Well, no book sales planned for me in the upcoming weekend, as I have work and family obligations. Had I not, I probably would have tried to get to the Granby Public Library for their sale (never been there), or if I felt like a slightly longer drive, to what sounds like an awesome sale at the Guilford Free Library. Which kind of sucks--I'm supposed to go to Madison with my family next week for an event, and Guilford is not that far a stretch from Madison. Had it been just one more weekend away, I would have tried to put in some time at the Guilford sale.
Ah well. I guess I'll be putting in some time shelving what I got from the last weekend, although I need more shelves first!
Monday, September 21, 2009
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Sept. 19 - Douglas Library Sale (Hebron)
Today's second sale was at the Douglas Library in Hebron. I started going to this library's sales in March and was pleasantly surprised--Hebron seems like a little town, but it's a little town with people who read good fiction and apparently REALLY like their children's books!
There's a fairly large parking lot immediately next to the library building (the library is a bit hidden off the street from Route 66 so keep your eyes open). Although the lot was almost full when I got there around 11:30, I found a place to wedge into. Went in with two tote bags--as it turns out, I should have brought more! Although this library has sales every three months, I've found it to be surprisingly consistent in its quality; apparently re-stocking isn't a big problem. I bought more for myself at this sale than I have at the last three, which mostly skewed toward the classroom library (not that I didn't stock up for that here either!).
The trade paperback section was quite good--this sale does have its own Oprah section, but that's OK. Lots of hardcover fiction here, including a pretty broad literary-fiction section (as opposed to the mystery, thriller, romance, etc., which get their own table). Nonfiction is OK--I don't remember seeing much of a biography section, but maybe I just missed that. Lots of cookbooks and health/diet books. CD selection was surprisingly broad, and I didn't fnd myself remembering a lot of its content from previous sales, other than the ubiquitous Backstreet Boys and O-Town. Lots of videotapes; not many DVDs.
The children's section is freaking awesome. This sale usually has more for older kids than average, and they're displayed in a nice spread on the table. (My one quibble is that these books aren't always very recent, although that seems common to children's book sales--my kids, however, seem to prefer stuff that's been written within the last five or ten years to the more "classic" books from my childhood or before, which are often overrepresented.) The little-kid section was amazingly broad--I've been stocking up the classroom library from this sale, but today seemed particularly good (other teachers cleaning out their classroom libraries and rotating the stock, maybe?). Lots of leveled readers, which I always appreciate, and LOTS of good science and nature books. Most seemed to be in pretty tight cover condition, without a lot of library discards or writing inside (a couple covers have some schmutz which I know I can attack with a damp paper towel or Goo Gone--I picked up a couple collections of Jack Prelutsky's poems with this in mind).
I admit to having to sift through quite a bit of cartoon-character lit this time--if you or your kid are into Dora, Franklin the Turtle, Thomas the Tank Engine or Rugrats, this sale might be up your alley. The staff may want to be a little more careful in their sorting process--at least two copies of Goodnight Bush sneaked into the children's section, which might be a little disturbing to unsuspecting parents/kids (yes, I did buy one of these for my husband, and yes, our kids were a little weirded out by say, the representation of Abu Ghraib--aka the "pile of butts").
Everything at this sale was very cheap--they do charge $1 for the adult trade paperbacks rather than 50 cents, but that didn't bother me. All kids' books are a quarter (hardback and paperback) and CDs are only $1. The cashiers are cheerful and count everything up quickly. They were very forthcoming with additional bags (I needed one!) and information about the library sale schedule. I told them I'll be back in November.
Best Finds: Blue is the Colour by the Beautiful South! (I have a hard enough time finding people who know who this band IS, let alone finding their albums secondhand!) Also, Dar Williams' Mortal City (mostly for my husband). In books for me--Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides and Magical Thinking by Augusten Burroughs. Two new Uncle John's Bathroom Readers--these are a big hit with my family, including my generally-reluctant-to-read stepson. For the classroom library, a great little series of DK kids' books, answering questions about food, colors, nature, etc., and another great little series showing the life cycle of a frog, maple tree, ladybug, etc. This was a GOOD day!
There's a fairly large parking lot immediately next to the library building (the library is a bit hidden off the street from Route 66 so keep your eyes open). Although the lot was almost full when I got there around 11:30, I found a place to wedge into. Went in with two tote bags--as it turns out, I should have brought more! Although this library has sales every three months, I've found it to be surprisingly consistent in its quality; apparently re-stocking isn't a big problem. I bought more for myself at this sale than I have at the last three, which mostly skewed toward the classroom library (not that I didn't stock up for that here either!).
The trade paperback section was quite good--this sale does have its own Oprah section, but that's OK. Lots of hardcover fiction here, including a pretty broad literary-fiction section (as opposed to the mystery, thriller, romance, etc., which get their own table). Nonfiction is OK--I don't remember seeing much of a biography section, but maybe I just missed that. Lots of cookbooks and health/diet books. CD selection was surprisingly broad, and I didn't fnd myself remembering a lot of its content from previous sales, other than the ubiquitous Backstreet Boys and O-Town. Lots of videotapes; not many DVDs.
