Beyond Words

Like many of you I have piles of books around the house, in every room.  Yesterday I added more. I went to a book fair, a commercial venture that opens maybe 6 times a year for several weeks. Held in a huge 2 story building where there are more books than one could find in any bookstore, it’s a feast.

I only spent about $40, but brought home 6 books for me, several children’s book and a gift for one of my sons. I browsed and touched and sought for over an hour, which wasn’t nearly enough time, Yet I managed to see most of what I wanted. The books range in price from $2.25 to $6.00 depending on some unknown factors. The children’s section was predominantly filled with seasonal books and the more commercial stuff but I did find a shelf with a few Caldecott winners. And, I picked up A.A. Milne’s When We Were Very Young, a book of poems I remember from my childhood.  I picked up several other decent books for children, one in Spanish and a board book with nice illustrations.

The adult sections were the challenge for me, I go straight for fiction as always, skipping the sci-fi section, avoiding romance and christian “literature”. There is an amazing collection of classic literature, world literature with award winning authors in addition to contemporary fiction and the good stuff. Margaret Atwood, A.S. Byatt ( I bought The Biographer’s Tale), Ethan Cain, Ian McEwan and so on. You can find a little of everything there.

The writing reference section contained little of appeal for me this time, though I did buy a memoir by Lynn Freed called Reading, Writing, and Leaving Home; Life on the Page, which looks promising as part memoir part art of writing. Though my first read is likely to be Nora Ephron’s I Feel Bad About My Neck, and Other Thoughts on Being a Woman. I am beginning to understand the title.

Do you ever have these adventures; walking into a goldmine and having to control your impulse to gather as much as you can. Stuffing the precious ore in your shoes, your pockets, everywhere.   I could easily have purchased another 10 books, but rationalized my way out of it. The book fair will be back and I do have a gracious plenty of materials to read. Oh, yes… I also have plenty of ‘work’ to do. But, it makes for a fun day to give into one’s love of words.