January 2016 Book Haul

I don't know why people always do a monthly haul at the beginning of the month. Isn't the point to explain what books they got DURING the month? Not before it's even started. Those hauls should have the month prior as part of the title as there is no way you've gotten all your January books by January 5th. I also made myself the deal that I would post only books I actually paid for (at least $0.25) so that way it's not entirely bogged down by books I got free through BookBub and Freebooksy. I've decided to add the books I received for Christmas as well, because it's so close to the end of the year. With no further adieu, let us begin.

Book #1: The Original Illustrated Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

I am a HUGE nut for mysteries. I love everything about them. I also love late 19th/early 20th century England. Recently I started watching (and rewatching) Sherlock on Netflix, which is basically if Sherlock Holmes was happening in modern times instead of the past.

My dad found out. He's a fan of old movies, and since we both liked Sherlock Holmes, we started talking about it. When I met up with him for Christmas to exchange gifts, I screamed and had to be convinced to at least finish opening the gifts that I got. I wanted to just stop and cuddle my new Sherlock Holmes book. It is the third one that I own.

I can't wait to actually read this one. I love the stories and the way they were told. Sherlock is definitely one of my favorite book characters.


Book #2: The Serpent's Shadow by Rick Riordan

Haha funny story about this....

....I had it on my Amazon wishlist. I got the first two in the series (The Red Pyramid and Throne of Fire) and I really really wanted to get my hands on this last one. I'm already a fan of Rick Riordan, I've read all of the Percy Jackson books and the first Heroes of Olympus book. Of course I love Greek and Egyptian mythology. When I saw the first volume in this series in my library, I checked it out an read the whole thing in 2 days?

Well, to my joy, my Nana got me this for Christmas. It was the soft cover and the other two are hard cover. It was fine with me. They don't all have to match. To my entertaining surprise, when I got to my other grandmother's house to do the exchange with that half of my family....my dad had gotten me the hard cover edition of this same book. I got it twice!

I loved the first one, and I can't wait to finish the series.


Book #3: The Double Eagle by James Twining

I was wandering about the Dollar General, like I do now and then when I have time and money to spend. Like normal I ended up at the rear end cap where they have their absolutely tiny (and usually crappy, but it's the only store that sells books I can get to) book section. My wanderlust took hold and I looked at the stacks of books that had been there...waiting....since July. At this point Christmas was like two weeks away. Sitting there was a new one, The Black Sun by James Twining. I bought it because it looked interesting and was $1.

I got home to find out that it was in fact the second book in a series. So I naturally put the first book in the series into my Amazon wishlist. This is the first book. From what I gathered from Goodreads....someone has done the nigh on impossible and broken into Fort Knox and stole some $20 double-eagle gold coins. Tom Kirk (I think?) has to go figure out who took them and get them back.


Book #4: Tarot for Writers by Corrine Kenner

I used to refer to myself as an aspiring author, though I guess with my ebook that (though now out of print) sold for $0.99 each, I am officially an author. On top of that, I love tarot cards. There are literally hundreds of decks and the artwork is so pretty. I wondered if there wasn't a way to combine these things.

Turns out there is. I got this book from my grandma for Christmas. It's an entire course book of sorts on how to use tarot cards to help you with plot, characters, locations, and so much more that I just had to have it. I've already started looking through it, and I love it. It's great for me. I collect decks of cards, and this shows you how to use those cards for your own works. I think that I'm going to read it all the way through first before trying to use it the way that the author intended because that's the way I am. It's definitely an interesting book for writer's to use.


Book #5: Dictionary of Classical Mythology by J.E. Zimmerman

I know this is a weird thing to have in a book haul. Who really hauls dictionaries? I do!

Earlier I mentioned that I love Greek and Egyptian mythology. For Christmas, so I would have something to unwrap on Christmas morning (this will make sense in the next book), my best friend got me a dictionary of mythology. It has entries for both historical figures in mythology that actually existed and for figures from legends and stories.

