Sunday, September 24th, 2006...8:38 pm
A different day at the Fair
Ampersand Duck has posted about the first rush of excitement the Lifeline book fair brings – but I wouldn’t know about that, having not made it until late this afternoon, well and truly the business end.
She was met with a huge queue, which had eased somewhat:
Instead I had to battle the book gutses on their way out:
These were by no means the gutsiest of the gutses – I saw people filling minivans.
And inside was more like this than the literary cornucopia she described:
After I little while, Duck found me – and a little later we ran into Mindy – doing her second bookfair for the weekend (not in the least habit forming).
Still, treasures remained:
Nah, didn’t buy that one. Or these – BOOBS! as Sage would say:
This reminded me of the sad state of literature for young people in the 1980s:
The end of the last day is buy a bag for $2 and fill it for $15. This is my bag with Duck’s last minute special effort, bless her. I am SO good at jamming stuff in that bag.
If you want the full list – and Kamahl pictures – you’ll have to go over the fold.
Vinyl:
Three bags full and “Rhyme and Rhythm: Poems and Songs for Children”
Four disc World of Opera
Four disc Let’s go Latin: 50 Latin American Favourites for Listening and Dancing
10 disc 120 Greatest Hit Songs from Broadway
Festival of Early Music, Early Music Consort of London
Kamahl Around the World!
Symphonies for The Suppers of the King
Palestrina, Mozart Missa
Treasury of Gregorian Chant Vol 2
Eddie Calvert 20 Golden Trumpet Greats
Resphigi: Ancient Airs and Dances for Lute
Music at the Courts of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I (The Polyphonic Ensemble of the French Radio and Television Service – how’s that for a band name?)
Paper:
Some old kids books – Alice Gets a New Look (1964) and On Our Farm (copyright 1932)
Pet books – Know your Dalmatian, How to Raise and Train a Poodle, Enjoying your Goldfish
Gideon Haigh – Australian Cricket Anecdotes
Margaret Drabble – The Middle Ground
Jessica Anderson – Tirra Lirra by the River
Cassandra Pybus – Till Apples Grow on an Orange Tree
Breyten Breytenbach – The True Confessions of an Albino Terrorist
Janet Matthews – The two worlds of Jimmie Barker
Alexander Harris – The Emigrant Family
Inga Clendinnen – A Celebration
David Malouf – A Celebration
Cookbooks (I collect ‘em):
Tess Mallos – The Made in Australia Food Book
Doris McFerran Townsend – Culinary Crafting: The Art of Garnishing and Decorating Food
William Wallace Irwin – The Garrulous Gourmet
Ruth Morgan – Cooking for Compliments
Magazines:
Transvestite World & Romance (“All models over 18″ – no frickin’ kidding!)
Oh my lordy a big pile of National Geographics for cutting up.
22 Comments
September 24th, 2006 at 8:56 pm
I don’t think that last photo above the fold was quite clear — there were two bags there, one stuffed with Zoe’s finds, the other stuffed two-thirds full of my late finds with the rest of the space accommodating as *many* National Geographics as Zoe could get in there. Thank goodness we had the physical evidence of Z’s preg-tum to get them to let us take the trolley out to the car! I couldn’t have lifted the bags.
I love that last desperate hour of the sale. I found lots of stuff, but won’t be able to blog it until I get my work quota done tonight — poo bum.
September 24th, 2006 at 9:41 pm
I read somewhere that putting boobs on the cover of a literary magazine increases sales by about 20%.
September 24th, 2006 at 9:41 pm
And the photo is not just unclear but fails to indicate really just how much stuff you can get in one of those bags if you’re of a mind too.
And National Geographics are important, goddamit.
September 24th, 2006 at 9:44 pm
Laura, why does that not surprise me? Hang on, perhaps that’s the answer to the dwindling sales of literary magazines and the like…tits ladies and gentleman, and lots of ‘em.
September 25th, 2006 at 8:49 am
I filled three of those big green woolies bags with mostly hardcover upgrades. My damn fingers are still cracking and popping.
So ladies, have you backed your pony for the weirdest book comp? I’ve got a doozie…
September 25th, 2006 at 9:02 am
Only 20%, Laura?
As for the weirdest book, I had tragically forgotten, but if magazines are allowed “Transvestite World & Romance” is a shoe-in. The personals are heartbreaking.
September 25th, 2006 at 10:06 am
I’ll post mine tonight. Ladies, do your worst…
September 25th, 2006 at 11:37 am
Can I put in a request for some more talk about your cook book collection? Do you have particular criteria for you collecting? Do you cook from every one of them? What kind of cuisine is in Cooking for Compliments? Loved that title, ‘I’m just cookin’ for the glory!’.
What a shame musicians don’t have the expansive canvas of the vinyl album cover anymore. That Kamahl spread brought a nostalgic tear to my eye.
September 25th, 2006 at 11:53 am
I was actually thinking about Library Thinging-them, Galaxy, because I think you get to catalogue the first 200 free.
But I think I’d be running pretty close to 200, if not over, and I don’t need another internut tool. Even as I type this the bad fairy is on my other shoulder saying “Go on!” Perhaps it’s a vague embarrassment at the rest of the book “collection”. I grew up in a household of voracious readers with two small bookshelves – books would get bought up, read, spread about, returned, then into the box and off to the 2nd hand shop for credit on a box of new reads. Consequently I’m not very attached to very many books. (Would you believe the bad fairy just told me I could Library Thing my four year old’s books too?)
September 25th, 2006 at 12:20 pm
That little voice got you into the trouble you’re in now Missy.
September 25th, 2006 at 12:25 pm
Done, and DONE
September 25th, 2006 at 12:29 pm
I love the idea of a garrulous gourmet. Where’s Anthony?
September 25th, 2006 at 12:43 pm
How could you walk past Hilltop House?
The illustration speaks to me on a number of levels.
That man needs to Know his Dalmatian (or Storybook bitzer) better
September 25th, 2006 at 12:46 pm
You would have GOT to Hilltop House, boynton – there were huge piles of boys and girls annuals to fight through first.
September 25th, 2006 at 12:48 pm
Australian Book Review have just begun publishing personal ads. I cannot post about this on my own blog or Sars but oh how badly did I want to…
September 25th, 2006 at 12:54 pm
But why ever not, Laura? I thought you and Dorian seemed so happy?
September 25th, 2006 at 1:10 pm
“Mommy what’s AIDS” looks like a real hoot.
The worst part about going to book fairs is having to drag one’s purchases home (particularly difficult if you don’t drive).
PS – Idol was boring last night, although the boy with the dreamy eyes won me over, again.
September 25th, 2006 at 3:08 pm
[...] In a trend Mindy noted had become almost a meme, a few of us have been blogging our book purchases at recent dirt-cheap sales. Ampersand Duck and Zoe also supplied photos to add to the vicarious experience of bagging a bargain. It has been interesting to see the choices of others (sometimes with jealousy, sometimes with WTF? and a raised eyebrow). [...]
September 25th, 2006 at 3:16 pm
Laura, just read them and I share your desire to blog them, badly. Considering I do the flight between Sydney and Coffs semi-regularly the first one has me intrigued.
September 26th, 2006 at 9:53 am
Don’t you love that the author of the AIDS book was J. Dodge?
September 26th, 2006 at 4:37 pm
Why not do a guest post under pseudonym on LP?
October 1st, 2006 at 10:15 am
The scary part was realising that my dad owns that Kamahl record – and its quite possible that i know all the songs *sigh*
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