Archive for August, 2006

A very bookish weekend

Published on 27 August 2006 in books. 6 Comments

This (these?) is the reason I didn’t get much blogging done at all this weekend. We went to the annual Save The Children Booksale at UWA this weekend, not once… but twice! (In this instance, doing it twice was definitely indulgent and not particularly self-improving.)

The first time we went was Friday night when the booksale opened and then again on Sunday afternoon, during the derby. Note to self: going to this booksale on opening night is not a very good idea. The hall where the sale was held was completely packed with frenzied bargain hunters. Definitely no room to take a picture. There was barely room to turn around (if you were heading in one direction you really had to stick to it, or risk the ire of the people around you if you decided to alter your course), and the place was rich with a thousand different perfume and perspiration odours (book fossicking is hot work!). I had a brief moment of panic when I saw all those people but that faded fast as I got engrossed with browsing.

Going again on Sunday afternoon was a good idea as the pace was a lot more leisurely and there was actually room to breathe and scan the room. I deliberately chose to go during the derby, on the theory that many people would stay home to watch or go to the game - Perth is a two-team AFL team (the West Coast Eagles and the Fremantle Dockers) and this game, between the two local teams, was almost the biggest match of the season (the biggest will be Grand Final, I guess). I’m not a fan at all and couldn’t care less. I’m not sure if it made all that much difference as the hall was still pretty busy, but I did enjoy being able to saunter from table to table. They definitely refresh the tables with fresh stock, as I spotted a few of the volunteers bringing out boxes of books and emptying them, and I found lots of great titles that I didn’t spot the first time.

Some of my finds from both visits, highest WOOT! factor first:

  1. Ci hui 辭彙 Dictionary, compiled by 陸師成Lu Shicheng. This is the red volume in the bottom right of the picture. Have I mentioned that next to fountain pens, I love dictionaries?
  2. Lin Yutang’s Chinese-English dictionary of modern usage. I’ve used this dictionary a few times - Lin’s Romanisation is idiosyncratic, but he lists phrases not defined in mainland Chinese dictionaries. I’m not sure if it’s still in print.
  3. Xiang shu qing yuan書香情緣. edited by 梁華健 Liang Huajian. I’m not sure how to translate this title: “Scholarly destiny”? “Love of scholarship”? In any case it’s a collection of essays by Chinese librarians.
  4. Plotting and writing suspense fiction by Patricia Highsmith. She is one of my favourite authors of psychological fiction, so I look forward to seeing what tips she provides.
  5. KÄ•budayaan sa-pintas lalu by Mahmud Ahmad. The title translates to Culture at a glance and is a collection of essays on traditional Malay culture, including adat turun tanah (is this still done? a ritual for the first time a baby is allowed out of the home and to touch its feet on the ground).
  6. Voicing our visions: writings by women artists edited by Mara R. Witzling. Includes sections by Mary Cassatt, Georgia O’Keeffe, Frida Kahlo, Leonora Carrington and Judy Chicago. These are just the artists whose names I know; I look forward to reading about the others. Should be inspiring.
  7. Succulents in cultivation (including cacti) by Vera Higgins. I wonder if it will teach me how to transplant cacti without killing them…
  8. The Cluetrain Manifesto. I’ve already read a library copy but I like the idea of having access to my own copy, just because. Thanks to the Rambling Librarian for mentioning it to me in the first place!
  9. Gao Village by Mobo C.F. Gao. Account of life in a Chinese village by a man who grew up there. I’m curious to see how a country boy ended up in a Tasmanian university.
  10. Granta 82: Life’s Like That. I always love these anthologies when I come across them.

The smallest pile on the left in the picture consists of the books M got. Between us we bought sixty books! The average price was about $2.50 per book which is a bargain by any reckoning, I think. I’ve catalogued them all, of course, and I’ve also finished the final couple of shelves of books that were waiting to be done. Yep, it’s been a very bookish weekend.

Thanks, Dee, for the pointer - I wouldn’t have realised the Booksale was on if you hadn’t mentioned it!

Garlic!

Published on 26 August 2006 in celebration and local. 5 Comments

One of the highlights of M’s birthday yesterday, for me, was this:

Garlic? Yes, garlic. The purplish bulbs are organic, West Australian-grown garlic that just smell divine. They’re from Mr Organic in Fremantle. We were standing at the stall chatting yesterday when I started to smell this wonderful garlicky odour. Looked around and found that I was standing next to a box of garlic - beautiful purplish red bulbs, heavy with garlicky essence. Mr Organic told me that the garlic was grown by a retired couple living in Baldivis.

The other garlic in the picture - on the right, the white bulbs - is the usual variety I can find in the shops (or markets). I think it’s imported (from China?) and by the time we get it it’s dried out and a shadow of its former self, and with practically no garlic odour at all. It seems to be quite difficult to find locally grown garlic around the place. I wonder why. The local stuff is so much fresher and wonderful I’m sure we’d all choose it over the much sadder imported variety.

The car was faintly garlic-scented by the time we got home.

We spent much of yesterday in Fremantle with M’s family. Had lunch at Benny’s, and chatted while watching the rain. A lovely way to spend a birthday, I think.

Day off

Published on 25 August 2006 in celebration. 6 Comments
Photo by Green Destiny, off Flickr. (Click for more details)

Today’s M’s birthday - HAPPY BIRTHDAY M!!!!! - and we’ve both got the day off, to go have some adventures, engage in debauchery, have fun, whatever. More later.