For the first time in three months, I have sorted and shelved all the books that are fit to sell. I told the boss they should bring some more over from the warehouse (where they store donations), and took today off.
Since we're closed for Labor Day (and are always closed Sundays), I have three whole days off for the first time all summer.
I still have a few boxes at work that need special attention:
a box of books about hot-air ballooning, for instance, from the estate of local balloonist Don Piccard (whose father, Jean Piccard––a balloonist who worked with the US military and NASA––was an influence on Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, who named his captain Jean-Luc Picard, in tribute);
and a box of old books that I need to look up to see if they're "old" as in crumbling and suited only ("only") for reading––
or "old" as in antique and worth money, to be put in our locked glass case (I like to give customers first refusal) or sold online.
I've noticed that people tend to look past old books as books they might/could actually buy to read.
I'd put out seven volumes in the 1909 Lock & Key Library (left),
on the Cool Old Books shelf,
for 99 cents each.
They sat there for a couple months.
Finally I spelled it out in a sign:
Lock & Key Library: Classic Mystery and Detective Stories from All Nations . . . and several sold right away. Perhaps I should have shelved them in the usual Fiction section.
I've been taking home books and putting them in piles, intending to read them. They make nice piles to look at.
Here's what I am actually reading, as of today.
Or, rereading--I realize now I probably got a lot of my info about our current president over the years from Doonesbury... he first appears in the strip in 1987.
...and I'd loved Moon Tiger (HATE this lurid cover!) years ago--when I was in the middle of a tragic love affair-- and decided to reread it because the Guardian book club is. (Not that I'm part of that book club, but they reminded me of the book.)
I'm enjoying how it's written more than I'm enjoying the story, with a tragic love affair at its center.
I really notice my age when I read novels.
Tragic love affair?
Yeah, yeah, whatever. (My lack of interest is why I don't read so many novels anymore.)
But how does Penelope Lively manage to shift perspective and times and make it hold together, which it totally does?
Her book reminds me a little of Michael Herr's Dispatches, from Vietnam War--I finished it and then skimmed back over the whole thing, trying to find the connective tissue.
Here's Dispatches under The Web of Life--how fitting––which I brought home to photograph its cover:
I'd ordered Moon Tiger from ebay (all library copies were checked out (by other Guardian readers?) and I'm too embarrassed to keep putting books on hold at the library, since half the time I forget to pick them up when they come in, and I can imagine the staff's annoyance)–– and just now, this afternoon some other book arrived in the mail---AND I COULDN'T THINK WHAT IT WAS:
Oh, yeah!
The Nashville Chronicles: The Making of Robert Altman's Masterpiece (and one of my favorite movies)––
the library didn't even own this, and I'm eager to add it to a pile.
These are some other piles.
I am going to READ (or reread) THEM ALL. Not in three days...but my evening plan is to lie on the couch and finish Moon Tiger.
Since we're closed for Labor Day (and are always closed Sundays), I have three whole days off for the first time all summer.
I still have a few boxes at work that need special attention:
a box of books about hot-air ballooning, for instance, from the estate of local balloonist Don Piccard (whose father, Jean Piccard––a balloonist who worked with the US military and NASA––was an influence on Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, who named his captain Jean-Luc Picard, in tribute);
and a box of old books that I need to look up to see if they're "old" as in crumbling and suited only ("only") for reading––
or "old" as in antique and worth money, to be put in our locked glass case (I like to give customers first refusal) or sold online.
I'd put out seven volumes in the 1909 Lock & Key Library (left),
on the Cool Old Books shelf,
for 99 cents each.
They sat there for a couple months.
Finally I spelled it out in a sign:
Lock & Key Library: Classic Mystery and Detective Stories from All Nations . . . and several sold right away. Perhaps I should have shelved them in the usual Fiction section.
I've been taking home books and putting them in piles, intending to read them. They make nice piles to look at.
Here's what I am actually reading, as of today.
Or, rereading--I realize now I probably got a lot of my info about our current president over the years from Doonesbury... he first appears in the strip in 1987.
...and I'd loved Moon Tiger (HATE this lurid cover!) years ago--when I was in the middle of a tragic love affair-- and decided to reread it because the Guardian book club is. (Not that I'm part of that book club, but they reminded me of the book.)
I'm enjoying how it's written more than I'm enjoying the story, with a tragic love affair at its center.
I really notice my age when I read novels.
Tragic love affair?
Yeah, yeah, whatever. (My lack of interest is why I don't read so many novels anymore.)
But how does Penelope Lively manage to shift perspective and times and make it hold together, which it totally does?
Her book reminds me a little of Michael Herr's Dispatches, from Vietnam War--I finished it and then skimmed back over the whole thing, trying to find the connective tissue.
Here's Dispatches under The Web of Life--how fitting––which I brought home to photograph its cover:
I'd ordered Moon Tiger from ebay (all library copies were checked out (by other Guardian readers?) and I'm too embarrassed to keep putting books on hold at the library, since half the time I forget to pick them up when they come in, and I can imagine the staff's annoyance)–– and just now, this afternoon some other book arrived in the mail---AND I COULDN'T THINK WHAT IT WAS:
The Nashville Chronicles: The Making of Robert Altman's Masterpiece (and one of my favorite movies)––
the library didn't even own this, and I'm eager to add it to a pile.
These are some other piles.
I am going to READ (or reread) THEM ALL. Not in three days...but my evening plan is to lie on the couch and finish Moon Tiger.
What lovely stacks of books! I almost feel I am looking at what is in my house. I'm writing down some of the titles to look for them.
ReplyDeleteNashville Chronicles looks interesting. I saw that a few years ago and now want to re-watch it.
I am so jealous of the book selection at St. Vinnie's! The selection here is sometimes lacking.
Although the last time I was at the Salvation Army I picked up David Halberstam "The Powers that Be", Peter Hopkirk "The Great Game", and "Who the hell is William Loeb?" William Loeb was the editor of the Manchester Union and apparently was a character.
K
Hi, Kirsten!
ReplyDeleteWell... I have to say, my books were skimmed off the top of the donations before they even went out for sale, so I'm cheating a bit, of course... and the piles were piled up over 3 months...
But yes, I am also impressed at what good donated books the store gets!
A friend told me she's more willing to donate good or unusual books to thrift stores when she can see they take care of them---display them nicely, etc.
I feel that way too--don't want to donate to places I suspect just put damaged books in recycling--
so I hope the care I put into the books dept.--putting out cool old books even if they're frail, for instance-- encourages more good donations.
Sounds like you got a good haul there too!