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Chip McFuck posted:You're welcome! I waffled a bit on whether or not to send you the Gronk book, but I just couldn't resist so please consider it a gag gift. Hopefully you won't hold it against me, lol. Hope you enjoy them. The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet is one of my favorite books. Also, Scribbles looks just like my old cat Loki!
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Dec 22, 2022 05:24
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Thank you for the fantastic treasure trove, Santa! The wine will be a hit on Christmas. I truly am prepared to know the city before I find out what Robert Moses does to it.
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Dec 22, 2022 19:36
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Great! Glad everything arrived intact! I was tempted to steal back the books, they looked very interesting, but I restrained myself. The wine is from a local vineyard, kind of a Bordeaux style, hope you enjoy.
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Dec 22, 2022 20:28
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I gave up on waiting and opened mine in advance of both a week off of work and an ice storm that will either do nothing or give me plenty of reading time over the next several days. It contained (all individually wrapped, even!): Fourth Mansions by R.A. Lafferty The Emperor by Ryszard Kapuśiński The Dramatic Symphony by Andrei Biely (aka Andrei Bely aka Boris Bugaev) A Terry's chocolate orange A bag of candied ginger which I learned recently you can muddle in cocktails in addition to my childhood strategy of just eating them straight out of the bag. A festive holiday card All are appreciated, thank you Santa. I am excited to read the books, none of which I have read before, even though, given my conflicted occasional apologia for Illuminatus! trilogy, you'd think I would have gotten to the Lafferty by now. But I have not!
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Dec 23, 2022 04:52
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Glad you like the ginger. I just threw that in at the last minute because the only box I had was too big for the books alone; I had no idea that it would be such a good match. Happy reading!
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Dec 23, 2022 05:58
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opened up a gorgeous copy of History of the World Map by Map today, absolutely up my alley. It's amazing, when I said give me something that couldn't be appreciated as an ebook I really didn't expect such an absolute bullseye. This is the exact kind of book I'd obsess over (the sorta book I'd always wanna check out as a lil kid but you couldn't cuz they're REFERENCE SECTION or w/e). I really wish I'd been able to send people more this year, this was my first time taking part...money was just a bit unexpectedly tight but seeing all the great gifts and the great gift I got I'm excited to throw down even more next tbb secret santa.    hopefully the horrible lighting doesnt hide how dope this poo poo is
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Dec 25, 2022 17:20
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Since it's finally Xmas, decided to open up my package!  Thank you so much Lord Zedd-Repulsa, both of these look interesting. Think I might have heard of ECHO but haven't heard anything about the other book.
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Dec 25, 2022 21:23
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Ho ho ho   And let's see what the card says....   The third book looks too dry on first glance but I should be able to manage the others in 2023. Thank you, whoever you are. And that's more code for anyone trying to solve it.
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Dec 25, 2022 22:17
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Holy poo poo, it's an embarrassment of riches! Seriously, the package stack was insane: That's seven packages, containing a total of eight books:  The plain book is an old library copy of a very handsome volume of translated Baudelaire from the 1930's, which I may have said "oh my god, oh poo poo" as I cracked open:   The four books at the top left are a complete (YA?) fantasy series, and that cover with Sickbed Otter on #2 is immediately a huge favorite of mine:  And then... well, then there's the Lizard of Oz, which came nicely wrapped, with a lovely card:    It is, in fact, the kind of insane self-published garbage I love, so good pick there, but there's also another piece of the code puzzle! And a further piece on the back of the card:  Thank you so much, Hieronymous Alloy and Mysterious Gift Friend Who Hopefully Is Not The Zodiac Killer! This is an amazing set of gifts and I'm over the moon about all of them.
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Dec 26, 2022 06:51
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Antivehicular posted:
The Powys Mathers book is a collection of translated southeast asian poetry, translated in the early 1900's; Steinbeck quotes it in his novel Cannery Row. Based on other things I've read, I'm not sure how much of it is actual translation and how much of it is stuff Mathers is writing himself and calling "translations." quote:The plain book is an old library copy of a very handsome volume of translated Baudelaire from the 1930's, which I may have said "oh my god, oh poo poo" as I cracked open: Charles Dillon was Edna St. Vincent Millay's lover and they worked on those translations together during their affair; I'm not aware of a translation that compares, but you can only find it in old out of print editions, for some reason there's no current publication. I keep having to buy new copies because friends keep stealing my old ones. quote:The four books at the top left are a complete (YA?) fantasy series, and that cover with Sickbed Otter on #2 is immediately a huge favorite of mine: That was my attempt at the self-published request. That particular series is . . . I remember reading it at like age 12 because the school library had it and back in the early 90's there just wasn't much out there in terms of fantasy. As far as I can tell it's one of the very, very earliest of the Tolkien knockoff attempts, almost hypnotically bad and full of extremely bizarre authorial choices that would never get published today. I haven't read it in 30 years though so maybe it's good? Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 15:58 on Dec 26, 2022 |
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Dec 26, 2022 15:53
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:That was my attempt at the self-published request. That particular series is . . . I remember reading it at like age 12 because the school library had it and back in the early 90's there just wasn't much out there in terms of fantasy. As far as I can tell it's one of the very, very earliest of the Tolkien knockoff attempts, almost hypnotically bad and full of extremely bizarre authorial choices that would never get published today. I haven't read it in 30 years though so maybe it's good? Fantastic! I've been needing a new "read in the living room and aggressively quote terrible sentences at loved ones" series, so if they're that bad, great, and if they turn out good, also great. Thanks!
