Bookarama

My daughter needed to buy a book that she could destroy for an art project. I knew just the place.

May I introduce you to Lifeline, Everton Park, possible the best op shop for books on the north side of Brisbane.  You park behind it in the eccentric, meandering carpark of the Everton Park Shopping Centre, away from the chaos of the main road.  (There is a basic-but-nice little coffee shop there as well.)

The whole shop is big and tidy, and the book section has its own large corner room.  All books, I repeat ALL books, are $2.

There are lots of CDs as well ($1 each), DVDs ($3 I think) and heaps of children's books.

While Heather was choosing her victim, I had a ramble and a random look.  The first book I laid my hands upon was all about epergnes.  Yes, those wonderfully eccentric table pieces.  It was called Elegant Epergnes and chock full of pictures like this.

At $2, I actually wanted this book quite badly, because it was so beautiful, but resisted the urge.

The next one I resisted was Chambers Biographical Dictionary, about 5 centimetres thick, but biographies are what the internet is for. 

The books are beautifully catalogued, so I strolled over to the cooking section, where I found this.
 

It is a beautiful collection of biographies and photograph of migrants, both individuals and families, each accompanied by a recipe from that family's tradition.

I nobly resisted this one as well, as I could not possibly fit another cookbook in my house. But, $2...

I then moseyed over to the novels, which were not only in alphabetical order but had little alphabet stickers on them, so that you could see instantly if a book was in the wrong place.

As in all op shops, I noticed multiple Stephanie Meyer, but no George R R Martin.

Heather had by now made her choice, a huge hardcover collection of aerial photos of Sydney.

It seemed such a shame that it had to be mutilated, but $2...?

I was spared from any more temptations, as we made our way out into the clothing area...wait, I just might try on that black top.  Yes, we did each buy clothes.

Meanwhile, on the subject of books, The Cystic Fibrosis Book Shop at Nundah is in the third and final day of one of its everything-in-the-shop-half-price sales and I have resisted going there, too.  It has something to do with a cash-flow problem.  However, this is a great little shop, tucked down beside the railway line in a back street, where old Brisbane City Council library books go to die.  I sincerely recommend it.