Oct. 14 - New Britain Library Sale

I arrived at the New Britain Public Library at around 5:15 p.m. for their paid preview, and gave them my five bucks to get in. The lady at the desk seemed a little surprised by this, so I suspect I could have gotten away scot-free; however, I don't usually have problems with giving money to good causes like libraries, so I didn't quibble. This is a good thing, as I honestly don't think it was really worth the paid-preview price. The sale took up a decent-sized community room, but the selection seemed kind of limited, and nothing really stood out. I'd hate to have gotten there later in the week, though, as I suspect I would have been even more disappointed.

One unique feature: CT Book Sale Finder listed this as a "Red Hot Book Sale," and that was meant literally. The "specials" table (i.e., books that cost more than standard book-sale prices of a buck or fifty cents) at the front of the room consisted wholly of books with red covers! Again, nothing spectacular, selection-wise, but I give them points for cleverness. Truth be told, it's often difficult for me to tell exactly how book sale staff determines what counts as a "special" (rarity? condition?)--in fact, I've occasionally seen seemingly identical copies of "specials" on regular tables elsewhere in the same sale! (Mansfield Public Library, I love you dearly, but I'm looking at you here!) New Britain's specials were eye-catching, and reminded me of an art installation that I dearly love, There Is Nothing Wrong in this Whole Wide World. (What I wouldn't give to see an entire book sale like this! Anyone?)

On the older vs. newer-book spectrum that I mentioned in my last post (I have to come up with better names for these terms, since I suspect I'll be using them regularly)--the New Britain sale definitely fell on the older-book side. Some decent recent fiction (although quite a bit of Oprah) but far more older trade paperbacks. Popular authors (e.g., Grisham, Steele, Rita Mae Brown) were sorted out into boxes around the perimeter of the room, which was kind of nice--I'm not one to indulge in much of this stuff, but it makes it easy for folks who do, and clears off the tables as well. Other than fiction, most genres were small (one table, tops). This book sale, unlike any I've seen, had a selection of books in Polish (NB has probably the highest Polish population in the state, so that's no surprise--well, no more than seeing a table full of Polish books in America is, which it just IS!). There was also a surprisingly large and good selection of books by black authors; this section, however, was labeled "Black Americans," which it shouldn't have been, as books by and about African and Caribbean folk were also included (their hearts were in the right place, I suspect). The children's book selection was skimpy and badly displayed (on some occasions, stacked in boxes without the spines pointing upward). CD selection wasn't bad (clearly, someone who liked Prince contributed a good bit)--although it took me a while to be able to get to it, since this poor fellow whose eyes were clearly far worse than mine, even, was bent over the box for a LONG time. The videotape selection was quite broad; I saw a sign in the library that they were getting rid of tapes and going strictly to DVDs, so I suspect that many of the tapes were library discards.

Prices were standard--$1 hardbacks, $.50 paperbacks, DVDs $2 (I didn't buy any CDs so I'm not sure of their prices). I left with one bagful (around $11), and ran into a friend getting off the elevator. I'd mentioned that I was going to the sale in an email earlier in the day, and since she lives in NB, she decided to pop in. I felt a little guilty and warned her about the $5 not really being worth it, but like me she doesn't mind money going to the library--also like me, she doesn't even really mind library fines!

I got good and lost trying to get back to the highway--this has happened to me before in NB, and it was dark out, so I'm wholly to blame. This sale continues through Saturday, although I have to wonder how much they'll really have by then.

Best Finds: A copy of Stewart O'Nan's Last Night at the Lobster, a lovely little book by a Connecticut author. It was a library discard, which I generally like less than an unmarked, donated book--but since the story itself is about the closing down of a Red Lobster IN NEW BRITAIN, having a discarded copy from the New Britain Library felt like beautiful poetic justice. Also, a very nice hardback copy of Ian McEwen's Atonement. A DVD of Revolutionary Road. Some lovely children's picture books in very good condition--particularly Graeme Base's The Eleventh Hour and James Herriot's Moses the Kitten.