used book sale – Kristin Houlihan, Writer

Mom’s Day Out at the Great Valley Bookfest – it was awesome!

Two weekends ago I had the awesome opportunity (thank you, my dear husband!) to go to a local book festival for a few hours BY MYSELF and it was amazing. I truly could have stayed there ALL DAY LONG. I met and chatted with some interesting local authors, bought some indie books (I’ve already finished two of them!), and picked up some used books from the Friends of the Library sale (I was there for the closing of the Bookfest and all the used books were free!). I also have some ideas for next year’s Bookfest: 1) bring business cards (duh!) – I missed out on some great opportunities to leave my info with authors; 2) sign up to offer a workshop on editing; 3) block off the whole day and go earlier so I can sit in on some of the speakers. So much potential!

I took some pictures, but then my phone broke and I got a new one soooo they’re not accessible at the moment. Instead, I will share some links! First, the Bookfest itself:

The mission of the Great Valley Bookfest is to create a family-friendly festival that celebrates literacy and promotes the written word in the heart of California’s Central Valley. It benefits the following local literacy organizations: Friends of the Library; Great Valley Writing Camps; Give Every Child A Chance; and San Joaquin County Office of Education (SCHOOLS)

Next, some of the books I picked up and authors I met:

Britt Nunes – Etched – I met Britt Nunes, her twin sister, and her adorable baby nephew at the Bookfest and bought her first book, Etched. While it wasn’t flawlessly executed–it read like a first book–it was interesting and engaging, and I enjoyed it very much. When I finished it, I bought myself the e-book versions of the sequel and the prequel, and I look forward to reading more from Britt Nunes in the future! Find her here: brittnunes.com

Britt Nunes 33844215. sy475

Susan Lowe – Josie – I met Susan Lowe and her husband, and just had to buy the book — which I read in one day! It is the story of Josie, Susan’s mother, and her experiences as an ethnic German in post-WWII Yugoslavia. It’s spectacularly well done and I’m thankful to have met Susan and had the opportunity to read her book. Find more info here.

Susan A. Lowe Josie: A Story of Faith and Survival

Major Mitchell – The Dona (historical fiction)

The Doña

Kathy Goosev Howell – The Perfectly Purple Sneakers (picture book)

The Perfectly Purple Sneakers

Brian Weisfeld – The Startup Squad – Find Brian here: www.thestartupsquad.com

The Startup Squad

I met a lot of other authors whose books I did not buy that day, but I’ll certainly be looking out for – and maybe I’ll see them again at next year’s Bookfest! 🙂

Another used book sale success!

This weekend I went to ANOTHER used book sale – this time at my local library. I got some great books there last year so I was excited to go again. I don’t think I’ll be disappointed. I picked up the following books:

A Thousand Splendid Suns and And the Mountains Echoed by Kahlid Hosseini – Adam gave me The Kite Runner as a Christmas gift and it was fantastic, so I am super excited to have picked up hardcover versions of these books for only $2 each!

The Wave by Susan Casey – It’s a combination of being about the scientific quest to understand huge waves and following “crazy” surfers who seek out gigantic waves. I love, admire, and fear the power of the ocean all at the same time so I’m really interested to read this one.

Cosi Fan Tutti by Michael Dibdin – This is the lightest of what I picked up, but it looks like a good, fun mystery and it’s set in Naples around the mafia…what’s not to love? We’ll see!

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez – I’ve heard good things…but that’s really all I know about it.

And for the kids…. A retelling of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, written and illustrated by Jan Brett. Jan Brett’s books are awesome, and I’ve been searching for good versions of classic fairy tales for my kids. I’ve realized recently that they are familiar with the characters (Goldilocks, Little Red Riding Hood, the three little pigs, etc), but all from newer kids’ TV shows. They don’t actually know the original stories. I’m seeking to remedy that, and this one certainly helps. So far, they like it, and they’re really intrigued by the illustrations, so… success! Oh, and some Catholic Saints coloring books – they were free because they’re coloring books, but they’re super text-heavy and fantastic stories so I’m hoping to hold on to them without allowing any coloring…like the previous owner 🙂

That’s all! I now have a gigantic stack of “new” (to me) used books next to my bed…now to find the time to read them all 🙂

Hooray for used book sales!

On Saturday afternoon I had the great privilege of stepping away by myself for an hour to go to Historic Vienna’s Annual Used Book Sale and shop. Adam, though recovering from the flu, graciously indulged my love of books and watched Cinderella with the girls so I could go ALONE (thank you, thank you, thank you!). The girls acted like I’d been gone for ages when I got home, which is crazy but also really endearing. Who doesn’t enjoy being greeted with kisses and hugs and a chorus of, “Mommy, we missed you!”?

So, the books! I didn’t think their selection of children’s books was as good this year as it was last year, but I did pick up a Berenstain Bears book on strangers and a retelling of the story of King Midas. The kids were happy with that! From the kids section I also got some books for when the kids get older. My oldest is almost 5(!!!!!) and she reads, so I figure (not unlike me) that she’ll be into reading chapter books in the next year or so…SO I decided to prepare for when she’s begging for more books and I picked up three of the books in the Little House on the Prairie series. We already have one of them, so that should keep her busy when she’s about 7, right? I read them all in second grade and I not-so-secretly hope she loves them as much as I did. I wanted to become President one day so I could take us all back to covered wagon times…so we could live just like Laura Ingalls Wilder. HA.

For myself, I got a couple of classics: All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque and Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. Adam thinks I’m nuts, and I might be…We’ll see. I don’t typically read classics but I think I want to. Hopefully I like them as much as I like the idea of liking them. I also got Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden. I tend not to pick up random fiction unless it’s been recommended to me or I’ve heard of it before, so I mostly just skimmed that section.

My REAL prize, though, which made the whole trip worth it (aside from the mere act of browsing through tons of old books) came from the “Grandma’s Attic” section of the sale, where they sell “old” or unique items: I got a complete boxed set of the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis! For only $8 🙂 I’ve read two C.S. Lewis books in the last year, and LOVED them, and it made me want to reread The Lion, the Witch, and Wardrobe — but who can just stop there? I’m SO excited to read the whole set!

Adam thinks he’s never going to see me because I’m going to be too busy reading… it’s a slight exaggeration, I think, but I do hope to be reading a lot soon! AND my local library has its used book sale this week! I’ll have to pop in there Friday while the kids are in school 🙂 Yay!