This weekend marked the 17th Annual Friends of the Guelph Public Library Book Sale. I always go to these, though since they moved to a new location starting last year I haven’t gone on multiple days. It’s a good location in terms of space but it’s located at the opposite end of the city from me so I can’t just walk there, as I did when it was downtown. Going downtown is a hike for me, but doable. And the thing is, I much prefer a long walk to a short bus ride. Even if I have heavy bags to carry! But that’s the way it goes.

When I hopped on the bus downtown there were a couple of other people who got on the same bus with me who were dragging shopping buggies. It was clear they were heading to the same place I was. One of them was a little old guy. I would put him in his mid to late 70s. Well, when the bus arrived and stopped, just on the other side of the street from the warehouse the sale was in, this guy flew off, and then charged across the street so quickly traffic had to slam on the brakes and honk at him. He didn’t care. And he didn’t stop running. He sprinted the length of the warehouse, dragging his buggy behind him the whole way until he got to the line waiting to get in.

He impressed me with what good shape he was in, but I was honestly shaking my head at this. We were early. Really early. Like 90 minutes before opening. There were only 20 people in line. By the time they opened the doors there would be close to 300, but there was no limit on how many people they were going to admit so it really didn’t make much difference where you were in line. So what on earth was the rush? There was almost nobody else around. As it turned out he was just ahead of me in the line and I was taking my time (looking both ways before I crossed the street). Did he just want to beat me? We weren’t even interested in the same parts of the sale.

Anyway, they had the same little signs posted along the line as they did last year. Things like this:

And honestly, right beside the guy in such a rush, this was the sign:

I wonder if this registered with him at all. I also wonder what the bottom two lines mean. I felt like it was a joke I was missing.

The doors opened promptly at 2. Luckily we didn’t get rained on while we were waiting. There was a lot of rain in the area, and storm clouds passing overhead, and no cover in the line. But we were lucky.

Inside it was the usual crowd scene. Here’s a picture of part of it:

Apparently they had over 85,000 volumes for sale. I think that was probably a low count. Anyway, it was very well organized and all the volunteers were very nice, which I can’t imagine is easy. I’m sure they have to deal with their share of idiots.

I didn’t get that many books. I think 9 or 10. But they were heavy enough and I didn’t have a buggy. My rule is that I can’t buy more books than I can carry home. Some sections of the sale seemed to have a lot less than in previous years. Comics/graphic novels were particularly weak, unless somebody just took whole boxes of them before I wandered over to that section. I’ve seen that happen before. As per usual, there were a lot of the sorts of books you’d expect (like bestsellers that nobody wants to hang on to), with a few treasures mixed in. But most of all, it does my heart good to see so many people still interested in physical books. They still believe!

This past weekend I stopped by Gryphcon, which was being held in the basement of the University Centre, which for some reason is called Peter Clark Hall. Not the University Centre. That’s called the UC. Just the basement. This big room in the basement is Peter Clark Hall. Isn’t that weird? I always think of a Hall as being, if not a building, at least something above ground.

Anyway, Gryphcon is the annual board game and role-playing game “convention,” and it was quite well attended this year. Lots of people playing games, some of which I knew but others I’d never heard of. I took the above picture just as they were cleaning up. It’s a table that had some of the free games that drop-ins could play. That is, just pick-up games and not the registered games involving modeling kits, role-playing campaigns, or the elimination rounds for the Settlers of Catan tournament.

I’ve played Codenames. It’s a great game, already a classic. I’ve played Ticket to Ride. Great game play, but calculating who won at the end is a bit of a drag. I’ve played Skip-Bo, which is a fun and really simple card game. It’s definitely more for kids. I’ve never played Settlers of Catan though I’ve watched it played and it seems like fun. I played Pandemic once and I think it’s the kind of game you have to spend a lot of time with to enjoy. I’ve played Clue. It’s one of those old-favourite board games that I don’t think holds up that well. And that’s it for this table. (You can click on the pic to make it bigger.)

This past weekend, actually Thursday through Sunday, was the 16th annual Friends of the Guelph Public Library Book Sale. I’ve written about this before in 2016, 2019, 2022, and 2023 (they took some time off in 2020 and 2021 for some reason I can’t remember). I’d mentioned in my posts on the last couple of sales that the space they were using was too small. I also talked about how long a hike it was for me, especially coming uphill on the way back with several heavy bags of books to carry!

Well, this year sort of took care of both problems. The FGPL got to use a warehouse that a local cabinet manufacturer hadn’t moved into yet, so there was lots of space. But the location was really out in the back of beyond (meaning the city’s industrial park) so while there was no walking involved there was a really long bus ride. I much preferred the long walk uphill.

