Booking Along at the Fairgrounds

This afternoon was the last day to take advantage of the VNA’s semi-annual rummage sale at the Fairgrounds in Far Hills.  Twice yearly in the spring and fall, I religiously attend, browse around and enjoy the variety of people who are also there seeking bargains of their own.

Volunteers arrange books as patrons peruse shelves, (File, 05-06-2011)

Everyone has different tastes and a desire to pick up good buys.  Mine is books.  Because of my ever-growing library and the clear fact that I’ll never be able to read all of it, I almost passed up on the opportunity this year. 

 

Then I realized that no one can possibly read all of the books that constitute a good private library, but that is not the point.  Like good friends, one can never have too many in a lifespan, even though time and circumstances will take a person away from some of them.

 

The saying on the plaque that I purchased today reads “A house without books is like a room without windows.”  That same aphorism appears on a one-inch-square pewter house that sits on the windowsill near my writing desk.  Let the sun shine in!  That’s my motto.

Thirteen bucks bought me two heavy bags full of wide-ranging book topics, all at half-price on the last day – twenty volumes, to be exact.

 

Recollecting that Pris likes to read Nora Roberts, I called her while standing in front of a well-stocked bookcase at the fair and asked her to check her previous readings by this author.  The result was eight more fiction novels for her enjoyment.

As for me, I am now looking at a copy of “Frank Sinatra, An American Legend,” by Nancy . . . ‘with the smiling face. . .‘ (partial lyrics from one of the Chairman of the Board’s plaintive melodies).

 

Another title is “The Winter of Our Discontent” by John Steinbeck.  I read that one a long time ago, but history has repeated itself in this country, so it’s well worth a re-read.   Then there is “The Renaissance, Maker of the Modern Man,” lest I forget that the world did not begin on the day that I was born – a good thought for anyone to consider.

Nor did I think twice about picking up a copy of “Yes We Can, a biography of President Barack Obama,” in order that I might gain some insight into why we could not.

After that, two books on baseball, “Red Sox Century” and “It’s Only Me, the Ted Williams we hardly knew,” followed by a third on football, David Halberstam’s “The Education of a Coach,” an account of Bill Belichick, the New England Patriot’s you-know-who.  What?  I was born and raised in Massachusetts, remember?

Hope I’ve not bored you by sharing some of my reading interests – they get even more eclectic. 

Thanks for reading and have a good week.