Lashings of Books!

The newest acquisitions:

And now for the gently-used ones... I can hardly believe it's been nearly four months since I did my big book purge. I got rid of over 200 books and it felt good. I have to tell you though... the fall had me feeling a little nervous. The big college book sales were coming up and we all know what that means! For those of you who don't, let me explain: four of the big colleges at the University of Toronto hold annual book sales. This isn't about selling text books. The selection is made up of donated books, so it's like a GINORMOUS second-hand bookstore. Oh boy! Can you see the trouble I could get into? The smell of old books! The musty intoxication! The low prices! The promise! The madness!

Well, I only attended one, and this was at Trinity College just last weekend. Bruce accompanied me. It took place in the college's lovely Seeley Hall. It's pictured here.

Now... a little introduction to Enid Blyton for those of you who might not have heard of her. Blyton was, still is, one of the most successful and popular children's authors of all time, recently beating out J. K. Rowling in a British poll. According to Wikipedia, over 400 million copies of her books have been sold. She was born in Britain in 1897 and died in 1968. Her books were loved by children, reviled by many adults, and are still in print. Part of the appeal for me was that irresistible element of independence for her young characters. The children of the Secret Seven series and the Famous Five were always having adventures away from the scrutiny of grown ups. Instead they went on wonderful camping adventures and usually ended up helping the authorities apprehend villains, usually of a strange, foreign background. This takes us to the controversial bit, overblown by the media, but not - in my opinion - without its reasons. Her books are sexist, classist and somewhat xenophobic, and the woman must have had major food issues. Yes, kids like food. But Blyton's "slap-up teas" were neverending. Why she didn't weigh 500 pounds is beyond me. They generally consist of ham rolls and "lashings of ice cold ginger beer."

I still buy the occasional copy, if only to read out loud with my friends M and D. I have been rendered helpless with laughter from some of the prose, especially after a Guinness. The girls are generally described by the boys as "good little mothers", the boys are described by the girls as "jolly clever", and often have to show the girls who are in charge, and will punish them if necessary, and the villains have names like Dirty Dick. In the children's section at the Trinity College book sale, Enid Blyton was the only author with HER OWN BOX! Step away from the box BPG!



Trinity College Chapel is a gorgeous building:



We explored the quadrangle:





And wandered over to Queen's Park to look at the statue of King Edward, which is pretty impressive: