Well, I haven’t left this post too terribly late this month, but I probably should’ve had it up last week. I just felt the itch for other things, I suppose. The only other source of hesitation is the belief that I’m once again forgetting some book or other that I purchased and just hefted onto the pile. I’m pretty confident that I got everything, though. It’s a weird month, because despite the number of books, it feels like I didn’t actually get very many.

Let’s see just what the heck I’m talking about.

New Books

These colourful books, while I’m happy to have them, feel more like a collective purchase than a book haul, as they’re part of a selection that is typically sold for 3 for $10. I really enjoy this effort to make classic literature more accessible and affordable, and I especially like the amount of colour and visual appeal they put into the covers, so on a whim I decided to pick these up one evening while I was out.

A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs I picked up despite owning an ebook of the entire Barsoom series because I feel it’s much more likely I’ll actually read a hard copy of it, especially since the ebook lumps them all together. This is the one in the selection I’m actually most interested in reading too, but I wanted to take advantage of the deal, so I considered and selected the others too.

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins I picked up because I swear I keep seeing this book pop up when I’m not thinking about it, in recommendations online and in thrift stores. I’ve read the author’s book The Woman in White, and I recall liking it a good deal more than others on the syllabus, so I decided to grab it. Sounds like it involves a murder mystery and a supposedly cursed object a bunch of people are making a grab for. Should be a good old time.

The Beast in the Jungle and Other Stories by Henry James I picked up because I thought the title sounded cool and I’ve read the author before (The Turn of the Screw); with the two semi-random picks I can at least say I’ve read the author before. No idea what to expect with this as a whole, as it contains a few stories in its short page count, but I’ll try and give it a look sooner or later. At this price, who’s in a rush?

I also received my preorder of the latest volume of Berserk this month, the first to be published without the original author Kentaro Miura having worked on it, due to his unfortunate passing. I’ve already eagerly read through the whole thing and must wait for the next one, whenever that may be.

Novel Discoveries

I’ve fallen off of keeping track of and picking up the new Junji Ito books VIZ media has been putting out, as I unfortunately burnt myself out on reading the author’s stuff. However, Uncanny caught my attention in a store recently because it’s nonfictional, diving into the author’s background and the influences behind the stories he’s written, though still incorporating the comic book form. I’m a lot more interested in that than another story collection, so I may pick this up sometime soon.

A Brief Atlas of Lighthouses at the End of the World by José Luis González Macías caught my eye, admittedly, because of the title. It evoked a lot in me that is likely not going to be covered in a book I’m pretty sure is literally about what the title says (remote lighthouses), but it could perhaps be fun as a departure from my normal reading habits, if I happen to find a copy at the library.

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Until next time, thank you for reading!