When I started reading I never planned to be a collector. I had always loved the books I have kept, but I didn’t have multiply copies of the same book. One was enough and it starts that way for a while. And then Anna and the French Kiss happened.
It started out simple enough. I had the original Anna and the French Kiss hardcover and the original Lola and the Boy Next Door hardcover. Then I did a book exchange and got an original paperback of ANNA with the rugged edges (awesome by the way!). Perfect. I just needed Isla and the Happily Ever After and I would be done. Um, not so fast. The publisher through a wrench into my plan. The covers that looked like this:
were changing to look like this:
Well this could not be. I needed my favorite “series” (they are all companions to each other in case you haven’t read them. If that is the case what are you doing reading my blog post? GO AND GET THE BOOKS!!!) to match. Okay, not too bad. I would have to buy the hardcover of ISLA because I couldn’t wait for that to come out in paperback to read, but I could easily buy all 3 in paperback in a year.
And then this arrived.
My kind, kind friend Julie read ANNA because I told her to and knew how much I loved the book and Stephanie Perkins so she got me my own personalized signed copy. I know! I’m still so blown away by this. So now I had the paperback of ANNA and the preorder of ISLA to get this:
(I mean how AMAZING is that bag??!!) But I also had a preorder from Amazon so I would have the book day of its release. And since I had that coming I figured I should get the paperback of LOLA to. So my stack of Perkins’ books looked like this.
Not too shabby. Signed ANNA and ISLA (thanks to Ginger! XXOO), my original copies and the LOLA with a new cover. I so should have been done there. Obviously you don’t know me.
I started to look at foreign editions.
I bought the UK ISLA so it would *kind of* fit in with my other paperbacks as a place holder. Then I saw the German ANNA on The Book Depository and needed that too because um, NEW COVER. Again, should have been done. NOPE!
I needed the ARCs too! Which thanks to Gail (ANNA and ISLA) and Robin (LOLA) I was able to get. And the pretty French version which the sweet Alexa gifted me. Not to mention the new hardcovers of ANNA and LOLA to match the party. PHEW. Done right?
Not so fast.
Don’t forget the audios and eBooks I have (NOOK ANNA not shown).
And then the best thing happened! The sweet Stephanie Perkins saw a picture of my epic collection and my love of foreign editions and sent me 6 signed foreign versions of ANNA with a kindness I can’t describe.
Bulgaria, Tawain, Lithuania, Portugal, UK, Hungary
The questions remains…am I a book collector?
That truly is quite the collection! I love that series. 🙂
This rocks and you know I think so. I’m so glad you’ve been able to get so many versions!
I think you are an Anna collector. lol So what foreign editions are still out there to get? Is she published in Greece?
And you forgot to show AnnaARCs tattoo from when she went to Paris 😉
I didn’t have a good picture handy when I wrote my post. 🙂
This is the sweetest thing ever! If you’re not a book collector, you’re definitely an ANNA collector! I can see why this post is making you happy today. I smiled the whole way through, because your love of this series shines through the entire post! I haven’t started on this type of collection yet, but I know it will happen eventually for me once I find that special series. In the meantime, I’m just “collecting” tons of books 🙂
Have a wonderful Thursday!!
-Nicole
Love your collection. LOVE that Stephanie sent you a bunch of foreign editions. She is the sweetest, no?
I really enjoyed getting to see your full collection of Stephanie Perkins’ novels, Andi! It’s just so fun to see how many different editions there are, and I love how it was through generosity + friends that you acquired so many. THAT in itself is a great reason to collect – because it’ll remind you of the people who gave them to you as presents! 🙂
Ah ha! I had wondered where these other foreign editions had come from. That’s very exciting!
This is such an epic collection and makes me so happy! All those wonderful books!! How sweet of Stephanie to send you all those foreign editions too 🙂 #1 fan for sure. And now I need to go read my copy of ISLA (and reread Anna!!!) soon 😀
My collection of Harry Potter books is close to yours. I have the original hardcovers, original paperbacks, 10th Anniversary Sorcerer’s Stone hardcover, new paperbacks and a bunch of foreign editions. I love that shelf of books 🙂
This is so cute! You’re making me feel like I need to read Lola and Isla really badly now though.
LOL this is both fabulous and mind baffling to me, but how amazing of SP to reach out to you like that?! If CoHo ever did that for me (you reading this, Colleen??) I’d die off! R x
Yes you definitely are a book collector. If I had the space I would collect foreign copies of my favorite books too.
I love this post, Andi. Your total fangirling makes me so happy. And how nice of Stephanie to do that for you – this is why I love the YA community. <3
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