January Ins And Outs

Since there have been so few updates on this blog (so few that you can hear the owls hooting and the crickets chirping uncomfortably), I've decided to post about the books I've bought/bookmooched/received in any other way and the ones I've read.

Here are the ones for January

Ins

Books bought:

On January I bought 6 books.
Two graphic novels: Volume 1 of Rurouni Kenshin and Volume 4 of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (I loved the anime, and I'm slowly completing the manga collection).

Three books were bought on the Festa do Livro [Book Fest] that happened in Porto during January. I went there with my good friend from Cuidado com o Dálmata, choosing the only day in the week that was rainy, and went on to look at old books (and not so old), hoping to find some treasure hidden there. The books where:

A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka, which I discovered as a recommendation for Everything is Illuminated
Choke by Chuck Palahniuk, which I've been meaning to read for a while
Varjak Paw by SF Said, mostly because there is a black cat on the cover

After arriving in Spain I bought one book (because honestly I couldn't help myself, seeing so many beautiful editions of books, I had to bring at least one with me!). It is El menor espectáculo del mundo [The smallest show in the world] by Felix J. Palma. After reading The Map of Time, I've wanted more books by this author, so at my first chance I bought this one!

Bookmooched:
I love Bookmooch, and usually most of my books come through it. But this year, with the uncertainty of dwellings and of reading time, I tried to refrain from mooching (and of course failed). In January 3 books came via Bookmooch:

Life, The Universe and Everything, and So Long, and Thanks for all the Fish by Douglas Adams, so I can continue reading this awesome series.

Nights of Villjamur by Mark Charan Newton, that has been on my wishlist for a while.

Won (Hurray!):
2011 started well, with me winning a giveway on the Booksnob blog. I won The Cigar Maker by Mark Carlos McGinty, signed by the author. Thanks to Laura for the giveaway and to the author for sending this book!

Outs

Books read:
This part is a bit humiliating, because it will be very small. January was not very good in terms of reading, I only managed to finish two books:

A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
I read this one in eBook form. I've wanted to read some of the Sherlock Holmes novels for awhile, and after the BBC series and reading A Sabedoria dos Mortos, it seemed that it was about time I got on to it.

I liked this book, especially Part 1. Part 2 leaves you a bit WTH? at the beginning, due to the complete shift in location (and plot), so much that it feels like there was another book being inserted there. Still, the connection to Part 1 eventually becomes clear, and by the end of the book that sense of two separate books disappears.

Rurouni Kenshin, Volume 1 by Nobuhiro Watsuki
What can I say, I adore Kenshin. I've seen the anime countless times, and read the manga before in scanlation form. It was about time I read it again, this time in a proper book.


And that's it! A lot of books acquired, very little read. My TBR pile gained 9 more books in January (10, but one was read right away) and I'm quite sure it will keep on growing. Of the two books that I started reading in January, one was finished today (*does happy dance*),  the other will probably take a bit more time.