THE RESULTS: UNITED METHODIST CHURCH BOOK SALE

Ok, so I just got back from the United Methodist Church book sale (see all the shit I bought above).

A couple of things to note: its totally fucking overcrowded, and you're gonna have to fight an overwhelming compulsion to flee from the moment you arrive. People are either pushy (and have no problemo shoving you straight into the table as they need to jam their fat ass by you into a corner where there's no room for them in the first fucking place) or clueless (and standing there in the worst possible spot they could be blocking 19,000 people as they bounce a cute lil bebe on their hip waiting for their wife to finish picking up her new stash of bodice ripper romance novels). Both are equally annoying. But if you can just resist the urge to run off to 7th Ave Donuts and persevere: its worth it if you can put in the time.

Probably my No. 1 decorating technique is to use books--piles of them in all sorts of interesting spots around our apartment. And so, I'm pretty much judging every book I see in that mofo sale by its cover...like literally. I'm obsessed with vintage coffee table books, old covers with interesting typography, books in non-traditional shapes, as well as books in other languages. And at a sale like this, where there's not much of anything over $4, its totally worth it for me to buy a cool book based on looks alone--guess I'm superficial like that. So, yeah: mostly everything I got today falls into this "pretty book" category, but now I've got loads of gorge new shit to use to freshen up some of our stacks.

I might even go back again tomorrow, because they really are replenishing stuff all day.

I spent $21 and here's what I ended up with:

1. Atlas Historique et Culturel de L'Europe - big, beautiful European history coffee table book in French.
2. The New Yorker Album of Drawings 1925-1975 - oversized coffee table book filled with all the b&w drawings that appeared in the New Yorker mag.
3. New York: A Picture Memory - Published in 1989, there's lots of great/sad Twin Towers photos in here.
4. Time Out London: Shops & Services 2007 - ok, yes this mofo is probs out-of-date, but for $1.50, I'm guessing there's still lots of good shit in there. And I love, love, love London.
5. The Playboy Interviews - This might be my fave find. It was published in 1981 and includes classic Playboy interviews with all sorts of amazing peeps like John Wayne, Fidel Castro, Jimmy Carter, Martin Luther King Jr. (!?) and Miles Davis.
6. Word Play - no clue wtf this book is, except I loved the pink/brown typography on the cover (and it was a cute square shape).
7. Das Glasperlenspiel - I don't speak a word of German, but this cover was cool.
8. Der Sachfenfpiegel - Ditto.
9. Picasso - Small, colorful, square, art book of some of his paintings/drawings.
10. Le Petit Chose
11. Claudine en Menage
12. Claudine a Paris - 3 gorgeous little French paperbacks, all with beautiful covers.
13. The Explorer's Guide: Hudson Valley & Catskill Mountains - I have regular, ridiculous fantasies of buying a little weekend house somewhere, and this book  has a great roundup of lots of little towns.
14. Book I'm too embarrassed to include

Lastly, I picked up a book for Allison. As she's reminded us like 17 times last week, she's been stuck at home with her kids on some sort of long, drawn out spring break bullshit, and it kinda seemed like she could use a distraction (she's been so desperate to get out, she's been asking me to babysit for Christ's sake). So I got her this paperback: Blood Red Rose by Maxwell Grant. It's "a grand, sweeping tale of forbidden love and divided loyalty in the vast landscape of China."

Here's mostly why I chose this book:

I love when you don't even have to bother reading the little blurb about a book to understand that everyone in this mofo is gettting laid...like a lot.

So, yeah: Happy Spring Break, Allison! [I can leave the book out in front of our building in a totally not embarrassing unmarked paper bag if you'd like?].

Anyone else end up with anything good?