BOOK LOVER: Lion and retired medico Doug Harbison is one volunteer helping stock up for readers for the Lions book sale from tomorrow. Photo: Robert Chappel 301012RCC03
They’ve literally sorted through hundreds and hundreds of books – and from tomorrow, Tamworth gets the chance to skim through a few thousand more when the Lions throw open the doors to their big literary bonanza.
The annual book sale is on again from tomorrow until next weekend – this time in the biggest book barn they’ve ever been able to find – the old Bunnings building.
The 2012 event is also the biggest they’ve had but according to one organiser, Geoff Allen, the readers that are the Lions’ book sorters have had to throw out hundreds more donations because they weren’t up to speed to make it to the table.
They will have a record 200 tables crammed with books, magazines, records, CDs, videos and DVDs for this year’s big book sale in the Taminda centre, and like others, Mr Allen marvels at where they all come from each year.
“We’ve actually had to borrow more tables this year and it’s three times as big as others so the Bunnings site is the best one we’ve had for what we have,” he said.
While you might think they’ve exhausted the libraries of locals who get to throw out what they’ve read, this year has amazed him again for the sheer size of the piles of books and literary pieces.
There’s been hundreds of donations, especially from old perennials of house and garden magazines, old Readers Digests and Mills and Boons, but they, and plenty of others, are often so decrepit and outdated, that they’re only fit for the rubbish bin.
He says that while people think they’re doing the right thing and in the right spirit, cleaning out the shed of 10-year-old coachroach-ridden books isn’t what they want.
The booksellers have consigned about 30 bins of bad books – but there’s tons of good stock up for sale. And among some have been some good lucky charms.
They’ve found everything from old one-dollar and two-dollar notes, obviously used as bookmarks or hidden for a rainy day, and last year one buyer returned to hand back a $50 note she found in one of her bargain buys.
The best sellers, according to Mr Allen, are novels, especially hardcovers and blockbusters, handicraft books, cookbooks, books on cars, kids’ reading, and some of the collector items from listening and viewing things.
The book sale is on each day from 8am to 5pm.