Library Book sale

The book sale at the American Library is a favorite event. Not only are there thousands of books at cheap prices, but it is held in the American church which brings up memories of the Christmas Fair at the Church of the Good Shepherd where I grew up in Reading.

There’s something about eating an egg salad sandwich in a roll, with a cup of tea under stained glassed windows as people around you browse for books that makes me feel warm and cosy, even if the wind is blowing off the lake outside. However, I won’t get to do that until Friday.

Today was a work day. This year for the first time I was able to volunteer to help set up. Two years ago my daughter did it. Boxes of books were under the tables in categories: history, self-help, cooking, novels, gardening and classics. I took the classics.

Some of the books were old leather-bound editions, the kind my grandfather treated reverently. Others were modern paperbacks. The hard part of putting them out is that I wanted to read so many of them. I did give in to thumbing for some of my favourite parts of East of Eden, glancing at a Roman myth or two, and reading three Emily Dickinson poems.

More and more people showed up to help. The sounds of “I’m history, I’ve got a novel,” and “Save the shallow boxes for the extras” mingled with the thumping of boxes and books onto the tables. At 10:30 we were given a tea and cake (marble) break and one of the teas was my much loved and sometimes hard to find Bengali Spice. That alone was worth the lifting and bending.

Sadly I will miss the thank-you tea party next month, but I won’t miss the egg salad sandwiches when I go to buy on Friday. Of course the books go back to the library for next year’s sale. They do more good that way, raising money to keep the library open and having people read them rather than having me have to dust them.