August Book Buys!

I've been a bad, bad reader!  Yep, I've fallen off the budget wagon, tried to get back on it, but kept on happily jumping off it just to get those bargain buys.  And it's awful when you do that and you come home only to find that you have to figure out where to put the new purchases.  This is why I have tried not to buy too many books this year - and have been failing terribly.  So, let's see what I've done to the budget this month!

I went okay for the first half of the month... seriously I did!  Right up until the 19th, August, I was good.  I kept my purse tied and inside my handbag and away from the sales. I happened to drop into the Book Warehouse at Springwood and found 'How to Survive the Titanic or The Sinking of J Bruce Ismay' by Frances Wilson for only $8.00.  On the same day, I off to my Craft Afternoon and found 'Tara Road' by Maeve Binchy and '44 Charles Street' by Danielle Steel to bring home with me too.

Over the next few days, I found books I wanted and found myself buying them as though I had no willpower of my own!  How disgusting of me.  I bought 'Black Ties, Red Carpets, Green Rooms' by Richard Wilkins which was found at the Book Warehouse for $6.00 on 20th, August.  Then, two days later, I was off to Garden City to pick up two books I had ordered in off QBD's website:  'The Blue Blazes' and 'Blackbirds' by Chuck Wendig.  I had paid half of it when I order and the rest when they showed up.  And if I hadn't already bought too many books this month, I found 'The Dark Tower - Book VII' by Stephen King (from his Dark Tower Series) so I have the whole series now, in QBD as well.

Less than a week later - 6 days later actually - I was off doing my grocery shopping when I dropped into Life Line to look around and found a nice little necklace.  I thought: 'Yay!  I didn't buy any books!' But then I had to look to my left when I walked out the door and found a collection of hard cover books of Piers Anthony works.  So, I sorted through them and found first editions of:  'Firefly', 'Tatham Mound - A Novel', 'Ghost' and 'Secret Spring' the last one of which he wrote with Jo Ann Thruesh.  Another book I found was a biography 'Patrick White: A Life' by David Marr.  I scored all of these books for $15!  And they are all first editions.  Two of the Piers Anthony books are printed in the USA and say so on the dust cover and inside the first few pages.  

This has left me with a heck of a collection of books I have bought over the last month; and feeling kinda bad I bought them all and yet I'm struggling to find places for them as yet; and I haven't read any of them.  
So, what have you purchased this month?  Great deals like me?  Ordered off the net or have you been better controled than me and reading just what you have in your collection?  Until my next post, happy reading!

Piers Anthony Book Finds!

Don't you love it when you find a pile of books in a place you just didn't expect to find books?  Yep me too!  Well, I was out doing my fortnightly shopping when I thought to check out my local Life Line charity store and found out the front a collection of Piers Anthony books sitting in a basket for $3.00 each!  They were in good condition and I have been wanting to read some of his work but didn't want to spend a fortune on ordering in new books from QBD.

So, I looked through the collection of books there and found some old, but great, titles.  It wasn't until I got them home that I found out they were all First Editions; two of the titles being printed in the USA.  What great finds!  I can't wait to get in and read them!  They look wonderful, have lovely dust jackets and are all hard cover editions!  I love them.

Have you ever found books this way?  It's a great feeling to have them so close and yet are at a wonderful price, isn't it?  Which books were the ones you found for your collection?  Until my next post, happy reading!

Get Bent... On Their Site!

Bent Books Bookstore is a great little bookstore on Boundary Street, West End here in Brisbane.  I've been there a number of times and have come away with a few bargains in my bag.  But getting there is a real slog for me as parking is a hassle.

So, if you want to see the store, but don't wish to spend the time trying to find a park and then worry you're going to get a parking ticket, have a look at their new website!  It's a great little site which takes you on a tour of the bookstore itself, you can e-mail them, look at books and catch up with what's on instore on their blog.  It's all very new, and eye-catchingly beautifully done up in lots of red and blue and white, and...? I love it! 

I'll post it on the sidebar for you all to enjoy at your leisure and here in the post as well.  Until my next post, happy reading!

Get Reading!

Yep!  I'm on it!  

But seriously, folks... there's an event coming up called 'Get Reading' in September which is just right for people who want to find a book that they can't put down!

And this might be just for you if you're finding it hard to get into reading anything right now.  So, here's the link to it and there's an app that'll take you straight to Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and YouTube as well - so there's all your bases covered for everyone out there.

So, get out there next month and get reading guys!  Until my next post, happy reading!

