I haven’t posted a Book Loot post in a while but that’s because I’ve been a very good Bookgirl and have been curbing my spending sprees. Well, I was moving and just the thought of packing one more book was exhausting!

Anyway I had a coupon from Half Price Books and spent a very good afternoon there the other day. Here’s what I got and only spent $20:

• The Watchman by Robert Crais. This isn’t one of my typical reads but one of my best friends tells me this is a fast paced book and I haven’t read any Crais before so this should be a good place to start.
• The Thief Taker by Janet Gleeson. 18th Century London. You know this goes on my list. I’ve read one of her previous books and would like to see how this one turns out.
• Silent in the Sanctuary by Deanna Raybourn. I loved Silent in the Grave and can’t wait to start this one.
• High Marks for Murder by Rebecca Kent. I almost bought this the other day and am so glad I found it at HPB. What luck!
• Knowledge of Water by Sarah Smith. Another historical but this one is set in Paris. Oh, la, la…
• A Few Green Leaves by Barbara Pym. It’s a Pym book… enough said.
• Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen. I’ve always liked the cover of this book and I’ve read some good reviews about this book recently from some of you bloggy friends. Couldn’t resist adding it to my basket.
• The Adventures of the Mind from the Saturday Evening Post. This is an old book that I’m not planning to read but instead use for an altered book project.

And, guess what? I just got some more coupons from Half Price Books to be used next week. Yay.

What about you? Bought some good books lately?

We spent the afternoon at the annual book fair of Austin Book Workers (you bet I’ll be joining that group!). We saw some lovely books and even some demos on paper marbling. My favorite was the suminagashi which I’ve never seen before.

Here’s a pic of the demo. After the artist has added the ink in the water, rice paper is laid on the water surface to “pick up” the ink. The paper is then set to dry and can be used for calligraphy or any other paper arts. I wish I had a picture of some of the finished results but I was too busy watching this that I forgot to take those pics. This really looks like a lot of fun so maybe one day I’ll have to try it out.

Finally, I took a few pictures of my springback book. Remember this book? Well here’s how it turned out.

It has leather covers, chiyogami paper on the front and must weigh at least a pound. The covers are thick and it has approximately 900 pages. All blank and waiting for my inspired writings. Ha,ha…

Here’s another picture of the inside so you can see a bit more.

Eventually I need to take better pictures of this one to add it to my bookart page. I’m just so excited it’s finished because what with my move, vacation, etc. I almost thought I’d never see the complete version!