The children's section is freaking awesome. This sale usually has more for older kids than average, and they're displayed in a nice spread on the table. (My one quibble is that these books aren't always very recent, although that seems common to children's book sales--my kids, however, seem to prefer stuff that's been written within the last five or ten years to the more "classic" books from my childhood or before, which are often overrepresented.) The little-kid section was amazingly broad--I've been stocking up the classroom library from this sale, but today seemed particularly good (other teachers cleaning out their classroom libraries and rotating the stock, maybe?). Lots of leveled readers, which I always appreciate, and LOTS of good science and nature books. Most seemed to be in pretty tight cover condition, without a lot of library discards or writing inside (a couple covers have some schmutz which I know I can attack with a damp paper towel or Goo Gone--I picked up a couple collections of Jack Prelutsky's poems with this in mind).
I admit to having to sift through quite a bit of cartoon-character lit this time--if you or your kid are into Dora, Franklin the Turtle, Thomas the Tank Engine or Rugrats, this sale might be up your alley. The staff may want to be a little more careful in their sorting process--at least two copies of Goodnight Bush sneaked into the children's section, which might be a little disturbing to unsuspecting parents/kids (yes, I did buy one of these for my husband, and yes, our kids were a little weirded out by say, the representation of Abu Ghraib--aka the "pile of butts").
Everything at this sale was very cheap--they do charge $1 for the adult trade paperbacks rather than 50 cents, but that didn't bother me. All kids' books are a quarter (hardback and paperback) and CDs are only $1. The cashiers are cheerful and count everything up quickly. They were very forthcoming with additional bags (I needed one!) and information about the library sale schedule. I told them I'll be back in November.
Best Finds: Blue is the Colour by the Beautiful South! (I have a hard enough time finding people who know who this band IS, let alone finding their albums secondhand!) Also, Dar Williams' Mortal City (mostly for my husband). In books for me--Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides and Magical Thinking by Augusten Burroughs. Two new Uncle John's Bathroom Readers--these are a big hit with my family, including my generally-reluctant-to-read stepson. For the classroom library, a great little series of DK kids' books, answering questions about food, colors, nature, etc., and another great little series showing the life cycle of a frog, maple tree, ladybug, etc. This was a GOOD day!
Sept. 19 - Mary Cheney Library Sale (Manchester)
Got to the sale at Mary Cheney Library at around quarter to ten. Parking at this library is challenging in general--Manchester is my former town, and people were talking about needing a larger library building and more parking before I left five years ago. I'm fond of the building and might be sad to see it go, but the parking is definitely a need. I should have known better to even try driving through the little lot in front of the building, but I did. No spaces there, of course (although there was, front and center, a car with "Just Married" on its rear window. Now that's dedication!). There's a small public parking lot behind Paul's Paint, across the street, which is where I generally park for this sale, and that's where I ended up today. (Make sure you park in the public lot--NOT directly in the small lot behind Paul's, which belongs to him.)
If you want to go to this sale, don't go in the main doors to the library--go in around the side. The sale usually takes up the better part of the large meeting room under the children's section.
I mentioned earlier that I'd wanted to find out if the great CD selection at this library's May sale was just a fluke. Unfortunately, that seemed to be the case. Today--still several boxes of CDs, but a mighty lot of them were CDs that I saw at the last sale. As it was, I picked up two CDs that I'd waffled on the last time, but that was it--didn't seem to be many significant additions. This sale usually has a lot of videotapes and few DVDs.
Children's books were spread out in a large pile on the floor. Again, props for the accessibility to small children, but on occasion that made me wince (small children were walking on them!). Moreover, the lack of boxes made it very difficult to browse in any systematic or tidy way, and my knees couldn't take it for very long. As I've been sorting and shelving last week's haul, I realized again how extraordinarily clean the Simsbury books were--this bunch was not comparable. Lots of library discards, and a lot of other donated books in ratty condition. I ended up with 12 to 15 children's books. I suspect this was like my experience at Glastonbury last week--this library also had a sale in May, at which I bought a whole lot more, and just hadn't hadn't had time to refuel to full capacity.
This sale has a lot of older books and library discards as far as adult fiction goes also. This library was far lighter on the chick lit than the others I've seen lately, for some reason, and not much in the way of Oprah books (not necessarily a bad thing!). Nonfiction in this one is definitely on the lighter side--maybe two tables total, as opposed to three (?) tables of fiction and the mass-market paperbacks laid out on the floor around the room's far wall.