Instore or Online

Recently, I was online looking at what some of my writer friends overseas had published and asked Chuck Wendig which of his books would be the best to start with in reading - as I didn't want to buy one and find that I had come in halfway through a series if he was writing his books this way.  He recommended 'The Blue Blazes' and 'Blackbirds'.  So, I jumped onto the QBD site and found his books were there! Yay!  But... when I found myself at the Garden City branch of the store the next time I was up there, they told me that I could only order his books off their online store; damn!  
There was another way:  I could order them instore but they could take up to 3 weeks to arrive; due to them being an overseas order.  Hey that was cool... I mean, I didn't mind waiting for that long.  So, I paid a deposit on the books to make sure they arrived, and then waited about 3 1/2 weeks for them to arrive today!  Very cool!

Now, I do this a lot. I look around online for things I want, then go out and find them instore.  And if I can't get them instore, I ask if they can order them in for me.  A lot of the times the store can get them in but it does take time and a small deposit.  

So, do you do this kind of thing?  Or do you do you most of your shopping online for your books, e-books or other products?  Seeing I don't have a debit or credit card, I like to go out to the shopping centres and take the time to enjoy the social aspect of book-shopping.  It's fun; and makes book-shopping very interesting too as you never know what you're going to find.  Until my next post, happy reading!

More Than A Good Book Shop!

Today, I went out for a drive to Park Ridge.  I'm visiting a friend's place I haven't been to before and thought to see where it was before I actually went there, in case I got lost, then I could take my time getting home.  However, it was a lot easier getting to and from the place and I anticipated.
However, on my way home, I thought I had gotten off at the wrong off-ramp from the Mt Lyndsey Highway, but I hadn't.  And I looked to my left and found 'The Really Good Book Shop' was on the off-ramp.  So, I quickly changed lanes and pulled into the tight-fitting carpark and found a spot to slot the Pajero into, locked it up and went inside.

This place is a complete shocker to the uninitiated!  There's shelves and shelves and shelves of books, lining the walls, from floor to ceiling; most of those shelves are double-parked - so it's best if you take a few books out and look behind them if you're looking for something by a particular author.  I found the Horror section and looked for 'The Dark Tower' - which is book 7 of The Dark Tower Series, but couldn't find it.  I was hoping to find it here second hand; oh well, didn't matter, I tried.  

But the amount of authors this place has is amazing!  There's also a huge wall of romance novels, chic lit, paranormal romance, cookbooks, books on pets, animals, textbooks and a massive wall dedicated to biographies and autobiographies!  
The Good Book Shop has so many books it can't shelve them all.  They have so many piled in their aisles and more stacked on top of their bookcases and even more sitting on two-wheel trollies and around the place as well, that it's best if you're not in a hurry to get around the store... just walk slowly, and watch what you're doing with your feet before you walk anywhere.  I even knocked over a pile of books, felt really bad and stacked them back up again because they were blocking an aisle.  Then, I looked around and had miss-placed the book I had chosen to buy for myself - oops! - and had to hunt around for a bit to find it again!  I was told by another customer that people miss-placing what they wanted to buy happens a lot, and to keep an eye on what you want to buy all the time because it's easily lost in the place.

But this place is a wonderful store.  The best thing I love about it, is that The Good Book Shop is also a book exchange.  You can buy a book here, take it home, read it and come back and get a store credit on your next book.  So, if you buy more than one book, you have more money to spend on your return - just like the old book exchanges from years ago which have been run out of business because of the good ol' internet.  Personally, I love book exchanges as they encourage recycling and community awareness an the same people come back again and again to the same place; and get to know each other.  It's a good thing for the community when this happens.  I did buy a great read that I have been wanting to own for some time - '84 Charring Cross Road' by Helene Hanff - and so I'm sure I'll come back to the place again to buy another book and begin on my store credit; and I'll take my Mum here too, so she can have a look around as well, as she loves to read too.  Until my next post, happy reading! 

Fictional Libraries Are Just As Fun

Everyone loves libraries - whether they're real or not - and I've found a few of the fictional libraries of our times which have graced our books and screens just for fun! 

Fictional Libraries 

However I thought that a few libraries were left off the list.  There was the library from the movie 'What Dreams May Come' when Robin Williams' character looks for a tracker and he finds him reading in a massive library of endless books. Then there was the library in the monastery out of 'The Name of the Rose' which - in the end - was burnt to the ground.

There's other libraries I'm sure you can think of; but these are just two I've noticed that are missing off the list shown on the link.  Which ones do you remember which are not on the list?  Until my next post, happy reading.

Working On A Book

I haven't been posting much on here, and there's a good reason for it.  I've been working on a book - writing one that is.  Also my computer crapped itself last Friday night where I had to work on putting it back to its Factory Settings, then talk to HP Support and they're hoping to get somebody out here to work on the damned thing to make sure it doesn't do it again.

