Monday, July 21, 2008

Book Fair Madness

I came back yesterday from a delightfully restful weekend away up at the north coast (which included a trip to see The Dark Knight -oooh!). But the cherry on top of the cake was spotting a book fair on the way home.

I can't quite describe how much I love a good book fair.

Some people like adventures sports, but my adrenaline fix comes from the thrill of chasing down second-hand books in church halls, market stands and op shops. I get my competitive on.

Admittedly I didn't have much of a game plan this time - I just ran in and scoped out the fiction, children's books and reference section. I have written elsewhere about my love of atlases, but I refrained as I simply have enough at the moment. (And somewhat embarrassingly, I already had the various editions they had left!)

Lucky for me, all the books were half-price, so for the bargain price of $17.50, I bought seven novels (7! In near-perfect condition!), and these absolute keepers.

First up, and in honour of my soon-to-be-completed PhD in English, Dick Bruna's "I can read difficult words."

Because, you know, I can!

Happily, "scissors" and "choir" are off my difficult word list, and have been replaced with bigger and well, more difficult words. But this little book will inspire some much-needed motivation over the coming weeks.

And the best buy of all. A 1962 Estonian music book entitled 'Muusika Aabits'.
The cover to this little beauty caught my eye first - it looks like it's screen-printed. And is that a Communist star on her pinafore? I'd like to frame the cover by itself. Inside, the book is filled with screen-printed images of young boys and girls, animals, and piano playing - all in black, white, blue and red.

It seems a bit sacrilegious to cut this one up, but I am already salivating over the thought of making some greeting cards out of these images.

Such a good weekend! How was yours?

7 comments:

  1. Oh yay, they've photographed so well!
    I love the grumpy faced girl...grumble grumble indeed :)

    And I can personally vouch for the fact that you do know REALLY difficult words!!

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  2. Hello. I adore the three marching boys, especially the one with the black eye. And the boys with their hoiked-up shorts (above), not to mention the girl who so hates music practice that she can only cry (below). What a find! (Don't cut it up if you can possibly resist. A book lasts much longer than a greeting card... Just a suggestion.)

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  3. So grumpy about piano practice, n'est-ce pas?!

    Am thinking of getting some high quality photocopies made. I've had these for one whole day and am already thinking I can't cut them up...

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  4. @ phillippa
    How amazing are the hoiked up shorts!

    I know - I don't think I'll be able to cut... They're just too beautiful. I'm glad you enjoyed them, too!

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  5. I just love the word 'hoiked'!

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  6. Not nearly enough use of 'hoik' in everyday language. I shall endeavour to bring it back in a big way.

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  7. Isn't he proud, Emme! He looks like he CAN read difficult words... and he was only 50c!

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