the_oracle: the cover image from Double Love, classic SVH (classic)
[personal profile] the_oracle
If you could, I'd like you to take a moment away from your mourning either a musical icon [of questionable sanity] or the only Angel anyone can ever remember without prompting, and pay attention to free stuff.

That's right. It's anniversary time here and that means crap for you. Well. Free stuff. Shiny things? I dunno. Those of you with complete collections can just snicker at the photos below. Everyone else should pay attention.

We're trying something new this year. As my birthday is rapidly approaching, so approaches one of my treks out into the used book world to my favorite used bookstore that actually carries a decent amount of SV stuff. Sadly for me, it doesn't really have things I need unless I'm there with someone else. I figure that instead of driving all that way for nothing, I should have a backup. Which is where you guys come in.

Take a look at your list of missing SV books. Twins/Unicorns/Jr. High/SVH/SY/SVU hell, even Elizabeth shows up occasionally. Pick two that you want more than any others. Got those two? Good. Put them at the top of your list and either email me at snarkyimp at gmail dot com OR leave a comment here. You can put more than two books down, particularly if you want backups in case your two aren't at the stores. [Yes. For my birthday week, I cruise bookstores. Shut up.] But make sure I know which two you want most. Also, if you're at all picky about your books, you should let me know that, too. So if you merely want one to read and the condition doesn't matter, odds are much better for you. But if you don't want one where the spine has faded or is an ex-library book, you gotta let me know. I'm not psychic. You should know that if I bring the books home before mailing them out, we've got pets and my brother smokes. I don't, but some people are awfully sensitive and I don't want to inadvertently kill someone here. Also, I can't make any promises as to what the stores have, or hell, if the store even exists anymore. But I will try.

Also, you might notice that the Kids books aren't on the list. Yeah. I've got like... 10, so if anyone's going to be scooping those puppies up, it'll probably be me. You can put them as your Top Two, but I make no promises.

The love ends July 4th, as my vacation starts the next day and anytime that week I'll be attempting to forage for books. Can't forage if I don't have the list.



Onward!

So. I mentioned the Kids, right? Well, my mini ebay splurge last week yielded a small lot of SVK books and most of them I hadn't read. While reading, I marveled at how cute some of the covers were and how utterly frightening others were. Also, I pointed and laughed at the SV Reader of the Month. And because I'm evil, I thought I'd warp your brains, too.




First we have Sweet Valley kids #1, Surprise! Surprise!

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I actually own this one a couple of times over and yet I always, always, always thought the boy on the cover was Steven. Totally not. That's Todd. I'm almost positive it's Todd, anyway. To me, it made more sense for him to be Steven. I sulk over the years spent wasted thinking this was Steven!

Next we have #17 Caroline's Mystery Dolls.
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Yeah. I don't think it's a coincidence that SVH #17 is also a Caroline's a big fat liar pants story, do you? But wait. There's more. Caroline earns extra points for totally being 80's Jenny Lewis. If you don't know who that is, obviously you're not my kind of people OR you just don't know that you know who she is. Either way, you get bonus points if you can ID the show the caps below are from.

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Caroline.

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Jenny.

If that doesn't warm your heart towards poor Caroline, nothing will.


So... Jenny Lewis is love, man. But what the hell is Liz doing channeling Daisy de la Hoya? Because there ain't enough brain bleach in the world to shake this from my head. Is it just too much time spent in front of VH1? Or... should we be very, very afraid? Of course, it would explain a LOT about Elizabeth's choice in guys over the years...

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Liz!

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Daisy. I'm sorry. I really am. But misery loves company.


#20 The Twins Go To the Hospital is a two-fer.
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First, Liz is giving me total Hilary Duff vibes, particularly from the Lizzie Mcguire era. Scary. Jess is... not so much. Also, footy pajamas! Awww.

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Liz.

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Lizzie.


Second, it's time to mock the poor reader of the month. Bonnie Cassoria: I'd be surprised if your best friend back in the day didn't kick your ass.

My best friend's name is Jessica and she's exactly like Jessica in Sweet Valley Kids. She hates school and homework; she can be selfish sometimes.
[snip]
Teenagers probably love Sweet Valley Twins and Sweet Valley High, because the books give them information about boys, clothes, makeup, and the latest fashions.
[snip]
I'd love to live in Sweet Valley and make friends with the Wakefield crew and the rest of the crowd.


a) if I'd written that about my best friend, she'd have made me sorry. And that's just when it's passed around school. Letting the country/world know your best friend Jessica is selfish? Uncool, Bonnie. Un.Cool.
b) Oh, honey. No. Just... no. What I Learned From SVH is a list you just could not comprehend back then. Just no.
c) Notice the Wakefield crew. This has been bugging me all week. Is it the entire Wakefield family? Does Steven have a groupie? I am perplexed. Share the confusion, won't you?


#22 Sweet Valley Slumber Party
Photobucket

Show of hands. Who else is disappointed they wasted this title on a Kids book?

Anyway. Jessica?
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What.
The hell.?
SO EVIL.

And Minnie Mouse is just barely warped enough to avoid a lawsuit. But she's scaring me. Look at this before bedtime and I dare you not to have nightmares. Nightmares! Also, that's an awfully pitiful unicorn. No way Lila would've gotten so worked up over that.

Sarah Orenstein, you broke my brain almost as much as the Daisy connection.


