A couple of these books came as nice surprises, but the others are more purchases with my gift cards. I have a birthday coming up so my gift card stock (such as it is) will be replenished. If I just spend a little at a time I can almost work it so I get a package every other week or so. Why is it so pleasant to come home from work and see an Amazon or Barnes & Noble box sitting on the porch? Oh, that's a silly question, isn't it? Because I love books and can't help but buy new ones. Part of my problem is making blog rounds and seeing what everyone else is reading and recommending and sometimes I just have to have the book myself. You know how that goes, I bet.
I decided I needed to just own Connie Willis's To Say Nothing of the Dog. Since I am reading Jerome K. Jerome's Three Men in a Boat first, I can read the Willis at leisure afterwords.
The Unlikely Spy by Daniel Silva was a gift from a reader (thanks again Edd). I can't remember who recommended this to me, but I had added it to my wishlist and it happens to be a favorite, too, of Edd's. It sounds like a great suspense novel.
Garry Disher's The Dragon Man is another book I have in mind for a little reading project, which I'll have to share sometime this week. Disher is an Australian author and this is set in a small coastal town near Melbourne.
When I saw a white parcel on Saturday I assumed it was something I had ordered from The Book Depository (they also use white mailers), and when I pulled the book out, I was completely surprised--this is not what I ordered--flip over mailer and see who sent it? Fouth Estate (Harper Collins). I've not heard of Darren Craske before, but The Eleventh Plague is compared with the Flashman series of books, which I've always wanted to read but never got around to buying. Unfortunately it's the second book in a series, but I'm looking forward to giving it a try anyway--maybe it won't matter that I've not read the first book.
And lastly Alan Glynn's Winterland (my library isn't getting this one, so I splurged on a hardcover--luckily I had a coupon to apply to the order, though). It's an Irish crime novel, and I've heard really good things about it.
And now this week I hopefully will get that book from The Book Depository that I was expecting...Something to look forward to.