Goodbye, Book Depository!

Few weeks ago I noticed something strange with my Book Depository account. I have a separate wishlist on BD for books I am thinking about preordering and I love seeing how long I have until the book I want comes out. The numbers that count down the days until the book is available give me a sense of peace that everything is going on schedule.

Most importantly, for someone who lives in a small non English speaking country, this was a way to be up to date with what’s new. None of the bookstores in my small hometown have books in English for sale and my only option is to drive at least an hour to another (even smaller!) city to browse and shop for books in English or order them online.

Being up to date with books in the first week as they come out is actually something unusually rare!

So these small countdowns on the book I was interested in really meant a lot…

Few weeks ago all those “days until book becomes available to order” disappeared and the status of all my books on the preorder wishlist became; CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE.

That was my first cue of the impending doom 😦

A week after that, there came the announcement that the Book Depository was shutting down.

Many will call this the end of an era and rightfully so. The only global online store with “free shipping worldwide” closing down will impact many that live in remote areas and where shipping something is a great financial burden and logistical mess. Lots of us who live in non English speaking countries will be jumping trough hoops in search of ways to keep up and keep track with books that come out.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I know there are other options and other online bookstores out there, BUT it will take time to explore all the options, calculate the shipping and possible customs costs and all those things I felt safe not to think about until recently. Free shipping is almost never included and the customs issue is quite unpredictable where I live.

Another thing to look upon is the variety of books offered…most bookstores offer only the latest edition and don’t stockpile big amounts of books due to the economy of our times. Sometimes even all the goodwill and money you have will not mean that the seller is willing to ship your order to your country.

I am considering the tourist option: visiting cities only to visit their bookstores and buy the books I want. Already have some trips planned across Europe but I am not expecting to find most of the books from my current wishlist. I am picky and specific with the editions I want and it makes me sad that finding a book in hardcover is harder that it needs to be.

And if I sound like a spoiled entitled brat so be it. I’ve actually grown very poor and never had a chance to enjoy many of the things I indulge in today. I decided to make one last order form BD as my way of saying “Goodbye!”.

It was not easy to trim down all my wishlists and make one order, I even found out that there is a limit on the cost of the order total for EU: its 150,00€! I consider it a win that I made only one order under 150,00€

I had to think carefully what books I wanted to include and most of what I wanted was in hardcover because softcover were easier to find. And if I really liked the book and wanted to read it more than once I would prefer it to be hardcover. Also I needed to consider that some books are going to be harder to find – checked out other online bookstores to compare prices and availability. Also there were some books on my wishlists that were offered at a discount that was to good to pass. I managed to squeeze in nine books into that tight budget amount. At the time of me writing this my order is still being processed and none of the books have been sent my way – even though it has been a few days since I made the order and payed for it in full.

Hopefully none of the books in the order will be canceled and refunded ( this has happened before and it is a sad affair)

Let me share with you this last BD book haul and try to make this gloomy post into something more uplifting!

All the Stars and Teeth (All the Stars and Teeth #1 ) by Adalyn Grace

All the Tides of Fate ( All the Stars and Teeth #2 ) by Adalyn Grace

Booth books are in hardcover and the first one was slightly discounted. I was looking for a duology with cool covers to include in my future reading challenges. Also I don’t have any prate themed books!

The Iron Knight Special Edition (The Iron Fey #4 ) by Julie Kagawa

This is a fourth book in the series, first three I’ve gotten as a birthday present from my bookish friends group, they have decided to gift me the next three as another birthday present for this year as well! These are all paperback editions but the covers are lovely and much prettier than editions before this one. It is actually and older YA fantasy with fey that I was interested for years back but never gotten to read it.

Daughter of Darkness (House of Shadows 1) by Katherine Corr and Elizabeth Corr

Lately I’ve been looking into more books with characters based on mythology. This book caught my attention quickly. The cover is beautiful and I feel like it will be great for my mood reading.

Year of the Reaper by Makiia Lucier

Another hardcover edition that was slightly on discount. I love the idea of a standalone historical fantasy and I wish to read more of them.

The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh

I am not going to lie I was drawn by the pretty cover, stuck by because of the mythology theme and finally got it since the price was 30% discounted on it!

