Since the Calgary Reads booksale was such a great deal last year, went again this year.  Well I went tonight, I should say because I might go again tomorrow.  This was the first time they’ve done a Friday night opening and it was lined up down the block!!  And we parked three blocks away!

I’m still a bit choked about the $2 ‘donation’/entry fee but my daughter pointed out that it might stop some of the browsers from attending.  What browsers?  the books are a dolla’ …holla’.  Word.  Lots of them.

So, here’s what I bought tonight (alas, they were unable to take credit cards just as I got to the teller so I had to put some back):

1.  Roses Are Difficult Here by W.O. Mitchell.  This dude is a prairie standard and I’ve never, ever read one of his books.  I took a writing course with his nephew, though, if that counts.

2.  The Spire and The Paper Men by William Golding.  I’m just going off of Lord of the Flies here.  I hope they’re good.

3.  The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County and Other Stories by Mark Twain.  This is a wee, tiny, odd shaped, little square book with a giant title.  Plus, I really like Mark Twain.  Plus, I might send this one to my friend B. because it would fit into a regular envelope.  The recesion is effecting my book choices now.

4.  Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray.  I have a sneaking suspicion I might already own this book but the cover price was 75 (the original list price) and the cover is so cute and it is in super condition for having been printed in 1958.  Wow! I should really stop judging a book by its cover….(but I’m good).

5.  A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley.  I think this is on one of my lists of books toreads before I croak or break a hip or something.  I recently bought her non-fiction title 13 Ways of Looking at the Novel.  Yeah, haven’t started that one yet.

6.  The Time in Between by David Bergen.  This was my find of the sale.  It was on the Canadian Authors table for $1.  It was also in hardcover on the Bestsellers table for $5.  I got the $1 one, whoot!  Recession strikes again!

And that’s it!  The books I had to put back since that other $20 bill I thought I had in my wallet mysteriously disappeared (I think I spent it, no mystery there) were:  Kim by Rudyard Kipling, Labryinth by Kate Moss, and The Tiger’s Claw by Shauna Singh Baldwin.  Oh well.  Next time I’ll tell my kiddies that a book about High School Musical movie is not as important as classic literature but since they actually let me look for nearly 10 whole minutes, I’ve forgive them this time.