It’s amazing how one dollar and a paper bag could bring me so much delight. And not just me, but everyone else scrambling in the small room. People squeezed through the aisles and hands fluttered over the tables. It was the Friends of San Dimas Library Buck-a-Bag Day book sale.
For $1, readers were provided with a paper bag to fill with as many books as they could fit or wanted. Joey and I got a total of 12 books: seven that I was interested in and five more that Joey picked out for himself.
One bag of books was about our limit since I had to haul all the books back home in my bike basket.
My eyes scanned over the hundreds of books spread out among tables lining the walls and in the center of the room, most of them categorized by subject. The first book that I considered bag-worthy was a book of short stories on American West. I’ve already declared my love for reading about the old west previously, so naturally, this was a good pick for me.
The second book that caught my eye was love at first sight. I literally grabbed the hardback, held it close, and exclaimed “Yes!” It was Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. I saw this movie on a whim in the theaters. I walked into the showing only knowing that there was a lot of buzz around this movie. I had no idea what to expect and I was absolutely shocked when I watched it. Good thing I had my mom with me, because honestly, I was little frightened by the intensity of it. It told a story that stuck with me and I wanted to explore more by reading the book.
Then I saw Memoirs of a Geisha, another movie I adored and I knew I had to have that book.
I also took a chance on a few reads I had never heard of, but sounded like they belonged on my shelves.
My final find put the cherry on top of an exciting book grabbing day — Double Fudge Brownie Murder by Joanne Fluke. Earlier this year I purchased four of these Hannah Swensen mysteries at a yard sale for 50 cents each. I read the first one and knew this was a cozy series that I could read for a long time. Lucky for me, there has been a new cozy published practically every year for the past 16 years.
Two weeks ago I went to the Covina Book and Bake Sale to pick up some cheap reads and goodies. Paperbacks were going for only 25 cents –that’s like yard sale prices! I carefully went through the books and picked out a few that caught my interest.
Whistling in the Dark by Lesley Kagen immediately brought the sounds of They Might Be Giants to my head, as it is one of my favorite songs off their Flood album. I mean, where else has anyone heard that expression? From the description, it didn’t sound like a happy, quirky tale as expected from the title, but actually a really sad tale of sisterhood. The premise seemed somewhat similar to the next book in my queue, The Trouble with Goats and Sheep by Joanna Cannon.
There was a small section of cat mysteries, but only one called out to me: a noir mystery with very ’80s/’90s cover art. Finally I did one last swoop and came across An Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England. The title made me laugh and I was captivated.
Ok, I’ll bite. Tell me, why are you burning all these houses down? Or what does this really mean?
Joey found a travel book on Utah, he’s excited to read more about our future home.
Once again, I rode my bike to the book sale, so I had to limit myself to how many treasures I was bringing back.
Cost: $2.50
Drink of Choice: Sugar Free Caramel Latte
*Ok, maybe not eternal, but many, many hours.