Thursday 14 April 2011

A Sickness or Completely Understandable?

I welcomed four books to my house yesterday - all of which I purchased. The first of them is extra, extra, extra special. Seriously. Y'all know that I've been doing the Malazan Re-read for Tor.com and I have been falling deeper and deeper in love with this series with every page that passes. So when Steven Erikson put up two signed copies of the Subterranean Press edition of Gardens of the Moon for Genre for Japan, I knew that one of them would be mine - no matter what I'd end up paying. Going into an auction with no upper limit is both scary and exhilerating! I was one of the lucky winners and duly paid over my cash (available to see on the Genre for Japan Justgiving page...) and yesterday this BEAUTIFUL hardback edition arrived in my house.

From the stunning cover art:


To the internal illustrations:


This book is flawless. Needless to say, I have pre-ordered the Subterranean Press version of Deadhouse Gates as well, and now plan to collect all of them. It is the first time I have lusted over a special edition, but, if it were to be any novels, it would be these - they hold an incredibly special place in my heart.

The other three books that I purchased yesterday are a trilogy - one that I already own. This sounds a little silly, non? But let me explain... This is a case of cover art ABSOLUTELY doing the job it is meant to do.

I own the following three novels:




These three covers are okay - fairly pretty, fairly generic fantasy.

I had IMMEDIATE book lust when I spotted the covers that Gollancz had commissioned for the trilogy on its re-release in the UK. Check these out.....




Simply gorgeous, aren't they?

So I re-purchased three books I already owned to get them in the same format and showing such lush covers.

A sickness or completely understandable?

14 comments:

  1. Completely understandable.

    Last week I bought a hardcover of a book I already own in paperback. It even has the exact same cover. OK, so it was only £5 but it isn't even a book that is high on my re-read list.

    There are some books that I will re-buy for the covers. One example is Spellwright by Blake Charlton, I have the UK HC. But I am going to buy the US one to get the gorgeous cover.

    If this is a sickness, I don't want to get cured :-)

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  2. I'd say it's a bit of both. I too have purchased books I already own because of different cover art, and I know there are books out there that I'd do it again for, but that doesn't mean it's not a little bit of a sickness. :p

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  3. Yep. Totally. Who needs money or self-control when instead we can have lovely matching covers and spines on our bookcases? :)

    So how are these Kristen Britain books, Amanda? You think I'd like them? Where should I start?

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  4. Man, those new covers for the Kristen Britain series are gorgeous! If I wasn't on such a strict budget I'd be tempted to buy them again myself.

    You do know it's not a trilogy though, right? The fourth book, Blackveil, was out in harcover a month or so ago. I haven't read it yet, I'll wait for the paperback edition.

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  5. Wow! Congrats on the GotM win! I so want those editions, but I can't justify buying a third set of the series, let alone spending that much money on a single book.

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  6. Completely understandable as I'm thinking of re-buying the Britain books as well lol

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  7. Hmm, if you'd got mixed spines or different sizes, then the tidy and organised person in me would want them consistent. Did you sell the first three or are you keeping both sets?

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  8. Utterly understandable. I've been known to do much the same :)

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  9. totally understandable; i don't want to shake the disease! :)

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  10. Congratulations on the Malazan win:) It's a beautiful book! I totally understand! I'm re-reading Gardens of the Moon after finishing House of Chains and it's amazing. So many things slotting into place now.

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  11. Completely understandable, I own all four in the series in HC and have to say I feel like ordering them again with those covers! Of course I also want to buy the British version of the Harry Potter books just for the few language differences, sadly money is an issue.

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  12. No, you are perfectly normal. Of course, I just repurchased a bunch of Andre Norton's Witch World books because I liked the covers on the ones I found more than the covers on the ones I won, so I might not be the best judge on this.

    Aaron (Dreaming About Other Worlds).

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  13. totally understandable - I am thinking of going and buying the Green Rider series again too - just for those great UK covers!

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