Friday 4 October 2019

It's A Book Sale Again

There is an area in North Suffolk called "The Saints". A collection of villages in the middle of no-where among lots of little roads and lanes.................... St James South Elmham, St Margaret South Elmham, St Cross South Elmham, St Micheal South Elmham, All Saints South Elmham, St Peter South Elmham. Plus... Ilketshall St Lawrence,  Ilketshall St Margaret, Ilketshall St John and Ilketshall St Andrew!! The first of these has a brilliant second-hand book sale every September in aid of the church.
And for the second time since Colin died I managed to wend my way there with help of map - my phone google-map lady wouldn't talk to me for some reason - and eventually joined the queue. At book sales I always see a bloke that Col used to work with at the County Council  and he and his wife were there in the queue just ahead of me again.

They have tables full of boxes of books and boxes under the table too - it's only a small village hall so a bit of a crush of people at 10am when the doors open......but looking through all those boxes is the best fun.
I didn't find many books this year and a couple of those I did  buy were books I've had in the past and sold or given away and then regretted - stupid woman! (How many times have I said that!)

Books are priced to sell - 50p paperback  and £1 hardbacks and 20p or 50p for children's books so my excursion didn't cost me a fortune.

From the top down - I could have bought 100 childrens books but just got the lion finger puppet book for Willow - she likes making lion roaring noises!
Before I went out on Saturday I read Elaines post about the children's book by Rosemary Sutcliff  The Eagle of the Ninth.  I missed so many children's books when I was young so trying to catch up now and when I spotted the 2nd in the Eagle series I thought I'd better grab it to remind me to look out for the first, either from the library or at the other big charity book sale next month.
The Corner That Held Them is something I've read without taking it in so need to re-read sometime. The Christmas Mystery looked interesting. 'How to Store Your Garden Produce' is a book I owned for ages - then it went. The Mary Wesley is one I've not read yet and at the bottom of the pile is one Colin owned until it was worth something on Ziffit. It's by local author the late Roger Deakin - Notes From Walnut Tree Farm and I never did get round to reading it when we owned it.

They always give everyone a bookmark with next years date - I've made a note to myself


 As I was heading onward  for a few miles to visit a church before going home I enjoyed a egg/mayo/salad roll (they also sell the most scrummy home made cakes) and a mug of coffee for an early lunch. Very nice it was too.

Having a coffee and something to eat at a charity event has become one of my favourite simple treats - after all the years of flasks and pack-ups.

Back Tomorrow
Sue









17 comments:

  1. I used to love the Rosemary Sutcliffe books - maybe it's time to get re-acquainted with them again. Thanks for the nudge.
    I'm glad you had such a lovely time.
    xx

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  2. The Christmas Mystery is really a children's book. I discovered it last year when a friend gave me a copy and it's a lovely Advent read, one little chapter each day to bring you and all the biblical characters to Christmas. I intend to read it every year. x

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  3. I think books breed...everytime I rehome some I turn round and there are even more!
    Arilx

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  4. I love a sale like that but, sadly, they're getting scarcer. I think you did well! I read all The Rosemary Sutcliff books then available from the library when I was a child. Modern research has dated them but I still think they're good and a great introduction to history.

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  5. Sounds like a great book sale. Such great prices too!
    They hold something very similar in NZ where my parents live, on a quite regular basis, but unfortunately never the month I'm there, which is probably just as well as my luggage allowance doesn't really allow for the extra weight books would bring.

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  6. Pleased you had a good day and found you had some nice books. Enjoyed you lunch which sound nice.
    We have a jumble sale tomorrow on the village hall my daughter us coming with me, I do hope the weather will be okay.
    It was a lovely day yesterday and I had a couple of hours in the garden.
    Hazel c uk

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  7. I would love to go to a sale like that. The trouble is I would dither about what to buy as there is so much choice. When I read of book sales I always think back to a small independant bookshop in Northampton which is obviously no more.

    I am going through some classics which I missed when I was younger and the one waiting for me at the moment is Uncle Tom's Cabin.

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  8. My goodness. Those villages look like a postman's nightmare! What a wonderful day out. I can't think of anything nicer. I'm always counting down the weeks to any local secondhand book fairs. xx

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  9. I have often got rid of books and then decided to buy them again. I used to have the whole set of Miss Read books and I am slowly getting them all back. I scored four all at once from the book table at the local pub the other week so I was very happy.
    Hugs-x-

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  10. A nice haul of books. We know what you mean about enjoying a bought tea and cake.

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  11. I attend and work at a large church in downtown Toronto and our Spring Book Sale is always hugely popular! We get the office crowd from the surrounding towers at lunch hour and heading for the subway after hours - so a bit of a captive audience!
    We had decided to run a Fall sale yesterday and today but we do it in our front courtyard and unfortunately we sustained some damage to the flagstones during a movie shoot a couple of weeks ago. It's all being repaired but not in time for the sale. Our Church Hall was already heavily booked so no opportunity to switch so we'll have to wait for the Spring.
    We bake cookies to sell along with the books and these normally sell out in no time - people always love those sweets!
    Happy reading.

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  12. I'm another one that has sold or donated books only to buy them back again. A couple of times I even actually ended up with my own book back again 🤣

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  13. I grew up near the "Saints". I wonder if they feel as isolated as they did in the 1950s?

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  14. At our monthly lunches for the retired teachers we have a book table. People donate their used books and we sell them for 50 cents. The proceeds go to the women's shelter we support. There are often quite current titles as lots of us belong to book clubs and donate the books once we have discussed them.

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  15. I loved "The Eagle of the Ninth". I read it many years ago and now I want to read it once again.

    Those books are a great bargain.

    God bless.

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  16. I love the sounds of those villages.Would love to visit and have a bimble around! A church book sale is always fun but sadly becoming rarer in Australia also.

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  17. Charity book sale, early lunch and visit to a church. That sounds like heaven on earth to me. And how very clever of them to put next year's date on a bookmark!

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