Clip Art for Bibliophiles

If you've ever searched for clipart, you know that finding just the right image among the available millions can be quite time consuming. So I'd like to share a great source for antique book images which are copyright-free: Pictures from Old Books
I've already used one of the images on my other blog, and plan on keeping this site in mind for future use.
Also of interest is Antique Clipart. (Though I wasn't able to find any book images)

Source for free audio books!

I'm so excited! This weekend I found an online source for free audio books: LibriVox (HT to Crystal) It's a great concept: volunteers record books that are in the public domain, the files are posted to the site, and voila! Books anyone with an internet connection can listen to.

Although I love to read books from the printed page, I'm also a big fan of audio books. There are many times when I want to read, but my eyes are tired, I'm driving, or I'm doing some sort of hand work like knitting. But I'm a bit of a penny pincher. I'd much rather check a recording out from the library than buy one. Problem is, not many of the titles there interest me. (I'm not into the latest best sellers :) After browsing LibriVox's catalog, I think I'm set for life! Old books galore. My first download: Love Among the Chickens. Wodehouse, of course.

Since anyone can record for this site, the quality of readings will vary. But all the samples I've listened to so far have been, if not top-notch "Hollywood style", at least very clear and well-paced. This would be a fun project for homeschoolers to do, actually!

Check it out. From Shakespeare to Jane Austen, science fiction to poetry, you're sure to find something that interests you.

Latest treasure hunt

I love shopping for books. Especially when they are 25 cents each, as at the latest used book sale at my local library.

For an investment of about $15, here's what we got: (minus some that have already made it to the bookshelves)



As my family and I were driving to the sale, my dad mentioned that we needed to keep an eye out for Edwin Tunis titles. Early in our homeschooling years, we loved reading his books describing the Colonial period and have been saddened to find them gradually disappearing from the library shelves. Not only that, but the prices have been going up dramatically on used copies...far above my budget, anyway!

After spending an hour or so looking through boxes and boxes of books, I thought I was finished. But my dad was still browsing the children's area. So I glanced around to pass the time---imagine my surprise when I found not one, but two Tunis titles! I couldn't help hurrying to my family and triumphantly proclaiming "I win!"

So here are my favorite buys, beneath an addition to our Clara Ingram Judson biography collection:



It was definitely a worthwhile hour and a half!

To find book sales in your area, try the Book Sale Finder. Happy hunting!

Book reviews on Semicolon

I don't remember how I found the blog, but I've been heading over to Semicolon for the past few weeks to participate in the Saturday Review of Books. Every Saturday, the author puts up an interactive post where visitors can place a link to the books they've reviewed during the past week. It's a great idea--check it out!

Time Savers and Time Wasters

Anyone who's been using the internet for a while knows that it can easily suck up your time. (I picture a greedy green monster!) It's certainly been that way for me. While I enjoy the new ways to keep up with friends through e-mail, instant messaging, blogs and the like, it is a struggle sometimes to keep priorities straight. I often feel like I've received an "information overload"!

Here's something that has helped: Bloglines. By setting up an account with this feed reader, I have cut down my wasted time considerably. Now I don't have to try to remember whose blog I read last. I also won't miss important posts, because Bloglines notifies me whenever a site is updated. If I don't have time to read it right then, I can save it for later. If you haven't already found a similar service, I highly recommend checking this one out. It's very simple to use, and you don't have to provide any personal info apart from an e-mail address. Read more here.

After resisting the urge for quite a while, I finally set up a Facebook account. This is one of those things that can be a great tool or a great time waster. Here's what I like about it: no pressure to write long personal updates, easy contact with friends, ability to control my privacy, and photo sharing---all in one place. It's handy for all these things, however I must mention that browsing groups entails a certain amount of risk. I was disappointed to see a fair amount of foul language displayed. But most of that is easily avoided by staying in your own "circle" of contacts.

Recent Organizational Projects

Sheet Music

Being a music teacher brings many joys. I have the pleasure of helping others experience beauty in new ways, and not only to experience it but also to create new beauties themselves.

Being a music teacher also means having a large library of sheet music. And while this is a great thing, it can also become a problem as storage space becomes scarce. How to organize, store and keep track of all of it is a continual problem I face.

On being prompted by my mother to take charge of the growing piles beside the piano and elsewhere, I finally took some time to add some decency and order to this area of my life.

Here’s how it worked:

I took three file cabinet drawers, and designated one for Piano methods, one for Beginning classical, and one for Advanced music.

My piano methods I organized first by level, then by publisher. So, for example, in the level 2 section I have folders for Alfred, Bastien, Schaum, and Keys for the Kingdom, among others.

The Beginner’s drawer is similarly organized, with the addition of Duets, Christmas and Sacred music by level.

