16 books for $6.50 - I should be so lucky!

Becca is so funny. She’s down one minute because of pesky uni assignments and then up the next because of books. Not drugs or booze, or chocolate or even ice-cream just books. Although I must admit that if I got 16 books in one go for $6.50 I’d be pretty chuffed too.

Becca loves lists, an affection I’ve noticed many bibliophiles share. The Dymocks Booklover’s Best 101 list is out and Becca’s head is spinning with questions over at Just One More Page ...

Are those of you in Australia aware (I’m sure you are) that the 2009 Dymocks 101 Booklover’s List is now out. Have you got it yet? Have you checked it off? Have you compared it to last year's list? What do you think of the changes? What was your score? Did you go up or down? Did you get the top ten? What do you think? Huh? Huh?… yeah, the girls at Dymocks think I’m crazy too…

I have, of course, got the list; checked it off – have read 7 of the top 10 and 40% overall – and highlighted the ones I’ll buy this year. I don’t know how I compare to last year, sorry Becca I don’t keep this list form year to year. I like lists but this one’s not necessarily my favourite as I don’t always read/like what’s popular. I’m amazed that the Twilight series is #1 but I hope this means that a lot of younger people are reading more. I know, I sound so old, very don’t-know-what-the-younger-generation-is-coming-too, but I do worry that the electronic age is adversely affecting reading habits (subject for another post I think). My introduction to the 2009 list being out went something like this...

Whilst shopping with my fabulous girlfriends (don’t you just love shopping with the girls), after a liquid lunch, we wandered past Dymocks. ‘oo oo Ive gotta get our next bookclub book!’ said one and that was all it took. I was in the shop and leaving them behind in the dust. I heard one say ‘of course Wendy would know exactly where it was on the shelf, I can never find anything in here’, as they followed along. So you can imagine my chagrin when To Kill a Mockingbird was not where it should be!

It’s a little annoying from my point of view. Don’t get me wrong, I love the list, but they create a new run of books and slap them up the front of the shop, I know marketing and libraries are worlds apart, but it makes it confusing – as if arranging the fiction by genre isn’t confusing enough.

Anyway we found the book she wanted and she was very happy to discover the 3 books for the price of 2 promotion. It was the least amount of time I’ve ever spent in a bookshop, I am in awe of her snappy decisions, perhaps motivated by the fact that we were on our way to get pedicures – books and a foot massage l-u-x-u-r-y!


edit: If you've checked out the Dymocks List please note that the Panda says NO!