It’s been a much lighter month in book shopping, though I couldn’t help a few impulse purchases when the opportunity arose. It’s only really been this year that my financial situation has allowed me to just go out to a book store without worrying too much about buying one or two unplanned. I’ve actually found after some splurging that the compulsion to get more books has simmered down a fair amount, which is probably better in the long run. Buying too many especially feels bad because The Lord of the Rings has taken me so long that I’m finishing books at a slower rate than ever.

Anyway, onto the books!

New Books

Aliens: Dead Orbit by James Stokoe is a book I heard about on the podcast Only Stupid Answers back in September. They didn’t go into much detail about the story itself, but according to them the miniseries had been getting a lot of positive buzz, which was enough to get me to preorder the collected graphic novel. Can’t pass up a good Aliens story. It finally came out this month and I eagerly read through it. I wrote a review of it here if you want to check that out.

Circe by Madeline Miller was an impulse buy thanks to an ad from Indigo (they got me). It just came out, but they were selling it for $20. I just couldn’t pass it up. I haven’t read her work yet, but a good friend is a really big fan and I’m a lot more interested in her interpretation of Circe, so I’m probably going to read this before her debut novel. I plan to start reading it relatively soon.

Other Minds by Peter Godfrey Smith is a book I mentioned on one of these posts a couple months ago! I finally decided to pick it up this past month, though goodness knows when I’ll get to it. I want to read more nonfiction of the scientific variety nevertheless, so I’m happy to have read access to it.

I’ve had casual interest in Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman for a while, just never really had a particular drive until now. This drive happens to be the release of the new God of War game, which takes place in a world populated by Norse mythological monsters and figures. That was enough to kick-start a keener interest, which led to me picking it up earlier today.

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I also picked up four digital volumes of Guardians of the Galaxy, which were all on sale for only a few dollars each. This is what I love about digital comics. It’s expensive to follow along with a lot of issues as they come out, but if you’re patient you can get collections for cheap. If I got these in trade paperback it would have been over $100.

I also picked up a couple more digital volumes of Star Wars. The Screaming Citadel is one I will be getting too soon and The Ashes of Jedha is a little further along in the series, but it was on sale for less than $1.50, so I snagged it while I could.

 

Novel Discoveries

I found out this past month that Joseph Fink is coming out with an Alice Isn’t Dead novel, based on a podcast series of the same name that Fink wrote, which just started its third and final season. I’m not as much a fan of it as I am Welcome to Night Vale, but I’m really curious what the story will look like in novel form.

Cove by Cynan Jones is a book I discovered reading another blog’s WWW Wednesday post. It sounds like an interesting tale of survival with a twist of memory loss for the main character. Not sure if I’ll ever buy it, but I will at least try to find it at the library.

The House of Souls is another Arthur Machen book I’d like to get; one I’ve actually had on my radar for a while. The problem has been that it seems a little harder to find a good copy of. This specific edition I came across is a classic reprint, which replicates the conditions of classic works. I don’t quite know what it’ll mean for this book, but I’m intrigued by the look of it enough to want this edition specifically.

Portrait of a Murderer by Anne Meredith is another book I learned about from a WWW Wednesday post. I’ve had a growing interest in reading more mystery novels lately (though I haven’t actually fed it at all), and the idea of a murder mystery with the backdrop of the Christmas season was intriguing enough for me to shelve it on my to-read list.

Bone by Jeff Smith is a comic book series I’ve been vaguely aware of for ages. I keep hearing it’s incredible, though I have no idea why. I don’t even really know what it’s about. At any rate, I found out that I can buy digital collection of the entire series for $20, so I definitely plan to check that out sometime in the near future.

Lastly, I found out David Sedaris is coming out with a new collection of stories called Calypso, set to hit shelves next month. I’ve become a big fan of his over the last couple years and can’t wait to check it out. I’m also not ashamed to admit that I find the cover a lot more amusing than I probably ought to.

Closing Thoughts

So, that’s everything for this month. A lot lighter than March, but maybe more reasonable? I hope these post are enjoyable either way. I’m really close to finishing Lord of the Rings, so hopefully I’ll be reading what I buy a lot more frequently once I can finally put that tome to bed. I feel like I’m in a weird reading slump. I want the momentum to pick up again.

P.S.

Has anyone else recently picked up a book to learn more about or experience something a separate piece of media introduced you to? I love when that happens, whether it leads to a book or not. It keeps art and ideas alive and in the minds of more people.