Wednesday, November 14, 2007

500,000 books, 2 friends, $7.00

That sums up my evening. Today was the first day of the Wake County Library sale. It will run through Sunday. Today – Friday all hardbound books are $4.00 and all paperback books are $1.00. On Saturday prices drop to $2 per hardbound and 50 cents per paperback. On Sunday, you can buy books for $2 per bag and $5 per box. (library supplies bags and boxes)

After work I picked up my friend “The Editor” and my classmate, “Miss Susie Q” and then we headed over to the sale.

Do you know how many tables of books 500,000 books ARE??? Me neither. Picture and old empty K-Mart – add all the church trestle tables you can fit in the space … my guess is well over 200, and then imagine the lined with 3 rows of books, spine up on each table.

It’s hard to be systematic in your searching … and some of us must “straighten” as we go. (is a dork). I immediately headed for the history section. 16 tables of history books. Then I jumped over to “Literature” … easily another 16 to 20 tables of books. Finally, there was this magnetic pull. A group of tables placed sideways against the wall, near the checkout stand. Table after table … of … COOKING BOOKS.

My goal was to spend NO MONEY. I failed.

3 paperbacks, 1 hardback

Or

2 research, 1 educational, 1 pleasure

“Legends of the Comstock Lode”, published 1950 by the Stanford Press. “North Carolina in the Mexican War 1846-1848”, published 1963 by the State Department of Archives and History. Those are the ‘research’ books

Anne LaMott "Hard Laughter" I’m classifying as ‘Educational’ … because uhh, she’s a writer and has a great essay on “The Shity First Draft” and a writing guide called “Bird by Bird” (Although this is her first novel but it’s ABOUT being a writer!!).

Finally Bill Bryson, "In a Sunburned Country ... just because he makes me laugh and think. I really enjoyed his “A Short History of Nearly Everything” and “I’m a Stranger Here Myself”. First title made me think, second made me laugh.

Now – off to bed with this red!

3 comments:

Christopher Paquette said...

How the hell did you walk away from 500,000 books and only spend 7 bucks?? I'm EXTREMELY disappointed (or impressed)....one or the other.

Joseph H. Vilas said...

Yeah, really. I don't think you were even trying. :-P

Anonymous said...

I've never walked away from that particular book sale without a box in my hands. It's lethal.