I went to the Leichhardt Book and CD fair and it's 'fair' to say (ha) that I got carried away.
For 11 days over November (3rd - 13th), Leichhardt Town Hall plays host to this annual fair held by 2MBS-FM classical, jazz and contemporary radio station. The Town hall is lined with tables supporting stacks and boxes of hardcovers and paperbacks of fiction, religion and philosophy, science and technology, history and biography, arts, sport and literature, food and wine (including a huge range of cookbooks), and English and international dictionaries. At the back you'll also find boxes of vinyls and old sheet music and song-books, from pop and childrens to classical and AMEB exam approved pieces.
I left with two handfuls of $4 books, including The Mini Oxford School French Dictionary, Lonely Planet French Phrasebook, Orwell's Keep the Aspidistra Flying, Bronte's Wuthering Heights, a selection of Absurdist theatre scripts and Adams' Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. I left my slightly embarrassing but almost unresistable pile of cds at the counter for another visit - so for those interested, Tina Arena, Acker Bilk and the entire Rod Stewart collection are still up for grabs.
This fair is definitely worth a visit and the Town Hall provides free parking just around the corner. If you miss the Leichhardt 'chapter' (I'm on fire today) then don't 'fret' (slightly irrelevant musical reference), as 2MBS-FM take their fair to Balmain in the 'preface' (like a novel?) to Christmas. read more