The amount of books that I have bought so far this year is staggering. I have bought more than I have read which isn’t ideal….I am a sucker for a good charity shop deal, what can I say. I’ve already published two hauls on my blog so far this year, the first was in early February and it was a big one whilst the second was part of my London Book Fair post where I talked about my experience of the event and the books I managed to get my hands on whilst I was there. So actually, I acquired quite a few more books in February than will feature on this list but, I’ve already mentioned them elsewhere. Despite that, this is still going to be fairly big haul so I should just get right to it.
If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha
Despite what I said in the introduction, we’re starting with a full price book that I bought in February. This was a purchase that I made purely because I was visiting the Rare Birds Bookshop. This is a book shop in Edinburgh that I used to have the book subscription for where each month you pick between two descriptions and get a book in the post. It was a great subscription and gave me my favourite book of the year for the time that I had it! I highly recommend looking into it if you haven’t already! Because I had never been to the bookshop before, I felt like I needed to buy a souvenir and I really struggled to pick the book. If I Had Your Face has been on my radar for a while. It is set in Seoul in South Korea and follows four women trying to live through the impossible beauty standards set by the wealthy men in the society. I have been enjoying the literary fiction I have been reading lately so I’m hoping that this one is the same.
King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo
I found King of Scars at a charity shop in Alloa, a small town in Scotland. Like If I Had Your Face, I have wanted to read King of Scars for a very long time. I have already read the Shadow and Bone trilogy and the Six of Crows duology so I need to continue on with the books in this universe. King of Scars follows Nikolai, one of the characters that features in those other series and one of my favourites. I don’t know much about the book other than that but I imagine it will include a romance of some kind as well as the fantasy plot. I remember hearing mixed things about it when it was first released but I do want to read it anyway.
Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women White Feminists Forgot by Mikki Kendall
As I try to read more non-fiction in 2024, I’m having to actually buy them as it isn’t a genre that I own a lot of. When the Black Lives Matter movement was trending on social media in 2020, I read Natives by Akala to educate myself and want to continue with that. It might not be trending on social media anymore, but racism and inequality is certainly still an issue that should be talked about. Hood Feminism was a non-fiction that I saw recommended at that time so decided to pick it up when I saw it in another charity shop in Alloa. It is an essay collection that focuses on the intersection between gender, race sexual orientation and class. I can’t wait to get to this!
Mythos by Stephen Fry
Another non-fiction that I picked up was Mythos. Greek mythology has always been something that interested me from the days of reading Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan as a child and teenager. I was just fascinated with the Gods and the stories that come with them. I went on to read The Odyssey in university and really enjoyed that too so I am always on the lookout for new greek myth books to addto my collection. Mythos is a non-fiction by British comedian and presenter Stephen Fry which is said to be written in a really humorous and accessible way. It is the first of a whole series of Greek Myths Retold by the author so hopefully I enjoy this one and can read them all.
My Father’s House by Joseph O’Connor
I believe Joseph O’Connor is one of the most underrated authors that I have on my bookshelves. I read Star of the Sea as part of my undergraduate degree and then read the sequel Redemption Falls a couple of years later so, when I saw the hardback copy of My Father’s House in a charity shop I just had to snap it up. I was surprised to see this in Waterstones as well as I hadn’t realised it was such a recent 2023 release. Like the previous books I have read from this author, this is a historical fiction set in WW2 in German occupied Rome however, it is also a bit of a literary thriller. I enjoyed how O’Connor played different genres together in Star of the Sea and am looking forward to experiencing that again in this new trilogy.
Seven Stones to Stand Or Fall by Diana Gabaladon
I’m not usually the kind of person that bothers with the small short stories that are released as part of bigger series however, at this point, I’ve dedicated so much time into the Outlander series that I think I should make the exception. Seven Stones to Stand or Fall is the bind up of all the short stories that are written for the Outlander series, including the Lord John stories. I can’t tell you too much about these as they will give spoilers for later books in the series as they span from books from pre-book 1 all the way to book 8. I’m two books away from being able to read these short stories as I recently read book 6 however, I may just leave them till the end so I don’t get confused. What do you think would be best?
Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood
Quite surprisingly, I have actually already read Love on the Brain! Sadly, I didn’t hugely enjoy it. Love on the Brain is the second in the STEM romances and follows Bee and Levi in an enemies to lovers romance set at NASA. The romance just wasn’t for me here. I don’t want this to turn into too much of a review as you may have already read my thoughts in my April Wrap Up but, whilst I don’t regret buying this one and will read from Ali Hazelwood again, I’m coming to the conclusion that I don’t enjoy her books quite as much as everyone else does. If you don’t mind a romance that hinges completely on a miscommunication then, you will probably still like this one.
The Appeal by Janice Hallett
The next book that I bought in March was The Appeal by Janice Hallett who I have heard such good things about. I am definitely enjoying my mysteries and thrillers a lot recently so thought I would give this one a try too. It is a murder mystery set at a local theatre group however, the unique part of the story is the way that it is told. The evidence of the murder is compiled through emails, messages and letters between the cast members which we read to try and figure out the murderer for ourselves. I think this is going to be a really fun read to attempt to work it out as I go. I’m not sure how successful I will be but it’s going to be interesting to see how much I enjoy the format too.
Lanny by Max Porter
I know next to nothing about this book other than the fact that it was long listed for the Man Booker prize in 2019 I believe. I have heard so many great things about this one and the authors other books, Grief is the Thing with Feathers that I really just wanted to give their works a try. Lanny is a magical realism story centred around a village outside of London. It’s a short book so I don’t really want to know too much about it anyway as I feel it would almost give the whole game away. For 50p from a charity shop, there was no way this one wasn’t coming home with me.
Release by Patrick Ness
Patrick Ness is an auto-buy author for me. I LOVED the Chaos Walking trilogy and gave both More Than This and A Monster Calls a high rating too. I really do need to start reading more of the Patrick Ness books I own as Release will be the third that I add to be TBR, alongside The Crane Wife and Burn. I believe the genre of Release is similar to A Monster Calls as we have a contemporary story with a magical realism twist, this time in the form of ghosts. I know I liked Patrick Ness’ writing style and ingenious plots so hopefully I enjoy this one too.
The Daylight Gate by Jeanette Winterson
Next we have The Daylight Gate which is another short novel by Jeanette Winterson. I have previously read Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit so decided to just go for it and try another book by this author. I think this one is also an LGBT story but is more of a horror or gothic novel than Oranges. It is also a historical fiction and features witches! It just sounds really interesting so I hope I love it as much as I think I will.
The Removes by Tatjana Soli
I’m not usually someone who buys a book from the cover alone as I usually know something about a book, even if its just that I’ve heard of it before, when I buy it. The Removes was a compete cover buy as I’ve never heard of the author or book before. It is a historical western story which is a theme or setting that I don’t think I’ve actually read about before. The Goodreads reviews describes the two characters that we follow as girls “who have grown like weeds into women unwilling to be restrained by the strictures governing nineteenth-century society”. It is a different book for me so fingers crossed the cover buy pays off. If not, I can blame Alex as he was the one who boring this one to my attention haha!
That wraps up all of the books (well most of the books) that I bought between February and April! I can’t believe how many book I actually own at this point. I’m visiting my family home at the moment and I forgot just how many books I still have here too….I don’t think I will quite have the room to put my whole book collection in one location just yet…I should probably ease of the buying too but, I don’t think that is hugely likely.
Oh well! You only live once. What was your most recent bookish purchase?
Amie x
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