Ok: before you’re allowed to read this post, you have to promise me that you won’t bring up a certain resolution that I may or may not have made regarding the buying of books. Because that’ll make me all defensive, and I’ll start pointing out that I’ve only bought four books all year (and that was after a very nasty, emotionally draining fight), and that I made that resolution in part for my bank account, which the book sale barely affected. But no one really wants to hear my excuses, so just don’t bring it up, ok?

Cool! Now I can tell you all about how I spent this morning. A couple weeks ago, Debi shared her family’s glorious haul from their library sale. The pictures turned me an unflattering shade of green, but I thought I could deal with it. But then Heather went and showed her new pile of books too! I couldn’t help it: I had to check and see if there was a book sale going on in my neighbourhood; and as it turned out, the Friends of the Library had one scheduled for this weekend.

And that’s where I spent about an hour this morning. It wasn’t nearly as cool as Heather’s sale (those Anglicans must read a lot!), but there were thousands and thousands of books there. The fiction was barely sorted, mainly just stuck in shallow boxes, with the boxes 2-4 deep on the floor and 2 deep on the tables. No alphabetising going on, which rather shocked me. And I expected there to be a ton of classics, when in actuality there were none. But I still had a great time! They were doing this awesome special where you could get a tote bag, fill it with books, pay them ten bucks, and walk out of there. I got the last tote bag, which made me feel the universe approved of me breaking my resolutions! And remember how I have mad packing skillz? Take a look at this tote bag:


Wanna guess how many books are in there? Ten? Twenty? Try twenty three baby! Get ready for some serious book porn; and you can always click on the pictures to make them bigger if you can’t get enough! hehe Here are the books unpacked, and sorted by the thought process with which I picked them out…

First up: mysteries! I found only one Agatha Christie in the editions I collect, but it looks like a good one! Called The Witness for the Prosecution, it’s a collection of Poirot short stories. And the spine isn’t broken at all: it looks brand new. I also snatched up two great condition P.D. James: Original Sin (a Dalgliesh) and The Skull Beneath the Skin (with a Cordelia Gray detective, who I’m curious to meet). Aren’t the covers gorgeous?! Finally, there are two of Peters’ Brother Caedfel series: The Hermit of Eyton Forest (which has been well loved) and A Rare Benedictine (which is like brand new, and is a short story collection that features Brother Caedfel becoming a monk!).

Then there’s my newest crush: Captain Horatio Hornblower. I got his four early books: Mr.Midshipman Hornblower, Lieutenant Hornblower, Hornblower and the Hotspur, and Hornblower and the Atropos. That means I only have 3.5 books left to complete my collection(that half is because one of the books is unfinished)! Two have broken spines, but I don’t care since the other Hornblowers I have were definitely well-loved before they came to me. If these were in perfect condition, the others might get an inferiority complex.

Next are the books I grabbed because they’ve been on my TBR list or they’re challenge picks: The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough (which is one of my potential Australian destinations for the Orbis Terrarum Challenge), Women Who Run With Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, PhD (a pristine copy of a book about Wild Women mythology, which I’ve been coveting for years), Out of Africa and Shadows on the Grass by Isak Dinsen (I read the former book last year, and loved it, and I’ve been wanting a copy ever since-I’m delighted to find an edition with Shadows included!), Iris Murdoch’s The Bell (for the 1% Well Read Challenge; and there’s praise from Elizabeth Bowen on the book, which makes me even more excited!), We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson (her ghost short story was possibly my favourite of an anthology I read last year, so I’m excited to have this novel-length ghost story on my shelves), Watership Down by Richard Adams (Nymeth and Jeane both read and loved this one; who am I to argue?), Gabriela, Clove, and Cinnamon by Jorge Amado (I don’t care if I didn’t enjoy The War of the Saints like I thought I would: I’m determined to love this author!), Louise Erdrich’s The Painted Drum (I never read Native American lit, so I researched it a little; it would be neat to read this and Black Elk Speaks-which I already own-back to back), and finally Jihad by Ahmed Rashid (a non-fiction book for the international relations junkie within me; it looks at the CIS countries and fundamentalism within them).

