September 28, 2012

Book Buying Adventures on the East Coast

Ask and you shall receive!

In my last post I mentioned that we popped into The Downtown Book Exchange, a secondhand bookstore in New Glasgow. What I failed to mention was what books I walked away with. I should have known that inquiring minds would want to know what I bought. So wonder no more, my friends!

First, there's something you should know: whenever I go into a used bookstore with my father-in-law, John, we have this thing where we scour the shelves for old copies of Treasure Island, and the older the better. It doesn't matter how many copies each of us already own, it's always exciting to find a new addition to add to our collection. Jim and his father share an undying love for all things pirates, and this passion has rubbed off on me. We're always on the lookout for interesting pirate stories.

I was the first to spot an old copy of  Treasure Island, copyright 1947, on the shelf, but John reminded me that I got the last copy we found together so it was his turn to keep it. Then we saw a copy of Captains Courageous by Rudyard Kipling and John assured me it's a "fantastic read". The original price penciled on the first page said $25 and when I clarified the (outrageous) price with the bookstore owner, he said he'd give it to me for six bucks. Sold! I love the blue pattern on the cover. That's all I walked out with. John bought Treasure Island as well as a small pile of other pirate-related books.


But then YESTERDAY we went to the Y's Menette's annual book sale. It's a huge book fair in which people donate their used books and the money raised from selling said books goes towards Pictou's YMCA Strong Kids program. Some money is also donated to the local music festival, the Pictou County Christmas Fund and the Prison Mission Ministry. I couldn't find any information on last years sale, but in 2010 they raised more than $10,000 dollars. A few years ago I was lucky enough to attend this sale and I was so excited that I would get to go again this year. Of course, I have to be selective in what I choose as we are flying and Westjet has this silly thing called maximum baggage weight. Good thing hubby packs light!




Overall I was pretty successful. My main mission was to find a copy (preferably hardcover) of John Steinbeck's, The Grapes of Wrath for the readalong I'm doing next month over on Laura's blog, Devouring Texts.  I had a good feeling about the outcome of this book sale when The Grapes of Wrath was the first book I spotted.

Here is the mishmash of books I took home with me:


I've only ever read Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians, which I love, and when I saw this box set in mint condition, containing four of her novels from the Hecule Poirot series and the Miss Marple series, I just had to have it. Seriously, these books have never been read - they are in pristine condition, and only cost me two dollars!  And I scored a hardcover of The Deathly Hallows for 3 bucks!


I also have a love for children's books and especially love to find old copies of my favorite books from childhood. It's rare to come across an over-sized copy of a Berenstain Bears' book so I did not hesitate to grab this one. And as for Harry - well who doesn't love Harry, the little dog? And this copy looks like it's one of the originals from 1960. John and I had a good laugh that I was buying Harry for Jim, as a picture book might be just the thing to ignite the reading spark in him!

So there you have it - I cannot resist buying books, even when I'm on the other side of the country! Now we are off to Halifax for the day and night, and then Jim's Aunt and Uncle's cottage in Greenfield for the rest of the weekend!

Happy reading, friends!


Tell me: What are your recent bookish finds?

23 comments:

  1. I recently bought The Princess Bride at the Wee Book Inn on Whyte - hope to read it to my daughter :)

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    1. Nice! It's one of my favorite movies, but I've never thought about reading the book for some reason. Hope you review it on your blog after you read it with your daughter :)

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  2. You just inspired me to add ON BEAUTY to my tbr pile. It's a 1001 book! I want to see which cover you have for Grapes of Wrath...

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    1. No way, it is?! Cool. I've heard great things about it and couldn't pass it up for 3 bucks. The cover of my Grapes is a little underwhelming but I will post a picture during one of the readalong posts :)

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  3. Great books!! I love that you found a gorgeous hardcover of The Grapes of Wrath! So much better than the same old Penguin Classics or the like. Those ones are just too educational ...

    I haven't been shopping second hand for a while! I do want to check out the Wee Book Inn one of these days!