Scarred (Never After #2 ) by Emily McIntire

This one was a last minute pick while I was trying to trim the price down to budget limit. I wanted something dark and smuty. The edition is paperback and I decided to ignore the fact that this book is second in a series- it says all books can be read separately and the first book has an unappealing cover…

This Savage Song (Monsters of Verity #1 ) by Victoria Schwab

It took me three tries and two refunds, months of looking out on availability to finally get the collectors hardback of another book of this author so when I found this edition on a nice discount I had to buy it – urban fantasy theme is a bonus and I think I will like this one a lot!

Under a Winter Sky : a Midwinter Holiday Anthology

I love short story collection and I love sampling new authors in this way. I knew I wanted this collection when I first saw it a while back. It was never a priority to buy and now I picked it up in fear of not being able to find it later. Sadly it is paperback edition but I do love the cover art.

Hope you find your own reasons to enjoy life and smile 🙂

Books I desire by Holly Black – June 2021

I use my Book Depository account to keep and organize several different wishlists for the books that strike my fancy or I plan to buy. My book buying plans are mostly smaller book buying sprees since I buy books several times a year by ordering them from Book Depository store. I rarely buy books in Croatian anymore. I started to buy used books in English more often in the last year or so because I have found some cool people who are selling relatively new and interesting books in English through Facebook groups. Few times a year I get into my Kindle and buy some books that are up to 5$ and I find interesting. I have few authors whose work I follow and buy in Kindle format and sometimes I indulge in titles that would be too expensive to buy in other formats. There are no bookshops in my area that sell books in English that I can walk into and buy books on the spot! When I was younger I opted to buy paperback editions mostly since they were easier to store and usually cost less. Lately I have developed the taste for pretty hardcover editions and now I weigh my options carefully before deciding to buy books.

Over a year ago I made a very similar post on this topic – Wishlist Books! You can check it out HERE. From the six books I highlighted in the post I bought five! This sixth book is out of print and it is still on my wish list. In the meantime I discovered a lot of interesting authors I wanted to try out and some new books. I have reservations about reading the books everybody else is raving about at first. I like to check them out at my own pace but when I find an author I go for it in a rather hedonistic manner. Leigh Bardugo and her books are just one more recent example for this.

Holly Black Books!

I did not have a taste or time for reading the same books more than once. Lately I keep coming back to some authors and stories. Holly Black and her stories of faeries have made me want to read the same books over and over. I have gotten her first two books in The Folk of Air trilogy back in 2019. Since then I have been hooked and now I am in the progress of getting the hardcover editions of all three books and getting my hands on other books connected to the same world of faeries. So far I have the third book in hardcover and have ordered the second one as well. Only the first one is missing to have all three in hardcover edition after which I will sell paperback editions. Here are some of the titles I want to get my hands on!

The Modern Faerie Tales : Tithe; Valiant; Ironside by Holly Black

This 800 pages beauty collects three stories set in the world of The Folk of Air I love reading about! I was checking out for the hardcover editions but can’t seem to find it. I am not particulary fond of a book this size in paperback edition and it is making me hesitate.

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The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black

One of the reasons I am slow to get these is the need to decipher various editions and their sizes before actually buying the books. My OCD does not like it when the books from the same series are different size and since I am late to buy the hardcover editions of these I must thread carefully to get the right edition that goes well with other books I already have. The edition that is easiest for me to get is completely different than the rest and I must make some hard decisions financially if I want them all to match…

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

Another of Holly Black books I would like to read and another one with edition sizes all over the place. It is annoying and exhausting, not to mention totally demotivating when the quest to find the right edition is so difficult! This one has vampires and I am intrigued at how it turns out!

Book of Night by Holly Black

This is the latest book of the author announced for next year. It is a book meant for adult audiences and I can’t wait to see how it turns out! I am slowly building my own hype for this one! I like the premise of a underdog character on the run and deceitful types of magic. It should be urban fantasy mystery which is exactly the type of a thing I like!

Wishlist books!

