AUBURN - The drop box for the Book Bonanza at the Fingerlakes Mall is stuffed. Only a couple more books are going to fit through the slot, before someone is going to have to open the door and clear the way.
Inside the room, tales of John Grisham lawyers, documentaries of presidents, how-to-cookbooks, Danielle Steel, Nora Roberts, Agatha Christie, romance, mystery, travel, health and crime play out in print, bound at the seams and waiting to be read. They are piling up by the thousands, but it's something Diane La Rue, marketing director at the mall, doesn't mind.
The bonanza will offer more than 50,000 used books, audiobooks, videotapes, DVDs and CDs and will benefit St. Joseph's School.
"A lot of people call me from all over and plan their vacation around the sale," La Rue said. "You can get a whole year's worth of reading for your whole family."
La Rue said, one of the great things about the sale is the organization. The large holding room where books have been collected, stacked and boxed all year, are painstakingly categorized into 60 groups as the event nears. But it's a feat that is worth drawing more customers.
"People don't want to spend six hours looking for something," she said.
Mary Jo Keba and Sarah Morabito are co-coordinating the event this year and said it has been easy to find volunteers.
"A lot of people wanted to work," Keba said. "It's a social function."
It is also a healthy event for the community.
"It brings people to the mall," Morabito said. "People from all over the area come."
Patty Kelly, of Auburn, has been involved in the bonanza for many years, first, as a volunteer when her children attended St. Joseph's, and now she comes to the sale and buys books for the Finger Lakes Center for Living Nursing Home, where she works. Kelly can't just buy books for the nursing home, she also has to buy a few for herself.
"I just like the fact that there are books I can't afford to get all the time and I can find them (at the bonanza) at give-away prices," she said. "I'm a book-a-holic. I love to read."
Apparently, so do many people in Auburn. Many of the books are donated locally, and the same books are snatched up quickly to buyers as sort of a recycling process.
"Everybody says this is a sports town, but when you see all the books, you know people read," La Rue said, adding that hundreds of people line up hours before the sale. Which is another good point about this sale, she said. It's first come, first serve. A lot of book sales have preview nights where customers can pay a fee to have the first pick at books.
"The next day everything's picked over," she said. "But not at ours. The woman spending a couple dollars has the same chance as the woman spending hundreds of dollars."
And spend they do. La Rue said children's books are popular, but romance novels are the hottest pick.
"Sweet little old ladies love them," she said. "You'll see them walk out with huge bagfulls. They're so thrilled, they can't wait to read."
If you go
What: 14th Annual Book Bonanza
When: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday; and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday
Where: Food court, in the Fingerlakes Mall
The bonanza will offer more than 50,000 used books, audiobooks, videotapes, DVDs and CDs and will benefit St. Joseph's School.
"A lot of people call me from all over and plan their vacation around the sale," La Rue said. "You can get a whole year's worth of reading for your whole family."
La Rue said, one of the great things about the sale is the organization. The large holding room where books have been collected, stacked and boxed all year, are painstakingly categorized into 60 groups as the event nears. But it's a feat that is worth drawing more customers.
"People don't want to spend six hours looking for something," she said.
Mary Jo Keba and Sarah Morabito are co-coordinating the event this year and said it has been easy to find volunteers.
"A lot of people wanted to work," Keba said. "It's a social function."
It is also a healthy event for the community.
"It brings people to the mall," Morabito said. "People from all over the area come."
Patty Kelly, of Auburn, has been involved in the bonanza for many years, first, as a volunteer when her children attended St. Joseph's, and now she comes to the sale and buys books for the Finger Lakes Center for Living Nursing Home, where she works. Kelly can't just buy books for the nursing home, she also has to buy a few for herself.
"I just like the fact that there are books I can't afford to get all the time and I can find them (at the bonanza) at give-away prices," she said. "I'm a book-a-holic. I love to read."
Apparently, so do many people in Auburn. Many of the books are donated locally, and the same books are snatched up quickly to buyers as sort of a recycling process.
"Everybody says this is a sports town, but when you see all the books, you know people read," La Rue said, adding that hundreds of people line up hours before the sale. Which is another good point about this sale, she said. It's first come, first serve. A lot of book sales have preview nights where customers can pay a fee to have the first pick at books.
"The next day everything's picked over," she said. "But not at ours. The woman spending a couple dollars has the same chance as the woman spending hundreds of dollars."
And spend they do. La Rue said children's books are popular, but romance novels are the hottest pick.
"Sweet little old ladies love them," she said. "You'll see them walk out with huge bagfulls. They're so thrilled, they can't wait to read."
If you go
What: 14th Annual Book Bonanza
When: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday; and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday
Where: Food court, in the Fingerlakes Mall
The Citizens' Say
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