In July, I wrote a post about all the books on my bookshelf. Since then I have made a couple of trips back to What the Book in their new and improved, far bigger, store. Bigger store means more books of course, and over the last few months I have reveled in this fact and indulged.

My first indulgence was on the weekend that Grant arrived. I may have been a terrible tourguide in terms of showing him around Seoul, but I did take him to What the Book. This was the first time that I had visited the new shop, and I think that my excitement showed through. While Grant was quite happy to be in a second hand bookshop where he ended up walking away with three books in his hands, I was running between the aisles exclaiming at the treasures hidden within. Having read only read Stardust, which I have heard from a number of sources isn't Neil Gaiman's best, I was excited to find a large range of Gaiman's work going at 10,000 each. Close by were the works of Terry Pratchett, another author who, I am ashamed to admit, I have never really read. I did read Diggers in my middle school years, and I did enjoy it, but I never explored Pratchett's intricate world more than that. All of Pratchett's work were also 10,000 a pop, making it very difficult for me not to just buy out the whole lot. I picked up three Gaimans and the first Discworld book, and was just about ready to go when I stumbled across Alice Sebold. Having watched and loved the movie of The Lovely Bones, and having heard that the book is a hundred times better, I couldn't resist picking it up and adding it to my steadily growing pile. And so, while Grant walked away with three books (two by Isaac Asimov and one called Cosmos), I left the shop with five.

Smoke and Mirrors - Neil Gaiman
American Gods - Neil Gaiman
Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman
The Colour of Magic - Terry Pratchett
The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold

After buying so many books and having not made any progress through the ones that I already own, I stayed away from What the Book for almost two months. I did make a stop at one bookshop in Cheongju, walking away with two books for learning Korean, but beyond that I was good and didn't buy any more, and I even made some good headway through Shalimar the Clown, which I am now more than halfway through and finally starting to get into. But then yesterday, I was in Itaewon once again, and Jess had asked me to make a stop into What the Book to find something for her. I didn't object, of course. Why would I? I have self-restraint after all!
But apparently I don't and added three more books to my collection.

The Last Song - Nicholas Sparks
The Years of Rice and Salt - Kim Stanley Robinson (which I loved when I started reading it, but didn't have the time to finish)
Good Omens - Neil Gaiman and Terry Prachett (the best of both worlds, I figure.)

My bookshelf is starting to wobble and I am starting to stack books in odd ways to try and make space for more. There are still two "unused" shelves in terms of books, but I am weary to remove my makeup and the stash of gifts for people back home that I have steadily been stacking up. We'll see how many more books I end up buying by the end of the year!