Thrift-a-long

I am pretty sure someone actually stole this week. One minute it was Monday and then in the blink of an eye Sunday has rolled around again! What is the deal with that?! I only hit up one oppie in my busy week but it turned out to be all I needed. I am currently trying to make an installation at art school. Of books. The installation is called before Google, and the plan was to spell out that title using books. Something like this ...

.. only better. The installation is a bit of a comment on the ubiquity and superfluousness of the book in a digital age. I was inspired to make it when I stopped to consider the sheer volume of discarded books in thrift stores - particularly encyclopedias. I did in fact hope to make the whole thing from encyclopedias but the logistics proved too complicated for this project. So I created one letter "b" and was stunned by how many books it used up. These were saved from an overhaul of my own shelves (or rather boxes in the ceiling!) and a box of books I purchased for a couple of bucks. Clearly spelling out two words and a total of  twelve letters was not gonna happen - too many books required! I settled on just spelling out "books" but still needed more books than I had on hand. I headed to the biggest op shop in town to see what they had on offer. The deity/spiritual being-of-your-choice was with me because just as I got to the book section a chap came along with a sack truck and began loading boxes of books onto it. It quickly transpired that these books were headed for the "big skip bin out the back". Whaaaaat????? Well I guess it helps prove my point about the perceived worth of books these days. Apparently the shop gets so many books donated that they cannot manage to find space for them all and despite the prices ranging from free in the school holidays to a buck, they just can't sell enough of them either. I was a bit gobsmacked but recovered quickly enough to explain my situation and divert Mr SackTruck to my van. Look what I came home with ...

Believe it or not there are two boxes missing from this photo - they were still in the car!

Rex thought the boxes were interesting.

The first part of the selection process - separating hard covers from paperbacks. Then it will be by size and colour.  It has taken an age because I keep getting distracted by the inscription that are often inside the front cover - "To Dottie, Merry Christmas 1953. love Uncle Bert and Aunty Win" and things like that. There are get well wishes and congratulations for academic achievement too. It seems there was a whole raft of  situations that meant a book was the perfect gift! There are plenty of library books in these boxes too. Some of them have stern instructions to borrowers inside the front cover ....

Wow - they certainly took the book lending business seriously huh? That is the sum total of my thrifty adventures this week - and quite enough to contend with! I hope you managed to get out and about and find some treasures this week. If you click on the link below, you can share them with us!