Warm weather means book sales are sprouting up

With the temperatures rising—finally!—the rummage sales are blossoming all over town, and my favorites are the huge city-wide used book sales. What could be better than 100,000 used books all in one place at bargain prices?! I don’t have to actually need any books to get excited about these, I just like being there to look at the variety of books, surrounded by all the volumes and all the people who love them. I especially like to check out the old books. Then my challenge is to keep in mind the limited space on my bookshelves and the many books I’ve acquired but haven’t yet read.

Calgary Reads held their annual sale on May 14th, and handing money to the volunteers of this worthy organization was a delight, knowing that it would fund tutors to help children around the city improve their reading skills.
Lucky for me I was looking primarily for children’s books, which were 50¢ or a dollar, and I had my “urban shopping cart” with me to carry all my treasures around with me. I am proud to say that I stuck to my plan of buying only books that I can not easily utilize from the public library and that are directly related to writing projects I am actually working on (as opposed to all manner of books and reference materials that I might possibly need one day for another future project).

Since I was downtown at the Calgary Reads sale, I decided to stop by Fair’s Fair, one of the largest used bookstores in town, and drop off the books that had been on the backseat of my car for a while. Another successful browsing experience: the credit I got was $2 less than my purchases.

Coming up in June is the Calgary Book Drive and Sale. According to the Calgary Herald newspaper, any books not sold may find new homes with the help of an online seller, Giggil. Giggil pays for books to be shipped to them, sells them online, and pays you monthly as your items sell.

All proceeds from the Calgary Book Sale will go to Raise a Reader and Servants Anonymous Society, and I’m thrilled to see that again, children’s books will be 50¢, and other books will cost no more than $3. Looking forward to it!