In fact, I found the bus ride so depressing on the first day that I never went back. Usually I attend at least three days of the sale, and sometimes four. This time I just showed up on the opening day.

There were lots of people and not much parking so the road the warehouse was on was double-parked for miles. I had to shake my head at people who were driving up ten minutes before the doors opened. They were going to have to park at least a good twenty-minute walk away. What were they thinking?

The one highlight was that the fellow in line behind me waiting for the sale to start was a middle-aged retail minister. Or I don’t know what you’d call him. Covered in tattoos all down his arms and up his neck. He was coming to the sale to buy Bibles that he gave away to people because when he tried to get people to accept Jesus he thought the word of God did a better job than he could. I’m not so sure he was right about that. He seemed quite a talker, and people today aren’t great readers. Especially of the Bible, a lot of which can be hard to get through.

What puzzled me though was that if you’re in that line of work there are plenty of places out there where you can get Bibles for free. Also, having attended these sales for the last several years I was hard put to recall ever seeing any Bibles for sale. In fact, I wasn’t even sure if they accepted them for donation. I hope the fellow wasn’t too disappointed. But I never saw him again.

As he was talking to the people who were behind him in line he did say something that made me turn my head around in baffled surprise. He made the modest but confident claim that when he went before the seat of judgment he hoped he would have all the people he had converted standing behind him. Maybe 50 people, he thought. Maybe 20. Maybe only 5. Whatever the number, he knew he’d done enough to get his mansion. But, he wanted his listeners to know, even though he would live in a mansion he “would not be a dictator.”

I said it was a WTF? moment.

Not a bad haul, but I didn’t pick up anything too impressive. I even bought one book I already owned. I thought I might have already had it, but for $3 I thought it was worth the risk. Oh well. I’ll donate it to next year’s sale.

You know what they say about how one man’s trash is another man’s treasure? And one man’s treasure is another man’s trash?  Well, the truth of that adage is never more evident than at an estate sale. I helped out with one this weekend. Here are some highlights. Treasure, or trash? You decide.

A commemorative plate celebrating Canada’s centennial. It’s like owning a piece of history! I wanted this.

This tea towel celebrates another historical moment, though not one that’s worn as well. I would think this might be a collectible item, but the truth is there was so much Royal Wedding kitsch at the time it probably isn’t worth anything.

At first I thought this was probably just junk, but in fact it was the most expensive item in the entire sale. These classic sewing machines are really highly prized. Even though I don’t think many people know how to use them today. At least I asked everyone I thought might have some familiarity with one if they knew how to operate a sewing machine and only one person said they could. And she’s in her mid-70s. So another bit of history.

More history! We had a bunch of oil lamps around the house when I was a kid. Once when the power went out we actually tried to light one. Just could not get it to work. And I think we were doing everything right. But let’s face it, you don’t keep these things because they’re useful. You keep them because they’re pretty.

Who could resist these adorable salt-and-pepper shakers? Apparently pretty much everyone. They didn’t sell.

Surely the saddest remainder of all, however, was Xmas Teddy. And a bargain at only $2! This made me weep for him, for Christmas, and for all of us.

This weekend marked the 100th College Royal, billed as “the largest university open house event of its kind in North America.” I wanted to go just to see the dog show, in part because I knew a couple of this year’s contestants in the novice category. I don’t think they won, but they were both Very Good Dogs!

 

Eden Mills Writers’ Festival

Eden Mills, September 8 2019:

The Eden Mills Writers’ Festival is an annual event featuring dozens of readings taking place at several different venues located around the picturesque village of Eden Mills. I’ve been several times before but hadn’t gone in the last couple of years and was interested in seeing how it was doing.

The weather was beautiful, as it always seems to be. I hate to imagine all the booksellers on Publishers’ Way having to run for cover if the skies ever opened up.

Everything was very well run. All the readings were starting on time and the shuttle bus service was excellent. I don’t know why so many people drive to Eden Mills. The buses are more convenient.

I noticed a couple of somewhat minor changes. In the first place, they’re trying to mix the readings up a bit by adding a brief discussion period among the panel of authors at each venue. I think this is a good idea. None of the readers I saw this year was bad, with Anakana Schofield probably being the best, but I think most people would like it more if they just got to listen to the authors in conversation.

The other big change, which is something that has been ongoing, is that there are now no major publishers attending. Publishers’ Way just consists of individual authors and various other organizations. Some of these latter groups I could understand, like the public library. I’m not sure what others, like the Council of Canadians or Amnesty International, were doing. I also noticed that Amnesty International was handing out the same literature they were three years ago.

