10 Books I'd Buy Right This Second If You Gave Me A Fully-Loaded Gift Card

After a couple weeks of in-depth Top Ten Tuesday topics, this week's is a fun and delightful fantasy: what would I pick out if someone gave me a gift card and said I had to buy 10 books with it? How about someone just gives me a real-life gift card loaded up with infinity dollars and we'll find out?! My birthday's coming up in, oh, you know, (mumblemumble)months... nothing wrong with an early present!

1. Pride and Prejudice, 1895 peacock edition

I decided to finally read "Pride and Prejudice" this summer -- I love all things "P&P"- and Austen-related, but I've never actually read the book -- and I decided I wanted to buy it (a rarity for me since I'm a library gal), with the aim of finding a beautiful used copy -- or just a beautiful copy in general. There are a zillion different cover options, but so far I haven't found The One; most of the prettiest covers are in paperback and I was really hoping for a hardback, especially if I'm buying it new. So let's just end the search right now and buy me this 1895 peacock edition.

2. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, first edition

 While we're shopping for pricey books, I'll go ahead and take a first-edition "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone."

3. Illustrated Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

On to more realistic purchases, I'll pre-order a copy of the new illustrated "HP," which comes out in October. Hell, let's make it two copies. Then I can tear out and frame some of the best pictures! I love the one on the cover; the Burrow looks so cozy!

4. Morning Star

I need another copy of "Morning Star" by Pierce Brown, the finale to the ah-maze-ing Red Rising trilogy, because the movers ruined mine with their idiotically poor packing and I hadn't even read it yet! GRRRR! Some people have no respect for books.

5. Sleeping Giants

I have been trying to get my hands on a library copy this super-hyped sci-fi book since it came out in April, which was terrible timing because of our move. I had it on hold at my parents' library in Colorado but it didn't come in while I was staying with them, and I never seem to move up in the queue for it here at the Hawaii library (even though there are only 4 people on the list, including me!).

6. Adulthood is a Myth

I think this book sounds hilarious and right up my alley; at 30, I still don't feel like I have the "adulting" thing down! But, sadly, the Hawaii library doesn't have it. :( Here's the blurb:

Are you a special snowflake? Do you enjoy networking to advance your career? Is adulthood an exciting new challenge for which you feel fully prepared? Ugh. Please go away.
This book is for the rest of us. These comic document the wasting of entire beautiful weekends on the internet, the unbearable agony of holding hands on the street with a gorgeous guy, dreaming all day of getting home and back into pajamas, and wondering when, exactly, this adulthood thing begins. In other words, the horrors and awkwardnesses of young modern life.

7. All the Light We Cannot See
This book. I know I'm going to love it, but somehow I never actually get around to reading it, despite planning to multiple times. I got a brand-new copy from the library when it was released almost two years ago now, but I had to take it back before I could get to it. And it has been in the back of my mind ever since, whispering, "Read me, read me!"

8. A Song of Ice and Fire box set

I would really like to read these books! But I always say I'm going to do it and then I never do, so I think I need a little nudge. I recently happened upon a TTT post from December 2013 (that's 2 1/2 years ago!) about the books I wanted Santa to bring me, and this box set was on the list! (Damn you, Santa, why didn't you read my blog post?! I know... I mean... I think I was a good girl that year!) So maybe if they were sitting right there on my bookshelf, just begging to be read, I would finally dive in? Plus, they seem like something I'd like to own instead of just checking out from the library. I love the show, and I'm expecting to love the books even more!

9-10. Free-for-all!

I just couldn't pick any more! There are 365 books on my to-read list (and 361 books on my maybe-to-read list) and it's just too hard to narrow down, so if this were a real-life scenario I'd probably buy as many bargain/sale/clearance books on my to-read list as I could with whatever gift card money was left over!