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Dec 26, 2022 18:36
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I went to The Lizard of Oz's author's site, and it turned out to have the whole book online for free. For anyone who didn't get it for Christmas, check it out if you want to see what a completely witless version of The Phantom Tollbooth looks like. (Its idea of wordplay is "Pothead Land", where everyone has a flower pot for a head.) As a bonus, the online version is an update from 2018 that adds hee-larious Harry Potter references. What a treat!
Sham bam bamina! fucked around with this message at 22:42 on Dec 26, 2022 |
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Dec 26, 2022 22:39
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A box arrived while I was away at my parents! A *mystery* box I wasn't expecting. From one Dr. Activisionary. Inside... two books    They look promising:  I'm very excited to get into these, I have a huge soft spot for graphic novels, and its the type of thing I'd see, and covet, and never buy for myself. Thank you Dr. Activisionary!
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Dec 26, 2022 23:41
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Antivehicular posted:Fantastic! I've been needing a new "read in the living room and aggressively quote terrible sentences at loved ones" series, so if they're that bad, great, and if they turn out good, also great. Thanks! post about it either way, part of my brain is still convinced I hallucinated it
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Dec 27, 2022 15:56
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According to Sham Bam Bamina something may have happened to mine, because it says delivered but it hasn't been  Punkin Spunkin posted:opened up a gorgeous copy of History of the World Map by Map today, absolutely up my alley. It's amazing, when I said give me something that couldn't be appreciated as an ebook I really didn't expect such an absolute bullseye. This is the exact kind of book I'd obsess over (the sorta book I'd always wanna check out as a lil kid but you couldn't cuz they're REFERENCE SECTION or w/e). I really wish I'd been able to send people more this year, this was my first time taking part...money was just a bit unexpectedly tight but seeing all the great gifts and the great gift I got I'm excited to throw down even more next tbb secret santa. That was definitely a challenge, glad you liked it 
NTRabbit fucked around with this message at 10:49 on Dec 30, 2022 |
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Dec 30, 2022 10:46
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I have finally been able to pick up my post, and GOODNESS look at the lovely things I received...! First off, a delicious haul from Tree Goat!   Thank you so much! These all look really freakin' neato, and I'll be reading that short essay you wrote to prime me for getting stuck in. But wait! That's not all...an extra-secret surprise from    Whoa, this looks fancy! But wait...  But WAIT...  Holy poo poo, thank you??! And the very classy card:    And a secret coooooode? Book Zodiac is still at large... Thank you both for the gifts, and thank you to everyone else who's participated in the thread - it puts a huge smile on my face to see folks giving and receiving such cool things. 
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Dec 30, 2022 21:32
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glad you received it intact, hope you enjoy. i had forgotten that i wrote an essay. that probably bodes ill.
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Dec 31, 2022 02:16
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Any progress with the code?
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Jan 3, 2023 05:05
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NTRabbit posted:According to Sham Bam Bamina something may have happened to mine, because it says delivered but it hasn't been I owe you an apology on this -- I was trying my best to get you some stuff from non-Amazon sellers, but apparently "non-Amazon seller offering free shipping to Australia" means "unclear or no tracking info, who the hell knows what's happening." I sincerely hope something... arrives... sometime?
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Jan 3, 2023 06:21
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Antivehicular posted:I owe you an apology on this -- I was trying my best to get you some stuff from non-Amazon sellers, but apparently "non-Amazon seller offering free shipping to Australia" means "unclear or no tracking info, who the hell knows what's happening." I sincerely hope something... arrives... sometime? No worries, I'll keep an eye out!
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Jan 3, 2023 06:59
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Realized that I forgot to post the photos I took of the Mysterious Benefactor's card! Please forgive me, it just slipped my mind. Here's the message:  And the code on the back: 
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Jan 4, 2023 17:24
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Book arrived, it was a little late but I am ridiculously excited by it!    
