BargainBookOholic

Look what came in the mail! A big ole torn up box o'bargain books from Barnes and Noble! When I lived in Abilene, the public library's annual used book sale was one of my favorite things EVER. How exciting to wander row after row of tables stacked high with every sort of book, and even better, I always wanted the ones that most other people did not. Political stuff, social sciences, biographies of weird people, nonfiction, nonfiction, nonfiction. I would leave the Civic Center with bags and bags of books, all of which were purchased for a dollar or two each. I was in heaven! I also love digging through the bargain bin at any bookstore. There is something very satisfying about buying a book for a couple of bucks when it was originally sold for $25 or more. I'm talking about nice hard-cover books, people! And not even used, though I don't mind used either. So now that I live in Unalaska, the closest I can come to this little thrill is e-digging through the bargain bin at BN.com. I rec'd an email awhile back advertising a major sale and I ended up ordering something like 29 books, most of which were anywhere from $1.99 to $3.98 each. Barnes and Noble is one of the few online stores that ships to AK free (if you spend $25, which is not hard to do). I will digress briefly into a rant about how SO many vendors charge an arm and a leg to ship to AK. You know all those advertisements about free shipping?? Well, not if you read the fine print that says, "within the 48 contiguous states." I will even get ads for free shipping and go all the way to the check out screen, only to be told that shipping is free but there's a $12 surcharge for sending my merchandise to AK. What the heck?? I don't know how many times I have cancelled the whole order out of frustration. The worst is when the shipping costs more than the stuff I am ordering. I REFUSE!! Many thanks to BN.com for feeling my pain and allowing me to feed my fix for bargain books for free. :) The box arrived yesterday, torn up but with all the merchandise intact. Now my only dilemma is where to begin! Here's a sampling of my new books:

Born on a Blue Day by Daniel Tammet (Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant)

Leaving Microsoft to Change the World by John Wood (founding Room to Read)

Devil in the Details by Jennifer Traig (scenes from an obsessive girlhood)

Here, There and Everywhere by Geoff Emerick (recording the music of the Beatles)

Yes, You can Still Retire Comfortably by Ben Stein and Phil DeMuth

Eating My Words by Mimi Sheraton (memoir of a food critic)

My Soul Looks Back in Wonder by Juan Williams (voices of the civil rights movement)

Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress by Susan Jane Gilman (tales of growing up groovy and clueless)

I will spare you the whole list, but you get the idea. I am going to post a couple of photos, close my eyes and randomly choose my first read.