Sunday 30 June 2013

Sam Sunday #20: Bookish Buys


We've had the plasterer round all weekend and today, it was my turn to get out of the house for a bit.  My Mum took me to a home ware discount shop we have here in the UK called Homesense.  I wasn't expecting to find bookish things there at all, so it was an even better surprise when I managed to grab myself one of the best book related bargains I've found all year - a set of 10 Penguin Red Adventure Classics, brand new, for £13 reduced from £79.


I love the Penguin Red editions, I already own the Around the World in 80 Days version, so I knew that the quality is great and the covers have a lovely vintage adventure feel.  Included in the collection are the following books:

1. Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs
2. The Riddle of the Sands by Erksine Childers
3. Greenmantle by John Buchan
4. The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan
5. The Man Who Was Thursday by G K Chesterton
6. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
7. The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope
8. Rupert of Hentzau by Anthony Hope
9. The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
10. Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne.

How cool is that?  I love a good swash-buckling epic, so I can't wait to start The Prisoner of Zenda in particular.


While I was out, I also persuaded my Mum to stop in Waterstones, where I bought this journal to keep a track of my wishlist.  I had my wishlist saved on my laptop that broke, so I've decided that a paper copy is the best way to go this time.  Each page is divided into two columns, for author and title, so it should be practical as well as attractive.

Have you had any good bookish buys lately?

33 comments:

  1. What a gorgeous set of books! Absolutely lovely :) I want to STEAL that journal from you, lol. It has the best cover!

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    1. It is awesome, isn't it? My Mum was like 'do you really need that?' It's as though she doesn't know me at all!

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  2. I love surprise bookish finds! I like that journal too.

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  3. What a great collection of books! I read The Prisoner of Zenda last year and enjoyed it, so I hope you do too. You've reminded me I still need to read Rupert of Hentzau!

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    1. Glad you enjoyed it, I think it sounds like a lot of fun!

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  4. I looove that Penguin collection. What a great find and a great bargain! I've bought way too many books lately, as evidenced by today's post on my blog. AND I did a Book Haul video for YouTube that had to be split into two parts. O_o.

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    1. I did see your book haul on youtube. I'm just discovering the book tube community and it looks pretty awesome.

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  5. What an awesome set of books for an awesome price :) I haven't really even bought books lately (which is a good thing!), last thing was the winner of Women's Prize and a few Paleo cookbooks that I ordered from online, but they were for very normal prices.

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    1. Have you read the Women's Prize winner yet? I usually read them all but this one really didn't appeal to me for some reason.

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  6. I loved Homesense already but bookish bargains too? Perfect! We've just sold our house and have had an offer accepted on a house we love (even though I'm trying not to get too attached yet!) so hopefully we'll be moving later on in the year and I'll get to do some Homesense bargain hunting :)

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    1. Homesense are the best!
      Good luck with all of the solicitors and paperwork side of moving, I hope it all goes smoothly for you and in the time scale you want it to.

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  7. Great books, and a lovely looking journal, that cover is amazing. Wasn't the thirty nine steps made into a movie by Alfred Hitchcock?

    Kind regards,

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    1. I think it might be a movie, it's certainly familiar to me from somewhere...

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  8. Oooooh, that journal is awesome!! God, I love Waterstones stationary.

    *tries to think of a good recent bookish buy* Ummmm... I'm really really trying to not buy books for a while now, but I DID just get The Godfather set of books and 3 Gillian Flynn books from The Book People which ended up being 6 books for under £10. So that was fun!

    ALSO- I have never heard of Homesense! Northern thing?

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    1. They do have such a good selection of stationery. And I love the Book People too, such good bargains.
      The two Homesenses I go to are in Essex. They belong to the same company as TK-Maxx, but I don't know how many of them there are...

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  9. So jealous!! That set is gorgeous and I am crazy for that journal.

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    1. I've already filled up a page in the journal :)

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  10. +JMJ+

    The set of books is so wonderful! I really like Penguin classic editions and drooled over the picture of this one long before I noticed that one of my favourite novels of all time, The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton, was included! =D

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    1. It's a good sign that one of your favourite novels is in there, I hope I like it as much as you did :)

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  11. Homesense is owned by TK Maxx, right? I've had a similar set of ten Penguin classics from there for a tenner! I've also bought a couple of sets of postcards and notelets with Penguin classic and Ladybird book covers on. You can stumble across bookish bargains in the strangest places!

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    1. Yes, although I much prefer Homesense to TK Maxx. It seems like I will have to make a habit of looking for bookish bargains there :)

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  12. That was an excellent bargain! I have my wishlists at goodreads and Amazon so I can always access them. I like the cover of that journal; I kind of miss those old check out cards.

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    1. I'm fussy - I like to keep my goodreads for books I actually own, so it's good for me to have somewhere to store my wishlist.
      My library does stamp books sometimes, but they prefer you to use the automatic check out machine.

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  13. Great finds! I need a journal like that.

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  14. Wonderful find! I am crazy about books in boxes. I had an excellent bookish find myself today, but it's this old book that nobody else has ever read -- The Cat and Mrs. Cary. I'm very excited about it though.

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  15. Those are seriously good books! And chuckle at walking into a store for an entirely different reason and then walking out with books.

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  16. I am rather jealous of your classics adventure set find. I wish we had a Homesense round here! Although I did recently have a very good haul of books from a trip round the local charity shops. They just seemed to have loads of books and/or authors I've wanted to read for ages. So clearly I had to buy them :-P

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  17. I should consider a pretty paper book list too. I have my tbr list on my laptop, but I lost part of it when my hard drive crashed. :(
    Enjoy your books - they look lovely!

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  18. You got those in Homesense? That is amazing. I knew I loved that shop for a reason :)

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  19. Wow, this is really sweet and lipsmacking! Totally great books to read and be mesmerized! Hope I could buy those set too. I wonder if there are more available stocks of those. Anyway, keep up with the reading! Hope to see more of your great buys! Have a nice day!


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