Last winter, having not done a book or yarn swap in a while, I signed up for the Ninja Book Swap. I agreed to send books to a stranger off their wishlist, as well as some gifts from local shops that related to their interest. I sent mine off in early March and it was received a few days later. Knowing this was an international swap, I was prepared to wait a bit for my package to arrive, so I did. And then I waited some more. I emailed the organizer, who assured me the package was en route, but from someplace with unreliable mail service. I waited some more.

I admit that around May 1 or so I sort of gave up expecting a package. Things get lost on occasion. I grew up in a post office family: I know they happen even with the very best intentions. But letting go of expectations is way easier than letting go of hopes, so every time I got the mail, I’d peer into the area of our building where packages await their owners, wondering if I’d see one covered in foreign stamps and looking as if it had arrived by camel and in spite of pirate attacks.

Then, one night in mid-June, I arrived home from work late one evening to discover an unexpected package waiting on my chair: four and half months after being mailed my bookish surprises had arrived!

My partner turned out to be Megz, who lives in South Africa’s Eastern Cape, which looks beautiful. She sent me a lovely package that contained postcards and tourist information about her area, a tin of candy-coated, chocolate covered gummy candies in a fun lion container (with googly eyes!), and a box of rooibus tea, an herbal drink native to South Africa.

She also sent me two books I’ve been wanting to read: Mansfield Park is the only Jane Austen completed novel I haven’t read (I also haven’t read her unfinished novellas), although I’ve seen film adaptations, and Sense & Sensibility, by Joanna Trollope, is part of the recent series of books where modern authors reinterpret, reimagine, and contemporize Austen’s works. I’m really excited to read both novels.

Yesterday’s Top Ten Tuesday from The Broke and the Bookish asks participants to list the last ten books they acquired.

The two books from Megz were the most recent physical books that came to my house to live.

AudioFile is doing their annual summer reading giveaway via AudioSync, where they pair a contemporary YA title with a classic work. I’m not religious about downloading the books, but I liked the two offered this week, so I now have The Explorer’s Club by Nell Benjamin (David Krumholtz does one of the voices!) and Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days on my phone.

Otherwise, my top ten is rounded out by books that came home with me for a visit from the library last week:

• Unusual Chickens for the Extraordinary Poultry Farmer by Kelly Jones (which I read over the weekend and loved)
• The Great Good Summer by Elizabeth Scanlon
• One-Hour Cheese by Claudia Lucero
• Prudence by Gail Carriger
• The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
• Rose Water & Orange Blossoms: Fresh and Classic Recipes from My Lebanese Kitchen by Maureen Abood

Three middle-grade, one YA, and two cookbooks.