“When I have a little money, I buy books, and if I have any left over I buy food and clothes.” – Erasmus

This should be my quote, except instead of “when I have a little money,” it might well read, “whether I bloody well have any money or not.” I might have gone a little mad with my purchases this week, so let me start with the things that were free!

My husband pointed me toward the works of entomologist Jean-Henri Fabre, so I found free copies of The Hunting Wasps, Insect Life, and The Life of the Spider on the internet archive. 

I once read and chuckled over the Shakespearian version of Star Wars so I also picked up the free kindle version of William Shakespeare’s The Hobbit. 

Searching on ResearchGate, I found a monograph about the Eurasian lynx; I love it when scientists make their research free! 

I also borrowed a couple of vintage animal fiction books from open library: Tawny the mountain lion and The Wahoo Bobcat. I’m hoping they can be part of my “big cats in literature” project.

Finally, my awesome mom sent me a gift card to get, in her words, “a guilt free book,” so I got The Return of the Wolf and pre-ordered the next Phoebe and Her Unicorn!

Now for the things that were not free – but were cheap! In doing more big cat research, I found a kindle copy of The Jungle Wife. I have almost no jaguar sources, so this felt like a must-have. 

As I mentioned above, I also got a good deal on SPQR. If I didn’t know better, I’d think Amazon is using my internet searches to mark things down. “Oooh,” their AI thinks, “she’s into Rome right now! Mark down some books about Rome!” If they’re fishing for me, cheap ebooks is the correct bait! 

Next came a St. Patrick’s Day sale from Betterworldbooks. I secure the Richard IIIgraphic novel and Animals Strike Curious Poses for $3.50 apiece. 

And, finally, the things that were neither free nor necessarily cheap. What do I call them? The unwise purchases? Sure – those! Included among the unwise purchases:

Our History is the Future – More Native American issues!

Never Contented Things – The description reminded me of Labyrinth. 

 
G’morning, G’night – I listened to this on Scribd and fell in love with it. It really is the perfect antidote for a crummy week.

Fall back down when I die – Issues of class and wolf hunting!

Augustus: the life of Rome’s first emperor – My Shakespeare class really took to Octavius, so they inspired this purchase.

Although it in no way balances this vast list, I did finish a few books this week, too.

The first was Your Favorite Band Cannot Save You. It was certainly interesting and brought to mind a quote I read once that people who didn’t believe in mind control, portals to other dimensions, or aliens had never attended a decent sized rock concert. I didn’t care for the narrator, however, which spoiled things somewhat. 

The second, and far more satisfying, was NeedfulThings. Admittedly, it very much jumped an entire shiver of sharks at the shark (hell carriages? What?) but Norris, Polly, and Alan were all very relatable. My favorite part was Polly’s fight with the spider. It’s a recurring nightmare of mine – fighting a big spider – so I was cheering her on! 
 

Probably not Polly's spider! ;)

That’s all for this week! Hopefully next week my head will stop throbbing and I will have more to report!

Dear Amazon, I deserve a drone of my very own

Soon to be seen (hopefully) hovering over a front porch near me!

Speaking of pre-orders – it’s been a busy week for conspicuous consumption! Part of it was the headaches. When I feel unwell, I’m less likely to talk myself out of book buying. The other part was that it’s been a lousy and stressful week all around. Future books won’t necessarily fix present complaints, but I figure they can’t hurt! With any luck, by the time they arrive my head will have stopped hurting!

Among my forthcoming acquisitions are:

The Bobcat – I’m excited that this novel promises to draw attention to an animal that isn’t written about much at all in fiction or nonfiction, but I’m nervous about the sexually abused woman trope. 

A Polar Affair – The description of this book drew me in because it hinted at something scandalous (to the Victorians, anyway) about the love lives of penguins. What can it be? Why did they care?

What Would Skeletor Do? – Did I mention I always root for the bad guy? Skeletor is no exception!

Into the planet – I became fascinated with caves as an indirect result of reading Stephen King’s The Outsider. The cave in it really stuck with me (very atmospheric) so I started to want to learn more. This book should help with that, along with Blind Descent, which I’m reading at present.

Highway of Tears – I’ve been trying to read more about Native American issues lately. I’ve encountered this case – missing young girls – before and I’m eager to know more about it. 

Richard III: the self-made King – I love when my current interests and forthcoming publications merge! It feels like the universe is looking out for me!

Stalingrad and Vasily Grossman and the Soviet Century – I haven’t actually ordered these yet, but I loved Life and Fate so I know I will. And how nice that they should come out together!