To me, one of the great joys in life is picking up a trashy thriller at the airport and channeling any flight/travel anxiety into said book. During a recent vacation, and with only a few minutes left before boarding, I popped into the airport newsstand, where a big red sticker on the cover of a Brian Freeman’s Stalked caught my eye: "As good as MICHAEL CONNELLY or your money back," it blared, and my mind was made up. So what if I’ve never actually read a book by Michael Connelly? I mean, dude’s name was in ALL CAPS, and hello, who doesn’t love a money-back guarantee? The good news is, Stalked did the trick: Moved along at a rapid pace, scared the tarmac out of me, and never once forced me to think deeply (an activity that’s strictly verboten during vacation travel).
This got me wondering: What was your most recent book impulse buy, what factors actually prompted you to part with your hard-earned cash, and most importantly, were you satisfied with your purchase? Spill the beans, PopWatchers!
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First of all, I LOVE Nightstand Inspections! They’re one of my favorite PopWatch features…keep ‘em coming!
A couple of weeks ago, my sister was visiting and requested we go to Anthropologie (fun store, but way more her taste than mine). Anyway, they also have home furnishings and books. I picked up a copy of “Males, Nails and Sample Sales”–kind of an overall how-to for today’s woman. There’s everything from work advice to purchasing a home to good wines under $15. I ended up buying it and loved it–very practical, but in a conversational, intelligent tone.
(If I had the book with me, I’d give the author, but oh well, just look it up on Amazon!)
I hope you liked the book. I have read all Brian Freeman’s books, Very good.
My last impulse buy was The World is Flat by Tom Freidman of the NYT. I saw him somewhere and the ideas are interesting, but I can only read about a chapter at a time about once a month. It isn’t boring per se, but I just can’t get into it like a good mystery.
My daughter’s burgeoning hormones (and a rough morning with her) prompted me to get on Amazon.com and buy “Get Out Of My Life! But First Could You Take Me And Cheryl To The Mall?” A friend had mentioned it years ago. It is excellent and has already helped me deal with her new 13 year old attitude(s).
I was at the bookstore last week buying a birthday present and impulsively bought “Housekeeping” by Marilynne Robinson for myself. (I loved her “Gilead.”) However, right now it’s just sitting on my nightstand because I needed something a little less ponderous for Labor Day weekend. So I got Karen Joy Fowler’s latest, “Wit’s End,” the other day.
I bought Madonna’s Brothers book (for the kindle), it’s very poorly written, way to first person and boring.
My flight was delayed three hours so I went to the bookstore to buy Chuck Palahniuk’s Rant. I had read most of his other books so I had a pretty good idea of what I was getting into. Read it and finished it on the flight. Great book!
Usually my impulse buys gravitate towards romance novels, so the last impulse buy was the latest Julia Quinn novel that I can’t recall the name of. Worth the price, her books always are, but you can leave your brain at home for those.
“Secret Diary of a Call Girl”– worth the $$ though not as spicy as the guy at Borders said it would be.
“Sex Toys of the Gods” by Christian Mclaughlin. Over the top and completley brilliant.
I generally read the FBI mystery/suspense novels so my sister insisted I try something new. She sent me “Good In Bed” by Jennifer Weiner…..I caught myself laughing outloud at times! Good read:)
I love airport book buying, it’s one of the best parts of traveling. it also lead to my current addiction to Phillipa Gregory novels, as i bought “The Constant Princess” randomly off the shelf. I have now read her entire Tudor series and can’t wait for her new book about Mary Queen of Scots
“The Other Boleyn Girl” by Phillipa Gregory. I liked the movie and wanted to give the book a shot.
I picked up Chelsea Handler’s “Are You There Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea” in the airport a couple of weeks ago. I love both vodka and her show on E!, so I took a chance and paid FULL PRICE (in hardback, no less). I have to say, her humor loses a lot in print. It was the worst book I’ve read since “Scarlett” back in ‘91. No joke.
my last impulse buy was “Twilight” which was on the cover of ew at the time. I read the whole thing and just don’t get all the excitment. It was so bad I actually took it back to the bookstore and got a refund – I did not want to waste the $$ or shelf space.
