)
My War: Killing Time in Iraq by Colby Buzzell (non-fiction)
Gustaf III by Leif Landén (non-fiction, about (perhaps un-surprisingly) Gustaf III)
To the Tower Born by Robin Maxwell (YA historical fiction)

Fantomerna by Klas Östergren (the bonus book I didn’t want)
Dragon’s Bait by Vivian Vande Velde (YA fantasy)
Castaways of the Flying Dutchman by Brian Jacques (YA fiction)
Four Days in June by Iain Gale (historical fiction, about the battle of Waterloo)
Serving in Silence by Margarethe Cammermeyer med Chris Fisher (non-fiction, about a military nurse who told when she wasn’t asked. You’ve probably heard about her before. I had, and I live in Sweden!)
Tenderness by Robert Cormier (YA fiction, about a teenaged serial killer)

As always, if you click on the photos, you are taken to larger versions of them.

I’m finally caught up on book reviews again. I spent the weekend away from home, which gave me little time for reading and even less for blogging, and then I’ve had long days at work (yesterday I worked from eight in the morning until half seven in the evening. Let me assure you that blogging was not the first thing on my agenda when I finally did get home!) . Apart from work, though, I really can’t complain about the things that kept me from my books. You see, I spent the weekend visiting Banquo. We had a lovely time and spent a lot of it watching The Lakes on DVD. In a quiet moment, left to my own devices, I ransacked her bookshelf and sat myself down with a book. When Banquo returned, she claimed that she had to take a picture to show the world that “[I’m] always reading.” (She has graciously allowed me to pilfer said photo to post here.)

On Saturday, we met up with a few other really good friends of mine (Mikey being one of them) for coffee (well, we all had tea…), tea shopping and a visit to The Uppsala English Bookshop. At the bookshop, I bought two books and we were all witness to an intriguing tale of a book going missing. You see, Woman with Dog came in to pick up a book she’d ordered and that she’d been told had arrived, but when the woman behind the counter went to get it for her, she couldn’t find it. Eventually she asked her colleague, who then said that someone had come in earlier in the day, stated the woman’s full name, the exact title and author of the book she’d ordered and told him that she was there to pick it up for her. Needless to say, Woman with Dog was exceedingly displeased and couldn’t for the life of her think of anyone who would’ve come to get the book for her. Also needless to say, we were all dying to find out the end to the story, but I don’t suppose we ever shall.

While I only got two books at UEB, I came home with five new books at the end of the weekend. On the way back, I had some time to kill at Stockholm Central Station, where they happen to have a Pocket Shop (a “pocket”, or “pocketbok”, is the Swedish word for a paperback), so by the time I boarded the train there, I had three more books in my bag. All five from the weekend are: Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl, The World According to Clarkson: And Another Thing by Jeremy Clarkson, Throne of Jade by Naomi Novik, Ship of Destiny by Robin Hobb (as a thanks-for-cat-sitting gift for my brother) and The Poe Shadow by Matthew Pearl.

My TBR-pile now constitutes about a fifth of my book collection, which is a little scary. This is why I have decided that I am not allowed to buy any books at all during March and April. It will be interesting to see if I manage and, if not, how long it takes before I break down and buy another one.

Both photos in this post will lead you to larger versions when clicked on.

Oh dear. Whilst looking around I Heart Paperbacks, I discovered that there is a new book out in the Lord John series by Diana Gabaldon. I did not know this before! Also found out that another one will be out soon — November I saw somewhere, but January seems more likely.

Either way, upon finding out, I trotted off to Bokus.com, to order the one already out, and to Amazon.co.uk, to pre-order the one released in January. Perhaps I shouldn’t have done it, but, well, I couldn’t really resist. Lord John is a great favourite of mine, after all.

I already have a bunch of books on their way to my mail box. Let me list them all and make you green with envy.

• Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade; Diana Gabaldon
• Mitt brinnande hjärta; Tasso Stafilidis
• A Countess Below Stairs; Eva Ibbotson
• Flambards; KM Peyton
• Edge of the Cloud; KM Peyton
• Flambards in Summer; KM Peyto
• Flambards Divided; KM Peyton
• Postcards from No Man’s Land; Aidan Chambers
• Brothers; Ted Van Lieshout
• The Boy I Love; Marion Husband
• Paper Moon; Marion Husband
• Geography Club; Brent Hartinger
• While England Sleeps; David Leavitt
• Bush-Whacked; Leland Gregory