Book Purchases / Reading List

For years now I've had an Amazon Wish List. I mostly use it to remember books to check out at the library (if the library has them), or, a bit more rarely, to bookmark things I'd like but can't really afford or justify buying right away. Sometimes I get something sent to me from my wish list - Justin and Cheng sent Ed and me some really beautiful knives, which I did have on my wish list - but I can't remember the last time someone has sent me a book from my wish list, which bums me out (probably too strong a phrase) because I don't really want or need things: I want to read, and between teaching and taking classes, I rarely get to read for fun as much as I'd like. I guess people think that they should send something more expensive, but it's the books that take me happy.

For Christmas this year, though, among other things I got an Amazon gift card from my parents, so I went ahead and ordered several books which I probably won't get a chance to read until summer. Many of them were used, because I'm cheap that way; I don't generally care if they're not "new," although I do prefer the most recent editions.

• The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls (Apropos because just last week I saw a Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit at the Leo; I had checked out this book from the library some time back and almost immediately returned it when I realized I'd have to buy the book because I knew I'd enjoy it.)
• Beneath a Tall Tree
• Eat the City: A Tale of the Fishers, Foragers, Butchers, Farmers, Poultry Minders, Sugar Refiners, Cane Cutters, Beekeepers, Winemakers, and Brewers Who Built New York
• The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time
• The Intermountain West: A story of a Place and People
• Lina and Serge: The Love and Wars of Lina Prokofiev
• People of the Earth: An Introduction to World Pre-History
• Plagues and Peoples
• Running Fiercely Toward a High Thin Sound
• Wedlock: The True Story of the Disastrous Marriage and Remarkable Divorce of Mary Eleanor Bowes, Countess of Strathmore

Not bought using my gift card because I'm an idiot and had temporarily forgotten about it led me to outright buy these books:

• Best Food Writing 2012 (This book and the next one I thought might have readings I could incorporate into my classes next semester.)
• Best Food Writing 2013
• Primal Wound: Understanding the Adopted Child (recommended by the social worker and the agency who did our home study)