I have decided that I need to refrain from telling myself that I won’t buy any books in any given months. It rarely (if ever!) works, and I just end up feeling a little disappointed that my willpower so easily crumbled. In this frame, I told myself that I wouldn’t add anything new to my shelves in May, and I inevitably did. Without further preamble, here are the purchases which I made during May.
The first book which I just couldn’t resist was, contrary to what I normally buy, a new release in hardback format. I so enjoyed Paula Hawkins‘ The Girl on the Train, and headed to Waterstone’s on the release day of her second novel, Into the Water. In my defence, it was half price, and I did read it immediately; I also wasn’t at all disappointed with it, which is always a bonus on tomes which have been so hyped up! Later on in the month, I also took another trip to Waterstone’s in order to buy a travel guide for a wonderful holiday which my boyfriend took me on for an early birthday treat at the end of May. They had very little available in store, so I plumped for a DK Eyewitness Travel Guide to Bulgaria. It was largely useful, but not quite up to the standards of my beloved Lonely Planet Guides. I also ended up buying three of the latter for future holidays, after receiving an email saying that they were all three for two from the Lonely Planet website.
I’m on a quest to read all of Anita Brookner‘s work, even though she probably isn’t an 
author I’m going to include in my thesis. My sister managed to find three of her tomes in old orange-spined Penguin editions in a secondhand bookshop for me: Providence, Falling Slowly, and A Closed Eye. Talking of my thesis, I had to buy a physical copy of Virginia Woolf’s Between the Acts and The Years. I plumped for a Wordsworth Edition, as I really like their designs, and find their introductions quite informative. Plus, you can’t scoff at the price!
I also added a few more books to my Kindle this month. I spotted 
that several Mary Stewart tomes which I did not already have were priced at just 99p, and couldn’t resist. I chose Touch Not the Cat, Nine Coaches Waiting, and Madam, Will You Talk?. I also decided to purchase a copy of Gabrielle Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve‘s The Beauty and the Beast, as I had never read it before. My final choice was one of Richmal Crompton‘s non-Just William books, The Holiday, which I absolutely adored.
Which new books have you welcomed onto your shelves of late? Do you find that book-buying bans ever work?
The Woolf Wordsworth covers are lovely, aren’t they? Almost worth investing in a full set as they’re so reasonably priced!
I’m fairly new to your blog (and I can’t keep up!), but we’ve just been on holiday to Montana, USA, and found the Moon Guide absolutely brilliant. It covered everything from the literary canon to town maps. A good read in itself.
Fantastic – thanks Jane!