As some of you know, I'm a writer.  I write vampire romance (not Twilight stuff, traditional Dracula kinda gig) and then, I have concise poetry, short stories, flash fiction and novellas.  Then there's my Bounty Hunter series of books I've been working on for the last 4 years; the Fry Nelson books.  I'm onto the 4th book, and am only a few chapters away from finishing it... and I'm absolutely thrilled!  I took a year off last year because I had a couple of family issues and needed to clear my head, then my sweet little bird died last Christmas, and that set me back even further.  
Now, I'm back on track and I'm writing like there's no tomorrow.  I have to so much to write down and I feel as though there's not much time to write it... dunno why, but my brain's rushing ahead on me and telling me the ending before it's even arrived.  So, I'm flat out filling in all the gaps.  
So, anyway, between all that, I'm struggling to read anything right now, as my mind can't keep on track on anything while it works on the plots and subplots of the last few chapters.  Anyway, enough about me, what about you?  Are you working on your own writing project at the moment?  Is it going wonderfully, or are you hitting road blocks left and right?  Until my next post, happy reading!

Journaling Types

I've been very busy lately around my place, and I've been keeping different types of journals while I've been working too.  
Being a writer, an artist and a gardener, I keep a journal for each type of hobby I take part in so I know where my projects begin, how I get them done, how much they cost me, and when they are completed.  It's just something I do.  And I've found in my travels to second-hand bookstores that writers and famous people also did the same thing.  If they were big gardeners, they kept gardening journals of how they built their gardens, where they bought their plants and where they planted them and when.  
Artists do this with their paintings and work as well as take photos to keep track of how long it takes for them to work on their pieces.  It's all a record-keeping thing for them; even if it's time-consuming.

I have begun my second Gardening Journal just last year and am happy to report it's a great book.  It's a proper gardening journal which has tips and advice on how to grow other plants besides the ones I wish to grow and little pockets where I can put packets of seeds and names of plants I have heard of and want to look at, receipts from shopping at Bunnings - or other gardening stores - and other little things within its pages.  I thought it was such a great book that I bought a second one, but not for myself, I bought it for my brother and his fiance as they have a large garden filled with fruit trees and they wish to begin growing a veggie garden soon, so it'll come in handy for that too so they know when to rotate their crops.

So, do you keep a number of journals for your work around your house, or your reading or writing?  If so, how long have you kept it?  Or is it something you just write you inner-most thoughts in?  I also have one of those and have been keeping a personal off-line journal since 1997; which brings the number of journals to over 30 books I've written in!  Until my next post, happy reading!

Sci-Fi Month At Logan Libraries!

This month is Sci-Fi Month in all Logan City Libraries!  This is where authors, sci-fi books and themes take place throughout the libraries around Logan City here in Brisbane and everyone who loves this kind of genre gets in and enjoys themselves.

During past events, these libraries throughout Logan City have had authors talk about their books, how to write sci-fi, publish the genre and how to make and create complete worlds, languages and other-worldly realms seamlessly in the sci-fi genre you're writing in and make your readers believe it along with you.

This month there's some great writers who are gracing the libraries where I live and are talking about how they got published and how they created their worlds and have kept on creating them without fault.  I'm going to an event on 17th, August at the Logan North Library to see Rebecca Timmis talk about sci-fi and world-building (as I'm having a problem with keeping my sci-fi worlds intact once their built).  Bookings are essential through the Logan Libraries or through the Logan City Council website.  Until my next post, happy reading.

New Specs!

Today, I was very busy, mainly driving everywhere, and wishing I could get my front garden completed so I could work on my back yard to make it look better to live in.

However, I had to pick up my new glasses today - both pairs.  My private health fund provided full cover for two pairs per year, and I thought that seeing I have access to a car at the moment, to get my eyes seen to (pardon the pun!) and score myself a new couple of pairs.  And aren't they lovely?
On the same token, I also handed in my old pairs of glasses to be donated to Third World Countries so people who are less fortunate than me can have a pair of glasses when they can't afford to buy a pair.  I don't see any reason why I need to keep my old pairs and toss them in the bin when somebody out there could be using the lenses for their own eyes to read while they're studying or going to school... especially when I've cared for them so well.

So, does your optometrist do this for Third World Countries?  If so, have you contributed by handing in your old glasses?  If they don't, why don't you ask if they would?  It'd help so many people out there who really do need to help their eyesight; after all, they've got needs just like us, right?  Until my next post, happy reading.