Online Purchase Sharing Time: Book Bundler
In which I share a little about a random online purchase with you all - this time, buying two random bundles of books.
[Author note: This post was originally shared over on Ghost.org. Moving here as I slowly move everything over. Apologies to folks who followed over there for the duplicate.]
I often turn to buying things I see on the Internet as a way to distract myself from the horrors of life. (Also eating sweets but this list isn’t about that.) I’ll see an ad somewhere, like what I see, and add things to my cart. Then I feel guilty that I was going to waste money on something I don’t need and close the browser tab. But, sometimes, I go back and actually go through with that random purchase. Which brings me to this post, what may become a regular feature. Online Purchase Sharing Time! OPST! Maybe I need to work on that acronym...
Where It’s From
I can probably blame Instagram for this one. The BookBundler. For less than two bucks a book you can order a stack of random books to be sent to you. Choose all adult hardback books or books with purple covers or any of their other categories of books and they’ll ship them you straight away from their Richmond, Virginia warehouse.
What I Ordered
A set of 30 middle school chapter books and a set of 10 historical romance novels. Total of $65, including tax (Virginia) and shipping.
What I Got
Middle School Chapter Books
You can tell most of these were previously read and not always treated the best but I’d say they’re at least good condition which is pretty amazing considering many were published in the 80s and 90s. Some have stickers on the covers from previous booksellers and a few have names inside but I think of those as seasoning, adding to the story of each book.
The specific books I received are below, with stars next to the one I remember reading as kid:
A Wrinkle in Time*
Where the Red Fern Grows*
Tuck Everlasting*
My Uncle Oswald [Realized later this is def not a kids’ book]
The Secret Garden*
The Magic of the Unicorn
Radio Fifth Grade
Dawson’s Creek: Double Exposure
Brian’s Winter
The Raven and Other Poems (x2)
Call it Courage
The Call of the Wild*
The BFG*
Sweet Valley High (two titles)* [Probably given how many I read at one point]
Midnight Fright: A Collection of Ghost Stories (x2)
My Side of the Mountain
The Lemonade War
In Quest of Ghosts
A Raisin in the Sun
Thunderbird Spirit
Backwater
A Handful of Time*
The Abominable Snowman
Several books from the kid’s version of Left Behind series which are not shown above
[I decided to pull the book A Winter Love Story from the kid’s stack after looking into it a bit. While it’s romance that’s categorized as YA, I don’t think my kid would be into it so I pulled it, too. I may read it at some point or donate it to my library.]
Historical Romance
These are all in very good condition with very minor signs of wear. Several are unmarked proofs or Advanced Reader copies but, hey, a book’s a book.
All of these are entirely new to me as I’ve read very little historical romance outside of books turned into shows cough Bridgerton and Outlander cough
A Fall of Marigolds
Confessions of Fitzwilliam Darcy
The Mark of the King
The Constant Princess
Pillar & Bulwark
The Spitfure
The Hired Girl
The Perfume Collector
Foes, Friends, and Lovers
Grace in Thine Eyes
Do I Regret my Purchase?
Nope! I received exactly what I ordered and only received a couple duplicates in the set of middle school chapter books. The site was clear that dpulicates are possible and that the books aren’t guaranteed to be in great condition. It was really fun to see what they’d send. The BookBundler is a great option if your local library doesn’t have amazing booksales like my local one does or if you want to surprise a book lover in your life. My daughter already has the middle school books in her room to look through and I’ll probably bring a few of mine along on a trip this Spring.