For some reason, this sale opts for a group of young guys (library pages?) to hang out on the sidelines of the sale and fill out forms to carry over to the cashiers' table. This wouldn't be a bad system if it weren't for the fact that there are no tables to unload your bags on--dumping on the floor is kind of awkward. Prices are pretty cheap--kids' books are a quarter, hardbacks and trade paperbacks are a buck and so are CDs. A sign hung from the ceiling behind the cashiers' table that said that the Friends of the Library didn't want to take checks for less than $25 and that ID was needed to write a check. I was, in fact, buying less than $25 worth of stuff, but I didn't say anything about the sign and the cashiers didn't make any objection to my check (a lucky thing, since I didn't have cash). I did, however, have ID (a lesson I've learned in the past--previously, I didn't bring my wallet in with my checkbook because I didn't want to carry it around; at some libraries, this is OK, but at some you get the fish-eye if you try to write a check without your driver's license).
All told, good but not great.
Best Finds: Nice hardback copy of Steve Almond's The Evil B.B. Chow & Other Stories (I'm almost surprised it wasn't signed; Hartford loves Steve Almond and he's been here several times). A collection of pasta recipes, always a great need for my family.
If you want to go to this sale, don't go in the main doors to the library--go in around the side. The sale usually takes up the better part of the large meeting room under the children's section.
I mentioned earlier that I'd wanted to find out if the great CD selection at this library's May sale was just a fluke. Unfortunately, that seemed to be the case. Today--still several boxes of CDs, but a mighty lot of them were CDs that I saw at the last sale. As it was, I picked up two CDs that I'd waffled on the last time, but that was it--didn't seem to be many significant additions. This sale usually has a lot of videotapes and few DVDs.
Children's books were spread out in a large pile on the floor. Again, props for the accessibility to small children, but on occasion that made me wince (small children were walking on them!). Moreover, the lack of boxes made it very difficult to browse in any systematic or tidy way, and my knees couldn't take it for very long. As I've been sorting and shelving last week's haul, I realized again how extraordinarily clean the Simsbury books were--this bunch was not comparable. Lots of library discards, and a lot of other donated books in ratty condition. I ended up with 12 to 15 children's books. I suspect this was like my experience at Glastonbury last week--this library also had a sale in May, at which I bought a whole lot more, and just hadn't hadn't had time to refuel to full capacity.
This sale has a lot of older books and library discards as far as adult fiction goes also. This library was far lighter on the chick lit than the others I've seen lately, for some reason, and not much in the way of Oprah books (not necessarily a bad thing!). Nonfiction in this one is definitely on the lighter side--maybe two tables total, as opposed to three (?) tables of fiction and the mass-market paperbacks laid out on the floor around the room's far wall.
For some reason, this sale opts for a group of young guys (library pages?) to hang out on the sidelines of the sale and fill out forms to carry over to the cashiers' table. This wouldn't be a bad system if it weren't for the fact that there are no tables to unload your bags on--dumping on the floor is kind of awkward. Prices are pretty cheap--kids' books are a quarter, hardbacks and trade paperbacks are a buck and so are CDs. A sign hung from the ceiling behind the cashiers' table that said that the Friends of the Library didn't want to take checks for less than $25 and that ID was needed to write a check. I was, in fact, buying less than $25 worth of stuff, but I didn't say anything about the sign and the cashiers didn't make any objection to my check (a lucky thing, since I didn't have cash). I did, however, have ID (a lesson I've learned in the past--previously, I didn't bring my wallet in with my checkbook because I didn't want to carry it around; at some libraries, this is OK, but at some you get the fish-eye if you try to write a check without your driver's license).
All told, good but not great.
Best Finds: Nice hardback copy of Steve Almond's The Evil B.B. Chow & Other Stories (I'm almost surprised it wasn't signed; Hartford loves Steve Almond and he's been here several times). A collection of pasta recipes, always a great need for my family.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Coming Up This Saturday - Sept. 19
I'll be hitting two book sales this Saturday:
Mary Cheney Library (Manchester) - 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. I'm going to this one to see if the PHENOMENAL CD selection I encountered at their sale back in May was purely a fluke. Seriously, I think I ended up with about 20 CDs from that one--I don't know if they regularly collect such a cool haul or if someone with exactly my taste dumped a whole load at one time.
Douglas Library (Hebron) - 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. This is the third sale at this library that I've gone to this year. Good children's book selection; lots of adult fiction.
Both sales promise about 5,000 books--on the small side, but a good time nonetheless. I'll be reviewing afterwards, so tune in.
Mary Cheney Library (Manchester) - 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. I'm going to this one to see if the PHENOMENAL CD selection I encountered at their sale back in May was purely a fluke. Seriously, I think I ended up with about 20 CDs from that one--I don't know if they regularly collect such a cool haul or if someone with exactly my taste dumped a whole load at one time.
Douglas Library (Hebron) - 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. This is the third sale at this library that I've gone to this year. Good children's book selection; lots of adult fiction.
Both sales promise about 5,000 books--on the small side, but a good time nonetheless. I'll be reviewing afterwards, so tune in.
