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The Book Fair

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I have recently acquired a few more books, which could be accounted for by the time of year. At this time of year I get excited and wait and wait to find out which weekend the book fair is on. There are hundreds and hundreds of books there each year and I take a few home. This year I got... only three..... bags full. 




This year we spent even longer there than previous years. A total of approximately 10 hours. The book fair runs over three days. We volunteered to help. Which involved getting really dirty hands interestingly enough. Well, what we had to do on the first day was to try get as many books as we could up from the boxes under the tables, (yes there were almost as many books under the tables as on them) and fit them into the boxes as people took ones they wanted out. The books are all second hand so I suppose they are not the cleanest things and my sisters and I found that our fingers got covered in a thin layer of black.



 On the last day we had to get rid of the boxes. And both days we had to try keep the mess minimal. The children section got so messy at times. The books are supposed to stay in the boxes so all their spines can be seen..... but with heaps of people going through them and not putting everything back where it came from when they decide not to get them....

But really it was quite fun. I mean what book lover would not enjoy touching books all day? And I also found quite a few good ones for me too.... and recommended books to other people that I randomly met there. I will soon be doing a post on all the books I got.... well no, just some of them, but it does help that just over one bag was entirely what I call 'pretty books'. 


The sad thing is that the books are collected all the year before and if they don't get sold.... well they are not kept for the next year.... they... go.... in the bin. And at the very end we helped dump a few box fulls into recycling bins. Which is when I came across this Magic Eye book. They just work for me, and I rescued this one as it was about to enter the jaws of death! 



Have you ever read tried to see what the pictures are of in one of these books? If you have never seen these books before I shall elaborate. They are full of pictures of odd patterns that may normally just look like odd patterns.  But if you stare at them until you go crosseyed or have them really close to your face and move them slowly away, indents and 3D shapes/pictures appear in the patterns. (hopefully you get what I mean) They work for me, but drive my sisters mad when they try doing them (if I can even get them to try)..... well, they make my eyes hurt too, but I can see them. 

 There were a few boxes that I was not sorry to see tipped into the bins. Actually I did not see them being tipped, but I saw a bin entirely filled with Twilight books (and other books by the same person).... a beautiful sight..... Alice and I had decided that no one wanted to have to keep coming across those books in every box in the M section.. so we confined all Stephenie Meyer's books to six boxes... so people could glance at them once and not have to flick through them all the time. Sadly I forgot to get a photo of the bin full of those black and sickly red books.... still you may be able to imagine.

 But other than those books it was sad to know that so many words, so many pages, books, boxes of books, were going in the recycling, unwanted. Still, hundreds were bought and there will be more again next year!
Do you have a annual book fair?
Have you ever tried to see the things in a magic eye book (or something similar)?

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About the Author

Clare Farrelly is a professional photographer. She is an Australian and lives in NSW Australia. In her free time she likes to read, do random crafts or sewing projects found on Pinterest, journal, write articles and stories. Most important, she is a daughter of the living God, saved by his grace.

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4 comments

  1. CG @ Paper Fury9 August 2015 at 20:48

    Omg, they BIN THE BOOKS?!! I'm absolutely devastated. o.O I want to go to a book fair...BUT I LIVE IN A TINY SMALL TOWN GAH. And our most decent sales are library sales but they never sell many books that I'm interested in, or else I miss out on them even if I'm there right when it starts. I'm just not a very pushy person and tend to hang back and then only get the leftovers. ;) Ahhh, but that's so cool you were helping with this! SO MANY BOOKS. I love your photos!

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    1. Clare10 August 2015 at 08:13

      Thanks. I know it is so sad to know that so many books are going in the bin, but they are also obviously not wanted. Still all those books. We also have library sales sometimes. There are so many books over so large a space that you don't really need to be pushy.... you just have to flick through quick enough, because a book could really be anywhere. In the kids section... adults section and sorted by author or even in one of the 'subjects' which are around the sides of the room. I think I have most often found the best books in the boxes below the tables.... because people forget to look in them :D but not me!

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  2. Lydia Therese10 August 2015 at 05:08

    Wow, I wish we had something like that around where I live! It looks really fun.

    ~Lydia~ <3

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    1. Clare10 August 2015 at 08:17

      Oh it is so fun. I was quite amazed that out town manages to donate that many unwanted books to the book fair each year. I am not sure if any of them come from other places or not. And I would not call our town huge, but is is a lot bigger than many others.... but there are no roundabouts with double lanes.... (one thing I really can't survive)

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