Finding books when you least expect it

OK, so maybe this blog should have been titled "Book Addict." I hadn't planned on buying any books today, but ... well, you'll see.

You know that saying, something about how foolish it is to do the same thing over and over and expect different results? Proven wrong today! Almost every week at our Thursday morning write-ins at Barnes and Noble, I stop by the reference shelf where they keep all the books about writing. I've been looking for Ann Lamont's Bird by Bird which, I'm told by my writer friends, I must read at once. One of those friends bought the last one months ago and B&N hasn't had it. I don't really expect it to just magically show up, but I check the shelf, just in case. And today - there it was! I grabbed it.

I stopped by the library to turn in a book and check out another. A big sign on the lawn said, "Book Sale," but the book sale was weeks ago. Smaller signs on the doors announced "free books," so of course I detoured to the conference room to glance through the leftovers from the sale. I didn't expect much, but I found a few offbeat titles from the 1940s and the price was right. As I took my little stack of books to the desk to thank the librarians, I glanced over at the rolling cart that contains the library's perpetual book sale. I saw a couple of new hardbacks that are still prominently displayed in the bookstores, just $2 each! My addiction had fully kicked in by now and I added a few of those to the stack.

I definitely need to open a bookshop. People tease me that I won't be able to let these treasures go, but I think I could manage.