Sept. 12 - Welles-Turner Memorial Library Sale (Glastonbury)
My second venture last Saturday was to the book sale at the Welles-Turner Memorial Library in Glastonbury. I should state clearly and unequivocally that this entry should not be taken as a canonical review of this library's sales, as I've been before and had much better experiences.
I arrived late--around 1:30 p.m.--partially because I spent the morning at the Simsbury sale and partially because I got stuck in nasty I-84 traffic for about half an hour (rainy-morning accident). The latter led to my arrival in a fairly foul mood. I found a nice parking space in the public lot across the street from the library, where I've previously parked for this sale.
The Glastonbury library sale is typically held outdoors on the lawn of the library. This can be marvelous if it's nice weather, but this particular day was NOT nice weather. Their rain venue is the parking garage at the bank next door to the library, so I headed down there. While doing so, I spotted something I hadn't spotted before: the fact that there's ample parking right behind the library, which negates the need to park where I parked and scuttle across the street (not a fun feat upon a return trip to your car, if laden with books). Therefore--that's something for folks to be aware of: turn into the parking lot between the library and the bank.
The parking garage as a rain venue has the advantages of keeping folks completely dry and providing plenty of room to spread out the book tables; however, the down side is that the lighting in there is abysmal--so, although this may sound a little ridiculous, you may want to bring a small flashlight to aid in quick scanning of titles if you know the rain venue will be in use, particularly if your vision is dimming with age. There was a table of coffee and goodies on the sidelines (I didn't partake of any goodies so am not completely sure if they were complimentary or if this was a bake sale to augment the book sale--either way, it's a nice touch).
This library had another book sale several months ago (my memory is saying May, although I may be a little off). I believe that that's part of the reason that the selection really seemed to suffer this time--just not enough time between sales to "refuel" properly. My own lateness to the sale may also have contributed--it's possible that the books were picked over pretty well before my arrival. The hardcover fiction selection was pretty nice--spanned several tables--but I didn't find anything particularly desirable. Trade paperback fiction was very skimpy; some mass-market stuff for sci-fi, mystery, etc. Most of the genres seemed a little skimpy also--seemed like everyone and his nephew wanted to look at the Humor section so it took me several tries to get there, but when I did it was completely not worth it. The general nonfiction spread was pretty good--lots of political commentary from both sides. CD selection was good in quantity--about six boxes--but didn't particularly suit my taste (lots of movie soundtracks at this one, for some reason, along with the ubiquitous Backstreet Boys). The last sale had a LOT of VHS tapes, many of which carried over to this sale (about three tables worth) and a few DVDs.
The Glastonbury sales use a technique for children's book selling that I'm of two minds about. Cardboard boxes of little kids' books are typically spread out on large tarps on the ground. For direct accessibility to little kids, this display mode is really appealing, and that's something I don't see often at book sales. Most of the time, little ones have to struggle to peer over the edge of tables, and often books for them are displayed in cardboard boxes out of necessity (i.e., their slimness won't support the horizontal line-up that most adult book displays use), creating yet another visual/height barrier. With the box-on-ground method, kids can look for themselves easily. However, in contrast, it's mighty hard on older folks' knees or backs, and I have to wonder how many adults are the ones doing the real browsing and purchasing (either for their own kids or for classroom libraries like mine). This time, the kids' books seemed very picked over (about six boxes still on display, most of which were only half-full). Again, I'm not sure if this resulted from lots of earlier sale-goers or from the short time between sales--last time, I got a TON of children's books from this sale.
I ran into a friend while perusing the children's books (although it took me a minute for who she was to really register, mostly because of the terrible lighting!). She said that I was actually the one responsible for her being there, because I'd mentioned on my Facebook page that the sale was going on. Rather flattering, although I'm not sure she found too much either.
Sale staff were pleasant and attentive, although the one I dealt with didn't know who checks should be made out to. Pricing was pretty standard (DVD prices possibly a little high, at $5 a pop; CDs were $2, and I think all kids' books were 50 cents.) This time I left the sale with only one bag in toto--probably about eight kids' books, a CD and a DVD. That's very low, for me. I'll be back because I know of this sale's reputation, but were I a first-time goer, I may well have been more discouraged.
Best Finds: Innocence Mission's first album, which is rather hard to come by. A nice children's book, Ten Amazing People and How They Changed the World--I'm always interested in multiculturalism and humanitarianism for the classroom library.
I arrived late--around 1:30 p.m.--partially because I spent the morning at the Simsbury sale and partially because I got stuck in nasty I-84 traffic for about half an hour (rainy-morning accident). The latter led to my arrival in a fairly foul mood. I found a nice parking space in the public lot across the street from the library, where I've previously parked for this sale.
The Glastonbury library sale is typically held outdoors on the lawn of the library. This can be marvelous if it's nice weather, but this particular day was NOT nice weather. Their rain venue is the parking garage at the bank next door to the library, so I headed down there. While doing so, I spotted something I hadn't spotted before: the fact that there's ample parking right behind the library, which negates the need to park where I parked and scuttle across the street (not a fun feat upon a return trip to your car, if laden with books). Therefore--that's something for folks to be aware of: turn into the parking lot between the library and the bank.
