Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Why Buy?

Hi.

So I was looking through my shelves and receipts and I noticed that I had a lot of new books. Like, A LOT. Like, I-bought-over-30-books-in-3-months A LOT.

The upside: I'm supporting booksellers and authors and I get lots of shiny new books.

The downside: An empty wallet. And a TBR pile that is taller than me.

Anyway. I've been caught up in editing and haven't been blogging much (or reading much *guilty face*), but I thought it would be interesting to figure out what made me buy all these books. What specifically was it that compelled me to hand over the money for each individual book?



The Recommendations - These are books that I bought based on recommendation. Something that normally might not catch my eye, but a trusted book blogger/friend loved it, so I thought I'd check it out.

When You Reach Me - Rebecca Stead
Read a great blogger review about it, and then the next day my crit partner recommended it to me.
Unearthly - Cynthia Hand
Read LOTS of good reviews about this one. Not real big on the angel thing, but thought I'd check it out based on all the rave. (I read it in one day and absolutely loved it.)
Perfect Chemistry - Simone Elkeles
I'd heard so many great things about the romance in this one, I wanted to check it out.
The Sky is Everywhere - Jandy Nelson
Read a few blogger reviews that raved about this. (With good reason, it's an amazing book.)
Twenty Boy Summer - Sarah Ockler
Strangely enough, the whole Speak Loudly event brought this book back on my radar (it was an 09 debut) and some recent reviews convinced me to buy it.


The Debuts - These are the 2011 debut books that I've bought or pre-ordered so far this year. I'm not going to individually detail why I bought these ones because it's all pretty much the same reason: Awesome sounding premise and/or great ARC reviews, and of course I like to support debut authors :)

Clarity - Kim Harrington
Liar Society - Lisa and Laura Roecker
Across the Universe - Beth Revis
Hourglass - Myra McEntire
Awaken - Katie Kacvinsky
Blood Magic - Tessa Gratton
Wither - Lauren DeStefano


The Sequels - Sequel or series or companion books! Also, the three books at the end, which aren't sequels, but were bought because I loved the author's previous books.

Demonglass - Rachel Hawkins
I would have picked this up eventually, but the reason I bought it NOW was because it was released on the same day as two other books I wanted right away (Liar Society + Clarity) so I bought them all together.
Gone - Lisa McMann
I bought this with Cryers Cross. Also, I'd been waiting for the paperback version so my trilogy would match.
Behemoth - Scott Westerfeld
I knew I wanted to get this one at some point, but the reason I bought it NOW was to fill out the subtotal requirement for free shipping.
Desires of the Dead - Kimberly Derting
I received a finished copy of Body Finder from the publisher, so I wanted to purchase the second book right when it came out.
Red Glove - Holly Black
White Cat was one of my favorite books of 2010, so I am very eagerly awaiting this one.
Rules of Attraction - Simone Elkeles
Hardcover was on sale and I know I'll want to complete the trio so I bought it.


Beauty Queens - Libba Bray
I'll probably buy any novel Libba Bray puts out.
Cryers Cross - Lisa McMann
Read a great blogger review about this one, and I loved the Wake trilogy. Lisa does third-person present tense so well.
Delirium - Lauren Oliver
Before I Fall was another one of my favorite 2010 reads, so of course I had to get this one.


The Others - Books I bought because of a mix of price, impulse, and interest in seeing how the author handled certain elements in the book.

Beautiful Creatures - Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
Heard a lot of mixed reviews on this one, so when the price dropped I decided to buy it to check out.
Pretty Little Liars, Flawless, Perfect, Unbelievable - Sara Shepard
Box set of PLL. I've heard these books are addicting, and I'm really into mysteries/thrillers these days.
The Replacement - Brenna Yovanoff
Heard good things about this one, wanted to check out another YA book from a male pov.
Invincible Summer - Hannah Moskowitz
I haven't read Break, but I like Hannah on twitter and her blog, and I've heard good things about IS. I like that it has a male pov, and the family dynamics sound interesting.
Give Up the Ghost - Megan Crewe
This one was marked down to bargain price and I remembered reading some good reviews about it.
Mostly Good Girls - Leila Sales
This one is sorta funny: I read an interview with Leila Sales and she mentioned this song I'd never heard before so I clicked through to check it out. It became my new favorite song and Leila became my new favorite person for introducing me to it. Then I decided that anyone with that great of taste in music must write an awesome book. So I bought it.


Contemporary Craze
- Last month, I was looking at my bookshelves and was suddenly dismayed by the lack of contemporary novels I had. So I got a few contemp recs from Jade (who came through on twitter like a BOSS) and bought a few other contemps I'd come close to buying before but hadn't.

Jellicoe Road - Melina Marchetta
A rec from Jade. Also, it won the Printz and has a ton of good reviews.
Going Too Far - Jennifer Echols
I've seen good reviews about Echols' work, and I remembered reading the first chapter of Going Too Far and enjoying it before.
Hold Still - Nina LaCour
Another rec from Jade.
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks - E. Lockhart
Another Jade rec! Though I loved the Boyfriend List, so I probably should have checked this one out sooner.
Hate List - Jennifer Brown
I'd thought about buying this before and I remembered an author I liked saying good things about it.
Waiting For You - Susane Colastani
I'd heard great things about Susane Colastani and some of her books were on sale so I picked this one up.




So.

This is what I've learned today:

Trusted book bloggers/friends can easily convince me to hand over the cash for recommended books.

Often I buy books that have stayed in the back of my mind when they go on sale or I need to make a subtotal requirement to get free shipping or something. My "impulse buys" are all books I've actually considered buying before but held off.

Even if I didn't LOVE the first book, as long as I liked it there's a good chance I'll pick up the sequel. It fills out my collection and I know I'll read it eventually.

And finally, I've learned that I should probably start reading all these books before the TBR pile tips over and crushes me to death.

Cheers!
Kat

(P.S. Can I claim books as a tax deduction as an aspiring author? Just wonderin'.)

2 comments:

  1. Ha! I guess I do recommend a lot of books...

    That was actually really interesting. Now you have me thinking about why I buy books.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the nod!

    Jellicoe Road is going to blow your mind.

    ReplyDelete