... which generally proves completely irresistible to me.
I knew when I heard that the VCU library was having a book sale and that today & tomorrow were the half-off days, I should stay away. I had $17 in my checking account to get me to Monday, and a fiver in my wallet leftover from one of the rare occasions when I actually carried cash. My bookshelf is triple stacked with books that I cannot bear to rid myself of. I have books shoved in random places that somewhat resemble shelving. I have books in storage containers in my closet and under my desk. I have books stacked in corners and books that will spend their days sitting on my nightstand in case of a sleepless night. The last thing I need are MORE books.
And yet, somehow I find myself wandering down the sterile basement hallways in the bottom of the library. And then walking away with three new-to-me books and 10 record albums. Which I have no way of playing, might I add. But hey, I only spent four dollars. I dont have a problem, do I?
In my defense, one book was a gift for Ben. It's a 1947 editon of Roget's Thesaurus, a small leather-bound thing; and he's a sucker for old dictionaries & their ilk. It was only a dollar and was so, so cool. One of the ones that found it's new home with me was a copy of Washington Irving's Tales of a Traveler from 1897. Who am I, to leave such a dignified old book to languish in a home that will not love it? And it had a previous owner's handwriting in it, and I am a sucker for that. I love seeing traces of people who loved books before me. The other book is a 1947 copy of So Dear to My Heart by Sterling North. Remember that live-action Disney movie about the boy & his little black sheep, and "lavender blue, dilly dilly"? Yeah, it's that story. I remembered the movie from my childhood & figured this book was worth a dollar to me. And it's in such good condition! It almost looks unread.
The records, however, I have no excuse for. I already have a huge stack of all of my parent's old records stashed somewhere among the piles of books because I pitched a fit when they were going to toss them out. So, they gave them all to me. I still need to weed through them and find out what I need to keep or not, but I am lazy so that task waits. But, I found such treasures as the soundtrack to Oliver!, Dan Fogelberg's Nether Lands album, a Christmas album with Julie Andrews & Robert Goulet, the soundtrack from The Glenn Miller story (I am a sucker for him.) and Air Supply. Yes, the album with that horribly corny "I'm all out of love... I'm so lost without you." song. Plus, I got ten of them for a dollar. Yeah, I probably have a problem.
