Books, books, books

My friend Trish gave me the heads up on a huge book sale going on this week and as someone who likes to read but doesn't like to spend a lot of money, I was really grateful. Twice a year the Lancaster library system holds this huge book sale to get some of the books off their shelves and raise some money at the same time. The sale has gotten so big they now have to hold it in a huge skating rink. It began yesterday morning at 9am. I got there about a quarter after the hour and COULDN'T BELIEVE how jam-packed it was. I had to park in the fourth overflow parking area. I was excited to see so many people there and at the same time really shocked at how many people there were.

The rink  was divided into two basic sections. In one half were the newer books (for 1-3 dollars apiece) and the other books were all a dollar each for hardcover and 50 cents for paperbacks. There were so many people there it was often times hard to move and, I'm sorry, the Amish guys in attendance gave me a really bad headache with their overpowering body odor. I'm not even trying to be funny. For real. They smelled really bad. So bad that I left earlier than I had intended. That's not right and the smell coming off of them was anything but godly. Come on, Amish. You ride in cars. You often use cell phones. You shop at Wal-Mart. Do you honestly think God's going to be upset if you grab some Speed Stick? (It's not like I'm asking you to undergo the Axe effect or anything)

I returned this afternoon for a bit and there were significantly fewer books. And also significantly fewer people. I was able to browse freely and a little more comfortably. Tomorrow (the last day of the sale) everything is half off but I don't think I'm going to brave the crowds again. I ended up spending about 20 bucks for 30 books so all in all I feel like I did well. I mostly bought some classics I never read but felt I probably should have (such as Melville, Haley, Shelley, Orwell, and Dumas).

 I've been seriously slacking off in my reading habits this year so far and this was just the jump start I needed to get my nose back in some books.