I like this book because now instead of having to constantly be wondering about who did what and why and if someone were related to someone else, I can just look it up in my adorable dictionary. Of course I think it's almost exclusively Greek and Roman figures, but that works for me.


Book #6: The Alchemyst by Michael Scott

I happened to see a meme on Facebook about a month before Christmas that talked about this thing. Jolabokaflod. I'm sure I've butchered it...I don't remember how to spell it and I most definitely could not say it if I wanted to. The tradition itself hails from Iceland. The way it works is that people get together on Christmas Eve and each person gets a book and some chocolate. They then spend the rest of the night reading and some even take the book they got to bed with them. I assume this is to stay up late and read, not snuggling with the book while they sleep.

Being a pair of big bookish nerds (of course we forgot about my mom who is also a big book nerd), Kaylee and I decided we would do this. We went shopping first for other things and picked up our chocolates. I got her dark with orange and she got me dark with hazelnut chunks. We then went to Barnes & Noble and picked the books we were going to get for each other. She told me she walked all of two steps. If you want to know more about this, check out my January 2016 Wrap Up for more!

Book #7: Diary of a Haunting by M. Verano

I saw this book in Walmart on January 3rd. Legitimately, I judged a book by it's cover. I was supposed to be saving my money to buy the Harry Potter books for my Kindle (because our library is still closed and a friend wanted to join the read-along so I am lending her my physical books and I'm buying the ebooks as I need them). I debated with myself, in the pet food section, for at least fifteen minutes while the other person I was with was picking out cat food. I eventually walked (ran) back to the book section and picked it up. I am absolutely in love with the cover. It's this picture of a girl sleeping on a bed, then the dust jacket (which I still don't understand the point of besides make it pretty) is clear and has the same girl going up the wall. I can't wait to see what happens. No idea beyond it's a book rather like "A Haunting" and "Paranormal Activity" in it's design.

Book #8: The Martian by Andy Weir

So yeah. I have been seeing all sorts of things about this on BookTube and the television since the movie just came out. I was again wandering in Walmart (though an entirely different one. I have access to like six of them, it's crazy). Now I'd seen The Martian at the other Walmart when I bought Diary of a Haunting, but it was the movie cover. I hate movie tie-in covers. My sister asked me to go shopping with her after I was helping her move stuff around at her house, and I saw it. The original cover. I don't know why I had no interest in the movie over. There's nothing actually wrong with it.

From what I gather about this book, an astronaut is left on the surface of Mars presumed dead. Turns out not so much. He surprises them all by not only not being dead, but by surviving on his own during the four or so years it takes for the crew of the next shuttle to even get to him to get him off the planet. It's supposed to have just the right mix of science and humor in it to make it worth reading.

Book #9-15: Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling

I know you all are going to be like "What?! You haven't read the Harry Potter books?! What rock did you crawl out of?"

Actually I already own all seven of them. I was just buying them for my Kindle because one of my friends is borrowing my physical books. We are doing a re-read with a friend of mine and our library isn't currently open. They're still waiting on a final building inspection from whomever it is that actually does that. In the meantime I thought I'd buy these on the Kindle and read them while my bestie reads my physical books.

I've read so far ahead of her (also I ran out of money), that now I'm reading the fifth book in the physical format while she's still on Sorcerer's Stone. Of course I'm marking these as books #9-15, since they are all in the same series together.

Book #16: The Harry Potter Coloring Book

Yes, I'm counting a coloring book. I've been seeing people on BookTube talking about this and I was of the mind that I would end up with it. I love coloring. It helps me relax and really who doesn't like coloring?

I also am in love with the Harry Potter series. I have all eight of the DVDs, all seven of the books, and a wand. I've been asking for my house colors in gloves and a scarf from my mom because she an knit. I used to have a stuffed Hedwig doll fro Portugal. Yes, I had a stuffed owl from Portugal. My mother got it when she was there on vacation. Unfortunately she's long gone now.

Back to the point! I was meandering in Walmart and since I had the money (shoveled my sister's deck and steps and she paid me!) I bought it. I have been wanting it for a while and I'm so happy that I actually got it.