They say love comes in many forms — sometimes, it’s a person with a crooked smile; sometimes, it’s a slice of warm chocolate cake at 2 a.m.; and sometimes, it’s thirty-four dusty, foxing-sprinkled books showing up at your doorstep, each promising to whisk you into another world.

Let me tell you about the latest one.

My Big Fat ₹1,299 Book Haul…

More like a love story with foxing and fate…

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The Timeline of Temptation

June 25: Order placed, 10 kg booksfor ₹1,299.

For a week, I existed in that familiar reader’s limbo — somewhere between excitement and paranoia. What if they sent me thirty-four copies of C++ Programming for Beginners? What if they slipped in five diet manuals and a dog training guide?

July 1: received a photo of the exact pile I would be getting. Now, this is where they get you — the photo looked like an inviting rainbow of spines, each promising stories, secrets, and maybe even life-altering epiphanies. I told myself I was investing in my soul, my imagination, and also in my future coffee table bragging rights.

July 2: The parcel was dispatched.

But lo and behold, today, July 8 (finally!) the books arrived. My courier guy looked as if he had carried bricks up the stairs. Maybe he had — reader bricks.

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The Grand Unboxing

Seriously, take a closer look. 

It’s a box from Penguin Random House. I have a theory on that: These book publishers can’t sell all the books they publish, so they offload to sellers like worthing.in to get “something” out of these books. I still can’t believe I got a box from Penguin. It’s just a box, but it’s a penguin box..

The package was heavy enough to double as a home workout. I contemplated logging it into my fitness tracker under “strength training,” but decided to focus on the real reward.

With the reverence of a medieval monk unveiling a sacred manuscript, I slit the tape open. Out tumbled titles ranging from romance to history to self-help to the odd, philosophical wanderings of middle-aged white men backpacking across small islands.

At first glance? Gorgeous.

At second glance? Hmmm… some of them looked like they’d been on a shelf since the Mughal Empire. There were mysterious brown dots (foxing, my old foe), gently curling pages, and one or two spines that looked like they’d been on a crash diet.

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The Condition: A Love-Hate Affair

Let’s get real. I knew for ₹1,299, I wasn’t getting freshly printed, crisp-smelling books that sigh when you crack them open. No, I was signing up for character. For personality.

Some of these books came with foxing, the paper equivalent of age spots. Others had slight yellowing, soft corners, and that sweet, slightly musty scent that only true bibliophiles will tell you is better than Chanel No. 5.

See?

That scribbling E134 is mine: It’s the 134th English book in my present collection. It’s a code to my secret treasure, or maybe just call it my library’s internal tag.

Other books have pencil marks, perhaps notes on the book from previous owners. Did I mention most of these books are preloved?

In all honesty, while the foxing and stains don’t bother me deeply, I would be lying if I said I didn’t flinch the first time I saw them. There’s something intimate and a bit sad about seeing a book age so visibly. It’s like finding an old friend with a cane — endearing, but sobering.

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Meet the New Roommates

I tried categorising my new tenants with help from ChatGPT. After all, they deserve an official welcome. Here’s a quick introduction to some of them:

• “I Owe You One” by Sophie Kinsella: Classic Kinsella, promising clumsy heroines, mistaken texts, and awkward flirting.

• “Artemis” by Andy Weir: A moon heist! I thought it would be a great gift for my brother as he likes Science Fiction. But more on that later.

• “Notes from a Small Island” by Bill Bryson: The quirky travelogue of a man wandering Britain with more sarcasm than a Twitter roast. I got two books from Bill Bryson as you can see.

• “Never Greener” by Ruth Jones: A thick contemporary novel about love, regret, and second chances — basically the emotional equivalent of two tubs of ice cream and an existential playlist.
• “Exit Sachin Tendulkar” by Dilip D’Souza: Because no Indian household is complete without at least one Sachin reference. I scream “Sachin Sachin” even while watching matches in 2025. That’s his aura.

