New To The Shelves 04

I haven't posted a book haul in a good ol' while and that's literally because I haven't bought books in ages. I went through an awful reading slump last year and I can feel my taste in books evolving (which I'll touch on in another post if you'd like?) which has meant more books have been leaving my shelves than joining them - until recently, when I bought five books within the space of about a week. Today I thought I'd share them with you, along with some DVDs I've also added to my collection! Yay!


(Also can we just take a minute to notice how spookily similar the above photo is to one I took in 2014. At least my quality and editing style has improved, right? Right?!)

Me Before You & Me After You by Jojo Moyes.
Louisa Clark is an ordinary girl living an exceedingly ordinary life—steady boyfriend, close family—who has barely been farther afield than their tiny village. She takes a badly needed job working for ex–Master of the Universe Will Traynor, who is wheelchair bound after an accident. Will has always lived a huge life—big deals, extreme sports, worldwide travel—and now he’s pretty sure he cannot live the way he is. Will is acerbic, moody, bossy—but Lou refuses to treat him with kid gloves, and soon his happiness means more to her than she expected. When she learns that Will has shocking plans of his own, she sets out to show him that life is still worth living.

I'm one of those assholes that doesn't read or watch a popular thing until no one else is talking about it - my brother is the same so it must be something in our DNA - so naturally I waited until I found Me Before You in a charity shop. I'm also very aware of the effect this book has had on the disabled community and I didn't want to give money to something that was upsetting so many people. I'm not completely blameless because obviously I still bought it (although it cost me 50p which went to charity) and I've still read it but I kind of wanted to know what all of the fuss was about.

I've read Me Before You already and it took me a couple of hours to get through. I watched the film as soon as I finished the book and can say wholeheartedly that the book is better and I found it quite enlightening - and I mean that in the least patronising, dickhead-ish way possible. A lot of inequality was shown, something missing from the film entirely, but I also found the 'we must save him against his will' really stupid and ignorant, although of course it was supposed to come across as romantic and dramatic. Me After You was another charity shop find which I bought just because I thought it might be easy to read as it's a sequel.

Uprooted by Naomi Novik.
Agnieszka loves her valley home, her quiet village, the forests and the bright shining river. But the corrupted Wood stands on the border, full of malevolent power, and its shadow lies over her life. Her people rely on the cold, driven wizard known only as the Dragon to keep its powers at bay. But he demands a terrible price for his help: one young woman handed over to serve him for ten years, a fate almost as terrible as falling to the Wood. The next choosing is fast approaching, and Agnieszka is afraid. She knows—everyone knows—that the Dragon will take Kasia: beautiful, graceful, brave Kasia, all the things Agnieszka isn’t, and her dearest friend in the world. And there is no way to save her. But Agnieszka fears the wrong things. For when the Dragon comes, it is not Kasia he will choose.

It's been a while since I've picked up anything resembling a fantasy novel but the pretty cover of this one drew me in - as did as the 99p price tag. I've had a little look on Goodreads and it's rated incredibly highly (4.5 stars) although I'm avoiding reading any reviews because I find they make up my mind on a book before I've even read it.

The Cosy Teashop In The Castle by Caroline Roberts.
When Ellie Hall lands her dream job running the little teashop in the beautiful but crumbling Claverham Castle, it’s the perfect escape from her humdrum job in the city. Life is definitely on the rise as Ellie replaces spreadsheets for scones, and continues her Nanna’s brilliant baking legacy. When Lord Henry, the stick-in-the-mud owner, threatens to burst her baking bubble with his old-fashioned ways, Ellie wonders if she might have bitten off more than she can chew. But cupcake by cupcake she wins the locals over, including teashop stalwart, Doris, and Ellie’s showstopping bakes look set to go down in castle history! Now all that’s missing in Ellie’s life is a slice of romance – can Joe, the brooding estate manager, be the one to put the cherry on the top of Ellie’s dream?

I won't lie - I bought this purely because it mentioned baking cupcakes in the blurb. I'm crazy into baking at the moment and I thought it might help me relate to this book (I usually find adult books hard to grasp), plus working in a cosy teashop sounds like my dream job so I'll be living vicariously through reading, which sounds much dreamier to me.

A Street Cat Named Bob by James Bowen.
The moving, uplifting true story of an unlikely friendship between a man on the streets and the ginger cat who adopts him and helps him heal his life.

Luke got me this book for my birthday because he'd seen the movie trailer and thought I'd like it. I'm not sure if it's going to be my thing - I almost always avoid non-fiction - but it sounds quite uplifting so I'll definitely give it a whirl before I turn my back on it!

Nightwanderers by C. J. Flood.
Rosie and Titania are as close as sisters - closer, in fact. While Rosie is shy, red-faced and passive, Ti is big, tough and daring. They shouldn't be friends, but they are. Creeping out at night, the girls love to secretly wander through their coastal town, exploring empty streets and sharing their frustrations about school and their different, but equally difficult, families. But when Rosie betrays Ti, the two girls run in different directions - making decisions that could do irreparable damage to both of their lives. As Rosie confronts harsh truths, she must find a way back to Ti, and to herself.  

I read Beautiful Broken Things by Sara Bernard last year and it made me really want to read more books about female friendship. I think they're so interesting, complex and dramatic that they're just as fun and tempting to read as a romance. I read the first page of this when I found it in the charity shop and it sounds v gripping!

Curious Lists.
This is one of those books I've always wanted but felt a bit silly buying one for myself... until I (you guessed it) found this one in a charity shop. This little book is full of list prompts, plus space to write your answers, and is split into sections depending on when you should be filling in each list - at the beach, whilst waiting for the bath to run, when you're unemployed and when you're on a bus etc. Some of the list prompts are very ~out there~ and I'm thinking maybe I'll share some of the ones I fill in here on the blog. It might be kinda interesting?! Idk.
 
Aaaand onto the DVDs!

True Blood, seasons one and two.
I want to try watching at least one new thing every week this year and True Blood has always been on my radar so when I saw the first two seasons in a charity shop for £3 I grabbed them. I read the books years ago and liked them and when I watched the first two episodes I appreciated how similar the TV show is to the books. The odd thing is I find True Blood (and Sookie) both naïve and very 'adult'. I can't take it seriously. I feel like I'm watching a parody of The Vampire Diaries or something. I might keep going and finish season one but we all know what I'm like when I'm unsure of something!

Sword Art Online, season one.
Okay, so I cried when I opened these on my birthday. I first watched SAO on Netflix but they recently removed it and I was heartbroken, so Luke got me the first season for my birthday! I'm sure you can tell that SAO is one of my favourite things ever, although if you'd like some more deets on it you can check out my latest anime post where I talk a little more about it's plot and vibe, as well as a few other animes I've watched recently.

If you liked this post then why not check out my previous New To The Shelves post, or you can see what I've spent my money on across the past three years by perusing my haul tag.

What goodies have you bought in a charity shop recently?

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