The "Book Worm" Part 2

So, I went to the library yesterday in search of the first two bestsellers of 2011.  Unfortunately, they are very popular (go figure) and all out of circulation.  For Tom Clancy's Dead or Alive the estimated wait time was 46 days!  I don't really have that kind of time.  So I'm not sure what my plan of action will be...should I just buy the books?  Should I read last year's bestsellers?  Or should I just wait until they come in to the library and read them really fast?  I don't know....

My trip to the library was not entirely wasted, however, because I bought something awesome at the book sale.  Our library has recently started selling books for super cheap.  $1 hardcovers and $.50 paperbacks.  You can't beat that.  Especially when they are having a buy 1 get 1 free sale.  Yesterday I stumbled upon old back issues of National Geographic Magazine bound in gorgeous embossed leather books.  Like old issues, from the 1960s.  And they were only a dollar each!  Plus they were on sale, so I picked out four huge volumes and got them all for $2.  Perhaps none of you realize how excited this makes me.  But it combines some of my most favorite things: learning about other places and cool stuff about Earth, old stuff, books, gorgeous old books, and buying cool things for really cheap.  There is seriously nothing better.

I love old books.  Especially old ones that have beautiful bindings and worn out pages.  There is just so much character in them.  And they all have a story.  I have a dream of reading a book that just absolutely changes my life, then writing my name and the year in the cover.  Then passing it along for someone else to do the same.  Eventually the book will end up in someone's attic with tons of names in it, and someone will find it years from now, and read it, and then research all the names and trace its path.  I just think that would be so cool.  I wish I could find something like that.  Which is probably why I love looking at old books, just in case that happens to me one day.

Lots of people like shiny new things, and new books definitely have advantages.  I like hearing the crack when you first break the binding.  And dust jackets are best when they are smooth and whole.  And with a new book you never run into suspicious looking, potentially disgusting mystery stains (though, you mostly run into that in library books in elementary schools).  But there's just something about a well-loved book that draws me in.  You don't get that sort of experience with a Kindle.  A tangible book is magic.

At least, I think so.