Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Library Book Sales Are Dangerous!



What is the one thing that someone battling her way out of a reading slump does not need? That's right, more books. Yet I am drawn like a moth to the flame by the weekly Friends of the Omaha Public Library Book Sale. Weekly. Just a few blocks from where I work. Open only on Thursdays, the day I get off work early. Seriously people, the only thing that saves me is the fact that they only take checks or cash, both of which I don't always have on me.So recently I've walked out with only one or two books. Thursday I had a crisp new twenty dollar bill. And that's how I came home with five books on audio, four paperbacks, one hardcover and $3.75 in change.

Here's what I picked up on audio:


The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl - this is the one I popped in the CD player as I left the library. When the lead in music was from Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, I liked the book already.

The Brief and Wonder Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz - Diaz just won a Genius award so that means I had to buy this one, right?

The Last Days of Dogtown by Anita Diamant - I read The Red Tent a couple of years ago but I hadn't heard of this one.

A Golden Age by Tahmima Anam -I actually own this one in paperback. I've owned it for several years; maybe now I'll finally get to it.







Paper Towns by John Green -My first John Green - I've been hearing great things about him so I decided it was time to try another young adult book.









In paperback I picked up:

The Man From Beijing by Henning Mankell - this is one that's been on my wish list for a while

Under The Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes - I've seen the movie adaptation starring Diane Lane. I understand the book is quite a bit different but still...Tuscany? How can you go wrong?

A Thousand Days In Venice by Marlena De Blasi - this one was recommended to me by my aunt and uncle some time ago. 

A Year In Provence by Peter Mayle - which the volunteer at the sale told me I must read with a glass of wine in my hand. I can do that.









And for a measly quarter, I found A Gate At The Stairs by Lorrie Moore. Every time I go to the sale, I learn something new. This time it was that anything with a red X is only a quarter. This could be a very bad thing to have learned!

10 comments:

  1. Ohhh...I enjoyed The Golden Age; hope you do as well.

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  2. A Year In Provence is really good! I own the 2 sequels as well, which (quelle surprise!) I haven't read.

    Under the Tuscan Sun is good. So, so different from the movie. The book is mostly a journal on the house's renovation. I am not sure where they got the screenplay from. But the book is still really good because Mayes has a way with words. I want to give up everything and move there. Plus she shares recipes!

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  3. I agree library sales can be so bad on the wallet. I wish my library had weekly sales, they only do one once a year in April so you have to wait, but maybe that's better for me because I think I would go broke if it was every week. Great books you got there. Hope you like them.

    Kimberlee
    http://girllostinabook.blogspot.com

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  4. The university where I work is having a book sale right now but they always suck! All they sell are textbooks. All the good stuff is snatched up by the library employees before they hit the shelves.

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  5. IMHO...it was money well spent!! LOL!! Enjoy!

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  6. Oh man, you got some great books there, and I would just about go crazy if I ended up at a book sale with that much money and that many books for a great price!! Good on you for getting such great things at such a great price!

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  7. I have almost every one of those books. ;O) I love library sales, although I probably shouldn't at this stage in the game. I missed my monthly one last weekend...and it was a bag sale...because we had my son's birthday party. Oh well, there's always next month, right?

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  8. Great finds! Cheap books and second-hand stores...I'm a sucker. I've enjoyed every John Green I've read which is two :) Wine and a book; they all sound great.

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  9. Ya know? I thought I had a copy of that Year in Provence but I can't find it.
    You can't go wrong with the Diaz! Enjoy (and don't get hung up on any Spanglish - it's on purpose!)

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  10. I enjoyed The Last Days of Dogtown on audio several years ago, but don't remember many details. A Golden Age has been on my wish list for a long, long time, and I very much enjoyed Under the Tuscan Sun, A Thousand Days in Venice, and A Year in Provence. You have some excellent reading ahead!

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