The parking garage as a rain venue has the advantages of keeping folks completely dry and providing plenty of room to spread out the book tables; however, the down side is that the lighting in there is abysmal--so, although this may sound a little ridiculous, you may want to bring a small flashlight to aid in quick scanning of titles if you know the rain venue will be in use, particularly if your vision is dimming with age. There was a table of coffee and goodies on the sidelines (I didn't partake of any goodies so am not completely sure if they were complimentary or if this was a bake sale to augment the book sale--either way, it's a nice touch).
This library had another book sale several months ago (my memory is saying May, although I may be a little off). I believe that that's part of the reason that the selection really seemed to suffer this time--just not enough time between sales to "refuel" properly. My own lateness to the sale may also have contributed--it's possible that the books were picked over pretty well before my arrival. The hardcover fiction selection was pretty nice--spanned several tables--but I didn't find anything particularly desirable. Trade paperback fiction was very skimpy; some mass-market stuff for sci-fi, mystery, etc. Most of the genres seemed a little skimpy also--seemed like everyone and his nephew wanted to look at the Humor section so it took me several tries to get there, but when I did it was completely not worth it. The general nonfiction spread was pretty good--lots of political commentary from both sides. CD selection was good in quantity--about six boxes--but didn't particularly suit my taste (lots of movie soundtracks at this one, for some reason, along with the ubiquitous Backstreet Boys). The last sale had a LOT of VHS tapes, many of which carried over to this sale (about three tables worth) and a few DVDs.
The Glastonbury sales use a technique for children's book selling that I'm of two minds about. Cardboard boxes of little kids' books are typically spread out on large tarps on the ground. For direct accessibility to little kids, this display mode is really appealing, and that's something I don't see often at book sales. Most of the time, little ones have to struggle to peer over the edge of tables, and often books for them are displayed in cardboard boxes out of necessity (i.e., their slimness won't support the horizontal line-up that most adult book displays use), creating yet another visual/height barrier. With the box-on-ground method, kids can look for themselves easily. However, in contrast, it's mighty hard on older folks' knees or backs, and I have to wonder how many adults are the ones doing the real browsing and purchasing (either for their own kids or for classroom libraries like mine). This time, the kids' books seemed very picked over (about six boxes still on display, most of which were only half-full). Again, I'm not sure if this resulted from lots of earlier sale-goers or from the short time between sales--last time, I got a TON of children's books from this sale.
I ran into a friend while perusing the children's books (although it took me a minute for who she was to really register, mostly because of the terrible lighting!). She said that I was actually the one responsible for her being there, because I'd mentioned on my Facebook page that the sale was going on. Rather flattering, although I'm not sure she found too much either.
Sale staff were pleasant and attentive, although the one I dealt with didn't know who checks should be made out to. Pricing was pretty standard (DVD prices possibly a little high, at $5 a pop; CDs were $2, and I think all kids' books were 50 cents.) This time I left the sale with only one bag in toto--probably about eight kids' books, a CD and a DVD. That's very low, for me. I'll be back because I know of this sale's reputation, but were I a first-time goer, I may well have been more discouraged.
Best Finds: Innocence Mission's first album, which is rather hard to come by. A nice children's book, Ten Amazing People and How They Changed the World--I'm always interested in multiculturalism and humanitarianism for the classroom library.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Sept. 12 - Simsbury Public Library Sale
Today's book-sale run started at the Simsbury Public Library. Simsbury is about an hour's drive from my house, and I've never been to a sale there before, but this was billed as a BIG Sale at booksalefinder.com (75,000 books), so I decided I didn't want to miss it.
This was one of the rare library sales that wasn't actually at the library--it was held in the gym at Simsbury High School. In many ways, this is a plus. Parking was ample, even though some sports matches were also going on at the time. It also affords a lot of room, since the sale itself took over the entire gymnasium and the cashiers were set up in the foyer. This sale had more cashiers than I have EVER seen at a library sale, and they seemed necessary. The sale started at 9 a.m., I got there at 10:30, and when I walked in, the line of people waiting to check out wound through the entire hall, through the gym door and most of the way across the gym. From the number of folks I saw leaving with two or three full bags each, I'd guess that this sale actually did live up to its billing as a BIG sale.
Plenty left for me, though. MAJOR props to the sorting and labeling at this sale--it's not often that the books are actually alphabetized by author as well as divided by genre (well, the trade paperbacks were, at least). The genre signage was clear and easily visible--nice to have the signs on sticks rather than taped to the front of the tables where they're blocked off by browsers.
