Tuesday, February 24, 2015

book sale finds and musings

Last week, being frigid and filled with snowy weather was also the annual book sale that I and other friends attend hoping to find good books to help us cope with cabin fever and lengthening book lists. I took some photos of some of the books I found, first with the kids and then later in the evening by myself. 

The books are given a wipe down to remove any griminess and then I usually try to safely remove sticker residue before the books are then scanned into my Library Thing account. Then the books are distributed throughout the house: some up to Laura's room, Seth's room and my room. Others come to the shelves in the living room, one of which seen below holds part of our Dr. Seuss (and friends) collection.  The rest are stored on the basement shelves awaiting their turn to be called into service upstairs. Yes, like just like Downton Abbey except without the period costumes and the enthralling drama.

I picked out most of the books, with Laura and Seth adding a few to our basket-box that I might not have picked if I was alone. But in the end, we come away with only a few books that I consider junk food for their brains and everyone is happy. And yes, I am willing to concede that the Porsche 911 book that I impulsively plucked from a shelf on my way to the book counter table may be junk food for me, but it's not like that's the only thing I'll read this month.  Honest. (It in some strange way replaces the childhood poster from my bedroom that disappeared from my possessions so long ago I cannot remember why or how it went. I earned that Porsche poster by selling a certain number of magazine subscriptions or some other glorious fundraising scheme I was required to participate in. It was a gorgeous red model on a glossy black background and hanging that on my formerly pink, then white, now non-existent bedroom wall made me feel that I knew something about cars. I knew what I liked if nothing else.)

And finally in the interest of full disclosure, I add in some of the other books that didn't get their picture taken, lest you think I skimped on my book purchases and also my rumpled, indigo-stained list from my back jean pocket to prove I had a purpose to my shopping. And then, at long last, the real end of this post with a few photos of some of the aforementioned book spaces in our house.
















Seth also picked up most of the books in Lemony Snicket's  A Series of Unfortunate Events of which he has already listened to several in the series. I also found the same piano theory books Seth is using now, with no writing inside which will be good for future piano students in our house.
I bought us a like new French to English dictionary and found a copy of the grammar book my French-mentoring friend Kathleen told me to get. And I added to our C.S. Lewis nonfiction writings as well which are usually hard to find there.  Also we found a few more picture books to add to our collection from Robert McCloskey, Jan Brett and others.






6 comments:

  1. What a wonderful bunch of books!

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  2. I had "More Riddles" by Bennett Cerf as a child! I haven't seen that book in ages! FUN!

    Looks like you did well at your sale. :) I'm curious about which Lewis books you bought..

    I've just joined Library Thing, but I'm not sure quite how to use it yet or if it's worth it. I really want a nice way to catalog our books, but sometimes I just think a spreadsheet would work just as well. I've also seen that people use Goodreads for that, but I'm not sure if I like that idea. Any thoughts? What do you like about Library Thing and do you scan things in with your phone or something? So sorry about all the questions! I know you're busy, so no worries on getting back to me. Really! :) I can just Google it. ;)

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  3. the two C.S. Lewis books were The Four Loves and Mere Christianity. Library Thing says I have two of Mere Christianity, so I assume the other copy is somewhere tucked away on my husband's shelves, but I haven't seen it for a while. We don't read a lot of nonfiction Lewis, but I like to have them ready for when we want them.
    I paid $20 for a forever Library Thing(LT) account which means I supposedly can add as many books to my account as I want. I had that account before Good Reads(GR) became so popular, so I still use LT as a database for my books and GR for my more social book lists and reviews.
    I downloaded the LT scanner app onto our tablet which allows you to scan the barcodes on most books. But beware, some books have two barcodes and only one is accurate. And of course older, vintage books(my favorite) cannot be scanned and so I have to manually enter all those. I have a tagging system in place to help me keep track of series and authors and subjects. I had manually entered hundreds of books before we got our tablet and could scan books. What you don't do for your books when you love them. ;)
    You can create spreadsheets with your LT account, but I never have.
    Anyways I hope that answers some of your questions. We have a lot of books, so I have tried to keep up with cataloging them in the hopes that helps me remember what we have and don't have. I do occasionally buy duplicates, but it's usually on purpose. :)

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    Replies
    1. Thank you so much! Unfortunately I don't have a way to scan books into LT, but I can import my list from Goodreads, so I'll start there.

      I have a few extra copies of Lewis' books, too. ;o)

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    2. You can always buy an external scanner from LT for $15 if you like. Here's the link if you're interested.
      http://www.librarything.com/cuecat

      Delete
  4. Oh, you. What a haul!!! I am jealous. You need more book shelves!

    Guns Germs and Steel - That was on Jason's 2014 reading list... He and Shane can talk.....

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