160 books added to our gifting library today. They mostly come from Charity and Tip Shops – but not all. I became frustrated at finding volumes one and three of Jonathan Stroud’s (excellent) Bartimaeus trilogy, so I ordered four copies of volume two from a second hand reseller in the UK. I ordered Renee Pettit-Schipp’s poetry book from the publisher (UWA) in the hope that she’d sign it before I sent it to the Centre for Stories (an admirable community library specialising in poetry in Perth 400km away). But she never showed up, so I sent that copy to library in Perth. And then I (had second thoughts and) bought another full cost copy in case she showed up here, but she hasn’t and I’ve given up waiting.
But if there are frusrations there are also delights (delightful people) to be found in book gathering – the very helpful volunteer at the Wagin Op Shop (next to the hospital where they have an entire building full of books), and the volunteer at the Fremantle Tip Shop who shares my disdain for Disney kids books and argues with me every time about how much I pay (more than she asks for).
My rough guess is that I’d spent between $2,000 and $3,000 each year buying books for an average price of $1.60 each, and drive several hundred kilometres making about 300 visits to Op Shops and Tip Shops.
https://www.librarything.com/catalog/CampBibliophilia2025?&deepsearch=20260913