    I love that you're book shopping on holidays. :) I did that when hubs and I went to Victoria, though I went to the Chapters store. We did go into a used bookstore, but hubs isn't a huge reader, so I didn't stay long. There was so many books to choose from, though!

    Great post, Brie!

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    1. I'm so glad I found one too! And it didn't cost me an arm and a leg lol. The cover is underwhelming, but I still like it :)

      I was a bit disappointed when I went into the Wee Book Inn a few months ago...they seem to only carry more current stuff and a lot of paperbacks. Which is FINE, especially when you are looking for something more current - but I like to go to 2nd hand book stores to scour the shelves and find old treasures :)

      My hubs isn't a reader really either (do business books count? lol), but for some reason he likes to look around the bookstores too.

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  4. So many classics!! Haha, it looks awesome!

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    1. LOL! There were like NOOOOO YA books! Lots of middle grade and TONS of Twilight haha!

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  5. Wow, so many great books! Nice post.
    Alex @ Possession of Books

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    1. Thank you! Now to get them home with me from across the country... ;p

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  6. What a unique batch of books! It's so refreshing to see someone who really enjoys hunting out unique and older books. Most of the "book haul" posts on blogs are all "I got this ARC from that publisher," but it's fun to see something completely different! I'm a huge fan of the used bookstore, and hubby and I can happily spend an afternoon exploring a new area of town and its used bookstores. Hence the fact that the move further east would be good: more bookstores that we haven't visited yet!!

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    1. Thanks, Melissa! I'm glad I didn't bore anyone to death with my old book buying habits ;) This is the type of reader and book buyer I have always been so I figure I should stay true to myself even if I'm not always "up-to-date" in my reading lol. I know I can't keep up with all the new books constantly coming out and we too easily forget about all the potentially great books out there that we missed or never got around to reading. I dunno, I just love ALL books! :)

      Have you guys ever done a trip down the Oregon Coast? Hubby and I did it on the motorbike once and there were SO MANY little neat bookshops in every little town we drove through. We couldn't stop at all of them and I couldn't buy anything, but I always wanted to go back and do the drive in the car so I *could* stop...of course this never happened before me moved :(

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    2. Ooohhhhh my gosh ... that is our next holiday destination! I'm hoping that we might be able to manage a long weekend before baby arrives, but we shall see. Or we'll just have a really well-behaved baby that we can take on road trips. I'd love to go to Powell's in Portland; did you visit that one? Apparently it's the size of an entire city block -- heaven!

      I've struggled with trying to keep up with the latest releases. I had a mile-long list of holds at the library, then 10 books would come in all at once and I'd only be able to read three by the due date. *sigh* I've recently come to terms with the fact that I really need to read some of the books that have been sitting on my shelves for years, and have started enjoying some "oldies but goodies" and it's been great so far. Plus, it's kind of nice to not have a deadline looming over me while I'm reading. (But maybe I shouldn't say that TOO loudly to the girl who just got a library card?!? *grin*)

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  7. OOh I love the Agatha Christie box set, great finds chick!

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  8. I'm trying not to buy anything right now, but I desperately want Building Stories by Chris Ware- it's the awesome graphic novel that comes in a box with all these different components. I'm a sucker for books that do something new with design!

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    1. Augh! Just writing it was too much for me! I just bought it, hahaha.

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    2. Hahaha, you're hilarious! I have a hard time resisting my favorites when they're re-released in pretty special editions. I'm intrigued by these 'different components' you speak of...

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  9. glad you got to book shop on your vacation. vacationing is NOT an excuse to not keep in touch with your bookish side, right? ;)
    Great finds! a liiiiitttleee lack of YA books there haha, but they still look great! You're beating me at grapes of wrath! I have to read it in a couple months

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    1. and it's hard to find your review of the summer book! Where's your archive, lady?!

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    2. Sigggggh. Rola. I don't even have a banner, why would you expect me to have an archive? LOL. It's gonna come - I promise!

      And yes, being on vacation is not an excuse to stop book shopping. And it's so much more fun in a different city!

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