For the last week or so I've smiled more than normal when I’ve been out walking or driving on Broadway around Chelsea Parade. It certainly hasn't been because of the lovely spring weather we're all still waiting for, but when you look up at the sky, checking for snow or sunshine, you can clearly see the banner for the Friends of Otis Library Book Sale coming up next weekend, April 20 through 22.
I love everything about the book sale to include the start of the adventure from using the stairway down to the basement on the other side of that locked door at the library entrance, an area I otherwise never get to visit. I always I feel like I'm sneaking into a speakeasy (a readeasy?) or an underground club, which, I suppose, in a way I am.
If you've visited the book sale before, either the one every October or the one in April, you know there are thousands and maybe tens of thousands of books throughout the basement with treasures and delights waiting for everyone with perhaps some one-of-a-kind super buys for those bibliognosts who know exactly what they are looking for and why.
I came across a Japanese word a few years ago that perfectly describes me when it comes to books and book sales, tsundoku. As I've understood it, tsundoku is "the act of leaving a book unread after buying it, typically piling it up together with other such unread books.’ Yep, guilty as charged (at least) twice a year.
I have shelves in our basement already crammed and groaning with the weight of books I've purchased off the shelves at previous Otis Library book sales that I sincerely intend to read someday but just not today, And, in case you were wondering, no matter how many unread books I have, it will not keep me from buying more next weekend.
The sale starts next Friday morning at 9 with an Early Bird preview hour (ten dollars gets you an ahead of the rest of us peek at collectibles).
Aside from that Early Bird session, all three days are free. Satisfy your passion or start a new one. What'll it be? Sports, history, biography, gardening (in case Spring does decide to make an appearance this year), mystery, or classics of traditional and modern literature? They're all sorted, stacked and shelved at bargain basement prices, just waiting for you.
But it's more than books; there are CD's, DVD's, and vinyl collections ('stacks of wax,' I like to call them). Book sale hours are 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday and from noon to 3 on Sunday. And on your way back to the car with your bargain basement (literally) treasures, why not grab a bite at one of the restaurants that are on every corner around Franklin Square?
Next weekend’s Friends of Otis Library Book Sale is another chance to help the library, our downtown as well as yourself. See you there!
-bill kenny
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