This (these?) is the reason I didn’t get much blogging done at all this weekend. We went to the annual Save The Children Booksale at UWA this weekend, not once… but twice! (In this instance, doing it twice was definitely indulgent and not particularly self-improving.)
The first time we went was Friday night when the booksale opened and then again on Sunday afternoon, during the derby. Note to self: going to this booksale on opening night is not a very good idea. The hall where the sale was held was completely packed with frenzied bargain hunters. Definitely no room to take a picture. There was barely room to turn around (if you were heading in one direction you really had to stick to it, or risk the ire of the people around you if you decided to alter your course), and the place was rich with a thousand different perfume and perspiration odours (book fossicking is hot work!). I had a brief moment of panic when I saw all those people but that faded fast as I got engrossed with browsing.
Going again on Sunday afternoon was a good idea as the pace was a lot more leisurely and there was actually room to breathe and scan the room. I deliberately chose to go during the derby, on the theory that many people would stay home to watch or go to the game – Perth is a two-team AFL team (the West Coast Eagles and the Fremantle Dockers) and this game, between the two local teams, was almost the biggest match of the season (the biggest will be Grand Final, I guess). I’m not a fan at all and couldn’t care less. I’m not sure if it made all that much difference as the hall was still pretty busy, but I did enjoy being able to saunter from table to table. They definitely refresh the tables with fresh stock, as I spotted a few of the volunteers bringing out boxes of books and emptying them, and I found lots of great titles that I didn’t spot the first time.
Some of my finds from both visits, highest WOOT! factor first:
- Ci hui è¾å½™ Dictionary, compiled by 陸師æˆLu Shicheng. This is the red volume in the bottom right of the picture. Have I mentioned that next to fountain pens, I love dictionaries?
- Lin Yutang’s Chinese-English dictionary of modern usage. I’ve used this dictionary a few times – Lin’s Romanisation is idiosyncratic, but he lists phrases not defined in mainland Chinese dictionaries. I’m not sure if it’s still in print.
- Xiang shu qing yuan書香情緣. edited by æ¢è¯å¥ Liang Huajian. I’m not sure how to translate this title: “Scholarly destiny”? “Love of scholarship”? In any case it’s a collection of essays by Chinese librarians.
- Plotting and writing suspense fiction by Patricia Highsmith. She is one of my favourite authors of psychological fiction, so I look forward to seeing what tips she provides.
- KÄ•budayaan sa-pintas lalu by Mahmud Ahmad. The title translates to Culture at a glance and is a collection of essays on traditional Malay culture, including adat turun tanah (is this still done? a ritual for the first time a baby is allowed out of the home and to touch its feet on the ground).
- Voicing our visions: writings by women artists edited by Mara R. Witzling. Includes sections by Mary Cassatt, Georgia O’Keeffe, Frida Kahlo, Leonora Carrington and Judy Chicago. These are just the artists whose names I know; I look forward to reading about the others. Should be inspiring.
- Succulents in cultivation (including cacti) by Vera Higgins. I wonder if it will teach me how to transplant cacti without killing them…
- The Cluetrain Manifesto. I’ve already read a library copy but I like the idea of having access to my own copy, just because. Thanks to the Rambling Librarian for mentioning it to me in the first place!
- Gao Village by Mobo C.F. Gao. Account of life in a Chinese village by a man who grew up there. I’m curious to see how a country boy ended up in a Tasmanian university.
- Granta 82: Life’s Like That. I always love these anthologies when I come across them.
The smallest pile on the left in the picture consists of the books M got. Between us we bought sixty books! The average price was about $2.50 per book which is a bargain by any reckoning, I think. I’ve catalogued them all, of course, and I’ve also finished the final couple of shelves of books that were waiting to be done. Yep, it’s been a very bookish weekend.
Thanks, Dee, for the pointer – I wouldn’t have realised the Booksale was on if you hadn’t mentioned it!
6 Comments
Ah, i see a Jeffrey Steingarten in the pile. Have you read his other one, ‘The Man Who Ate Everything’? It’s one of my favourites.
Looks like you had a very productive weekend!
Heh, did you scrutinise the picture, or something? 🙂 Yes, that’s It must’ve been something I ate. Haven’t read the first one, but have been meaning to, so when I spotted that I just had to get it.
Productive? Ya, but not in the areas they should’ve been. Like, I still have my two presentations to do for Thursday – rehearsal. Eeep!
A very productive weekend I would say! Books are an investment [she says pompously].
Fossicking. I love that word.
You’re quite unfair to my finds, theres at least another half dozen books that aren’t in my pile in the photo!
Favorite book that I found:
Not having children
by Helen Marshall
Australia 1993 Not having children
From the back cover: “Not having children affirms that the couples who choose not to have children are not abnormal or immoral or irresponsible. For them, parenthood entails a profound commitment that they are not prepared to make at certain stages of their lives and careers… [It] examines the backgrounds of such people, the ways in which they assimilate other people’s ideas about families, and the long-term consequences of their decision not to have children.â€
It was, Penny. And I had such fun, too! 🙂
Me too, Tom, especially when it’s used in the same sentence as the word “books”. 😉
Hehe M – I just thought you should speak for yourself (as you have). I think my favourite of your finds was that Not having children book, too – because it looks very interesting and well-reasoned.