Side note: It's kind of funny--seems I'm buying fewer books for myself at book sales these days. Partially because my buying tastes and habits have changed over the years (more details on that in future posts) and partially because one of my big projects at present is building a classroom library for my husband. He's currently going to grad school for certification as an elementary ed teacher--preferably, he'll end up with Pre-K or K but his certificate will be good for up to third grade. I have a couple years head start, since he won't finish for a while yet, but I've thrown myself into it and so far have filled three shelves. At any rate, one of my primary book-saleing reasons these days is the classroom library, so my posts will probably be heavy on young children's books. One of my other foci these days is CDs; since I bought a car with a CD player I've been catching up on all the music I've missed over the past decade or so (including repurchasing an awful lot of 80s/90s stuff that I had on tape)--since I discovered library sales are often good for cheap CDs, that's been a big draw.
So. Simsbury's choices. Overall, the spread was pretty high-quality but a little conservative, which is probably appropriate for this town. Trade PB fiction had a wide spread, but (as is getting more and more common these days), I saw a lot of books I already owned or had borrowed from a library, so I only ended up with one novel. Selection was a little heavy on Oprah books and chick-lit, but that's often the breaks. The humor section (another common destination for me these days, largely because I've been into comic strip collections) was pretty good. Lots of cookbooks--I almost bought a vintage one my mother used to have. A separate section held "specially priced" books, which looked mostly as if they fell into the "vintage" or "rare" category (as opposed to some sales I frequent in which the "specials" are often much more recent); however, since this usually isn't an interest for me, I didn't give it much close review.
CD selection was pretty good for quantity and quality, and I ended up buying six. To my amusement, along with the many Backstreet Boys CDs which always seem to populate these sales, I saw THREE copies of Dave Matthews Band's Under the Table and Dreaming--Hartford suburbs are clearly DMB territory. (I also admit that I bought one of these three.) The conservative streak ended with the Butthole Surfers' Electriclarryland--which I also bought.
The children's book selection was excellent. Again, sorting was better than I've usually seen--I liked the fact that many of the "leveled" learning-to-read books were sorted into a separate category, since for my purpose this makes it easy to pick out classroom stuff at the appropriate level. Also amused at the fact that books about horses warranted their own category; this would have been wonderful for my stepdaughters. (Seriously, if it's possible, I'd suggest that type of sorting for children's books as a more common practice--especially if children are going to browse for themselves at the sale. I know from experience that my kids can be a bit at sea when confronted with a vast number of books because they haven't yet developed the skills to browse quickly over titles and judge interest by the cover or a speedy skim. Arranging school-age kids' books by subject/interest might make the selection process a lot easier.)
I'm a bit of a snob about books that feature cartoon or other TV/movie characters; I won't usually buy them for the classroom library, and this sale seemed to have fewer of those than usual, which was nice. The sorters also did a really good job making sure the books were in good shape and didn't have much crayon, pencil or other scrawl on the inside--that's VERY common for children's used books, and while I try to check and avoid it I occasionally miss something until I get home and find it while I'm shelving. I saw one or two that I put back because of scrawl, but far less than I usually see. I ended up with a lot of high-quality picture books, including quite a few in hardback.
This sale was VERY crowded--one of the more crowded I've attended of late. I think a fair number of attendees were book dealers, judging by the boxes of books waiting on the sidelines for picking over (common practice of dealers--they'll toss stuff into boxes at top speed and high quantity and then sort it all out afterwards so they run the slimmest chance of missing something good--needless to say, I'm not that fond of dealers). The crowd was generally quite polite, however--especially the pleasant teenagers with whom I jockeyed (gracefully) for position at the CD table.
By the time I hit the line, it was fairly short, and the check-out process was run smoothly by someone at the head of the line who monitored the (eight? ten?) separate check-out tables. I actually got to hop the line a little because I was paying by check. The guy who checked me out clearly knew what he was doing and made very efficient work of the process (not always easy in a hectic environment with people buying large quantities of stuff!).
Prices were a little higher than most library sales in my experience, although still cheap. I'd warn buyers that the children's book pricing is steeper than usual. This sale separates children's hardback and paperback (I haven't seen that done elsewhere very often) and charges a buck for the hardbacks; the children's paperbacks are subdivided into larger and smaller sizes for 50 and 25 cents, respectively. That added up--I ended up paying a good bit more for children's books than I usually do. (One thing that needs fixing--possibly the only thing: price lists need to be posted around the gym! I looked for them during the sale several times and did not see any!) CDs were also $3 apiece (I've seen $2 more often than not). Adult hardback/paperback are $1 and 50 cents, respectively, which is standard.
One lovely little touch--a bulletin board in the hallway with a collage of photographs of people and pets, with the sign "Do you know these people? (Found in books, and we didn't want to throw them out.)" Oddly moving.
Best Finds: Great hardback copy of Mary Howlitt/Tony DiTerlizzi's The Spider and the Fly (some macabre little kid in my husband's class is going to enjoy it!). The aforementioned Butthole Surfers' Electriclarryland ("Pepper" is one of my favorite songs). About eight clean, unadorned Dr. Seuss books.
