Bookish Squees

I’m having a lovely day today. It didn’t start out lovely: I was feeling sick and tired, and didn’t really want to go into town even though I was meeting writerly friends.

Of course, when I got there, I had a wonderful time. After that I got very tired running around between op-shops and vintage shops with the Mum, which was a mix of nice and exhausting until the ear-ache started, and then it was just exhausting.

Then I got home to find my post-box simply stuffed with catalogues. I decided to empty it and found a parcel wedged in between all the glossy pictures. It was a nice surprise, since I could tell from the feel of it that it was a book, and the only book I was semi-expecting (and not very hopefully, since I’d been told there was a post office snafu and that I probably wouldn’t ever receive said book) was Lloyd Alexander’s THE BEGGAR QUEEN, the final book in the Westmark Series.

I ordered the books ages ago, all marked as library binding, and all in the hardcover because I thought they looked nice and I liked the way they felt. The first two arrived very quickly, but the third book was more expensive and very hard to source, and about a week or two after I ordered it I was sent an email saying it would probably never arrive, and asking me what I wanted to do.

So I was very excited as I opened my parcel. Sure enough, it was THE BEGGAR QUEEN, completing my trilogy.

all three

It was in the most gorgeous condition, the cover flawless, the spine not even cracked, and I wondered who on earth could have owned this book and never even opened it? Why would you not read it?

beggar queen

And then I opened it.

And then I squealed very, very loudly, and danced around the kitchen with the book clutched to my chest, before opening it again because I couldn’t believe my eyes.

signed!!

It’s a signed copy. A SIGNED COPY, GUYS!!

I never got to meet Lloyd Alexander and the chances of me getting a signature were so remote that I’d never even hoped for it.  And the icing on the cake is that the book is 1st edition, which probably doesn’t mean much with a book from 1984, but it means a lot to me.

And today is a wonderful, frabjous day after all.

  1. That IS fantastic! Congrats!

  2. Calloo! Callay! How exciting!!

  3. I actually did a little gasp when I saw the reveal, I can only imagine how you felt 🙂 Callooh Callay indeed!

    • W.R.Gingell left a comment on June 21, 2016 at 12:37 pm

      You have no idea how long I stared at it before I finally understood I wasn’t dreaming and it really was his autograph on the page 😀

  4. Sometimes Christmas/ Hanukkah / Yule comes early!!! Congrats. This brought a smile to my face, so I can only imagine the thrill you felt. Enjoy!

    • W.R.Gingell left a comment on June 22, 2016 at 10:17 pm

      Thanks Micki 🙂 I really did feel wonderful 😀 And somehow or other I keep wandering back to the bookcase to have another peep at it…

  5. Just saw this–so very awesome! That would make me smile for months. Happy day!

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