1) It's Wednesday, and I'm currenty still on top of work! Only 1/3 of the work assigned today is left for tomorrow, and I have gone as far as I can go until people reply to me (which has been true since 5pm, so I got to do the next thing guilt free).

2) Last year it was terrible, but this time...WOW. Even though I didn't get there until 6.5 hours post-opening, the sale was definitely bigger than last time (I spent 75 minutes cruising around), and they were practically giving books away. Seriously. Nothing was more expensive than $1. Paperbacks/YA novels and kids' books were progressively cheaper by half. I ended up buying to my heart's reasonable content, and here is what I ended up with.

Treasure To Keep

• Fourmile -- Watt Key

Have read it multiple times and will continue to read any time my Under the Dome feelings revive themselves and I find myself with a hankering for more Barbie & Joe interaction, because the dynamic is not too dissimilar, just aged down.

Retro Juvenile Novels to Read & Release, Unless They Prove Spectacular
(* = books I feel are most likey to meet this criterion)

• Wilderness Peril - Thomas J. Dygard: 80s paperback editon of a book I am currently borrowing from a Little Free Library, smaller and actually in better shape (LFL has a busted spine), and want to reread


• Just The Beginning - Betty Miles: 70s paperback, 13 y/o protagonist, "I live in a town where everyone has a cleaning lady -- and today, my mom is going to be one" angst. Looks enjoyable.


• Adorable Sunday - Marlene Fanta Shyer: 80s paperback,Young teen decides to become a model. Is surprised to find it's hard and full of criticism. Awww.


• Little Britches - Ralph Moody: 70s Disney movie cover version, as there are apparently many versions. Moody has done some horse books. Not sure if this entirely horse-focused in nature, but they are included. Ranching family.


• * The Sorrel Horse - Ruth Nulton Moore: Small-press-published 80s "city mouse/country mouse" book about a city girl spending 2 weeks in the country courtesy a "Fresh Air Fund" program.


• * The Hideaway Summer - Beverly Holt Renner, illustated by Ruth Sanderson, who did The Mystery of Pony Hollow and a bunch of others I love. Two kids spending summer on Grandma's farm, use an abadoned cabin on the property and use it to raise two orphan raccoons they've found

Adult Books to Read & Release

• The Clock Winder - Anne Tyler

I really have no idea what it's gonna be about, I was just really drawn to the pencil sketch cover featuring a girl and a big ol' historic house. Apparently the girl is a hitchhiking drifter (it's from 1972) and she gets work as a handywoman of the neglected place. Old houses + repair/restoration? Yep, it me. Book is falling apart at the seams, though, literally -- read and quick release.

What Is This I Don't Even Know

• Stay Away Joe - Dan Cushman

Published by "Stay Away Joe Publisers," a 50s book that appears to be a novel that has something to do with recreatng the Wild West (a resort? a shop? other tourist attraction?) and I see ranch animals mentioned in the text, withdrawn from the local high school library so it can't be too adult, but I just FOR THE LIFE OF ME cannot understand what it is about, and I am super curious and I am gonna keep it until I find out/read it.

Funnily enough, they had a good sized chunk of YA, but I didn't want any of it. And other than Fourmile, nor did I find any books written after I was born that I really wanted (which, frankly, is my kind of book sale). I looked all through a bunch of nonfiction categories and CDs, but found nothing to tempt me. Which is probably good.
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Also I used a borrowed card to collect a few more books to borrow while I was there, realizing I had failed to acquire more than 1 novel last time, and I am very excited by my new YA pieces:

• The Hired Girl - Laura Amy Schlitz: 1911 teenager, hired to cook and clean in hopes of earning enough money for a bettter life, keeping a diary "inspired by the author's grandmother's diary." NICE.


• Fans Of The Impossible Life - Kate Seelsa. On the one hand, it looks to be heavy on the side of Progressive Lit I don't much care for, but on the other, its illustrated cover is far more appealin than most illustrated YA covers, and the text calls to me, Rainbow Rowell style.


• Survive The Night - Danielle Vega. First of all, because ITS COVER HAS A GLITTERY SKULL, second of all because it was designed without a dust jacket and I LOVE said design inside and out, and mostly because the back promised me "page-to-page Stephen King style terror" as a group of teens trapped in the subway tunnels are hunted by a serial killer and/or supernatural monster, I AM READY TO GET MY CRACKY HALLOWEEN READ ON.

Whew! That took longer than I thought it would. I am pretty tired from only having gotten 4-6 hours of sleep (the last two interrupted by extended snooze buttons) after a similar amount last night, so I am signing off to retire to bed. Amid a nest of approximately 7 different books, because I am bone-weary but not sleepy-weary yet, and I have enough energy to read but still don't know which one I wanna buckle down and start.