Every day I pass a book warehouse on my way to work. Currently the sign on the marquis advertises ‘20% off summer reading list’. Every day I wonder what they mean by that. I love to read. I become engrossed in whatever I happen to be reading. Sometimes I must read to the exclusion of all else. I have blinders on when I have an engaging book with in reach. It’s an annoying habit. Not to me. Just to those around me. By that I mean my kids. They don’t understand the lure of a good book. They aren’t transplanted or transformed by the written word the way I am – hence their inability to comprehend.
Alas, I don’t have a ‘list’ of books that would qualify as my summer reading list. I read what I can afford. I read books or magazines that other people give me. I search yard sales and thrift stores and the clearance rack at any book store I happen to wander into. My reading list (winter, spring, summer, or fall) is dictated by my pocketbook – not my imagination. There are current best sellers I wish I could read but can’t afford to buy. I make a mental note of them, file away the title and try to search them out in my travels. Eventually I will find them. Of course they’re usually long removed from any best seller’s list by the time I do. I wish things were different. I wish I had a ‘budget’ for books but it isn’t in the cards. That’s where the beauty of the written word pays off. Once committed to paper those words will live in perpetuity in someones attic or basement or on some dusty old bookshelf until they tire of it and ‘put it out there’ for some voracious reader, like me, to hunt for it, find it, swoop in, buy it, then take it home, cherish it, treasure it, read it, and revel in it.
My reading list, like my ’so called life’ is a mystery. It’s an unknown (to me and every one else). It evolves when I have a pocket full of change, a Saturday morning yard sale, and some free time to expand my collection, my list, and of course – my horizons!
What’s on your summer reading list? Do you have one? How do you decide what it should include? Any title suggestions I might want to hunt for? I’m as ‘open’ as the books I love to read. Please share.
Tags: Books, Lists, Novels, Reading, Sharing, Summer, Thrift Stores, Yard Sales
July 24, 2008 at 12:30 pm |
have you tried paperbackswap.com?
You can list so many books, get credits and trade books (paper OR hardback) with other members. It only costs you the postage.
It’s a great site, lots of books – and it’s cheaper than buying them at thrift stores!
July 24, 2008 at 1:38 pm |
I never heard of it before now. See?!??! I do need to get out more! I will check it out. Thank you for the heads up. Apparently you’re a kindred spirit when it comes to books. (I peeked at your site – which gave me deju vu – you remined me of ME!) I usually score paperbacks at the local thrift 3/1.00 which is not bad at all. I might be going on a vacation soon so I always plan on a book-a-day for when I am away. If you never read it and want to scream laughing hunt down the book ‘Sheila Levine is Dead and Living in New York’. It’s an oldie but a goody. The author is Gail Parent. I promise you it is SO worth the hunt. Thanks again for the tip. It’s much appreciated
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