I just need to share this with you all since everyone here is so enthusiastic about books as well and my friends are already rolling their eyes at me, but i got really lucky last week.
I'm currently on a cruise around Norway and when we were visiting the tourist information in the rather small town Kristiansand, there was a shelves of books for everyone to take as they please, and what do I find there between a hundred Norwegian novels? The Norton Anthology on English Literature, in English. Maybe a month ago I asked on reddit for recommendations of a collection of different Romantic poets, and as luck would have it, I find the most popular rec in one of the unlikeliest places ever. and it's in peak condition! Not too long ago, I also got Les Miserables, an edition from the 80s, in one of those telephone booths turned into book shelf, where you can take one and leave one of your own there
What are your luckiest finds that you never expected to get for free or for trading a book?
by coolestdudette
4 Comments
Dude, all the time. I found a terrific copy of the first volume of the 1982 Vintage edition of Proust, and I ended up reading all of *In Search of Lost Time*.
All the time
Nothing rare or valuable (yet), but I have found recently-released books from my TBR list that I nab immediately. Most recent one was Tom Lake by Anne Patchett.
I also have a fun side challenge where I’m trying to solely rely on little free libraries to work my way through two different series (Tony Hillerman and Nevada Barr). So far I’ve found two from each series. That way I can use my library holds for more recent/popular books.
Constantly, the trick is to also read about what you can read. All of a sudden random titles and authors have meaning. It might sometimes not be the work they are known for but that doesn’t mean it’s not a treasure.
Read widely across genres and from as many periods and countries as you can (I say this having found I find many classics, especially Russian, incredibly boring).