MY JANUARY UK BOOK-BUYING SPREE

   In January I spent a three week holiday in South Yorkshire. -Well, it was really a test to see if me and Jo would function together. But that's beside the point here.
   During those three weeks I had the joy of discovering charity shops that had books I actually wanted. (There is a completely different culture in Norway when it comes to charity, and we have few charity shops.) And I disovered The Works. For those that are unfamiliar with The Works (, as I was when I got here in January), it's basically a remainder shop. They sell new stuff at a ridiculously high discount. Paperbacks from £1, hardcovers from £1.99, and coffe table books from about £4.99.
   Both of these are of course somewhat of a book-lover's dream. I do however feel a bit bad about getting books for the prices I have, since I believe that authors (, and by extension publishers,) should get paid decently for what they give me as a reader. However I don't really feel too bad, for two reasons. The first one is that I still buy books at regular prices in Waterstones and WH Smith, the second one is I have been buying books in Norway for the last 30+ years.
   In Norway books are much more expensive than in the UK. You might be lucky and get some books at sale prices, but usually you have to pay quite a bit for your reading. US/UK hardcovers very rarely cost beow £25*, and you are lucky if you can get a trade paperback for below £12.99*, the cheapest I've seen mass market paperbacks is £6.99*. Norwegian books are even more expensive. So I can say that although I buy books at low prices now, I have contributed quite a lot to the overall revenue going into the book business over the years.

*Because I am lazy, I have used £1=10 NOK (Norwegian Kroner) when posting these prices.

   Anyway, here are pictures of the books I got in my first, three week, book-buying spree.

 These are from a charity shop.

Also from a charity shop.

More charity shop books.

From The Works.

More from The Works.

Even more from The Works.

Top two from The Works, bottom two from charity shop.

These came from Waterstones.

The Works. The "Design your own cover" one is Aesop's Fables.

More The Works books.

Even more from The Works.

And finally a couple more from Waterstones.

   Not pictured is the LEGO Star Wars Yoda Trilogy I bought for my nephew at the airport when I went back to Norway.

   By total coincidence, that adds up to 42 books bought  in my January UK book-buying spree.

NEW BEGINNINGS

   So, as I have previously mentioned I have a girlfriend who lives in South Yorkshire. Since I wrote my last post from South Yorkshire two things happened simultaneously: On 20 February I had my 40th 29th birthday, and I moved in with my girlfriend. That means that I am now officially, and in reality, living in the United Kingdom.

   Living in the United Kingdom may have some effects on my blogging. I have already changed my address on NetGalley, and I am not sure if I will be getting e-ARCs from US publishers. (Norway is an "open territory" when it comes to rights, so I have been able to get hold of both US and UK books.) I do however hope that I will be able to get my hands on some UK ARCs that I have previously not been able to get.
   Another thing that will happen is that I will be blogging more. Where I lived last year the internet connection was "not optimal", meaning I couldn't blog as much as I wanted to. Now that I am a place where I have access to an internet connection that is more stable I should be able to post more on this blog. -But living with someone will of course mean that I have less time to actually do it, so I may not be able to blog every day of the week.

   In the short term I will use some time to get settled in where I am now. There's quite a lot to get sorted when you move from one country to another. I also need to go back to Norway to get the last of my stuff sorted there. (I was back for nearly three weeks, but flu made it impossible for me to get everything sorted on that trip.)
   In the long term I hope to be able to finally get this blog on something resembling the schedule I was planning for when I started it. And I will also be able to attend some SFF conventions and hopefully meet people in person that I have only met online so far. (My first convention will be this year's Eastercon.)

   The basics of my blog will not change. There will be reviews of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror books for the most part. There will also be reviews of some books outside those genres, and I will probably do more opinion pieces, and try for more articles that need some research and can be posted at any time.

   Hope you will come back here later and check out what is going on.

THIS BULLETIN COMING TO YOU FROM SOUTH YORKSHIRE

   That headline goes some way to explain why I have not been doing much blogging in the last few months. The other explanation is that my internet has been pretty messed up since November. You might want a more detailed explanation of the former explanation. Basically, I have spent the time since October internet dating Jo. We met up in Oslo in December, and I am now at her place in South Yorkshire for January. I will probably be moving here in the not to distant future.
   So, yeah, I have been neglecting both my blogging and my reading. Because after all meeting someone, falling in love with them, and finding out if a relationship is going to work is actually a bit more important than updating a blog.

   I will try to catch up to some degree. Reading and reviews will of course be caught in a backlog for the foreseeable future, but I will be doing a bit of effort to catch up. And I plan to post my "looking back at 2013" post next week, along with some reviews. Hope you'll stay tuned for that.

Jo, Rosie, and Finn.