Old books

My daughter and I have just been out to the local Charity Book Fair in our church hall.

We spent a total sum of AU$6.50 and for that got at least 15+ books of all different kinds.

A gem we found was the classic Aussie book "They're a weird mob!" which I hope my daughter will take the opportunity to read at some point in the not too distant future. I may yet read it again after having done so many years ago.

I bought a few novels by the Author Julie Ellis

And one I am really looking forward to indulging is the old Transactional Analysis "bible" "I'm okay - you're okay" by Thomas A. Harris M.D. which I remember was a huge pop culture hit back in the mid to late 70's and which I never did get around to reading at the time! It will be interesting to see if the information in this book is as useful now as it seemed to be back then for many people.

I always feel a bit overwhelmed when venturing into a massive second hand book sale. The vast quantity of books is slightly unnerving to me. I never feel this way in a library. There are just as many books in a library - significantly more but I never feel the same kind of overwhelm as I do when I see large tables full of books waiting to be explored at a sale.

Don't get me wrong...I do love book sales, in fact in years gone by I would spend up BIG at book sales on classics of literature and the like. I've always been something of a literary snob though and used to have a somewhat disdainful approach to the mundane pop culture novel. These days I wish to just enjoy a good story and learn something from it anyway, even if it is a bit formulae in its genre and content.

The three novels I bought by Julie Ellis as mentioned above are a shift in my approach to reading books. To be honest, I really just was intrigued by the title of one of the books and because there were a few more by this same author I bought those on a whim anyway with no real clue as to whether they'll be any good. We will see.

Library books have always presented something of a dilemma for me. I rarely, if ever, borrow books. The pressure to return them is just too great and I am so sporadic in my reading habits since the advent of a working life and the computer, that reading solidly for days to get a book finished or because I just really got into it hasn't been my way anymore. I prefer to own books and let them languish on the bookshelf for years if I must before I get around to actually reading them. No pressure that way.

It seems that this character flaw of mine of not wanting to be IMPOSED upon by anything such as a return-our-book deadline or by any person for that matter is deeply ingrained. I will simply not be told what to do and when to do it by anyone or anything - if I can get away with it that is!

Hopefully, I can get most of these books read though before the next Charity Book Sale next May 2009. Then I can donate all these wonderful books back to the cause and let others enjoy them at their own leisure like I have :)