I don't buy clothes or shoes or even much fabric. It seems what I buy is books. Is that a bad thing? I personally think not!
It's the only thing (generally) that I'll buy the kids outside of normal present giving time - I feel a good book (new or second hand) is so much more than just some pages joined together. I grew up surrounded by books, enjoying family time together reading and sharing stories, going on armchair adventures. I love that my kids are the same - stories and reading and writing everyday.
I also love that nowadays its easy for someone to be published. Ok - this may not be an excellent thing (the are a fair few mediocre books printed every year), but it means that all those amazing talented makers and creators out there can do something pretty special with their work. I suppose perhaps it's similar to the dream of one day opening and running a shop - writing a book is a dream many people have.
These here are just a few of the books that have come home lately. I am wondering of anyone out there would be interested in me writing some reviews on these books - if you are sitting on the fence deciding if you should buy it or not. Withso many choices of books; we can't all buy all the books we want. I often wonder which is the best one to choose. And the fact that my local bookshop doesn't seem to get any books that are new to me, means I mostly buy online without having the chance to flip through the pages.

I'm writing on my iPad, so don't know how to do links; but this is the list of books in this one stack:
The Dirty Life by Kristen Kimball
Knot's Itoami Plants - crocheted accessories
So Pretty Crochet by Palanjian
Knot Thread Stitch by Lisa Solomon
The Handbook of Natural Plant Dyes by Sasha Duerr
Harvesting Color by Rebecca Burgess
Coming Home by Kathy Armstrong (cooking and craft)
Crochet for Children by Claire Montgomerie
Prints Charming by Cath Derksema and Kirsten Junor
The Crafter's Guide to Taking Great Photos by Heidi Adnum
Beautiful Chickens by Christie Aschwanden
Drawn to Stitch by Gwen Hedley
Shibori by Wada, Rice and Barton
Shibori Recreated
Three-Dimensional Embroidery by Janet Edmonds
Reinvention by Maya Donenfeld