Winter Book Haul

This is my book haul for the Winter Break of 2014/15 seeing as I go back to uni in a week and I have managed to accumulate a lot of books this past month. Most are books I've wanted for a while and haven't been able to get during term time. I don't know how interesting of a blog post this will be but I really enjoy watching book hauls so I figured I'd do one of my own. 

So the 25 books pictured above are all the books I've gotten this holiday and I'm sad to say only 2 were gifts.....  Most of the books I buy are either bought second hand online or are on sale but this month there were a few Christmas gifts to myself that I used to justify the amount of money I've spent. If you click on the titles it will take you to their Goodreads page.

1. Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas  -- This is the book I am reading currently and I will be posting a review of it fairly soon but I am really enjoying it.
2. Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell  -- Obviously I loved this book and I have already read it and posted a review of it.
3. Martyn Pig by Kevin Brooks  -- This is about a boy who hides his father's body after he dies because he is scared he will be blamed for his death... It sounds rather odd but I have heard nothing but good things about it so when I saw it on sale I decided to pick it up.
4. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern  --This book apparently creates an enthralling atmosphere but it was the writing style that really intrigued me as it is written in second person present.
5. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman  -- I have never read anything by this author and I really want to experience his writing after hearing so much about his books so I decided to start with this one.
6. Wonder by R J Palacio  -- This books is about a boy called August whose appearance is never described except for telling you that he has a physical deformity which is very obvious and attracts a lot of stares. It sounds like a book the breaks your heart while simultaneously being uplifting which is something I tend to love in contemporary reads.
7. The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer  -- This book is about a boy dealing with depression and has him telling the story of his decent into mental illness starting with the death of his older brother.
8. We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler  -- I heard great things about this book so read the first chapter on Amazon before I ordered it and despite not being an action/thriller book somehow had my heart pounding so I m very excited to get to the rest of it.
9. The Humans by Matt Haig  --This book is about an alien who has replaced a mathematician on Earth to stop him discovering a formula and tells the tale of this alien struggling to understand humans. Not only is it meant to be very funny but I have heard it also makes you think about ourselves as a species and makes you re-evaluate your life and what is really important so I am really looking forward to it.
10. The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson  -- This is the first book in the Mistborn series and the Booksplosion book of the month. Booksplosion is a bookclub hosted by a few well known BookTubers (Katytastic, Poland and bananas books and Jesse the reader) and the have a discussion show at the end of the month for the book and I have decided that this year I will try and take part every month. They also have a Goodreads group where there are discussions for different parts of the book so you can discuss what you think so far without being spoiled and I will leave a link for that here. I have wanted to pick up something by Brandon Sanderson for a long time as he is widely regarded as the king of high fantasy.
11. The Plays of Oscar Wilde by (of course) Oscar Wilde  -- This and the next two books on the list don't need much explaining as they are all classics which I bought at The Works in their 3 for £5 section.
12. The Illiad by Homer  -- I have recently found myself enjoying many stories set in ancient Greek and Roman times but mainly I just bought this because it was part of a set with the next one and I definitely couldn't only have the one.
13. The Odyssey by Homer  -- I have a love for Greek mythology which begun in Primary 6 when we learnt about it and about Odysseus's adventures and was later nurtured by the Percy Jackson series. I have always wanted to read the actual story and although it is public domain I have never managed to get into it while staring at it on my laptop. Hopefully I will manage to get through it eventually even though I know it will likely be a challenge. And I will admit part of me wants to red it so I can say that I have...
14. Our Lizzy by Anna Jacobs  -- I have actually already read this book but I didn't own it. I was on holiday in Greece year ago and the hotel had a small shelf of books that had been left behind which you could borrow so I read this book and I loved it. I had never seen or heard of it though until I came across it earlier this month for only £1 and I had to have it for my shelves. It turns out it is actually one of a series of companion books but when looking at the others books I had no real desire to read any of them. As a romance type book set in the Word War II era this really is the exact opposite of my sort of book so I am surprised at how much I enjoyed it and I may have to look more into her other books.
15. 1,411 QI Facts to Knock You Sideways by John Lloyd and John Mitchinson  -- This was a gift from my Uncle and I have had a flick through it and it is very entertaining. I am a massive fan of the show QI and love some random facts so this book is perfect for me.
16. Dark Witch by Nora Roberts  -- This was a gift from my Dad and is the first book in the Cousins O'Dwyer trilogy. I went through a short period a few years ago in which I almost soley read Nora Roberts books and so she is my most read/owned author even though I am not a particular fan of romance books any more. Seeing as I have read 25 or so of her books I am glad my Dad picked one I haven't. Despite this not being my genre of choice these days and I don't know when I will get around to it I am excited to read it and see how I like her writing now as I did enjoy all her books and one of her trilogies is a favourite of mine to this day.
17. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell  -- This book has so much hype around it and I cannot wait to read it. I bought this alongside Eleanor and Park and decided to read them in the order they came out then, after reading Eleanor and Park I couldn't bring myself to read another Rainbow book for a bit because I was so emotionally drained. I don't think this book sounds as heavy hitting as her other YA book but I love the idea and need to get to it soon.
18. The Girl With All The Gifts by M R Carey  -- I hadn't heard anything about this book before I picked it up in the book store but it sounds interesting and appears to be well regarded. It is about a gifted young girl who appears to be held in a prison cell and taken to classes by guards. I really have no idea what the plot is about but I think it will be good to go into this blind as the blurb seemed to deliberately not give anything away.
19. Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life by Bryan Lee O'Maley  -- This is the first of the Scott Pilgram graphic novels. This is a fairly foreign medium to me but I recently read and loved one and so I wanted to get into them more especially as many BookTubers seem to be getting rather into them recently. I really enjoyed the Scott Pilgram film and a friend read this series last year and loved it. I just wish graphic novels and manga weren't so expensive! Especially as they only take half an hour to read.
20. Crown of Midnight by Sarah J Maas  -- This is the sequel to Throne of Glass which I am reading currently. I bought this after I started the first one as I know I will want to read the sequel very soon.
21. Let it Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle  -- This is a collection of three interlinking short stories, one by each of the authors. I am a huge Jonh Green fan and this is the only piece by him I have yet to read. Unfortunately the holiday season has past and I may be waiting until next year to pick this one up.
22. The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fford  -- I read Shades of Grey by Fforde years ago and have been waiting for the rest of the series for a painfully long time now so decided I should finally pick up one of his other books. This is the first in a series about Thursday Next, a literary detective. In this world it is possible to travel into fictional worlds and Thursday's first case is the kidnapping of Jane Eyre out of her book. It is such a cool concept and I think it will be a really fun read, and if it is anything like his other book it will be hilarious and very intelligently written.
23. We Were Liars by E Lockhart  -- Another author I have yet to read anything by but I know I should. This book is apparently very mysterious and every review I have seen says it is best to go into this knowing as little a possible.
24. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline  -- This is another book that has been absolutely raved about in the book community and has made it onto the top of so many "Best Books of 2014" lists I have seen. Every time I try and explain what it is about I seem to fail miserably but I am very excited to read it.
25. More Than This by Patrick Ness  -- I am a huge Patrick Ness fan with the Chaos Walking Trilogy being my favourite trilogy of all time so it was a no brainer to finally get this. I have no clue what it is about (my trust in Ness is strong)and that is how I usually like to enter his books. All I know is a boy dies and then wakes up?? Sounds interesting but then all his stories are.