An evening at the Used Book Sale
The Cherry Hill Libary (to which I pay $25 every 2 years for membership) has a used book sale twice a year. Tonight was the first “open to the public” evening, so WM and I went after work.
He adores used book sales. He’s partial to history and religion books - you should see our bookcases! While he dove into the stacks and boxes, I took note of the titles available.
Most of the books are donated by the community so these were cast-off books. Some of the books were very old, so I assumed they were donated after the original owner passed on. Others were “trendy” books like the DaVinci Code and the Harry Potter series. Books that EVERYONE read once, but while some attached themselves to the books, most moved on and the books ended up donated.
There were heaps of self-help books, which is pretty telling about us as a society. I saw 3 copies of “7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” 5 copies of “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” 4 copies of “Passages,” and 4 copies of “Simple Abundance.”
There was also an old family Bible with the names of a couple and a date of 1947 engraved on the front. A wedding gift, perhaps? I believe there is a special place in hell for people who’d dump the family Bible in the library donation box, and my belief has nothing to do with religion.
The saddest boxes of all are what I call the “dream deferred” boxes, like the one above which mostly holds books bought by and for aspiring writers. There were three of them like this, replete with Style Manuals, Market Guides, and freelancing tips. Did these writers succeed and decide they didn’t need the books anymore? Or did they put away their pens and notebooks permanently? We’ll never know. I prefer to think of the aspiring writer who’ll find these books in their boxes and follow their own dream.
WM and I came away with 12 books. His were, as I predicted, all history and religion. I picked up “Good in Bed,” “Atonement,” “The Jane Austin Book Club” and a book of daily devotionals.
Posted at: 11:07 pm in General | Permanent Link | 2 Comments - add yours! »
Tags: books, reading
Review: Breaking Dawn
Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
My review
rating: 3 of 5 stars
Well, at least Meyer wrapped up the loose ends. And that we got to meet other, less-neurotic vampires. And Bella finally, FINALLY jumped off of the “I’m not worthy to be with Edward because he’s so DAZZLING and I’m so plain!” train. Of course, it took a huge change in her for that to happen.
Read the rest of my “review.” WARNING! It has spoilers.
Posted at: 1:15 pm in General, Play | Permanent Link | 1 Comment - add yours! »
Tags: books, breaking dawn, goodreads, reading, team jacob, Twilight
Have I mentioned that MSN hates single women in their 30s?
Yeah, it’s a real stereotype-a-rama. Featuring lines like:
…as if there was this voice whispering at me most of the time we were together saying, She’s 35—don’t stay with this girl unless you’re serious about settling down with her. I know that sounds crazy, but I assumed, given the biological facts of life, that she didn’t have time to waste on a casual relationship.
And maybe I’m hypersensitive about it (I’m 35, WM’s 29) but while I do want a child and feel sad that my window for that is closing sooner rather than later, my getting into this relationship did not hinge on whether WM wanted kids sooner, later, or at all.
The “How much does age matter when dating?” story actually talks about dating younger people when you’re over 50.
In less-vitriolic news, I bought a bunch of fresh basil today from Wegmans. I want to freeze it, but many of the freezing “recipes” feature chopping it with olive oil and freezing it in ice cube trays. I wonder if the olive oil will cause future uses to become too fatty.
I bought “Twilight” yesterday, primarily because a lot of the bloggers I read have been loving it. I tore through 295 pages in one sitting. I love vampire stories - used to adore Anne Rice’s stuff until it got religious and weird. The best part is I’m so late to this bandwagon that there are two (and soon to be three) books AFTER this one! And a movie coming out in December!
This afternoon I’m off to Michael’s with Mom to look at beads (I have a coupon!), then maybe look for a cute pair of black kitten heel slides.
Prior experiences with MSN:
June 6, 2008: Screw you (again) MSN
May 1, 2008: Writer, activist, Cougar
April 5, 2008: April 5, 2008 (creative post title, there)
February 13, 2008: Still loving my MSN homepage
October 14, 2007: Thanks MSN. Have some Cheetos.
Posted at: 12:46 pm in General, Play | Permanent Link | 4 Comments - add yours! »
Tags: ageing, books, cooking, msn, Twilight
A Muslim, a Christian and a Jew decide to write a children’s book…
I just finished reading The Faith Club.
Plot, in a nutshell: After 9/11, a Muslim mom, a Christian mom and a Jewish mom decided to write a children’s book about their religions. During their first few meetings, each woman realizes she has her own issues with her own religon. Instead of doing what the rest of us would do (”Screw you, you self-centered judgmental witch!” [door slam]) they tough it out, open up a dialog, and grow a friendship in the process.
I wanted to quit the book almost immediately because I was uncomfortable with how Priscilla (Jewish mom) wanted Suzanne (Christian mom) to leave the story of the crucifixion out of the Pentecost story because she felt it was Anti-Semitic. That just bugged the hell out of me, so I put the book down, not intending to finish it.
But because I have little to no willpower I picked it back up again the next night before bed. I’m so glad I did. I really got to like Priscilla, Suzanne and Ranya (the Muslim mom) and I found myself identifying with each of them as they struggled with various elements of their faith. I enjoyed watching their friendship grow and learned more about Islam than I was ever taught in school or by the media. (Sad, yes?)
I don’t think the children’s book was ever written, and I really wish the authors would do just that.
Posted at: 6:43 pm in General, Play | Permanent Link | Comments Off
Tags: books, religion
