They have enough books! Perhaps 35,000.

Yes, enough books! They just need people now.

Lots of people. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people to turn out for the three-day 20th annual Harbour City Lions Book Sale at Tauranga Racecourse on November 6, 7 and 8.

And everything points to it being a blockbuster.

“The giving has been phenomenal this year,” Lion Christine Currie said.

She’s the veteran of every sale since the first in 2007.

“The public has donated about 1000 banana boxes of books.”

So they’ve had to turn off the tap a couple of weeks earlier than usual, Currie said.

“We can’t accept any more books because they’re still processing what they have and the venue simply can’t accommodate the volume.

“The goodwill’s probably down to the cause – our soul charity this year,” Currie said.

“Everyone’s been touched by cancer. Either you’ve had it, or you know someone.”

About 30,000 New Zealanders are diagnosed with cancer each year, with nearly 7000 cancer deaths.

Last year the Lions raised $70,000. But hopefully all those banana boxes of books will this year translate to a financial injection of about $100,000 for the Cancer Society’s new $30 million, 40-room patient lodge near Tauranga Hospital.

“It will be a home away from home for people living with cancer,” Currie said. “Somewhere to ease the pressure and stress.”

The new facility will offer free accommodation, meals and transport for cancer patients across the Bay of Plenty and Rotorua regions, she said.

Another new facility is being set up at the racecourse for the sale on November 6,7 and 8 – an entirely separate, but adjacent, venue to accommodate about 1000 jigsaw puzzles.

Harbour City Lion Tina Dons feeling booked out after helping to collate donations to the 20th annual Harbour City Lions Book Sale at Tauranga Racecourse on November 6-8. Photo / Kelly O’Hara

“One person in Cambridge gave us 271 in one hit. I was at lunch when a man rang to ask if I could pick up 82 brand new Wasgijs.”

A Wasgij is an addictively unique version of a jigsaw.

“Jigsaws are extraordinarily popular,” Currie said. “You might pay $35 retail for a new jigsaw. Ours start at $3.”

It’s hard to calculate the entertainment they give. It might take an experienced puzzler 30 minutes to complete a 100-piece jigsaw, four hours for a 500-piece, eight for 1000-piece, perhaps 12 hours for 1500 pieces and 25-plus hours for a 3000-piece jigsaw.

Of course there are the variables – the experience of the puzzler, the puzzle’s complexity, the strategy – because sorting by edge and colour can drastically affect the time.

Also the quality of the pieces impacts. You need quality cut, thick ones that fit cleanly and are faster to handle. It all impacts time at the task.

This all tells us there are hours, days, weeks and perhaps many months of entertainment up for sale, at a snip, at the Harbour City Lions annual Book Sale at Tauranga Racecourse.

There’s a brand-new book titled Pearl Harbour for just $4.

I’ll have a quick thumb through that. Also a couple of biographies on racing driver Peter Brock and a very timely read on the late Sir Sam Neill.

There will be yellow dot books at $3 each through to premium silver dot books at $12 and everything in between. A read for everyone – from classic literature, health and history to pets, poetry and rugby.

It’s a frenzied first few hours at the Harbour City Lions annual books sale at Tauranga Racecourse when the hardball puzzlers and bargain book hunters storm the doors at 9am on the first day, this year November 6 from 9am-5pm.

Then it’s game on again November 7, 9am-5pm. and Sunday, November 8 from 9am-3pm. Bring your own bag.