my gold mine

What an exhilarating experience! Now I know most of you are thinking, what's so exciting about a used book sale? Well, this was not just any old book sale my friends! My friend Kay told me about a local library that has a monthly book sale, and on Saturday morning I went while Jason took Emily on his errands. I inadvertently showed up about 20 minutes early, so I started perusing the overflow books while I waited. I found a handful of books just from that. Then the line started forming. Everyone else had large tote bags, and some even brought carts! These people were serious. I started getting apprehensive, imagining a stampede when the yellow rope was lifted, the old lady with the straw hat piling stacks of books into her laundry basket... a sort of dog-eat-dog, anarchy rules, pages flying... what if I had to fight over a book I really wanted?? Would I resort to violence, or just stinging rhetoric? Luckily, I was rescued from my thoughts as the volunteers started kidding around with the regulars, and soon enough, it was time! Skimming through the children's and young adult books first, I came away with an armful of books. Literally an armful! I didn't find anything I recognized in the adult fiction hardbacks except for numerous copies of The Da Vinci Code (which I already have). So I paid for my books- only $9.50!! What made this sale so great was the prices! At a regular used book store I would have paid five times as much, but here the paperbacks were 25 cents, trade paperbacks 50 cents, and hardcovers $1. That's it. Which meant that I could get books that I normally wouldn't have spent $1.95 on, but a quarter- no big deal! Some of the books I got merely for the vintage illustrations...

Anyway, as I was paying, I heard someone mention more books inside... wait, there's more?! So I made my way into a room filled with tables and boxes of paperbacks- the majority were trashy romance novels- but there, on the back wall, was a sign that said Classics. (!!!) So I plowed my way through the sea of tote bags and started on my next armful of books! After I exhausted the classics section, I noticed the trade paperbacks (those larger paperbacks that sell for $14 at the airport) and soon my armful was reaching new heights up to my chin! For that pile I paid $10.35! The wonder! So I came home totally ecstatic, and piled all my treasures on the couch to show Jason, who was less than thrilled at how many little friends I brought home to add to my library we already don't have room for, but he couldn't help smiling at how happy I was :) And he proclaimed me crazy for wanting a picture so I could blog my awesome two-hour adventure into the land of cheap used books! So here are my gems... The books after which I thought, okay, I found this book- I can go home now and be happy!

I had read Danielle's copy of Heidi Grows Up when we were younger, but had forgotten what the title was and probably would have paid $20 for it online... and then I found it in the overflow books while waiting for the sale to start. What a treasure! I absolutely loved this book, and was planning on getting a copy anyway!
I can't resist the old Sesame Street books- they bring back my childhood!
This one I bought for the illustrations- amazing duotone prints inside, even though the paper is yellowed and brittle.
A coffeetable book of illustrated Vogue covers- for $1... Can it get any better?
Always needed a copy of this classic, but finally found one with decent cover art
This signed artist's book of poetry and prints was mixed in with the classics, but it is obviously a limited edition. You can see by the edges of the paper that it is printed on actual art paper- some thin, some heavier, some with fine texture.
A print of a frog from insideThis book of an artist's approach to haiku I bought just for this image of an adorable snail! And for a better understanding of haiku...
The rest of the books I acquired: Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities, The Diary of Anne Frank, Julie of the Wolves, Oliver Twist, Memoirs of a Geisha, the biography of Beverly Cleary, At Home in Mitford, Chocolat, The Borrowers Avenged, Smokey the Bear, The Phantom Tollbooth, The BFG, The Vandemark Mummy, Summer Blues, Dave at Night, A Little Princess, The Trumpet of the Swan, The Footsteps of Anne Frank, Beezus and Ramona, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Christy, Rose in Bloom, Stuart Little, Creative Art for the Developing Child, Little Lord Fauntleroy, A Train to Potevka, The Masterpieces of Painting in the Louvre, Swiss Family Robinson, Sleeping Beauty, All By Myself, Bolivar, The Sesame Street Treasury Starring the Number 7 and the Letters I and J.
Whew!