It’s the annual siege of Tauranga Racecourse – the Tauranga Harbour City Lions book sale.

And it begins today – November 10 – starting 9am. Yes, the Lions have thrown open the doors – and it’s pandemonium, controlled pandemonium.

More than 1000 banana boxes, an average 45 books in each – so about 400,000 books – are for sale today, Friday, November 10, Saturday, November 11, from 9am-5pm, and Sunday, November 12, from 9am-3pm at Tauranga Racecourse.

And, of course, there’s the book sale hordes, the buyers, the enthusiasts. “The women fly in first,” says Lion and book sale veteran Christine Currie. “They have their lists, they know which authors they like, and they go for it.”

There’s a very different dynamic in the non-fiction room right next door. “A totally different person,” says Christine. She won’t elaborate too much. Except those people are more studied, more thoughtful and considered. And there seems to be a preference for Roman sandals.

“The non-fiction people come back every single day. And they stay for hours. They look through every single box and pore over every book. They buy the first day, they buy the second day and they buy the third day.”

The signs are it will be the Lion’s biggest and most successful annual book sale since it started in 2007.

“We had to pull our advertising campaign in July after The Weekend Sun ran a story highlighting our need for more fiction books. Your story was the best sort of advertising. You wouldn’t believe the response.”

It could also have something to do with the generosity of Tauranga people. Recently, a man rang offering 25 cartons of textbooks on landscaping. “Of course we picked them up, they’ll fly out the door,” says Christine.

The Tauranga Harbour City Lions Annual Book Sale is at Tauranga Racecourse, 1383 Cameron Rd, on November 10-11 from 9am-5pm, and November 12 from 9am-3pm. All profits from the sale go to deserving people and projects around town.

The Lions don’t keep books over – they start afresh each year. Any books leftover from this year’s sale might go across the Kaimai Range to a Lions Book sale in Hamilton. “Could be as many as 200 cartons,” says Christine. Or a lot less depending on how the sale goes.