Reading Secondhand: Ruth Park at St Vincent de Paul
by Ali Jane Smith I am a keen, but not obsessive, op shopper. I love bric-a-brac. A novelty biscuit tin, the toys from McDonalds’ Happy Meals, a jigsaw puzzle, cake forks, a milk jug. Tupperware! I’m wary of the books, unless I am in the shop where my neighbour, Dorothy-over-the-road, volunteers. It has the best organised, and tidiest, book section of any op shop I’ve ever been to, better than many for-profit secondhand bookshops. There’s always something worth buying, and it is great for kid’s books. I’ve written elsewhere about a really wonderful book that Dorothy found for me at her…