Monday, January 2, 2012

Book Loot: November and December 2011 (and a peek at my bookshelf).

I realized after getting books for Christmas that it had been some time since doing a proper book loot post. And since I wanted to show the titles I got for Christmas, I tried to round up some of the other titles I've gotten in the last two months.

And considering I was on a book buying ban (it didn't go well), there are a lot of books in this pile! I also know I missed a couple (mainly some YA titles I grabbed). This pile also doesn't include my Secret Santa gifts, and a few others.

Anyway, enough excuses, on to the loot! :)



The very top item (in the green), is Homer, my Nook Color. The new green cover was a gift from my mom and dad for Christmas! My other cover is white and got dirty right away. I also included Homer in the picture since I went on a Project Gutenberg spree the other night and downloaded a LOT of free classics. I think I have something like 250 books loaded on Homer! I like to switch back and forth between my paper copies and ebooks. I tend to read on Homer at night when I am in bed-the light doesn't bother Matt as much as my bedside lamp.

Let's see...The Shakespeare titles (top left) include (I bought these when Amazon was running a promotion on the Folger's series and before I decided not to buy from Amazon again):
  • The Two Noble Kinsmen
  • The Two Gentlemen of Verona
  • Titus Andronicus
  • Timon of Athens
  • Pericles
  • Cymbeline
You'll also notice all the Puffin classics (in the pastelish colors...okay, and one is black). The five beneath the Shakespeare were gifts from my parents for Christmas (top to bottom):
  • Anne of Green Gables
  • The Call of the Wild
  • The Adventures of Robin Hood
  • The Secret Garden
  • Peter Pan
There are three more Puffin classics standing vertically next to them. I won them in November. Those include (left to right):
  • Black Beauty
  • Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
  • The Wind in the Willows (I've never read this!)
On the right hand side, you'll see the five new Penguin clothbounds! These were also gifts from my parents for Christmas (from top to bottom):
  • Persuasion
  • Mansfield Park
  • Northanger Abbey
  • Hard Times
  • Bleak House
Beneath the Penguin clothbounds are a few paperbacks I've picked up:
  • Shakespeare by Bill Bryson
  • Selected Letters by Jane Austen
  • Catharine and Other Writings by Jane Austen (when Iris mentioned this was her complete Juvenelia, I had to grab it).
The book on the very bottom is one I am super excited about-Dickens' Bicentenary 1812-2012. This is a huge edition with pull-outs, details on each of his books, information on the time period, and about his life. It was sponsored by the Charles Dickens Museum in London. I'm going to be going through it in February in honor of his birthday. But it is SWEET. I can't wait to show it to you!

Yeah, that's a lot of book loot! I now own all of the Puffin hardcover classics as well as the Penguin clothbounds. Want to see them in all their glory?

(This picture isn't the best-this bookshelf doesn't get a ton of light, but I did my best):



My Shakespeare is on the top shelf of this one, and there are a few of them on the second shelf. My Sherlock Holmes collection is between those 4 random Shakespeare titles and the Puffin classics (stacked horizontally). Then I have all my pretty clothbounds (I wish that stupid light would have showed them off better). :) You might notice I have an obsession with things being in order. Both of my large bookshelves (this is from the top of one of them) are in alphabetical order. I'm kind of insane about it, otherwise I can't find things.

Yep, I definitely have an obsession with pretty editions.

Anyway, those are the new editions to my library. What have you gotten recently?

34 comments:

  1. That is one beautiful bookshelf. I aspire to that greatness - mine are all willy-nilly.

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  2. Beautiful bookcase, I love Penguin Classics, if possible, those are the only books I purchase for my jaunt through the Western Canon. Congrats.

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  3. I am so jealous of how many of the Penguin hardback classics you own - your bookshelf is amazing :)

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  4. Oh my gosh, I am GREEN with envy. So much pretty all in one place! ;)

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  5. I love how beautiful the bookshelf looks. My books aren't quite as pretty. I'll have to try and get the puffin classics. I think my kids would enjoy them.