I’m disappointed by what’s happened to Publishers’ Way. I like seeing the independents and individual authors handselling their books, but this is a book fair and it would be nice to see more publishers working the big crowd, most of whom would love to buy their books. My advice? Offer some discounts for cash-only deals. None of this full list price stuff, with tax. Just call it $10 a book, or two books for $15. Don’t make this difficult!

This was, however, my only complaint. Eden Mills is a great event, even though a full afternoon of it tires me out. At one point I ended up sitting in one of the handicapped chairs because I didn’t see the wheelchair sticker on the back. Oh well. Sorry if that inconvenienced anyone, but I’m getting old!

Seth, Clyde Fans

BookShelf Cafe eBar May 15, 2019:

Technically speaking this wasn’t a “reading” since Seth writes graphic novels and I’ve never heard of, nor can I quite imagine, what a public reading of a comic would be.

It was, however, a great session. It began with Seth giving some of his personal thoughts about how he imagines the afterlife and how those thoughts have found expression in various recurring motifs in his art. This was followed by a short film, a conversation with Eric Allen Montogomery, and some Q&A.

There was a good crowd, filling the eBar. I was wondering if it could be described as hipsterish, but then figured it skewed a bit too old for that. Later, however, Seth would describe himself as being like an old hipster, so I figured I may have been right. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Even if you weren’t a student of such things (and I’m not), or a big fan of Seth (and I am) this was the kind of talk you could easily have taken a couple of pages of notes on. In addition to offering revealing insights specific to his own life and work Seth talked, among other things, about the growing critical and public acceptance of graphic novels in the twenty-first century and the place of his own generation of artists in that development, how comics mean (that is, how they’re created and read), and the making or presentation of an identify in or through fictional characters.

These are all subjects I’m sure Seth has been over many times, but the evening didn’t seem scripted at all. It was informative throughout, but informal and relaxed. As well as being enjoyable I also felt like I learned a lot and it made me look forward to Clyde Fans all the more.

Tim Conley, Collapsible and Amy Spurway, Crow

BookShelf, April 23 2019:

Even though there were two authors on tap (and there were supposed to be three but the third couldn’t make it) this reading wasn’t held in the eBar but at the back of the bookstore. Which is cozier (there were only fifteen chairs) but not the greatest place to be for sound. The authors didn’t have mics and you could hear all the plates rattling and orders being called from the kitchen of the restaurant just next to us, which meant you really had to pay attention.

That said, both authors read well and chose good material. Conley (whose first book, Whatever Happens, I reviewed thirteen years ago, which made me feel old) read a short story that was short enough, and made use of enough repetitive language, to let the audience see the pattern being drawn — something that isn’t easy to do at a reading. Spurway read from the beginning of her novel, which worked well because it’s told in the first person and the narrator is playing with different ways of introducing herself. So it’s a natural way to introduce the book.

This was one of the more enjoyable readings I’ve been to lately. It was informal (they didn’t even have anyone to introduce them!) and quick. The questions from the floor were good and received some interesting answers. All done in about half an hour. Time well spent.

Ondjaki, Transparent City

BookShelf Cafe eBar, October 23 2018:

As with the last “reading” I went to at the eBar (with Michael Adams), this wasn’t really a reading but more an interview, with Ondjaki’s English translator (Stephen Henighan) asking the questions. As with the Adams event, I think this was a better format. In part because it would have been weird hearing an author reading a translation of his own work, but also because interviews are more interesting than readings anyway. I’ve said it before but every time I go to one of these things I’m reminded of how poor most readings are. They only work in the very few cases where the author is a truly talented stage performer as well.

I don’t know how good a reader Ondjaki is, but he was great in conversation. He had some good anecdotes to tell and charm to burn. I even found out a bit about Angola, which admittedly wasn’t hard since I knew absolutely nothing about Angola before this aside from where it is on a map. I didn’t even know Luanda (the setting of Transparent City) was the capital.

There was a question from the floor about the title that I wish there had been follow-up with. I was wondering if Ondjaki meant something like “invisible” when he uses the word “transparent.” The point (or one of the points) he makes in the book is that people are transparent because they’re poor, so are they like the invisible underclass Paul Fussell wrote about, or the invisibility of Ellison’s Invisible Man? That’s the impression I get, but at the same time the main character’s transparency also makes him highly noticeable, someone to gawk at. So maybe something different was meant.

A good show, and well-attended for this neck of the woods. I wish we could have more like it.