Tonight's Activity

Instead of hurrying up and finishing another book so I have something to review, I have been entertaining myself with another activity - luckily, it's book related, so I still have something to post :) Well I posted yesterday that Melissa Nathan wrote another book that I must get a hold of... unfortunately, not ONE library in the entire Maryland has a copy - I think it was only published in England, so that would explain it. Anyway, Amazon has a used copy available for $0.01 + $3.99 shipping, so I was contemplating buying it (not that I expect it to be that good, but 1 cent is pretty darn (sorry for the language) cheap. But then I started thinking, well if I get more than one book then the shipping will be less, so that's more worth it. So I started looking for Jude Morgan's new book, A Little Folly, which I know has so far only been published in hardback in England, and so is ridiculously expensive. And then I started looking for other books that I might not mind owning... other melissa nathan, that kind of thing. but then I decided to check the shipping policy, and lo and behold, on Amazon Marketplace, you *cannot* combine shipping - so every item is at least $3.99+...

so what to do? well I check bn's policy - the same - and then I went looking for other sites - and alibris lets you combine shipping! yay! so then I looked for The Learning Curve on alibris and they had it, but only for $1.49 cheapest and the store I wanted it from $1.99... but with combined shipping, would it work? I started looking for other books - georgette heyer, ella enchanted... s.b. helped me with some suggestions... The Ordinary Princess, which I've been thinking of buying... and then I started checked for The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker, which is a gothic Victorian mystery romance I've been meaning to read because it was suggested in a few places but which none of the libraries have either... and there was site with that one too...

so everything was going swimmingly, when I checked the shipping savings - $3.99 for the first book and $2.19 after that- but since these books mostly cost $2.00, it's basically the same thing as paying 1 cent + 3.99 so I'm back where I started... can't decide what to do - it feels cheaper to me to buy the additional shipping... but that's completely psychological, as it's actually more expensive... I think I'll go with that anyway...

really, I'm just going to go with the one with better books - and by better, I mean rarer - because what's the point if I can just get it from the library? no one has jude morgan's new one for a decent price, so for that I'll either have to wait till I can go to the library in australia (where according to the website, they do NOT give temporary cards, so that sounds like a no go) or I can wait till an edition comes out in the US or a paperback edition comes out that I can buy for cheap... so patience there :) but I definitely want the melissa nathan book and i think the leanna renee hieber book and also the ordinary princess and also sylvester... so I can now spend the rest of the night looking for a single seller on alibris that has all those... or for a bunch of 1 cent copies on amazon :)

or I could just buy $50.00 worth of stuff for alibris - then I get FREE shipping!

if anyone actually read and posted, I would naturally ask for advice and/or suggestions... but seeing how if all my viewers are lurkers (and don't worry, I'm grateful to you for just bringing up my view count :)) I guess I'll have to decide ALL BY MYSELF - more fun for me :)

Update: so after all that, I decided to buy The Learning Curve for .01 on Amazon, because none of the websites that offered it were particularly cheap... but then I got caught up in a cheap book frenzy and I ordered a bunch of .99 cent books from a company on alibris that was selling The Strange Case... for 1.99... and I got 11 books for $15.00 and then... I went to checkout . . . (accompanied by that let down music) shipping was $25.00... so then I decided, well why don't I try to get free shipping? so I went through and found tons of cheap books that I was mildly interested in and finally got my total up to $49.00... but it wasn't eligible... so then I took it back down to the original 11... but I kept all 11 - and with a $1 coupon code, 11 books for $14.00... plus $25 S&H - still that 11 books for $40 = 3.63 a book... so not bad -and cheaper than the .01 Amazon way :)

so what books did I just waste $40 on?
1) Leanna Renee Hieber - The Strange Life of Miss Percy Parker - because I can't find it in the library
2) No More Dead Dogs - present for my Mommy :)
3) Son of Interflux - s.b suggested A Semester of Life in A Garbage Bag and this one goes together with that one for me
4) A Semester of Life in a Garbage Bag (see above)
5) Ella Enchanted - been wanting that one for a while - definitely qualifies as a know by heart book
6) The Ordinary Princess - maybe not know by heart, but I've read it *a lot* and I like it more every time I read it
7) Sylvester- because you can never have too many Georgette Heyers (and I don't know why I didn't buy this one along with all my others anyway)
8) The Talisman Ring - see 7 (not the parens this time - I know why - it doesn't rank up there :))
9) The Nonesuch - see 8
10) April lady - see 8
11) Anne of the Island - I would already own this, but since it's one of a series, I was always kind of reluctant to buy it... but it is by far the most romantic so... :)

man, do i waste money... it's okay, it's only $40 :)