Shout out to all the Phillipa Gregory lovers – I started with “The other boylyn girl” when the movie came out and have read most of the other books – “constant princess” was quite good.
I was at the airport last month waiting for my flight, decided to go to the bookstore and ended up buying ‘Are You There Vodka, Its Me Chelsea’ by Chelsea Handler. Word of advice: do not read while on a plane. Too many inappropriate laughs for a small confined place. I loved the book so much that I bought her first one, detailing her numerous one night stands. Of course I read this one on a plane as well. You think I would have learned my lesson the first time!
I read Stori Telling by Tori Spelling on vacation and I loved it. I am obviously not a proud person.
I just bought Nightwalker by Jocelynn Drake. I wasn’t too sure about it because the cover looked cheesy (vampire girl in hot leather outfit with a brooding male face in the background) but it had rave reviews by two of my favorite authors – Kim Harrison and Jeaniene Frost. I’m so glad I did. Great book with a deep plot and some sexiness. Highly recommend if you’re into vamp books with kickass female leads.
I bought The Omnivore’s Dilemma. Not exactly summer reading but I’ve had it on reserve at my library for AGES and I’m like last on the list to get it. Borders had it as a buy-one, get-one half off sale, so I couldn’t resist. (The other book I bought with that deal was Team of Rivals, about Abe Lincoln, for my parents.)
last month also bought Twilight after EW cover, was underwhelmed enough to be reading New Moon. Also read Bonk, Chelsea’s Vodka adiction memories and Jennifer Weiner’s Certain girls
My book weakness are those Nora Robert’s compliations that they sell at Costco. I can’t help in getting sucked in when they offer 2-3 novels in one book for the low Costco price!
The Words of Every Song, by Liz Moore. Picked it up at Borders months ago on a whim, and still haven’t read it. Of course, my daughter’s teddy bear is now planted on top of it (and has been for the past couple weeks), so that explains at least part of the lapse in time between purchase and perusal.
I usually walk into a bookstore and go right for the top sellers or the “if you liked this try these!” sections. Than one Halloween a year or so ago I saw a copy of World War Z that someone had literally dropped in the entrance way. I thought hey – Halloween, Zombies, why not – and it ended up being one of my favorite books. Ever.
I bought “The Secret Servant” by Daniel Silva. Good for entertainment spy-thriller. I enjoyed it so much I went out and bought the other 6 books containing the same character and proceeded to read all 6 within about 2 weeks!!
I picked up Alison Weir’s “Innocent Traitor” on a whim a few weeks ago and really enjoyed it. It’s the story of Lady Jane Grey, the girl who was Queen of England for nine days after Henry VII’s son Edward died. If you like the Tudor books by Philippa Gregory, read this book.
My last impulse book purchase was The Mercy Killers, by Lisa Reardon. I bought it b/c the jacket looked interesting & Book Warehouse was having a “buy 3 books, get 1 free” deal. After reading it, though, I concluded I would gladly have plunked down $20 for it. Best book I’ve read in ages.
There are far too many good books, backlogged Vanity Fair articles, and not enough time for me to waste my time on any silly reading. If I want something trashy, I’ll turn to the TV. When I was on vacation in Brazil this summer I read 5 books (Atonement, Life of Pi, The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao, Barack’s memoir and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close) and had just as much fun working my brain a bit
I recently bought Jenna Jameson’s biography – “How to Make Love Like a Porn Star”. I am fascinated as to how people end up in that business.
But ultimately the book was just depressing, you keep rooting for Jenna to get her act together and it never really seems to happen.
Andre Dubus III’s “The Garden of Last Days” because it’s about 9/11 . . . and strippers. C’mon, admit it — you’re intrigued.
Andre Dubus III’s “The Garden of Last Days” because it’s about 9/11 . . . and strippers. C’mon, admit it — you’re intrigued.
I picked up Jennifer Lancaster’s books, Fat is the New Black, Such a Pretty Fat, and another one. Laugh out loud funny!!!! First books I’ve actually finished in a long while.