Yesterday, as part of my major procrastination plan, I got my husband to drop Dylan and I off at Chapters while he went and did the groceries. Having Dylan with me is supposed to stop me from plunging into another major book-buying binge, but what can I say? I’m very resourceful.

Plus the Thomas the Tank train table is located in the children’s section, right by all the sale-priced children’s and young adult books.

So I came home with two bags full of sale-priced hardcover children’s and young adults’ books, including a number of children’s fantasy novels - one of my favorite genres. Since I just recently finished The Mysterious Benedict Society I’ve been hungering for similar books, including the sequel, of course (which I didn’t get yesterday, since I was too busy plowing through all the sale books).

Since these books were released as hardcovers some time ago, most of them are now available as paperbacks. But I figure these will sit nicely on my bookshelves.

My to-be-read pile now includes:

The Riddles of Epsilon, by Christine Morton-Shaw: Jessica has moved to a remote island with her parents, and encounters both a ghost-like energy as well as three locked boxes. The story involves a boy named Sebastian who lived 100 years ago; back then he unearthed dangers which now also threaten Jess and her family.

Excerpt from the jacket: “Jess has a talent for solving puzzles, riddles, and codes. She is confronted with a series of riddles that she must unlock in order to save her mother from a dark and ancient threat. Jess is guided by the creepy presence in the cottage. The mysterious guide is called Epsilon, but is he a guide from the bright side or the dark?”

I’m really looking forward to this one; it sounds like it has all the ingredients that I like in a children’s fantasy.

I Am the Messenger, by Markus Zusak: Ed Kennedy is a cab driver who inadvertently stops a bank robbery. He begins receiving aces in the mail:

Chosen to care, [Ed] makes his way through town helping and hurting (when necessary) until only one question remains.

Who’s behind Ed’s mission?

This plot alone was enough to make me add the book to my growing stack of books to buy yesterday.

Gideon the Cutpurse, by Linda Buckley-Archer: This is the first of the Gideon trilogy - I just checked Amazon and the other two in the trilogy are The Time Travelers and The Time Thief. I’ve actually seen the Time Thief around a few times but never felt drawn to it, so maybe after I read this first book, I may pick these other two up, too.

Here’s the excerpt from the jacket: “An encounter with an anti-gravity machine catapults Peter Schock and Kate Dyer back to the 18th century and sets in motion a calamitous chain of events. … Stranded in another time and forced to chase the Tar Man to his lair, Peter and Kate find a friend and guide in reformed cutpurse, Gideon Seymour …”

I’m not usually fond of historicals, but this is as much a fantasy as it is a historical. I’m pretty sure I’m going to enjoy this one.

Children Of The Lamp: The Akhenaten Adventure by P.B. Kerr: I wasn’t as sure of this one, but I couldn’t resist: two children, John and Philippa, discover that they are descendents of a long line of djinn. It’s an interesting premise, so I’m looking forward to seeing how the story reads. The sequel was also on sale - Blue Djinn of Babylon - and I couldn’t resist that one either. So hopefully the series is a good one!

Here’s an excerpt from the jacket blurb: Luckily (and luck does have something to do with it), the twins are introduced to their eccentric djinn-uncle Nimrod, who will teach them how to harness their newly found power. And not a moment too soon! Because John and Philippa are about to embark on a search to locate a monstrous looking (but supposed to be dead) pharoah named Akhenaten, and his tomb, which may hold seventy lost djinn.

So there’s much excitement promised. It will be interesting to see how this one goes.

Skulduggery Pleasant, by Derek Landy: Okay, so tell me, how on earth could I resist this one? “Meet Skulduggery Plesant, ace detective, snappy dresser, razor-tongued wit, crackerjack sorcerer and walking, talking, fire-throwing skeleton -
as well as ally, protector and mentor of Stephanie Edgley, a very unusual and darkly talented twelve-year-old.”

Checking Amazon just now, it looks like there are two sequels so far, so if I enjoy this one, there’s more to come.

The Game Of Sunken Places, by M.T. Anderson: This one looked like fun. Two boys, Brian and Gregory, receive an invitation to stay at their Uncle Max’s mansion. Uncle Max is a distant relation, and from the sounds of it, just plain weird. And the mansion is even weirder. Inside the attic, the boys find the Game of Sunken Places.

Jacket blurb excerpt (these things sway me to buy, all the time): “Is the Game of Sunken Places an ordinary board game? Hardly! The Game of Sunken Places looks like a board game. And most of the time it acts like a board game. But from the moment Brian and Gregory start playing, they are caught up in an adventure that goes far beyond the board. Soon the boys are dealing with attitudinal trolls, warring kingdoms, and some very starchy britches.”

So there you have it. This is actually only about half of the books I picked up - overnight, my to-be-read pile has swelled in size. Actually, though, that’s the way it always happens around here.

Of course, I’m in deadline crunch right now, so what I’ve just done is increase the temptation to procrastinate. I also have a tendency to do this, too …

Reviews will be forthcoming, some here, some at my new book review blog.

It’s not been a great week for reading - when this happens, it really astonishes me because there are times I can’t think of anything but reading. This week, though, I’ve been spending time getting through the 1001 magazines that we’re subscribed to (at least, that’s what it felt like!).

