I fudged my buying ban for the first time in history | Book and manga haul #52

So uh… I messed up my buying ban? But just by a little bit! And it doesn’t mean I’m abandoning it, I’m still doing it for the next few months and will not mess up again.

I accumulated eight books this month, two of which go against the ban. The other six were gifts.

Why did I fudge my buying ban after literal years of doing one every year and never messing it up? Honestly I forgot I was on it. I bought some Naomi Novik books second hand to complete my Temeraire collection and only after I got a shipping notification did I go ‘oh shit, I’m on a buying ban!’. So whoops. In my defense, they’re already read. So I didn’t add to my tbr at least.

Sigh.

Anyways, this is what I acquired this month:

The two books on the left are late Christmas gifts from an IRL buddy, as are the two in the middle. The two on the right are my blunders. They’re not even the same size – that’s what I get for going against my buying ban, I guess. Wonky books.

After I took my initial haul pictures, I got these two books as gifts as well! The one on the left I got from my mom. It was a 12 Friend Rec book recommended by her and originally I had borrowed this copy from her to read it. And then she showed up yesterday and gave it to me because I had liked it so much. And the one on the right was a gift from my irl buddy who gave me the Inuyasha manga and Middlegame. Same kinda story – it was a 12 Friend rec book and I had borrowed it from her to read, and she just gave me the copy instead! So both of these were unexpected but very much appreciated. 😀

And that’s it!

Next month, any books I haul will either be gifts or books for buddy reads, which are the one exception to my buying ban. Nothing else will be present, dammit. Wish me luck. Happy reading!

January book haul and a buying ban! | #51

Happy Saturday! Today is my monthly book haul post, and I’m putting myself on a buying ban!

The buying ban:

Exception to the ban: books for buddy reads. I can still get those
No new (or used) purchases otherwise until the ban is over
The ban will last through the end of April at least, maybe longer

I’m really hoping to get my physical tbr down during this time, but I do have a few buddy reads planned out, some of which I don’t own the book for yet. So I will still have monthly hauls, but they’ll just be much smaller and all will be for planned buddy reads. Wish me luck. I do a few month long ban every year, and every year I’ve been successful. I don’t see this year being any different.

The book haul:

In My Dreams I Hold A Knife by Ashley Winstead – This book is just further proof my tastes are starting to change. Thriller!

Switching Time by Richard Baer – This book is actually a re-buy and already read. I used to own it like a decade ago, but I lent it out and never got it back. So now I have it again!

Ice Planet Barbarians by Ruby Dixon – Sometimes you just get curious, okay. Booktok has sucked me in.

Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller – Picked this one up because it’s one of my 12 Friend Rec books, and I’m very excited for it. 😀

And that’s it! Rather small haul this month, and I assume with the ban it will be the next few months too. That’s ok though, I have plenty of books to tide me over. Peace!

Christmas Book Haul! #50 | Blogmas Day 27

Happy Monday! Today’s post is all the books I got for Christmas and the month of December!

This is what I got:

The first three on the left there were gifts. One from my sister, one from my parents, one from my husband. The middle picture was also a gift from my husband and the right-most I bought myself before Christmas.

The nine above I bought using gift cards and cash I got for Christmas. Barnes and Noble was having a sale today where all hardbacks were 50% off, so I got all these puppies for a discount.

I mentioned in my post yesterday that my friend printed out the lyrics to the song that was playing for her when my baby was born, and this is it. She also got him a copy of Rothfuss’s books, so I’m going to keep them safe for him until he’s old enough to read them.

And that’s it! I believe I have two more friends to exchange gifts with, and I might end up getting books from them, so those will be in my January haul.

PS I’m not counting these (except the two I bought myself before Christmas) as part of my end-of-year physical TBR count, because getting a bunch of books as gifts throws off my goal dammit. I’ll tack them on so they’re included in the start of my January count though, don’t worry.

Book Haul Sept-Nov! #49 | Blogmas Day 4

Happy Blogmas Day 4! I haven’t posted a haul since August, so these are all the books I’ve gathered in the last three months or so:

So my reading has slowed down but apparently my acquisitions have not. C’est la vie.