Altogether--this sale was high-class. It's a bit of a haul but I may well be back next time.
This was one of the rare library sales that wasn't actually at the library--it was held in the gym at Simsbury High School. In many ways, this is a plus. Parking was ample, even though some sports matches were also going on at the time. It also affords a lot of room, since the sale itself took over the entire gymnasium and the cashiers were set up in the foyer. This sale had more cashiers than I have EVER seen at a library sale, and they seemed necessary. The sale started at 9 a.m., I got there at 10:30, and when I walked in, the line of people waiting to check out wound through the entire hall, through the gym door and most of the way across the gym. From the number of folks I saw leaving with two or three full bags each, I'd guess that this sale actually did live up to its billing as a BIG sale.
Plenty left for me, though. MAJOR props to the sorting and labeling at this sale--it's not often that the books are actually alphabetized by author as well as divided by genre (well, the trade paperbacks were, at least). The genre signage was clear and easily visible--nice to have the signs on sticks rather than taped to the front of the tables where they're blocked off by browsers.
Side note: It's kind of funny--seems I'm buying fewer books for myself at book sales these days. Partially because my buying tastes and habits have changed over the years (more details on that in future posts) and partially because one of my big projects at present is building a classroom library for my husband. He's currently going to grad school for certification as an elementary ed teacher--preferably, he'll end up with Pre-K or K but his certificate will be good for up to third grade. I have a couple years head start, since he won't finish for a while yet, but I've thrown myself into it and so far have filled three shelves. At any rate, one of my primary book-saleing reasons these days is the classroom library, so my posts will probably be heavy on young children's books. One of my other foci these days is CDs; since I bought a car with a CD player I've been catching up on all the music I've missed over the past decade or so (including repurchasing an awful lot of 80s/90s stuff that I had on tape)--since I discovered library sales are often good for cheap CDs, that's been a big draw.
So. Simsbury's choices. Overall, the spread was pretty high-quality but a little conservative, which is probably appropriate for this town. Trade PB fiction had a wide spread, but (as is getting more and more common these days), I saw a lot of books I already owned or had borrowed from a library, so I only ended up with one novel. Selection was a little heavy on Oprah books and chick-lit, but that's often the breaks. The humor section (another common destination for me these days, largely because I've been into comic strip collections) was pretty good. Lots of cookbooks--I almost bought a vintage one my mother used to have. A separate section held "specially priced" books, which looked mostly as if they fell into the "vintage" or "rare" category (as opposed to some sales I frequent in which the "specials" are often much more recent); however, since this usually isn't an interest for me, I didn't give it much close review.
CD selection was pretty good for quantity and quality, and I ended up buying six. To my amusement, along with the many Backstreet Boys CDs which always seem to populate these sales, I saw THREE copies of Dave Matthews Band's Under the Table and Dreaming--Hartford suburbs are clearly DMB territory. (I also admit that I bought one of these three.) The conservative streak ended with the Butthole Surfers' Electriclarryland--which I also bought.
The children's book selection was excellent. Again, sorting was better than I've usually seen--I liked the fact that many of the "leveled" learning-to-read books were sorted into a separate category, since for my purpose this makes it easy to pick out classroom stuff at the appropriate level. Also amused at the fact that books about horses warranted their own category; this would have been wonderful for my stepdaughters. (Seriously, if it's possible, I'd suggest that type of sorting for children's books as a more common practice--especially if children are going to browse for themselves at the sale. I know from experience that my kids can be a bit at sea when confronted with a vast number of books because they haven't yet developed the skills to browse quickly over titles and judge interest by the cover or a speedy skim. Arranging school-age kids' books by subject/interest might make the selection process a lot easier.)
I'm a bit of a snob about books that feature cartoon or other TV/movie characters; I won't usually buy them for the classroom library, and this sale seemed to have fewer of those than usual, which was nice. The sorters also did a really good job making sure the books were in good shape and didn't have much crayon, pencil or other scrawl on the inside--that's VERY common for children's used books, and while I try to check and avoid it I occasionally miss something until I get home and find it while I'm shelving. I saw one or two that I put back because of scrawl, but far less than I usually see. I ended up with a lot of high-quality picture books, including quite a few in hardback.
This sale was VERY crowded--one of the more crowded I've attended of late. I think a fair number of attendees were book dealers, judging by the boxes of books waiting on the sidelines for picking over (common practice of dealers--they'll toss stuff into boxes at top speed and high quantity and then sort it all out afterwards so they run the slimmest chance of missing something good--needless to say, I'm not that fond of dealers). The crowd was generally quite polite, however--especially the pleasant teenagers with whom I jockeyed (gracefully) for position at the CD table.
By the time I hit the line, it was fairly short, and the check-out process was run smoothly by someone at the head of the line who monitored the (eight? ten?) separate check-out tables. I actually got to hop the line a little because I was paying by check. The guy who checked me out clearly knew what he was doing and made very efficient work of the process (not always easy in a hectic environment with people buying large quantities of stuff!).
