Bibliophilia

    There’s also the welcoming bowl of Tootsie Rolls near the front, although the Northern Wisconsin book readers’ good manners (“Are those free and meant to be munched on? I better not risk it.”) leaves the bowl pretty my perpetually full. I bought my first copy of Midnight’s Children by Slaman Rushdie there. I also bought my second copy of Midnight’s Children there after the friend I lent the first copy to absconded to Colorado for almost a year. He returned with the book a few days after I bought my second copy.

    Buying multiple copies of books is another bad habit of mine. At Crossroads in Eau Claire I once bought two of the exact same editions of Go Down, Moses by William Faulkner (on accident, I’m not that nerdy). There’s always something at Crossroads I never heard of but deep down have always needed. When I leave there with my bag full of books, I know I’ve gotten my money’s worth, unlike, say swimsuit shopping which is harrowing, overly expensive and in the end you have something you don’t even look forward to using.

    I have to say my favorite book shopping experiences are at that elusive and delightful creature – the library basement used book sale. When I was young, I was convinced that I would read every book in the building. L.E. Phillips sales, with their organization, cheerful volunteers, and refreshments make them more like a used book festival than a sale.

    And I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for the Rice Lake Library’s Basement Book Store. It’s a quaint, organized year-round bookshop. I love going down there whenever I’m home – traveling through the bowels of the library basement to get to this quiet, tucked away nook. There many of the books that I was insistent on reading as a child are finally available to keep as an adult.

    The books that I buy at the library bookstore have been in the homes of hundreds of Rice Lakeans throughout the years. I get the feeling of a book savior. When I pick up a tattered Doris Lessing from the room of reject books, I feel like that one awesome animal lover who adopts the 10 year-old, three-legged Weimeraner from the pound. They’re both good feelings, even if what you leave with might not look or function the same way a new shiny thing might – say like something from a pedigree breeder, or from Borders.

    There hasn’t been a time I can remember when I haven’t had a book-in-progress. I’m interested in all things related to books, which is why a recent WPR broadcast caught my attention. The guest was talking about a piece he wrote on how the Internet has destroyed the American’s ability to read. I have to believe, seeing the people I see at these sellers of books, that I’m not the only person that proves that theory wrong.