Book Haul!

My birthday came and went with excitement and wonder. I love having a reason to splurge on books and I did just that. However I didn't break the bank. I only bought a few books at full price, the rest were bargains or second hand. The classics you see were all £2 each! The same goes for the large hardback underneath them.  I have already powered my way through The Devil Wears Prada by  Lauren Weisberger  and will have a review up in the next couple of days. Here is a breakdown of the books I bought.

Gifts

Les Miserables Volume 1 by Victor Hugo - second hand (Amazon) - 1p + £2.80 p&p
Les Miserables Volume 2 by Victor Hugo - second hand (Amazon) - 1p + £2.80 p&p
Lady Chatterley's Lover by D H Lawerence - second hand (Amazon) - 1p + £2.80 p&p
The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen - half price (Amazon)


Second hand

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer - £1
Ooh! What a Lovely Pair: Our Story by Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly - £1.50
Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama - £1.50

Bargain New Books

Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert - £2
Thirty-Nine Steps - John Buchan - £2
The Idiot - Fyodor Dostoevsky - £2
Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy - £2
Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte - £2
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins - £2
This is all - Aidan Chambers - £2

Full Price Books

If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch - £9.99
Cinder by Marissa Meyer - £6.99
Vanguard Legacy: Foretold by Joanne Kershaw - £5

So excluding the books I received as gifts I spent a grand total of £39.98 for 12 books.  That's a great saving, especially considering that the Ant and Dec hardback goes for £15.99 new.  If you're wondering why I am happy to receive second hand books as birthday gifts the reason is, I read fast. Therefore I can't warrant spending a large amount on books which I will probably read in a couple of days and may only read once. For example Cinder retails at £6.99 which is fun as an occasional splurge, however I could buy 3 books for the same money and prefer to do that as often as possible. This is why my full price list is far smaller than my cheaper alternative lists. Besides I enjoy the books all the more knowing I haven't broken the bank.
 

Update

I will be adding some more reviews later this week. Between work commitments and it being my birthday I've been stretched for time the last couple of weeks but now I'm on HOLIDAY!!!! I have the house all to myself and apart from housework (urgh!) I will be reading and getting into a state of utter relaxation.  Instead of rushing out the house at 6.30am to star a 14 hour shift I have woken up at my leisure (8.30am). I ate breakfast, put on a cd and mooched around online, put two loads of laundry through and tidied up my living room. Two cds later I am now listening to Christmas music (weird?...Yes, but that's how I roll. There is nothing more relaxing than Christmas songs in June). 

I will be reading City of Bones by Cassandra Clare this afternoon, I'm 41 pages in so far and it is interesting, I am intrigued by the character Clary and enjoying it very much. After which I will move onto reading The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger. This is not my usual choice of book, however I was in the book store and for some reason I had an overwhelming desire to read it. I do love the film, so hopefully the book proves to be even better :)

This week I hope to put up a couple of book reviews and also a book haul. I was going to do a book haul today but as I am going to London in a couple of days simply to look for books (love birthdays hehe) I decided that today is a bit premature and will hold back. London has the most amazing book stores, they are enormous and I would move in if they allowed me to do so.

Right, I'm off to cuddle up with the cat and my book. An armchair adventure awaits eeeekkk! I love having time off from work, I could get used to this.