Book Shopaholics Anonymous?

Dear Me,

My name is Ivy and I am a book hoarder! LOL.

(If you are watching the tv episodes Hoarders, you'll get the tone of the prior statement...)

Seriously, is there a book shopaholics anonymous groups or meetings out there? Hehehe. Buying books are my sole addiction when it comes to shopping. I simply cannot stop.

It is ridiculous. I still have so many books left unread in my bookshelves yet, I continue to spend money buying for more! I have so many books just sitting in piles around the house waiting and wanting to be read. I accumulate books faster than I can read them.

It is a good thing that there is no public library accessible to me for I will definitely be a frequent visitor. The librarian will surely be my buddy. Most of all, I will be spending more time there with my little boy than staying home.

When I step inside a book store, my heart beats like crazy and my blood boils in excitement. Who knows what treasure I will find this time? Surely, one will think how insane I must be!

I HATE the feeling of being pressured when I'm inside that wonderful place full of books. It is paradise! I can spend hours and hours there. I don't mind being left there the entire time. In fact, I would love to sleep there (as if I will even attempt to close my eyes). That will be pure bliss!

When I'm checking out the shelves, you can find me with my finger pointing at the books and hearing me saying, "Oh, I have read that," or "that's a good read," or "I already have that," or "I think I have that but not sure so I'm going to buy it,"...etc.

Yeah, yeah.

They say that I have a problem and I don't think it is a problem!

(In the tradition of the Hoarders tv series, I can hear the psych professionals claim that I am in denial for not accepting the fact that I have a problem). LOL.


Here are my recent book buys for the past few months (marked with * and with synopsis). You can judge me then if I have a problem. Hahaha.



*The Closers by Michael Connelly

Synopsis (from MichaelConnelly.com):

After three years out of the LAPD, Harry Bosch returns, to find the department a different place from the one he left. A new Police Chief has been brought over from New York to give the place a thorough clean up from top to bottom. Working with his former partner, Kiz Rider, Harry is assigned to the department's Open-Unsolved Unit, working on the thousands of cold cases that haunt the LAPD's files. These detectives are the Closers — they put a shovel in the dirt and turn over the past. By applying new techniques to old evidence they aim to unearth some hidden killers and bring them to justice, for "a city that forgets its murder victims is a city lost."

Harry and Kiz are given a politically sensitive case when a DNA match connects a white supremacist to the 1988 murder of Rebecca Verloren, a sixteen-year-old girl. Becky was of mixed race, and the case appears to have a racial angle. This was LA before the riots and Rodney King; the city was a powder keg waiting for a match. The detectives who worked the case all those years ago seem to have done a decent job, but something doesn't fit.

Meanwhile Harry's nemesis, Deputy Chief Irving, is watching him. In the new "clean" LAPD Irving has been sidelined to a meaningless job. Compelled by vengeance, he hopes that Harry will make a slip.

*Plum Lovin' by Janet Evanovich

Synopsis (from evanovich.com):

Mysterious men have a way of showing up in Stephanie Plum's apartment. When the shadowy Diesel appears, he has a task for Stephanie-and he's not taking no for an answer. Annie Hart is a "relationship expert" who is wanted for armed robbery and assault with a deadly weapon. Stephanie needs to find her, fast. Diesel knows where she is. So they make a deal: he'll help her get Annie if Stephanie plays matchmaker to several of Annie's most difficult clients. But someone wants to find Annie even more than Diesel and Stephanie. Someone with a nasty temper. And someone with "unmentionable" skills. Does Diesel know more than he's saying about Annie Hart? Does Diesel have secrets he's keeping about Stephanie and the two men in her life-Ranger and Morelli? With Stephanie Plum in over her head, things are sure to get a little dicey and a little explosive, Jersey style!

*Hot Six by Janet Evanovich

Synopsis (from evanovich.com):

Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum and Trenton vice cop Joe Morelli join forces to find the madman killer who shot and barbecued the youngest son of international black-market arms dealer Alexander Ramos.

Carlos Manoso, street name Ranger, is caught on video just minutes before the crime occurs. He's at the scene, he's with the victim, and he's the number one suspect. Manoso is former Special Forces turned soldier of fortune. He has a blue-chip stock portfolio and no known address. He moves in mysterious circles. He's Stephanie's mentor-- the man who taught her everything she knows about fugitive apprehension. And he's more than her friend.

Now he's the hunted and Stephanie's the hunter, and it's time for Stephanie to test her skills against the master. But if she does catch him... what then? Can she bring herself to turn him in?

Plus there are other things keeping Stephanie awake at night. Her maternal grandmother has set up housekeeping in Stephanie's apartment, a homicidal maniac has selected Stephanie as his next victim, her love life is in the toilet, she's adopted a dog with an eating disorder, and she can't button the top snap on her Levis.