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Jan 5, 2023 03:42
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Two packages from two different carriers arrived this afternoon! Contained within were these excellent books  They're very much my kind of jam (I've bought Stanislaw Lem for others in previous years and have always been intrigued but never read myself), looking forward to reading them, thanks Antivehicular! NTRabbit fucked around with this message at 10:09 on Jan 5, 2023 |
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Jan 5, 2023 10:06
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Fantastic! So glad they got there! Master and Commander is the only one of that group I haven't read -- the others are all great, although Fires on the Plain is pretty heavy. Cyberiad can also be a dense read but is hilarious. Hope you enjoy!
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Jan 5, 2023 11:16
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I don't know if the etiquette is to post about it here or not, but here's a code that was pasted in the back of my fancy Jonathan Daniels book: WS 287-14-9-2 AE 7-7-5-1 WS 108-16-6-5 EH 79-20-4-1 RS 5-4-9-1 LW 646-5-5 EH 128-12-7-6 JD ix-15-3-1 So I'm guessing the letters refer to author names, and thus correspond to each of our bonus books. And then these are page numbers, and...words on those pages? So for mine it would be (from page ix) - there - back - as. Or if they're first words of lines, then it's any - conflict - as. Or I'm barking completely up the wrong tree. I also notice that each secret letter is signed with different initials. Hopefully we lucky recipients can put our heads together to figure this one out!
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Jan 7, 2023 11:53
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Hello! Happy orthodox christmas everyone! Sorry for being the trouble participant this year! My Santee should have 2 books in his/her house by now with more to come. I have no excuse, but I do have some photos. I received books and a secret message:  God, what a challenge, I'll try to be up to it this year.  I've read dying earth and wasn't blown away, I should give Vance a second chance. Thanks!  I LOVE this book! So yeah, I've already read it. But when I tried to read it i couldn't find it physically so i had to resort to less than ethical means! Amazing gift, I still can't find a hardcover copy in amazon.  And this one I assume because of what I mentioned about Homicide by David Simon. Looks like it could be very interesting, thanks again! The messages:  This one may have been cut short by Amazon? TS Spivet is a very fun book that ABSOLUTELY shits the bed, the story does NOT resolve well secret santa. And what i particularly feel guilty about, delaying the resolution of the secret code:  Once again sorry everyone, specially my Santee (more gifts soon!) and the organizer
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Jan 11, 2023 00:55
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In a post-Christmas miracle, my gift arrived! After opening the most neatly arranged package I've ever seen, I discovered a very cool book about football tactics, along with some neat extras:  Thanks for the excellent gift, Teach!
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Jan 15, 2023 17:12
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I've been sweating on this one for ages! (I only hope that your first package arrives soon, too!)
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Jan 15, 2023 17:56
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Mr. Nemo posted:
Gertrude Perkins posted:I don't know if the etiquette is to post about it here or not, but here's a code that was pasted in the back of my fancy Jonathan Daniels book: That doesn't seem like all the puzzle pieces -- what are we missing?
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Jan 22, 2023 19:49
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Apparently some of y'all who got puzzle pieces -- there may be some "hint codes" in the backs of the books you received also, which may be helpful clues!
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Jan 25, 2023 12:30
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Well I'm a big dummy and didn't look at the back pages of the book! So sorry mysterious benefactor, I just didn't think to look there. Here's a photo of the code:
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Jan 25, 2023 20:27
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Has anyone gotten anywhere with the code? I've pasted all four quadrants of the message together for a start: (Sorry for not doing this weeks ago; I've had a lot on my plate and little attention to spare for this thread.) Sham bam bamina! fucked around with this message at 15:57 on Feb 7, 2023 |
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Feb 7, 2023 15:54
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Final few books from my Santee came in! Runnin' a little slow there buddy but I'm genuinely excited to read these, thank you! 
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Feb 8, 2023 00:21
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Yesterday, PostNL notified, saying I've a package to pickup (after paying some import fees). It turns out to be Santa's original gift for me, postmarked 02-12-2022. Three months to go from London to the NL is impressive. Honestly, someone probably could have walked/swam it over quicker. Still, great to finally receive it! I particularly enjoy the Saddam Hussein and cronies playing cards.
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Feb 28, 2023 08:44
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Well, I'm pleased that the package finally got to you - what are you going to do with the second copy of Inverting The Pyramid? 
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Mar 4, 2023 16:40
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Teach posted:Well, I'm pleased that the package finally got to you - what are you going to do with the second copy of Inverting The Pyramid? Flip the pyramid back around, obviously! (Probably give it to my buddy, so we'll be slightly more knowledgeable when we are yelling at/about Jizz Horncamp)
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Mar 6, 2023 20:48
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I really want to know what the secret code says Definitely joining this year.
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Mar 7, 2023 23:56
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Rid posted:
Perfect! Good.
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Mar 8, 2023 21:46
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