How Much Do I Love The Book Depository??

The answer to that question would be - A LOT!

Buying books in Australia can be quite expensive - I try hard to support some of the smaller, independently owned bookshops but it is often a struggle to find the book I am looking for (in my town at least) and if they do have it in stock it is ridiculously expensive and if it is not in stock it takes weeks to come in - and it is still ridiculously expensive!

So my partner and I have been doing a lot of our book buying through The Book Depository lately and on the weekend I made a last flurry of purchasing before we restrict our book buying as part of our 2010 budgetary measures! The books I am now looking out for in our mail box are:

In Praise of Slow - Carl Honre - This is a book I have been meaning to read for a while now and it will hopefully encourage and support one of my reading goals for this coming year which is to read my books more slowly and deliberately.

How To Be A Domestic Goddess - Nigella Lawson - Another book I have been coveting for the longest time (but it costs over $60 in Australian bookshops so it has stayed on the shelves!). It is also supporting one of my reading /lifestyle goals for this year.

The White Garden - Stephanie Barron - I first saw this book over at Frances's blog and it sounds really interesting - and it fits in well as an accompaniment to the Woolf Read Along I am participating in at the moment.

Me and Miss M - Jemma Forte - I read about this in a local magazine and it just sounded like a nice light, fun read - for times when I need one of those.

A Visit To Persephone

One of the highlights of my recent trip to London was a trip to the Persephone Bookshop. So many of you have been telling me to make the trip - and I am so glad I did. I only wish I had more room to bring even more books home with me! Ahh - the joys of mail order!

I did manage to whittle my selection down to two books to bring home with me:
Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day by Winifred Watson and Good Evening, Mrs Craven: The Wartime Stories of Mollie Panter-Downes.

I chose Miss Pettigrew because I have seen, and loved, the movie with Frances McDormand and Amy Adams and I have read some other bloggers talking positively about Mollie Panter-Downes. It was so hard to only walk out of that shop with two books though!! I'm going to be putting in a mail order very soon I think - can you let me know what Persephone books I should collect next? What is your favourite?

In Ireland!

Just a quick post from sunny Ireland - yes, you read right - it is sunny in Ireland!! And it has been for our whole trip so far (keeping fingers crossed!). Have been visiting all the bookshops that I can find but I might have to cut back soon because my bag is starting to get very heavy and I haven't even got to Paris or London yet.
One of my favourites was Hodges and Figgis in Dublin - I just love that name!

Favourite Bookshops

A recent question posted by Australian based Mook (half magazine, half book) Dumbo Feather, Pass it On asking people to list and discuss their favourite bookshops around the world has me thinking.

Unfortunately I have to say that the town in which I live does not have a great selection of bookshops to go to, although our second hand bookshops are pretty good I have to say. I do make a trip to our Borders store quite regularly but it really doesn't offer such great variety - quantity yes but variety no.

So, I usually make a trip to Sydney for my book browsing and purchasing needs. One of my favourites there would have to be Gleebooks in Glebe Point Road. Gleebooks has a great selection of fiction and non-fiction, particularly related to my work area which is helpful. I love the feel of the shop too - chaotic, ad hoc and charming.

When we were in the UK last year I loved visiting the Waterstones bookshops - particularly the branch in Bath.

I don't like to think of myself as a bookshop snob at all - I will visit any bookshop, anytime anywhere! But I do try to support the smaller, independent bookshops when I can.

What about you? What are your favourites?

New Purchases

So, I went to Sydney for work today and as predicted (by myself!) I visited some bookshops and made some purchases.

I actually didn't have a lot of time to browse today or the damage done could have been a lot worse!

I ended up buying:

1. No Angel - Penny Vincenzi; I have seen her books before but thought they always looked a bit light and fluffy - not that there's anything wrong with that - just not usually my cup of tea. But based on Danielle's excellent recommendation I'm going to give this one a go. I already started it on the train on the way home and it's one of the first times I can remember wanting a train journey to take longer! A good sign of things to come.

2. My other purchase was Selected Stories - Alice Munro; this is a book I have listed to read for the New Classics Challange and my local library does not seem to carry a copy so I think the purchase was well justified. Besides, from all I have heard of Alice Munro I am thinking I will want to have a copy of this one for myself.

Reading and Pondering Possible Promises...

I am still going with Twilight and although I am enjoying it to a degree I keep wanting to yell "get on with it!" to the author. The very tedious descriptive passages of looks and feelings are starting to get to me a bit. And yet, I'm still reading it so there must be something there. My motto is "Life's too short to read crappy books" and by crappy I mean books that I am just not enjoying or interested in - not just those that I feel are badly written. I'm not sure how other people operate but I have no problems with just putting a book aside if I am not enjoying it, never to return to it. My father can't stand this trait in me - he will read a book to the end once he has started it no matter what.

In light of an earlier post about my reading/book collection/to be read pile and list getting a little out of control I am thinking about (and it is just a thought at the moment!) not purchasing or borrowing another book to add to the pile until I have gone through all the current options. This is something I have thought about before but I have never actually followed through - will I this time?

I'm making a trip to Sydney tomorrow and will no doubt be "forced" to browse through one of my favourite bookshops there - so not sure if I will enact the promise just yet...