TBR CAT -- A book I bought because it was so cheap

Who can resist when you find that book you've been hearing about at a charity booksale? Or in a box at a garage sale? What about that book that's been on your wishlist in a Little Free Library or available on a book trading site? That beautiful hardcover on the remainder table? Unless you're made of actual money, those finds feel like serendipity.

And then, having brought that book home (probably in a tall stack of other great finds, because let's be honest with ourselves), catalogued it on LibraryThing and placing in on the proper shelf, it proceeds to be forgotten, neglected in favor of library books with due dates, your book club book, that book that's just a little more exciting.



So take a look at your tbr shelves. Do any of those books fit this description? Let's dust them off and discover why you picked it up in the first place!

What are you planning to read? What is your greatest book bargain? Let us know what you're reading and don't forget to update the wiki!

I've still got some books from this year's and last year's Big Bad Wolf Sales sitting on my shelves so I will choose one of them.

I think half my library consists of such books, ever since I first visited London and discovered the many wonderful used-book stores. I shall go browsing the shelves on December first...

The great majority of books on my shelf are books that I couldn't resist for the price. For years I have tried to buy only books that it would be difficult to borrow from the library or that I know I would want to read or refer to again. I haven't had much success with that.

I buy most of my books at library sales so almost anything on my shelf should fit.

I just visited the Hoosier Hills Food Bank Benefit Book Sale last month. We went on two different days out of the week-long sale. The last day was "Five dollars a bag" day! These join the books I got from last year's sale. My husband and I have very different reading tastes, but each of us came out with a haul! I have lots to choose from.

I'm going with The Luminaries for this month's challenge.

Think I'm going to finally get back to one of the Molly Thynne books that I purchased when they were all either free or $2.99 on Kindle. Most likely it will be The Murder on the Enriqueta.

I'm going for comedy sci-fi for this one, with a book I got free via bookbub - Mission Improbable by J.J. Green.

I am very lucky that my local op shop always has books for 20c. All books, no matter what. I have found some fabulous hardcover bargains that I could not afford to buy otherwise. But yesterday I picked up what looks like a fun book by Dawn French, A Tiny Bit Marvellous - a bit of frivolous reading as we head to the last month of the year!

Like many of us, my shelves are filled with second hand books so I have chosen a couple to read in December - Lord Edgware Dies by Agatha Christie and Last Stand at Saber River by Elmore Leonard

I'm going to use one of the books I grabbed out of my closest Little Free Library for this.
Either:
Canada / Richard Ford
or
Small Great Things / Jodi Picoult

I counted Invasion of the Cat-People, by Gareth Roberts, for this challenge -- I bought it at a used-book sale run by a local church, and that year they had a whole box of Doctor Who novels for a dollar each. I bought eight because I couldn't carry the entire box home.

>12 LibraryCin: Can't get cheaper than that!

I've completed The Editor by Steve Rowley for December. I bought it at Dollar Tree for $1. I loved the book and have used it this month for 3 challenges. What a bargain! I'd better keep buying those.

Read the play A Man For All Seasons by Robert Bolt, which I purchased for 25 cents at a library sale. I am now inspired to watch the 1966 movie, which I have never seen.

I'm starting Edmund Crispin's The Moving Toyshop, which I bought at a used bookstore for less than $1.

Small Great Things / Jodi Picoult
4 stars

Ruth has been a nurse for over 20 years and is good at her job. She works in Labor and Delivery and when she takes over from another nurse to start checking over a newborn, she notices an iciness from the parents. When she notices the Nazi tattoo on the father, Turk, it’s not long before Turk and Brit ask for their baby to not be handled by the black nurse. In order to keep things calm and smooth, Ruth’s boss grants their wish and asks Ruth not to handle their baby. Unfortunately, when circumstances leave Ruth alone with the baby and something goes wrong, what is she to do…? Next thing you know, Turk and Brit have accused Ruth of murdering their baby.

I really liked this. Oh, Turk and Brit were so hateful! The perspective changed between Ruth, Turk, and the public defender who became Ruth’s lawyer, Kennedy. Kennedy provided a very interesting perspective as a white woman who never saw herself as racist, but through Ruth sees how many little things that white people take for granted that don’t even bring a second thought, when it’s so different if you are black. Picoult does have a note at the end where she does address her, as a white woman, writing from the point of view of Ruth, a black woman.

