March book haul:

Here's my (very belated) book haul for March! This month, along with some books I bought as gifts (not shown), I purchased:

Reboot by Amy Tintera. This was a completely spontaneous purchase, bought when I wandered into my local bookstore one Saturday looking for something fresh to read. I got chatting to the salespeople, two university-aged girls whose passion for young adult fiction is as zealous as my own. We flailed for probably half an hour about all kinds of books (sorry, other customers who were a little bit ignored) and one of the girls insisted I read this one. It's a zombie apocalypse story, but not the one you'd be expecting, nope, not at all. A bit too much romance for my tastes but I loved the fast pace and I loved/hated the unresolved ending. I want the second book immediately.

Where the Streets Had a Name by Randa Abdel-Fattah. I read Does My Head Look Big in This? a while back and really enjoyed its take on life for an Australian teenage girl growing up Muslim. This was on sale at a discount warehouse and I was shopping with my cousin and... into my little hands it went. I haven't read it yet, so stay tuned.

The Girl With All the Gifts by M.R. Carey. I've started this new little tradition lately: whenever I sell a piece of writing, I'll buy a new book and inscribe it with the title of the story that made its purchase possible. My children's short, Remember, bought this book for me, and don't think I didn't notice that the author and I have a little something in common. I've heard a lot of hype surrounding this book, so I'm keen to see what it's like.

Panic by Lauren Oliver. This is Lauren Oliver's newest and, after reading it, I have to say it's her best. The writing is phenomenal, reading more like literary fiction (think an Americanised version of Tim Winton's broken beachside lives) than the genre YA fiction I'd normally associate Lauren Oliver with. I hope to have a full review up sometime in the next whenever.

The Story of the Treasure Seekers by Edith Nesbit. This, just because a) I loved it so much as a child, b) the cover is delightful, and c) it was on a great sale. If you haven't read this story, you absolutely have to. The Railway Children is Nesbit's more popular work, but the Bastable family in Treasure Seekers are pure gold.

Hawkeye #s 17 and 18. Hawkeye is the only comic I buy regularly, and I pick it up whenever a new copy appears -- pick it up digitally, I mean, since physical comics in Australia are ridculously expensive and hard to find. Hawkeye is all about what happens when Clint Barton isn't working for the Avengers and most of the action centres around his grimy apartment block. The artwork is supreme and the storyline is so much fun -- an excellent blend of really poignant and really funny. If you're even remotely into comics, you should check it out.

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Conversations:

• Megschmegs -- YES! That happily-ever-after is the best part of all. *hearts*

February book haul:

Just a little book-haul month for me. I have a lot of expenses coming up and am on a student-with-part-time-work budget, so I kept it very trim. But I absolutely had to get Burn, the final in Julianna Baggott's Pure trilogy (which I wrote about super briefly here). I also have kind of a life-law which decrees that if I visit an independent bookstore, I have to pick up something new. That something was Ketchup Clouds by Annabel Pitcher and I'm not going to lie: I picked it up entirely because of its glorious cover design. Just look at those beautiful red birds flying across the fore edge. I know, I know. We're not supposed to judge books by their covers. But surely we can pick them up because of the covers? I also grabbed ebooks of The Rosie Project, which I've heard good things about, and Shatter Me, which I know little about and am mainly excited because Tahereh Mafi is adorable and married to an equally adorable writer-husband, Ransom Riggs. I mean, just look at them!

Did you pick up any books in February?

January book haul:

Mmm, books. This is a big fat pile of the books I purchased in January. I don't think I've ever bought so many new books in one month before (except textbooks at the start of a fresh semester), but I stumbled across one of those $3-a-book popup stores and also had some Christmas money to spend. Hence, BOOKS. Here's a quick fly-by of the books I purchased and a bit of the reasoning why. I'll post reviews for the books as I read them:

When Did You See Her Last? by Lemony Snicket :: This is book 2 in Lemony Snicket's fabulous new(er) series, All The Wrong Questions. The first one was a very fun read, with a cute mystery and Lemony Snicket's characteristic quirky prose. I just really enjoy the way he uses words. As you read, you can almost hear him rolling the words around in his mouth, tasting them for their flavour. PS. I recommended this book to one of my students on a recent trip to our local library, and he promptly borrowed it. He's a reluctant reader (aged 11) but was totally gripped by this one. It was lots of fun to hear him laughing out loud during his "silent" reading time.

Voyager by Jan Mark :: I know nothing about this book, but Jan Mark is great, and for $3 it's worth a try.

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen :: This was super-hyped when it first appeared, but of course I'm yet to read it because sometimes I just take forever to be won over to things. We'll see.

Extras by Scott Westerfeld :: Somehow I managed to read all the other books in the Uglies series, but lost steam when I reached this one. I'm here to round out the... quadrilogy? What's it called when it's a trilogy but there ends up being four books in the series?

The Cardturner by Louis Sachar :: Even though it's Louis Sachar, storytelling prince of my heart, I steered clear of The Cardturner because I thought it was about poker, and I'm so not interested in poker. Then I read a review and discovered the card game the book repeatedly references is bridge. So yes! I'm going to read it now.

Unwind by Neal Shusterman :: Somehow I completely missed this dystopian (? sci fi?) series when it first appeared, but was alerted to it through the glories of tumblr. The concept that it's based on -- abortion of fetuses has been outlawed, but parents are allowed, instead, to "unwind" their children's memories when they reach the age of thirteen -- is incredibly intriguing. I'll let you know what I think when I'm done.

Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh :: I love the blog and I loved the book. I'll be posting my review soon!

Sister Mother Husband Dog (etc) by Delia Ephron :: The entire Ephron family is intriguing. Maybe by reading this memoir, I can soak up some of their creativity by way of osmosis.

Death Comes to Pemberley by PD James :: I bought this one for a friend a while back, but haven't read it myself. PD James writing fanfiction? Yes, that's totally what this is and no one can convince me otherwise.

What books did you buy or read in January?