Bookwormish, Library Book Sale Edition
May. 5th, 2015 03:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
starfishstarOOH, this past weekend was the local Friends of the Library Book Sale, a non-profit event that sells donated books as a benefit for the public library, and it was so much fun. (This is the same place I volunteered all winter, sorting and organizing the BOXES AND BOXES AND BOXES of German-language books, so it was also fun to see it from the other side!)
The sale takes place in a massive, amazing warehouse, with a massive, amazing amount of books. Just...think of as many books as you can imagine, and add more. I got almost everything I wanted (for example: I now own my own copy of "Maurice" by E. M. Forster!) and made some unexpected but pleasing finds, like a pop-science linguistics book I'd wanted to track down eventually, and a career-figuring-out book that I can now own instead of having to take out of the library repeatedly, and a specific "how to be a better writer" book that a writing-group friend in Berlin had recommended. I also decided to go ahead and build a collection of the Peter Wimsey/Harriet Vane books. And I found a copy of "Independent People," the Halldór Laxness book that one of my friends in Iceland said I have to read. ("It's only difficult for the first 200 pages or so, then it gets really good...")
And I picked up some fun recommended books:
–"The Last Unicorn" on![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
stereolightning's recommendation
–"Shards of Honor" on so many people's urging (yes, I guess I'm finally going to take the Vorkosigan plunge! I've put it off only because it's such a big, big series and thus starting it feels like a dauntingly big commitment)
–the first Brother Cadfael mystery, because it sounds like fun (and is set in Wales!)
–a book by Jo Walton, though not the specific book I'd had recommended
–another Robin McKinley book that's a fairy tale reworking – though in this case of "Sleeping Beauty," not her beloved and many-times-written "Beauty and the Beast"
All that (an even dozen books) for under $40. And I'll probably go back next weekend, once the prices have dropped significantly, and pick up some more books that didn't feel like "I need them" books at two/three/four dollars, but would be well worth tossing in a bag for a dollar each.
Books! Between that and all the lovely outdoors stuff – May Day celebration, other May Day celebration, full moon walk in the woods, "Streets Alive" festival where one long main street in town was blocked off to traffic and people were out walking, biking, dancing, doing Zumba, doing tai chi, playing music, selling lemonade, eating ice cream, chatting with neighbors, rollerblading, drawing with chalk in the middle of the street – it was a good weekend.
The sale takes place in a massive, amazing warehouse, with a massive, amazing amount of books. Just...think of as many books as you can imagine, and add more. I got almost everything I wanted (for example: I now own my own copy of "Maurice" by E. M. Forster!) and made some unexpected but pleasing finds, like a pop-science linguistics book I'd wanted to track down eventually, and a career-figuring-out book that I can now own instead of having to take out of the library repeatedly, and a specific "how to be a better writer" book that a writing-group friend in Berlin had recommended. I also decided to go ahead and build a collection of the Peter Wimsey/Harriet Vane books. And I found a copy of "Independent People," the Halldór Laxness book that one of my friends in Iceland said I have to read. ("It's only difficult for the first 200 pages or so, then it gets really good...")
And I picked up some fun recommended books:
–"The Last Unicorn" on
stereolightning's recommendation–"Shards of Honor" on so many people's urging (yes, I guess I'm finally going to take the Vorkosigan plunge! I've put it off only because it's such a big, big series and thus starting it feels like a dauntingly big commitment)
–the first Brother Cadfael mystery, because it sounds like fun (and is set in Wales!)
–a book by Jo Walton, though not the specific book I'd had recommended
–another Robin McKinley book that's a fairy tale reworking – though in this case of "Sleeping Beauty," not her beloved and many-times-written "Beauty and the Beast"
All that (an even dozen books) for under $40. And I'll probably go back next weekend, once the prices have dropped significantly, and pick up some more books that didn't feel like "I need them" books at two/three/four dollars, but would be well worth tossing in a bag for a dollar each.
Books! Between that and all the lovely outdoors stuff – May Day celebration, other May Day celebration, full moon walk in the woods, "Streets Alive" festival where one long main street in town was blocked off to traffic and people were out walking, biking, dancing, doing Zumba, doing tai chi, playing music, selling lemonade, eating ice cream, chatting with neighbors, rollerblading, drawing with chalk in the middle of the street – it was a good weekend.
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no subject
Date: 2015-05-06 03:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-05-06 03:42 am (UTC)And did you see I finally picked up a Vorkosigan book, after all these years??
no subject
Date: 2015-05-09 02:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-05-06 08:44 am (UTC)I have mixed experience with the "how to be a better writer" books. Feel free to pass on recommendation if the one you bought is good :D
The Library Book Sale sounds lovely!
no subject
Date: 2015-05-06 06:43 pm (UTC)Yup, I'm skeptical of a lot of "how to write" (and "how to get published") books, but this one sounded pretty straightforward and good. I can let you know if it is! Even more, though, I definitely recommend Gail Carson Levine's book "Writing Magic." She's totally lovely, and her suggestions and exercises can apply even if you're not writing in a fantasy/magical genre.