Borders Bash

So my local Borders is one of the locations closing - which is surprising to me, as it's in a prime area (one of the fastest-growing commercial districts in the region). I will miss it terribly, even if I've been on a purchasing hiatus for a while. But sales call for wallets unleashed, so here's my haul.

I would have loved to pick up the whole bookstore and walk off with it, but I had a specific budget. The list is also shorter than it might be because three of the books were pricey. I also purchased a CD.

What I did walk out with:

The Curse of Chalion -- Lois McMaster Bujold. Whenever I walk into Borders, I pick up six or seven books, but can only buy six or five. (Various other permutations thereof.) Invariably, I pick up this book. Invariably, it's the one left on the cutting room floor. I figured I had better buck up and buy it for once and for all. For the matter of that, the odds are good it's the same copy I've been picking up and putting down for over a year ...
Dead Beat -- Jim Butcher. Dresden Files #7. Uh, this book appears to have been placed on a rack. It's standard paperback width and two inches or so longer. What?
Thirteen Orphans -- Jane Lindskold. New series. I love Lindskold's high fantasy series something fierce. How could I lose?
Gentleman Takes A Chance -- Sarah A. Hoyt. I heard Hoyt discuss these books at the WFC, and she made them sound irresistible. Werecritters! The magic of diners!
Songs of Love and Death -- ed. George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois. This is one of the bank-breakers, a chihuahua-killer hardback anthology. Dozois is a solid anthologist (is it sad that I know a lot about anthology editors and their taste?), so I was definitely on board. It does irk me slightly that Martin gets top billing as editor. I have no quarrel with him as a writer, having declined to read his series due to personal taste, but I'm sure Dozois has the lion's share of the work and experience on the editorial front.
Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen -- ... well, duh. Cookbook! With improvisation notes and suggestions! ... and I hate the s's grammar format, even though I know it's technically correct. It looks so messy.
How To Be A Domestic Goddess -- Nigella Lawson. No-brainer purchase, this. The older gentleman who rang up my books looked at the back and said, "And a book by your sister. She looks like you," and I replied (essentially), "Durr, what?"

I am a happy reader. Now to manhandle these books onto my overloaded shelves ...