Bonanzle Servers

In case you missed it (because I sure did), here's a note I found on a cached Bonanzle page:

"A quick maintenance note: we will be switching our web host on Monday evening, which will require us to physically move our servers from one location to another and re-setup all of the connections to and between them. We're planning to start the move at 10pm PST on Monday evening, and we'll be back online sometime in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. There could quite possibly be some intermittent issues on Tuesday as we iron out any hiccups that come about as a result of the move."

I spent several hours last night uploading 22 new items to Bonanzle, so it wasn't exactly reassuring to have it seemingly crash for several hours when I went to make final edits. I'm also not thrilled that, as far as I can tell, we weren't notified that this was going on. Right now it's working slowly and intermittently for me, slightly better in Internet Explorer than Firefox. Hopefully it'll be back to normal by tomorrow.

That said, this means I have 22 new items in my booth, mostly reading copies, if that's your thing--highest price on anything is $11.99. I've recently attempted a new method of organizing my Excel spreadsheets (how you KNOW you have too many books . . . ) and discovered I have several books that I've upgraded, so now all my duplicates are up for grabs. I also finally made a Lenora-themed banner for my booth (see above, obviously), which I'm not completely thrilled with, but which is still an upgrade from my previous generic one.

I've also updated my Blogger theme--thoughts? I need to get my Bonanzle widget matching/up and running, which may be fun today. It's an improvement on the blandness before, but I'd still love to have more of a 30s flapper-ish theme someday. I'm slowly figuring out how to modify all that stuff.

Storing Books

I'm always curious how serious collectors store all those books--Jenn Fisher's collection is about the only person's I've seen pictured. You can see my own library above, although I've added since then (I know you're shocked), and the shelves are all pretty full. If you want a tour, the far left bookcase is all Nancy Drew and Dana Girls. After that, I have them organized alphabetically by series name. I group formats together because I think it looks better (white spine Nancys, OS Nancys w/o dj, wrap dj Nancys, etc.), arranged by number within the format. To get even more anal, the formats are done in the order they were introduced (purple Dana Girls, turquoise DG, wrap DG, etc.), which gets complicated with Nancy Drew, since there are overlapping formats (i.e. cameo editions), and I also have some British and French editions. The few single titles I have are alphabetical by author.

My issue right now is that while all my series books are on the shelf, my regular books are still boxed from my move last summer. Clearly, I don't have the shelf space for them. I've bought another tall shelf and a different desk with a finished back. The current plan is to move the desk away from the wall, then use that space for two more shelves. I've also tentatively started selling off series I don't like in my Bonanzle booth--Kay Tracey is my test of this at the moment. I should also disclose that my favorite series, Judy Bolton and Beverly Gray, are housed on the built-in by my fireplace in the living room.

P.S. Please ignore my beginning attempts at stripping the fireplace. Thanks.

And in a final random note, there's no less than 3 Cherry Ames board games up for sale on eBay right now, and two others have sold in the past couple of weeks. A little odd, but it seems like there's a rush on certain things every now and then. The first one sold for almost $90, which may have encouraged some other people to list.

Bonanzle

Long time no post! I was out of town for about three consecutive weekends and got out of my reading habit. I read two Shirley Flight books this weekend, though, so expect posts on them shortly.

I also got a copy of the other Alice Anson title in the C&L Mystery Stories, Escape by Night, for which I have high hopes. I managed to get the only copy in dj on ABE, Amazon, and eBay, for only $17--got to love the Best Offer feature. And it is MINT. I'm also very excited about some early, early Dana Girls books in dj that I got, By the Light of the Study Lamp and In the Shadow of the Tower, both listing to latter. They were $19 and $25, respectively, in dj (with all the listings on the back), four glossies, etc. While I don't love Dana Girls in general, I do LOVE the early cover art (very thirties/sophisticated for a children's book).

As you probably figured out from my widget, I've started a booth on Bonanzle for all my extras. I also decided to sell off my Kay Tracey books. It seems silly, when I've spent so long collecting them, but I really don't care for them (how can one series have such a combination of the bizarre and the boring?), and I need the shelf space in a bad way. I haven't sold anything yet, but I'm optimistic. I really love the community feel and got several welcome messages within hours of opening it.

I also got a message saying that the copy of The Clue in the Stagecoach that I have listed is a first edition. Points are synopsis on front flap, lists to self on back flap, and Dana Girls to Bamboo Bird on back cover. However, I found a completed listing on eBay, with the same info, only listing to Haunted Lagoon, so I'd think that was an earlier printing? *shrug*