The ones I’m most excited about are the Folio editions of Robin Hobb’s Farseer trilogy. They’re gorgeous, man.

If you’ve read any of these, lemme know! Happy reading!

Collective Book Haul: March-August, and a buying ban!

So considering I disappeared in March, I haven’t hauled books in a while, so here’s what I’ve acquired over the last half year or so:

These are the books from March-April-ish. Five manga, four books. The Assassin’s Quest is signed!

From May-June or so. A lot of manga this time around. I ended up finding the rest of Saiyuki second hand and had to get it all. I also picked up some fantasy but when do I not.

A lot of manga again this time – I finished out Waiting For Spring and Saiyuki, and now own them all. I also picked up a book for a new buddy read and a new release and a book for reread and blah de blah.

These were two out of the three last books I bought before going on my ban. The other one – not pictured – is Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse.

The ban

As mentioned in the title, I’m doing a buying ban. I do one of these every year, usually for two to three months – there’s no real reason usually, aside from ‘just because’ but this year I have an actual reason. My book room is being dismantled and the books moved to the living room. I had to purge a bunch of them to downsize to fit, and I don’t want to bring any more into the house until after the move is complete, which will be at the end of this month, beginning of next month, roughly. So it’s a shorter ban than usual, but it’s still a ban.

And today is my birthday and it’s the first time in like a decade I didn’t go to the bookstore to celebrate :p I should have thought this through. It’s ok, I’ll live.

And that’s it! Happy reading

February book and manga haul! #47

Happy Saturday! This month I picked up a few things, mostly manga, but there’s a couple books in there too. This is what I got:

As you can see, I picked up eight things – two books, six manga!

Inuyasha Vizbig editions vols 9 and 10 by Rumiko Takahashi – I finally caved. I’ve been collecting the original editions of this manga for years, but they’ve gone out of print and with the sequel coming out and the series getting popular again, the single volumes have become really hard to find, and when I do find them, they’re expensive. So I’ve decided to just pick up where my singles left off and get the bind up editions which are still in print and much more affordable. I believe I have eight more bind up volumes to get after this before I have the full collection!
O Maidens in Your Savage Season vols 7 and 8 by Mari Okada – These are the last two volumes in the series, now my collection is complete! I picked up this series I think two years ago and loved it. I’m gonna do a whole reread of this, I’m pretty pumped about it.
Given vol 5 by Natsuki Kizu – I need to catch up on this series. I loved the anime and at this point in the manga, it has to be past the end of the first season. Here’s hopin’.
Magus of the Library vol 4 by Mitsu Izumi – Same with this series, I need to catch up! I read the first volume and adored it. I’m hoping to binge the whole thing at some point here.
The Obelisk Gate and The Stone Sky by N. K. Jemisin – After completely adoring the first book, I had to pick these two up right away. I’m in the middle of the second one now and I’m really liking it.

And that’s it! If you’ve read any of the above, let me know! Happy reading!

January Book and Manga Haul! #46

Happy end of January! Technically I have about a week left but I don’t have any plans to get any more books soon, so I’m posting today.

I got six books and manga this month, two of which I’ve already read!

Mob Psycho 100 vol 1 by ONE – This is a paranormal action comedy about psychics. I loved the anime so I’m pumped to try out the manga

Moriarty the Patriot vol 1 by Ryosuke Takeuchi – This manga tells the story of Moriarty from the Sherlock Holmes series. I heard the anime was good so going to try this!

The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie – This’ll be my first Abercrombie book and I’m pumped. Planning on buddy reading this with Zezee @Zezeewithbooks

If We Were Villains by M. L. Rio – Already read this! It was one of my favorite books from 2020 and I needed to get myself a copy.

From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout – If I’m being honest, there’s only about a 50-50 chance of me liking this, but even if I dislike it, I know I’ll enjoy the experience of reading it. I have no idea if that makes sense.

