The Fifth National Holiday:
Ah, the weekend of the San Francisco Library Booksale. Miles and miles of books at rock bottom prices. Could there be anything sweeter?
I got to go early this year since I joined the Friends and Foundation of the San Francisco Public Library. It’s great since you the selection hasn’t been picked over yet but not so great since everything is “full” price. See on Sunday, the last day of the sale, they try to unload inventory by marking everything down to a dollar. So while I got some great stuff, I probably spent more than I wanted to.
No matter. It’s pretty much pointless to strategize. The books are barely organized into only the most general categories. What you do find is largely a matter of luck.
Prize finds: A hardcover copy of Aimee Bender’s Girl in the Flammable Skirt, one of the best book I read last year that I had checked out of the library. Now I’ve got one of my own.
My friends Wendy and Min Jung were kind enought to accompany me. Amy and Erin met us there. I learned quickly that sale isn’t such a social outing, as everyone has their own browsing agenda and moves at a separate pace. It’s better to have brunch together beforehand.
Reader interactions
4 Replies to “The Fifth National Holiday:”
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Four times the cash buffer, four times the time anticipated, and, yes, fellow book geeks lost in the shuffle on Friday. A strange zealous antisocial communal experience, but where else could you discover unexpected review copies and hardcovers for such dirt cheap prices and for such a good cause? Thank goodness no one was hypoglyceimic, what with lack of food, lotsa books to haul and, of course, not much dinero for the post-book meal because it was all spent on tomes.
Four times the cash buffer, four times the time anticipated, and, yes, fellow book geeks lost in the shuffle on Friday. A strange zealous antisocial communal experience, but where else could you discover unexpected review copies and hardcovers for such dirt cheap prices and for such a good cause? Thank goodness no one was hypoglyceimic, what with lack of food, lotsa books to haul and, of course, not much dinero for the post-book meal because it was all spent on tomes.
I went on Sunday around 2. I had a little mental list of books that I was looking for, and I actually found two of them. It was not at all crowded then, but I overheard some of the staffers say that it’d get *real* busy in the last hour of the sale.
I went on Sunday around 2. I had a little mental list of books that I was looking for, and I actually found two of them. It was not at all crowded then, but I overheard some of the staffers say that it’d get *real* busy in the last hour of the sale.