Quarter 1 Book Haul: Jan-Mar
Hey hi hello friends, and welcome back to my blog!
I'm super excited for this particular blog post, because it's my book haul for quarter 1! The past few years I've been doing monthly book hauls at the end of every wrap up, but I grew tired of those rather quickly. I only gave you the title and author of the books I bought that month, so I never told you why I got them, if I had read them yet, or even what they were about. Well, no more!
This year I'm trying something different. Every three months I'm going to give you a list of the books that I had acquired in that time, as well as some important information: what they're about, whether or not I've read them, and my thoughts on them if I have. I'm hoping this will not only help me cut back on my book buying (otherwise these will be some of the longest posts I've ever done) but also help me keep an eye on my ever-growing TBR.
So in this quarter I bought 17 books - 6 in January, 5 in February, and 6 in March. I like breaking it down by month because then it doesn't seem so bad. Most of these books were purchased used or second-hand, which is important to me because honestly I really don't have the money to buy books right now, it just ends up happening anyway. I always tell myself that I need to go on a book buying ban, but I feel like everyone can attest that those just don't work very well. Let's see how quarter 2 pans out before making any decisions, yeah?
I also unhauled two books in this quarter...well, I actually unhauled a lot more than that, but they were all manga volumes of series I no longer wish to collect, so I don't think I'll be including those here, considering I don't include when I buy manga in my hauls.
Alright, without any further ado, let's get into the haul.
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January
"In this stunning debut novel, the maligned and immortal witch of legend known as Baba Yaga will risk all to save Russia and her people from Tsar Ivan the Terrible—and the dangerous gods who seek to drive the twisted hearts of men."
"Join English gentleman Phileas Fogg and his French valet Passepartout as they attempt to traverse the globe in just eighty days, all in the pursuit of winning a £20,000 bet.
Departing from London on 2 October, they must return by 21 December to secure the winnings, which amounts to half of Fogg's total fortune. Journeying by steamer, rail, and even elephant, the two men will stop at nothing in the pursuit of the prize... will they make it back to London in time?
Packed with unforgettable characters, daring deeds, and exciting escapades, this is one of the greatest stories of all time."
I've read two other novels by Jules Verne, and one of them is one of my favorite classics ever. I wasn't that interested in this book, but I saw a copy of the editions I'm sort of collecting and decided to pick it up anyway.
Read 2019
"Frances is been a study machine with one goal. Nothing will stand in her way; not friends, not a guilty secret – not even the person she is on the inside. Then Frances meets Aled, and for the first time she's unafraid to be herself.
So when the fragile trust between them is broken, Frances is caught between who she was and who she longs to be. Now Frances knows that she has to confront her past. To confess why Carys disappeared...
Frances is going to need every bit of courage she has.
Engaging with themes of identity, diversity and the freedom to choose, Radio Silence is a tor de force by the most exciting writer of her generation."
Read Jan. 2024
"While Hazel and her family fight for scraps to survive, the rich and powerful race to forge new allegiances in the universe’s never-ending war."
There isn't much to say about this, since it's the 11th volume in this series. If you want to see what I thought about it, it's in my January wrap up of this year. I have no idea when this series is going to end, but I'll keep buying and reading volumes until it does.
"Strasbourg, 1518. In the midst of a blisteringly hot summer, a lone woman begins to dance in the city square. She dances for days without pause or rest, and when hundreds of other women join her, the men running the city declare a state of emergency and hire musicians to play the Devil out of the mob. Outside the city, pregnant Lisbet lives with her husband and mother-in-law, tending the bees that are the family's livelihood. Though Lisbet is removed from the frenzy of the dancing plague afflicting the city's women, her own quiet life is upended by the arrival of her sister-in-law. Nethe has been away for seven years, serving a penance in the mountains for a crime no one will name.
It is a secret Lisbet is determined to uncover. As the city buckles under the beat of a thousand feet, Lisbet becomes caught in a dangerous web of deceit and clandestine passion. Like the women of Strasbourg, she too, is dancing to a dangerous tune. . . .
Set in an era of superstition, hysteria, and extraordinary change, and inspired by true events, The Dance Tree is an impassioned story of family secrets, forbidden love, and women pushed to the edge."
Kiran Millwood Hargrave is the author of The Mercies, which was one of my favorite books from 2021, so I have high hopes for this novel.
Read 2023
"Oddny and Gunnhild meet as children in tenth century Norway, and they could not be more different: Oddny hopes for a quiet life, while Gunnhild burns for power and longs to escape her cruel mother. But after a visiting wise woman makes an ominous prophecy that involves Oddny, her sister Signy, and Gunnhild, the three girls take a blood oath to help each other always.
