ARCs, Book Liquidators, and other junk

I'm pretty sure I've written before about some of the websites - LibraryThing, GoodReads, PaperbackSwap, to name a few - I've found thanks (many many thanks!) to other bloggers.... And then a week or so ago, visiting the Costco closest to our new house, there it was.... an entire warehouse.... of BOOKS!! I resisted, until today. See today, it was just me and my baby girl, so we somehow found ourselves in the neighborhood, even though we were nowhere near the neighborhood, but that's neither here nor there. We went inside.

The experience certainly was not the nirvana of walking into a Barnes & Noble or a Borders, coffee in hand, etc. etc., and had it not been so stinking hot in there (yes, it's still about 105° everyday here and this book liquidator wouldn't make any money if it all went to paying the electric bill), I would've thoroughly enjoyed walking and reading every single book title. Another day, another time... Today, I simply picked up Lauren Weisenberger's Everyone Worth Knowing, in hardback, for $1, a few of the kids Eyewitness Books (skeleton and dinosaur) for Kevin for $3/each, and another random kid's book that is about three of Kevin's favorite things: pirates, dinosaurs AND treasure! Fun!

So back to those websites I mentioned.... You can request copies of books that are about to be released, called Advanced Reader Copies (for those not in the know, like I wasn't about a month ago). Anyway, I have been requesting several ARC's each month, got this one the first month, and just found out I've been selected to receive two more!

The first is Unfinished Desires by Gail Godwin, published by Random House, and the second is coming directly from the author, Daniel Kine. His book is called Between Nowhere and Happiness, and is being published by Smallhand Press who state very clearly on their homepage that they do not in any way mass produce books. Interesting. Anyway, here's the description that Daniel Kine provides for his little tome:

An uncommon tragedy highlighting modern dilemma, Between Nowhere and Happiness is the story of Arthur, a would-be recluse allocated into the lives of everyone he encounters. By observing the tendencies of sexually repressed petty criminals, sex-workers and drifters of all sorts, he chronicles his time wandering in and out of the many social and cultural quandaries of modern times.

Reading that description I think I would never pick it up and buy it, BUT since he's going to send it to me for free, I know I'll read it and review it in appreciation for a gratis read. Add those to the 28 or so books in my to-be-read pile, and I just wish I had a little more time to sit in my comfy chair... Or didn't need sleep. That would be nice.

Well, I'm out of time to make up some "other junk" to fulfill the promise in the title of this post. Oh wait, I can tell you I colored and cut my hair -- and I just added a pic to my blog of me with my new cut and color sitting in the aforementioned comfy chair. Post is complete. :)