Thousands of Books!

As many of you know,  the Norfolk Library has a book sale on the last weekend in August every year.  I am the volunteer who sorts the books donated for this event. I love this job, as I always discover books I’ve never read, take them home and return them before the sale.

The library accepts donations  beginning on April 1^st, but this year we allowed a local book publisher to give the library 72 large boxes of books in January!  Since then the 36 foot long ramp that brings all donations down to my sorting table in the basement  has been almost continually full, despite my sorting at least 4 or 5 big boxes a day into categories.  

I have been overwhelmed by the amount of donations we’ve received.  I haven’t counted this year's total yet, but I bet it’s close to double what we had last year.  Everyone must be switching to E Books.  I have run out of  shelf space, so now the latest flats I label and fill for each category are being stacked on the floor.

You mustn’t miss this year’s sale! The Art category includes not just large and magnificent art books, but  books on music, theater, movies, photography and dance.  If you love cooking, you’ll find several hundred cook books (wine included) to wet your appetite.  If you have kids, the children’s category is full of beautiful but very inexpensive books. 

The Fiction category is always enormous, but this year History is almost as big.  In fact it is so big that we’ve divided it into two categories  -  one on History, the other on Politics.  There must be well over 200 books on Russia, including many written in Russian.  

The Health category  covers such subjects as Lime Disease, Alcoholism, Home Remedies,  and dozens of other informative subjects. Other categories include  Social Science, Travel, Sports, Foreign Languages,  Business (Finance), Large Print books, Technology, which covers a multitude of miscellany, and the one I drool over, Gardening and the Environment.  Prices range from  .50, $1.00 to $2.  

There are also “Books of Better Value” which are obviously priced separately.  That category includes First Editions, signed copies by authors, and handsome sets to fill those shelves you’ve all been emptying.  

My daughter Bridget  who's been helping me down in the basement, and her friend Toby Young,  have  agreed to take on the job of running the actual book sale.  Don't forget the dates - August 24 and  25, from 10am  until 4pm, with Free books after 2pm on Sunday. 

Hope I'll see all of you there!