• “The Purpose Revolution” by John Izzo & Jeff Vanderwielen: For when you wake up and question why your boss exists or why you haven’t started that avocado farm yet.

Then there are wild cards: The Secret Teacher, A Flight of Golden Wings, The Grass Dancer, and White Shotgun, among others. Some sound deeply intriguing, others… well, I guess we’ll see after the first chapter.

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The Price Tag Reality

Let’s do some quick math here.

₹1,299 divided by 34 = ₹38 per book.

Pause. Let that sink in.

Thirty-eight rupees is less than a coffee at any half-decent café, or much less than chai-and-samosa combo at the tea stall in front of my office . In fact, it might not even get you a decent sandwich anymore. For that price, each book could literally contain a single interesting sentence, and I’d still come out on top.

Of course, not every book is going to be a page-turning, life-altering experience. Some might end up as plant-stand stabilisers or props for my next “Books & Coffee” Instagram post. But even so — the sheer variety and surprise factor make it worth it.

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Critical Confessions

While I’m thrilled, a little critical eye never hurts.

1️⃣ Condition transparency: The pre-haul photo didn’t really show the extent of foxing and age on some of these titles. A close-up would’ve helped. If you’re fussy about pristine pages, this might sting. And stink.

2️⃣ Genre roulette: Unless you’re a genre omnivore (like me), you might feel stuck with books you’d never pick otherwise. There’s something fun about it, but also a risk.

3️⃣ Old editions: Some of these are older prints with dated fonts and design choices that scream “early 2000s thriller cover.” You either love the vintage charm or despise it.

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Where to Keep Them? The Shelf Dilemma

Here’s the plot twist: I have a wooden bookshelf with glass doors — elegant, classic, but potentially a foxing factory if I’m not careful.

Do I keep them locked up like crown jewels? Or let them breathe freely, gathering dust like wild children?

After some spirited debate with myself (and a dramatic head tilt at my ceiling fan), I asked ChatGPT (it generated a picture that you see above). It told me that the books should stay in the glass shelf but with silica gel packs for moisture control, occasional airing sessions, and a strict no-food policy in the room.

Because let’s be honest, no matter how much I love a book, I don’t love it enough to feed it crumbs from my chocolate biscuits.

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The Emotional Payoff

At the end of the day, a book haul isn’t just about books. It’s about that feeling of possibility — the idea that behind each cover might be a new friend, a new heartbreak, a new lesson.

It’s the thrill of stacking them, rearranging them three times, and whispering to them, “You’ll be next!” even though you know you’ll probably reread Pride and Prejudice for the fifteenth time instead.

When I looked at these thirty-four books today, sprawled all over my floor, I felt like a dragon counting gold coins. A miser, but for stories. And that, I think, is worth every speck of foxing, every bent spine, every ₹38.

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Final Verdict

Would I recommend a mystery box book haul to everyone?

Probably not if you’re picky, prefer only new books, or faint at the sight of yellowed pages.

But if you’re someone who loves surprises, embraces imperfections, and values the story more than the shine — absolutely yes.

For me, this ₹1,299 gamble turned out to be a jackpot of laughter, lessons, and maybe even a few new favorite authors.

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What’s Next?

I plan to start with I Owe You One (because who doesn’t need a light, awkward love story to kick off a haul? Besides, it’s been a while since I read Sophie Kinsella), followed by Never Greener (I somehow think that the book might be interesting), and slowly meander through the more philosophical and heavy stuff.

In the meantime, if you see a suspiciously large foxing spot on my cheek, please don’t worry. That’s just me, nuzzling my books goodnight.

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Tell me: Would you ever do a big, risky book haul like this? Which of these would you read first? Or would you just run far away at the first sign of age spots? Drop your thoughts below — and if you want to come over to help alphabetise this chaos, you’re always welcome. I’ll provide tea. And yes, maybe even a samosa or two.

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Until next time, happy reading!