In contrast to October, where I would perhaps expect a little more indulgence, I went ham this past month. Part of it was just thanks to a personal boon, but I let myself get a little carried away at thrift shops too.

Let’s see what I’ve picked up.

New Books

These are the first two of three B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth omnibuses I picked up this month. I ended up having access to a lot of free cash back and decided to spend it a little selfishly on some new books I’ve been really wanting. I’d been trying to hunt these volumes down in used and/or local comic shops with no luck, so I ordered them online. They’re a little beat up for supposedly brand new books, but I don’t like the idea of them being tossed if I ask for new ones, so I’m just going to keep them.

Finally, this is the last volume of B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth that I needed, so I finally have all of them. The main reason I hunted all of these down is that they’ve started releasing numbered omnibuses that are not separated by story arc, but I had been collecting the old ones and didn’t want to start over. For fear that they’re going out of print in favour of the new ones (which I feel is almost certainly true), I decided to get the last ones I needed now so it doesn’t get harder to hunt them down later.

I finally picked up a hardcover copy of Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh with the credit available to me as well, a book I’ve been meaning to pick up a hard copy of for a while. I first read a digital copy of it years ago, and I loved it so much that I’ve been meaning to get a physical copy for my personal library. With the opportunity available to me, I was pleased as punch to pick this up (perhaps motivated by the wonderful film adaptation I saw this year as well).

Ghostwritten by David Mitchell is a thrift store find that I picked up because of a pang of nostalgia for Cloud Atlas, the only Mitchell book that I’ve ever read, which was over ten years ago now. I can’t recall much of the synopsis at the moment, but I recall that it was interesting enough to pick up.

The Vorrh by Brian Catling is a fantasy book I’ve been hearing a lot about for a while now and tentatively decided to pick up once finding this used copy. I was tentative because this is the first in a trilogy, and I’m hesitant to commit to a whole new trilogy rather than a standalone novel, but I’ve heard this is great as a particularly unique fantasy novel that uses colonial Africa as its setting, Sounds suitably weird as well, in all the right ways.

The Rise and Fall of Darth Vader by Ryder Windham was the most indulgent purchase, as I suspect it’s a Middle Grade retelling of the story of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader. I love Star Wars, but I typically don’t bother with the books for younger readers. Hopefully it’s more YA. I really liked the look of this hardcover with its sleeve, regardless, so I thought what the hell. I think it was also only like $2, which really made it an easy choice.

Finally, I picked up this second-hand copy of Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson the other night simply because of the edition, which has a nice faux leather feel to it. I believe I also have a copy of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea just like it, though I bought that one brand new. Admittedly, I didn’t have much interest in reading this book before, but it’s fairly short and I’ve got it now, so who knows, maybe I’ll actually read it sometime soon.

Novel Discoveries

Mindwalker by Kate Dylan is the only book that really caught my eye this month, on one of another blog’s WWW posts. It’s a YA cyberpunk dystopia, and after having read more of the synopsis just now, I’m not sure how much I’d care to actually start this series. YA dystopias about taking on the establishment, whatever that may be, are fairly common, and it honestly sounds a little typical in a way that doesn’t really grab me. It seems well received though, so perhaps there are nuances to how Dylan executes this narrative that distinguishes it from others. I won’t rule it out, though I’ll stay apprehensive since I suspect I’m not the target audience.

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Until next time, thank you for reading!