Book Post Loveliness

Not quite book post (although they did arrive that way)… My collection.

by Jen Lucas

So. I am a pleb. There’s no hiding from the fact. It is quite simply true. Until early last year I had not even considered the fact that you could follow authors on Twitter. And bookshops! I love book shops.

I know what you’re thinking… Like I said. I’m a pleb.

The dangerous thing about discovering authors and bookshops and publishers!!! on Twitter (apart from amassing a dangerously high tbr pile) is that I also picked up on the fact that I could pre-order a signed first edition of the then still to be released John Connolly book, ‘A Time of Torment.’ A signed first edition. I had never even considered such a thing. But having devoured most of his back catalogue in less than a year it was a gimme gimme moment and I had to order it asap. And there in started a new hobby. Book collecting. More specifically, signed 1st edition collecting.

Last year, on New Years Eve, I got a little bored (as you do) and decided to take a quick look on Abe Books where I had ordered the John Connolly book from Gutter Bookshops in Dublin (now one of my most favourite book shops in the world I will confess). Imagine my delight when I found I could buy a signed 1st edition coy of ‘Every Dead Thing’, John Connolly’s first book in the Charlie Parker series. I was stoked. It was a ‘couple of quid’ more than a kindle copy (**ahem…**) but I thought what the hell. It’s also a couple of years old so not as though I can just wander into Tesco and get one for a fiver. So I ordered it and continued to browse.

Big mistake… There I found ‘Cold Granite’ by Stuart MacBride and ‘A Song For The Dying’ both of which I had loved. Oh and ‘Natural Causes’ by James Oswald. Sweeeeet. I promised myself that over the next year or so I would complete my collection. There was no rush and they were a considered purchase, you know, being a ‘couple of quid‘ more than on the kindle.

Yeah. Well. Have I ever mentioned that I do not believe in self denial. I figured I had the money, nowt else planned so… why wait. By around April I have got the lot. And that included a personalised signed copy of ‘The Damage Done’ after stalking attending a book talk event with James Oswald in St Andrews, and a personalised copy of ‘A Time Of Torment’ after going to see John Connolly at my local library. Happy bunny or what?

So, twelve months on, my collection has grown a little. They’re not all signed 1sts, although a good number are as through the beautiful website Twitter I also discovered Goldsboro Books in London. I love that place. You absolutely should check it out if you’re ever in town. And they have a website but be warned it’s addictive.

So… my collection. Just a couple of books. You know… about 6 a month. Ish. Give or take.

I really do love books.

Happy Reading All

JL

6 thoughts on “Not quite book post (although they did arrive that way)… My collection.”

  1. I have a couple of signed books and they’re soooo precious! No one can go near them 🙂 I plan on stalking a few authors at Granite Noir in Feb to see if I can get some books signed….well perhaps hiding behind the 6ft odd high husband and meekly whispering “can you doodle on this copy of my book please sirs?”

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    1. Ha ha. I felt the same way when I went to the James Oswald book signing. Such a donkey. And again at Crime Fest where I was mostly too scared to even try and ask for an autograph. BY Bloody Scotland I was like ‘bollocks to it’ and lined up with everyone else (though my conversational skills were still akin to that of a two year old.) It’s all good and they’re really not scary. Well not ‘that’ scary. 🙂

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  2. I used to have a ‘once read and then out of the house policy’ – now my other hobby is collecting signed copies of books that I’ve loved (and even those ones I haven’t yet read!) Don’t mind so much about the bank balance but shelf space is now a real issue! I love attending author events but like you, I sometimes find that my conversational skills can’t go beyond ‘I loved your book’!

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  3. Great to see you building a collection of things you love. I’ve got a small but growing collection by default of signed books I’ve won rather than bought, but I did get a couple signed by an author last year. I felt like a 12 year old asking for an autograph!

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