A bookworm's bonanza is about to break loose in our own backyard. One of the largest used book sales in the region, the 17th annual Book Bonanza, will take place at the Fingerlakes Mall this weekend.
Sam Tenney / The Citizen
Thousands of used books will be for sale this weekend during the 17th annual Book Bonanza at the Fingerlakes Mall.
Thousands of used books will be for sale this weekend during the 17th annual Book Bonanza at the Fingerlakes Mall.
This book sale has developed such a reputation that people even arrange their vacations around it.
“We get a lot of people from the Northeast,” said Diane La Rue, organizer of the bonanza. “I met an interesting woman from Pennsylvania who said she had scheduled her vacation here to correspond with the Book Bonanza. I'm anticipating more people this year who live within an hour or so of this area.”
La Rue said she's had customers from as far away as California, and several from Connecticut and Virginia mostly visiting with friends or relatives here.
Special aspects of this sale include out-of-print books that have been offered for the past four or five years. People come searching for books that are hard to find anywhere else.
“People especially like the sale because we're very organized,” La Rue said. “We have many unique books that you wouldn't find in a lot of places.”
For what it might cost for a new hardcover book, a book lover can buy a whole year's worth of reading. Sales will benefit St. Joseph School. Parents, students and alumni from the school will be staffing the sale.
Paperbacks and children's books are priced at 50 cents each, hardcovers at $1 and “better books” at $1 to $10. For those willing to wait, Sunday offers bags of books for $2 and bags of better books for $5, cash only.
Last year's bonanza offered more than 60,000 used books, audio books, videotapes, DVDs and CDs. Sorted into more than 75 categories, items are easy to find. Fiction categories are alphabetized by the author's last name and books range from popular authors such as James Patterson, Tom Clancy, Nora Roberts and Danielle Steel to genres like mysteries, westerns, literary classics, science fiction and romance novels.
Children's books, a popular category, divides into ages 7 and younger, including many picture books as well as favorites from “Dr. Seuss,” “Sesame Steet,” “Dora the Explorer” and “Clifford”; and older than 7, with Nancy Drew mysteries, “Baby-Sitters Club,” “Goosebumps” and Newberry Award winners.
Non-fiction categories include religion, biography, politics, true crime, travel, humor, sports, self-help books, health, cookbooks and others also on sale.
“Better books” are books in excellent condition covering all categories, from classic books printed in the 1800s to bestsellers and special categories, such as Oprah's favorites, trade paperbacks, coffee table books, signed books and “trios,” sets of three books by the same author or in the same genre. The newest category is new classics: Books chosen by editors of Entertainment Weekly as the best of the last 25 years, such as “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy, “The Poisonwood Bible” by Barbara Kingsolver and “The Da Vinci Code” by Dan Brown.
“We have received some wonderful donations this year,” LaRue said, noting a complete collection of New Yorker magazines from 2004 to 2008 that can be bought as a set, a large selection of puzzle books in the hobbies section and entire music CD collections.
The better books room, located in a storefront next to Jo-Ann Fabrics, will house coffee table art books by Georgia O'Keefe and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, photography books by Annie Leibovitz and Susan Sontag, and even a biography of the Monty Python troupe.
Staff writer Kathleen Barran can be reached at 253-5311, ext. 238 or kathleen.barran@lee.net
If you go
What: 17th annual Book Bonanza
When: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, July 12, and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, July 13
Where: Fingerlakes Mall, 1579 Clark St. Road, Aurelius
Cost: Free admission; books are 50 cents for paperbacks and children's books, $1 for hardcovers and $1-$10 for “better books”; on Sunday bags of books are $2 ($5 for bags of “better books”); cash only
Info: Call 224-3941
“We get a lot of people from the Northeast,” said Diane La Rue, organizer of the bonanza. “I met an interesting woman from Pennsylvania who said she had scheduled her vacation here to correspond with the Book Bonanza. I'm anticipating more people this year who live within an hour or so of this area.”
La Rue said she's had customers from as far away as California, and several from Connecticut and Virginia mostly visiting with friends or relatives here.
Special aspects of this sale include out-of-print books that have been offered for the past four or five years. People come searching for books that are hard to find anywhere else.
“People especially like the sale because we're very organized,” La Rue said. “We have many unique books that you wouldn't find in a lot of places.”
For what it might cost for a new hardcover book, a book lover can buy a whole year's worth of reading. Sales will benefit St. Joseph School. Parents, students and alumni from the school will be staffing the sale.
Paperbacks and children's books are priced at 50 cents each, hardcovers at $1 and “better books” at $1 to $10. For those willing to wait, Sunday offers bags of books for $2 and bags of better books for $5, cash only.
Last year's bonanza offered more than 60,000 used books, audio books, videotapes, DVDs and CDs. Sorted into more than 75 categories, items are easy to find. Fiction categories are alphabetized by the author's last name and books range from popular authors such as James Patterson, Tom Clancy, Nora Roberts and Danielle Steel to genres like mysteries, westerns, literary classics, science fiction and romance novels.
Children's books, a popular category, divides into ages 7 and younger, including many picture books as well as favorites from “Dr. Seuss,” “Sesame Steet,” “Dora the Explorer” and “Clifford”; and older than 7, with Nancy Drew mysteries, “Baby-Sitters Club,” “Goosebumps” and Newberry Award winners.
Non-fiction categories include religion, biography, politics, true crime, travel, humor, sports, self-help books, health, cookbooks and others also on sale.
“Better books” are books in excellent condition covering all categories, from classic books printed in the 1800s to bestsellers and special categories, such as Oprah's favorites, trade paperbacks, coffee table books, signed books and “trios,” sets of three books by the same author or in the same genre. The newest category is new classics: Books chosen by editors of Entertainment Weekly as the best of the last 25 years, such as “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy, “The Poisonwood Bible” by Barbara Kingsolver and “The Da Vinci Code” by Dan Brown.
“We have received some wonderful donations this year,” LaRue said, noting a complete collection of New Yorker magazines from 2004 to 2008 that can be bought as a set, a large selection of puzzle books in the hobbies section and entire music CD collections.
The better books room, located in a storefront next to Jo-Ann Fabrics, will house coffee table art books by Georgia O'Keefe and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, photography books by Annie Leibovitz and Susan Sontag, and even a biography of the Monty Python troupe.
Staff writer Kathleen Barran can be reached at 253-5311, ext. 238 or kathleen.barran@lee.net
If you go
What: 17th annual Book Bonanza
When: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, July 12, and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, July 13
Where: Fingerlakes Mall, 1579 Clark St. Road, Aurelius
Cost: Free admission; books are 50 cents for paperbacks and children's books, $1 for hardcovers and $1-$10 for “better books”; on Sunday bags of books are $2 ($5 for bags of “better books”); cash only
Info: Call 224-3941
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