The past month was a surprisingly heavy one for book shopping, though I mainly blame a surprise library book sale that came up. It’s hard not to make some especially impulsive, even random, purchases when books are going for one or two dollars. I also got a little fixated on determining how my shelf would look going forward with a certain series and ended up picking up a couple brand new books too.

Now let’s see what books I’m carrying on about.

New Books

The Last Hero and The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents were the next two Discworld books that I needed. Turns out, Thief of Time is the last book with Josh Kirby as the artist, so I was worried about books going forward matching on the shelf. Turns out, older editions of The Last Hero wouldn’t fit at all, but this new one does! It’s unique because it’s a bit of a divergence from the normal format, including a lot more illustrations, so I’m really glad I can include this copy on my shelf without it sticking out like a sore thumb. Then, I picked up Amazing Maurice just to ensure that the further Corgi editions would still match as well.

I honestly can’t remember what caught my eye about Like Death, other than the fact that it matched with the book pictured next to it a little. This was one of the old library books I bought and have been using these sales to really step out of my comfort zone, taking risks while knowing very little.

Once and Forever ended up coming home with me because I noticed two copies while I was browsing. I don’t believe in “signs” in a literal sense, but I decided that the same book catching my eye twice was a sign of some sort as an excuse to pick it up. Plus, as a long-time fan of Japanese comics, I’ve been meaning to read more Japanese literature, so this lined up nicely with that too.

The Mutations is a Mexican novel that caught my eye because it has a bird on the cover; I’m a simple creature sometimes. The synopsis sounded interesting too, with the main character losing his ability to speak and adopting a smart-mouth bird.

Gwendy’s Magic Feather is the only book I picked up because I recognized it. I’ve read the first book, Gwendy’s Button Box, and while I liked it I wasn’t especially driven to keep reading. Finding the sequel under these circumstances, however, made picking it up a fairly easy choice.

Lastly, Cat People is a comic collection that I’ve had preordered for a little while now. I’m a fan of Hillam’s work and usually make an effort to show support whenever artists like this end up having a book come out. I thought it was just a collection of strips, but it seems to have a bit of a narrative through line to it as well, which has me a lot more excited to check it out.

Novel Discoveries

Feels a bit cheeky to include this book, but it’s sincerely the only new book I added to my to-read list this past month and I’d rather not leave this section blank. I really like Bruce Timm’s art for Batman: The Animated Series, so a collection of art like this, which I presume to be tasteful, really caught my interest. Seems a little difficult to get a copy from conventional bookstores, as it’s been out for a while and seems a little niche, but I’ll maybe pick it up someday from the publisher’s website if it’s available and the mood strikes me.

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Until next time, thank you for reading!