The last pile are the books I grabbed completely at random! The Lake of Dead Languages by Carol Goodman (a Latin teacher at a private school drawn into a web of murder and intrigue? sign me up!), Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey (well, it won the Booker the year my sister was born, and it sounds crazy and fun! And it’s another Australian book-I recently realised how much I’ve neglected the poor Aussies, so I’m trying to fix that), Ramses: Volume I, The Son of Light (I’ve always been interested in Ancient Egypt, and this apparently broke all the bestseller records in France. Should be fun to read along side Mahfouz’s Ancient Egypt Trilogy), A Well-Timed Enchantment by Vivan Vande Velde (first of all, who could resist that title or that alliterative of an author?! A girl falls into a magic French well and is transported to medieval France, which reminds me of The Switching Well, a book I loved as a kid. This is a kid’s book too, so I’m hoping it’ll be fun), and finally The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson (lately, I’ve just been drawn to ghost stories. And the quote on the cover says “This book will scare the hell out of you.” Sounds good to me!).

So y’all would think that after buying twenty three books, and sifting through hundreds of boxes and thousands of titles, I’d call it a day. But you’d be wrong. Because the library branch that the Book Sale was held at also has a permanent Friends of the Library store. Things were more expensive here, but the books were in perfect, beautiful, fresh off the shelf condition. And I couldn’t resist picking up these six:
The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason: this is a literary thriller, so I figure it can go either way. But the authors’ picture on the flap amused be tremendously! And they’ve been friends since they were eight. So by spending $3, I’m supporting friendship!
Winter’s Tales by Isak Dinsen: I already own Seven Gothic Tales, so I was excited to find this for a dollar. Dinesen’s fiction is nothing like her prose, except that they’re both delicious. And this is a pristine old-school vintage edition that’s wonderful to look at.
A Summons to Memphis by Peter Taylor: it’s one of my possibles for the Southern Reading Challenge, and apparently it won the Pulitzer! I’ve been to Memphis twice to visit a friend at Rhodes, so it was definitely worth $2 to have this on my shelves.
Almost French by Sarah Turnbull: I studied a little bit of French, and I enjoyed the movie Le Divorce, so this seems like Parisian chick-lit only it’s non-fiction. Also, Turnbull is another Australian, which brings me up to three Australian purchases for the day! And my dad just got back from a business trip there. So having shelled out $2, I feel like now I’m a real supporter of the smallest continent, hehe.
The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love by Oscar Hijuelos. I just love the name Oscar! And this Cuban-influenced novel set in 1949 New Yrok sounds wonderful. Did I mention it also won the Pulitzer?
And finally, The Amazin Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon. I’ve heard good things about this on various blogs, and the cover was just awesome. And it was only $3, when I would have had to pay $26.95 for the same thing at Barnes and Noble. How can I pass up a bargain like that?! Did I mention it also won the Pulitzer? I find it amusing, because I don’t really care about book awards, that half the books I picked from the store were Pulizters, and I didn’t know that about any of them before!

Whew. I think I just counterbalanced all of my restraint for the past five months. It was worth it, though! For those keeping count, I got 29 books for $23; 23 averaged 44 cents and six averaged $2.16 (so much pricier, but so worth it!). Three hardcovers, seven trade paperbacks, and a whole lotta mass market. Oh-and I got the nifty tote bag! In case you can’t tell by the picture, it’s an image of a badass genie from the Arabian Nights that also says “Discover the Magic of Reading.” I’ve been needing to get a canvas bag lately (string bags are great for groceries, but not for small purchases!), and now I’m supporting the library too. And I know it’ll stand up to some wear and tear, since it took all of those books packed in with nary a whimper. All in all, I think I’m set: I won’t be home for any of the other quarterly book sales this year, which is just as well. Because my shelves are already full, and these books are wondering where they’re going to live…