Lots and Lots and Lots of Books!

Winter Quarter is over, and as a reward for getting through my penultimate set of classes (only one quarter left!!), I treated myself to a major buying spree at Powell's City of Books - my ultimate favorite new-and-used bookstore. I had $200 dollars in my pocket, and all of it went to books.

Now, I'll admit, I didn't actually spend all $200 at Powell's. I spent $100 at Barnes & Noble, and the rest at Powell's. My sister made the mistake of dropping me off at Barnes & Noble for an afternoon several weeks before going to Powell's, and I couldn't resist . . . I have great self-control, but when it comes to books . . . Well, it's my weak spot. There is no denying it. Anyway, in total I have thirty-six new books, and they are:

• Aesop's Fables (a beautiful illustrated copy)
• Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie
• Kat, Incorrigible by Stephanie Burgis
• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
• Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
• Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
• The Princess Curse by Merrie Haskell
• Death Comes to Pemberley by P. D. James
• The Traitor in the Tunnel by Y. S. Lee
• The Sherlock Holmes Handbook by Ransom Riggs
• The Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan
• The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
• Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood
• The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
• Dracula by Bram Stoker
• Princess of the Wild Swans by Diane Zahler
• The Cross of Lead by Avi
• East by Edith Pattou
• Mary, Bloody Mary by Carolyn Meyer
• Flight of the Dragon Kyn by Susan Fletcher
• Paradise Red by K. M. Grant
• Sign of the Dove by Susan Fletcher
• The Traitor's Gate by Avi
• Aftershocks by William Lavender
• At the Edge of the World by Avi
• The Legend of the Wandering King by Laura Gallego Garcia
• The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo
• The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi
• Sphinx's Princess by Esther Friesner
• Juliet's Moon by Ann Rinaldi
• The Everafter War by Michael Buckley
• The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens
• City of Stars by Mary Hoffman
• Outcast of Redwall by Brian Jacques

And no, my new shelf is not yet finished, so I am building a miniature castle out of the books piled on my bedroom floor. I moved the excess books upstairs into my room, because they were getting in the way downstairs in the library, and now if I want something to read, I don't necessarily have to go downstairs to retrieve a book! =) It will probably be a while before I can do another buying splurge like that, unfortunately, and also unfortunately I am going to have to do "special" things around the house in order to earn any money to purchase new release books. Sigh. Once more, my pockets are empty. But you know what? I don't regret buying a single one of them! I love my books far too much, and some of those were great deals. And my goal in life is to bring back the tradition of a family collection, built over generations. It's a tradition that didn't have to die with the Victorian Era, after all, and it is not a tradition that must only exist with old, rich families.

Cheers, Bookworms!