When Oddny's farm is destroyed and Signy is kidnapped by Viking raiders, Oddny finds herself set adrift from the life she imagined. Gunnhild, who fled her home years ago to learn the ways of a witch in the far north, is on her way to her exalted destiny. But the bonds—both enchanted and emotional—that hold them together are strong, and when they find their way back to each other again, those bonds will be tested in ways they could never have imagined in this rich, searching novel of magic, history, and sworn sisterhood."
I'm so happy I finally have a copy of this book! It was one of my favorites last year and I knew I needed a copy of my own for my shelves. It looks very pretty on my mythology shelf, right next to her other novel, The Witch's Heart.
February
"Embark on an exciting, adventurous, and dangerous journey through the galaxy with the motley crew of the spaceship Wayfarer in this fun and heart-warming space opera--the sequel to the acclaimed The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet.
Lovelace was once merely a ship's artificial intelligence. When she wakes up in a new body, following a total system shut-down and reboot, she has no memory of what came before. As Lovelace learns to negotiate the universe and discover who she is, she makes friends with Pepper, an excitable engineer, who's determined to help her learn and grow.
Together, Pepper and Lovey will discover that no matter how vast space is, two people can fill it together."
Read 2022 (and Mar. 2024)
"When Alex Easton, a retired soldier, receives word that their childhood friend Madeline Usher is dying, they race to the ancestral home of the Ushers in the remote countryside of Ruritania.
What they find there is a nightmare of fungal growths and possessed wildlife, surrounding a dark, pulsing lake. Madeline sleepwalks and speaks in strange voices at night, and her brother Roderick is consumed with a mysterious malady of the nerves.
Aided by a redoubtable British mycologist and a baffled American doctor, Alex must unravel the secret of the House of Usher before it consumes them all."
"A young woman discovers a strange portal in her uncle’s house, leading to madness and terror in this gripping new novel.
Pray they are hungry.
Kara finds these words in the mysterious bunker that she’s discovered behind a hole in the wall of her uncle’s house. Freshly divorced and living back at home, Kara now becomes obsessed with these cryptic words and starts exploring the peculiar bunker—only to discover that it holds portals to countless alternate realities. But these places are haunted by creatures that seem to hear thoughts…and the more you fear them, the stronger they become."
Again, I'm just buying every T. Kingfisher book that I come across at this point. Not to mention this cover isn't one I see in commercial bookstores, so I'm really happy I found this secondhand because this cover is far superior to the original.
Read 2023
"The only daughter of the kingdom of Kekaya, she is raised on legends of the gods: how they churned the vast ocean to obtain the nectar of immortality, how they vanquish evil and ensure the land of Bharat prospers, and how they offer powerful boons to the devout and the wise. Yet she watches as her father unceremoniously banishes her mother, listens as her own worth is reduced to how great a marriage alliance she can secure. And when she calls upon the gods for help, they never seem to hear.
Desperate for some measure of independence, she turns to the texts she once read with her mother and discovers a magic that is hers alone. With this power, Kaikeyi transforms herself from an overlooked princess into a warrior, diplomat, and most favored queen, determined to carve a better world for herself and the women around her.
But as the evil from her childhood tales threatens the cosmic order, the path she has forged clashes with the destiny the gods have chosen for her family. Kaikeyi must decide if resistance is worth the destruction it will wreak—and what legacy she intends to leave behind."
I read this last year and really enjoyed it, so when I saw a copy at my local used bookstore I figured, why not? Especially since Vaishnavi Patel's sophomore novel, Goddess of the River, is coming out this year and is one of my anticipated releases.
Read Feb. 2024
"Thrown in prison for a crime he has not committed, Edmond Dantes is confined to the grim fortress of If. There he learns of a great hoard of treasure hidden on the Isle of Monte Cristo and he becomes determined not only to escape, but also to unearth the treasure and use it to plot the destruction of the three men responsible for his incarceration. Dumas' epic tale of suffering and retribution, inspired by a real-life case of wrongful imprisonment, was a huge popular success when it was first serialized in the 1840s."
We all know that this book took over my life in February! So far, this is the best book I've read this year. I bought this as soon as I finished the audiobook from the library because I knew I needed my own copy.
March
Read Mar. 2024
"Two decades before Zimbabwe would win independence and ended white minority rule, thirteen-year-old Tambudzai Sigauke embarks on her education. On her shoulders rest the economic hopes of her parents, siblings, and extended family, and within her burns the desire for independence. A timeless coming-of-age tale, and a powerful exploration of cultural imperialism, Nervous Conditions charts Tambu's journey to personhood in a nation that is also emerging."
