Author Topic: Book surprises!  (Read 9546 times)

JRob

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Book surprises!
« on: February 13, 2020, 07:28:51 pm »
Well, this doesn't happen to me often.

Tonight was the monthly Mystery Book Club meeting at my local library. I brought some books that I didn't want anymore (I'd bought them from another nearby library's book sale just last month) to share with the other members of the group.

While I was laying them out on the table, I happened to glance at one of the books I had bought but decided not to read. It was Ian Rankin's The Naming of the Dead. And in a huge shock to me, it turned out that it was a signed copy!

I hadn't gone through the book before now so I missed it. Of course, a bigger surprise was that the library had missed it when they put it in their used book sale.

So, I took that book back obviously and now can say I have a signed Ian Rankin!

Anyone else ever get a book related surprise like that before?

Becke Davis

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Re: Book surprises!
« Reply #1 on: February 14, 2020, 12:32:32 am »
Well, this doesn't happen to me often.

Tonight was the monthly Mystery Book Club meeting at my local library. I brought some books that I didn't want anymore (I'd bought them from another nearby library's book sale just last month) to share with the other members of the group.

While I was laying them out on the table, I happened to glance at one of the books I had bought but decided not to read. It was Ian Rankin's The Naming of the Dead. And in a huge shock to me, it turned out that it was a signed copy!

I hadn't gone through the book before now so I missed it. Of course, a bigger surprise was that the library had missed it when they put it in their used book sale.

So, I took that book back obviously and now can say I have a signed Ian Rankin!

Anyone else ever get a book related surprise like that before?

I love Ian Rankin's books so you got a double treat - congratulations!

I don't collect autographs but I have a few - if I meet an author I like and I'm buying one of their books anyway, of course I'm going to get it autographed. But I don't COLLECT them as such. I still wonder about a book I passed on when I lived in London. I found it at a reputable antiquarian book shop. It was a not very old copy of an Agatha Christie - hardcover, without a dust jacket. It was autographed - just a signature - and the book was on six pounds. I hesitated because she was notoriously shy and didn't do book signings, as such, so I wasn't sure it was real. At that price I should have taken a chance on it but I was young and broke and I already had the book (I think it was Mrs. McGinty's Dead) in paperback.

JRob

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Re: Book surprises!
« Reply #2 on: February 14, 2020, 03:55:24 am »
Even if it turned out to be fake, it definitely would've been worth the investment to have that Christie book. Just on the off chance it turned out to be real.

Becke Davis

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Re: Book surprises!
« Reply #3 on: February 14, 2020, 04:07:12 pm »
Even if it turned out to be fake, it definitely would've been worth the investment to have that Christie book. Just on the off chance it turned out to be real.

Yeah, I've been kicking myself about passing on that one.

Kate Stine, Editor

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Re: Book surprises!
« Reply #4 on: February 18, 2020, 03:31:51 pm »
Brian and I give a lot of books to our local library for their fundraising sales. It's happened more than once that I've bought back books we've donated. All of a sudden they look so good!

Becke Davis

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Re: Book surprises!
« Reply #5 on: February 18, 2020, 03:51:16 pm »
Brian and I give a lot of books to our local library for their fundraising sales. It's happened more than once that I've bought back books we've donated. All of a sudden they look so good!

My husband collects books on psychology and theology. We donated a couple thousand books to Half Price Books in Cincinnati before we moved to Chicago. The next time we went to Cincinnati and visited Half Price Books, most of the books on the shelves in those sections were books my husband had donated. He bought several of them back!

AgathaC

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Re: Book surprises!
« Reply #6 on: April 25, 2020, 02:14:57 pm »
I can't remember what book it was, but I found a book in a bookstore, brand new, with the cover printed upside down!

I checked all the other copies, and they were right side up. So I bought it, thinking it might be worth something.

The surprise came when I got home, and realized that you could just take the jacket off and put back on right side up...

Becke Davis

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Re: Book surprises!
« Reply #7 on: April 25, 2020, 11:50:39 pm »
I can't remember what book it was, but I found a book in a bookstore, brand new, with the cover printed upside down!

I checked all the other copies, and they were right side up. So I bought it, thinking it might be worth something.

The surprise came when I got home, and realized that you could just take the jacket off and put back on right side up...

LOL! Well, I hope you read it and it turned out to be a good book!