Reddit Book exchange!

So, I recently signed up to participate in a book exchange via Reddit Gifts. I'm still relatively new to Reddit. However, I had missed the opportunity to get in on the Reddit Secret Santa last year, so I thought this would be fun, smaller version of that. Plus, I love books, so where's the downside to this?

The deal is, you sign up. After the sign up period ends, they send everyone a "match," a person to whom you are supposed to send a book. You get their username, as well as their name and address for shipping purposes (which everyone agreed to give out when signing up) and any additional info they may have provided about themselves. You send them a book in the mail. You get a book in the mail. Everyone gets a nice surprise. Awesome.

Now, I had originally thought that I had so many books I would just send a used book that I already had. It is a book swap, so no harm in that. However, I had forgotten how drastically digital my book collection has gone. The only real, hard books I have left are ones that hold a lot of value to me. So, I actually went and found a handful of pretty sweet books at Salvation Army (much better than I expected to find there). I picked one from the lot and sent it out, without much to do.

About a week ago, I had received an anonymous message from my Reddit gift/book-giver. They wanted to get my email address so that they could send me a Kindle version of my book. I thought that was an awesome idea, so I sent them my email. I then received an email from Amazon, notifying me that I had been given a book, along with a message from my gift-giver:

"I wonder how mysterious this amazon gifting is. 

You can probably trace this back to me fairly easily. Enjoy.

More will be on their (their?!) way soon."

I greatly enjoyed their grammar humor!

The book I received is called Mr. Funny Pants. It looks interesting, but isn't something I would have picked out myself. But no fear, I enjoy reading new things! 

Here's where it gets awesome(er). My book-giver had assured me that they would still be popping a hard-copy in the mail and I would receive it shortly. I had assumed that said hard-copy would only be another copy of the book they had already sent me digitally. I figured they were just giving me options and covering their bases, as far as the rules of the exchange were concerned.

Today I received a box in the mail. It was a decent sized book, so I was intrigued as to why it would be so large for just one book. The contents of this box turned out to be squeal-inducing in their awesome-ness.

When I first opened the box, I found this:

The paper note was actually on the front of the book, tucked under a zip tie, which was holding the book shut. I was a little confused.... But the note read:

"Keep digging

are there two (three) g's in digging?

-diging?- so wrong. 

please be sure to open me. ;)"

At this point, I'm still a little confused as to why I have a George W. Bush book sitting in front of me. But, I figure they included that last line, because I may not have even wanted to open that book. So, considering it was shut with a zip tie, I put it aside and go on to the next thing in the box. 

I find this: 

The book is called The Next 100 Years:  A Forecast for the 21st Century. The post-it on the front reads: "Very fascinating until it stops making sense in the 2030s or 40s. Then it is just entertaining." Hmmm, ok. I like it.  I especially like the personal insight. I still have more delving to do... NEXT!

Underneath that I find: 

 

The Joy of Sects. "LOL! It sounds like sex."

At this point, I'm just thinking how awesome it is that this person sent me 3 books! And a Kindle book! I'm mind-blowingly astounded by all the awesome-ness. I can't even think of a better descriptor than awesome to describe it.

Now, I'm thinking that's pretty much it. But I remember the George W. Bush book and the cryptic zip tie. So, I grab up a pair of scissors and cut it open. I'm expecting to maybe find another note, or a bookmark or something similar.

Instead, I find this amazing wonder!

This is probably the best thing I've ever seen. ANOTHER book (A World Out of Time), another note, and a little toy dinosaur! LOL! And, best of all, the note reads:

"Surprises? I can do surprises.

I am pretty sure that this dinosaur is from a cursed package of dinosaurs. The last person to who(m?) I sent one died before it got there. Good luck!"

And, underneath the book, one final note:

"Please fill this with awesome."

My book-giver should win some sort of reward. This has been an epic experience!