Christmas day is coming.
Since I know there will be books under the tree
and since I know our cases are full unto overflowing,
I've undertaken the dreaded task of choosing some
books to give away.
After a few days of gleaning
I have filled a nice size box.
A few weeks ago I met Mike,
owner of Booksmarts Bookstore on Manchester Road.
If you go to Booksmarts you can meet him too,
because he is always there, pretty much.
We talked about his large array of books,
how he gets them, and what he does with them all.
I learned he donates extra books to charities,
like Salvation Army and the YMCA booksale.
This was an aw-ha moment for me.
The perfect solution:
By giving my used books to a small bookstore, I can help a local business
*and* agencies in town that provide valuable community services.
The nice part of this plan is that I can browse the shelves while dropping off the books.
What can be more fun
than searching out
good reads
in a nicely organized
locally
owned
bookstore.
Last year I shopped online,
spending hours going through screen after screen
trying to figure out editions, copyright dates, illustrators, covers, quality and price
all with only a small picture...never actually touching the prospective book.
Oh, the headache at the end of those days.
And as a confession of my computer inadequacy,
since I unwittingly clicked twice
many books arrived at our house two by two,
Ugh!
But not this year.
While leaving the books at Booksmarts,
I learned Mike has a finder's service.
There are a few titles, I just can't seem to find.
So I'll be letting his research team
work their way through the endless lists of
similar but different books....
...while I survey the many fine new and used bookstores in St. Louis.
I'll be shopping the multi-sensory way,
seeing, touching, feeling,
listening to the soft whoosh of pages as I flip through them.
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