IMM/ Mailbox Monday

I haven't done an IMM for a really long time, but this week warrants something special because I bought an unprecedented amount of books. And when I say unprecedented, what I really mean is a SHITLOAD of books that I actually have no room for but couldn't resist because, you know, they're books. I put this slight blip down to the fact that I didn't buy any books at all for the entire month of July (and actually, a tiny bit longer than that too), and to the fact that I went to Stratford-upon-Avon on Friday and was overcome with a Shakespearean thing, plus unexplored charity shops, and, you know, shit happens.

I know what you're thinking. When is she going to shut up and get to the whole book explaining thing? Well, that'd be right now. Bet you feel silly for being so impatient now, dontcha?

First things first, I got 3 new Stephen King books, totally admissible and tax-deductable as a business expense (not really, but you know) as part of my Stephen King challenge thing I've gpot going on around these parts. So, to add to my already extensive collection, I got Needful Things, which I might have read before but I can't remember, The Talisman with Peter Straub, and The Dark Half. The latter two of these, I might add, I got by ruining the shop's display of Stephen King books... hopefully someone will donate more soon so I don't have to feel as bad!

Also in Stratford, I got 3 books for £5 (too good an offer to pass up!) that meant looking around this table of classics for a really long time while my sister sighed a bit and looked disgruntled (I get this a lot in bookshops from the people I'm shopping with). In the end, anyway, I settled on The Plumed Serpent by D H Lawrence, which I'm sure, knowing Lawrence, must be a metaphor for something rude, Silas Marner by George Eliot because I can't even tell you how I love The Mill on the Floss, and De Profundis by Oscar Wilde, because, who couldn't use a little more Oscar in their lives. Also, if you ever hear an awesome quote, it was probably originally said by him. Just sayin'.

And then, there are a whole bunch of books that I can't really categorise together in any way, other than the fact that I bought them this week! These were Skinny Bitch by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin, which I've already read, reviewed, and pretty much thought about constantly since I read it, Lunchbox by Amanda Grant, a recipe book that does pretty much what it says on the tin, but that is to a certain extent redundant since reading Skinny Bitch... Moving away from food, I also bought Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson, to continue my tradition of owning many Bill Bryson books but having read only one (Shakespeare, if anyone's interested), The Life of Pi by Yann Martel, a Booker (?) prize winner, but also only 10p, so well worth that price, I'm sure! And finally, in this non-category category, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, because I've seen the film and I loved it so much, and I've pretty much wanted to read the book ever since then.

And then, sort of unexpectedly since it had a delivery date of 18th August, I also got delievered my amazon.com order of a few weeks ago (I live in the UK, it's not poor service from amazon or anything!) So, I won a $10 voucher from Sarah at Sarah Says Read, and obviously with that I ordered books! SO, rounding off this week's book buying were Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer, which I can hardly wait to read, and Nanny Returns by Nicola Kraus and Emma Mclaughlin, which I have read already and wasn't too impressed by... but I'll tell you all about that another time!

So yeah. I bought a LOT of books this week. This probably means I need a book ban until at least September again, but we'll see how that bookish resolution goes since I'm going away next weekend to a place that, apparently, has a lot of secondhand bookshops. I hope you've all had good weeks and are looking forward to the next one! If you need something to read for the upcoming week, how about these:

From Tuesday, a chat about books I really love, and that everyone else should love too!
From Wednesday, a review of Water for Elephants, which I thought was pretty engaging, albeit not the best written thing ever (like this sentence...)
From Thursday, and continuing my Stephen King thing, a review of Danse Macabre, the ultimate horror guide in my eyes, but maybe just not one for me, and
From Friday, a real eye opener provided by Skinny Bitch, a book that makes you think a lot more about what you put in your mouth than you might actually like to...

Happy reading everyone!