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  6. :O So lovely! I've got two of the Penguin clothbounds, both won in giveaways (one of them from you!) and love them both. I'm really coveting Middlemarch as well...I'm quite picky about colours and authors, so I feel meh about quite a bit of the line (although altogether on your shelf they're gorgeous!) but that and maybe Mansfield Park would make for a nice little display in my room somewhere. ;)

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  7. I agree - lovely lovely editions, and what an enticing bookshelf! I quite like the lighting for your bookshelf pic, because we can see the colours and patterns, but also that you actually live in the real world with what looks like shadows from your window frame...

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  8. I'm in love with your new books! I have a Kindle and read a lot of classics there, too!

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  9. So jealous of you! I bought myself 'The marriage plot' by Jeffrey Eugenides for Christmas and also got 'The book thief' by Markus Zusak as a birthday gift. They are both excellent books in my opinion. Love the shelves! They look so pretty!

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  10. You got some great loot! Those editions and your bookshelf are gorgeous.

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  11. Oh, those are lovely! I love the order of your shelves. My current organizational scheme is chronological, but alphabetical makes sense to me, too!

    (By the way, I went through all my blog settings and couldn't find anything to adjust with the RSS feed, but I did find an option for following via e-mail which I added.)

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  12. Stacks and stacks of books just make me smile :)

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  13. I'm happy to see someone else with lovely editions that are collected as sets and are arranged in an obsessive compulsive manner.

    I feel great that I'm not alone.

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  14. Very beautiful! So do you just stop and stare at the bookcase sometimes? I would :)

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  15. I honestly squealed a little bit at your beautifully ordered Penguin Clothbounds! My new aspiration is to have a shelf just like that!

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  16. Oh I love that bookshelf photo, so pretty! Makes me want to toss my boring B&N editions and start over.

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  17. Oh, my! So many beautiful editions. Enjoy! :-)

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  18. Oh, meant to say -

    I cannot WAIT until you write about that Dickens book!! I think that one might end up on my Wish List. It sounds awesome!

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  19. I am totally drooling over that bookshelf. I love the pretty editions!

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  20. The clothbounds are making my heart skip... Great collection!

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  21. what a gorgeous bookshelf! I'm in awe of you keeping your books in alphabetical order - I can't do that as I'm so eclectic in my reading so I try to keep my in genre order. Emphasis on the "try!"

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  22. I totally dig your bookshelves. Di bought me four clothbound books for christmas. Yay!

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  23. Man, I'm jealous. Both the books and the bookcase are gorgeous. Great job organizing them!

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  24. That is one gorgeous shelf! And quite the haul over the past two months too...so jealous.

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  25. I'm so jealous of your new Penguin copies of Austen! They're gorgeous.

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  26. They are so good. I have major shelf envy.

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  27. It was so nice of Santa to stop by our house for you. The shelves look great! ;)

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  28. The Penguin clothbounds are too pretty! Lovely shelf, too.

    Freedom by Jonathan Franzen, Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and The Best Place To Be by Lesley Dormen are my current buys.

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  29. *stares*

    My gosh.

    Your bookshelf is amazingly gorgeous. Which is pretty much just echoing everyone else, but IT NEEDS TO BE SAID. Because wow.

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  30. I am beyond jealous of your shelves, and your books. So pretty. I want them all.

    Looks like you had a great November & December, book-wise :)

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  31. I love the current trend for colorful book sets! And you've now convinced me to spend the last of my holiday gift card on the Dickens Bicentennial book. It sounds wonderful! (To be honest, I was going to spend it on some of the Penguin clothbounds because I only own one so far but they aren't as timely as the Dickens book.)

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  32. Your shelf is the most aesthetically pleasing I have ever seen! I usually just buy whatever I can find used, but I am a little jealous of your coordinated sets right now! Beautiful!

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  33. GORGEOUS! I love the clothbounds. And don't worry - though I don't have matching editions of my books, I do have everything alphabetized!

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