*'A' Is For Alibi by Sue Grafton

Synopsis (from suegrafton.com):

When Laurence Fife was murdered, few mourned his passing. A prominent divorce attorney with a reputation for single-minded ruthlessness on behalf of his clients, Fife was also rumored to be a dedicated philanderer. Plenty of people in the picturesque Southern California town of Santa Teresa had a reason to want him dead. Including, thought the cops, his young and beautiful wife, Nikki. With motive, access, and opportunity, Nikki was their number one suspect. The jury thought so too.

Eight years later and out on parole, Nikki Fife hires Kinsey Millhone to find out who really killed her late husband.

A trail that is eight years cold. A trail that reaches out to enfold a bitter, wealthy, and foul-mouthed old woman and a young boy, born deaf, whose memory cannot be trusted. A trail that leads to a lawyer defensively loyal to a dead partner -- and disarmingly attractive to Millhone; to an ex-wife, brave, lucid, lovely -- and still angry over Fife's betrayal of her; to a not-so-young secretary with too high a salary for too few skills -- and too many debts left owing: The trail twists to include every turn until it finally twists back on itself with a killer cunning enough to get away with murder.

*My Name Is Seepeetza by Shirley Sterling

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

Her name was Seepeetza when she was at home with her family. But now that she's living at the Indian residential school her name is Martha Stone, and everything else about her life has changed as well. Told in the honest voice of a sixth grader, this is the story of a young Native girl forced to live in a world governed by strict nuns, arbitrary rules, and a policy against talking in her own dialect, even with her family. Seepeetza finds bright spots, but most of all she looks forward to summers and holidays at home.

*The Last Lobo by Roland Smith

Synopsis (from Barnes&Noble):

When Jacob fulfills a promise to his grandfather, Taw, and travels with him back to the Hopi reservation where he was born, he gets a lot more than a quiet trip to the desert. He quickly discovers that the Hopi on the reservation are divided over a lobo, a Mexican wolf, that people say is hunting on the reservation. There are some who want to kill the lobo, and others who are angry enough to kill anyone who gets in the way. The lobo is an endangered species, thought to have disappeared from New Mexico all together. Jake knows that if the lobo does exist, he must do everything in his power to help it. But time is running out!

*The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis

Synopsis (from HarperCollins):

"This is the land of Narnia," said the Faun, "where we are now; all that lies between the lamp-post and the great castle of Cair Paravel on the eastern sea. And you--you have come from the wild woods of the west?"

"I--I got in through the wardrobe in the spare room," said Lucy.

What begins as a simple game of hide-and-seek quickly turns into the adventure of a lifetime when Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy walk through the wardrobe and into the land of Narnia. There they find a cold, snow-covered land frozen into eternal winter by the evil White Witch. All who challenge her rule are turned into stone. Narnia, once filled with all manner of Talking Beasts, Dwarfs, Giants, and Fauns is now a dark, joyless wasteland.

The children can only hope that Aslan, the Great Lion, will return to Narnia and restore beauty and peace to the land. But will the power of Aslan be enough to conquer the dark magic of the White Witch?

*The Cost of Doing Business by John Tarlton

Synopsis (from Amazon):

Divorced and in her early thirties, Diane Morris, six-foot, four-inch landperson for a major oil company must not only negotiate a contentious oil-drilling rights contract among three hostile parties, but also care for her grief-stricken father and sharp-witted 12-year-old son. At the same time, she must deal with the reemergence of her ex-husband, a smooth-talking gambler perpetually on the run. As Diane unravels the mysterious events surrounding the land claim, she finds an unexpected source of strength in the Greek myths her father and son are studying, which help her gain insight into the different parties she encounters.

*I, Juan de Pareja by Elizabeth Borton de Trevino

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

Based on the true story of the slave, Juan de Pareja, who was willed to Velazquez and whose relationship with the great Spanish painter evolved into one of friendship and equality.

*Popular Word Search



*Three To Get Deadly by Janet Evanovich

Synopsis (from evanovich.com):

Stephanie Plum, the brassy babe in the powder blue Buick, is back, and she's having a bad hair day - for the whole month of January.

She's been given the unpopular task of finding Mo Bedemeir, Trenton's most beloved citizen, arrested for carrying concealed, gone no-show for his court appearance.

And to make matters worse, she's got Lula, a former hooker turned file clerk--now a wannabe bounty hunter--at her side, sticking like glue. Lula's big and blonde and black, and itching to get the chance to lock up a crook in the trunk of her car.

Morelli, the New Jersey vice cop with the slow-burning smile that undermines a girl's strongest resolve is being polite. So what does that mean? Has he found a new love? Or is he manipulating Steph, using her in his police investigation, counting on her unmanageable curiosity and competitive Jersey attitude?

Once again, the entire One for the Money crew is in action, including Ranger and Grandma Mazur, searching for Mo, tripping down a trail littered with drug dealers, leading Stephanie to suspect Mo has traded his ice-cream scoop for a vigilante gun.

*Murder at the Library of Congress by Margaret Truman

Synopsis (from Random House):

In the depths of the U.S. Library of Congress toil thousands of researchers, chasing down obsessions, breakthroughs, and new contributions to human wisdom. But when amateur D.C. sleuth Annabel Reed-Smith enters this stately American institution, she discovers a hornet’s nest of intrigue and murder.

