Mountains of Books

The great thing about the Mountains of Books book fair is that it gives local bookworms a chance to arrive early without setting the alarm for the crack of dawn. So, after a leisurely breakfast, I turned up not long after the doors opened.

There didn't seem to be as many stallholders as in previous years, and one stall was mostly devoted to trading cards (mostly footy and cricket). But there was a good crowd of people, which was great given the heavy rain will have put a few tourists off coming up the mountain today. Readers and collectors will find a diverse range of books at the fair, including a wide variety of Australian history books.

But the drawcard for me and many other visitors is Jilly Bookworm's stall. Her books are mainly 'girlsown' and 'boysown' hardbacks, all in great condition. Because she operates online, this is a rare chance to drool over her amazing stock - and hopefully find something you want to buy. I completed my Chalet School collection with a purchase from her stall a few years ago. Today I spotted heaps of Blytons, some Brent-Dyers and Savilles, as well as titles by Ivy L. Wallace, Antonia Forest and Dorita Fairlie Bruce.

 The book fair is open till 4 today, and again from 10 till 4 tomorrow, and it's an indoorsy thing to do on a wet weekend - so get along there if you can.  Details here.

It's Mountains of Books time again

The annual Mountains of Books book fair takes place again this weekend. Held at Ferny Creek, it always attracts great stallholders and a good crowd of booklovers. I'll certainly be spending part of my weekend there. Say hello if you see me.

Just call me anal!

I went to the Salvation Army's book fair in The Basin yesterday morning. I knew I had no chance of coming across a rare copy of Jane at the Chalet School for $2, because a) the Salvation Army are pretty savvy when it comes to pricing old books and b) Meryll Williams of Rainy Day Books was a mere minute's drive from the venue and so was bound to find such mega-bargains first! But I hoped I might find a few cheap children's classics, as I did at the book fair on Philip Island back in January. There I found Tom's Midnight Garden and The Children of Green Knowe, among others, for two bucks per book; I like my son, who's nine, to read classic children's literature as well as contemporary kidlit.

But I came out with nowt! There were lots of books, the non-fiction in one room, the fiction in another. But in the fiction room, the books hadn't been sorted by alphabetical order or even by genre. (The non-fiction had been sorted into genre, but was not in alpha order.) My son and I looked through the children's books, didn't find anything either of us wanted, and then I started to look at the adult fiction, but it was all such a mess and I couldn't be bothered going through it all just in case I found a Margery Allingham.

I appreciate the book sale was run by volunteers, and they don't have time for sorting. But I've gone into one or two bookshops like this over the years, where all the books are higgledy-piggledy on the shelves and piled on the floor in no particular order. If you have lots of time to browse, that's great. But not everyone does. I just don't have time to spend hours in one bookshop, painstakingly going through everything just in case I find a gem. I'd rather go online and buy exactly what I want - or even better, go to a bookshop where everything is arranged by genre, then alphabetically.

Come to think of it, Meryll is a busy lady too - maybe that elusive Chalet book was there among the Barbara Taylor Bradfords ...