Yana Toboso Artworks Black Butler vol 2 by Yana Toboso – I “read” this one too, right after picking it up. It’s various arts from the author. It contains art both from within the manga series, some of the filler characters and from what I can see, extra artworks not appearing elsewhere. There are some descriptions of the art but otherwise it’s mostly pictures. This is volume 2 mind you – volume 1 I can’t find in English anywhere (but if you see it, lemme know). This art book was lovely and just what I wanted.

And that’s it! This is a normal sized haul again after the huge one that was post-Christmas. I’m hoping to keep the rest of the year around this size too, if not smaller. Wish me luck! If you’ve read any of the above or are interested in a buddy read, let me know!

Christmas Book Haul! #45

Iiiiiiit’s time for a book haul! I haven’t done a book haul since September, when I put myself on a book buying ban. I’ve since completed said ban and have since received books as gifts! I also received some book gift cards that I’ve spent on more books (duh). So this is all those books put together. None of these – since they are gifts/are a result of gift cards will be added to my physical TBR list until the new year. Soooo spoiler, I did hit my TBR goal this year, but right after the new year it’s gonna hop back up by a tiny bit because of these gifty books.

Pbtbtbt.

This is what I got!

Black Bird by Kanoko Sakurakouji – I got this box set from my husband and I’m so pumped about it. 😀 This is the entire series! It’s a romance about vampire-y demons, and I read it back when I was a teen. I’m v excited to read it again – I haven’t touched it in over a decade so it’ll be a fresh experience!

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik – I’m so pumped about this one. I’ve loved every Novik book I’ve ever read. All I know about this one is it’s some sort of dark academia. I know that’s a thing recently but I haven’t read too much of it, so it’ll be interesting I think. My husband got me this one!

The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons – I got this one from my buddy irl! It’s been on my radar for forever, just never got around to picking it up. I know this is one of those ‘fantasy setting narrator tells a story’ type of books, so I’m hoping it’s pretty good.

Devolution by Max Brooks – This was also from a buddy irl, and it’s about big foots! It’s by the same guy who wrote World War Z so it should be pretty good.

Given vol 4 by Natsuki Kizu – This is a manga I picked up using gift cards. This is the latest of a guitar shonen ai romance and I’m pumped about it.

Wotakoi vol 4 by Fujita – Another gift card buy. This is one of my moooost anticipated books of the year. I read the first three volumes a couple years ago and I’ve been waiting and waiting. It came out while I was on a ban, so I couldn’t pick it up ’til now. This is a nerd fluff manga.

And finally, I got four different cook books. One was from my mom – the Harry Potter one, and then the other three were from my reddit secret santa! (I also got a bamboo steamer from them, so I’m super pumped!)

I’ll be cooking up a storm, man.

And that’s it! I’m not on a buying ban anymore, but I’m also planning on going on some sort of limit – just haven’t decided what it is yet.

Happy reading!

September book and manga haul #44 – and a book buying ban!

So September, I got more books – particularly manga – than I planned. I mean, I planned on getting them anyways, don’t get me wrong, but a good chunk of these I was planning on getting in August. They just didn’t come in time. I turned 30 last month and in lieu of a party (plague aaaaah) I made myself two huge book orders online. I made these orders in July mind you, so I could have them for my bday. But the one didn’t show up until mid-September, so technically they’re birthday books. So keep that in mind. I’ll point them out when I get to them.

The rest though? Yeah no totally went nutso this month, hence the ban, which I’ll get to at the end of the post.

This is everything I got this month:

The Books

The Dark Mirror by Juliet Marillier – Honestly I don’t know what this is about. It’s Juliet Marillier though and she’s basically auto-buy for me. I’m positive I’m gonna love this, considering I’ve loved every other book I’ve read by her.
The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling – This one I’ve heard pretty creepy things about. It’s like a scifi horror thriller? Halloween read? If anyone has this and wants to buddy read, do let me know!
I also got a cat bookmark. I like it, it’s a cat.

A Dance With Fate by Juliet Marillier – Again, Juliet Marillier. I bought this on release day with my buddy and we’re currently buddy reading it – should be finishing up within the next day or so!
A Reaper at the Gates by Sabaa Tahir – I’ve been waiting for this one to come out in paperback. When it did I picked it up right away, and now I can binge the three books that are out so far. I’ve already read the first one but it’s been years. I remember loving it though so hopefully I like the next two as well.

