Who loves Value Village?

Me!

I will never buy another full-priced book again. Unless it’s a gift. Or unless half the proceeds go towards Mark Steyn’s legal fund.

Anyways, Value Village is a second-hand store we have up here in Canada – mostly clothes, but they have a small book section. Right now they have this “Buy 4 Get the 5th Free” deal, so I’ve been taking advantage of that. My goal pretty much is to have my own personal library and then buy some library card things so people can borrow them etc. Anyways, here’s what I’ve got recently:

America Alone by Mark Steyn – I always wanted to read this and I got the perfect excuse when Instapundit informed me about a month ago that if I bought the book online before midnight that day, half the proceeds would go towards Mark Steyn‘s legal fund (he’s being sued by people who hate free speech). It just came in the mail (signed too! yay!). I’m quite excited to read it; I don’t usually get around to reading political books etc, mostly because I never see them in second-hand bookstores or Value Village.

Anthology of Beowulf Criticism (shown) – A collection of essays by various people (including J.R.R Tolkien) discussing virtually every aspect of Beowulf. I was incredibly stoked to find this, because I love Beowulf so much!

Note: Is it just me, or was the best live action adaptation of this story found on Wishbone? I’d have to say so.

Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl – I actually bought this at Chapters last week for ten dollars, but then returned it because it was part of a bunch of books I really couldn’t afford right then. Conveniently, on Monday, I found it at Value Village in pretty good shape for 99 cents. And that’s when I decided I would never buy a book full price again…

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius – I bought this at Chapters, but it was on sale. I’m actually reading through it right now and it’s pretty kick ass. Yay for stoic philosophy…

Rainbow Six by Tom Clancy – It was a book first, video game geeks! It features John Clark from Without Remorse, which makes me pretty excited.

Patriot Games by Tom Clancy – I own the movie and it’s pretty cool, so I assume the book will be even better.

Debt of Honor by Tom Clancy – I can’t read Executive Orders, which I already own, until I read this, so I was glad to pick it up…even if it is a monstrous hardcover.

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy – I’ve read them all, but never owned them. They’re pretty much a must for any library…

Dave Barry in Cyberspace – Dave Barry’s Guide to Guys was sidesplitting, so I had to check this one out. I’ve already finished it actually, it’s quite short, and of course, hilarious- even more so since it was written like, over ten years ago when Windows 95 was the newest thing. Man, good times.

Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell – I love the movie and have always wanted to read the book, so how convenient for me to find it at Value Village for $3.99!

Aaaaand….I’m done! That’s all for now.

Update: Thanks for the link, Mark Steyn! Welcome SteynOnline readers! =)

If I buy any more books I’m gonna need another one of these…

I overspent at Chapters today. I came across some extra money and thought it was a good excuse to be extravagant. Seriously…I could have got all those books at a second hand store for 1/16 the price. Arrgh. I’m gonna take most of them back, but I’m definitely keeping the new copy of The Screwtape Letters because the one I have is so shredded and horrible. I’ll let you know later which ones I retain, but for the meantime I just wanted an excuse to post this picture. =P

New Books!

So, I have an impulse buying problem with books – especially when they’re second-hand or on sale. I was at the Antique Arms Show last weekend and what do I come away with? Two Tom Clancy books. I go to Value Village today and what do I come away with? Five more books – and three of them is more Tom Clancy.

I must have had a great first impression, because after reading just one of his books I now own five. *shrug*

So here are my latest acquisitions:

The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy– Clancy’s first novel which skyrocketed him to fame. I own the movie which is SO EPIC, and if “the book is always better” I expect the epic-ness to increase exponentially.

The Sum of All Fears by Tom Clancy – I haven’t seen the movie of this one, but I heard it deviated from the book way more than the other movies did. Contrary to popular opinion, Morgan Freeman does not automatically render everything awesome, I guess. Anyways, I’m sure the book is still awesome.

The Cardinal and the Kremlin by Tom Clancy – Yay! I have no idea what this is about!

Executive Orders by Tom Clancy – The quote on the spine from the L.A Times simply says “… A colossal read.” Gee, y’think? I couldn’t have guessed that just by looking at it. You know, it and its 1358 pages.

Submarine: A Guided Tour Inside a Nuclear Warship by Tom Clancy and John Gresham – Okay, so I’m totally a geek for getting this, but for two dollars I figured “Why not?”

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley – I wanted this ever since I saw Demolition Man in the summer and found out that a lot of the stuff in the movie was borrowed from this book… And Demolition Man was an excellent movie so I figured this book might be pretty cool too.

Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee – So, it looked interesting, and plus something told me that I had heard of it before. Apparently it’s a really well-known play based on the Scopes “Monkey” Trial. Well then. Also, it was made into a movie starring Spencer Tracy and Gene Kelly? What? I love Gene Kelly! How interesting…

I wish I could read these books as quickly as I buy them. I don’t know when I’ll get around to reading these cause I still have a handful of books I own that need reading too, but I’m excited for them anyways!