The advanced classical drawer I organized by musical era. (Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Modern) Within each era, I have separate files for composers. (Such as Bach and Chopin) For this particular drawer, I used Legal size folders instead of Letter, because the books tend to be larger.

I’m finished with the project for now, and am enjoying the extra floor space, as well as the ability to find specific books more easily.

Later on, I may consider cataloguing the music electronically, as I have just done for my reading library.

Books

This was a fun project that I’ve wanted to do for a long time, partly out of curiosity to know how many books I own. (Upwards of 330, as of last week) The other reason I wanted to do this was because it has become increasingly hard for me to remember which books I have by particular authors. Now that the list is made, I can sort the books with the click of a button.

Here’s how I did it:

Using Microsoft Excel, I designed a worksheet with 8 columns:

Title
Author
Publisher
Year (originally) published
Genre
Editor
Illustrator
Series

It took all of two afternoons to finish typing the data in. Very simple!

Has anyone else tried this project? I’m interested to hear how you went about it. Has anyone organized his or her books on the shelf? I have yet to attempt this, and would be glad for any tips.

Treasure Hunting: How to Find Good Books for Less

“When I get a little money I buy books, and if any is left I buy food and clothes.” –Erasmus

Every bibliophile wants to find new books to add to their collection. However, this could easily become an expensive hobby. For someone with a limited income, it is nice to know that good quality books can be found for much less that the retail price!

My dad is a great bargain hunter. He’s one of those people who can find amazing deals in the most unexpected places. (Of course, it helps that he can talk to almost anyone. I’ve always said that even if he went to the moon, he’d find someone he knew!) Growing up with him has been one long adventure. Early on, daddy began filling our house with books and helping each of us to begin building our own libraries.

Here are some of the places we’ve been:

Garage Sales

Garage sales are one of the cheapest places to buy used books. A very large portion of my personal library came from garage sales. The selection is totally unpredictable, so if you want something specific this is probably not the best way to find it—unless you don’t mind looking forever! But if you like surprises, going to garage sales can be great fun.

One of my favorite parts of the shopping is bargaining. If I don’t like the price, then I’ll ask the owner if they will take less. How to do this takes a bit of discerning guesswork: some people are very firm in wanting what is marked, and may even take offense if you offer less. But I’ve found that most simply want to get rid of their excess stuff. It’s not unusual for sellers to accept 50% of their original price. I usually buy books for $1 or less.

Libraries

Libraries are always trimming their selection to make room for new acquisitions. The “unpopular” books that are discarded are very often just the ones I like. The bad thing about discarded books is that they are often in very poor condition. The best books I’ve found are donations that never made it to the shelves.
Many times the books are sold by donation, instead of a fixed price. Our local library recently had a special “Fill a bag for $1” sale.

My favorite library find: A lovely copy of Nearby!

Thrift Stores

The selection at thrift stores such as Goodwill or the Salvation Army is usually very slim, and limited to paperback novels and dated self-help books. I have found the occasional treasure, such as my nearly-new hardback copy of Lord Peter. Prices range from 29 cents to a dollar.

Used Book Shops

If I ever make a trip across the U.S., I want to browse as many bookshops as I can. Each one is unique and, (hurrah!) most have some semblance of order. I have found decent hardbacks for as little as $4.

Antique Stores

Most books at antique shops are pricey. ($10 and up) I don’t like to pay more than $7 unless it’s a book I really want. The real reason I frequent these stores is to window-shop: so many old books have beautiful, unusual covers.

E-Bay

E-Bay is a great place to find specific books. I don’t care for bidding, however, and tend to look for “Buy it now” listings.


I’m sure there are many other good places to find used books. Would anyone care to share his or her favorites? I’m curious to know if anyone has used Internet swap sites? (like Bookins or Titletrader)

Studying Shakespeare

I want to get to know this author. The story is told that when the early American pioneers headed West, they took only their most valuable belongings. That included books. Sometimes they would only have room for three: The Bible, The Pilgrim's Progress, and the Works of Shakespeare.

The Bible I have grown up studying. It is a never-ending source of joy and direction. Because it is the living word of God, it never grows old.

The Pilgrim's Progress was one of my favorite childhood adventure stories.

But Shakespeare? He's so hard to read! And when I do, I get bogged down in the dialogue and unfamiliar words. I have seen glimpses of beauty...but they are rare.

That is why I bought Peter Leithart's study guide, Brightest Heaven of Invention. With this in hand, I hope my appreciation of this playwright will increase by leaps and bounds. I get excited just flipping through the book, reading the Christian commentary and anticipating the different writing projects I'll try.

I think I'll start with the Taming of the Shrew. That's a compelling story that I think has some valuable lessons about true femininity imbedded in it.

Have any of my readers "gone before" me on this journey? Do you have any tips or resources to share? Please do!