March book haul

I promised myself that after February's book haul got out of hand I'd tone it down this month, but here we are. I've made a pact with myself to only buy books that I think have v pretty covers, which was an attempt to develop some self control. However, now I just have a buttload of beautiful books so I think I'm still the real winner here.

The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter. This woman is queen of Gothic feminism IMO. I read The Bloody Chamber back when I was doing my a-levels, and I really want to revisit in in light of what I've learnt about Gothic literature over the past few years.
A Vindication of the Rights of Women by Mary Wollstonecraft. This is the mother of Mary Shelley, and a woman who really fought for women's rights. A Vindication is a very early first wave feminist text and as such is very restrictive, but it goes to show how much work needed to be doing towards gaining equal rights (and how much work is disturbingly left to do).
The Standing Chandelier by Lionel Shriver. I couldn't resist picking this up when I saw it because Shriver wrote my favourite book ever, We Need to Talk About Kevin. The Standing Chandelier is all about an extravagant, personal gift given to Weston Babansky (what a name) by an old flame. The trouble is that he needs to get it past his fiancee. I am v ready to see the drama and tension unfold in this one.

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis. I'm fairly sure we've all seen the movie for this one, but I've not come across the book until now. The protagonist Patrick Bateman is a serial killer and Manhattan businessman, making the book a bit of a disturbing horror/thriller novel.
Umami by Laia Jufresa. I spoke about this one in more detail in my March Reading in Heels subscription box post here. The story is all about a pre-teen girl living in Mexico City learning about life and love and loss and all those things that we start to understand more in our teens.
The Ascension of Melanie Winters by Holly Stockport is written by a fellow blogger and was actually passed on to me by the babe that is Aimee. It's a fantasy novel about a girl who can't fit in because she's a little *too* different to other people.

A Quiet Kind of Thunder by Sara Bernard. I'm as shocked as you that it took me this far through the haul to mention YA fiction because that is absolutely my jam at the moment. Steffi doesn't talk, and Rhys can't hear, so when he moves to her school she's assigned to help him, and they understand each other in ways no one imagined.
Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan. I LOVE Levithan's work, and I've been gradually collecting more and more of his books over the past few months. Two Boys Kissing is all about 17-year-olds Harry and Craig who go on a 32-hour long kissing marathon. The story is told in the context of a number of other gay teen boys struggling to come to terms with their sexuality, or with the way in which people respond to it.
13 Minutes by Sarah Pinborough is another read that Aimee kindly lent to me after I said I really wanted to give it a go (told you, the ultimate babe). Natasha was dead for 13 minutes, and when she comes round she knows that her death is not an accident. This YA thriller follows Natasha's hunt to find out who tried to kill her, and why.

Two Years Eight Months & Twenty-Eight Nights by Salman Rushdie is my second fantasy novel of the month (what is going on?!). The book is set 1000 years in the future, and strange things have started to happen. A baby can sense corruption, a gardener begins to levitate, and people start to realise things aren't as they seem. These people are all descendants of the same couple, and it's up to them to sort out the issues their world is facing.
Empire of the Sun by J. G. Ballard is the only loosely non-fiction book on here in that it's sort of a memoir. The book tells the story of the author's life as a boy trapped in a Japanese concentration camp during World War II. I imagine that this will be a really tough one to read, but such a valuable book to take things from.
A History of Loneliness by John Boyne. Last month I read The House of Special Purpose by this author (who's also the guy who wrote The Boy in the Striped Pajamas) and I loved it. I think Boyne is v much underrated for the majority of his works, and as this is his most recent I can't wait to get stuck in. 

The Rainbow by D.H. Lawrence. I read Lady Chatterley's Lover by this author a few years ago and adored it, so I couldn't resist picking up this beaut copy. The book follows three generations of a family living in the rural Midlands in Victorian England, and it promises to be filled with passion and beautiful writing.
Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne. This is the only book I ever remember my dad reading when I was a child, so I'm determined to give it a go. It sounds thrilling, and it'll be interesting (if a little disturbing and outdated) to see what people thought of different countries across the globe in the time it was written.
Lolita by Vladimir Nobokov is something I was meant to read whilst I was at uni, but I found it too creepy and detailed and ended up giving it away. The book is told from the perspective of Humbert Humbert, a paedophile and poet who lusts over a 12-year-old girl named Lolita.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Other Stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I had absolutely no idea that the author of The Great Gatsby had written this. Benjamin Button is all about a baby born an old man, who becomes younger and younger as his life goes on.
We've finally reached the end. I'm going to ensure that I don't stack up as many books next month (okay, I'll try). Did you pick up any new reads?
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