The Tyrant Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson – This is one of my most anticipated books of the year, man. I love this series so far, and with my ban coming up, I knew I wanted to get this one before it started, so I did. I do need to reread the second book before getting into this one, but man I am so excited. It arrived today and it’s so thiiiiiiick ❤

Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer – This one has been on my radar for literally years. I saw it used and about gasped. I snatched up this puppy so fast, man.
My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand – Again, a used purchase. I’ve heard this book is pretty funny, and that it’s based off of historical events? Should be entertaining.

The Manga

Waiting For Spring vols 5-7 by Anashin – I really enjoyed vols 1-4 of this, so I’m hoping it keeps being all fluffy like it has been! These were all birthday manga.
Spy x Family vols 1-2 by Tatsuya Endo – This is a new one for me: I’ve heard only good things about it so my hopes are high! Vol 1 of this was birthday manga.

Kakuriyo vols 4-6 by Waco Ioka – This is a series I’ve been raving about recently. I wrote a blabber on the first two volumes if you’re interested. I am very, very happy to have these. These were all birthday manga.
Silver Spoon vols 5-6 by Hiromu Arakawa – This is a series I’ve been slowly making my way through for a while. I wrote a blabber on vol 1 back when I first started it. Since then it’s only gotten better! These were all birthday manga.

Noragami vol 4 by Adachitoka – This is another series I’m slowly making my way through. I hasn’t 100% gripped me yet but it’s interesting and definitely has potential, so I know I could still end up loving it!
Kamisama Kiss vol 1 by Julietta Suzuki – This is a new one, purchased totally on a whim, if I’m being honest. I find some of the best manga that way so hopefully this is one of those.
The Way of the House Husband vol 4 by Kousuke Oono – Continuing this series, I love it. It’s so wholesome and hilarious.

Candy Color Paradox vols 3-4 by Isoku Natsume – Another series I’ve grown rather fond of. It’s nice and cute. These were all birthday manga.
Yarichin Bitch Club vol 3 by Tanaka Ogeretsu – This is a series that’s so entertaining. It’s absolutely insane, so don’t go into expecting like… plot. Hah. This was a birthday manga.
Given vols 2-3 by Natsuki Kizu – This is the opposite though: Lots of plot and wonderfulness. I really, really like this series. These were all birthday manga.

Takane & Hana vol 4 by Yuki Shiwasu – This is another one of those ‘has potential but not 100% sold’ series. I’m getting this one vol at a time because of that. It’s decent so far though.
Graineliers vol 1 by Rihito Takarai – This was a really, really interesting one, I’m glad I picked it up. It’s definitely not quite what I was expecting, but I ended up really liking it at the same time. Definitely gonna get more of this one after the ban.
Act-Age vol 2 by Tatsuya Matsuki – This one I picked up after rather enjoying the first one. I ended up liking this one too, though not quite as much as volume 1. We’ll see if vol 3 ever is even translated.
A Man & His Cat vol 2 by Umi Sakurai – This one I was really looking forward to. Volume 1 was so sweet and cute and wholesome, and I’m sure those themes continue here.

And that’s it for books and manga! As you can see, I got a fair few. Hence:

The Book Buying Ban

So, for the last few years, I made it a reading resolution to do a 2-3 month book buying ban. I think a few years ago, I even did a 4 month one. I’m actually really good at sticking to the bans. I figured I’d give myself a break this year, and didn’t schedule one, didn’t think I needed one.

Well, apparently, I do. My TBR goal this year is in danger of being failed, so this ban is to help me out with that.

I’ve never broken one, and I don’t expect it to change this time either. After this latest haul, my unread physical novels number at 241. My goal for end of year is 200. So obviously if I keep buying books I’m not gonna make that. (And honestly I might not make it now. In addition to needing to really focus on reading more, I will also likely need to do a purge.)

If I do a purge, I can already think of a handful of books I’ll probably drop: ones I’ve owned for literal years and never picked up. We’ll see what happens.

