Library book sales

You want to know the next best thing to libraries? Library book sales. I realized today that I hadn't been to a library book sale since we moved. In Evanston, I was at the book sale nearly every time the library held it. I might only get a couple of things, but it was fun to look and see if I could find any good additions to our library at prices that fit my budget. It was just by chance that I happened upon a really good library sale in the town next to ours.

I was a little pressed for time or I would have probably come home with more, but I did pretty well as it was. A couple of Christmas gifts, some craft books that I wouldn't normally buy but at $1.00 or $0.50 per book, I will get them for patterns or reference, a cook book, and some books on CD.

The books on CD were the true bargain find. They were middle grade chapter books and I found quite a few titles that I know the youngest enjoy. Both G. and L. love to listen to books as they do other things, when they are not actually reading books, that is. (G. in particular can plow through a book in record time. She recently listened to all 8 discs of The Swiss Family Robinson in two days.) They particularly love to make things and listen. So, at fifty cents for a complete recorded book, I couldn't pass it up. Since their Christmas gifts are taken care of, and because they were former library disks so I wasn't sure of the disk quality, we decided to let the girls have the discs right away. They were thrilled and we pretty much didn't see them for the rest of the day. All the discs seem to be winners except for one book in one series where the voices were pronounce all wrong, and I was informed if I ever see more of that series on CD, they don't want them.

My other really good find was the cook book, The Art of Simple Food: Notes, Lessons, and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution by Alice Waters. (She is the chef who started Chez Panisse, if you are unfamiliar with her name. Her book for children, Fanny at Chez Panisse is terrific, and is a favorite around here.) This was a hard cover edition that I'm pretty sure sat on someone's book shelf and was never opened. It is pristine. This is very unlike my cook books which tend to become tinted with the food from the recipe I'm making from them. I pretty much love this cook book. It is both a how to cook book as well as a recipe book. There are also some recipes that I want to try and are different from the 1000's of other recipes I have kicking around my kitchen. (No small feat, that.) It would be a great first cook book for someone who was just starting out in the kitchen and wanted to make their own food from actual ingredients. If you like to cook or want to learn more, you should check it out.

Going to the book sale was one of those things that I didn't realize I had been missing, but was. Moving is such a long drawn out process, but here is one more little piece to fall into place and help make this new home feel more like home. I'll be paying more attention to when this library has book sales from now on, you can be sure of that.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Making bias tape... otherwise known as the Sew, Mama, Sew! Giveaway

Apple picking in the rain

Kenzie on the beach