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While I have been reading a bit more in the last few months my bookish wishlist has been strangely overlooked. While some of the reason for this reflects on the general state of the world we live in right now I kinda feel sad for reigning in my impulse for wanting new books. I used to enjoy exploring new books and authors on various book related Internet sources. It brought a smile to my face to find a new book I might like or a beautiful edition of the book I already love. Depending on the financial situation I find myself in I buy books when I can but adding books to the list of possible books I might consider reading and buying was something I used to do very often. Sadly I must admit that the last time I added books to my wishlist on Book Depository was when they had a promotional giveaway that required people to make add books to their wishlist to enter…

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To brighten my day and think about some really cool books I want to own and read I decided to share some of those books with you. Some of these books I’ve already read, some I already own and some I just want because they look pretty! Feel free to judge me!

Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo

I want this book in hardcover. My boyfriend bought me Batman: Nightwalker by Marie Lu in hardcover on one of his travels and when I saw that there were other books about DC Universe characters written buy YA authors I went exploring and found this one. At first I was interested because of the Wonder Woman but then this year I became a fan of Leigh Bardugo and now I own most of her books! I must mention that I was browsing a bookstore last year and found this book in paperback but did not want to buy it since it would annoy me to put it on the shelf beside the hardcover Batman I already own.

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Six of Crows: Collector’s Edition & Crooked Kingdom Collector’s Edition

While on the subject of Leigh Bardugo books I had to include Collector’s editions of both Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom. I already own both of these in paperback and I already read them. I already made a post about some beautiful hardcover editions of books written by Leigh Bardugo I own and love – you can check out that post HERE. These two books look wonderful and I plan on reading them more than once! I kinda hope that with the Netflix TV show in the works I might upgrade the Shadow and Bone trilogy to hardcover as well!

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Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – Hufflepuff Edition

I was always planning on owning the whole Harry Potter book series. When the 20th anniversary Hogwarts House editions started coming out it was a perfect solution. I got the first three in hardcover and only recently started reading them. The fourth book came out last year and since they come out once a year I expect the fifth one to come out in summer this year. I love how they are designed and reading the first book felt magical.

Half a War (Shattered Sea #3) by Joe Abercrombie

I have been looking for the hardcover edition of this book in this edition for a while now. I have the first two books and refuse to start reading them until I have the whole trilogy. The more time it passes the less are the chances I will find this edition…

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The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix

Here is one book I am not hell bent on getting in hardcover edition. At first glance it seemed very silly and funny. I like books about vampires and this one had my attention as soon as I read that it is about a bunch of women who have a book club.

New books in September!

After reading mostly books that I already owned for my Summer reading challenge 2019 I decided to buy some books off my wishlist. I only got two and both of them were on my radar for a few years now!

Kitchen Princess Omnibus, Vol. 3

(Kitchen Princess #5-7)

by Natsumi Andō

I got hooked on this manga while I was still working in a bookstore and discovered them by accident. I managed to get my hands on first five out of ten total volumes right then. Later I found out how difficult it is to find single volume editions these days since the original manga was published in English translation back in 2005.

After long considerations I decided to move onto omnibus editions that are basically 3 in 1 volumes. I got omnibus 3 that consists of volumes 5 to 7 which leaves me with only one volume extra – Volume 5. Next omnibus is the last one and I might get it after I read trough this one as well.

Stray

(Shifters #1)

by Rachel Vincent

This is another book series I was intrigued by but haven’t actually got to reading it that is over a decade old! I can’t explain what exactly got me to finally grab it and buy it but I’m glad I did! I found some encouraging reviews on it and I think I will love it. This will be start of a new series to read and collect but the good news is this one is done and it only has 6 books total!

It came out as a surprise at how chubby both of these editions are! I expected the manga omnibus to be a bit bigger but Stray really caught me by surprise. I hope I will get into both of them soon!

There is one other book that is new for this September. It’s the one I already read and reviewed – Lost Boys: A Reverse Harem Bully Romance (Crazy Vicious Love #1) by Eva Ashwood. This one is a digital book I got on Kindle.

You can check my thoughts on it HERE.

I’ve been thinking about one other book series I’ve been reading in the digital edition – The Dartmouth Cobras by Bianca Sommerland. I’ve read first five books of the series and there are total of nine books so far. Next book in the series – Iron Cross, I’m thinking of getting soon so I can continue after few years from the last book I’ve read. I wonder will my reading experience change with the years that have passed.