Prices were a little higher than most library sales in my experience, although still cheap. I'd warn buyers that the children's book pricing is steeper than usual. This sale separates children's hardback and paperback (I haven't seen that done elsewhere very often) and charges a buck for the hardbacks; the children's paperbacks are subdivided into larger and smaller sizes for 50 and 25 cents, respectively. That added up--I ended up paying a good bit more for children's books than I usually do. (One thing that needs fixing--possibly the only thing: price lists need to be posted around the gym! I looked for them during the sale several times and did not see any!) CDs were also $3 apiece (I've seen $2 more often than not). Adult hardback/paperback are $1 and 50 cents, respectively, which is standard.
One lovely little touch--a bulletin board in the hallway with a collage of photographs of people and pets, with the sign "Do you know these people? (Found in books, and we didn't want to throw them out.)" Oddly moving.
Best Finds: Great hardback copy of Mary Howlitt/Tony DiTerlizzi's The Spider and the Fly (some macabre little kid in my husband's class is going to enjoy it!). The aforementioned Butthole Surfers' Electriclarryland ("Pepper" is one of my favorite songs). About eight clean, unadorned Dr. Seuss books.
Altogether--this sale was high-class. It's a bit of a haul but I may well be back next time.
welcome to my world
When I told my husband about my plans for today and next Saturday (four, count 'em, four used-book sales!), he said, "You should start a blog about that. You know, do some reviews of the different book sales and what's better or worse at each--kind of like that Connecticut Museum Quest guy."
Well. I can't deny I'm a huge fan of that Connecticut Museum Quest guy, and I admitted that the idea might be tempting. Besides, it's nice to keep a blog with a limited focus, because it doesn't take over your life (and I know from previous experience that keeping a journal can take over my life, let alone something nifty on the internet that other people might actually read!). So, apparently I have my own little Eric Powell, and now I have a blog.
I've lived in Connecticut for about thirteen years now, and I've never been shy about how much I love its library system. I came from a state in which my family--as residents of an unincorporated township--had to pay a yearly fee for the use of the library in the closest "big town." So when I got to Connecticut and found out that not only was my library card free, it was a ticket to every library in the state, I was blown away. Since then, I've floated happily from town to town, library to library--often to check out books, but also, increasingly often, for used-book sales. Over the years, my library has grown (exponentially), my tastes have changed, and my navigation has gotten better.
Which is where this blog comes in. A website already exists that tells people where and when the used book sales in Connecticut are--and believe me, I adore this thing--but it's really only bare-bones info. I'm more interested in in-depth reviewing of the Connecticut used-book circuit (and I'll most likely be counting used-book stores as well as library sales and other fundraisers)--what's good where, tips for visitors, etc. I live in eastern CT so eastern and central parts of the state are probably going to get the most bandwidth, although I did warn my husband that this means I might have to go farther afield than I previously have.
I realize, of course, that this may be a little bit like reviewing plays that have already closed, and readers are urged to take me with a grain of salt because not all sales are alike, even two sales from the same library. But, I believe that I can give a decent enough sample of the flavor so that the next time a sale rolls around, I can be a decent reference.
Happy booking!
Well. I can't deny I'm a huge fan of that Connecticut Museum Quest guy, and I admitted that the idea might be tempting. Besides, it's nice to keep a blog with a limited focus, because it doesn't take over your life (and I know from previous experience that keeping a journal can take over my life, let alone something nifty on the internet that other people might actually read!). So, apparently I have my own little Eric Powell, and now I have a blog.
I've lived in Connecticut for about thirteen years now, and I've never been shy about how much I love its library system. I came from a state in which my family--as residents of an unincorporated township--had to pay a yearly fee for the use of the library in the closest "big town." So when I got to Connecticut and found out that not only was my library card free, it was a ticket to every library in the state, I was blown away. Since then, I've floated happily from town to town, library to library--often to check out books, but also, increasingly often, for used-book sales. Over the years, my library has grown (exponentially), my tastes have changed, and my navigation has gotten better.
Which is where this blog comes in. A website already exists that tells people where and when the used book sales in Connecticut are--and believe me, I adore this thing--but it's really only bare-bones info. I'm more interested in in-depth reviewing of the Connecticut used-book circuit (and I'll most likely be counting used-book stores as well as library sales and other fundraisers)--what's good where, tips for visitors, etc. I live in eastern CT so eastern and central parts of the state are probably going to get the most bandwidth, although I did warn my husband that this means I might have to go farther afield than I previously have.
I realize, of course, that this may be a little bit like reviewing plays that have already closed, and readers are urged to take me with a grain of salt because not all sales are alike, even two sales from the same library. But, I believe that I can give a decent enough sample of the flavor so that the next time a sale rolls around, I can be a decent reference.
Happy booking!
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