Last week I came back from my vacation, the weather was not perfect, but I managed to really relax and read a lot (I’m now reading book #19 of #20booksofsummer). Once my brain rested a bit, it also got hungry for buying new books and, as you all know, I am still trying to stick to my book buying ban, but a rested mind is also a creative mind. Together with my mother we came up with a book laundering scheme – a way for me to buy new books once in a while without breaking the ban. It is very simple, I go to the bookshop, pick books I think will be good and buy them for my mother as a gift. This way I can borrow them from her and read them legally. Simple, smart and everyone is happy.
Below you can see what the book laundering scheme yielded so far, I will try not to use it too often, as I still want my TBR to go down, but it’s good to have options. I already finished three of those books, so I’m not doing badly. Kate Atkinson books caused me to break another one of my resolutions – that is to read literature in its original language where possible, but I just couldn’t resist.
- Bibliotekarki – Teresa Monika Rudzka – I thought it would be a light summer read with sparkling humour, but it was really, really bad, good that it’s not translated and never will be
- Dusza Światowa – Dorota Masłowska, Agnieszka Drotkiewicz – When she was nineteen years old Masłowska wrote Snow White and Russian Red and became a literary sensation in Poland, this book is an interview with her ten years and few books later. As Masłowska is from my generation I was interested what she had to say and I was not disappointed.
- In Her Absence – Antonio Muñoz Molina – I really wanted to buy Winter in Lisbon, because that’s where I’ll spend part of my vacation in September, but it was not available, so I ended up with this one. I hope it’s good.
- Case Histories – Kate Atkinson – those two are pure chance, the first and second part of Jackson Brody series, both discounted, so I took them, only to find I already have the third book in the series too, so by a lucky coincidence I can now read the series in proper order, actually I’m already done with the first installment and I liked it a lot.
- One Good Turn – Kate Atkinson
Did you buy any books recently? Do you have any creative ideas to cheat the system? Please share!
Photo by Violetta Kaszubowska @ vkphotospace
bookskeptic.com 
Yes – I received a BookCrossing book from a friend and have someone in mind to pass it on to, so that doesn’t count. Then I bought a book because it’s first in a series and I just won the sequel on NetGalley but should obviously read the first one first, so that doesn’t count. I’ve also ordered a book about mindful running and as that will help with my role as an England Athletics Mental Health Ambassador … THAT doesn’t count, either!
And number NINETEEN???
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What a delicious list! I’m adding them to my book laudering scheme!
2 weeks of lazy vacation does help to make progress on the #20booksofsummer. I think I may start planning my holiday according to it 😉
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I love this book buying logic.
I also love Kate Atkinson. Case Histories was the first book by her that I read, and it remains a favorite. I love the character of Jackson Brodie.
I was just thinking this morning that I really need to get a handle on my book buying, but now I am thinking of different ways to recast my strategy… 🙂
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Thanks!
I liked Case Histories a lot, thoughtful crime fiction is not that easy to come by. Now I’m reading One Good Turn and I enjoy it as well and there’s also When Will There Be Good News on my shelf, so I think for another week I’ll be binge reading Atkinson and I can’t complain 😀
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And you should check Liz’s comment for some more creative strategies 🙂
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Oh, I so loved the way you worked around the ban. I am unemployed at the moment. So, I can’t afford books. But, I share my wishlist with my boyfriend, who surprises me every once in a while. 🙂
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That’s lovely! The hints about books I’d like to get a gifts are so often that I think my family started to ignore them a bit 😉
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