I definitely took a chance with buying this book, but it worked out fine in the end. This was the March pick for Emma's World Tour Book Club on Fable, and I couldn't find a copy anywhere except for Amazon, so I bit the bullet and bought it. But I'm okay with that, because I really enjoyed this book! I even have the sequel on it's way to my house, so you'll see that in my next book haul in July.
Read 2023
"In Stone Blind, classicist and comedian Natalie Haynes turns our understanding of this legendary myth on its head, bringing empathy and nuance to one of the earliest stories in which a woman—injured by a powerful man—is blamed, punished, and monstered for the assault. Delving into the origins of this mythic tale, Haynes revitalizes and reconstructs Medusa’s story with her passion and fierce wit, offering a timely retelling of this classic myth that speaks to us today."
I read this last year and even wrote a review for it that you can read here. I have a few of Natalie Haynes's books and I've enjoyed everything I've read from her, so I think it's safe to say she's one of my auto-buy authors now. I just like to wait for the paperbacks of her books because the hardcovers are ridiculously expensive.
"Claire Kovalik is days away from being unemployed—made obsolete—when her beacon repair crew picks up a strange distress signal. With nothing to lose and no desire to return to Earth, Claire and her team decide to investigate.
What they find at the other end of the signal is a shock: the Aurora, a famous luxury space-liner that vanished on its maiden tour of the solar system more than twenty years ago. A salvage claim like this could set Claire and her crew up for life. But a quick trip through the Aurora reveals something isn’t right.
Whispers in the dark. Flickers of movement. Words scrawled in blood. Claire must fight to hold onto her sanity and find out what really happened on the Aurora, before she and her crew meet the same ghastly fate."
I was planning on getting this from the library before buying it, but I saw it at my local used bookstore for a pretty decent price so I decided to just get it. I don't know when I'll read it, but I'm excited to. I've been liking sci-fi more and more lately.
Read 2022
"An astonishing technique for recovering and cloning dinosaur DNA has been discovered. Now humankind’s most thrilling fantasies have come true. Creatures extinct for eons roam Jurassic Park with their awesome presence and profound mystery, and all the world can visit them—for a price.
Until something goes wrong. . . ."
Guys, this is probably my biggest find ever. I've been searching for a first edition of Jurassic Park for years, because I have a first edition of the sequel and wanted them to match. Any time I went to a bookstore or shopped online, I looked for a copy. It was a seriously lucky break that I found this on Goodwill's website. It's a little banged up (I mean it's 40 years old so it makes sense it's not in perfect condition) but it looks so good on my shelves!
"Carefully curated, these 200 plus poems feature Oliver's work from her very first book of poetry, No Voyage and Other Poems, published in 1963 at the age of 28, through her most recent collection, Felicity, published in 2015. This timeless volume, arranged by Oliver herself, showcases the beloved poet at her edifying best. Within these pages, she provides us with an extraordinary and invaluable collection of her passionate, perceptive, and much-treasured observations of the natural world."
I've read two of Mary Oliver's smaller poetry collections (Blue Horses and Dog Songs) and I really like her writing, and plus Chloe (chloebunnie on YouTube) raves about this collection in so many of her videos so I decided I needed it.
"HOWL & Other Poems, the prophetic book that launched the Beat Generation, was published by Lawrence Ferlinghetti at City Lights Books in 1956. Considered the single most influential work of post-WWII United States poetry, the City Lights edition of HOWL has remained in print for more than 60 years, with well over 1,000,000 copies in print.
A strident critique of middle-class complacency, consumerism, and capitalist militarism, HOWL also celebrates the pleasures and freedoms of the physical world, including a tribute to homosexual love."
Honestly, this is 100% inspired by Gilmore Girls. I was browsing the poetry section of Barnes and saw this little guy, and immediately the scene between Jess and Rory came to mind, where he returns this to Rory and she sees that he wrote in the margins. And yes, that made me buy it. You can accuse me of being easily influenced, but I'm this much closer to completing the Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge now.
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Unhaul
Radio Silence by Alice Oseman (my US paperback copy)
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (I'm unsure if I will buy a new copy in the future)
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It's a hefty stack, but at least I've read over 50% of the books hauled so far this year! Not to mention there are a couple of books here that I have plans for soon. Of course, some of these books might not be read for years to come, but that's the fun thing about book collecting. In my opinion, at least.
Are there any books in this list that you want me to prioritize? Let me know in a comment, or DM me on Instagram (link in sidebar under the heading "More Media").
Until next time!
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