BC: July Pickups

This month I bought four books – I’ve been after three of them for quite a while whilst the fourth (the newest release) I only discovered a few weeks ago. I normally try to stay away from newly released books unless I want to read them as soon as possible after publication, but with my internship now in full swing, I thought I would treat myself a little bit. August will see the return to steep discounts if I buy any at all! As usual, I won’t be talking much about the review copies I received.

 

First, I purchased The Penguin Book of Norse Myths by Kevin Crossley-Holland, which is, as you guessed, a collection of Norse mythology. This edition has an absolutely stunning cover design and is only 261 pages long – hopefully, I’ll be able to get to it before the end of the year. Earlier this year I read Neil Gaiman’s Norse Mythology and was massively let down at the author’s barebones way of storytelling – he claimed it was to ensure that readers could add their own spin on events when they retell the stories, but I would have much preferred a deeply Gaiman-esque take on the Norse gods. Oh well.

 

I then bought two books from Book Depository – the 75th anniversary illustrated edition of Mythology by Edith Hamilton, and The Greek Myths by Robert Graves. Both of these books focus on Greek mythology and act as thorough introductions into that area of study. One of my university modules last year was on Classical myth and both of these books were mentioned multiple times, and as they were priced relatively well on BD I just decided to buy them. Although I won’t be studying myth at university again, I thought that the content of the module was really interesting and I would like to get a better understanding of it all – I hope to read thesetwo and then move on to Ovid’s Metamorphoses in translation.

 

The final book I bought this month was record of a spaceborn few by Becky Chambers – the third instalment in the Wayfarers series. I was absolutely stunned by the first book in the series and am about halfway through its sequel now (I’m enjoying it but maybe not as much as its predecessor), so when Waterstones were selling signed editions for £15 I didn’t have to think too hard about the purchase.

 

 

Did you buy any books this month? Do you have a philosophy for when it comes to buying books (if you do buy any at all)?