That would probably be all of my new bought books for September but I still have plenty of already owned books on my shelves and there is always a local library in case of emergency or book club reading assignments!

Bookish Board Games Wishlist

In July I made a post with some board games I own that have a bookish theme You can find that post HERE. Recently I’ve discovered few more bookish board games I got my eyes set on! I’ve already put them on the wishlist and have watched many tutorial videos. So far I did not have a chance to see them up close but I’m hoping that will change this October when we travel to Essen Spiel 2017 in Germany. It is the largest board game fair in Europe and I think in the world as well. Here are the two new bookish board games I’ve got my eyes set on!

Sator Arepo Tenet Opera Rotas / Sator Arepo Tenet Opera Rotas: Malleus Maleficarum

In this game there is a hidden library with many forbidden and dangerous books and tomes. Naturally this special library is placed over the bottomless pit. In this game players are acting as library acolytes and each is tasked to keep watch over four damned bookish volumes. Every book in the library must be properly placed to ensure that the chaos and the evil is contained from ever escaping the library. The library is a fiddly place and the corridors and narrow passageways keep spinning and moving.

The original game Sator Arepo Tenet Opera Rotas was published in 2008. and the second edition which includes a whole game plus the expansion for the game Malleus Maleficarum was published 2015. What I love about the game are puzzle abstract type of play and a fact I get to play a librarian on the hunt for books! It has a bit of a dark theme and background for sure but I really like the whole package especially since the box of the game itself is designed to look like an old tome!

There is even an special deluxe edition where the whole game is one leather bound volume and many players take to themselves to paint and decorate the game pieces.

For more info check the Board Game Geek websites HERE and HERE

Ex Libris

In this game each player is a book aficionado living in a small gnomish village. The Mayor has just announced an opening for a position of a Grand Librarian. The winner of this dream job and flattering title is the player who makes the most impressive library. There are plenty of types of players to choose from and each has a special assistant –  from ghosts and cats to gleatinous cubes and other weird creatures.

What I love most about this game is the effort the designers made when they designed book cards. Each is different and holds funny and endearing unique book titles. The alphabetical rules apply and each player has special powers and goals. From what I’ve seen I could just browse through the components and have fun!

This is a fairly new game that came out only recently. I do hope I will get the chance to buy this one at Essen Spiel 2017!

or more info check the Board Game Geek website HERE!

If you find any other bookish board games please let me know!

Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo

It has been a while since something got my attention in a way only a good story can. I have stumbled on this South Korean masterpiece by accident. This new South Korean historical drama has me riveted to the screen and I’m plotting to get my friends on board of my fangirling band wagon.

 

The name of this TV series is Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo. It is based on the Chinese book  Bu Bu Jing Xin by Tong Hua. This is just the latest adaptation and there were others before it. This TV series started only recently at the end of August 2016. There will be just over twenty episodes and I just can’t wait for the next one to come out! They come out twice a week – Monday and Tuesday on SBS.

 

The story revolves around a woman in her twenties who gets transported to Goryeo Kingdom around the year 900. She ends up in a body of a sixteen year old lady connected to the royal family. Drama and intrigue of the court run wild on screen and as the main character slowly tries to adapt to the timeline the viewers are tantalized by historical and cultural details of the setting.

The historical details are quite intriguing and the production value is awe inspiring. The costumes and historical details alone made me want to learn more about the real history of South Korea and neighbouring countries.

The tone of the series is at times light and humorous and at other times it has a great emotional impact. Screen writers have done a good job of balancing between the hostile and uncompromising conditions of the historical times and fantastical and lighter motives with some endearing back up characters.

In the center of it all is a complex web of character relations and a one love triangle between the main character and two of the royal princes. It is at a same time a historical fairytale and twist of court intrigues with no compassion for the pawns.

I’m currently looking out for the books as well. This got me back into mode Romance of the Three Kingdoms phase I had about a decade ago. Hopefully there will be some English translated edition avaliable soon!

I even got my eyes set on the wonderful Taiwanese edition of Bu Bu Jing Xin by Tong Hua in three volumes.