After a renowned scholar is bludgeoned to death among the scholarly stacks, an ambitious TV reporter links the case to the heist of a Spanish painting from a Miami museum and a killing in Mexico City. Annabel suspects that buried in the Library are secrets some people will do anything to keep silent–the secret of a rich man’s ambition, a researcher’s disappearance, and a mysterious diary of Christopher Columbus’s journey written five hundred years ago...

*One For The Money by Janet Evanovich

Synopsis (from evanovich.com):

Stephanie Plum, a bounty hunter with attitude. In Stephanie's opinion, toxic waste, rabid drivers, armed schizophrenics, and August heat, humidity, and hydrocarbons are all part of the great adventure of living in Jersey.

She's a product of the "burg," a blue-collar pocket of Trenton where houses are attached and narrow, cars are American, windows are clean, and (God forbid you should be late) dinner is served at six.

Now Stephanie's all grown up and out on her own, living five miles from Mom and Dad's, doing her best to sever the world's longest umbilical cord. Her mother is a meddler, and her grandmother is a few cans short of a case.

Out of work and out of money, with her Miata repossessed and her refrigerator empty, Stephanie blackmails her bail bondsman cousin, Vinnie, into giving her a try as an apprehension agent. Stephanie knows zilch about the job requirements, but she figures her new pal, fearless bounty hunter Ranger, can teach her what it takes to catch a crook.

Her first assignment: nail Joe Morelli, a former vice cop on the run from a charge of murder one. Morelli is also the irresistible macho pig who took Stephanie's virginity at age sixteen and then wrote the details on the bathroom wall of Mario's Sub Shop. There's still powerful chemistry between these two, so the chase should be interesting.

It could also be extremely dangerous, especially when Stephanie encounters a heavyweight title contender who likes to play rough. Benito Ramirez is known for his brutality to women. At the very least, his obsession with Stephanie complicates her manhunt and brings terror and uncertainty into her life. At the worst, it could lead to murder.

Books for my little boy:

*Rainy Day by Carmel O'Mara

*Beginning Letter Sounds

*Numbers by DK Publishing



Still for my little boy:

*I Found This On The Floor Today: A Book About Shapes by Looney Tunes

*Simba and Nala At Play: A Book About Opposites by Grolier

*The Hungry Duckling (Little Animal Adventures Series) by Claude Clement, Marcelle Geneste

For my reading:

*Baby Read-Aloud Basics by Caroline J. Blakemore, Barbara Weston Ramirez



*24 Declassified: Operation Hell Gate by Marc Cerasini

Synopsis (from HarperCollins):

Within twenty-four hours a nightmare will be unleashed that could cause the death of untold millions and devastate a great nation. It's a plot being carried out by the unlikeliest of allies. A powerful mole within the deepest reaches of U.S. Intelligence has secretly conscripted the very criminals he's been charged with investigating -- former IRA terrorists, Latino and Asian gang members, Middle Eastern assassins and others -- creating one of the most insidious terrorist networks law enforcement has yet to take down.

One man stands between the destroyers and the death tide: Jack Bauer, lone wolf operative for America's brand-new elite Counter Terrorist Unit. But he's three thousand miles from the CTU command center without backup in a strange city, New York. He's been artfully set up and is being hunted by the FBI for the murder of two of its agents. And time's almost up...

*Blood Memory by Greg Iles

Synopsis (from gregiles.com):

Catherine "Cat" Ferry is a forensic odontologist, a specialist in bite marks and the clues they provide. But while Cat's colleagues know her as a world-class scientist, she secretly attempts to manage her fragile psyche with alcohol, delving into the minds of rapists and murderers yet never allowing her own frightening past to creep into the foreground. Driven by this fragment of her past, Cat attempts a forensic reconstruction of the decades-old crime. Soon both she and the FBI realize that the murders occurring now in New Orleans are intimately bound up with Cat's family and her past.

For Miguel again:

*Roo's Big Adventure (Walt Disney's Winnie the Pooh and His Friends) by A.A. Milne, E.H. Shepard

*Night Time Mystery (Walt Disney's Winnie the Pooh and His Friends)

*Is That What I Think It Is? (Baby Looney Tunes)

*All Little Babies (Baby Looney Tunes)

For my reading pleasure: (this was actually purchased by hubby for yours truly)

*Murder In Jerusalem by Batya Gur

Synopsis (from HarperCollins):

When a woman's body is discovered in the wardrobe warehouses of Israel Television, Chief Superintendent Michael Ohayon embarks on a tangled and bloody trail of detection through the corridors and studios of Israel's official television station, and through the fears, loves, and contradictions of the people who work there. It is an eye-opening journey that brings into question the very ideals upon which Ohayon—and indeed the entire nation—was raised, ideals that may have led to terrible crimes.

From these purchases alone, you can probably make a deduction if I should join the book shopaholics anonymous if ever it exists.

Also, you can probably have an idea of what genres I prefer to read. *winks*

Till the next book-splurging! Cheers!