Firstly, I had recieved a voucher for a third off a meal at Yo! Sushi, and I didn't feel I had done *quite* enough research on Japanese food to satisfy me (their katsu tiger prawns, by the way? Fantastic).
Secondly, I knew I had not done justice to the megahuge, fantastically stocked book shop. I mean, I had gone in and bought some books, yes. But they were books that I was already planning on buying - that's not the same thing. And it was near the end of my day and I was tired and my arms hurt from all the bags I had been dragging around with me (they have a Paperchase there too and I stocked up on notebooks. Lots of notebooks. Those beggers are heavy). I just wanted to get in and out and catch my train home.
However, long before I got home, I started having flashbacks to all those shelves of shiny new books that I had never even SEEN in real life before. I began to agonise over the glittering story gems I might have missed out on through my stupid and short-sighted failure to browse.
When I started having bad dreams about it? I knew enough was enough.
Am I saying that I spent a total of three hours on the train on Tuesday, just to be able to spend three hours in a bookshop, browsing? Yes. Yes, I am. And now I present to you the spoils of my book-stravaganza:
Shiiiiiny....
You're drooling right now, aren't you? It's okay. There's no shame in it.
The thing that strikes me most, looking at all these books (aside from how much I am dying to read them) is how individual and beautiful they are. I've been seeing lots of blogs lately that complain all YA books look the same, that bland photo covers are taking over, and saying that the art of cover design is dead. Well, I admit there are a lot of paranormal romances with similar covers on the shelves right now, but...seriously? Have these guys SEEN the cover of Candor? Or Mercy, or Leviathan or Knife? Cover design is clearly alive and well.
Right now I'm reading Need by Carrie Jones and liking it on the whole. I'm hoping to squeeze in The Eternal Ones or possibly Spells by Aprilynne Pike before my copy-edits for Shadows arrive.
What book covers did you guys drool over most recently? What books did you pounce on in your local bookshop with a gleeful cry?
(Is it just me that does that? What about happy dancing in the YA section? Anyone? No? Ah, well.)
14 comments:
Most recently drooled over.. um.. The Tudor Age by Jasper Ridley, which I bought in the gift shop at Hampton Court Palace. It's impressive when you can make a book first published twenty years ago (a non-fiction one, no less) look attractive to a teenager!
Unfortunately, most of the covers I have been drooling over lately have been of books that are still, sadly, out of my reach. *Sigh*
These covers aren't actually all great, it's really the story inside of them that draws me in.
There's THE CHARMED RETURN, which is part of the FAERIE PATH series, which is also by Frewin Jones. (I think it's probably going to come out some time in february. Still hasn't been announced.)
Of course, SHADOWS ON THE MOON.
And then THE EMERALD FLAME. It's out, but Borders still doesn't have it, so I ordered it today. Hopefully it will arrive in time before I burst from impatience...
I saw NEED at Borders a little while ago, but didn't really look at it.
Maybe next time I'll take a closer peek....
My most recent favourite cover... maybe the UK edition of Jasper Fforde's "Shades of Grey" (the idea of a paint-by-numbers cover is really original).
I also bought "Eyes Like Stars" (I think that was the name) recently because the cover was beautiful... and unfortunately found the novel itself not at all to my tastes. I suppose I really should remember the old thing about not judging books by their covers...
OMG, Lanta, I also read EYES LIKE STARS over the summer, partly because of how pretty the cover was. I did my own personal "review" of it here on this blog. You can find it in the comments on Zoe's post a little wild back called: "WEEK OF BLOGTASTIC REVIEWS!".
Not really a review, but I expressed what I thought about it in a rather long narrative.
I also found it not quite to my tastes.
And worse yet, the second in the series (I don't quite understand what made my buy that, looking back now.) the second in the series, which is called PERCHANCE TO DREAM, doesn't even have a pretty cover, which is like the least I could say about the first book.
As much as I disliked it, (The romance was so cheap, wasn't it?) you have to admit that probably one of the few good things about it was the fairies. I found those kind of cute, I mean, how can you not love them?
And Ariel was just so.... moody. One day he's like trying to kill everyone, and the next he's offering to go with Beatrice on her "quest" to save Nate.
But you can find my opinions in my comment from a little while ago, so I won't ramble on forever....
Yesterday I saw an intriguing-looking YA fantasy on the cart of new books waiting to be processed in the back room of the library, and now, of course, I can't remember the title. It was about some kids staying in the British countryside who get mixed up with the Faerie court, and it had a really nice cover by David Wyatt, who illustrated Philip Reeve's Larklight books (did you read those? I've forgotten...)
Oh well. With any luck, I'll spot it when it shows up on the shelves.
Alex: Sounds good! I was going to write a book set in Tudor times once, and I still think about it sometimes. Maybe I should look that up.
Isabel: Oh, I know what you mean. I've spent most of this past year drooling over books I can't have yet. But it's nice to always have something to look forward to, right? :)
Lanta: I loved the EYES LIKE STARS cover, and the title, but luckily a few friends tipped me off that it wasn't great, so I dodged that bullet. But it does show how important covers and titles really are.
Phoenix: Hmmm. I wish I could prove my encyclopaedic knowledge of ch's lit by naming the book instantly, but it sounds like maybe it's 8-12 fiction rather than YA, and my Force is Weak in that area. It also sounds really similar to an idea for a story I wanted to tell some time in the future, so now I'm panicking. Why do other people always get to all the good stories first?
I think the cover for Nevermore and Nightshade totally caught my eyes recently. Nevermore looks like a dark story and the cover really shows that, me think. As for Nightshade, I like the shiny cover!
Well, Nightshade is definitely on my list, but I had to Google Nevermore to know what it was. Facial piercing FTW! Looks very interesting.
If I find this book, I'll tell you what the plot's like and you can compare it to your idea. That concept could cover a wide range of possibilities, after all...
Thanks, Phoenix!
Well, it was a few weeks ago that I pounced but what was in my vision, my glee was the study and glass trilogies by Maria V.Snyder =D GREAT READS =D Oh, wait I did, recently got The Broken Lake by shelena shorts =D pounced on that baby =D going to start The spiral by lisa mangum when im finished, =D =D
Jess =D
Book pouncing: the new national sport. Well, MY new national sport, anyway :)
Somebody PLEASE hit me on the head! I need to do my homework. Goodness.
Anyway, I've been drooooooooling on Unhooking The Moon (the second time). And I've got a cool idea to make this video to inspire me to get down with my homework. Which will take half an hour. Leaving me less time to do my homework.
I don't have school tomorrow (it's TTD), but I really wanna finish my homework today, because tomorrow is the day before my birthday.
And, people with common sense will be able to work out that the first day of Winter term (school) for me is on my birthday. Sadly.
My mum's here telling me to do my homework (it's like she says exactly what I'm thinking). So see ya.
I really hope that by the time you read this, you WILL HAVE DONE YOUR HOMEWORK. Go on, you know you'll feel so much better once it's out of the way.
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