My name is Sara. I'm eight years old, and I live in Seattle. My favorite hobbies are drawing and sewing, but my most favorite hobby is reading. I also have a little sister named Marissa. She bugs me all the time, but I still love the little thing. That's one of the reasons why I like SVK. The other is that Elizabeth is my kind of girl. The reason Elizabeth is my favorite character is because she's beautiful, compassionate, and very smart. Another reason why I like SVK is that they have good stories. And those are the reasons why I like SVK.


Bet you'll never figure out one of the reasons that drives me bonkers, eh?

Date: 2009-06-26 05:45 pm (UTC)
luxken27: (Buyo)
From: [personal profile] luxken27
OMG GGs for the win! :D :D :D

LOL, you would make such an awesome offer while I'm halfway around the world from my collection. I'll have to dig through my memory and see if I remember what I need. When I was scrounging on the internetz a few years back, though, I found that the SVH books between, say, #70-#100 were really hard to find, as opposed to the earlier series books. Is the same true in the real (used book) world?

(Sadly the used book stores near me carried very little SV, of any stripe.)

Date: 2009-06-27 10:54 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] gossip-oracle.livejournal.com
Yush! Winner of bonus points! *throws confetti*

I'm trying to remember which stretch of books is harder to find, at least around here. I know that the early 90's in the series up until the mini series take over can be a pain to find, or at least find copies people apparently didn't feed to their little siblings.

And I've found that of the three bookstores I haunt as much as possible, one carries pretty much just random Twins books and the occasional SVH of any flavor and SVU. But mostly it deals in Twins. My favorite [which is, naturally, the one furthest away] has all kinds, but someone, somewhere along the line didn't seem to realize that books fade in the sun. I'd like to find that person and punch them. Punch them good. And the third store used to have a fantabulous collection, but then stopped and never has anything good even when I go just to window shop. [Laws of Nature state that when broke, the store will have all you need. When eager to spend money, store will have fifty copies of your least favorite book and that's it.]

Date: 2009-06-29 01:34 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ultimate-cin.livejournal.com
I'd like #83 "Steven's Bride" through #87 "My Best Friend's Boyfriend" in SVH, and any of the later SVU books (after #59). My email is ultimatecin73@yahoo.com.

Date: 2009-07-03 11:58 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] gossip-oracle.livejournal.com
Is there a line on the condition you'd like the books? Obviously I'd avoid the ones where it looks like someone's sibling colored the pages with marker if given a choice [yes, there is one book like that] but otherwise?

Date: 2009-06-30 01:06 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] livfreeverse.livejournal.com
Yay! This is a brilliant idea!
I also love how you'e disected those covers... haha brilliant!

Anyways as for the books, I'm really in need of:

- SVT: Unicorn Club #22 Jessica's Dream Date
- SVH; Magna: Return of the Evil Twin
- SVU #37 Breaking Away

These are my top 3...and I'd prefer they were in near to mint condition... but if that's asking too much, then as close to mint as possible (esp. the Unicorn Club & SVU book)

Also...after I get back from my summer break - round September-October-ish...i'll gladly go through my SVK books and see which ones I have doubles of if you want...?

Date: 2009-07-03 12:01 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] gossip-oracle.livejournal.com
So noted! I'm thinking the odds should be pretty good on Return.

And yay for the Kids offer! :D

Date: 2009-07-01 09:01 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] whataboutjen.livejournal.com
I knew all the references. So awesome!

I don't think eight year olds really talk like that, Sara from Seattle.

Date: 2009-07-03 12:01 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] gossip-oracle.livejournal.com
Score!

And agreed. Bad form, Sara. Bad form.

Date: 2009-07-05 12:53 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kaimagus.livejournal.com
Happy birthday/anniversary ;)

I LOVE Bonnie's reader of the month, calling out her friend like that. Nerd alert: my friends and I used to play Sweet Valley on the playground in elementary and I always wanted to be Jessica. I can't imagine one of my friends writing in and saying "My friend Sarah always wants to play Jessica, because she loves clothes and makeup and is kind of a bitch!" without there being serious issues later!!

As for the books, you're generous! Really, I'd love SVH 40 (On the Edge) and 49 (Playing for Keeps) as they'd fill in some irritating holes in my existing collection, but really, I'd be happy with any SVT over #65, old-school SVH over #53, or SVU over #6 (since the bookstores around here are sadly lacking in Sweet Valley goodness!). My email's celtic_princess992@yahoo.com. Thanks! :)

Date: 2009-07-06 01:32 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] gossip-oracle.livejournal.com
I hope there was a beat down on the playground after that book came out. Then they could've made up until Jessica tried to get revenge and it went horribly, horribly wrong. Score for SV on the playground!

You've been added to the list! :)

Date: 2009-07-08 07:40 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] gossip-oracle.livejournal.com
Question while I might still have time to fix it: The only copies [thus far] of 40 & 49 I found were hardback. Would you want them or are you one of those people who prefers to see the hardbacks as just the additional books to get on the side, not the ones as part of the actual core collection?

And if that didn't make sense, I blame the fact that it's almost 4am. :p

Date: 2009-07-08 11:41 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kaimagus.livejournal.com
Thanks for the heads-up! I am one of those anal-retentive book people, so I'd rather have something paperback if you can get it. :)

Date: 2009-07-08 12:05 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] gossip-oracle.livejournal.com
Oh good, I chose correctly then. I like the hardbacks as extras but I don't think I count them as anything other than variant covers essentially. The hunt continues!

Date: 2010-02-16 01:58 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] joella92.livejournal.com
this is cool, i wish i would have remeber to come on here before now i would have appraticitng in this that was nice of you

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the_oracle: the cover image from Double Love, classic SVH (Default)
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