I got books from all over last week: one win, one purchase new, one from the bring-some-take-some fundraiser at my dentist’s office, two library loans, two library sale items, and two from the bring-some-take-some fundraiser at our village post office. In total, I spent $7.00 on the used books.

The Day the Crayons Quit and The Day the Crayons Came Home, both by Drew Daywalt and illustrated by Oliver Jeffers are two delightful children’s picture books. I’d recommend them for ages 4-8. I borrowed these from my library.

Secret Paris by Zoe de Las Cases is a beautiful adult colouring book I bought from Amazon. It was strictly a cost-saving measure since I needed $10 to bring my order of a new ironing board cover to the free shipping level. Hey – why pay good money on shipping when we can pay the same $10 and get a book?

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Ann Morgan’s Beside Myself is a win from Bloomsburg Publishing via a TLC Book Tour post by Kelly of The Well-Read Redhead. I haven’t started this yet but it promises a whole lot of suspense.

From the boxes at my dentist’s office where the fundraiser benefits local hockey activities, I picked up a classic “dime novel”: Murder Racquet, edited by Alfred Hitchcock. I’m a sucker for Hitchcock mystery pulps, and those published under the auspices of ‘Ellery Queen’.

From the small sale table at the library, I bought The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules by Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg, and Caro Peacock’s Foreign Affair:, which seems to be the first in the “Liberty Lane” series.

The former is meant for fans of The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, and the latter is set in 1837 when “Queen Victoria, barely eighteen, has just ascended to the throne”. The promise of a young Queen Victoria sold me on this book. These two books were .50 cents each.

The sale “table” at our post office has grown over time and actually occupies a couple of bookcases as well as the table and windowsills. The books there are gems but the prices are the highest of any the places I obtained books last week.

I spent $3 on Accordian Crimes by E. Annie Proulx. I read this story that follows the life of a “little green accordian” through a century of American history, about 20 years ago and have been wanting to reread it.

M.L. Stedman’s The Light Between Oceans needs no introduction and has been on my TBR list for a while now. It cost $2
 

Do any of these interest you? What was your favourite book acquisition this week?

Go on and visit Mailbox Monday and have a look at the wonderful goodies in other people’s mailboxes!
 

This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase after clicking through on them, I will earn a small percentage of the sale.

Everything that landed in my mailbox this week was ebooks: one ARC from NetGalley and two purchases.
 

I was most excited about Julie Mulhern’s Clouds in My Coffee, due for release on May 10, 2016. This is the third installment in the Country Club Murder series set in 1974 Kansas City, Missouri.

The protagonist, Ellison Russell, widowed and “on the cusp of 40”, is smart and funny; and the electricity between her and Homicide Detective Anarchy Jones could run the lights in my house for a year. This time out, it seems someone is trying to kill Ellison, although no one can figure out why.

Wednesday’s BookBub mailing tipped me off to to Michael Alvear’s Eat it Later: Mastering Self-Control and the Slimming Power of Postponement on sale for $1. Although the title makes this sounds like a diet book, the author insists that it’s not, and I think he’s right. No doubt putting into practice what he advises will result in weight loss in the long run; but the goal, as Alvear say, is well-being.

I should write these things down because I’m getting old and forgetful: I can’t remember what twigged my attention to Karen Charlton’s Detective Lavender mystery series, set in Northumberland England in the early 19th century. Whoever it was, was talking about Charlton’s second or third book but intrigued me enough that I actually bought (at full Kindle price!) the first in the series, The Heiress of Linn Hagh.

 
Go on and visit Mailbox Monday and have a look at the wonderful goodies in other people’s mailboxes!

P.S. The links are affiliate links so I will receive a small percentage of any purchase you make after clicking through from this blog.

It was a strange week last week: I brought home no library books, I didn’t download any ebooks (nearly unheard of!), and I didn’t have one book come in the mail. It’s mainly because I’m trying to read my own books this year, but still – when I have had this kind of willpower before?

But, just as I was coming up empty for Mailbox Monday, I visited our local Caper Cafe where there is a bookshelf of “bring some, take some” books in support of an insect rescue/restoration fund. There I found this paperback. Look! Carol Shields? Check. Mystery? Check. Literary? Check. All my boxes were ticked before I even got to the cover: a vintage fountain pen, with a journal and a leather-bound book(!!)

There was no question I had to make a donation and bring this book home and, what’s more, begin reading it immediately!

Go on and visit Mailbox Monday and have a look at the wonderful goodies in other people’s mailboxes!

P.S. This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase after clicking through on them, I will earn a small percentage of the sale.