Magazine reading doesn’t actually count in my mind as “reading for enjoyment”, not quite like a novel or good non-fiction. So I thought for today’s Sunday Salon, I’ll post the to-be-read pile that’s currently sitting on my bedside table. I have several TBR piles all around the house, but the one that’s beside my bed contains the books that are most likely to get read next:

	The Mysterious Benedict Society. When I was a kid present-day fantasies topped my list of great reads, and such books are still very much at the top of my list these days. I have been waiting for the perfect chunk of time to read this book - it’s one of those that I suspect I will enjoy so thoroughly, I won’t want to put it down until it’s finished. I’m hoping to find that time this week, as I’m eager to read the second instalment (which says a lot about how much I’m anticipating this first book).
	The Young Bond Series, Book One: Silverfin (A James Bond Adventure). I must confess, I’m not too sure about this one. I just really like the idea of reading about the young James Bond. Why this is, I really can’t say, since I’ve only ever read one of the original James Bond books and the movies aren’t on my top favorites list, either.
	The Risk of Darkness. I had read Susan Hill’s The Various Haunts of Men back in June, and enjoyed it immensely, even though I personally would have preferred a different ending. I enjoy dense, literate mysteries, and Susan Hill’s writing is spectacular; I think I enjoyed just the deliciousness of the writing in The Various Haunts of Men as I did the mystery itself. So I’m looking forward to The Risk of Darkness - again, it’s the kind of read I feel I need to have a good chunk of time set aside for.
	What Remains: A Memoir of Fate, Friendship, and Love I love memoirs, and this one by Carole Radziwill looks like a good one. I saw this a while back when I was at Chapters, and couldn’t resist. “What Remains is a vivid and haunting memoir about a girl from a working-class town who becomes an award-winning television producer and marries a prince.”
	Notes from a Small Island. Bill Bryson is one of my favorite authors, and Notes from a Small Island is the one older book of his that I have yet to read. One thing I like about non-fiction books is that I never find myself needing to race through one to get to the ending; for that reason, I think I’ll be finished this one first.
	The Alienist: A Novel. I am actually re-reading this one - it’s a very good, very re-readable mystery by Caleb Carr. Set in the 1890s, the protagonist is a psychologist (or “alienist”) who is trying to track down a serial killer who murders prostitutes. The writing is filled with rich details, and you really get to know the main characters.

I just came across a post at Creative Construction about a new film called Who Does She Think She Is? It’s about creative women and motherhood, and the choices that most mothers have, at one time or another, felt the pressure to make.

The film opens on October 17 - you can check out the screenings at Who Does She Think She Is? to see if it will be showing at a location near you. I had a little bit of trouble scrolling through the listings, but I don’t think there was a Canadian location listed. You can preorder the DVD, though, from the site.

Here’s the trailer:

This definitely looks like an interesting film to see.

Somewhere along the way, making yourself a priority has become, for many women, a sign of “selfishness”. My experience? When I care enough about myself to make “me” a priority, my happiness is reflected in the world around me - my husband, my children, my family and friends mirror the joy that I feel.

Sometimes, I look at my daughter, who’s 14, and I ask myself, Do I want her to grow up thinking her lot in life is to sacrifice her own needs and desires for those of others around her? The answer is always a very clear and resounding, “No, absolutely not.”

And I love who I am enough to have the same clear answer for myself.

I am scary when I go on a book-buying binge. It’s something that affects me seasonally; looking back on the past three or four years, it’s something that I tend to do twice a year: first, shortly into the new year, and then in the summer, around my birthday.

My explanation for the New Year buying binge is that there’s usually one book I have on my "gifts you should buy me" list that I don’t get. How this turns into a binge is easy enough. Amazon has really tuned into the psyche of the bookworm so all the book-related buttons I sport have been easily and effortlessly targeted on its site.

In other words, I’m a sucker for books, and I’m always ready and willing to place yet another order. (My credit card would beg to defer.)

My explanation for the annual summer book-buying spree is a little different, though. I embark on this one intentionally. Work-wise, summer is my slowest time. By the end of July I have usually finished reading the books I’ve bought in the two previous sprees (the ones I can manage to find around the house, anyway), so I’m ready for more.

By then, I’ve gone to the library and paid up my fines, so the library’s resources are fully available to me, too. (Ward insists that I am a great civic citizen because I keep the library going financially, but that’s another post.) Usually, after one or two trips to the library, I’ve more or less exhausted the "on the shelves" books that catch my eye.

Here’s where I get scary. When I start my book-buying spree, I will generally open up four tabs in Firefox: Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Chapters and my local library’s website. In front of me is my writer’s notebook, throughout whose pages I have scores of book titles jotted down.

I approach it all very methodically. The entire process can take me a couple of days.

I cruise to Amazon.com and check out each book in my notebook. I then run the title through my library’s online catalogue. If a book’s available, great; I either request it, or place a hold on it if it’s at another branch. If nothing comes up, I check Amazon.ca and Chapters. I will then place the book in the shopping cart of site that offers the best price AND has the title in-stock. And if the title isn’t available at either Chapters or Amazon.ca, and I really really want the book (the "really really want the book" part happens a frightening 99% of the time) I will add the book to my cart at Amazon.com.

That’s not the scary part, though. As I check out each title from my notebook, I will also check out interesting looking books that I find in the "Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought" section, opening each one in a separate tab. When I have two levels of tabs running in Firefox, I stop opening more tabs and start checking out the tabs I’ve opened up.

At the end of the day, I will open up each shopping cart, wince, go through each list to see if I really really want each book in the cart (see note re: a frightening 99% of the time), reluctantly move a very small proportion of the books to my wish list or save for later list, then, taking a deep breath and apologizing to my credit card and bank account, I submit my orders.

About two to three days later, the boxes start arriving. I am plagued with a curious mixture of extreme guilt and giddy anticipation.

Usually during my summer book-buying binge, by the time I get all the new books stacked onto the dining room table, I will be edging back into my busy season work-wise. As a result, many of those books stay unread for way too long, although eventually they all do get read.

This long explanation is merely an introduction to a new category here, "To Be Read". I figured, it’s about time.