Friday, September 19, 2008

Now comes the fun part…
This year’s book sale haul was not the biggest, but it will still take a little bit of work to incorporate everything into our ‘library.’ The nice things about having our holdings spread throughout the house is not having to face the reality of “too many books’; although a real library might be nice. Trudging through the rain and mud left me too overwrought to place the books on the shelves, though I’ve started putting them in my LibraryThing – that virtual accounting of my obsession which serves as both an organized database and the bibliophiles equivalent of a shame-filled drawer of empty gin bottles. Oops. I didn’t realize there were so many.

What I learned this year…

“Pop” psychology and spirituality just aren’t workin’ for people. Judging from the amount of Chopra and Tolle being sold for pennies on the dollar. Chicken Soup for Whatever Soul isn’t the basis of a solid library, either.

Do-It-Yourself divination kits are slow movers, too.

At the rate things are going, next year the library will have to pay shoppers to take away abandoned copies of The daVinci Code.

The sale is a lot like going to that national park in Arkansas where you can dig around for diamonds. There are gems for those who search. But you may get dirty in the process. Literally as well as figuratively.

There are limits to the service one can expect. Especially in a tent on very muddy, oozing ground. I overheard a shopper ask one of the volunteers – bless his heart! – where he could find some Chesterton. She – bless her heart! – stopped moving cases of books out of the ooze to say, “I don’t know. Is he new?’

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