What did YOU buy today? May 2015

Went to hear a Random House rep at a local bookstore where our book group was meeting that night, and came home with a novel about Judge Crater, The Wife, the Maid, and the Mistress by Ariel Lawhon.

Also one ARC, A Curious Beginning, the first in a new historical mystery series by Deanna Raybourn.

I've always wondered about Judge Crater. Report back and let me know how it is.

I've been looking for a few on Bookmooch for seven years that have never turned up so I finally ordered them from Alibris. A Most Dangerous Woman, Smile When You're Lying, The Lavishness of Letters, Alice: Alice Roosevelt Longworth and The Discovery of France.

eta A Most Dangerous Woman hasn't actually arrived yet, but they swear it's on the way.

I bought A House Called Askival by Merryn Glover, an impulse Kindle promo sale.

It gets fantastic reviews, so time will tell, but very enjoying so far about fifty pages in. It's set in India and it's certainly very atmospheric. It's about a woman who returns to aid her missionary father and is told from both their perspectives - lots of recent Indian history and social issues in there.

Haven't been here in far too long. I'm going to gather up the copious amounts of titles I've purchased in the last few months and get them prepped for the June thread. Phew!

2> You might have a long wait, I'm sorry to say. Things I buy often sit for years before making it to the top of the pile. I have a co-worker who still asks me when I'm going to get to Mason & Dixon, by Pynchon, which I bought new in hardcover.... Maybe I'll add the Lawhon book to my historical fiction book group "hat," to give it a better shot.

Still hanging out in May since that's when I acquired all the following titles.

These I bought (bigger discount for employees for a week right now), in honor of the bicentennial:

* _The Battle of Waterloo: A Series of Accounts by a Near Observer, 1815, with Circumstantial Details, Previous, During, and After the Battle, from a Variety of Authentic and Original Sources_ (an Osprey reprint of an oop title, ISBN 9781472805898)

* Went the Day Well?: Witnessing Waterloo by David Crane (this got good reviews, looks at the whole time and place of people concerned with the outcome)

* Waterloo: The History of Four Days, Three Armies, and Three Battles by Bernard Cornwell (apparently the first work of nonfiction by an author whose fiction, especially concerning Richard Sharpe, I love; when you read his novels, you really get the sense that you understand military tactics)

And these were freebies -- some straight ARCs, and some brought back from a conference by a bookstore co-worker:

* _The Best of Both Rogues_ by Samantha Grace (July '15, historical romance)

* The Lady Meets Her Match by Gina Conkle (time travel romance)

* Wicked Intentions by Elizabeth Hoyt (historical romance)

* Just in Time for a Highlander by Gwyn Cready (time travel romance)

* Regency Buck by Georgette Heyer (historical romance, may be my second or third copy of it)

* Cold-Hearted Rake by Lisa Kleypas (pub date not listed on galley, historical romance; I keep hearing Paula Abdul in my head when I say the title.....)