My Book Exchange gift arrived, and I am stoked about my cool books. My Book Santa nailed my preferences perfectly.

First I saw the handwritten note.

I hope you enjoy your books. Some of them are from my favorite local place, a giant used bookstore called McKay's. I hope you don't mind used books. It allowed me to send more then just a couple.

Enjoy!

Reddit Book Santa

To answer my Santa's concerns, I have no problem at all with used books. I love used books! I love used book stores, and I grieve over the fact that there are no such stores close to where I live now.

The next thing I saw as I looked through the box, CANDY!!! I've never had these before. I've eaten Tootsie Pops since I was a kid. But I've never seen Tootsie Pop Drops. I'm going to make sure to eat at least one bag in the privacy of my own room, away from the prying eyes of my parasitic children. If I'm feeling generous, I may share the second bag.

Now to the meat of the gift: the books! The first book I saw was the Arthur C Clarke book "Time's Eye". Never read any Arthur C Clarke, I'm embarrassed to say, but I can't wait to change that. And I also admit that, at first, I was a little disappointed to see that this book was part of a series. Oh great, now I get to hunt down the rest of the books in the series. But I looked down and what did I see? The entire Time Odyssey trilogy! Yes, my Book Santa included the entire trilogy along with another note which read

This sci fi series was given to my son by my mom. He loved it. I thought you might too!

I fully expect to love it too, if the teasers on the back covers are any indication.

Next was a book that falls squarely in my "hidden gems" category. "The Art of Racing in the Rain" was a New York Times Bestseller, so calling it a hidden gem may not be entirely accurate. But it's a book that I never heard of and would never have thought to search for. And the note on it, which read

one of my all-time favorite books.

certainly pushes this book high up on my to-read list.

The next book I saw was "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson. I love Bill Bryson's writing style, and another book of his called "A Short History of Nearly Everything" has been one of my favorite books since I first read it years ago. Book Santa's note reading

another of my all-time favorite books.

makes me very confident that I will enjoy "A Walk in the Woods" as well.

Next I came to the latest issue of Mental Floss magazine. I've never given much attention to Mental Floss, at least not any more than is required by the occasional link I see posted on Facebook. But the handwritten note proclaiming the magazine as

The best magazine in the world! :-)

certainly caught my interest. So I picked it up, thumbed through it, and had trouble forcing myself to put the magazine down long enough so that I could finish going through the rest of the gift box. I'm as of yet undecided on if it's something I will subscribe to regularly; I'll come to a conclusion once I've had more time to read through the magazine without one of my previously mentioned children asking for something every 30 seconds. But it certainly looks like a fun read.

And that takes me to the last book, and what may turn out to be the most fun book I received. "Grasshopper Jungle" by Andrew Smith. The note on this book read

An interesting YA fantasy book I just read about. I'm also reading it now. Hope you enjoy it!

The summary I read describes it as fun, irreverent, violent, exciting... pretty much the perfect foil to the more mature books I received in this box. Some people say that apocalyptia is a fad that needs to die. Well those people can go suck a mantis. A book about giant bugs destroying the world sounds AWESOME!

Seriously, Book Santa. I can't think of anything you could have done that would have made this exchange better. I can only hope that the gift you receive is at least half as awesome as the one you gave. Thank you!