Amazon First Reads for July

We get a bonus in July, so 2 free books instead of 1.  This month's choices:

• A Fire Sparkling, Julianne Maclean (WWII fiction)
• What You Did (Psychological suspense)
• Forgotten Bones, by Vivian Barz (mystery)
• Relative Fortunes (Historical Fiction)
• The Boy Between Worlds (Biography)
• Pirates Don't Go To Kindergarten (picture book)
• They Could Have Named Her Anything (Literary fiction)
• Prognosis: A Memoir of My Brain (Memoir)

Picture books are out, they don't look well on the screen (to me).  Psychological suspense isn't my thing.  WWII fiction, Historical fiction (those overlap, IMO), mystery (especally cozies) and biography/memoir are all things I read a lot.  The mystery looks a little dark, and the memoir doesn't grab me, so that cuts it down to 4, and two of those look like ones I might read, but not want to own.  So, off to the library website to see if they have any of these pre-ordered. A Fire Sparkling is one of the iffy ones, and the library has it pre-ordered.  Relative Fortunes is a definite - I like Jazz Age, and the cover is neat.  Reviews on They Could Have Named Her Anything are all over the place, while Boy Between Worlds has consistently high reviews.  So, there it is. 

This month, I'm getting Relative Fortunes, and A Boy Between Worlds as e-books. 

Amazon First Reads for June

So, this month's choices:

1. False Step (domestic suspense)
2. Along the Broken Bay (historical fiction)
3. Trance (psych thriller)
4. Stars in his Eyes (Biog fiction)
5. the Blue Period (literary fiction)
6. The Lie (memoir)
7. Spiky (kids)
8. Still I Miss You (world lit)

So, mark off the psychological thriller, domestic suspense, and picture book.  After reading the reviews already on Amazon and Goodreads, I seem to be down to Broken Bay and The Blue Period.   Not a big Picasso fan, so Along the Broken Bay it is. 

Book jackpot

I worked on my project of putting clear Mylar covers on the more-fragile dust jackets I've got, over the weekend.  That included my set of the Wrinkle in Time trilogy, which I finally found in hardback, with matching jackets.  And as I was covering things, I noticed this:

Knock me over with a feather! That looks like a legit signature, based on the E and the g. 

That gives me, at rough count, one signed L'Engle, 1 Beverly Cleary, 2 Anne McCaffrey books (thanks to winning a trivia contest and having a friend with a sister who took her to conferences), three Marguerite Henry books, plus Tamora Pierce and multiple Doranna Durgin books.  That would be the kid-book Holy Trinity and a fantasy Trinity.

Amazon Prime First Reads - March - and Goodreads

For March, it was a toss-up between Zoo Nebraska and I'm Fine and Neither are You.  I ended up going with the second after reading reviews of Zoo Nebraska about the length.  I may save it for a print book from the library.  I did suggest Beyond the Shadow of Night to the library.

1. A Lily in the Light - kidnapping, missing kid, ballet.  Sounds depressing
2. I'm Fine and Neither are You - contemporary fiction 
3. Wholly Unraveled - memoir about child abuse and religion. Ugh
4. Beyond the Shadow of Night - WWII fiction
5. The Rescue - thriller, not my thing
6. Zoo Nebraska - could be interesting

In other news, I've discovered a bonus to Goodreads giveaways.  For some reason, the Kindle giveaways (or at least the two I've won so far) come with ebook credit at Amazon.  I don't know why, but I've got a few dollars to spend on ebooks now, so I'm okay with that.

Amazon Prime - First Reads for February

Trying to decide which book to go for this month on the First Reads list (a Prime benefit that I missed out on for years, stupidly).  The library, at the moment, doesn't have any of these on the pre-order list.  I may have to fix that.

1.  Where the Forest Meets the Stars, by Glendy Vanderah - Contemporary Fiction.
2. The Perfect Child, by Lucinda Berry - Domestic Suspense.  Looks interesting, but more along the lines of a train wreck you can't look away from.
3. The Broken Circle, by Enjeela Ahmadi-Miller - Memoir.  Probably going to go with this one.
4. The Fever King, by Victoria Lee - Young Adult.  Also looks interesting, but I'm still over the whole post-apocalyptic thing.  Too depressing, the way things are these days.
5. What the Wind Knows, by Amy Harmon - historical Fiction.  Ireland in 1916.  Might have to suggest this one to the library too.
5.  It's Not Hansel and Gretel - picture book. 

More lack of will power

More proof that I sometimes lack willpower:

Michaels had a series of painting kits, almost a paint-by-number thing, with a printed outline canvas, paints, and palette.  $10 before Christmas.  I found one at the local store, 70% off, and for some reason came home and looked on the website.  Found a bunch more, but resisted.  Then, today, 80% off.  So I bought a dozen. 

Why????  Who knows.  No more new projects, though.  I need to start, and finish, some of the projects I've already bought.

Off the frugality wagon

So, while trying to be more frugal, I managed to spend

$20 at Michaels on stuff to finish projects (but I'm NOT starting anything new)
$30 at Hallmark on clearance ornaments
$47 on bird feed - but that'll last a few months
$7 at Amazon - but at least there was a discount on the book for whatever reason, so it was cheaper than used.  But it's still a book I already own but can't freaking find.

Better luck tomorrow.