The Thrifty Book Buyer: Newtown, Connecticut Book Fair, August 2015

Hello, Fellow Bookworms!

The following adventure took place in August of 2015. It was one of the blogs I lost while consolidating my blogspots. Enjoy!

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As many of my friends and family know when I get into a hobby or new interest I can get a bit crazy. 

  Take for instance my renewed obsession with reading books. Lately I have been loving comics and novels, and have prided myself on getting amazing deals on used and new books. One day in July there were two words that over-took my Tuesday morning road trip to Newtown, Connecticut:

BOOK SALE

  As my bestie and I were traveling to Cave Comics to pick up a few issues, we saw red and white signs along the roadway advertising a book sale. This excited us, because we had had an amazing morning at the thrift shops finding crazy deals on books (I bought Stephen King's "Mr. Mercedes" in hardcover like new for $2.00!). We figured it could not hurt to check it out. For about fifteen minutes we traveled the road following the signs to Reed Intermediate School where we were greeted by a parking lot packed with cars, and many people hobbling to their vehicles clutching packed, red plastic bags. 

  Upon walking to the school we were informed that Tuesday was "$5 Bag Day". As we entered we were given a large red bag and told to fill it and pay on the way out. But that was not the only exciting news, oh no.... There were two auditoriums filled with books, plus a hallway! The first auditorium was all novels and some non-fiction books categorized in sub-categories for easy finds.

 This was just one of the several hundred or so tables lined up.



  As I started to look for my favorite categories (horror, sci-fi, crime drama, and espionage), I came across hundreds of bookworms like myself that were gushing with excitement. I began to find many favorite authors and books that looked like they had never been touched.  The staff was amazing and told us that this sale had been happening for forty years, presented by the Newtown Public Library. We were led to tables, recommended books, and had some fun exchanges talking about our favorite authors. I was in my glory! But I had twenty dollars in cash in my "emergency" part of my wallet, and this was a once a year event. 

  After about three hours of roaming the auditoriums, my bestie and I walked out with four bags of books for twenty dollars. What we did not realize is that the two of us were very good with "working the Tetris" inside our bags. As we slowly trudged our weary feet towards her car I knew I had to continue to document this amazing day. 

The back of her car:



  But it would not be over yet. When we got home we realized we may have gone overboard with this book sale, because in addition to our thrift finds, our haul filled our dining room table!


  We began unloading the books...



  It was not until the last book was placed on the table that we realized that for a little under thirty-five dollars we had brought home over sixty books!






  After the shock of our amazing finds for the day wore off, we set off conquering household chores, which included me finding bookcase space and alphabetizing the lot!

Suffice it to say this book haul might have been crazy, but it helped me supplement my 2015 Reading Challenge, and get me some brand new books for dirt-cheap prices. I am loving seeing my newest finds in my bookcase, and I cannot wait to read them all. 



Then after I am done, I plan to donate them to friends and back to the library or thrift store. I always like to keep a good read going by donating books.

Because there is always room to read,
  Xepherus3

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All written content and photography (c) Copyright 2015 by Thomas Bahr II