Regardless, I need to just not buy anymore books for a while.

So from today until December 15th, I’m on a ban. And because of that there won’t be any hauls in October or November. December will likely have one because of Christmas, but I’ll be off my ban by then anyways, and won’t be counting Christmas gifts towards this year’s goal. I’ll throw them on Jan 1st for next year’s goal instead.

As stated, I’ve never failed one of these. If you go through my post history, you can see past bans and see that I’ve always completed them. So if you do see me hauling books this fall, do call me out on it. I mean I’m pretty certain I’ll be fine, but there’s nothing like the threat of internet shame to keep me in line, right?

So lemme know what you think about these books! Lemme know what you think about the ban! Happy reading!

August Book and Manga Haul! #43

Happy still-August! This month, I got a bunch of books and manga – some I bought myself, some I received as gifts from my friends and family for my birthday. This is everything I got!

Hunted by Meagan Spooner – This is one of those titles that since it came out, it’s kinda sorta on your radar. Every time you see it in the store, you pick it up momentarily and then put it back down with a ‘I’ll get this eventually’. Well, I got it this time.

Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J Maas – All my other editions are in paperback, but I got this hardback because I found it for three bucks, man.

A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor by Hank Green – I read the first one of these earlier this year and really enjoyed it. Lucky me, I didn’t have to wait too long for the second one.

Renegade’s Magic by Robin Hobb – With this acquisition, I officially have all the novels that Robin Hobb has written. I don’t know how I feel.

Vita Nostra by Marina and Sergey Dyachenko – I’ve been eyeballing this one for a while, waiting for it to come out in paperback. I found a European paperback edition online and grabbed it. I still don’t think it’s out in paperback in the US yet. I don’t think.

The Chalk Man by C. J. Tudor – This is a bit outside my usual genre, but I’ve picked up a couple thrillers recently and found that I like them, so… branching out!

Burn by Patrick Ness – This one, I actually went to buy on release day. The book store I went to said they had some in stock but the seller couldn’t find them. -_- Cue me coming back every weekend or so looking for the thing, which never showed. When my birthday rolled around I just said ‘eff it’ and ordered it for myself online.

I Had That Same Dream Again by Yoru Sumino – This is by the same author that wrote I Want to Eat Your Pancreas and MAN I AM HERE FOR IT. I HOPE IT BREAKS MY HEART. This was also a birthday gift from my bff :”D

Act-Age vol 1 by Tatsuya Matsuki – A couple days after I bought this, the author got himself arrested and his series was cancelled. I don’t know why he was arrested, and I’m not going to look it up until after I read this, because I don’t want to know, not yet.

Dead Mount Death Play vol 1 by Ryohgo Narita – This one I picked up on a whim after a recommendation from one of my best friends. Honestly I have no idea what it’s about, but my friend has a pretty good track record when it comes to picking out manga I’d like, so I’m keeping my hopes high.

Black Butler vol 29 by Yana Toboso – IT’S FINALLY HERE. But to be honest I kinda wanna reread the whole series first :p

Toritan: Birds of a Feather vol 1 by Kotetsuko Yamamato – I don’t know too much about this one either, aside from there’s a romance and one of the characters can talk to birds, I think?

Noragami vol 3 by Adachitoka – I’ve been after this vol for a while and finally it showed up. I think I’m gonna have to reread this series, too.

The Promised Neverland vol 1 by Kaiu Shirai – I fell in love with the first season of this anime and decided I couldn’t wait for season 2, so now I’m collecting the manga.

Ouran High School Host Club box set, vols 1-18 by Bisco Hatori – This was a birthday gift to myself. I’ve been meaning to collect this series for a while – I loved it as a teenager. So I bought the box set! It’s the full series, so now I can buzz through it all!

And that’s it!

Well, no it’s not. The same day I made the online order for the Ouran High manga over a month ago, I made another order to another website for more manga. That order hasn’t shipped yet. Hopefully it does soon, otherwise I’m probably just gonna cancel it and look elsewhere. Boo.

OKAY NOW THAT’S IT. PEACE.