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Saturday, October 9, 2010

The Joy of New England Library Book Sales!

When I was growing up my mother took me to numerous library sales and we would pick through the heaps to find the cast off treasures! Mostly we searched for non-fiction. She for cookbooks and self-help books, while I for histories, biographies, and sciences. I also picked up juvenile mysteries (Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, etc.) and horse books (Walter Farley's series, and Margarite Henry). It's amazing what you can find at book sales. I once picked up Stanley and other African Explorers printed in the 1880's for $1! And at that same sale two volumes on the America Civil War printed during and at the end of the war (1862 and 1866 respecively).

Today my mother took me out for the day to a couple library sales. I didn't find anything as rare as that. But for around $15 I obtained a bag full of great books. Among them The Phantom Tollbooth, The Indianapolis, and a couple volumes by Winston Churchill. My mother found a book for me that I had never heard of and which I am looking forward to reading. It is fairy stories from all over the world. From what I saw I think it will be a fresh dose of imagination for me... but that book is at my parents' house because I forgot to take it out of her car when she brought me home. Oh well, I'll get it tomorrow (-:

4 comments:

Star-Dreamer said...

Oh, I've done that before.

I found an old copy of "Through the Looking Glass" at a second hand store several years back. I finally decided to read it this year, went and looked up the publishing date... it's 100 years old this very year. How strange is that?

Hope you have fun reading your new book; it sounds like it could be a very good one. :)

Anonymous said...

I saw a stack of books on the table and I was SOOO envious!! (These were Brian's!) Haven't been to a good library sale in ages and ages! Glad you had fun!

Love
The "other" Mom
:)

Unknown said...

Oh I love library book sales... funny, I always tried to find Walter Farley books too. And I was always on the lookout for anything Tolkien or C.S. Lewis!

My sister has a special knack for finding the gems in the junk when sorting through piles upon piles of books. It's amazing. I'm still trying to figure out how she does it!

Araken said...

The Phantom Tollbooth is worth its weight in gold.

I found an eighteen ninety-eight copy of Silas Marner to-day.

WELCOME TO THE WRITING SITE OF SCOTT APPLETON

"Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones." -Proverbs 16:24

In a world where morality is forsaken and Christ neglected, wholesome books are uncommon. The themes of my writing are love, self-sacrifice, and honor.

I see my generation turning from God to the gods of this world. I see homes torn apart in the pursuit of pleasure and self-gratification. Children are murdered by the millions every year . . . without ever seeing the world outside their mothers' wombs. Through fiction I strive to encourage those who are willing, to stand against these things and be heroes and heroines; chivalrous, gentle, full of righteous indignation, and the fear and love of their Creator.