While I’m working on my post about my trip to Gladstone’s Library, I thought I’d share my book haul. Because the whole point of the trip was books.

While I enjoy living in Italy, I cannot read Italian. Okay, well I can read a menu, but not a full length novel. Food words were a priority and necessity to learn.

And not that I need to justify my purchases, but I haven’t been to a bookstore since last October when I found that delightful, mostly English books, bookstore in Bratislava. I also haven’t ordered hardly any books in the past year and a half.

The Haul

The End of Everything by M. John Harrison (on the Booker Prize short list but I got it because it is science fiction, which rarely, if ever, makes any “literary” prize list)

Receipts from the Bookshop by Katie Clapham (my blind date book – thanks Steffie! We all brought a wrapped book and then drew numbers to pick a book. This was the one I picked.)

Normal Rules Don’t Apply by Kate Atkinson (my friend Page recommended Atkinson to me and I saw this book of her short stories before I found Life After Life, and so, using basic book math, I bought both)

The Moon Glow Bookshop by Dongwon Seo (translated from Korean by Shanna Tan and I really want to know if it really translates to “bookshop” because the book blurb gives more cocktail bar vibes than bookshop)

Enchanted Wales by Miranda Aldhouse-Green (because who doesn’t love mythology and when in Wales, well read Welsh mythology)

What You Are Looking For Is In the Library by Michiko Aoyama (3 reasons I picked this one up: (1) library, (2) I needed a book with a 9-word title for a reading challenge, and (3) WHSmith had a buy one get one half off and so I couldn’t buy just one. Again, basic book math)

The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick (See reason 3 above and because I’ve never read it (please don’t judge))

Between Two Rivers by Moudhy Al-Rashid (See reason 3 above and because it sounded interesting and I do try to read more than just SciFi and fantasy)

The Traveling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa (translated from Japanese by Philip Gabriel and because cats and also reason 3 above. Yes, because if you buy 1, you have to buy 2 so then you clearly get 4. This is basic, basic book math, people.)

Solaris by Stanislaw Lem (classic SciFi that I realized I haven’t read and which will be my warmup book for SciFi month because yes, reading warmups are essential)

When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi (I’m a huge Scalzi fan and hadn’t read this one yet. Also, I met him a few years ago at the National Book Fest and he is really nice in person and I like supporting awesome authors who are also super nice to fans.)

Earth 7 by Deb Olin Unferth (I didn’t actually buy this one. Emma was reading it and I was intrigued by the cover. So I asked her about it (not while she was reading, of course). When she finished, she gifted it to me like the awesome reader she is. Thanks Emma!)

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson (this was the one I was originally looking for based on my friend Page’s recommendation. And of course, when someone recommends an author you must buy two books to give the author a fair shot. It’s book math 101.)

The Mabinogion by Sioned Davies, Chair of Welsh at Cardiff University (I was in Wales, and it’s only right and proper to buy a copy of this Welsh medieval masterpiece. Also, it’s a really pretty edition. Also, also, Chair of Welsh. How cool is that title?)

Teach Your Cat Welsh by Anne Cakebread (before you ask, of course Jasper needs to learn Welsh. There’s also Teach Your Dog Welsh (which is the only one the Welsh language I could find on Bookshop although I did find Teach Your Cat Gaelic, so maybe I’ll have to get that one too). And there are also a myriad of other languages (Scots, Irish, even Maori and Manx). Who knew dogs and cats were so linguistic?)

All in all, I think I showed remarkable restraint of buying only 15 books. And in fairness, I did add 3 books to the Library’s Little Free Library. So, really, I only got 12 books.

Again, book math. It’s a thing. Really, ask any booknerd.

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