Readers race to raid the tables at CHB’s Bookarama

Readers of all genres flock to the annual book sale. Photo / Rachel Wise

There was barely a carpark free at the back of the Waipawa shopping precinct on Friday morning.

People were parking up and flocking towards the CHB Municipal Theatre, while others were staggering forth from the theatre bearing heavy bags and contented smiles.

Greetings passed between the groups: “Did you get much?” “Ooh yes, I’m off home to get started on them.”

It’s the annual Takapau Lions Club Bookarama, a huge sale of donated second-hand books, puzzles and vinyl records - and it’s much anticipated and much appreciated by the hundreds of book lovers who swoop on the venue year after year, bearing away books, puzzles and records with perfect timing as “good book and a cuppa” weather starts to set in.

There are tables heaped with jigsaws as well as the thousands of books. Photo / Rachel Wise

All books are sorted into clearly marked, easy-to-browse sections and cover everything from children’s books to reference, fiction and non-fiction, romance, travel, coffee table books and lots more, some even priced at less than $1.

The sale runs until 2pm on Sunday, by which time the Lions Club members who front up to run the massive project hope the number of boxes of books to be packed up and returned to storage will have dwindled from the 700 that arrived to a more manageable couple of hundred ... or less.

All the proceeds from Takapau Lions Club Bookarama go back to the Central Hawke’s Bay community, so your bag of bargain books will bring benefits to your local community.

Takapau Lions Club Bookarama, CHB Municipal Theatre, Kenilworth St Waipawa, Friday and Saturday from 9am until 4pm, Sunday from 9am to 2pm.