I don’t know what happened this month, but somehow I ended up buying a stupid amount of books. To be fair, most of them were from second-hand stores, but still, this is so much more than what I normally buy lately that I’ve actually divided them into multiple images.

Without further ado, on to the books!

New Books

I only learned about the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark series by Alvin Schwartz as an adult, so I never got the chance to enjoy them as a kid. Nevertheless, I’ve heard a lot of good things about them, and while they may not pack the same punch for me now as they would have decades ago, I still would like to see what all the fuss is about. I happened to find all three at a thrift store and decided now was the time to pick them up.

What The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells, Dracula by Bram Stoker, and The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson all have in common is, not only have I read them all before, but I also own a copy of each already (though to be a little fair, Hill House is only an ebook). The reason I picked all these up? They’ve got better covers than what I own currently, and they were three for $10. I was there for a completely different book, but the deal was too hard to resist.

The Oxford Book of Ghost Stories, edited by Michael Cox and R. A. Gilbert, was another thrift store find that also turned out to be quite lucky. A book very similar to this one has been featured previously on one of these posts. It had the same editors, but was titled The Oxford book of Victorian Ghost Stories. Apparently they collect different tales, but this book I purchased appealed to me for the same reasons the Victorian one did, so I snatched it up.

Animals of a Bygone Era by Maja Säfström is a souvenir I purchased while visiting the Canadian Museum of Nature a couple of weeks ago. I’d never been to that museum before and was really wanted to visit a museum again, so I took a little road trip. The art in this book is more abstract than realistic, but the style really appeals to me. I love this book; it’s such a quality souvenir.

Sensor by Junji Ito was the only book I was actually anticipating getting in August before the month actually rolled around. I’m always ready to pick up a new Ito book, even though I didn’t actually like this one very much. Certain pages of art were especially good in this book, though, so it’s a worthy enough addition to the collection.

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller is yet another repurchase of a book I already have, though I didn’t have a physical copy before this one. I learned that an Indigo Exclusive edition would be coming to that store, and I like the black background on this cover better than the standard green one, so I decided now was the perfect time to get that paperback I’d been wanting, especially now that I know and love the text.

The Overstory by Richard Powers is a book I’ve actually heard mixed things about, yet comparisons to Cloud Atlas have me curious about checking it outanyway. I found this at a thrift store too, which was enough incentive to pick it up.

During my last visit to the same thrift store this month, I found this copy of Song of Susannah by Stephen King. Though quite possibly the most redundant of my repurchases this month, there is a strange thought process behind it. Namely, back in 2017 I’d been painstakingly looking for a copy of this exact paperback edition but never found one, leading me to settle for the more recent version that didn’t quite match the size of the books I already had. I needed to get to finishing the series, after all. Though it has come into my possession too late, I just couldn’t bring myself to pass it up. Now I need the matching edition of the final book…

The only digital purchase I made this month was the Scott Pilgrim: Color Edition Digital Omnibus by Bryan Lee O’Malley. I’ve owned the black and white trade paperback versions for ages and have always wanted to read it again in colour, but wasn’t really interested in buying the physical books all over again. This digital omnibus was recently on sale, which seemed the perfect compromise to me, so that was that.

Novel Discoveries

Looks like I haven’t added a lot of books to my Goodreads TBR this month. Oh well, I read slowly anyway, so it’s not as if I need that figurative pile getting out of control and entombing me…figuratively.

Fifty Inventions that Shaped the Modern Economy by Tim Harford caught my interest after I read a review of it over at Silver Button Books. It’s not something I have a specific interest in reading about, which is what I usually go to nonfiction for, but it seems like a book I’d definitely learn a thing or two from.

Unfortunately, I cannot remember where I learned about The Haunting of Leigh Harker by Darcy Coates, though it was probably another blog’s WWW post. Shout-out to whoever you are. I recall them saying that the story takes something of a shocking turn. Partner that with my general interest in ghost stories and the striking look of the cover, and you’ve got one interested me.

Closing Thoughts

I’ve successfully completed the training period for a freelance job I applied for, which is great since it’s a job in editing. Unfortunately, this means that posts will likely become less regular as I acclimate to the increased workload. I’ll be working two jobs on a regular basis now, and reading will have to take a hit, despite how much I love it. I’m sure I’ll figure something out, but if anybody reading this has advice on blog/work/life balance I’d be happy to hear it.

Until next time, thank you for reading.