I didn't buy it, but got it from my book-swapping site: El príncipe de la niebla by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, which is a good thing. Not a very good book, unfortunately. I would have been sorry had I spent money on it.

The Brownies and Other Tales by Juliana Horatia Ewing was a book sale find, and I'm glad I picked it up, as it exceeded my expectations. While Mrs. Ewing usually included a moral in her children's stories, she also displayed a lively imagination and an excellent sense of humor. These tales could in many instances be classed as fairy tales or at least fantasy. I particularly enjoyed The Land of Lost Toys.

>21 NinieB: What a lucky find!

>22 JayneCM: I'm just very happy I didn't pass it by since it is public domain. I probably would never have got around to reading it!

I finished Mission Improbable today and enjoyed it - it's short and silly, which frankly in these stressful times was very welcome. It was a book I got free via Bookbub.

I just finished The Unpassing by Chia-Chia Lin, a fantastic novel about an immigrant family from Taiwan struggling to get by in Alaska.

I'm reading The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo and The Night Swimmers by Peter Rock, two very different novels, but both are long listed for the Tournament of Books.

And I'm reading Reproduction by Ian Williams which just won Canada's Giller Prize.

I have completed my read of Last Stand at Saber River by Elmore Leonard which I purchased for about $2.00 second-hand.

I have also completed my read of Lord Edgware Dies by Agatha Christie which was plucked from the Bargin Barrel at a second-hand store.

I buy very few really cheap books since I generally do not go to used book stores, library book sales, etc. I like new books especially since I'm allergic to dusty books and books printed on poor quality paper. However, last fall (2018), I did go briefly to our public library book sale and bought Promise Me, Dad: a Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose by Joe Biden which I read for this challenge.

I didn't think I would have anything for this month, but will count, A Merry Christmas and Other Christmas Stories by Louisa May Alcott, 3.5*. This was included in a larger collection that I found on Amazon for $0.99, Holiday Ultimate Collection: 400+ Christmas Novels, Stories, Poems, Carols & Legends.

I found Herr Mozart feiert Weihnachten in the remainders bin at Hugendubel's. Now I need the first book to find out how the famous composer time-travelled to modern Vienna...

Iced In: Ten Days Trapped on the Edge of Antarctica / Chris Turney
4 stars

The author, Chris Turney, gathered together many people in 2013/2014, mostly scientists, to travel to Antarctica to do some research. Antarctica is a dangerous place, as the weather and ice conditions can change in a heartbeat. This group was lucky enough to start off with a number of good weather and ice days, but things quickly changed on Christmas Eve and they ended up locked in by ice.

This was really good. Turney also recounts Ernest Shakleton’s story of being trapped 100 years earlier, so he goes back and forth between his crew and Shakleton’s. As the leader of the expedition, and impressed by how Shakleton had handled things in his time, Turney made decisions based on “what would Shakleton do?”. It’s a different world now, though, as compared to during Shakleton’s time when no one knew what had become of Shakleton and his crew. With Turney’s group, they kept in connection via radio, satellite phone, social media, and were able to call in for help. Even still, there were times where things were dicey, and they really weren’t sure when or if they’d be able to get everyone out safely.

FantasticLand / Mike Bockoven
4 stars

When a hurricane ravishes Florida, amusement park FantasticLand is left on its own for a while, as it’s a bit further inland, plus there is plenty of food to keep the few hundred staff who stayed behind going for quite a while. Most of the staff is young, in their late teens or early twenties. Little do they know on the outside that the staff have turned savage and are killing each other…

We actually hear about the aftermath at the start of the story. The book is in the form of interviews, looking back at what happened. The start of the book is interviews with people about the storm itself and the people ready to go in to help, and the preparations within the park for disasters. The main part/middle of the book is interviews with the staff left behind in the park, as we get a look at how things went bad and the things that actually happened in the park while they were cut off from the outside world. The interviews at the end were with people associated with the rescue and aftermath.

This was very suspenseful, though a little slow to get started, as it took a bit to find out what was going on inside. Every chapter was interviewing a different person, so there were a lot of characters to remember, but it gave insight into a bunch of different perspectives. Very creepy at times. But, for those who like creepy and horror, it’s one you want to keep reading.